Prologue
The DTB Club
Summer 1980
Devin Allred jumped to his feet as soon as he heard the approaching vehicles. After two straight disappointments, he half expected to be disappointed again. A slight gasp escaped his mouth as he realized it was them – his cousins.
He took off running, straight toward the oncoming camper to welcome the new arrivals to the rustic campground at Strawberry Creek in central Arizona. Uncle Marvin honked in greeting, and he could see his two cousins, Trey and Brady, waving at him through the loft window.
As he reached the mustard yellow camper, he changed directions and ran alongside it - escorting it into the campground. He glanced back over his shoulder at the blue and white van, driven by Uncle Darrell – Brady’s dad. Behind them were Grandpa and Grandma. The California crew had arrived.
Although Devin liked Utah, he often wished he lived in southern California too. Whenever his cousins talked about all the fun family parties they had, Devin always felt left out. Practically the only time he ever got to see his cousins was at these family reunions. He had been waiting all year long for this moment. Now that it was here, his pent up excitement was ready to explode.
The camper barely came to a stop before Trey and Brady burst out the back door and enthusiastically greeted their cousin. After giving each of his cousins stinging high fives, Devin asked, “So what do you guys want to do first?”
“I don’t know. What’s there to do?” asked Trey.
“Well, there’s horseshoes, an obstacle course, we can go exploring…” Devin began. He was interrupted by a flash of lightning, followed shortly by a clap of thunder. Before he could finish his sentence he was pelted by raindrops from the sudden summer squall. Devin looked up at the dark gray clouds overhead and shouted in frustration. “Oh no! It’s raining!”
“Let’s go inside the camper,” suggested Trey.
They quickly sought shelter inside the vehicle that Trey’s family would be calling home for the next several days. The trio of Allred boys were among the hundred-plus members of their grandmother’s extended family who were arriving for the 1980 Burk Family Reunion. The three cousins were roughly the same age, and were inseparable whenever their families were together.
Even though Devin was the oldest of the three cousins, he was also the shortest – a fact he tried to mask by making himself the unspoken leader of the group. He had reddish blond hair, pale blue eyes, and a handful of light freckles sprinkled across his cheeks.
Trey was four months younger and had dark, brown hair and brown eyes – inherited from his mother’s side of the family. He was thin, and several inches taller than his two companions. He was naturally tanner than the other two – especially at the beginning of the summer.
Brady was the youngest of the crew – a fact accentuated by his round “baby face.” He was stout with very blond hair, and yellow-green eyes. Although he was only a shade taller than Devin, the baseball cap he always wore made the difference seem more pronounced.
"So what are we going to do now?" Trey sighed as soon as they were seated around the camper’s small table.
“We can’t do much with this rain,” said Devin glumly. He hated the rain. That was another reason he wanted to move to California, where it was sunny all the time – at least in Devin’s experience.
"Let’s start a club!" Brady suggested enthusiastically, not letting the rain dampen his spirits. "We could be detectives and solve mysteries just like the Hardy Boys! Then we can write books about our adventures and all get rich!"
“Yeah,” agreed Trey. "I'm sure all our aunts and uncles would buy them."
Devin wasn’t so sure about the writing part, but solving mysteries sounded fun. "Okay, but what should we call ourselves? The Allred Boys?"
"Nah, too boring. How about the Cosmic Cousins? That sounds cool," offered Brady.
"What about Trey's Threesome?" proposed Trey smugly.
"I like the Brady Bunch better," countered Brady with a grin.
"How about Devin's Daredevils?”
"I've got it! What about the TBD cousins?" suggested Trey. "We could use the first initials of each of our names."
"If we did that, it would have to be the DTB cousins so that it would be in order of oldest to youngest," corrected Devin.
"Sounds good to me," agreed Brady. "But if we’re going to be detectives, we should also have code names in case we ever get captured."
"Hey, I know!" exclaimed Trey. "I could be Yert, you could be Ydarb, and Devin could be Nived."
"Where did you come up with those names?" asked Devin, a bit perplexed.
"They're our names backwards," explained Trey. "And when we write letters to each other, those could be in code too."
"That's a good idea," agreed Brady. "Except that code would be too easy to solve. How about if we assigned a number to each letter instead: A=1, B=2, and so on. That way my name would be 2, um ...18, 1, 4, ...25; yours would be, let’s see ...20, ...18, 5, and, uh...25. And Devin would be…"
"That would take too long to unscramble," argued Devin. His head was already starting to swim with the effort of trying to count numbers and letters at the same time.
After disputing the point for several minutes, Brady had a new suggestion. “How about if we spell everything backwards, but add an ‘o’ onto the end of each word? That way, anyone who steals one of our letters will think it’s written in Spanish.”
“Okay Bradyo,” laughed Devin.
“You mean Ydarbo, don’t you Nivedo?” corrected Trey.
“Oh yeah, Yerto,” agreed Devin. “So now what?”
“Well, does anyone know a mystery we can solve?” asked Brady.
Devin thought for a second, then shook his head. Trey did too.
“Hmm,” thought Brady. “I suppose we can make up a mystery for our first book.”
“Why would we want to do that?” asked Devin. Writing a mystery didn’t sound near as fun as solving one.
“So that we can sell it and get some money for our club to buy detective equipment,” explained Brady.
“Oh,” said Devin, finally understanding. Although he wasn’t particularly fond of writing, it was still raining outside – so there wasn’t much else to do. “Okay, but first we need some paper to write on.”
They scrounged around the camper until they found a small pencil and a half-used spiral notebook stuck in a drawer. Then Brady asked, “So what shall we call our book?”
“How about The Mystery of the Stolen Money?” suggested Devin.
“Sounds too boring,” argued Trey. “How about The Mystery of the Sneaky Robber.”
“Let’s call it The Case of the Sneaky Robber," decided Brady. Devin and Trey nodded in agreement.
They decided to take turns writing one chapter each, and then pass it on to the next person. Brady got started right away writing chapter one. While he wrote, Trey began making three top secret identification cards on some discarded 3x5 note cards that were tucked in the magazine rack. Devin tore out a page from the notebook and, using some old markers they found in a drawer, started working on a club flag.
After half an hour, Devin noticed that it had stopped raining. He quickly finished coloring in the flag, leaving several small, white gaps among the fields of color, and announced that he was done.
“You missed several spots,” pointed out Trey.
“Who cares? It stopped raining and I want to go play,” declared Devin.
“Let me finish my chapter first,” suggested Brady. “I’m almost done.”
Devin grudgingly agreed, then offered to help Trey finish the top secret ID cards. “Just don’t mess them up,” Trey warned.
“I won’t,” replied Devin as he examined the red colored cards with their new code names neatly inscribed in black. They were nicely done, but kind of plain, so Devin jazzed them up a little by adding a pair of lightning bolts on each side of their names.
“Done!” announced Brady, laying down his pen. He then read them the page and a half chapter, using his voice to make it sound much more exciting than it really was. Devin wasn’t too pleased that Brady’s character was the one finding all the clues, but he figured he could fix that when it was his turn to write.
“Okay, let’s go,” said Devin, as soon as Brady finished. He stuck the flag in his pocket, and the boys climbed outside. They were intercepted by Brady's father, Uncle Darrell, who announced that he needed Brady's help pitching the family tent.
“Oh man!” groaned Brady. A pained expression creased his face until Trey volunteered to help. Devin had no choice but to pitch in too.
It wasn’t hard work, but it took forever – at least fifteen minutes. Once Brady was excused, the DTBs decided to explore the creek and the grove of trees that surrounded the campsite. They got permission, but were given strict orders to stay within sight of the campground.
As they hiked across the meadow, the DTB Cousins came to a large tree that had fallen and spanned the creek. Spreading out their arms for balance, they carefully crossed the damp tree trunk to the other side of the creek.
“Hey, this would be a great place for a fort!” suggested Brady, examining an open area inside the branches that fanned out from the fallen trunk.
“Good idea,” Devin agreed after inspecting it for himself. It might be a little cramped inside, but there was enough room for all of them. “We can build a wall along here, and put a roof on top. …”
Since Devin and his brother Shane had built several forts before with their friends up in Utah, he took charge of the construction. All three boys began gathering broken tree branches and sticks. They piled them along one of the large branches of the fallen tree to form a wall, leaving an opening for an entrance. Then they dragged over another large, broken branch and balanced it perpendicular to the first one, to build another wall. The bulk of the tree and its dense branches formed the remainder of the hideout. Finally, they piled small, leafy branches and pine needles on top to make a roof.
By design, the fort couldn't be seen from the camp, but the DTBs could spy on the camp and its occupants from the rear of the hideout. They used the branches in the middle of the fort as a ladder to climb to the "lookout post" – a large gap near the back of the roof. From the lookout post they could climb out onto the tree trunk, which meant it could also be used as an escape hatch in case of an emergency – like if one of their sisters came looking for them.
In one of the large branches, they found a hollow space that must have been the home of some squirrels or birds. They made this into a secret compartment in which they hid the book they were writing, and their ID cards. That completed, the boys stood back and admired their work.
"This has got to be the best fort ever built!" exclaimed Brady.
"It's the best one I've ever seen," agreed Trey.
"It needs one more thing," Devin declared. He pulled the DTB Cousins flag he had made out of his back pocket and ceremoniously hung it above the entrance. "There. Now it's the coolest fort ever built. Heck, it's even better than the one Shane and Steve built last reunion!"
##
The DTBs spent the rest of the afternoon playing in and around their fort. When it started raining again, they sought shelter under the canopy they created, and were pleased to note that they hardly got wet at all.
As it started getting dark, the DTB Cousins returned to camp, eager to share their adventure with anyone willing to listen. The first person they encountered was Devin’s older brother, Shane. “Where have you guys been?” he asked.
“Building a fort,” replied Devin proudly. Even though his cousins were rookies at fort building, he was very pleased at how well the whole thing turned out.
“Probably looks more like a doll house,” snickered Steve, one of the Burk cousins. He wore his brown hair a little long and had green eyes. Since Shane and Steve were about the same age, they usually hung out together at all the Burk reunions.
“No it doesn’t! In fact, it’s even better than the one you guys built last time!” boasted Devin.
“I doubt it,” said Shane. His summer tan contrasted nicely with his wavy blond hair and bright blue eyes. He looked down at his brother and announced, “We’re pros. You’re just amateurs.”
“Besides, we built an even better one this year,” added Steve confidently.
“We’re not ama tours! And our fort is ten times better than yours!” retorted Devin stubbornly - even though he hadn’t even seen the other fort, and wasn’t sure what amateurs meant. Although Shane and Steve were a couple years older, and much more experienced at fort building than the DTBs, Devin was sure the DTB fort was better. It had to be. It was the greatest fort ever built.
“We’ll be the judge of that,” said Shane. “Where is it?”
“It’s a secret,” Devin said hesitantly. He wanted to make a few modifications before he let Shane and Steve critique their masterpiece.
“Fine. Have it your way,” said Shane. Turning to Steve he said, “Let’s go.”
After the two older boys walked off, Devin turned to his cousins and said, “We better work on the fort again tomorrow to make sure it’s better than Shane’s.”
“I thought you said it already was,” Brady reminded him.
“It is,” said Devin. “But it can’t hurt to make a few improvements.”
##
The next day, the DTB Cousins returned to their fort. Trey was carrying a camera to take a picture of their magnificent fortress. First, though, they needed to modify it using the blueprints they had spent all evening working on. As they walked, they jabbered excitedly about their plans for the day.
When they arrived at the creek, Devin hopped up onto the tree trunk, and carefully walked across. But when he got to the other side, he could immediately tell that something was wrong. The roof that had faithfully protected them from the rain the day before was now strewn all over the ground around the fallen tree's branches.
Devin’s heart started beating faster as he lowered himself into inside. The walls they had so carefully constructed were now caved in, and their flag lay trampled in the middle of the floor.
Immediately, Devin knew who did it.
“What happened?” exclaimed Trey as he joined Devin inside.
“That stupid, rotten brother of mine got jealous and destroyed our fort,” fumed Devin, his face turning red.
“How do you know it wasn’t a bear or something?” asked Brady nervously as he too lowered himself inside.
“Because bears aren’t that mean,” growled Devin, reaching down and picking up the flag. He carefully wiped off the dirt and stuck it back inside his pocket.
After angrily examining the mess, he remembered the secret compartment. He turned to look, but Trey beat him to it. “At least they didn’t get our top secret ID cards!” said Trey, holding up the valuable index cards.
“Or our book!” added Brady in relief.
“Doesn’t matter, they’re still going to get it!” raged Devin. He stormed out what once was the entryway of the fort and called back, “Come on!”
“Where are we going?” asked Brady, hurrying to catch up.
“To find their fort,” Devin declared.
They skirted the edge of the forest, scouring the landscape for any sign of the enemy fort. Finally Trey yelled, “Look!”
Devin looked. There, sitting in between three trees, was his brother’s fort. It looked a little sturdier than the DTB fort had been, but it wasn’t nearly as cool.
“Let’s knock it down!” commanded Devin firmly.
But as they approached, they were pelted by seedpods, pine cones and wild berries. Devin looked to see where they were coming from and spotted his brother and Steve stationed behind a large log - which obviously hid their arsenal.
The DTBs retreated behind a pair of boulders, but didn’t have anything to retaliate with. There was a berry bush to the left of their foes, but no way to get there without exposing themselves to enemy fire. Devin couldn’t see any other sources of ammunition close by, but noticed a few small rocks at his feet. He was still furious at what his brother had done so, even though his conscience warned him not to, he plucked up a few rocks and opened fire.
The third rock struck Shane just above his left eye. Shane yelped in pain and grabbed his eye. When he pulled his hand away, it was laced with bright, red blood.
Devin gulped and the blood drained from his own face. He was busted, and he knew it.
##
Devin was grounded for the rest of the reunion. And although he was allowed to attend a few family functions, he spent most of the time cooped up inside the family’s navy blue camper. Shane made sure to tell him about all the fun activities he was missing out on, which made his confinement seem even more unbearable. About the only “fun” thing Devin was able to do was write in the DTB book. Naturally, he made himself the hero in his chapter.
When the reunion ended, Devin was granted parole to say good-bye to his cousins. They tried to tell him about some of the things they did, but he waved them off. “I already heard all about it from Shane. I don’t need you guys to rub it in too.”
"When are we going to see you again?" asked Brady solemnly.
"My dad says we'll probably go down to California next summer to visit," Devin answered. That seemed so far away, but at least it was something to look forward to.
“I wish you guys would just move to California,” said Trey.
“Yeah, me too,” agreed Devin. His cousins didn’t know how lucky they had it, living so close to each other. It just wasn’t fair.
“What about our book?” asked Brady, tugging on the bill of his cap.
"We can mail it back and forth," Trey suggested.
"Hey, that's a good idea," Brady agreed. Then they each promised to write each other every week until the next reunion.
As they stood in the middle of the bustling campsite, Brady and Trey each gave Devin their special, chest-butting farewell salute and top secret handshake (a series of grips and slaps that lasted almost a minute). Then they each trudged off to rejoin their own families.
The reunion was over. And even though it had turned out pretty sour, Devin knew that it was one he would remember for the rest of his life. He and his cousins had formed a club, much like the thousands of clubs boys had formed since the beginning of time. But this club was special. It formed a bond between the three cousins that would bind them together for the rest of their lives. They arrived as Devin, Trey, and Brady; they left as the DTB Cousins.
