Earlier? Earlier when? Nobody ever seems to bother with me. Don’t get me wrong. It’s just the way I like it. But don’t blame it on me. The others are always caught up in their little dramas and schemes. Even Scott didn’t pay much attention to me.
I mean, it’s sad he’s in the hospital and his hut burned down. It must be scary finding you’re surrounded by flames. That thought gives me chills to no end. I guess that makes him a hero. But I’m not devastated like the little ones. We never really became good friends, Scott and I. He was always just googly-eyed with Elise and Lilly. You know, all that lovey-dovey business. Not my thing.
Let me tell you what my thing is. S.e.c.r.e.t.s! I love everything secret. And I can keep secrets. It’s a very important job. It might just be the most important job of them all. It’s like finding a treasure and making sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands. There is this new secret I’m very excited about.
It happened this morning. I played with Prince in the backyard. He’s a bit lost since Elise went all gaga over Scott and the cabin burning. (Sorry, I’m not allowed to use that word, but it’s the truth.) Prince always hides his tennis balls in the backyard. Sometimes they end up even farther into the bush. He’s naughty, because …
“We can’t keep buying balls for him,” said Lilly. Huh, she always acts as if she’s the boss. But she isn’t. Sky said nobody is the boss but she must have forgotten to tell Lilly.
So with me being good at finding things, guess who gets the task to hunt for the lost balls? Yes. Good old Mikey. After I had already found about a dozen and put them into the basket, I heard a whistling sound. I once heard lemurs in the zoo whistling like that. It would be awesome if there were lemurs in our forest. But there are no wild lemurs in New Zealand. One could have escaped from a zoo, though, but I’m not a dumb child. It’s most unlikely.
The sound came from this prickly blackberry bush. I had to crawl on the ground to see what it was, but I got stopped.
“Psst. Is that you, Elise?”
“Who’s talking?” I will not tell a talking bush who I am. We are just not that kind of crazy.
“I’m a friend. Who is it?”
“It’s Mikey.” Darn, that slipped out.
“I should have known. You’re the brave kid who found the photos.”
Now that was a bit spooky because nobody knows about me. Perhaps this is like the burning bush in the bible where God talks to you. And God, they say, knows everything. You don’t want to rub him up the wrong way. Just in case. So I nodded. Don’t they say God sees everything? But perhaps he can’t see very well through blackberry bushes.
“Yes.” I whispered, just in case someone else was spying.
“Mikey, I need your help, but it has to be our secret. You can tell nobody about it. Will you help me?”
It must be God because just a moment ago I had thought about how good I was at keeping secrets. So it is true what they say about God seeing and hearing everything. It’s good to know. I was pretty stoked he talked to me and not to one of the others. About time someone took notice of me.
“How can I help?”
“Bad things happened. Naughty people burned Scott’s cabin three days ago and he got hurt. You guys are not safe and I’d like to help make sure you are. The bad people are after your treasure.”
“What treasure? I have no more treasures.”
“There must be at least one more treasure because bad people always look for things they can take.”
“If there is, it must be in a super good hiding place, because I’m good at finding treasures and I haven’t found it.”
“It wouldn’t hurt to look again.”
I’m a little annoyed with God. If I tell you I’ve looked everywhere, I have and there is nothing to find. But if I remember right, you don’t say things like that to God. You might end up in some kind of burning hell. Maybe that’s what happened to Scott? I better be nice. You never know what happens next.
“I’ll take another look. How else can I help?”
“To help you, I need to know what is going on in the house. Who comes and where people go. Can you do that?”
I’m not sure what I’m dealing with. If this is God, he should know it’s easy for me to find out these things. It’s almost too easy. Like a child’s game. I mean, games a tiny child plays. Perhaps I should tell Sky about this?
“How shall I let you know those things?”
“You can leave messages for me in the tin I’ll leave under the bush. You can write, can’t you?”
That was not a clever question. God should have known I could. But, being God must be a pretty busy job with all the stuff going on everywhere, so I’m happy to let it go.
“Lilly wants to go to the hospital tomorrow and Tom, the lawyer, goes home tomorrow too. He likes Elise’s idea to sell the homestead. He said we are not safe staying here. You mean telling you stuff like that?”
“Exactly. Thank you. You’ll be a great help. I can already tell. I’ve gotta go. Don’t forget, tell nobody about this.”
A hand stretched out from underneath the bush and held a piece of meat under Prince’s nose. It’s gone in no time and he licks the hand for a thank-you-very-much.
“What’s your dog’s name? He’s cute and so well behaved.”
“His name is Prince.”
I’m proud that Prince is behaving and that God seemed to take a
