Kate Dunlap

“I want to show Edward and Emilie our yard after breakfast, Mom,” Kate said. “I want them to see our cacti that are in bloom. May we?” The Dunlaps lived in Sunburst, Arizona, and, since it was April, most of their cacti were now blooming. Some of them had pink flowers, some had orange, and one of the cacti had yellow flowers. They were very pretty.

“That’s fine,” Mrs. Dunlap said, “but please help to clear the table first.”

“Well, I’m off to work,” Mr. Dunlap said. He pushed back his chair and stood up. “I’d love to stay here, but the best I can do is get two extra days off this week. I guess the company is really busy right now.” James Dunlap worked at Pennington’s Computer Store. It had a boring name, Kate thought, but the inside was anything but boring. Kate loved anything that had to do with computers, and she could spend all day in Pennington’s Computer Store if she were allowed to! She envied her father, who not only got to spend all day there, but work there as well. Kate could not think of any job that would be more fun.

Mr. Dunlap said goodbye to his family and left for work. Kate, Emilie, and Edward had the table cleared very quickly, and soon the three of them had their shoes on and were ready to go outside.

“Oh, Mom!” Kate exclaimed as an idea hit her. “Could we take the binoculars out with us, too?”

Mrs. Dunlap considered it for a moment. Then she said, “All right, but just be very careful with them.”

“We will,” Kate agreed, and Edward and Emilie nodded.

“Be sure to wear the strap around your neck at all times,” Mrs. Dunlap reminded Kate.

“Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll be careful.” The children thanked Mrs. Dunlap and headed outside.

“Wow, those are pretty!” Emilie said when Kate pointed out the blooming cacti to the twins. “I especially like this one, though,” she continued, pointing to a tall, spindly cactus which was covered with leaves and just beginning to have flowers up top.

“Yes, that’s one of my favorites, too,” Kate replied. “It’s called ocotillo.”

Kate and the twins looked at all the new blooms on the cacti, and then decided to take turns looking through the binoculars for a while. When it was Edward’s turn, he looked at a cactus, which was a little distance away. “Oh, wow!” he exclaimed. “You can see so much detail with these.”

“Hey, let me see!” Emilie said, moving towards her brother.

“Just a minute,” Edward responded. He took one last long look at the beautiful cactus flowers through the binoculars before handing them to Emilie.

“Wow,” Edward said again. “I guess I never knew how beautiful a cactus is!”

“You’re right, Edward; they are beautiful,” Emilie replied. “Kate, what do you say about taking a few pictures of the flowers with your digital camera?”

Kate thought for a second. “Okay, that’s fine,” she decided. “I’ll run in and get it.” She was back in a couple moments.

“Emilie, since it was your idea, you can use it first,” she offered.

“Thanks!” Emilie gave the binoculars back to Edward and took the camera out of Kate’s hand. She put the strap around her wrist and took a few pictures. Then she said, “Why don’t we go down and walk on the wall that separates our property from the neighbor’s down the hill? It would be a lot easier to get a good picture of the cacti. The angle from up here isn’t very good.” She took a step towards the retaining wall.

“Wait,” Kate said. “Mom and Dad don’t usually let us go down there. We’ll have to ask Mom for permission.”

“Okay,” Emilie said reluctantly. Then she proposed, “I’ll go with you.”

“Me, too,” Edward added. “I just realized that I didn’t put my new watch on this morning. I don’t know how I could forget that!” So all three kids went back inside together.

While Edward ran upstairs to get his watch and put it on, Emilie and Kate stayed downstairs to ask Mrs. Dunlap’s permission to walk on the wall.

“I guess that’s okay,” Mrs. Dunlap said after Kate asked her, “though don’t expect me to say yes every time after this.”

“Thank you, thank you!” Emilie exclaimed. Then she had a thought. “But won’t the neighbors see us and want us to get out of their yard?”

“No,” Mrs. Dunlap answered. “The house is a vacation home and the people who own it generally only come up to visit on the weekends in the summer. It’s the middle of the week so you can be sure they won’t see you. Besides, I’m sure they wouldn’t care that much. They’re really nice people.”

“Do you think we could jump down off the wall into their yard, Mom?” Kate asked. “It would be to get a picture from further away. Please?”

Mrs. Dunlap looked thoughtful for a moment. “Well, okay,” she said slowly, but be very careful in their yard. Don’t touch anything and don’t mess up anything. Are you sure you can jump off the wall without getting hurt? It’s pretty far off the ground!”

“I think we’ll be okay,” Kate responded. “It’s not that high, and besides, I did it once before when I accidentally threw a ball into their yard.”

“All righty, then, you may go.” Just then Edward came down the stairs wearing his watch.

“Forgot this,” he explained to Mrs. Dunlap, pointing to his watch.

Mrs. Dunlap laughed. “I understand,” she said.

So Kate and the twins made their way outside again. This time they walked down to the wall. They had just all climbed down the hill onto the wall when Edward said, “I forgot the binoculars! I was going to look through them while you girls took pictures.”

“How could you forget them? They were hanging on your neck!” Kate exclaimed.

Edward looked sheepish. “I took them off when I got upstairs,” he admitted. “They were too heavy and were hurting my neck.” He ran back up the hill to the house to get them.

By the time he got back the girls had finished taking pictures on the wall and were ready to jump down. Edward, who didn’t want to miss out on anything, decided to jump down, too, even though he had just gotten back with the binoculars.

Before she jumped, Kate put her camera down so that she would not damage it. Edward noticed this and figured it would be a good idea for him to put the binoculars on the wall first, too. He observed Emilie, who had already jumped down, watching him, so he decided to make a show out of putting the binoculars on the wall. “I think I’ll take off my watch, and put it on the wall, too!” he said with a grin at his twin. “I don’t want it to get scratched when I jump.” He took his new treasure off and put it down beside the binoculars.

Emilie knew he was joking. “Oh, you are such a goof!” she giggled. Edward pretended not to notice. He jumped down into the neighbor’s yard and then put the binoculars back around his neck where they belonged.

He was just about to reach for his watch when Kate, who had not been paying attention to the twins, exclaimed, “Edward, look at this cactus right here! Don’t you think it is really pretty? I love this flower especially.”

Edward immediately forgot about his watch, which was still sitting on the wall, and followed Kate to the cactus that she was talking about. “Yeah, it is pretty!” he agreed. “Em, come here and look at this flower! It has got to be the biggest one here!”

The children spent several more minutes outside taking pictures of the cacti and admiring them before deciding to go inside for a bit. By the time they chose to go inside, they were all the way down the row of cacti. Edward’s watch never again entered his mind. The rest of the morning went by quickly.

The afternoon was very cloudy and looked like it would probably rain, so the kids decided to stay inside for a while. They played several games, in which Kate won two times, Edward won five times, and Emilie won three times. “I guess you are pretty good,” Kate commented. Edward grinned.

“Yes, I have special powers,” he teased.

“You know what?” Emilie said. “I’m getting tired of just playing all day. Let’s go ask Mom if she has some work we could do. I think it would be fun for a change.”

“Good idea!” Edward said. “I agree!”

They found Mrs. Dunlap at the computer, e-mailing. “Mom, do you have some work we could do?” Emilie inquired. “We are getting tired of playing all day long.”

Mrs. Dunlap grinned. “Okay,” she replied. I have some laundry you could fold.”

“Anything sounds great,” Kate said.

“Anything?” her mother responded. “I’ll take you up on that if you want. How would you like to organize all of the cupboards in the kitchen, and then wash all the dirty dishes? After that you can scrub the floor, and—”

“Stop!” Kate said, laughing. “I guess I didn’t mean anything! But folding the laundry would be okay.” She and the twins scampered off to the living room where the unfolded laundry stood waiting.

The afternoon passed quickly, too. That evening Mr. Dunlap did not get home from work till late; it was almost time for the children to go to bed. They were even already in their pajamas. It was just starting to rain when Mr. Dunlap drove into the driveway. “It looks like we are going to have a soaker,” he announced upon coming in the front door.

“Good,” Kate exclaimed. “I’d love a soaker. We haven’t had much rain in a long time.” As if her words were a cue, just then the rain came pouring down. “Yay!” she cried. “I hope it rains hard all night.”

“Me too,” Edward remarked. “Except—” Just then he remembered the watch that he had not thought about all day or the day before, “—when I have left my brand-new watch outside in the pouring rain!”

Emilie gasped. “What do you mean, Eddie?”

“Remember when you girls were taking pictures of the cacti from the wall? Remember how I took my watch off as a joke? I totally forgot about it and it’s still there! I’ve got to go get it before the rain ruins it!” He darted towards the door.

“Now just hold on a minute,” Mr. Dunlap ordered. “One, you are in your pajamas. Two, it is pouring outside and you are going to be soaked. Three, it is about time for you to be getting in bed. In addition, your watch is waterproof. Also, if it were going to be ruined, it would be ruined by now anyway! It is raining very hard!”

Edward stopped. “You’re right,” he said. “I had forgotten that it is waterproof. Am I ever glad you got me a waterproof watch! I’m just upset with myself for leaving it outside! I can’t believe I did that!” He sighed, and then added, “May I go get it in the morning?”

“Yes,” Mr. Dunlap replied, “if it has stopped raining and the wall is not too slippery from being wet.”

“Thank you!” Edward exclaimed. “I will.” Little did he know that he wouldn’t!