Leo Goes to Arizona

Leo couldn't wait to meet his friends in the park. He wanted to show them the presents his Uncle Bill had brought him. The gifts were from Arizona.

Leo was wearing his presents. He had a real cowboy hat. He had cowboy boots and a cowboy vest. His sister, Sam, also had presents. She had cowgirl clothes. She wasn't as excited as Leo.

At the park, Andy saw Leo's cowboy clothes. He was very impressed.

“You look so cool, Leo, ” said Andy. “I wish I had an outfit like that.”

“We're having a picnic today, ” said Kim. She wanted to change the subject.“Lucy has brought a basket of food, ” she added.

“And Kim has what we need to make a campfire, ” said Lucy.

“I learned how to make campfires in Girl Scouts. It will be very safe, ” said Kim. “We can hike down to the lake. We'll have our picnic there.”

“Let's have a cowboy campfire, ” said Leo. He was still excited about being a cowboy.

“You can have a real cowboy campfire, ” said a voice from Leo's jacket. It was RK-5, Leo's space robot friend. RK-5 had supernatural powers.

“I can take you to Arizona, ” said RK-5.“Yes, let's go! ” shouted Andy.

Leo was smiling. He wanted to go, too.

Lucy and Kim were not so happy.“Something always goes wrong when RK-5 takes us places, ” said Kim.

“Let's vote, ” suggested Leo.

The vote was three to two in favor of going to Arizona. Sam and the two boys voted yes.

RK-5 told Leo which buttons to press on his button pad. There was a flash of light and a cloud of blue smoke.

When the smoke cleared, they found themselves on a rocky hill. There were no houses or people anywhere. A big bird circled high above them.

“Hey! That's a vulture, ” yelled Sam.

“Never mind about the bird, ” said Kim.“Let's have our picnic and go back.”

“You get things ready, ” said Leo. “I'll go and find some firewood.”

Leo scrambled down the rocks. He jumped when he saw a big orange and black lizard. It slowly padded away from him. He gathered a lot of dry sticks and branches. When he had enough firewood, he started back to camp.

After a few steps, he heard a noise in front of him. He put down his firewood and grabbed one thick piece of wood. He tiptoed slowly toward the noise and peeked from behind a big tree. There, in front of him, was a Native American boy. The boy was about Leo's age and carried a bow and a bunch of arrows. The boy was spying on Leo's friends. They were busy getting the picnic ready.

“Oh, no! ” thought Leo. “I don't like the look of the bow and arrows. I must do something.”

Leo quietly crept up behind the boy. When he was right behind him, he held his stick above the boy's head.

“What are you doing here? ” demanded Leo.

The Native American boy was so surprised that he dropped his bow and fell to the ground. He kept repeating something in a language Leo didn't understand.

“Don't you speak English? ” asked Leo.

The boy continued repeating the same words.

“What's he saying? ” Leo asked RK-5.“You can understand all languages.”

“He says he's your friend, ” replied RK-5.

“I'm friendly, too, ” said Leo. “I'm Leo. Come and meet my friends.”

RK-5 told the boy what Leo had said.“His name is Red Deer, ” said RK-5.

Leo took Red Deer by the arm and led him to the camp.

When the others saw Red Deer, they were very surprised. Red Deer looked like a Native American from an old western movie.

Lucy asked RK-5. “Hey, RK-5, what year are we in? ”

“It's 1891, and we're in the territory of Arizona, ” replied the robot. “I had to bring you back so that you could be in real cowboy times.”

The girls weren't happy, but everyone was hungry. Red Deer showed them how to make a real campfire. They warmed up baked beans and roasted sausages on sticks. They ate lots of fresh bread and washed everything down with cool cola.

They all enjoyed the meal. Red Deer especially enjoyed it. He had never tasted such food before. As they were eating their strawberry yogurt, they heard a loud noise. It sounded like thunder, but it wasn't thunder. A worried look appeared on Red Deer's face.

When the others saw Red Deer's reaction to the noise, they became worried, too.