Whitewater Rendezvous

My kids would love it!”

“My oldest can do lots of sound effects. We got them out of a book.” Yancey turned toward Megan. “We all know what your hidden talent is.”

“That’s not true,” Pat reminded her. “Sally and Chaz don’t know about Megan.”

“No, we don’t,” Chaz confi rmed, looking at Megan curiously.

“Megan has a photographic memory,” Justine provided. “Virtually a walking encyclopedia.”

“What shall we have her do?” Pat asked.

“Nothing mundane, like the Declaration of Independence,” Justine said. “It should be something really spectacular.”

“I like when she does the countries of the world in alphabetical order,” Yancey suggested.

“As long as it’s anything but that awful shipwreck poem that goes on forever!” Linda pleaded.

“It’s only twenty-three stanzas. And ‘The Wreck of the Hesperus’

was written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, I’ll have you know,”

Megan said.

“So it’s a classic.” Linda pulled a face. “It’s still awful.”

Megan looked directly at Chaz. “Try me,” she said, with a hint of fl irtation in her voice.

A corner of Chaz’s mouth tipped up as she suppressed a smile. It was a long moment before she spoke. “All right. What can you tell me about the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge?”

“I could talk about it for a couple of hours. What would you like me to address specifi cally?” Megan answered confi dently.

“How about bird life?”

“Let’s see,” Megan began, as she leaned back in her chair and stretched out her legs toward the fi re. “There have been 181 different species of birds spotted in the refuge, most migrating here from at least four continents, at least according to the offi cial government Web site.”

“What draws them here?” Chaz challenged.

“When the permafrost melts in the summer, you have thousands upon thousands of little pools of water everywhere, the perfect breeding ground for an enormous insect population, which draws the birds.”

“Very good. I’m impressed,” Chaz complimented her, as though that had been her entire answer.

• 103 •

KIM BALDWIN

“Oh, she’s got a lot more, I’m sure,” Justine interjected. “Don’t you, Meg?”

“Well, I could name all 181 species, if you like, and tell you something about each one,” Megan said. “What they look like, where they can be found in the refuge, where they migrate from.” She was pleased to see the look of astonishment on Chaz’s face.

“Now I’m really impressed.” Chaz said. “Do you remember everything you see and hear?”

“Everything important, anyway.” I won’t forget any single detailof you any time soon, that’s for sure.

“I can’t remember my ATM pin number half the time,” Yancey complained. “At least tell me that you occasionally misplace your car keys.”

“Never,” Megan said, smiling.

“Bitch!” Yancey answered with a laugh. “All right, now who gets to follow that? Isn’t it your turn, Justine?”

“Oh, great. This is going to be so impressive after you. ” Justine stuck out her tongue at Megan. “I used to be able to tap dance. That’s my talent.”

“You? Klutz Bernard? When was this?” Megan asked, not buying a word of it.

“From about age six until I was probably fi fteen or so. I stopped when we moved away from the woman who had been teaching me.”

“Prove it,” Megan challenged. “I don’t believe you have ever danced. You trip over something every time we go somewhere.”

With a sigh, Justine stood up. “It’s been a long time, and this isn’t exactly ideal footwear,” she said, holding one foot up in the air so they could all get a good look at the hiking boots she had on. “But here goes.”

“Wait!” Sally hollered. “Would you like some accompaniment?”

“Uh, sure,” Justine said uncertainly.

“You and Chaz can demonstrate your hidden talents together,”

Sally said, turning to her partner guide. “Waddya say?”

“All right,” Chaz said, and got up and headed toward the tent she and Megan were sharing.

In a minute, she returned carrying a rectangular waterproof case about the size of a breadbox. It had already piqued Megan’s interest.

Sally had seemed to treat it with respect, placing it carefully among

• 104 •

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14