As Cisco and Baxter led the group to Isis’s old house, Baxter asked, “Do you think we can get everything Isis wants us to bring back?”
Cisco nodded. “I’m sure of it. She gave me a detailed list. We just need to make sure we have enough space in our packs.”
“It’s probably a good thing that we brought the twins along. They can haul some of it.”
“I never thought I’d hear you say that you were glad to have the twins along.”
Baxter laughed. “I didn’t exactly say that I was *glad* to have them along.”
Once they arrived at Isis’s house, it took them a full day to gather and pack everything on her list. As they worked, Shaun and Tam wandered off to find some shade.
“Hey, come back here and help us finish this!” Cisco called after them.
But Shaun and Tam were too busy picking dry grass to care.
Baxter watched them for a moment before getting up and examining their packs. “Uh-oh,” he muttered to himself. “I think I know what’s going on here.”
“Look at this, their packs are full of dry grass.” Looking around, he saw a pile of items piled in a corner. “And that’s what should be in their packs.”
Moving to block the twins’ view while he worked on their packs, he removed the grass. “Cisco, bring me a couple of those big rocks.”
Baxter held the packs open while Cisco dropped the rocks in. “Now pack the grass back on top.”
Baxter grinned. “Let’s see if they notice.”
“And now I’ll have to find room in my pack for everything that they should have been carrying.”
Breezy noticed Baxter and Cisco fiddling with the packs and asked, “What’s going on?”
Baxter showed them, “It looks like the twins decided to fill their packs with some dry grass. We added some weight to give them a little more exercise.”
The group burst out laughing at this revelation. As they continued to gather and pack, Cisco made sure they had everything on Isis’s list.
The next day on the trail, the twins seemed to be having trouble keeping up with the rest of the group.
As the sun began to set, the party finally made camp.
After dinner, the twins quickly found a place and were soon asleep.
Baxter waited until they were both sound asleep before quietly retrieving their packs from where they had been left by the fire.
Lifting the packs, Baxter said, “It doesn’t feel like they figured out why the grass was so heavy.”
As the other Rangers watched, Baxter removed the dry grass from the twins’ packs and replaced it with the items they should have been carrying in the first place. Then, he added some dry grass on top.
Stony snorted, “I’m not sure what’s more impressive, Baxter, your ability to pack so much stuff into those small packs or how you managed to get the twins to carry that extra weight all day.”
Juni shook her head good naturedly. “Only you could turn a simple task like packing into an art form, Baxter.”
Breezy chuckled, “And what about the ‘packing material’ from last night? Did you get rid of that too?”
“Well, the packs are so full now, there isn’t any room left for the rocks. Unless you want to carry them.”
As Baxter quietly returned the re-packed bags next to the sleeping twins, the rest of the group couldn’t help laughing at the sight.
“Well, I guess that’s one way to teach them a lesson,” Cisco said, chuckling.
Shaun and Tam were oblivious to the whole thing as they continued to sleep peacefully.
The next day on the trail, Shaun and Tam were engaged in a hushed conversation for most of the morning.
As the group stopped to eat their midday meal near a cold mountain stream, the twins took an unusually long time stacking their packs with the others.
Later, as he saw the twins lingering by the stream, Stony called out, “You two taking a little break, eh? Just make sure you don’t get left behind.”
Juni chuckled and whispered back, “It might be a good idea if they did get left behind…”
As the group was getting ready to continue their journey, one after another of the Rangers’ packs came apart, dumping their contents all over the ground.
The twins’ packs, however, remained intact.
“Look out! Baxter’s had enough!” Cisco exclaimed as he saw the scene unfold.
Baxter stormed over to the twins, who were laughing and trying to look innocent at the same time, no doubt pleased with themselves for having pulled off such a major prank.
“That’s it, I’ve had enough!” he bellowed.
Without warning, he grabbed each twin by the nape of the neck and, with a mighty heave and loud roar, threw them into the cold water of the stream.
The twins came up gasping for breath, scrambled up the bank, hissing and spitting. When they got to Baxter, all full of fight, he promptly picked them up and threw them back in the water.
They fought their way back up the bank, cussing up a storm, at which point, you guessed it, they found themselves flying back into the freezing water.
This time, after slogging to the shore, they slowly made their way up the bank, sobbing and mewling like kittens.
They stopped in front of Baxter, heads down and shivering.
“Right then,” Baxter said, “the sun will dry you out and warm you up while you remake all the packs and make sure they’re tied securely.”
The twins looked at each other, still sniffling, before slowly nodding in unison.
“Y-yes…we’ll d-do it…”
Baxter’s face turned stern again. “Don’t even think about trying to sneak out of this. You two are going to learn how to pack those packs properly, and you’re going to do it now.”
As the twins slunk away to start re-making the packs, Juni whispered to Baxter, “You know, I definitely think you got their attention…”
Stony chuckled in agreement. “Yeah, might just be the best thing that’s happened all trip…”
Once the twins had finished re-making the packs and drying out, they started grinning at each other.
The jests grew into a full-fledged comedy show as they mimicked each other flying through the air and floundering in the stream.
“Hey, at least I didn’t look as stupid as you did when you were splashing around in there!” Shaun said, chuckling.
“Oh yeah? Well, at least I didn’t do a somersault before I landed in the water!” Tam retorted.
The banter continued until they were both laughing so hard they were rolling on the ground, gasping for breath.
Once they finally wound down, Shaun put a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
“Alright, let’s do it.”
Tam nodded in agreement.
The twins approached Baxter and the Rangers, who were watching them with amusement. As they stood there, both dipped their heads as a sign of respect.
Baxter and the rest of the Rangers gave them a nod in return.
“OK, now that the show is over,” Cisco said with a chuckle, “let’s get moving before we run out of daylight.”
Baxter smiled and patted each twin on the back. “Yeah, time to show us how you’ve improved those packing skills of yours. And try not to get too carried away with the comedy routine, okay?”
The twins nodded in unison as the group set off towards the valley.
With Shaun and Tam trying to act just like the Rangers, the rest of the trip was relatively uneventful.
As they arrived at the Ranger’s lodge, Piper greeted them warmly.
“Hey, guys! How was the trip? I see you’re all in one piece.”
“We made it,” Baxter said with a smile, “but Shaun and Tam here had to spend a little extra time improving their knot-tying skills…”
Piper chuckled. “Well, that’s what we’re here for – to teach them a thing or two!”
Cisco paused and frowned slightly. “Hey, where’s Jax? I thought he was going to meet us here?”
“Don’t worry,” Piper reassured him, “he’s still at the Valley of the Flowers. We’ll catch up with him soon enough.”
With that, Piper shouldered her pack full of supplies and joined the group as they headed on towards the valley.