Thank you all so much for your reviews! : ) And yes, I am going to try to make them less childish. Oh and edited the first chapter. I added a little bit more to it. So if you want to reread it, you can.
As soon as they got to the tree that Mandie had marked, the pit was gone! "It was here! I know it was!" Mandie, said Looking around frantically.
"Are you sure that it was here?" Joe asked doubtfully.
"No it was here I am sure of it!" Mandie said. The others were searching everywhere as well. Mandie got on her hands and knees, and felt the ground for any signs of the pit. "Do you believe that it is a mystery now Joe?"
"I always did believe that you thought it was a mystery. But now I actually think that it is," he answered.
"I wish that I had seen it. It sounded so cool!" Sallie exclaimed.
"And I had always wanted to see a hole that went over my head," Dimer added.
"All I want to know is how they just disappeared," Mandie said.
"And who dug them, and why," Celia continued to wonder.
"Mandie," Joe started. "You and Celia are definitely going to be detectives."
"Not me! I am going to give music lessons," said Celia. "But Mandie, no matter what she says is going to be a detective." Mandie nodded.
"But I also just wanted to show them to you," Mandie sat down on a rock and hung her head.
"It's okay Mandie. Maybe we'll find another one. Let's start looking," Sallie said. Mandie nodded. They began to search in all different directions. Mandie went with Joe, and for some reason, she felt very uncomfortable with him. That was not like her, to be so shy near him, they had been friends for their whole lives. "Do I really- love him?" she asked herself. Or maybe it was that his brown eyed gaze was continuously upon her. She tried to ignore it, but she felt her cheeks begin to grow hot. She tried to start a conversation.
"Where do you think the pit could have gone Joe?" Mandie asked. Joe shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, maybe someone thought that they were dangerous and filled them up."
"No, that's impossible! No one could fill up a pit of that size in just a few days!" she said. "Maybe that was just the wrong tree. But then maybe, oh I don't know. I guess we just came to the wrong spot," Mandie said, disappointment clouding her face.
"Well maybe, but...Hey! What's that over there?" he asked pointing toward the left. Mandie saw a dark spot in the snow and walked toward it. The right before her, was a huge pit, even larger than the last one. Mandie called Joe over. He walked over to Mandie and looked down. He was surprised when he saw the pit right in front of him. "Wow! Now that is cool! It's almost thirteen feet deep!"
"I know! Let's go call the others!" Mandie answered. They ran back to the spot where the original pit was, (or once had been) and gathered the others together.
"Did you find anything?" Mandie asked them. They all answered "No". "Well Joe and I," right as she was about to tell them about the new pit she had found, it started to snow. And I mean really snow! It came on so suddenly that it almost startled them. "Oh, we better get back. And.. Uh-oh! Oops! I forgot! We were supposed to get home before dinner! We better hurry!" And just like that they were off, and Mandie forgot all about the pit Joe and her had found. They hurried back to the house and ran inside. Snowball was still meowing at the door when Mandie came in.
"Oh, Snowball! I'm sorry that you couldn't come outside with me. I'm going to take you into the kitchen and Aunt Lou will feed you," Mandie said scooping the cat into her arms. She walked through the dinning room and into the kitchen. But then she had realized what she had done wrong. She had told her mother that she would comeback before dinner, and it was dinner time now! She quickly put Snowball down, and walked out of the kitchen. She bumped into her mother.
"Amanda, may I have a word with you?" she asked. Mandie nodded and walked into the parlor. Elizabeth closed the door. "Amanda, I asked you to be back, before dinner. You told me that you would. But now it is dinner time, and you just now came back. I don't think that is very responsible," she said.
"I'm sorry Mother. I will do better next time. And I'll try harder to act like a young lady, and not like a ten year old girl," Mandie said humbly.
"Ok. But please don't do it again," she said. "Now, why don't we go and have some dinner?" Mandie smiled and nodded. They walked back into the dinning room and sat down at the table. Mandie was really hungry because of being out in the cold air for a long time. They were having ham, with potatoes, and spinach. And after dinner was even better. Aunt Lou surprised all of them with, wait for it- - chocolate cake! As they were eating it Mandie said, "Mother, do you know what happened to the pit?"
"No, dear, I don't," her Mother answered.
"Well," Mandie continued. "Just a few days ago, we found the pit. But today, Celia, Robert, Tommy, Joe, and I all went back to the pit to show Sallie, Dimer, and Polly. But when we got there, the pit was gone!"
"Well, that is certainly a mystery. Maybe you might just need to look harder. Do you think you can solve it?" her Mother said smiling. Mandie smiled.
"I'm sure that I can. But only with the help of my friends. And even if we wanted to look harder we couldn't. Look at the snow!" Mandie exclaimed. Her Grandmother looked at her said, "You have quite a sense of adventure. Just like I was when I was your age." They all looked at the snow.
"Wow! Look at it coming down out there! Looks like a pretty bad blizzard out there!" Celia exclaimed.
"Well why don't you stop talking, and finish your cake. We need to get ready for the ball." Mandie nodded, and quickly finished her dessert. They walked out and Mandie walked out into the parlor. They started to hang decorations in the parlor. Mostly garland and wreaths, but it was very fun. Then they decorated the rest of the house. They rapped garland around the stairs, and tied red bows to it. They hug wreaths on all the doors. All of them! Though they had to wait till the next day to hang decorations outside. Finally, right before supper, they were finished. Mandie had been working with Joe the whole time, though she had not noticed it.
"I liked working with you Mandie," Joe said smiling. Mandie looked down so the he wouldn't see her blushing.
"Well! Y'all did a great job!" Elizabeth said looking at their work. "Now tomorrow, you can all go out to get thing for the ball. You can get gifts for each other, and girls, you can get new dresses for the ball." Mandie and Celia clasped hands.
Suddenly Liza came in and told them that supper was ready. "Hey Missy Manda, has dat miss sweet thang messed with your Joe yet?" she asked as Mandie passed by.
"No, strangely, not yet. But I'm not really thinking of that right now," Mandie answered. They went into the dinning room to eat supper. As soon as the young people had finished eating, they went into the parlor to talk.
"Hey! There is something that I forgot to tell y'all about that Joe and I found," Mandie said. "What?" they all asked, except for Joe. "Well when Joe and I were looking around for clues, we found a new pit! I would like to show it to y'all, but I'll have to tell Mother first. I don't wan her t get worried."
"Okay, we'll wait for you in here," said Celia, as Mandie went out. Mandie went out of the room to her mother.
"Mother, we were thinking of going outside for a little while. Will that be ok with you?" Mandie asked.
"Alright, but don't stray too far," she answered. "Thank you Mother!" Mandie said and ran back to the others. They went to the hall tree to grab their coats, hats and boats. They went out the door and into the snow. They quickly ran to place that Mandie remembered the pit being, but when they got there, it was gone too!
"Oh no! Not again! Don't tell me this one is missing too!" Mandie exclaimed, with a look of disappointment on her face.
"Oh this pit is gone for sure!" Joe said.
"I said don't tell me! Not do tell me!" Mandie said.
"I'm never going to see one of those pits!" Sallie said disappointedly.
"Neither am I," said Dimer.
"Well it's starting to get dark, we should be heading back," Robert said looking at the darkening forest. "And it's snowing again."
"Oh bother! It's snowing so hard that I can hardly see the way home! But I think that way!" Mandie said pointing to her right, not realizing that she was pointing in the opposite direction that they were supposed to go! After they had walked for a little while, Mandie started to realize, that they were going the wrong way. "I think we're lost. I can't tell which way is which, and it's getting darker and darker. And now, the snowstorm, has turned to a blizzard! And it's extremely cold!" Mandie said pulling her coat closer around her.
"Mandie, I'm really cold. Do you think that we'll ever find our way home? Celia asked shivering. Robert walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her.
"I don't know! I so cold that I can't think strait. I can't believe I got us into this mess! I'm so sorry!" Mandie said. She began to cry softly. Joe put his arm around her.
"Shh shh, it's alright Mandie. We'll find our way home, or someone will find us. And it wasn't your fault that we got lost," he said trying to comfort her.
"But it was my fault. I shouldn't have been dumb enough to think we could go in the middle of the woods at night, and in winter. And is going to find us? What if they don't?" Mandie asked looking up at him.
"Remember, God will take care of us," Joe reminded her. "Here, take my coat, your shivering."
"No, Joe. I'm not that cold. And I don't want you to freeze. We don't know how long we'll be out here," Mandie protested. But Mandie finally gave, and Joe gave her his coat.
"Can y'all say my verse with me?" Mandie asked them. They all nodded and clasped hands. "What time I am afraid I will put my trust in thee," they prayed. And Mandie added, "Please Lord, let someone find us." They sat there for about ten minutes. Then there was a rustling in the bushes that startled them, and they turned around and Uncle Ned came out.
"Uncle Ned!" Mandie exclaimed and she embraced the old Indian.
"Come, Papoose's mother worried," Uncle Ned said.
"I'm sorry that I made everyone worry so much," Mandie said. They hurried back to the house and ran inside.
"Oh Amanda! I was so worried!" Elizabeth said hugging her daughter.
"Oh thank goodness your alright!" Mrs Taft said.
"Mother, tell Aunt Lou to get these poor children some blankets," Elizabeth said. Mrs. Taft went into the kitchen. "Oh Amanda, I am so happy that your alright!"
"I'm fine Mother. Joe gave me his coat," Mandie said. "Oh! I have to thank him for that," mandie said and ran off to find him. She found him sitting in the parlor by the fire. "Joe, thank you for giving me your coat. You didn't get to cold did you?" Mandie asked concern filling her eyes.
"Yes I'm fine Mandie. Thank you for asking," Joe said.
"Are you sure? You night have froze to death!" Mandie said.
"I'd rather me freeze to death than have you freeze to death," Joe said. Just then Mandie's Grandmother came in and said, "Amanda Elizabeth told me to tell you to say goodnight. Everyone has already went to their rooms."
"Ok Grandmother, we'll just be a minute," Mandie answered. "Well good-night Joe, I'll see you in the morning."
"See you in the morning Mandie," Joe said, and he kissed her on the cheek. Mandie blushed, till her face was the color of a tomato. Joe went up to his room and Mandie to hers.
Mandie got up to the top of the stairs and went into the her room and got ready for bed. She brushed out her tangled blond hair and slipped on her nightgown. She climbed into her bed and snuggled under the covers. Snowball crawled up next to Mandie and started purr. Mandie was glad to be in her warm bed.