Alexis and the Lake Tahoe Tumult - Erica Rodgers [0]
Edited by Jeanette Littleton.
Print ISBN 978-1-60260-406-3
eBook Editions:
Adobe Digital Edition (.epub) 978-1-60742-415-4
Kindle and MobiPocket Edition (.prc) 978-1-60742-417-8
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted for commercial purposes, except for brief quotations in printed reviews, without written permission of the publisher.
Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2010 by Biblica, Inc.™ Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any similarity to actual people, organizations, and/or events is purely coincidental.
Cover design: Thinkpen Design
Published by Barbour Publishing, Inc., P.O. Box 719, Uhrichsville, Ohio 44683, www.barbourbooks.com
Our mission is to publish and distribute inspirational products offering exceptional value and biblical encouragement to the masses.
Printed in the United States of America.
Dickinson Press Inc., Grand Rapids, MI 49512; April 2011; D10002783
Table of Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Cat’s Out of the Bag
“Only about twenty more minutes to the hotel!” said Mr. Howell. Alexis’s dad hummed as he guided their rented car up the winding road that would take them to Lake Tahoe.
The flat, icy landscape scattered with sagebrush had turned into snowy peaks. As Alexis gazed at them, her imagination started to go wild. She decided the snowy peaks reached into the bright blue sky like the jagged teeth of a crocodile—like the crocodiles she’d seen in a documentary on the Discovery Channel earlier in the month.
And of course her thoughts of documentaries and the Discovery Channel made her think of the real purpose she and her friend Bailey, a fellow Camp Club Girl, had for going to Lake Tahoe with Alexis’s mom and dad and twin brothers.
“Hey, Dad?” Alexis called. “Can we go straight to the animal reserve?”
“I don’t see why not,” Mr. Howell said. “It’s too late to ski today, anyway. I’ll drop your mom and brothers off at the hotel. They can check in and hang out while I drive you out there. We’ll be back by dinner.”
Alexis yawned and closed her eyes. She thought again about those big teeth on the crocodiles.
Suddenly the car began to swerve and shake as if those crocodile teeth had gotten hold of the Howells’ car.
“What’s going on?” asked Mrs. Howell.
“Not sure!” said Mr. Howell. He was struggling to keep his hands on the steering wheel. Alexis looked out the window and realized that the car wasn’t all that was shaking.
“Dad, is this an earthquake?” she asked.
Mr. Howell didn’t answer. He was focused on dodging the rocks that had begun rolling down the hill above them.
But almost as suddenly as the bouncing of the earth had begun, it stopped. Within a matter of minutes, the car was driving smoothly again.
“What a way to start a vacation, huh?” Mr. Howell laughed nervously. “I think that was a small earthquake.”
Alexis turned to Bailey, but her fellow Camp Club Girl was fast asleep, face pressed against the window. The breath from her gaping mouth was fogging the glass. Alexis peeked into the back of the van where her little brothers were also sleeping.
There was no way Alexis could have slept, even before the earthquake. She was too excited about her documentary.
The owners at the Tahoe Animal Reserve and Rescue at Lake Tahoe had agreed to let her tour and film their facilities. Her video would be about remembering nature in the middle of our world full of cement and SUVs.
She was planning to enter the video in a contest for young amateur filmmakers. The winner of the contest would not only see the film shown on the Discovery Channel but would also receive scholarship money. And knowing how much her mother’s youngest sister was still paying on loans she’d