"Hurry up, Honey. We’re going to be late." Trixie Belden Frayne was standing impatiently in the doorway of her best friend and sister-in-law, Honey Wheeler Belden’s home. "I don’t want to miss a minute of Lucy Camp."
"I’m coming, I’m coming. We’ve got plenty of time. If we leave now and drive 30 miles an hour we will still be the first campers there." Honey yelled from upstairs.
"Tell me again why we’re driving instead of flying to Tennessee?"
"Well, first of all you wanted to take a leisurely trip. Then when Kayla and June V said they wanted to go you decided it would be a great road trip." Honey came downstairs carrying a suitcase, shoulder bag and umbrella.
Trixie twisted the two carat diamond ring that adorned her left ring finger. Whenever she was excited or nervous she tended to twist it. Trixie and Honey had been talking about going to Lucy Camp for the last year. Honey had stumbled on the Lucy Radcliffe Fan Site about a year ago when she was looking to finish off her collection of deluxe version Lucy Radcliffe Mysteries. Ever since then they had been participating in the message board, reading great fanfic, and making lasting friendships. Trixie had secretly even started writing her own fanfic.
"Remind me of that when we’ve been driving all day." Trixie said.
"O.K., I’m ready. I just want to leave Brian a note. He’s on call this weekend. The last few times he’s been on weekend call it has been chaotic. I hope he has a peaceful weekend."
Trixie grabbed Honey’s suitcase and headed outside to her Dodge Caravan. Soon Honey followed and they were on the road. They were meeting Kayla and June in West Virginia before they headed to Tennessee.
Trixie drove first. Her foot seemed to have lead in it but somehow she managed to not be stopped by the state patrol. Trixie spent much of her time fiddling with the radio as she drove.
"Could you leave it on the same station for more than one song please?" Honey said as she slapped Trixie’s hand.
"Ouch," Trixie cried. "You scratched me! Just for that I am in charge of the radio for the rest of the trip."
Honey grabbed Trixie’s hand, "You’re a bigger baby than Jenny. You’d need a magnifying glass to see that scratch." Jenny was Trixie’s two year old daughter. This trip would be the first one she had taken without her three kids since Jenny had been born.
Trixie pulled her hand back and drove in silence for awhile. Honey’s reminder of Jenny made her wonder if she had made a mistake leaving Matt, Lizzie and Jenny in her capable husband, Jim’s hands.
"Come on Trix. What’s bugging you? We’ve been over this a hundred times. Jim is more than capable of taking care of the kids. He’s been running Ten Acres Academy for ten years and hasn’t lost a single student even for ten seconds in the entire time."
"Oh, I know. In my head I know that Jim is probably more capable of taking care of the kids than I am. If something came up both your parents and my parents are in town this weekend as well. My alter ego, Mrs. Why Can’t I Do It All is rearing its ugly head again." No matter how hard she tried Trixie often felt like she failed at mothering and at being a business woman.
She’d compare herself to her mother who was all things domestic and feel like she failed because she didn’t have a huge vegetable garden and most vegetables she and Jim ate came from a frozen bag. Even though she had hated to sew from the day she was born, she often felt guilty because she didn’t have the time or inclination to sew patches on the knees of the kids’ jeans when they wore them out or sew a button on one of Jim’s shirts when it fell off.
Then to further beat herself up she would start thinking of the detective agency she and Honey had founded. It had taken a few years to get established and in Trixie’s mind that was a huge disappointment. Never mind that most people were impressed how rapidly the agency had established itself and had become one of the most successful private detective agencies in the State of New York.
"Quit the pity party, Trix. We’ve had this discussion before. I thought you’d overcome your misplaced feelings of inferiority. If you don’t watch it we’ll be christening you Miss Nonsense America."
"I know, I know. Most of the time I don’t let my mind wander to that but every once in a while it rears its ugly head. I’m done with my pity party. Let’s get onto big and better things."
"Are you getting hungry? I could use at least a snack."
"Yeah, we’ve been on the road forever."
Honey looked at her watch and laughed they hadn’t been gone for two hours yet. "It has not been forever and if you think it is you are in for a very rude awakening. Just remember you are the one who wanted to drive."
"Do you want to get some car food or do you want to go in and sit down?"
"If we’re going to stop we might as well get out and stretch our legs. We could eat lunch and then get some car food to take with us. Let’s see if we can find a local restaurant. I’m not in the mood for fast food." Honey commented.
They pulled off the interstate and without too much trouble found a mom and pop café that reminded them of Wimpy’s in Sleepyside. As they walked into the restaurant Trixie picked up a flyer that was in a stand at the entrance.
"I don’t know why you have to pick up every advertisement that you see," Honey said.
"Hey, you never know what you might discover. Look at this. If we start having trouble attracting clients maybe we can try this. ‘Learn the art of dowsing become a water witch.’"
"Let me see that." Honey grabbed the paper from Trixie’s hands. "What is this? Some sort of Wiccan ritual?"
"No, it’s actually something that goes back hundreds of years. It’s the act of finding water. They use sticks to locate water. Apparently it’s very popular in the south and they are respected."
"I can’t believe it. I thought the only Water Witch was the novel that was written by James Fennimore Cooper."
The waitress came and took their order and their conversation moved on to what to expect at Lucy Camp.
"I can’t wait to meet everyone. I feel like I’ve known some of these people for years," said Trixie.
"I know what you mean. We’ve chatted with all of them, celebrated their successes, prayed for them when they needed prayers and share general nonsense. Now we finally get to meet them in person." Honey’s eyeballs grew wide with excitement.
"I just wish that Mike was able to make it. He seems like such a fun guy with a great sense of humor."
"Well, you’d have to have one for all of the stuff he’s had to put up with. First they took all of his clothes and left him with a Speedo swimming suit to wear. Then last year when they were in Amish country they pulled that carriage in front of his hotel room door so he couldn’t get out. I can’t imagine Jim or Brian being that tolerant."
"I don’t even think my almost twin, Mart would have been that tolerant," Trixie commented.
"I think you’re right." By now they had finished their lunch and were ready to head on their way.
The remainder of their trip that led to meeting Kayla and June was pretty uneventful. Honey took over driving and Trixie dozed for awhile. Before they knew it they were pulling into June’s driveway. As they got out of the car two members of the Perky Patrol ran out to greet them. Even before they were able say hi they were engulfed in a huge group hug.
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Author Notes
Well, this really isn’t my first try at fanfic. I have a story half written that I hope to start posting before the end of the year with hopes of eventually becoming a Jix author.
This story came about because I HAD to write one since I am a co-host of this Circle Writing Challenge.
I want to thank Dana for coming through at really the very last minute to make this challenge happen.
I’d thank my editors but there aren’t any due to the nature of this challenge. So any typos, grammatical errors, or just poor English are solely mine.
I fully recognize there absolutely no plot to this story. It’s not even red star. Someday I hope to finish this story. After I attend Trixie Camp and really know what happens at Trixie Camp.
Finally I really did some quick research about water witches and everything is pretty accurate.
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