Page 100 of No More Secrets
Summer put her charge on the ground and hurried to Carter’s rescue. She tickled Katie Bell until the little girl let go of her prize. Carter dumped her in a pile of kids and yanked out his cellphone. “We’re gonna need all hands on deck for this.”
The tour started off well enough with the adults, now including Joey and Phoebe, forming a circle around the rainbow-clad toddlers.
“This is not part of my job,” Joey grumbled as a three-year-old boy walked behind her smacking her.
“Butt. Butt. Butt.” Smack. Smack. Smack.
He wound up again, but Joey was faster. She whirled around and pointed a finger in his face. “Listen, Lucifer Jr., smack me or anyone else here one more time today and I’m feeding you to the goat.”
Lucifer Jr. let out a satisfying scream and ran to the opposite side of the circle.
“There’s supposed to be safety in numbers,” Carter muttered.
“I think we need more adults,” Summer whispered back.
“I wish you had herding dogs,” Tracey called to Carter, as she chased a little boy with glasses and a fishing hat back into the fold.
The man walking behind Summer — Grandpa Willis — caught up to the pigtailed girl who was taking off her shirt. “Mai Tai Joplin! We keep our shirts on in public, don’t we?” Mai Tai shoved a finger up her nose and wandered off. “These are their field trip shirts,” he said to Summer. “We make ‘em wear ‘em so we can see them if they wander off. One time we lost one in dressed camo for an hour in the corn maze. He had beheaded the scarecrow before we could get to him.”
Summer pasted a smile on her face and hurried to catch up with Carter.
“What do you usually do on the tour?” Summer hissed to Carter.
“We used to take them to the horse barn, but Joey put an end to that last year when they ate the sugar cubes they were supposed to feed to the horses. It was horrible. It took the horses two days to recover from the hell that broke loose in that barn.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Look around you. Is that really a stretch? We also used to do hay rides, but two years ago Johnny ‘Future Juvenile Delinquent’ Delroy climbed up on the tractor and put it in gear. “I still have nightmares about it,” he shivered. “Now we just walk them around until they get sleepy and then we send them back to the school for lunch.”
“How long until then?”
“11:30.”
She grabbed his watch arm and checked the time. “We’re never going to make it.”
“Stay strong, honey. I’ll protect you as long as I can.”
Carter’s protection lasted all of three minutes until Johnny’s little brother, Jimmi picked up a handful of goat poop and threw it at Summer.
“Now, Jimmi, what have we told you about throwing poop?” Tracey sighed.
Summer looked down at her shorts and gagged. “I need to go get cleaned up,” she told Joey. Nikolai’s camera clicked and Summer wanted to smash it into his face.
“There is no way in hell you’re leaving the circle,” Joey said, firmly gripping her arm. “They’re trying to pick us off one by one. I’m not letting that happen. Now shake it off and stay strong.”
“I’ve got an idea,” Carter announced. “Close ranks and I’ll be back in five.”
“Where are you going?” Jax demanded. “Never mind, I don’t care. Send me instead.”
“Just keep walking. I’ll catch back up,” Carter answered, jogging away.
Summer watched him go with a combination of envy and abject fear. “He’s never coming back, is he?”
“He wouldn’t abandon us,” Joey said, but Summer heard the uncertainty in her tone.
They got the kids, skipping and running, past the CSA barn and around the eggplants and tomatoes without losing any when Carter caught up with them.
“Hey kids! Who wants to play in a fenced in pasture with a locked gate?”
