LITMIR.BIZ

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that little tree? The one that always scrapes the roof?” Alex asked.

      “It’s gone!” Lee walked along the side of the road. Someone had cut the big trees here too, leaving only their stumps. The tracks looked wider, as wide as a regular road. But Lee didn’t see a single tire mark anywhere.

      They searched the dirt road for some distance before turning back to the beach. No tire marks showed there either.

      “Isn’t this where your dad almost got stuck?” Lee pointed. “There should be a pothole, but….” She swatted a fly on her cheek.

      “Dad hasn’t come along here since it rained. That’s for sure!” Alex walked ahead, searching for signs. He was moving in the direction of their camp- the woman’s camp.

      “Let’s ask her.” Lee caught up with him.

      “I don’t know.” Alex slowly shook his head. “What did she mean about our easels?” He twisted his foot back and forth in some pebbles.

      “Beats me,” Lee shrugged.

      “Let’s spy on her,” Alex said.

      “I’m going to talk to her.” Lee walked along the beach. Alex followed.

      The woman sat on a stool outside the trailer. She, and the monkey on her lap, stared at them as they walked closer. The strange, wire-haired dogs bounded up again to sniff their shoes and legs. One of them snapped at Lee’s shoe.

      “Come back,” the woman called. “No, Pout. Come.”

      The snapping dog looked at her, then ran back and lay at her feet. The others followed.

      “Don’t worry, they’re friendly. They’re Belgian griffons. I used to breed them. I don’t so much any more.” The woman stroked the dog called Pout. “Your dad said you might be curious. He said you don’t get away much.” She studied them. “You can’t be identical twins.” She tapped one finger on her lips and nodded. “You do look a little alike. Same small noses, same high foreheads, but different mouths. Yours is much wider.” She pointed to Alex. “You have a nice, strong chin,” she said to Lee. “You seem strong-willed and independent. And you’re taller.”

      “We’re not twins.” Lee swallowed hard. “Can you tell us where our campsite is? It’s around here somewhere. We have two motorhomes.”

      “Motorhomes? What are those?”

      “Vans. Trailers, like yours. But newer,” Alex said.

      The woman shook her head. “All that’s around here for miles and miles is beach. And gravel. And rocks. And trees. And your place up there.” She pointed up the hill towards the homestead. “This is the only campsite. I’m the only one staying here. Come, get your paints ready.” She walked over to the tarp and disappeared behind the flap.

      As she did, Lee noticed their sliding rock, just behind her trailer.

      

      Lee nudged Alex. “Look,” she whispered. “The slide.”

      Alex gasped. “This is our spot.” He looked around. “The trees are bigger over there. The beach is kind of different too. But the climbing rocks are exactly the same. Man….”

      He held the tarp flap aside and asked the woman, “Do you know another beach around here with a sliding rock like that one?”

      “No. Take this.” The woman handed him a can of paint and a stick. “Stir,” she commanded. “We will paint today, or my name isn’t Emily Carr. Enough of your distractions.”

      “You’re Emily Carr?” Lee looked into the tent.

      The woman poured paint into another can and gave it to Lee. “Stir,” she said, turning away and walking to a large stack of manila paper. Attaching a sheet to a board, she carried it out into the sunshine. Again she disappeared into the tent.

      Lee moved over to Alex and set her paint can down beside his on the sand. “Emily Carr!” she whispered. “She’s a famous painter. My new teacher was just talking about her. But she didn’t tell me Emily Carr lived around here, or that she was so strange.”

      For a moment Lee wished she could stay and paint. She loved the reds and browns, was tempted to put her fingers into them.

      A thunderous crash broke the silence. Lee breathed in sharply and swung around, almost overturning the can of paint. “What was…?”

      “Something fell,” Alex said, his eyes bulging. “Something huge! Up there.” He pointed to the hill behind them.

      After a few more crackling sounds the air became very still. No dogs barked. No birds sang. Even the wind hushed.

      Emily Carr came out of the tent and looked up at the hill, where the homestead was hidden behind the trees.

      “Goodness, another one dead,” she muttered. “Too many. Your folks are getting greedy.” She shook her head. “Every day this goes on. I’ll have to move the elephant.”

      “The elephant?” Lee and Alex asked at the same time. First a monkey, now an elephant. Was Emily Carr part of a circus? Did she do disappearing acts?

      “The trailer,” she said, waving her hand in its direction. “My summer home. I call her the elephant.” She walked back into the tent. While they stirred, Lee and Alex whispered about what to do. This had to be the right beach, but their parents were gone. The fire pit was in a different place. The canoe, the clothes line, even the tubes had disappeared. In its place were Emily Carr and an old trailer she called the elephant. She thought they were twins who lived up on the hill. A loud crashing sound meant another one was dead.

      “Another what?” Lee wanted to know. “A fallen tree maybe?”

      Alex shrugged, a worried look on his face. He wanted to go up the hill to investigate.

      Leaving the paints on the sand, they ran along the beach and started up the trail, but it was different too. The ground had been leveled and some roots that grew across the path had been flattened in places. Stumps were sprinkled with bits of sawdust. This wasn’t the old trail; this was a new road.

      The trees alongside the path showed big gashes in the trunks, as if something heavy had bumped into them. Pieces of bark were missing. The dirt showed marks as if something had been dragged uphill.

      “Let’s hurry.” Lee was ahead of Alex this time and she had forgotten all about the lump on her head.

      After rushing up the trail, Lee slowed down and caught her breath. She recognized the road as the trail they had climbed dozens of times. It had the same curves, the same lookouts, the same views of the Strait of Georgia waters and the Gulf islands. But the trees were enormous. Lee shivered in the silence. On the forest floor grew bushes and brambles so dense Lee was sure she couldn’t make her way through it if she wanted to.

      “This morning I waited here for you.” Alex pointed to a boulder at Lookout Point. “I sat on this rock.” He sat down. “These trees were smaller. I’m sure!” He slapped his arm, then his calf. “There are more mosquitoes and they’re biting.”

      Lee glanced around and moved over to Alex. “Something weird is going on,” she whispered. “I don’t like it.”

      Alex nodded, making room for Lee on the boulder.

      They sat side by side, whispering. Lee said there were no tire tracks here, so she’d like to go back to ask Emily Carr more questions. Alex wanted to hike to the homestead and The Bluff, where they could see the whole beach below. He had to find out what a “dead one” was, he said. They both jumped as another crash broke the silence. The noise was closer this time, much closer, coming from just up ahead on the road.

      “That wasn’t

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