Read Mosquitoes of Summer Online
Authors: Julianna Kozma
“But I thought it was the journal that listed all the hiding places of Black Sam’s treasure.” Emily had a pained look on her face. Things were getting a bit complicated for her and she decided that she was a much happier camper playing with Lucy’s castle.
“Hmmm. We’ll have to think about that,” muttered Jack thoughtfully. Rubbing his chin with his hand, he crossed his lanky legs Indian-style and closed his eyes. Lucy quickly grabbed her pad of paper and scribbled a Do Not Disturb message and gently taped it to Jack’s chest. Unaware of what just happened, Jack continued to puzzle out the journal and letter dilemma. Meanwhile, Emily just managed to breach the castle gate, killing and maiming a large number of knights and their horses.
“We need to get a hold of that journal,” said Hannah, but she was not sure how realistic that plan of attack actually was. “Maybe the easiest thing would be to follow Malone wherever he goes.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” asked Emily as she sent the king and queen flying into the moat. “It’s not like we can drive. If he decides to take off to the other end of the island we can’t follow him, unless we ask our parents to drive us, and since we know they won’t, what do you suggest, smarty pants?”
Glum faced, the kids sat silently (except for Emily, who was launching squires and pages over the castle’s ramparts). “We can’t do much tomorrow anyway,” sighed Lucy, finally rousing herself and prodding Jack awake. “Hannah’s parents are taking us to Avonlea for the day and we won’t have time to do much afterwards. We’ll have to get together another time and figure out our next move.”
Every year Hannah and her family made it a point to visit at least one of the island’s fun parks (a.k.a. tourist traps). Everyone had different needs. Mom needed music and food. Dad needed adventure, with a little golf thrown in. Emily needed water parks and Anne of Green Gables. Hannah needed everything! She refused to be picky and wanted it all. Unlike her eating habits.
“Shining Waters is the new theme park, and maybe we can go visit that this year,” said Hannah. “But we must go to the ‘you know where’ first.” Lucy had no idea what Hannah was talking about but Emily was quick to fall for her sister’s bait.
“I don’t want to go on the Haunted Woods walk,” whined Emily. “No way. There have been enough haunted things in my life this summer and I don’t need more. But I do want to see Green Gables, and then Avonlea. Too bad Rainbow Valley is closed. I would have liked to go there as well. How about Ripley’s
Believe it or Not
Museum? And the Toy Factory, Butterfly Garden, and Sandspit. And all the shops. I want to shop! I
need
to shop!”
“This year I went to Shining Waters with my dad and a friend from Vermont,” recounted Lucy, smartly ignoring Emily’s long list of needs. “The water slides were awesome. One of them is a really long ride, and it’s completely covered, so you are sliding around really fast in the dark. Then all of sudden you splash out into a pool. There’s also this water slide like a giant toilet bowl and you skim around the edges.”
“But is it like Rainbow Valley?” Emily really missed the family fun park since it closed its doors in 2005. Open in 1969, Rainbow Valley had the charm and innocence of an age that’s long since been replaced with modern conveniences. Mother Goose storybook statues were hidden throughout rolling lawns of green grass and shady chestnut or linden trees. Hannah and Emily loved the mini-rollercoaster that chugged along rusted tracks. The Witch’s cave never failed to scare Emily, the rope bridge was dangerous when Dad decided to give it a try, and Hannah became an out-of-control driver in the swan boats.
“Today we are going to stick to all things Anne, if that’s all right with Emily,” said Mom, directing a warning glance at the tiniest backseat passenger. “As I mentioned this morning, we are going to start out in Avonlea Village and follow Anne’s schedule. She arrives by train at 9:30 and we should be able to get there in time to see that.”
Hannah could hardly wait. Over the years the family has never been able to drag Emily out of bed on time and they always arrived an hour late for the park opening. This year Emily had an easier time waking up, knowing that Lucy was joining them.
After picking up their friend, the car headed down Route 6 into the heart of PEI tourist country. Traffic was usually heavy from the Cavendish Boardwalk all the way to Green Gables and Hannah enjoyed gazing at the many themed attractions, family parks and restaurants lined up along this small strip of highway.
Although Hannah had already visited Avonlea and Green Gables many times, she never tired of it. She also had high hopes of seeing the Fantasmic Museum, Wax World and the Sandspit. Ripley’s
Believe It or Not
Museum was a blast last year (there were only two Ripley’s museums in Canada, the other being in Niagara Falls). Hannah definitely wanted to go back for another look at the grotesque and unusual.
“Hey, we passed Avonlea,” cried Emily, looking at her dad with a panicked look on her face.
“We need to get gas, and at the same time I’ll buy some ice for our multi-purpose cooler. It will keep our picnic lunch cold.” Just up the street from the gas station and Cavendish Cemetery was a National Parks Canada information building, and Hannah always noticed streams of cars coming out of the small parking lot. “Can we visit the National Park later?” she asked sweetly.
“Not today, Hannah-girl,” replied Dad, getting back into the car. “It’s a holiday today and Cavendish Beach will be very crowded. Everyone goes there because they often see it in the PEI Travel Planner book. This whole area is for tourists and everything is close by for them. After Labour Day in September, the stores, museums, and motels along this road are closed and boarded up for the winter. It looks like a ghost town. I think only Green Gables stays open, and that’s because of the golf course next door. The Green Gables post office is closed after Thanksgiving weekend.”
“Then we’re being tourists today too,” giggled Emily, putting down her Game Boy as the car’s tires crunched on the gravel parking lot of Avonlea Village. “Wayne said that we’re mosquitoes of summer. So we’re going to buzz around and bother everyone, not that
I
ever do that. Oh look, there’s Anne. First one to get her autograph is queen for the day!”
Avonlea was one of Hannah’s favourite places in PEI, not counting the beaches. No trip to the island would be complete without at least one visit to this increasingly popular attraction. Since many of the activities were held out of doors, Hannah’s parents always made it a point to visit on a sunny day. Today was no exception. It was a gorgeous morning with clear skies. A slight breeze forced Hannah to grab her sweater out of the car, just in case.
“Wait for me,” yelled Hannah, running to catch up. Everyone had already moved into the period train station. Many of the props found lying around the ticket booth (where her parents paid the park fees) were from actual island train stations no longer in operation. In fact, the entire Avonlea Village was built according to various descriptions found in the Lucy Maud Montgomery books.
“Here you go Hannah,” said Dad as he handed everyone their colour-coded bracelets. A woman dressed in vintage costume welcomed visitors at the door fronting the village. Hannah took a Schedule of Events from her outstretched hand. Quickly glancing at the paper, she told Lucy, “Let’s go sit in the wagon. We’ll be the first to ride around the village plus get our choice of seats.”
The horse-drawn wagon was parked in front of Avonlea’s barn, and passengers were greeted by the strong aromas of horse and cow coming out of the large building. Avonlea had a real working farm, complete with horses, cows, pigs, goats, chickens and barn cats. Hannah loved going inside the barn, looking for the cats, although her sister usually beat her to it. Emily had a real talent for finding animals, especially the ones that were hiding from her.
“Hi Hannah,” waved Emily from the front of the wagon. “I saved you some seats,” (she patted one of the red leather benches) “but Farmer Bob let me sit up front with him. He said I might even drive the wagon! Isn’t that cool? And look at the horses. They’re be-u-ti-ful! Names are Chester and Daisy-Mae. Chester’s the big dark brown one. Daisy-Mae has a gorgeous tail to go with her blond coat. See … our hair matches!”
Hannah and Lucy looked at each other resignedly. How did she do it? Well, they weren’t the first ones on the wagon, but at least they had choice seating. After a few more minutes the wagon had about 15 passengers and Emily grabbed hold of the reins. Off they went, lurching from side to side as the horses trotted down the wide street. It was a great way to get a first look at Avonlea.
Opened in 1999, the village contained a combination of newly built stores and original buildings that accurately represented a small PEI village at the turn of the century. Staff members dressed in period costumes stroll along the dirt roads or sidewalks made from plank boards. Actual historic buildings were physically taken apart, moved to this site from their original spots, and re-built in the new village. Among the more famous of these buildings were the Belmont schoolhouse, where the famous author taught, as well as the Long River church where Montgomery once attended service.
“Look at all these activities,” gushed a young boy sitting next to Lucy as he looked at the brochure. “I want to go on the pony ride!”
“And I want to see the 1908 Men’s Swimwear Competition,” added the boy’s mom, smiling slyly while fiddling with her digital camera. “The County Fair sounds like fun too,” added her husband.
A day in Avonlea was a day spent running from one activity to the next. A series of dramatic productions based on the popular Anne of Green Gables books were interspersed with village activities such as potato sack races, pie eating contests, oyster shucking and the infamous manure toss (last year Dad came in second place!). An added bonus were the numerous musical concerts (or ceilidh) held in some of the village buildings.
The three girls tried really hard to follow the suggested schedule. Hannah and Lucy went to school with ‘Anne and Gilbert’ and cringed when the red-headed heroine smashed her slate over Gilbert’s head.
“He deserved that!” whispered Emily, sneaking in just in time to witness the drama. She then proceeded to one of the empty desks in the front and sat down to watch the rest of the play.
Towards mid-day the gang decided to have lunch and set up their picnic spread under the white gazebo in the heart of the Avonlea flower gardens. Charlie Sloan, the funny guy in the Anne stories, ambled by on his way to the barn, and decided to inspect Hannah’s sandwich. Not finding it to his liking, he went through the family’s cooler and bit into a peach while stuffing his denim overall pockets with carrot bits.
“Want a cheese stick?” asked Emily, waving it in Charlie’s face. Taking off his patched straw hat, Charlie scratched his head in puzzlement.
“What’s a cheese stick?”
“It’s cheese.”
“But it’s skinny, and it’s got orange spots and it’s wrapped in something funny. Ain’t never seen anything like that in my world.”
“DON’T EAT IT LIKE THAT!”
Quickly snatching the cheese stick back, Emily peeled off the plastic covering. “Here. Now you can eat it.”
And he did, in one big gulp, swallowing both cheese and peach at once.
“Boy, talk about getting into character.” Hannah and Lucy laughed as Charlie waved goodbye.
The afternoon concert in the white Long River church building was a hoot. Lively fiddling music poured from the building’s numerous open windows. Hannah and her family sat in the upper balcony and had a wonderful view from above. Emily managed to find a seat in the front, and joined Anne in the square dancing up on stage.
“How does she manage to get into everything?” Hannah was not sure if she should be frustrated with her sister or proud of her gumption to plunge into all kinds of adventure (trouble too!). Hannah was much too shy to even think about standing in the front of the church. She would never ever volunteer to dance like that on stage in front of all these strangers. But she wondered whether she was doing the right thing. Just look at the Emzo’s face! It was lit up with pure delight, thought Hannah. Her sister was having the time of her life. In a way, Hannah envied her for the ease and enthusiasm in which Emily approached everything life had to offer.
After the concert, Emily pulled everyone along to the pony rides. She had waited patiently all day for her chance to ride one of the miniature horses that always grazed in the Avonlea pasture. And Mom needed to take a picture of her on top of Thistle, her chosen pony. Thistle was soooo beautiful, gushed Emily to anyone unfortunate enough to be close by. The horse had a sandy brown coat with patches of white on its chest and over one eye. The pony’s light blond mane was free of tangles and its pink muzzle blew out a loud gust of air, much to Emily’s delight.
“He likes me,” she yelled to Hannah, laughing as she bounced along in the saddle. Meanwhile, Lucy and Hannah perched themselves along the fence, waiting for their turn. No one should ever be too old to ride a pony, thought Hannah, deciding this year she was going for it. Guided by one of the farm hands, Emily and Thistle made their way towards the far end of the pasture.
Suddenly from out of nowhere, a small boy crawled under one of the fence beams and ran towards Thistle, wildly waving his arms and screaming “Horsie! Horsie!” at the top of his lungs. The horse jerked hard to the right, startled by the unexpectedness of the boy’s presence. Trying to avoid hurting him, Thistle tried to retreat, but stumbled on a patch of hay. The momentum of his retreat whipped the reins out of the farmer’s hands and Emily was thrown to the ground, hard.
The whole incident took less than a minute. Mom and Dad ran down the pasture towards the fallen Emily, followed by a crowd of anxious spectators. As Hannah took off after her parents, she heard her sister shrieking, the screams piercing the air with an intensity that Hannah had never heard before. Fear gripped her heart, and her stomach clenched in terror as Hannah sensed that something was really wrong.