Ashley Enright and the Arrowhead Adventure (2)

Ashley went out to the garage and got her bicycle down from the hook on the wall. She put her helmet on, put her favorite NY Mets hat into her backpack and put her backpack on her back. She rode up Foggy Bottom Road to Josh’s house.

Josh was waiting for her at the end of his driveway.

“Hey, Josh,” said Ashley as she stopped her bicycle. “Are you ready?”

“Am I ever!” said Josh with excitement. They rode along Maple Drive to the Donnybrook Public Library. They didn’t talk much on the ride, they just enjoyed the beautiful spring day.

At the library, they parked their bicycles outside, took off their helmets and walked inside to the Reference Section.

 “Oh no!” Josh whispered. “It’s her!” He pointed to a woman sitting at the Reference Desk. It was Mrs. Daniels and not their friend, Kathleen. Mrs. Daniels was an older woman who had jet black hair pulled into a tight bun at the top of her head. She always had a pencil stuck in the bun. She wore very heavy makeup and bright red lipstick. Mrs. Daniels didn’t really like kids and, in fact, was always annoyed when any children came to her desk to ask questions.

“We forgot that Kathleen doesn’t work on Saturdays,” whispered Ashley. “Oh well, we’ll try our best!” The kids in town loved the fact that the other Reference Librarian, Kathleen Gorman, let them call her by her first name instead of “Mrs. Gorman.” She frequently helped Ashley and Josh with their investigations.

They walked over to the Reference Desk and said, in unison, “Hello, Mrs. Daniels!”

Mrs. Daniels looked up from the book she was reading and said, “Oh, good morning. What do you want?”

 “Well,” Ashley said brightly “We’d like to know about any Indian tribes that lived in Donnybrook.”

 “Why would you want to know that?” said Mrs. Daniels. “I’ll bet you have a report due for school on Monday and are trying to write it at the last minute. Typical children.” She huffed.

 “No report,” said Josh. “We’re just curious, I guess.”

 “Curious?” said Mrs. Daniels. “Curiosity killed the cat, you know!”

 “Yes,” said Ashley. “But we’re not cats and, besides, doesn’t the saying go: ‘curiosity killed the cat, satisfaction brought him back’? Can you help us?”

Mrs. Daniels gave a long sigh and said, “Oh, alright.” She reluctantly closed her book and turned to the computer. She typed for a few minutes and then said, “It says here that there were several Indian tribes in Maine. It looks like the Penabscot Tribe lived in what became Donnybrook.”

 “What can you tell us about the tribe?” asked Ashley.

 Mrs. Daniels gave another long sigh and said, “We have several books in the reference section about Indian tribes. You might want to check over there.” She gave them the Dewey Decimal number to look up the book and pointed to a row of books.

 “Thank you, Mrs. Daniels,” said Ashley as she and Josh walked over to the aisle of books that the Reference Librarian had pointed out to them.

“Why did you say thank you?” whispered Josh. “She wasn’t very helpful.”

“I think she was as helpful as she can be,” laughed Ashley. “Let’s see what we can find out about this tribe.

Ashley Enright and the Arrowhead Adventure

One Saturday morning in late May, twelve-year-old Ashley Enright and her best friend, Josh Stewart, were taking turns swinging on a tire swing that hung from a tree branch in the Turnabout Woods. The Turnabout Woods were at the end of their street, Foggy Bottom Road in Donnybrook, Maine, that overlooked a crescent beach.

Ashley said, as she gave Josh a push on the swing, “I can’t believe that the school year is almost over!”

“I know,” said Josh. “It seemed to go so fast!”

“I’m so glad that spring is finally here,” said Ashley. “I was getting a little tired of all that snow!”

“Tired of snow?” questioned Josh. “How could anyone get tired of sledding and skiing and skating?”

“Um, someone who likes swimming and bike riding, that’s who!” answered Ashley. “Hey, don’t be a swing hog – it’s my turn!”

Josh laughed and said, “O.k.” He dragged his feet on the ground to stop the swing. He looked down at the ground where his foot tracks were and said, “Hey, Ashes. Look at that!” He picked something from the ground and held it out for Ashley to see. It was made of stone and it looked light an arrow.

“Josh,” asked Ashley in wonderment. “Do you know what this is?

“Yea,” answered Josh. “It looks like an arrowhead to me.”

“It sure does,” said Ashley. “Have you ever seen one of these before?”

“Sure,” said Josh. “My dad has a ton of them in the garage.” Josh’s father was an archeology professor at the university and went on digs around the world. Ashley thought it was cool that Josh’s father was Donnybrook’s very own Indiana Jones! The Stewart’s garage was well known in town for being extremely cluttered, although Mr. Stewart claimed to know where every single thing was in the mess!

“I wonder if there are any more?” asked Ashley. They started to move more dirt with their feet and uncovered four more arrowheads.

“Ashes” said Josh. “We play here all the time, I wonder why we never found these before?”

“Beats me,” said Ashley. “Maybe all that snow we had this winter washed away a lot of the dirt?”

“Wow, five arrowheads,” said Josh. “That’s cool!”

“I don’t know that much about Indian tribes in Maine,” said Ashley. “Maybe we should go to the library and do some research.”

“O.k.” said Josh. “I’ll go home and get my bike and I’ll meet you at my house.” He started to run off.

“Wait,” yelled Ashley. “Where are the arrowheads? We don’t want to lose them!”

Josh turned around and patted the front pocket of his tan jacket. “Don’t worry, Ashes. I’ve got ‘em right here!” He turned and started to run up Foggy Bottom Road to his house.

“Don’t worry, he says,” Ashley thought to herself. “He’d lose his head if it wasn’t attached!”

Ashley walked across the lawn to her house. She yelled upstairs, “Mom, I’m going to the library with Josh.” Ashley’s mother was a public relations consultant who worked from home for clients in Boston and New York.

“O.k., dear,” said her mother whose voice came from the living room.

“Oh,” said Ashley as she came into the living room. “You’re not in your office.”

Ashley’s mother laughed and said, “Well, it is Saturday, I do deserve some time off!”

“Of course,” said Ashley. “It’s just that it always seems like you’re working on something!”

“I know,” said her mother. “But, I’ve finished the campaign for the Pierpoint Company, so I thought I’d take the weekend off and enjoy this book. So, you’re off to the library?

“You know us,” laughed Ashley. “We love spending time at the library!”

O.k.,” said Ashley’s mother. “Remember that your grandmother’s coming over for dinner.”

“Alright,” said Ashley. “We might have lunch at Ella’s Sweet Shop, but I’ll definitely be home early for dinner!”