“You’ve been with us more than a year now,” Sam said on the way to the March Search and Rescue meeting. “A lot of people thought you wouldn’t make it. How do you feel about it?”
“I’ve learned a lot,” I said. I was still wondering why Mabel hadn’t picked us up.
“I’m glad I could help,” Penny said.
I didn’t know what Penny was thinking, but I was pretty sure it would be our last meeting. I just couldn’t imagine that all those people would want us to be permanent members. We didn’t even have cars.
When we got to the house where the meeting was, everyone else was already there. We sat on the floor in a corner.
“Welcome, Penny and Ariel,” Jack said. “As you can see, we always meet half an hour early when we are voting on new permanent members so we can talk about them before they get here. Everyone has seen you at training meetings, Mabel has told us about your work on Delta team, and I talked about your tree rescue. A couple of people have some things they want to say to you. Jeff?”
“I guess I was jealous at first. I’m sorry. Like most people my age, I always thought of younger kids as useless. I was wrong, at least about you guys. You guys are good.”
“Thanks,” I said, still feeling quite vulnerable.
Penny nodded and smiled.
Then George from B team said, “I never let you know, but I was dead set against you being on the team from the beginning. I have an 11-year-old daughter, and she is useless, at least at anything that means taking responsibility. But . . .” He looked around the room. “. . . I don’t see how I’d want to get along without you two on my team.”
I was feeling like crying, but I held it in.
“Sam, any comments on swimming or anything?” Jack asked.
“I’ve only seen them in practice, but a friend of mine, Tom Miller . . .”
“You know Tom?” Penny interrupted.
“I know everyone in town who can swim worth beans. Or drink beer worth beans.”
Everyone laughed. “Tom took them across the inlet in his canoe. Except, they weren’t in the canoe, if you take my meaning. Four miles, with no assistance. I want them on C team.”
He was embarrassing me. No one else had anything to say, so we took a break for coffee, milk, and cookies. A feeling of pride was growing inside me, but deep down I still thought it was our last meeting. Everybody settled into the living room again.
“A vote for Ariel to be a permanent member of the support team,” Jack said. Everyone raised their hands. “Penny on support team.” Again everyone.
Wow, we were permanent members! And we could go on helping Mabel!
I was grinning from ear to ear.
“A vote for Ariel on water rescue team.” All hands went up. “Penny on water rescue.” All hands went up again.
I looked at Penny. We were on C team too!
“A vote for Ariel on land rescue.” All hands went up. “Penny on land rescue.” All hands but one went up. I could see Maxine biting her lip. Then her hand slowly went up.
“You are now permanent members of B, C, and D teams,” Jack said.
“Congratulations!” Everyone clapped. Some people waved victory fists for us.
Penny and I hugged each other. My heart was pounding and I was close to tears. All three teams! I couldn’t believe it. It was just too wonderful.
We finally settled down and the meeting switched to the training session.
It was lectures and blackboard stuff, all about map reading, and signaling, and stuff like that. During the break, Jack introduced us to Carl.
“I’ve worked out a plan to handle your transportation,” Jack said. “Here’s how it goes. Carl drives like the wind, and he’s always getting to rescues before even Alpha team can get there. So we’re going to harness his energy a little to help you guys out. He’s on both B and C teams. If we get a call during school hours, he’ll drive by your schools. Any other time, he’ll drive by your houses.”
“And we do mean drive by,” Carl said. “If you aren’t in the middle of the street waiting for me, I go on to the rescue.”
Jack went on, “If you aren’t at the expected place, then you revert to D
team. Get to a phone and call Central Dispatch, tell them where you are, and Mabel will get you, if she can. That’s the best we can do.”
Penny and I were happy. We liked Carl. He was kind of wild, taking more risks than most people. Jack opened some cardboard boxes and showed us our receivers, big ones for home that plugged in but had batteries for during power failures, and little ones we had to carry around with us. He showed us how we had to put them into their battery chargers at night.
Penny and I were all smiles the rest of the afternoon. The training finally ended, and we all attacked the fried chicken place. A lot of people congratulated us and said they were looking forward to having us on their teams.
Carl flew us home so he would know where we lived. He came in and introduced himself to each of our parents, and told them how our transportation would work. And he told them how proud they should be to have daughters who could do the things we could do.
After he left, I hugged my mom and dad. “Thanks!” I said.