#6 Kate's Camp-Out

It's Friday night and instead of the usual sleepover, the Sleepover Friends are headed upstate to a cabin on a lake with Kate's family. The place is in the middle of nowhere and the girls are getting tired and hungry in the car. Kate is disappointed to find out the Norwood family will be at the lake as well. The 2 boys are troublemakers and Kate can't stand them.

When they finally arrive, they are disappointed to find out that the house is falling apart and there's no electricity. Kate's dad had called ahead of time to have someone go over to the house to turn the electricity and water on, but they are out of luck. Stephanie is upset because she won't be able to do her beauty regimen, and they will have to use an outdoor toilet. Stephanie isn't big on camping and bugs and the outdoors... neither am I.

Everyone decides to make the best of it. They unload the car while Kate's dad finds some firewood and a kerosene lamp. They roast hot dogs in the fireplace. Lauren eats three, plus half a bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. Then they roast marshmallows and eat Kate's super-fudge. As they are eating the fudge, Kate asks her dad to tell them about the place and why the lake is called Spirit Lake.

Dr. Beekman tells them the story. There were 2 fur trappers named Willis Pyle and Roy Jonas, who had cabins on opposite sides of the lake. Willis was lucky and ended up with hundreds of pelts. But Roy's traps would break or a bear would eat it before he could save the fur. Willis made tons of money while Roy barely had enough to scrape by. Finally, Roy cracked. He waited until Willis paddled into town in a canoe piled with fur and was paid for them. No one saw what happened, but next thing they knew, Roy was riding around on Willis' horse and shooting his fancy rifle. Roy said Willis gave him the stuff, but people suspected he drowned Willis in the lake. Then mysterious things started to happen--weird lights, a ghostly white canoe in the lake... but Roy paid no attention. Then one night Roy's dog gave a loud howl and there was a loud knock on the door...

Just at that moment, there is a loud knock on the door! Everyone freaks out. Turns out it is just Dr. & Mrs. Norwood, the Beekman's family friends. They wanted to make sure the Beekmans got there safely, and they had seen the dark house and a flashlight in the backyard. They explain that there have been some break-ins in the area and wanted to make sure everything was ok. Once they leave, Dr. Beekman finishes the story.

Roy calls out "Who's there?" but there's no answer. Then whoever or whatever it was knocks down the door and Roy is face to face with the ghost of Willis Pyle, complete with the bullet hole Roy put in him. Willis asks for his money. Roy faints. When he wakes up, his hair is completely white. He was never the same after that, and drowned in the lake soon after. Supposedly people can see the ghost of Willis paddling his canoe from one shore of the lake to the other, looking for his money. The money was never found. Roy buried it somewhere and even though holes have been dug up all over, it's never been found.

Everyone goes to bed after that. The girls get the whole upstairs to themselves, but put all the beds in one room so they can be together. Kate tells them that she isn't worried about ghosts, she is worried about the Norwood boys.

The next morning, Dr. Beekman goes to the Norwood house to use their phone and call about the electricity and water. The girls are hanging out by the lake and decide to take a walk. Patti sees some turtles and wants to catch one for her brother. The Norwood boys, Sam and Dave, come by on an inflatable boat. They invite everyone to dinner at their house that night. Kate tries to get out of it, but her parents already agreed. The boys ask Patti what she is doing and she says she wants to get one of the turtles but can't tell how deep the water is. Sam tells her the lake isn't too deep and puts one of the paddles in the water to show her. Patti and Lauren fall for the trick and take a few steps--and next thing they know, they are in water up to their noses! Lauren manages to open the valve on their boat as they try to paddle away. They end up in the water too.

The girls head back to the house to dry off. Mr. Morrell is there fixing the electricity. He tries to scare them by saying to watch out for ghosts. Everyone eats lunch and showers, and then heads over to the Norwood house. Kate warns them about the boys, and Stephanie thinks she can't be fooled. Sam tries to shake Lauren's hand but Stephanie knows he has a buzzer in his hand. Dave tries to offer Patti some lemon drops but Stephanie grabs the jar and holds it towards Dave as 2 paper snakes shoot out. The Norwoods have a book on ghosts that the girls decide to read. Supposedly the house they are staying in is haunted, but it's delightful--running footsteps and lilting laughter of a small child and music notes as if a child were practicing on a wooden flute.

They all decide to go fishing while Mrs. Norwood makes dinner, which is roast loin of pork. Lauren and Stephanie get hungry so Dr. Norwood sends the boys to get them some sausages on buns with mustard. As the girls are about to eat, they realize the boys put big worms inside the buns! They are grossed out and leave, while Kate's parents and sister stay at the Norwood house. Back at the house, Kate and Patti find a secret cubbyhole near the fireplace. Inside is a small leather pouch filled with old coins. At first they think it might be Willis' money, but then realize the coins aren't old enough. Instead, they think the coins belonged to the child who haunts the house.

The girls get hungry so they decide to look for food in the kitchen. Apparently no one had been in the house for a long time, so I wouldn't want to eat any of that food! They find some jars of shrimp cocktail, a container of smoked cheese spread, a metal box of fancy crackers and 6 small bottles of jam made from weird sounding fruits. They each decide to make something. They look through the groceries Kate's mom brought and find tuna, English muffins and Velveeta cheese, so Patti makes tuna melts. Kate heats up some chili to make sloppy joes, Lauren goes with the shrimp cocktail and cheese spread with crackers, and Stephanie makes biscuits with jam inside.

After dinner, the girls are still talking about the ghost and they decide to have a seance. They take deep breaths, turn off the lights, sing and try to concentrate. Kate thinks it's dumb, but then they hear a loud bang. They start asking questions and continue to hear the bangs. Then they hear a giggle. Kate gets mad and figures it's the Norwood boys. They all jump out the window and try to run after the Norwood boys. They are nowhere to be seen, but they keep running. Then they hear a noise. They decide to investigate and see 2 men dragging furniture out of a house and putting it in a van. They overhear one of the men saying they'll make a lot of money off the furniture. Then they recognize one of the men--it's Mr. Morrell, the man who came over earlier to turn on their electricity. They remember how the Norwoods mentioned break-ins and realize Mr. Morrell could easily steal from the houses since he goes around fixing things and turning the electricity on. Patti and Lauren decide to run back to the house and send flashlight signals across the lake to Kate's dad, who is still at the Norwood house. Kate and Stephanie hide behind a bush and continue to watch the burglars. Their plan works and Kate's dad rushes over. He calls the police and luckily there is a patrol car nearby. The police catch the burglars just in time. Dr. Beekman takes the girls to the Norwood house. The Norwood boys are barefoot and sleepy, and it doesn't look like they were running around outside. Is it possible that they didn't try to scare the girls and they really did contact a ghost? Meanwhile, Kate and Stephanie had gotten safely back to the house before the police showed up.

The girls figure out a way to get back at the Norwood boys. They decide they will pretend to find the gold coins in the sand. The boys will think they found Willis' money, so they will end up digging & digging for no reason. The next morning they go out to the lake and their plan works perfectly. As they are heading back to the house to pack up and leave, the boys are digging like crazy.

It's time to leave. In the car, they are discussing the old coins they found. Dr. Beekman says he is going to give them to Dr. Porter, the man who owns the house they were staying in. They catch a glimpse of the Norwood boys, still digging like crazy. Kate's sister Melissa says the boys couldn't have tried to scare the girls, because she watched "Roller Derby of the Stars" with them all night. Lauren is convinced they actually contacted a ghost during their seance, but Kate thinks Melissa probably just fell asleep.

Tuesday morning at school, Kate has a surprise. Each of the girls gets to keep one of the old coins. Dr. Porter donated the rest to a local museum. Then Kate announces that her dad wants to rent the cabin for 2 weeks in the summer, and the Sleepover Friends are all invited!

Next up: I still need to make a Dr Pepper float, and I will do that this weekend. Then, look for #7 Stephanie Strikes Back early next week!