laughed when Shilo rolled her eyes Cricket focused on the Jenga tower again She tapped a block then gripped it carefully and wiggled it free Ka-boom A flash of lightning lit up the room at the same time as thunder cracked shaking the house Ah Cricket jumped and the tower fell Wooden blocks scattered across the floor The lights flickered and went out Not again Shilo groaned Seconds later the lights came back on though they were a little dimmer than before Shilo turned to Cricket What It’s the emergency generator Cricket stood up and Shilo followed her to the kitchen where Warden McKay was working on a computer 4
Cricket’s dad was a park warden in Waterton Lakes National Park It was his job to sort out disagreements between wildlife and tourists The week before he had helped a family that discovered a porcupine had moved into their tent and was refusing to leave As the weather got hotter and the forest got drier he spent more time checking campfires and reminding visitors how to extinguish them properly Shilo peered over Warden McKay’s shoulder at the screen That’s cool Is it part of Waterton And what are those little dots They keep changing color Warden McKay shook his head Waterton is down here he said pointing to the corner of the screen These are the mountains west of us and those dots are lightning strikes This website tracks the direction of the storm 5
and helps us predict where forest fires might start With some luck we can put them out before they get too big Thunder cracked and rumbled and a fresh flurry of dots sprinkled the map Warden McKay frowned and scribbled some notes Is that bad Dad It’s certainly not good he said Not good at all waterton park
Chapter Two The next day school seemed to be dragging dragging on forever Cricket couldn’t stop yawning in science class Shilo made a face at her and wiggled her eyebrows Dad left really early this morning Cricket whispered in the helicopter In fact he had left twice Cricket had heard him start the truck just before dawn when the sky outside her window was still inky black Not long after that the helicopter had flown over their house taking the crew out to check on the lightning strikes He came back then left again just before breakfast she whispered while 7
