Forest Guardians Chronicles: A Matter of Humanity Beth Roose (good books for high schoolers TXT) 📖

sighed. “Are you up for coming back late from lunch and we take this to my dad with the information?”

Bev nodded. “Of course, the quicker the better.” Marsha put the car in gear and backed out of her parking space, her wheels screeching as she pulled out of the parking lot, heading down Main Street in Peninsula.

The girls arrived at the lab to find both Morgan and Marsha’s Dad, Mr. Garman, there. As they walked in, Mr. Garman gave the girls an inquisitive look. “What are you two doing here? Aren’t you two supposed to be at work?”

Marsha approached her father, walking slower than usual. “I am sorry, Dad. I know I promised not to say anything, but I knew Bev could help, especially since she has the relationship with the Forest Guardians and Princess Celia.” Mr. Garman looked back and forth between his daughter and Bev, confusion and hurt washing over his face. Marsha continued, “Bev said the Pukwudgie and Hairy Tribe met together, along with Princess Celia. I told her what I overheard when you and Morgan were laying out the plan in the kitchen last night.”

Cutting her off in a loud rage, Mr. Garman turned bright red. “YOU LISTENED, MARSHA?!” The rage showed in his shaking hands.

“Dad, please calm down. Bev is here to help, she gave me some very useful information.” At the mention of new information, Mr. Garman calmed down noticeably and encouraged Marsha to continue on with her new discoveries. At this point, he thought, anything can help. “Princess Celia tracked down the cane of an old lawman, Bat Masterson. His great great grandson, Myles Masterson has it in Montana. Here is the address.” Marsha handed her father the soft, white piece of paper with blue cursive writing. She continued on, a calmer and softer voice now. “You need to get on the first flight to Billings. We can discuss this later, but right now, you need the gemstone in this cane.”

Mr. Garman stood up quickly and told Bev and Marsha to go back to work. “I have a flight to make!” He leapt out of his seat and barked at Morgan. “Morgan, keep working on the formula and order those additional equipment materials. I should be back in the morning.” With a quick goodbye and hefty list of instructions, Mr. Garman shared with Morgan his flight and hotel information.

“Be safe, Mr. Garman,” Morgan said.

Mr. Garman smiled, turned, and sped to the door. Opening the wooden barrier between him and the outside world, he turned to Morgan and said, “Keep that drone in hibernation.” With that, he turned on his heels, out into the sunshine, closing the door behind him. Morgan put his focus back on this task at hand and began to work tirelessly on a foolproof plan.

Mr. Garman deboarded the plane and walked swiftly to the car rental counter. As he stood waiting for his car, he shivered and shuddered, wishing he had brought a coat. “Your SUV is waiting, sir” said the kind reservationist.

Mr. Garman trotted over to the sky blue SUV and thought to himself,  “Land of the Big Sky, guess it makes sense they would give me a sky blue vehicle,” he chuckled to himself. He set his navigation to the address Princess Celia provided and sped off towards the highway, mountains in sight for miles. It was difficult to keep his eyes on the road, being surrounded by all of the nature sights. Mr. Garman found himself curiously gazing from left to right (at some points, even behind) at all of the beautiful and quite mountainous landscapes. His GPS alerted him to turn right in three streets. Just as he made the turn, Mr. Garman had to slam on his brakes, lurching him forward toward the windshield. “Thank God for my seatbelt,” he muttered under his breath. Right before his eyes was the biggest herd of white tail deer he had ever seen. The mammals flounced and flitted their tails and their ears as they peacefully crossed the road. “What an incredible sight!” Mr. Garman exclaimed. He sat in the middle of the road, wide-eyed and patient as the herd made their travels towards their final destination. Suddenly, a mama doe and her baby trotted up to his car window, staring in at him with their intent, yet calm eyes. Mr. Garman rolled down his window, curious to see how the brave creatures would react. The mother moved in close and put her head in the window, resting it on the ledge provided by the car door. Her doe stayed behind her, still unsure of what to do. Mr. Garman hesitated, lifting his right hand slowly and steadily, and reached over to pet her head. The doe continued to stand there, gazing at the man, never breaking her stare. “She must be hungry,” Mr. Garman thought to himself. He decided to share his homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich (one white bread and with extra crunchy peanut butter, of course!) Slowly, he reached into his briefcase and pulled the thick sandwich wrapped in wax paper. He pulled back the edges of the wrapping and suddenly, the doe grabbed it from his hand and backed away from the car. He watched, gaping in disbelief that his sandwich was just stolen, as the mama deer shared it with her doe. He was so astonished at the recent events, he spoke aloud. “My gosh, I wish I would have recorded this. No one will believe me.” Patiently, he waited for the rest of the herd to cross the road and drove on to his final destination.

Mr. Garman pulled up in front of the declared destination from the GPS. The house was a large log cabin with dark logs and a wraparound porch. He pulled into the gravel driveway, his tires crunching against the loose stone. Thankfully he did not need to arrive in secret, he could not have made anymore noise if he tried. He turned the ignition off and just