Page 91 of Famous for a Living

Static.

Just like I would imagine one feels right before being struck by lightning.

Mina turns to me. Quite slowly, I realize. A little bit scarily. She looks as if I have all but slapped her on the back. As if I have just succumbed to some terrible, unbelievable betrayal.

“Cat.” Her voice is carefully measured calm. “We cannot forfeit. This is the Tenth Annual Skijoring National—”

“Is it really a ‘national’ race when it kinda has the invented-in-our-backyard vibe?” I say.

“—Race, and we are Kannery National Park, two-time leading champions and rightful owners of the original 1910 saddle owned—”

“Allegedly,” Kevin puts in.

“—by none other than President William Taft’s personal secretary’s good companion’s brother, Johnathon King. The man who rode out on horseback through this land—”

“Also allegedly.”

“—and came back to tell his brother, who told the personal secretary to the president himself that he should do all within his power to protect this area. The man who convinced—”

“More or less,” Kevin chimes in.

“—President William Taft himself to sign a bill into law making Kannery National Park—”

“—and more well-known Glacier.” Kevin raises a finger.

“—into a peaceful park and protecting over 353 square miles of pristine field and forest—”

“—and more impressively, Glacier’s 1,583 miles,” Kevin says.

Mina’s all but standing now as her voice and sense of justice rise. “And we cannot sit idly by, watching”—she narrows her eyes in the direction of the Glacier team—“those boys take what has been rightfully ours through the sweat of our brow—”

“Technically, Jax’s and Zaiah’s,” Kevin says. “Although we are proud supporters—”

“—by default. Due to an unfortunate circumstance out of our power.”

Oh my gosh.

Mina is holding a fist to her chest now. Chin raised. “This is not just about the saddle.”

Are her lips quivering?

Are Mina’s lips actually quivering?

“It’s about honor. And we cannot let our park, our beloved, cherished park, be swallowed into that hole of Glacier and swept aside.”

Silence follows.

A couple of the kids on a haystack near us begin to clap.

“So . . . you want me to give it a shot?”

True, the words pop out of my mouth before I really think them through, but still. The lip quivering.

It’s actually quite effective.

Mina clutches my hands. “Yes. Yes. Of course. You, Cat. You do it.”

I can’t help but laugh.