Xander couldn't get over the fact that the Anderson's allowed Yzzie to camp overnight alone. His mother barely let him walk down a store aisle by himself. He'd tented by himself in his back yard once, but hadn't lasted the night. Yzzie and her parents went camping all the time. With the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park nearby, Uncle Bart had shown him several slides of epic vacations on a shoestring budget. Apparently, Yzzie could pitch a tent and light a campfire before she started grade school. By eight years, she would ride out and check the cattle by herself. Last summer, when she turned twelve aunt Alice agreed to let her camp alone as long as she stayed on Anderson property. Tenting in Yzzie's back yard had a whole new meaning when her yard covered a couple of square miles.

The sun had risen just over the eastern red rock mountains, as Yzzie looked over her shoulder at him. Xander felt awkward and uncomfortable. The city boy had never been on a horse before, unless you counted the stick horse Xander had when he was four. This turned out to be a little different. Yzzie paired him up with Ringo a very quiet and well-mannered Quarter Horse. She explained that Ringo would take good care of a rookie rider. Yzzie rode Pivi, a slender Appaloosa that liked to go fast. Pivi was short for Piss and Vinegar, so named by Yzzie's father because the impish colt had been born with a truck load of spunk and energy. Trailing behind and loaded with gear was Gypsy, Pivi's mother.

Xander had been surprised at the amount of chores Yzzie did every morning. He could barely lift the heavy hay bales, let alone carry them from the stack to the corals. Lift with your legs, Yzzie had told him. His legs wouldn't listen. He hadn't been much help at all, but Yzzie didn't seem to mind. At least he'd been able to carry the oat pails, barely.

"You are a hard person to understand sometimes." Yzzie broke the silence between them.

"What do you mean?" Xander questioned her.

"I just didn't figure you for camping in the mountains, or anywhere else for that matter," she told him, "especially in December."

"I have my reasons," he answered. "Besides this has been a very mild winter, you said so yourself."

"Still," she countered, "last time you visited I couldn't drag you onto a horse or even out to the barn."

She smiled as the nervous rider peaked over his shoulder at the ever shrinking farm house. Yzzie was determined to show him the wonders of the great outdoors whether he liked it or not.

"Are you familiar with the Snoopy Rock mystery, Yzzie?" he asked.

Yzzie stiffened at the question, before answering. "Everyone in Sedona has heard that old tale."

"Good," Xander continued, "Because I have a theory about the plane crash and I want to take a look at the site."

"It's four or five miles east of the ranch," Yzzie said. "We can only camp on our land."

"What if we set up camp on the edge of the ranch and ride over to see it after?" Xander asked.

"I don't know," Yzzie replied not at all excited to have her plans changed at the last minute. "Although, one of my favorite hikes is up Camel's Head Mountain, next to Snoopy Rock."

"I love a good hike," Xander smirked.

"You love a good hike?" Yzzie questioned and then said, "I guess we could."

"Is something wrong?" Xander asked, noticing reluctance in his cousin's posture and voice.

"No, it's nothing," she offered. "It's just that the broken plane gives me the creeps."

"So it is still there," Xander perked up, then added a question. "You've been there before?"

"A couple of times," Yzzie responded. Her eyes closed and her head bobbed back and forth several times. It looked to Xander like she was weighing the pros and cons of a visit to the site. She opened her eyes and said, "We can be there before lunch time if we get a move on."

"Excellent," Xander said, bouncing in the saddle with excitement.

"We'll have to keep this little trip off the property to ourselves," Yzzie told him, "and you will hike, fish or do anything else I decide for the next two days."

"Deal," Xander said.

They turned the horses in a more northeasterly direction. Xander bounced rapidly up and down, gripping tightly to the saddle horn with one hand and to his hat with the other, as Ringo and Gypsy trotted along. Pivi and his rider galloped smoothly past and led the way.

. . . . .

One snack break, two sore inner thighs and just short of three hours later Xander had his head inside the weathered plane fuselage. Much to his disappointment the ragged hole in the side of the plane was not a perfect circle. He determined that the rusty crater wasn't made by a either a laser or a particle beam. One wing must have been torn completely off at impact. It was lying upside down more than thirty feet from the rest of the plane. There were only stubs where the propeller once was and the rear of the engine now intruded into the cockpit of the Piper Comanche. Xander remembered the make and model from the library book. The plane's dash hung askew and the corner rested on the passenger's seat. The back seats, where the baby must have been, and the tail section of the plane were pretty much intact, except for the rusted hole on the passenger side.

Yzzie leaned over the faded passenger seat, her hand resting gently on the arm rest. She reached over and caressed the pilot seat.

"Are you sure you're alright?" Xander asked, aware of her actions.

"I guess so," she answered with an awkward tone in her voice. "It's just so sad, you know. At least, they died in a beautiful location."

"The 'Miracle Baby' survived," he offered.

"That's what they say," Yzzie replied.

"The librarian, Miss Tuttle, told me the story." Xander informed her.

"How is your laser beam theory holding up?" Yzzie changed the subject and stepped away from the cockpit.

"It has a big hole in it." Xander giggled at his own joke.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Yzzie asked. She sat down on the remaining wing. The horses were staying cool in the shade of some Mesquite trees a hundred yards away.

"We'll know it when we find it." Xander explained vaguely.

"Well, I won't," She retorted with a snicker. "I haven't got the faintest idea what to look for."

"Just look for something that doesn't belong here." Xander added, a little impatience creeping into his voice.

"The whole thing doesn't belong here," Yzzie said sarcastically.

Xander finally pulled his head out of the ragged hole and looked over at his cousin. She had a big smile on her face. Finally, he got the humor in her response as she started to laugh. He broke down and started to laugh, too.

"You can keep looking, if you want." She informed him, "I'm going to check on the horses." Yzzie then wandered off towards them. Even Xander had to admit the weathered plane had crashed in a very pretty spot, with the stream, the mountains and the trees surrounding it.

The boy turned his attention back to the crash site and continued his search for answers. Time and the elements had left little for the boy to find. If there ever had been any evidence of foul play it was gone now. A little later, when he glanced over, Yzzie sat between Pivi and Ringo. Both horses were tethered so they could graze on the yellowish grass that grew in abundant tufts along the nearby gurgling stream. They'd left Gypsy back at the main camp site. It had taken Yzzie no time at all to set up two pup tents, while he gathered twigs and branches for the fire they would light later. An orange tarp protected everything else, not currently in use. When Xander finally ambled over to the horses, he discovered that Yzzie had made sandwiches.

"Find anything?" She asked, looking up at him.

"Just these," Xander showed her a handful of small round objects.

"They look like giant beads," Yzzie said taking one and looking closely at it.

"You're right," Xander agreed with her. "I think they were part of one of those beaded seat covers that massage your back while you drive."

"Or in this case, while you fly," she pointed out. "Where are the rest of them?"

"I was only able to find five," he said. "Crows or raccoons must have taken the others. These were lodged under the pilot's seat."

"They're quite pretty," Yzzie noted.

"You can have them, if you want." Xander handed the rest to her.

"Thank you," she caressed one and then put them into her jeans pocket. She offered him a sandwich.

"Thanks," Xander took the sandwich and then added, "and thank you for bringing me out here."

Xander sat down on an old log that Yzzie had dragged into the shade. It was more comfortable than he expected it to be.

"Xander there is something I need to tell you," Yzzie looked serious. "It's about the crash."

"What is it?"

"Those were my parents in the plane," she said.

"Really?" Xander scratched his head. "I thought it was the Robertson family."

"I was born, Isabella Robertson," Yzzie said. "The Anderson's adopted me after the crash."

"You were the Miracle Baby," Xander said. "How did I not know this?"

"Of course, Uncle Bill knows," Yzzie told him, "I'm sure your mother does too."

"He doesn't talk about it much, but I knew that Dad and Aunt Alice lost a sister," Xander said. "I had no idea she was your mother."

"Mom, she's really my aunt Alice too, was my birth mom's younger sister," his cousin explained.

"I'm sorry, Yzzie, I wouldn't have asked you to bring me here if I'd known."

"It's okay," said Yzzie, "Mom and Dad bring me here every spring when the flowers are blooming. You should see how beautiful it is then."

Xander looked at the downed plane and then back at Yzzie, "We can head back now if you want."

"I don't think so," Yzzie smiled, "We've got a little hike ahead of us before we head back to camp."

"About that," Xander got a sheepish look on his face as he thought about all the work Yzzie had done to set up camp. "We really don't have to stay out overnight. I've seen what I came out here to see."

"Nice try, City Slicker." She told him. "You're mine for the next couple of days! That was the deal."

"Seriously, what is there to do out here?" he asked. "We didn't bring any books. There's no television or internet."

"You can worry about books and the internet if you survive the hike." Yzzie smirked at her cousin. "Eat up pal, you're going to need your strength."

Xander swallowed nervously. "Oh boy."

"I'm going to show you my favorite place in the whole world," Yzzie said, as she handed him a sandwich. "You're going to love it."

Xander looked at the sandwich. It had thick slabs of ham and cheddar cheese, with mustard, on heavy homemade brown bread. He'd always been more of a peanut butter and jelly on white bread kind of guy, but he felt quite hungry. He took a small bite.

"Hey, this is pretty good." Xander reported. He quickly chewed, and took another bite.

"Everything tastes better out here," she told him. "I don't know why, but it just does."

Xander couldn't argue the point. He continued wolfing down the excellent sandwich.