Ghost Washed

Chapter 3: The Bear on the Iceberg

For the Sheriff to have vanished, things had to be bad in Pandora, Colorado. Max's Dad, Joe had gone to investigate a call from a stranded hiker way up in the mines. The same kind of creepy, cavernous space I'd been trapped in a month ago. The thought of the dripping water and that terrifying witch about to murder Opal made me almost drop the ice cream cone I was working on.

"Kilby's makes the best Butter Pecan in the world," Dad said as he chomped into his.

"Best Mint Chocolate Chip," I added before licking a streak of mint green about to run down my hand. "Anyway, Joe had been getting anonymous threats about an upcoming vote of the water time council in Pandora. The last thing he said to Max was, 'If anything happens to me, tell James Wallace. He'll know what to do.'"

Dad studied the line of tourists snaking out the door of Kilby's right by our bench. "Let's walk and talk," he said, reminding me that water time was a secret not to be overheard. A few blocks down Crystal Rock's quaint main street, we crossed onto a shady road that wound down to a garden with a much more private bench overlooking a pond. Across the way was a gazebo and the stone sculpture of a bear I used to love to climb on.

"I choose to use my resources to save Joe. One of the markings of a free society is choice, and there's always been a choice of philosophy for males born in water-time towns."

"Only for guys? Isn't that kind of archaic?"

"It is, yet I'm glad you'll never have to deal with that choice, because it has caused a great rift in my life."

"With you and Red." I knew it was a touchy subject, especially now.

"We were raised to support one kind of thinking, the one that our father had pledged to, the one that looks like this." Dad slurped his cone dry and held it upside down. "It's the shape of an iceberg that only exposes the tip out of water. The Iceberg Society believes we have a right to keep our secret only if we can make money in the real world. This society has risked tip-sized exposure over the years to ensure our land stays in the hands of water-time families like ours."

"Sounds reasonable," I said, considering how expensive resort town living was.

"But it's more complicated than that. I never knew the other choice had a side worth considering until I met your mother. Most of her family have pledged to the Bear Lodge and believe our secret is so important it should be kept entirely so for fear it could get in the wrong hands. There are some pretty powerful people who know all about us. They want our land and they'll pressure us to take it--like that." He snapped the cone and it crumbled to bits.

"Bradley mentioned that his dad wants to sell the Rock."

"Oh boy does he, and he has no idea who he's selling to. Once you give into them, they'll take it all. The world is full of water-time towns that are mostly parking lots now owned by lowlanders. Parking lots in front of dams with all the water rights belonging to the government."

"Is that who you think has Joe?"

He nodded while wiping crumbs off his shirt. "With the big meeting coming up, it's entirely possible that Joe is being threatened to change his vote from Bear to Iceberg. His elected position guarantees even more votes from his supporters for future agenda items."

"So how can we find him?" I pressed.

"We use our resources and that means family. You saved us before and I hate to think that you might have to help us again," Dad said.

"You mean, because I was born to two water-time parents but not on water time?" 

"Not only that, but how you outsmarted those bastards with your thinking. You cracked the case."