I didn't think it was possible for them to get any quieter. Oh no. Not again. I dug in my purse for my wallet. Yup. My credit card was missing. The girls had also, most recently, used my card to buy a canon. It currently sits in my front yard, back in Who's There.
"How did you…"
"We figured," Ava started, "that you would've bought them anyway. We just saved you that step."
"Guys! You just can't go buying things without asking!" I held out my hand. "Hand it over."
Betty shrugged. "I can't. It's back in your purse."
I looked again, and there it was. I gasped. "How did you…"
Kaitlyn beamed. "Betty's been taking magic lessons!"
"She can do all kinds of stuff!" Lauren said proudly. "She made my dog disappear and reappear on the garage roof!"
Betty looked bored. "It's just a little hobby. No big deal."
While I was a bit blown away, I didn't say so. The last thing a kid like Betty needed was encouragement.
"It's just some slime of hand," she said.
"You mean sleight of hand," Kelly corrected yet again.
I gave her a sharp look when I felt something on my upstretched palm.
"You sure about that?" Betty winked as the girls behind her grinned.
"Nice," I said as I stared at the bright yellow slime melting over my keys.
The girls ran off, and Kelly examined the goo on my palm.
"You have to admit," she said, making no move to help me clean it off, "it is impressive. I didn't even see her get close enough to do that."
Betty's dark gifts were multiplying. And I needed to find a better use for them.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Five minutes later, we had a little meeting on the back patio.
Once they were seated, I insisted, "Girls, this has to stop. No more unauthorized purchases."
"We knew we were coming to a place where they'd have a ropes course," Inez pointed out. "And we worried that maybe they wouldn't have any."
Ava shrugged. "We knew you wouldn't let us pick the lock to break into their equipment."
"Isn't this just being prepared?" Kaitlyn asked.
I looked at the very dangerous and very high course. "It doesn't matter. I'm not certified in high ropes courses. I don't even know what half of those things are for!"
Lauren looked at me. "You're very smart. You'd figure it out."
I hated to admit it, but the flattery worked a little.
"Yeah," Kaitlyn said. "We don't have one of those at our camp. How will we ever get to do something like this again?"
They kind of had a point. I mean, it was a really cool, if not totally dangerous, thing.
I shook my head to clear it. "Listen, I want the harnesses in my hands in two minutes."
The girls hung their heads as they trudged into the lodge.
"Once again," Kelly sighed. "You're too easy on them."
"What do you mean? I just demanded that they bring me the harnesses."
She threw her hands up into the air. "You didn't even punish them when they bought a real live, working canon. You never punish them."
"Girl Scouts isn't about punishment. It's in the rule book," I said while wondering if that was true.
"No." Kelly folded her arms over her chest. "It isn't. The Safety Guide is very strict on what the girls can do."
"You're no fun anymore." I used a line the girls had used on me recently. I'm ashamed to say it felt good.
Kelly shrugged. "I'm not here to be fun. Well, okay, I am here to make things fun. But I'm also the only adult in the room most times."
I clenched my fists and stomped on the ground. "I'm an adult!"
Her eyebrows went up. "Then act like it. Show the girls that this was wrong by telling them there will be no zipline while we are here."
My mouth dropped open. "No zipline? But I promised!"
Zip-lining was very important to my troop. Denying it would be like telling them there was no Santa or that there really weren't any unicorns.
"It's on the high ropes course," Kelly said. "It's not like you can do it anyway."
I took a deep breath. "At least I didn't pinky swear."
The girls returned, each one handing me a harness, with Betty producing three.
"We got you each one too," the girl said.
I turned to Kelly and smiled hopefully. "Well, that was nice! They got one for us!"
"With your credit card," she reminded me quietly. "The one you didn't know was missing."
She had a point. I turned to the girls. "What about the rope?"
"Rope?" Inez and Ava said simultaneously as the other three looked slightly confused.
"The rope. You guys know you can't lower someone over a cliff's edge without a rope to tie the harness to." I shook the hand I held out, waiting for it to be delivered.
The five little girls looked at each other.
"Huh." Inez scratched her chin. "We didn't think of that."
Panic made my voice go up a pitch. "The harnesses need to be attached to a rope! Like they are to the cable when we zip!"
Betty gave the girls a look I couldn't quite decipher before saying, "We'll remember that next time."
"There won't be a next time!" I shouted then looked at Kelly and arched my eyebrows in an attempt to show them I could be a hard-ass.
"Yeah, right." Betty dismissed me. "Come on, guys. Let's go check out the lazy river."
"Stop!" I held my arms in the air. Kelly looked at me with some interest. "You'll need your swimsuits and water shoes."
The five girls agreed and ran inside.
"You'll never learn," Kelly sighed before joining them.
"I take it we aren't going back to the house for the rest of the afternoon?" Kelly asked as we walked to the creek.
"Too dangerous." I pictured Betty teleporting the spiders, frog, scorpion, and caterpillar in and out of their enclosures.
"And this isn't too dangerous?" Kelly stopped and looked at the creek that comprised the "lazy river."
It was shallow, maybe three feet deep and eight feet across. It also had a
