“Not necessarily, Lola. If we built the scene around her fear, that fear could carry the scene. You said she couldn’t swim. Would she take a chance on the zip line possibly breaking and her going into the pond? It brings us back to the fear. To your knowledge, did Cady ever come here by herself?”

“Oh, yes, many times. But if the others weren’t here, she went home. She said she was afraid to stay by herself. Maybe the others were late, or maybe Cady was late. The others left, and she was alone. Maybe the bully was waiting for her. Maybe both bullies were waiting for her. Two against one would drive up the suspense, don’t you think, Anthony?”

“Yes, it would. Especially if she didn’t know they were lying in wait for her. It was going to be her last time at this place. Maybe she finally got up the nerve to do the line, knowing she could take that memory with her. Children, especially children her age, are all about not being chicken or having others think you’re a chicken. Sometimes children can be brutal to one another.”

“Think about this scenario,” Mandy said. “She climbs the embankment, the bullies confront her. She can’t go up, and she can’t go down. Maybe she thinks the zip line is her only way out. They’d cut off her hair once. I know that had to leave some kind of lasting impression on her. My God, she was just a little girl, so my thinking is she would be deathly afraid of what they would do next if they caught her. Gutsy or not, she had to be petrified. Maybe she went up the tree, or maybe they chased her up the tree. There she is, crying and shaking, afraid to let go. She’s out on the limb, and they go out after her. What recourse does she have? She’s probably thinking they’re either going to push her off the limb, whereupon she hits the water, or, being as gutsy as she is, she reaches for the zip line that will take her to ground at the bottom where she has a fighting chance at safety. If she lets them push her off the limb and into the water and doesn’t know how to swim, she could drown. She has a chance to get to safety with the zip line.” She looked around expectantly to see what the reaction was to her theory.

Both Anthony and Lola nodded.

“That’s the end of the scene. It’s not dramatic enough,” Anthony said. “Let’s try this one. Cady is out on the limb. Bully Number One is behind her. Where is Bully Number Two, and what is he doing? They never recovered the zip line. How did the authorities even know there was a zip line? Do we know the answer to that?”

“Yes. Cady told them. The police talked to the other children, and they agreed with Cady that they had all played on the line over the last two years. So, either Bully Number Two took the line, or the other children were there and they took it. Somebody took it because it was gone. When they couldn’t come up with it, the authorities decided Cady and the King boy fell off the limb,” Lola said.