I entered the ranger station and quickly closed the door so I wouldn't let the mosquitoes in. I had been chased by a few on my way there. At least inside I didn't have to worry about them. The inside of the ranger station was just as small as the outside. Oh, I wished I could stay in there instead of a tent. There were some shelves in the station that were covered with souvenirs, then a desk at the back, but that was pretty much it.
I found Camp Juniper roaming the station and checking out the souvenirs. Dad and Mom, on the other hand, were standing at the desk in the back, and they were chitchatting with two, female rangers who sat behind it. Both the rangers were pretty young. The first ranger, the one who was standing, had long, blonde hair that was pulled back in a braid, green eyes, and painted red fingernails. She was pretty, yeah, but she didn't strike me as too interesting. The ranger that I found really interesting was her partner, the ranger who was sitting. She had a very interesting appearance to her. She was beautiful, even more beautiful than the first ranger, and she appeared to be maybe in her late thirties, either thirty eight or thirty nine. I think thirty eight suited her the best. However, her beauty wasn't the only thing that made her interesting; it was the fact that to me, she kind of looked like she was native. She had medium length, dark brown hair, tan skin, and deep, deep brown eyes. Another thing I found really interesting about her was that unlike the other ranger, she seemed to be sad. Her face had no color in it. She looked severely depressed. Hm, I wondered why that was so. I started to approach the desk, but I stopped temporarily at a shelf because my eyes landed on a stuffed moose. I love stuffed animals. Very slowly, I picked the moose up, and I brought it close to my face.
Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked up, and I saw that I was peering into the face of Uncle Bart. "One of my goals on this trip, Kylie," he spoke, and he sighed, "is to see a moose." A moose huh? Uncle Bart has always wanted to see a moose. He never has. However, it was rumored that moose lived in the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park. Moose watching was the main reason why Uncle Bart came.
I scoffed and shook my head, saying, "Yeah, good luck with that, Uncle Bart." I set the stuffed moose back down on the shelf. That was kind of rude for me to say, but I didn't care. I knew there were moose in the provincial park, but I also knew, because Todd told me, that they were quite rare. Even eagles were a little more frequent than moose. My eyes landed on the desk, and I saw that Dad had turned to me.
"Kylie!" he chattered, and he gestured me over, "There you are! Come here! These nice rangers want to meet you!" They did? Uh oh, what did Dad tell them? I took a deep breath and slowly approached the desk. Dad pulled me in front of him and Mom, so now, I met eyes with the blonde headed ranger.
She yelled, "Oh welcome!" and clapped her hands together, "Welcome to Finlayson Point Provincial Park, young lady! My name is Ranger Amelia, and that's my partner, Ranger Kate." She gestured at the brown headed ranger, and my eyes landed on her. Huh, so Kate was her name. It was so strange. Why did she look so depressed? I soon turned my attention away from her, and I focused it on Ranger Amelia instead. She obviously wasn't depressed. She reached forward and pinched my cheek, "Oh, you're so cute!" I blushed. Ranger Amelia continued, "Ranger Kate, isn't she just the most adorable thing you would see?"
I again turned to Kate. She stared at me. Her stare was so long that it even made me feel a little uncomfortable. She didn't even blink. Finally, I shivered and asked her, "Why are you staring at me like that?"
"Oh," she finally spoke, and she stood up, "I'm sorry, young lady. You just remind me of someone." Even her voice sounded depressed. It was pretty, but there was so much sadness in it. I wondered if something tragic happened to her when she was younger. It was interesting that she said that I reminded her of someone. But who?
"Who?" I asked her, "Someone like who?"
She didn't answer. She just sat back down in front of her computer. Ranger Kate soon took her hat off, and she set it down on the face of the desk. I saw that there was a chord and a bug net attached to the rim of it. She still didn't bother to answer my question. She just asked us, "How may we help you today, sir?" She was talking to Dad.
"Oh," I said after a bit, before Dad could even answer, and I pointed at her, "You're accent. Are you naturally from Ontario?" I remember she had a very interesting accent.
"Oh yes." Ranger Kate's sad voice told me, "I grew up in the cottage country of Ontario with my two sisters. I moved here about ten years ago."
I nodded, but then, my eyes rolled over to something quite interesting that sat on the countertop on her face of the desk. It was a picture frame.
Audience, pay close attention to this part. This part is very, very important. If you don't take this next part in, then you're pretty much screwed for the rest of the story. Believe me.
Slowly, I approached the picture frame, and my eyes studied it up and down. The rest of Camp Juniper soon came up from behind. I didn't see them, but I heard them. I knew the others were behind me. The picture frame wasn't empty. It actually had a picture of a child in it. It was a boy, and he appeared to be maybe five years old. He was a very cute child. He was smiling, and in his arms, he held a husky puppy. He actually wasn't wearing a shirt. It looked as if he had been swimming. He had short, brown hair and deep brown eyes, just like Ranger Kate. He looked so much like her. Hm, I wondered something. My eyes soon left the photo, and they landed on Ranger Kate.
"Who's that?" I asked, and I pointed at the photo.
Ranger Kate peered over to the picture, as well as Ranger Amelia and the rest of Camp Juniper. She sniffed, and when she spoke, her voice was choked, "That's my son. My only son." Ah, I thought so.
"You're only son?" was my next question, and I searched the area, "Where is he? Is he not here with you? Is he at your house?"
Here, Ranger Kate really started to get choked up. Her next two sentences she spoke were actually the sentences that gave me something to do on the worthless canoe trip. They were: "I don't know where he is. He went missing years ago."
"Missing?!" I yelped.
"Missing?!" yelped the rest of Camp Juniper. Yes, missing. All of us were in shock. Ranger Kate's son went missing? How was that even possible?
My Aunt Delia soon asked her, "A missing child? You haven't found him?"
Ranger Kate shook her head, "No," and she rubbed tears from her eyes.
"Where was the last place you saw him?" I asked.
"I can't explain it," she chokingly answered, "All I remember is that he was in pain, so much pain. Something had hurt him, and it hurt him pretty badly too." By this sentence, she was sobbing. Her tears fountained down her cheeks, and a puddle began to appear on the desk. Ranger Kate picked up the picture frame and hugged it to her chest.
Hm, this was a mystery. I liked this. Well, this was where I decided that Detective Kylie Juniper was on the case! I stood up straight and placed my hands on my hips.
I prepared to ask Ranger Kate another question, but she glanced at her wristwatch and cut me off, "You know, I'd love to continue this conversation, but I'm wanted on the water. Excuse me." She stood up and continued to hug the picture to her chest, "Ranger Amelia will assist you. I, on the other hand, am going to return to Lake Temagami." That was the last thing we heard from her for a while. Don't worry, she will be back. We watched as she exited the ranger station and softly shut the door behind her. My family members turned to Ranger Amelia and started to chat with her. I on the other hand held my index finger to my chin and asked questions to myself, "Why would a boy go missing? This is very mysterious." And it was. Children just don't go missing! There had to be some explanation to this!
Detective Kylie Juniper, that's me, decided that the best place to think was back outside. I would let my family deal with Ranger Amelia and the campsite. I had more pressing priorities. This mystery would be the only thing that would keep me occupied on this trip. The first thing I had to do was sit and think, and then, I would be off to search for clues! The mystery of the missing boy reminded me so much of Scooby Doo. I knew it would be fun to solve.
The first place where I decided to sit and think at, was the staircase outside. Very slowly, I slipped away from my family and headed towards the door. In the process, I passed Uncle Bart, and I noticed that he was staring at me. I ignored him and finally made it to the door. Reaching out, I placed my hand on the knob and turned it. Very slowly, the door opened, and I took a deep breath. It was time to head back outside to the Land of the Vampire Mosquitoes. Detective Kylie Juniper stepped outside and shut the door of the ranger station. I left the rest of Camp Juniper behind. Aren't I a lovely child?
Audience, this missing child case is going to get a lot more complicated as the story goes on. You just have to piece together the clues with me. You'll figure it out eventually. I promise.
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