Andi Wins Her Bet

by Elly

           

            “Andi time to get up” Yelled Mitch.

12 year old Andrea Carter rolled over then sat up. Whats wrong with me , she wondered. She could only remember a few times this year that somebody had to wake her up. She jumped out of bed and got dressed in record time. She was down stairs in a minute. Wondering what time it was, she looked at the clock.

            “7:00” she gasped ,why is the house so quiet, and where is everybody ,she wondered. She wandered into the dining room

            “HAPPY BIRTHDAY” Her whole family shouted.

            “Thank you” She said ,as soon as everybody was done singing the birthday song.

            “Andi we made your favorite breakfast” Said her best friend, Rosa. As Andi was sitting down to a very delicious meal, a thought popped into her mind.

            “Justin will you bring me on a picnic today?” asked Andi. It had always been a tradition for Justin to bring Andi on a picnic on the day of her birthday. And each year they went, they rode another mile.

            “Of course, What would your birthday be without a picnic” Justin said with a chuckle. And this year we get to go 13 miles . She thought  happily. Out loud she said, “Justin will we go fishing?”

            “Yep.”

            “ Is there a creek 13 miles from here?” she inquired.

            “Of course, and if there isn’t we can just dig until we hit water” He joked.       

The whole family erupted in laughter.

            “Justin do you think the whole family could come this year?” Andi asked. 

            “Well I don't know, I think you should ask the rest of the family first.”

            “Sorry Andi, but I got some papers to look over in town,” Mitch  apologized. Mitch had been the sub sheriff for a couple of weeks now, when  sheriff Tate  was in San Francisco visiting relatives.

            “I’m sorry too Andi, but I got some work to do here at the ranch, maybe Malinda and mother can go”.

            “Sorry Andi but its Monday, and Mother and I have our quilting-bee today.  I’m really sorry Andi” said Malinda apologetically.

            “That’s alright it’ll be fun just to go with Justin anyways”.

            “Well, Andi I’ll get the fishing poles and horses and you get the picnic basket and blanket. Then we’ll go on an early fishing trip, how does that sound?”.

            “Hmm, I guess it’ll work,” said Andi pretending to be in deep thought.“ But what about my chores?, I have to do them too before we go.”

            “Already done,” said Chad with a smile on his face. “I did them when you were asleep” ,he paused, “I hope you don’t get spoiled.” He said with a bit of pretend concern in his voice.

            “Oh don’t worry, I won’t,” Andi said.

            Within the next half hour Justin and Andi had gathered all there supplies and rode out to find a fishing hole.

            “Justin where are we going?” asked Andi after what seemed like hours to her had passed.

            “Out to an old fishing hole that Chad, Mitch and I used to go to when we were younger, and if it hasn’t been used since we fished it, it should be pretty good”.

15 minutes later they got to the fishing hole. It wasn’t until after they had unpacked and gotten settled, that was when they noticed the horse. “Hey Andi whose horse is that?” asked Justin.

            “I don’t know, I’ve  never seen it before looks like its a Clydesdale to me” said Andi . It didn’t take to long for them to find out who’s horse it was. ‘plunk’ ‘plunk’ ‘punk’

            “OUCH who’s doing that” said Andi as one more pine-cone hit her head. Andi looked up and saw a man sitting on a tree branch above them.

            “What are you doing up there” said Justin “come down and join us”.

            “Well sorry for the scare, but you see a rattlesnake scared my horse and he threw me. Then another one almost bit me. Then I was treed last night by wolves they wouldn’t leave so I had to sleep in the tree. I was woke up in the middle of the night to almost falling out of the tree because a bear got kind of angry. It seems like the whole world of wildlife is against me” he grumbled while looking down from the tree.

Justin laughed. “Well come down here and we’ll catch some fish for lunch”.

As the man was descending from the tree Andi spoke to Justin. “Justin who is he”?.

            “I don’t know for sure but when I’ve figured out I’ll tell you” He whispered. About an hour later Justin said that he forgot something In the saddlebags and motioned Andi to follow suit. When they where finally out of earshot Andi was about to burst.   

            “Did you figure out who he is, is he a dangerous criminal, who is  he”?.

“Slow down”, Justin said with a chuckle “yes I figured it out who he was. His name is Gideon Monrove he’s not a dangerous criminal just known around these parts for getting short term jobs on any big ranches. But just long enough to figure out where their money is then robbing them. He’s got a BIG reward on his head $100.” Justin answered calmly, (unlike Andi) who couldn’t figure out why he was acting so calm.

            “He also always goes by a different name. No sheriff has ever been able to catch him”.

“So what are we going to do?” Asked Andi sounding stressed.

            “Simply offer him a job then Mitch and I will bring him to jail in the morning, I’m sure he won’t know  where our money is for at least another week”. 

            “WOW” said Andi loudly.

            “Shhhhh” said Justin “not so loud”.

Oops did  it again  thought Andi.

            When they got back to the house Andi jumped off Taffy, and ran to the house. “Rosa, Rosa were are you”?

            “Over here” a voice answered from a closet in the kitchen.

            “Rosa come to my bedroom” said Andi as soon as she was In the kitchen. “Slow down” said Rosa calmly “your mother will not like you racing through the house like a wild horse” she said wisely.

            When they were finally in the bedroom Andi told Rosa about everything that happened, in one breath. When she finally caught her breath again she whispered to Rosa “I’ve got a plan, that is if you want to get some money really fast”, She finished.

            “What is it” said Rosa cautiously.

            “Well you see, all we do is when the guy’s sleeping we tie him up, put him on a horse and bring him to that old shack by the creek. Thats the last place anybody would look if he went missing. Then we come back here like nothing happened. Tomorrow we’ll bring him into town and get the reward for ourselves.” Then, after a long pause, “well, are you with me or not, that guys gonna be pretty heavy, And I won’t be able to pick him up all by myself”. Andi said (in a voice that made it sound rrreeallyy easy).

            “Alright” Rosa said with a sigh “only if you agree to one condition and answer a question first. The condition is if we get in trouble you’ll remember that this was your idea not mine, and I’m not getting in trouble. And now the question, How will we get him out of the bunkhouse with all the ranch hands in there?” asked Rosa.

            “Well first of all I agree to the condition. Justin lent him a tent because he didn’t want to stay with the other ranch hands in the bunkhouse.  We’ll get him at midnight I’ll give you the owl call. Now I’ve got to take care of Taffy before she bakes out there it’s already almost 100 degrees said Andi already running out the bedroom door. That night Andi couldn’t wait for supper to be over even though it was her favorite foods. As soon as she could be excused she ran outside and into the barn. She ran into Taffy’s stall and grabbed the horse-brush.

            “I’ll be done in a minute Taffy and then we’ll take a short ride to pass the time, sound good?.” Taffy neighed her approval as Andi brushed her down. After the ride Andi put Taffy in her stall and went to make sure that Rosa had packed a grub sack.

            “Now that that’s taken care of all we have to do is wait” said Andi as she plodded up to her room. Then with a long sigh she sat on her bed to relax, read a book, and wait. When Andi looked at her clock it was 11:54. Great Rosa should be ready.  She looked through her supplies one more time, then grabbed her saddlebags and headed out the door.

            Once outside she made a owl call and headed toward the barn.

            “What took you so long?” asked Rosa “I’ve been waiting forever”.

            “Sorry, but it wasn’t all me, what time did it say on your clock?” asked Andi.

            “1:00 why?”

            “because your clock is wrong, I got out here around 12:00”.

            “Oh I guess I’ll have to change the time”

            “I guess so.”

            Andi and Rosa saddled up their horses and headed toward Gideons tent. As they were nearing the tent Gideon suddenly stepped out of it. It hit them all at once.
            “What are you doing out here” they all said together .

“Well” said Andi “that happens to be none of your beeswax but what matters more is the question what are YOU doing here?” asked Andi.

            “Well I think I know why you are here so I’ll answer your question. I was going to rob you, as you might already know, but YOU TWO got in the way. So I’ve just decide that instead of robbing your family I’m going to kidnap both of you and bring you to an old shack I found a while back. Thats probably the last place anyone would look,so it will give me enough time to get a good head start.”

            “You can’t do that” said Rosa “it’s against the law to kidnap somebody.”

            “Oh and you think what you two were going to do wasn’t?” asked Gideon.

             Rosa didn’t know what to say so she didn’t say anything. Gideon told Rosa to tie up Andi, then he tied up Rosa and helped them onto their horses. After a half hour of fast riding they finally got to their destination … the old shack.

            As they got off there horses and headed up the steps Andi noticed a few changes since the last time she had come to this place. The steps were still sturdy but a couple of nails had come out of the boards on the porch, the next change was inside, somebody had moved the bed, table, and chairs around, by the look on Gideons face she knew that he was real comfortable in this place, and that he was probably the culprit. She then figured  that the story about being almost bitten by a rattlesnake, chased by wolves, and shaken by a bear wasn't true.

            “Well make yourself at home were staying here for the night. I’ll take the bunk you girls can use the chairs, and don’t try any funny business I’m a light sleeper”. Gideon flopped onto the bed and in a minute was snoring loudly.

            “Andi what are we going to do, you know nobodies gonna look here. This is just an old broken down cabin they’re going to think that nobody in they’re right mind would hide somebody in here.” said Rosa in a worried tone.

            “Well,” said Andi, “the only thing that I can think of is to pray, and wait for God to answer.”

            The next morning Andi and Rosa watched as Gideon ate all the food they had brought with them.

            “Well your family’s have probably already got a search party out, so I guess I’ll just have to be headin’ out.” Gideon said with his mouth full.

            “Don’t talk with your mouth full it’s not polite” said Andi. With a look of disgust. 

            Gideon laughed “since when did you become my mother” he asked with a grin.

            “Since you captured us, and besides if my mother where here right now she tell you to leave the table  because you talked with your mouth full” said Andi. “And I bet your mother would do the same,  wouldn’t she?” asked Andi.

             “It doesn’t matter what mother would do she ain't here and YOU aren’t my mother” he said slamming his plate on the table.

            “Fine then eat however you want and when your doing that I’ll make you a bet. If my brothers catch you before you take even one step of that porch you will eat properly for as long as you can remember how. And if my brothers don’t catch you I won’t tell my mother how you ate today, deal?” asked Andi with a mischievous grin. Gideon started to chuckle then laugh.

            “You really have that much faith in your brothers?”

            “yep.”

            “Well little lady you’ve got yourself a deal.”

            “Great” Andi said with a smile, “why don’t you start packing up so you can win?” a half hour later Gideon was packed and ready to go. “Well” he said “I’m leaving have fun, hope your brothers find you soon” he said with a chuckle. He started to head out the door when “SMACK”  all of a sudden Gideon fell into the cabin.

             After a few seconds Andi started to laugh. “What happened?” asked Rosa.

          When Andi was finally calmed down enough to speak she explained to Rosa. There was a lose board on the porch. When he stepped on one end of it the other end had come up and smacked him on the head. “That knocked him out” she finished with laugh.

            “So you see if we can get to his knife we can get ourselves lose and tie him up. Then when you’re guarding him I’ll go get help and I’ll win my bet” said Andi.

            In a couple of hours Gideon was in jail, and everyone was listening to Andi’s and Rosa’s story.

            “And thats the end of it” said Andi. “Mitch, is Gideon using better manners yet?” asked Andi.

            “Surprisingly, yes, oh ya I almost forgot. Andi, Rosa I’ve got something for you.” he said reaching into his pocket he came out with  two  envelopes. “I hope you two don’t become bounty hunters, but you did catch him so, here you go” he said handing them the envelopes.

            “What is it?” asked Rosa

            “look for yourself” said Mitch. Andi opened hers first.

            “It’s money” she gasped “$50 each, thanks Mitch” she said after giving him a big hug.

            “Well it just goes to show you” said Chad. “It never pays to kidnap a Carter.”