Saving Crazy: The Wild Place Adventure Series (The Wild Place Adventure Series, 3) - Softcover

Karen Hood-Caddy is an avid nature lover and the author of five novels. Her first novel in The Wild Place Adventure Series, Howl, was nominated for the Canadian Library Association’s Book of the Year for Children Award and the Violet Downey Book Award. She lives on Georgian Bay, Ontario.

CHAPTER ONE
Robin sat splayed against the back seat of the van, sweat oozing out of her like the guts of a squashed fly. The air conditioner had stopped working just before they left Winnipeg and the heat made Robin feel as if she were sitting in a sauna.
Every part of her seethed with heat — her skin, her toes, even her teeth and tongue were hot. In fact, there was no part of her that wasn’t hot. And there was no part of her that wasn’t grumpy about it either.
Oh, what she’d give to jump into her little lake at home. She closed her eyes and imagined the feel of the wet dock under her bare feet and the moist mineral smell of the lake as she stood, readying herself to dive. In her mind, she leaned forward and plunged in, splooshing down and down into the hug of it, bubbles exploding all around her as if they were as excited as she was. The water was cool and refreshing, “invigorating” as Griff always said, and she was grateful for the way the lake pulled the blistering heat from her body. Ah, finally, relief.
She opened her eyes and wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her bare arm. She’d never thought she would yearn for a lake, but she was yearning for it now. Big time. As she was yearning for everything at home — Relentless, Griff, Zo-Zo — even her sister, amazingly enough. Ari was supposed to have come on the trip, but had gotten a summer job at the last moment and their dad had let her off the hook.
What was Griff doing right now, Robin wondered. Cutting away the fishing line from a duck’s leg, or saving some deer that had been hit by a car? Or were she and Laura talking to some irate cottager who’d had a bear steal a salmon from their barbeque? Robin smiled. She knew she probably shouldn’t root for the bears in these situations, but she couldn’t help herself. Bears had to eat too, and once upon a time, all the salmon had been theirs.
Over the weeks Robin had been away, Griff had emailed a few times to say hello and give her news about what was going on at the animal shelter. Surprisingly, there hadn’t been any sort of crisis. But it was August and baby season was over, so things were usually quiet at this time. That was why her dad had wanted to visit Grandpa Goodridge in Winnipeg now.
“While we’re not running around like chickens with our heads cut off,” he’d said.
Expecting the trip to be long, hot, and boring, both Robin and her brother, Squirm, had tried to wiggle their way out of going, but her dad had been unusually firm. Unfortunately, the trip had met all her expectations.
Robin peeled her back from the hot seat and leaned forward. “Is Grandpa Goodridge older than Griff? He acts older.”
“No,” her dad said. “I guess all the running around Griff does for The Wild Place keeps her young. We’ll have to remind her of that the next time she tells us how tired she is.”
Robin could only see his eyes in the mirror. It was funny the way eyes could smile. Just like a mouth could, but different.
“All Grandpa Goodridge does is crosswords,” Squirm said.
“He bakes, too,” their dad said.
Robin remembered the day they’d made peanut butter cookies. Robin had watched as her grandfather’s small fingers flitted over the baking sheet like skittery birds. Griff’s hands were huge and powerful and did things with calm certainty.
“Peanut butter cookies used to be your mom’s favourite,” Grandpa Goodridge had said.
Robin had winced at the mention of her mother. It still hurt to think of her. Would there ever come a time when she didn’t react? At least nowadays she no longer cried.
Robin stuck her head out the window. The air wasn’t cool, but it lifted the damp curls of her hair from her scalp and that felt good. Heat was so heavy. It was pushy too, leaning into her like a bully.
And what about Zo-Zo? What was Zo-Zo doing right now? On the Internet researching something, no doubt. At one point, Robin had tried to get her to come on the trip too, but Zo-Zo’s dad had given her a summer job at his newspaper, writing articles on the environment and Zo-Zo hadn’t wanted to pass that up.
Zo-Zo had sent some of the articles to Robin, but Robin had barely been able to read them. The last one had been a list of all the animals, birds, and insects that had gone extinct in the last ten years. She had known that some species no longer existed, but as she’d read the avalanche of names, she had hardly been able to breathe. How could people let a whole species die?
Squirm swivelled in the front seat and faced her, his stubby, freckled finger pointing to a spot on a creased map.
“We’re here,” he said. “Just past Killarney. Won’t be long now.”
“Shall we stop and have a swim?” their father asked.
“No!” Robin wanted to swim, but she wanted to swim in her own lake. She gave Squirm a stern look, daring him to say anything different.
He got the message and faced the front. “We can go swimming when we get back.”
Their dad pushed his fingers through his damp hair. “Must be a record breaker today.”
“This whole summer is a record breaker,” Robin said. It was kind of scary. After week after week of sizzling heat, lawns were yellowing, the leaves on the trees were shrivelling up, and small shrubs looked like bouquets of dry sticks. Would it ever rain again?
“Can I have a cookie, Dad?” Squirm reached for the tin he’d positioned beside him on the seat. “Long as you give me one, too,” their dad said.
Squirm handed him a cookie, gave one to Robin, and took three for himself. He smirked at Robin. Payback for not arguing about the swim.
A raven cawed and Robin picked up her phone. It was a text from Zo-Zo.
New guy alert.
Robin texted back quickly. Cool! Name?
McCoy! Big B’s stalking him already.
Brittany. Figures, Robin texted.
U can’t have him either, Zo-Zo added. U have Brodie.
Brodie. Did she have Brodie? He’d been away at camp all summer and only written once. She wasn’t sure she even liked him anymore. As a friend, yes, but as a boyfriend?Probably not. But it was too hot to think about that now.
Wanna swim when wr back?
Great! C u @ r place!
She set the phone aside. Her eyelids felt as heavy as manhole covers. She let them fall to a close and gave herself over to the oblivion of sleep. When she woke up, the van had stopped. Were they home? Smelling gas, she opened her eyes. They were at a gas station in Parry Sound. Not far now. She pushed herself out of the van. The sun stung her skin as she yanked open the back door and pulled her bathing suit from her pack. She went into the washroom and slipped it on while her dad pumped gas. Now she’d be able to run down to the lake the minute they arrived home. Hotter than she’d ever felt in her life, she pushed her head out the window again. Her whole body felt swollen, bloated as if it were twice its normal size. And her skin was sticky as if she’d rolled in icing sugar. But soon she’d be in the lake, the cool lake. The second she was back, she was going to jump in the water and stay there for days.

When they finally pulled up to the farmhouse, Zo-Zo was sitting in a deck chair on the porch. She waved frantically and leapt down the steps, the two dogs, Relentless and Einstein, charging behind her, their tails whooping.
“Welcome home!” Zo-Zo shouted.
The dogs jumped, spiralling in the air and yipping. Robin felt a surge of relief rise in her chest. She was home. HOME.
Zo-Zo threw her a towel and they ran down the path to the water.
When they got to the lake, Robin raced along the dock, then tried to stop herself. Zo-Zo and Squirm collided into her from behind. Relentless, however, did not stop. Nor did Einstein. They rollicked forward, flying off the end of the dock as if the water were clear and blue and beautiful.
But it wasn’t clear and blue and beautiful. It was bright green and slimy and looked like something from outer space.
Wide-eyed, Robin stared out across the lake. The surface was covered in thick ooze for as far as she could see.
“Ew ...” Squirm cried, stepping back. “What happened to the lake?” His voice was barely above a whisper.
Shocked and horrified by what they saw, no one spoke.