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Post by RJH on Aug 30, 2015 22:38:27 GMT -5
Stuck chest-deep in the sand in the pouring rain, Jackie and Farina looked at each other. Though they were just fifteen feet apart, they almost had to yell to be heard, but didn’t have anything to say for several minutes. Then Jackie asked, “Are you okay?”
Farina had been relaxing, accepting his fate. “Actually the rain feels good hitting my shoulders. My arms were sore from all that digging. How about you?”
Jackie was encouraged by the response. “I hadn’t noticed, but …” He relaxed and let his head bend forward a little, letting his shoulders and the back of his neck get pummeled by the raindrops. “You’re right, this does feel good.”
“Also, this gives me another chance to build up my character.”
“That’s a good way to look at this. I was thinking about how we can get back at Mickey and Joe.”
“Got any ideas?”
“Not yet.
They relaxed, and watched as the water filled the cone-shaped depressions in front of them, resulting from the removal of the sand that they were able to push away. In several minutes the water came to their necks as it completely filled the depressions. The water level couldn’t go higher because their necks were even with the surface of the sand, and additional water flowed down the slight slope to the shore.
Mickey and Joe were congratulating each other in the hut, which was made very well and wasn’t leaking.
“That turned out a lot better than I thought it would,” remarked Joe.
“You said it. Did you see the look on Jackie’s face when he realized we double-crossed him? That was priceless,” commented Mickey.
“Yeah. Better than Farina, and he was something, going back and forth from realizing he was stuck, to being thrilled to see us get Jackie, and back again.”
They sat there for a while, and then realized they were getting bored.
“So what should we do now?” asked Joe.
Mickey didn’t have any ideas at first. Then, “We can check the rain barrel.”
Without anything else to do, they peeked outside the door. The barrel already had two inches of water in it.
“Well, that’s plenty to drink for several days,” declared Mickey.
“So now what?”
There were some more minutes of silence, and then Mickey decided, “I suppose we should go check up on them.”
“We’ll get soaked.”
“Yeah, but we’ll have time to dry off in here.”
“Okay. But don’t let them see us.”
“Right.”
Mickey and Joe braced themselves, and dashed out into the storm. Taking cover behind a tree next to the beach line, they saw the heads with masses of soaking wet hair. They were surprised to see and hear laughter.
“Let’s get back,” suggested Joe.
“Fine,” replied Mickey.
They ran back to the hut. They did get soaked, but now had quite a bit of time to dry off, though it wouldn’t be a fast process.
“Did you see that?” asked Mickey.
“Yeah, they’re laughing. They’re having a better time than we are.”
“What do you think they were laughing about?”
“They’re probably plotting how to get revenge on us.”
“Yep. Any ideas on what they’re gonna try?”
Mickey and Joe would have more than an hour to guess.
Back on the beach, Jackie and Farina continued to get pounded by the rain. With little else to do, they idly splashed the puddles in front of them.
Jackie had a thought. “Mickey and Joe are going to have to dig us out sometime. That work will be getting back at them in a way.”
“It’s also going to be work for us.”
“Yeah, but that will develop your character some more.”
“I like how you’re so concerned about me.”
“Another thing, even if we don’t have a plan right away, they’ll think that we might. You can drive people crazy if they think you’re up to something and they don’t know when it will happen.”
“Good. I think I’ll save my strength to help dig myself out of this when the storm is over.”
They were quiet for some time, mainly tapping their fingers on the puddles in front of them. The rain pounded away at the sand built up around them when they had cleared some space, causing wet sand to partially fill in the puddles. By 1:00 pm this sand had come up to their armpits. Since it wasn’t packed down hard it was easy to push away, but Jackie and Farina decided that saving their strength for later was the best course of action. They let their arms rest on the wet sand and get covered by a two or three inch layer of water.
In the hut, an important decision was being made.
“I guess we better dig them out when the storm ends.” Mickey was pragmatic. We don’t want to get into too much trouble.”
“But don’t tell them that. Let’s see we don’t want to feed them like that forever.”
The storm finally subsided and moved inland about 2:00 pm. A few minutes later Mickey and Joe came out of the hut and walked to the beach. When they got there they saw Jackie and Farina buried in the wet sand up to within an inch of the tops of their shoulders. Their entire arms were resting on the surface, and the two hours of pouring rain on their unkempt masses of hair gave them the appearance of a couple of drowned rats.
Mickey announced, “We decided to …” but Joe couldn’t contain himself. He roared out and fell over laughing, holding his sides while rolling on the sand. Mickey started to say something, but snorted, lost his balance, and burst out laughing as well. It was fully a minute before they could compose themselves.
“Are you okay?” asked Jackie.
“Yeah, we’d really hate to see you hurt,” added Farina.
“We’re fine,” declared Joe.
“All right then,” continued Mickey. “We decided we don’t want to feed you here all the time, so we’ll help dig you out now.” He distributed the digging tools, including some boards, seashells, and the cups made out of half-coconut shells within reach of Jackie and Farina. “You guys dig away the sand in front of you, and we’ll dig out the sand behind you where it’s hard for you to reach.”
Mickey went behind Jackie and Joe behind Farina.
The first few inches of wet sand were easy to scoop away with bare hands, and then it got substantially more difficult. Mickey tried to sound encouraging.
“The rain must have softened the sand up so it doesn’t feel like sandstone any more, right?”
“Yeah,” agreed Jackie. “It feels more like cement.”
“Cement that set,” added Farina.
The boys worked at freeing Jackie and Farina from the cement-like sand. The process was slow. Close to 3:00 pm, Farina and Joe had cleared the sand down to Farina’s waist when Farina heard Joe breathing very hard.
“Hey Joe, you don’t have to go so fast.”
“Yes I do. You were supposed to be stuck for only two hours, and it must be double that by now.”
“By now it doesn’t matter if I’m stuck a little longer. I don’t want to see you collapse.”
Joe was touched by Farina’s concern for his well-being after the trick Joe and Mickey had pulled. Joe stopped, and walked around to the front side of Farina.
“I could use a break,” continued Farina. “Can you get us both something to eat?”
Farina was also happy to know Joe was so concerned about him.
Since Jackie was several inches taller than Farina, Jackie and Mickey had more work to do to catch up. They had been able to keep up a similar speed, and a few minutes later Jackie was also unburied to his waist. They also took a breather, and joined Joe and Farina in a mid-afternoon snack.
By then the sand was flat two feet all around Jackie and Farina before sloping gradually to the level of the rest of the beach. Mickey remarked, “It really does look like you’re standing in cement that set.”
At the kidnappers’ hideout, they couldn’t take it any more. Moonshine Mose gave instructions to Mary.
“Three of us will get the money, and one will stay behind to make sure you don’t leave until we get paid. Then someone, probably your folks, will come pick you up here. Understand?”
“Yes.”
The kidnappers bolted from the room and slammed the front door behind them. A bit past 2:00 pm, it was already raining. They practically ran to Bicarbonated Billy’s car.
“Who’s staying behind?” asked Billy.
“I’m not staying with that girl any longer,” declared Red Mike.
“Me neither.” Blow-em-up Baker was of the same mind.
“Don’t look at me,” said Mose.
“Somebody’s got to stay,” argued Billy. “And it ain’t me ‘cuz it’s my car.”
“I’m driving my car,” announced Mike.
“Why can’t we all go?” asked Baker. “The girl’s scared, and she ain’t going anywhere in the storm. We’ll all be there to split the take. Make the pickup in one car, and change to the other one in case someone sees something.”
“Okay by me,” agreed Mose.
Baker and Mike got into Mike’s car and Mose and Billy got into Billy’s. Mike and Billy drove off quickly, but affected severely by Mary, they were in no condition to drive, especially in a storm. They drove erratically up the dirt road leading to the hideout, and Billy hit the side of a rickety bridge spanning a stream which was rising rapidly due to the storm.
Mary looked out the window and saw the big storm. It certainly would be a bad idea to leave on foot in this unfamiliar territory in this weather, and maybe the kidnappers were telling the truth and her parents would come in a few hours. Also, there still was some food left in the house used as a hideout.
In town, the rain started about 2:00 pm, and it was apparent it would continue for some time. Mary’s parents drove over to Mango’s house to discuss the ransom delivery. Mary’s father spoke to Mango’s parents with Mango, Ernie, and Pineapple listening in.
“I don’t know what to say. I’ll understand if you don’t want your daughter to deliver the ransom in this weather. It shouldn’t matter who drops it off.”
“I can do it!” interrupted Mango. “Those kidnappers told me I had to do it, and if I don’t, we may never see Mary or Farina or the others again.”
“That’s very brave of you,” remarked Mango’s mother.
“Well, if it’s okay with you,” continued Mary’s father, “I can drive you to half a block from the corner of the park. Mango can make the delivery and come back in two minutes. You can walk to the corner with her. Then I’ll drive you back to your house, and then we’ll go back home and wait.”
Mary’s mother nodded. “Mango will need a raincoat.”
“I have one,” responded Mango.
Ernie told Mary’s parents his plan. “Pineapple and I will hide in the woods at the edge of the park and make sure nothing happens to Mango. Then the gang has members stationed all over to see where the kidnappers go.”
“I don’t want you getting too close to them.” Ernie’s father finally spoke up.
Mary’s father had another observation. “The kidnappers might not pick up the ransom money right at 3:00. You might be waiting in the rain for a long time.”
“That’s okay. It’s a hot day. And the kidnappers will only be watching out for grown-ups.”
They went ahead with the plan. At 2:30 pm, Jack, Andy, Sing Joy, Johnny, Jay, and Bonedust went to many different locations throughout town, while Ernie and Pineapple took positions behind trees and bushes at the edge of the park. They tried to take shelter from the downpour, with limited degrees of success.
Mike and Billy drove into town, narrowly avoiding several accidents. Then Billy parked by the school, and Mike drove around the corner and then north along the west side of the park. He and Baker were fairly close and visible to Ernie and Pineapple, who carefully remained concealed.
A few minutes before 3:00 pm, Mango and her parents got into Mary’s parents’ car. Mary’s father drove to within half a block of the park, parking on the Goat Alley side. Mango and her father got out, wearing raincoats. They walked to the corner, and then Mango walked briskly with the bag containing the ransom money and put it on the bench in the middle of the park as the kidnappers instructed. She quickly walked back to her father who had been watching from behind a street sign, and they walked back to Mary’s parents’ car. Its interior got wet, but Mary’s parents didn’t care.
Mary’s father drove Mango and her parents home, and then drove to their own house. They would hear from Ernie and Pineapple after a while, but the wait was agonizing.
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Post by RJH on Sept 14, 2015 1:39:02 GMT -5
The kidnappers did not have a lot of patience. At five minutes past three pm, when it appeared no one was looking, Baker got out of Mike’s car and walked quickly to the bench near the middle of the park. He grabbed the bag with the ransom money as he circled the bench and then walked quickly back to and got into Mike’s car. Baker drove around the block, and stopped when they got to Billy’s car. Mike and Baker got into Billy’s car, and Billy sped off. Then he made an observation.
“Won’t leaving that car there let the cops track us down?”
“No,” answered Mike. “That car is stolen.”
“Where are we going?” asked Mose.
Billy had driven around the block and was heading back toward the hideout. “Back to the house? Don’t we have stuff to pick up?”
“NO!” shouted Baker. “I don’t want to see that girl ever again! Even when I think about her, I go mad.”
“Same here,” agreed Mike. “Don’t you have some other place to hide out?”
“The ranch?” answered Billy. “That’s a long way from here, but you’re right about that girl. There’s something strange about her.”
“Watch where you’re going!” shouted Mose as Billy, speeding through the rain and headed toward the next town, narrowly missed a parked car.
“Sorry, I was thinking about that girl.”
Baker babbled almost incoherently. “That girl … she must have the devil in her!”
“The devil … that must be it!” Now Mike had lost it.
“What’s going on back there?” Billy demanded of Mose, in the front passenger seat. Mose looked over his shoulder, and saw the other two men muttering gibberish.
“They’re mad … mad … ma-a-a-a-a-d!” Mose was taking leave of his senses.
Distracted and unable to get thoughts of Mary out of his mind, Billy hit a curb and then spun out of control on the slick roadway. It slammed into a lamppost, ran over a fire hydrant, and finally smashed into the fountain that Farina’s runaway wagon had caused a police car to crash into three days before. The car windows shattered and the kidnappers were thrown from the car. The bag with the ransom money flew into the air and opened, scattering the bills, mostly twenties, every which way.
Due to the powerful storm there were almost no shoppers patronizing the stores in that area. Alerted by the noise, some merchants phoned the police, and several helped themselves to the bills dropping to the ground, justifying their actions on not being certain where the money came from and needing it for repairs to their buildings caused by the runaway wagon three days earlier.
When the police and an ambulance arrived, they found four men with moderate injuries babbling incoherently. The police believed they were escaped criminals, so under the circumstances they were taken to the closest sanatorium and put into padded cells. With other emergencies resulting from the storm, the crooks would have to be dealt with later.
Ernie and Pineapple had seen Baker and Mike get into Billy’s car. When the crooks drove off, the brothers ran to the street and waved their arms, a signal to follow that car if possible. The one who was stationed on the street in the correct direction was Jack. On his bicycle, Jack pedaled after the car starting from two blocks behind and losing ground. However, he did hear the crash, and a few minutes later arrived at the scene, and asked the locals what had happened. He saw the ambulance drive away, and then returned to gather up and report to the rest of the gang.
“The crooks crashed and were taken to the loony bin!”
Soaking wet, they reported the news to their parents. Mary’s father drove with some of the other parents to the town’s police station to report the missing children, but it was almost entirely deserted. A receptionist informed him that the entire police force and fire department were occupied with storm emergencies including vehicle collisions, downed trees, and fires caused by lightning strikes.
Mary’s father called the sanatorium, and was informed that the new residents were under sedation and could not be seen that day. Everything would have to wait until the next day when the storm was over.
Left alone in the kidnappers’ hideout, Mary stared out the window at the raging storm for some time. She wondered if her parents really would come by in a few hours, in which case she had better be there. If not, then she could set out on foot the next day provided that the weather cleared up. Fortunately the kidnappers left the playing cards behind, so she whiled away the time playing solitaire.
Late in the afternoon, a storm surge engulfed the river and a raging torrent gushed past the bridge leading to the kidnappers’ hideout. Weakened by being crashed into by Billy two hours earlier, the bridge was completely washed away. Pieces of wood and metal were carried downstream along the deep ravine. No one knew it at the time, but Mary had just been cut off from the only passable land route to her current location.
Back on the island, the boys finished their mid-afternoon snack, with Farina and Jackie still firmly embedded waist deep in the smooth cement-like wet sand. Mickey assessed the situation. “Come on guys, you got to help and twist and loosen up the sand.” Farina and Jackie twisted and rocked their upper bodies, but any movements by their hips were infinitesimal.
“Twisting can’t loosen cement like this!” complained Jackie.
Mickey and Joe had one more good laugh at the sight, and then went back to the laborious task of helping dig out the two stuck boys with the boards, seashells, and coconut half-shells not well suited to the task. They changed things up, with Mickey digging around Farina’s back and Joe around Jackie’s. Farina and Jackie continued to chip away and clear off the compacted sand in front of them.
It took over an hour to clear the sand down to Jackie and Farina’s knees. Even then they couldn’t pull their legs out because it was like their feet were encased in concrete. They wobbled back and forth and side to side, keeping their legs straight. It helped only a little, and it took close to another hour they could finally step out of the holes. The entire incident lasted just about six hours.
Once on the sand surface Jackie and Farina walked stiffly, and Farina fell down once. Encrusted with sand, Jackie staggered toward the shoreline, waded into the ocean and flopped backwards, sprawled out at a point where the waves reached his chin. He let out a contented sigh as the water coursed over his body and washed the sand away. Upon seeing this, Farina plopped down several feet beside him. Moments later they were joined by Mickey and Joe.
The boys lay there, relaxing as the waves soothed their muscles, somewhat sore from the long exhausting effort. After a few minutes they closed their eyes, and drifted to a state of semi-consciousness. They didn’t react to the rising tide until a wave rose high enough to cover their faces. Spluttering, they scrambled to their feet.
“Guess we should have dinner and go to bed,” announced Mickey.
As the sun was close to the western horizon there was no disagreement. They ate some of their saved fruit and water, and then climbed in among the palm fronds which served as ground cloths and blankets. Jackie quietly asked Farina, “Was today fun?”
“Absolutely. It was worth getting buried and stuck to see your reaction when Mickey and Joe buried you. How are you feeling?”
“Great! I was upset for a little while, but I’m glad it worked out the way it did. Maybe I’m weird, but I had more fun being stuck and needing help to dig myself out than I would have just digging someone else out.”
“Actually, I feel the same way. We got the better end of that deal.”
It wasn’t hard for any of them to fall asleep.
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Post by RJH on Oct 10, 2015 22:57:00 GMT -5
The next morning, Tuesday, Mary’s parents took a trip to the sanatorium. The physician in charge of the psychiatric ward was Dr. Howe. Mary’s father explained the situation, and was referred to the doctor in charge of the relevant case, who was Dr. Herrmann. Dr. Howe took Mary’s parents to an observation room where the four kidnappers could be seen in a padded cell through a one-way mirror. They were wearing straitjackets and babbling incoherently, rolling around and bumping into the walls.
“What’s their status?” asked Mary’s father.
“It’s not good,” replied Doctor Herrmann. “They’ve been like this since they were brought in yesterday, and have shown no signs of regaining any sanity. This behavior is usually the result of experiencing some horribly traumatic experience. There’s no telling when and if they might recover.”
“Is there something that can snap them out of it?” inquired Mary’s father with more than a bit of desperation.
“In this kind of case the patient needs to see something familiar, usually someone he recognizes. The police who had been involved in their cases were here earlier this morning, but the patients didn’t show any signs of recognition. The criminals may not have paid a whole lot of attention to the police, and that might have been too long ago.”
“What if we find someone who saw them more recently?” asked Mary’s mother.
“That might help. Unfortunately the people they have seen the most recently are probably your daughter and perhaps those four missing boys. The authorities would like to conduct a search but many are busy still helping out with people affected by the damage that big storm did yesterday.”
Mary’s mother was distraught, and then a thought struck her. “That little girl who was with Mary – Mango!”
“She might be our only hope,” noted her husband. “I’m sure her family will let her see these guys.”
Mary’s parents drove back home and then to Mango’s parents and explained what they had learned. They quickly agreed to the visit, and brought Ernie and Pineapple along in case they provide some help. At the sanatorium, the staff strapped the kidnappers, still in straitjackets, to chairs so the children could talk to them safely.
Ernie and Pineapple recognized Blow-em-up Baker and Red Mike as the crooks who took the ransom bag and drove one getaway car, but since the brothers had been hiding they were not recognized by any of the asylum patients. Bicarbonated Billy had never seen any of the family. However, Moonshine Mose’s eyes narrowed for a moment as he looked at Mango.
“You … you,” he spluttered. “You’re that devil girl’s friend.”
“Yes,” answered Mango. “Where did you take her?”
“You’ll never find her, ha ha! She’s in our hideout by Captain Kidd’s Treasure Cave, ha ha!” Mose continued to cackle maniacally, and fell over backwards in his chair. The families and Dr. Hermann tried to get meaningful responses for another hour, but none were to be had.
“I’m sorry,” said the doctor, “but it’s pointless to keep trying now. I’ll call you tomorrow to let you know if there’s been a change.”
“Could that Captain Kidd Treasure Cave mean something?” asked Mary’s father.
“It sounds like gibberish, like the rest of their ranting. Does it mean something to you?”
Everyone shook their heads except Ernie and Pineapple, who looked at each other, unsure if that name rang a bell. When they got home, they got on their bicycles to report the news to the rest of the gang. They encountered Sing Joy first, and asked him about the Treasure Cave.
“The name does sound familiar,” noted Sing Joy. “I think I remember Jack mentioning it some time.”
The three of them headed to Jack’s house, which was solemn due to the absence of Jackie. The news was related to him, and he had this response:
“It wasn’t me, it was Andy talking about things he’s seen on his uncle’s old ship. Let’s see if he knows.”
The group of four then went to Andy’s house, and brought him up to date.
“Yes, I remember seeing a little cave that someone put up a Captain Kidd sign on while on my uncle’s ship. I don’t remember exactly where it is, but I think it’s north of where we found the busted-up wagon.”
“Will you uncle let us use his boat?” asked Ernie.
“He isn’t here, but under the circumstances I think we can borrow it. Will your folks let you come?”
“No way,” answered Sing Joy.
“I don’t think so,” replied Jack.
“Then don’t tell your folks,” suggested Ernie.
“We can leave notes that they’ll find after we’re gone,” recommended Pineapple. The others nodded in agreement.
“Should we ask anyone else to come?” asked Sing Joy.
“The five of us will be enough,” said Andy. “More than that will get very crowded if we find everyone who’s missing. Now everyone bring what food and water they can and we’ll meet here tomorrow morning. We can ride together to where the ship is.”
Mary was worried but remained calm when she woke up alone in the kidnappers’ hideout. She made breakfast with some eggs and orange juice left behind, and then went outside to seek help. She walked along the dirt road until she reached the washed-out bridge. The stream was still flowing with some force, and there were plenty of sharp rocks on both sides. Mary considered climbing down, swimming across, and climbing back up. However, she could easily get hurt badly at any stage of that expedition. The current could bash her against rocks, and she might not be able to climb up the other side.
Mary walked near the edge of the river, first to the south and then back to the north. There were no good crossing points or other bridges within half a mile of the dirt road. She wasn’t close to being desperate enough to try to cross, and reasoned the storm could well have caused a delay in her rescue.
A bit frustrated, Mary returned to the house, and then remembered the boat that brought her there. Would she be able to pilot it alone? She walked quickly around the back, and her hopes were dashed when she saw the damage the storm had done. There was a large hole in the hull, apparently caused by repeated pounding into the dock, which was also damaged but could be used with some effort and care. There was no beach there, and within a hundred yards on either side rock outcroppings jutted into the ocean. It would be too dangerous to make her way along the shore that way.
Mary sighed and went back in the house. She searched every room for a telephone, but none was to be found. Fortunately there was food that would last her a few days if she conserved it. With nothing else to do, she went back to playing solitaire, pausing every few games to ponder if there was some way she could deliver a message or send out a signal.
On the island, Mickey, Joe, Jackie, and Farina wandered around outside.
“What are we gonna do today?” asked Joe.
Jackie idly kicked a coconut.
“We could play ball,” suggested Mickey. “Look for a piece of wood that would make a good bat.”
They looked around and eventually broke off a branch from a larger broken-off branch lying on the ground. Without enough for a real game, they took turns taking batting practice for an hour. It ended when the makeshift bat broke when Joe hit the coconut too close to his hands.
“How about we play football?” suggested Jackie.
The boys tossed the coconut around, and then tried to make a game of two-on-two, with one defender rushing the quarterback and the other defending the receiver after he had snapped the ball as the center. After several incomplete passes, many due to interfering tree branches, they headed toward a hill where trees were sparse.
Soon there was a play where Mickey threw the coconut over Joe’s head to the top of the hill. Joe reached out to catch it, but lost his balance as he stepped past the hilltop. He rolled down a long, shallow gully, no more than a foot deep and a yard wide, still slick from all the rain the previous day. The others raced to the top of the hill to see the end of Joe’s tumble.
“Are you all right?” called out Mickey.
“Yeah. And I caught it,” answered Joe. “Touchdown!”
“That looked like fun,” commented Jackie. After Joe got to his feet, Jackie got a running start and leaped into the gully, going into a long slide on his back like in baseball. “Wheeeeee!” Joe had to jump out of the way as Jackie nearly crashed into him.
“Let me try,” demanded Farina. He imitated Jackie’s slide, but with a slower running start Farina didn’t slide as far. “I got to try again and do better,” he declared.
Being the last one left at the top, it was Mickey’s turn. He got a good running start and slid a little past Jackie. “That was fun!” Mickey commented.
The boys made their way back uphill and went into more slides, trying to go farther each time. Once Farina tripped just before going into his slide and went down head-first on his stomach. “I meant to do that!”
The others didn’t believe him but tried it anyway, and had a blast.
Eventually Joe got his best running start and built up enough momentum to make a record long slide, all the way to the bottom of the hill and coming up just short of a tree. Being at a low point, water from the storm had saturated the ground there and left the area quite muddy. When Joe got up, his legs sank into the ground up to his knees.
“Hey!” he shouted, looking for a branch or root to help him out. However, Jackie came sliding by a few seconds later, stopping short when he saw what happened to Joe.
“I know how to get you out of there!”
Jackie carefully stepped onto a root, reached over, and mussed Joe’s hair.
“DON’T MUSS MY HAIR!”
Joe took a swing at Jackie, but barely connected as Jackie anticipated it and leaped out of the way. Incensed and out of control, Joe repeated swung at Jackie, who had moved to solid ground in front of Joe. Joe’s wild motions caused him to sink up to his crotch before he calmed down enough to yell, “What did you do that for?”
“Remember yesterday?” Jackie grinned.
At that point Farina came sliding down, having witnessed what just went on. “I remember yesterday,” he smiled, and duplicated Jackie’s actions from a moment before.
Joe lost control again. “I SAID DON’T MUSS MY HAIR!”
Joe hit Farina with a glancing blow, who then took Jackie’s position on solid ground in front of Joe. As before, Joe took more wild swings and his motions made him sink further, past his waist and only stopping a few inches below his chest. Jackie and Farina slapped hands in a high-five.
Mickey then came sliding down, and couldn’t stifle a laugh before scolding, “Now look what you did. Now we gotta pull him out.”
“That’s all right,” answered Jackie cheerfully. While they retrieved one of the vines from before, Jackie and Farina hatched a little plan. Soon the other three were pulling Joe out, with Mickey closest to Joe, followed by Jackie and Farina. They made some progress, getting Joe out to his waist, when Jackie turned back to Farina, winked, and they let go of the rope simultaneously. With Joe pulling hard on his end, the sudden change in force caused Mickey to fall face first in the mud. Jackie and Farina exchanged another high five.
“Oops, sorry my hand slipped,” explained Jackie.
“Mine too,” echoed Farina.
Mickey’s arms went into the mud up to his elbows, and he had to roll to the side to get clear. He groaned.
“Think you can manage this without your hands slipping?”
“Yes,” said Jackie as Farina nodded.
Joe was close enough to the root Jackie and Farina had stood on to push himself up a little, and with a combined effort he was out of the mud in five more minutes.
“It’s getting late, I think that’s enough fun for one day,” said Mickey.
Joe’s glare at Jackie and Farina told them that they had better watch out for something, but they didn’t seem to mind at all. When their backs were turned Joe allowed himself a little chuckle at the experience.
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Post by RJH on Nov 16, 2015 0:33:31 GMT -5
After breakfast the next morning, Wednesday, Ernie, Pineapple, Jack, and Sing Joy rode their bikes to Andy’s house after leaving notes explaining where they would be going that day. Ernie gave his note, cosigned by Pineapple, to Mango with instructions to give it to their mother at noon. They brought all kinds of food, including several types of fruit and canned vegetables and beans. It took close to an hour for them to reach the coast where Andy’s uncle’s sailboat was docked. Some roads were still closed due to fallen trees and other debris from the storm, but it was possible to get around barricades on the bicycles. The pier on which the ship was sparsely populated, and the boys had no trouble getting on board. It had been well secured despite not being used in weeks. Andy, who had brought a cap marked “Captain,” gave instructions on how to rig the sails and get the vessel, which had “Treasure Finder” painted on its side, moving into the ocean. They managed to turn to the northwest, sailing around a hundred yards from the coast. Ernie scrambled up the rigging and climbed into the crow’s nest to be the lookout, taking a spyglass from among the boat’s supplies with him. They sailed for hours up the coast, passing an island thought to be uninhabited from quite a distance. Due to occasional reefs and rocky shores they couldn’t stay too close to the shore. “How far is this Captain Kidd’s Treasure Cave?” asked Ernie. “I’m pretty sure it’s several miles from here,” answered Andy. We won’t reach it for a while.”
Mary went back outside to the shore, wondering why no boats came by. This spot was probably more isolated than she realized at first. Then she had an idea. She would try to make an SOS out of smoke signals that could be seen from a great distance. She started a fire in the fireplace that could be used for cooking, and went outside to see what the smoke was like. It was a thin wisp, barely visible. She went back inside, found the lever that opened and closed the flue, and tried holding the flue shut for a minute. Soon smoke filled the room and she quickly opened the flue and ran outside, choking from the smoke. She considered the situation, and experimented with closing and opening the flue for different periods of time. Then she hit upon the idea of tying a cord from a window shade and a sheet together to fashion a makeshift rope. She tied one end to the lever for the flue and brought the other end out a window. Mary then realized she needed another rope to pull the lever the other way, and made another one out of more sheets, and tied that to the flue lever and out another window on the other side of the house. With a lot of practice, she was able to make smoke come out in three short puffs, three long blasts, and three short puffs repeatedly. Now if only there was someone out there to see it.
On the island, after the boys finished another breakfast of bananas, Joe asked, “What should we do today?” “How about Cowboys and Indians again?” answered Jackie. “Only this time I want to be an Injun.” “If we do that, we should take turns being the Injuns,” opined Mickey. “Yeah, it’s your turn to be captured,” noted Farina. “Oh … all right.” The boys gathered feathers and Mickey and Jackie stuck them in their hair. Joe and Farina retrieved two of the lassos made out of vines they had used a few days before, and chased Mickey and Jackie around for a while before Mickey let himself be captured by Farina’s lasso. Joe and Farina wrapped the vine around Mickey and a tree, doing a better job than before but not too tight. Farina took delight in scalping Mickey, pulling the feathers out of Mickey’s hair and putting them into his own. Mickey twisted and wriggled and gradually the vine loosened. He was free in about ten minutes. “Now it’s time to go after the cowboys,” he declared. Mickey picked up the vine at his feet. “Hey!” exclaimed Joe. But it was his turn, and Mickey and Jackie ran after him, lassoed him, and dragged him to the tree. Joe didn’t fight too hard, and soon he was trussed up as he had been several days ago. However, on this occasion he was able to suck in his stomach considerably, having lost a fair amount of weight in the past few days. This created quite a bit of slack, and by squirming and wriggling he was able to free himself in eight minutes. Joe picked up the vine now at his feet. “Who’s next?” Jackie? Jackie figured this was coming, and after token resistance let himself be lassoed, again with his arms pinned at his sides. However, Mickey had picked up the other vine, and while Farina was watching Joe drag Jackie to the tree, Mickey lassoed Farina. Taken by surprise, Mickey was able to drag Farina to the same tree. Then with Jackie and Farina propped up back-to-back against the tree, Mickey and Joe went around the tree with both vines, wrapping Jackie and Farina tightly together. Part way through they lifted Farina off the ground so his waist would be at the same level as Jackie’s, making the part of the vine going around both waists very effective in immobilizing them. Farina remembered to expand his chest as he felt vines going around his upper body, but it wasn’t enough. He and Jackie realized that they might have been set up. Mickey and Joe stepped back to look at their handiwork, and congratulated themselves. Many coils of vine were wrapped around Jackie and Farina from their ankles to the armpits, and their hands were trapped partially behind their backs and against the tree. Jackie made an effort to get loose. “Hey, you’re crushing me!” complained Farina. “Then you try to get loose.” Farina did, prompting an “Ugh” out of Jackie. After a few minutes of small movements, they stood still. “What do you think we should do with these two?” asked Mickey. “I say scalp them,” answered Joe. Within a minute all the feathers had been removed from the messy mops of hair of the captives. “Now what?” asked Mickey. “I can’t think of anything,” replied Joe. “Then let’s sit down here for a few hours and see if we come up with something.” “Hey!” exclaimed Farina, to no effect. Three hours later, Mickey suggested, “Enough of this. How about we go back and look for buried treasure?” “Okay,” said Joe. “What should we do about these two?” “I guess it’s time to untie them.” Mickey and Joe pretended to untie the knots. “Hmm, these knots are too tight to untie.” “That’s okay. We have all these feathers.” “Good thinking.” Jackie and Farina braced themselves for what they knew was coming. It was forestalled when Mickey asked, “Are you sorry for pushing me in the mud yesterday?” “And getting me stuck?” added Joe. “Tell the truth.” Jackie and Farina thought for a moment. “NO!” The tickling onslaught began. With Jackie and Farina tickled at the same time, they didn’t notice any crushing of each other. After a minute of wild jerking and twisting, Jackie got his left hand free, and then Farina his right, as those hands had been trapped together by a section of one of the vines. They took wild swings at their tormentors, who stepped back, laughing. It took the captives another ten minutes to disentangle themselves from the rest of the vines. Once free, Jackie and Farina chased Mickey and Joe to the hut, where they called a truce in order to eat and drink. Having calmed down, they went to the beach and dug some more. Not finding any treasure, Jackie sat down in a hole. It looked like he was asking to be buried, so the others obliged, filling in the hole up to his chin, but not packing the sand down hard because they didn’t want to make the effort to unbury him. He sat there for an hour gazing out over the ocean before struggling out in five minutes. Mickey had dug the deepest hole, up to his armpits, but with no treasure found let the sand fill in around him. Again the sand wasn’t too tight, and he pushed himself up and out without much trouble. Joe also took a turn being buried to his chin in a sitting position for an hour, and then Farina, who stayed buried for close to two hours. It took Joe seven minutes to escape when he started trying, and Farina fifteen, but the whole experience was very pleasant. Then it was time to eat another dinner of fruit and water and retire for the day. A little past noon Mango delivered Ernie and Pineapple’s message to their mother. Not sure what to make of this news, she sought out the other parents, but by the time they all got together it was getting dark. They hoped and agreed that the older kids were responsible enough. The authorities still had their hands full helping people recover from the storm damage and helping people they could see in need was a higher priority. The older gang had been sailing Andy’s uncle’s sailboat for most of the day, not coming across anything very interesting, or finding the secret cave. Then: “Hey look, there’s smoke over there!” pointed out Ernie. Mary tore off a piece of a sail that had already been partially torn due to the storm damage. She waved it desperately, attempting to get the attention of whoever was on the boat in the distance. It worked. Ernie saw what might have been a waving flag through the spyglass and trained his view on the person waving it. “It’s Mary!” Ernie cried out. “Is anyone with her?” asked Pineapple. “I don’t see anyone else.” Ten minutes later the crew had maneuvered the Treasure Finder into the dock. Mary ran onto the dock when she recognized the crew members. “How did you find me?” she asked, overjoyed at the sight of her friends she hadn’t seen in some time. “One of the kidnappers said something about Captain Kidd’s Treasure Cave and I remembered it being somewhere around here,” answered Andy. “We almost didn’t get anything out of them,” added Jack. “They’re completely cuckoo, and locked in the loony bin. Were they like that with you?” “I tried to drive them crazy, playing cards and making them play circus. I was hoping they would all leave. It sort of worked, but the storm wrecked the bridge on the only road leading here and there’s no way across now.” “Well, it’s okay now,” reassured Pineapple. “Mary, did you see any of the boys?” “What are you talking about?” “Mickey, Joe, Jackie, and Farina disappeared the same day you did. We thought you might be together, or at least have seen them.” “No, I never saw … wait, I think I know where they could be. Did you pass an island on the way up here?” “There was,” offered Sing Joy. “We passed it a couple hours ago.” “They could be there. I think someone else was on the kidnappers’ boat. The kidnappers didn’t let me see them, and acted like they were stowaways. We stopped at that island, and I’m sure now the kidnappers threw them off there. We have to go there.” “It’ll get dark long before we could get back there,” declared Andy. “We’ll stay here for the night and leave first thing in the morning.”
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Post by RJH on Dec 21, 2015 1:37:17 GMT -5
Combining the food brought on the ship with what had been left by the kidnappers in the house, Mary, Ernie, Pineapple, Jack, Andy and Sing Joy had a reasonable dinner. The boys brought Mary up to date on what had happened since she had been kidnapped, and Mary described her ordeal in detail. She was in quite good spirits considering all that had happened.
They managed to go to sleep on the beds and other pieces of furniture, and then had a good breakfast before embarking on the Treasure Finder.
“I remember that island being a few miles to the south,” remarked Mary.
“Yeah, that’s right,” agreed Andy. “We should be there in a couple hours.”
On the island, the boys were deciding what to do that day after sleeping in later than usual and getting a late start.
“Let’s be pirates!” suggested Joe.
“It would help to have a boat,” pointed out Mickey.
“We can build a fort. Like have a lookout, and guard our territory,” offered Jackie.
It would give them something different to do, so Mickey agreed.
“Hey, we need swords,” noted Farina.
With that the quartet scouted about for sticks that were reasonably straight and two to three feet long. They drifted uphill in their search, seeking the advantage of having the higher ground.
By mid-morning, the island came into view. Andy navigated the ship to the dock, which was empty. The crew secured the Treasure Finder to some posts and got out. At first, they saw no evidence of the island being inhabited. But soon on the beach there was a discovery.
“Look!” exclaimed Sing Joy. “There’s several holes in the sand.”
“Bet they were digging for buried treasure,” opined Jack.
“Well, they should be here somewhere,” declared Ernie. “If we split up we can find them faster, but don’t get too far away that we can’t hear each other.”
They veered off in different directions, and in a couple minutes Mary heard something. She moved to a spot where some bushes were between her and the noise, and peeked through the bushes.
Mickey found a stick suitable for a sword and thought he heard some rustling in the bushes behind him. Certain it was Joe, Jackie, or Farina, Mickey thought he’d had a little fun. He twirled around, pointed his sword at the noise, and yelled, ‘YYAAARRRR!”
Mary shrieked and covered her eyes as she backed away from the bushes.
Mickey gulped and couldn’t believe his eyes. “Mary, is that you? What are you doing here?”
Mary composed herself, but stayed behind the bushes and turned her back when Mickey approached. “We’re here to rescue you. The older gang members, Ernie, Pineapple, Jack, Andy, and Sing Joy, they found me and I told them you might be on this island. They took Andy’s uncle’s sailboat. I was kidnapped, and they said you were missing too. The kidnappers stopped at this island and it seemed that they dropped someone off here, so I said we should look for you here. What about you?”
“We were on Farina’s wagon when the ropes broke and we went on a long wild ride and ended up crashing on the beach. We hid from the cops by stowing away on a boat, and … those guys found us and tied us up. We almost escaped, and then they threw us on this island and left.”
Mickey was puzzled as to why Mary wouldn’t face him. “Come on, Mary, you can look at me Do I really look that bad?”
Without turning to face him, Mary replied, “What are you doing out here in your underwear?”
“What?”
“What do you mean, ‘what?’? How can you not know what you’re wearing?”
Mickey blinked, and then realized what Mary was talking about. “Oh, uh, right. We had a little accident and lost most of our clothes. It felt funny the first day but then we got so used to it we haven’t thought about it. And we were playing pirates just now. You’ve seen pirate movies; lots of them are tough guys who don’t wear shirts.”
“But they always wear pants! Not just underwear!”
Mickey sighed. “Well, we can’t do anything about the past. Are there any extra clothes on that ship?”
“I … don’t know. I don’t remember seeing any, but let’s get back.”
The sound of Mary’s shriek had sent everyone to that direction, and within a minute the whole group was together and heading back for the beach. Jackie, Joe, and Farina were in a bit of a state of shock at this unexpected interruption of their pirates game. When they all arrived at the beach, those three finally stopped as all the older kids continued onto the dock.
“Come on, you guys,” commanded Jack.
“Where are you going?” asked Jackie.
“Home, of course. We’re rescuing you.”
“I don’t want to be rescued!”
“Me, too!” Joe offered his support.
“Me, three!” Farina would not be silenced.
Mickey was flabbergasted. “What? We have to get back home. Sure, we had some good times but we can’t stay here forever.”
“We don’t have to go back now,” countered Jackie.
“That’s right,” agreed Joe.
Farina nodded, and Ernie came up to him and said, “We need to talk.” They and Pineapple went a little distance to talk among themselves.
“Come on Farina, you may have had some fun, but this has to stop now. You can’t run around outside in your underwear all day.”
“I’m not running around in …” Farina suddenly realized he hadn’t given a thought to what he had been wearing for several days and altered his response. “I mean, sure I can. That’s what I’ve been doing all week!”
Ernie opened his mouth to say something, but no words came out. He was wrong and Farina was right on that matter. Ernie tried to recover. “That’s … just … wrong!”
Farina folded his arms across his chest and glared. “It’s been working fine. Not very many clothes to wash. You’d do the same if you were in this situation.”
Pineapple interjected, “Maybe, but we’ve got to get home. Our parents and Mango are worried sick about you.”
“Tell them I’m fine. Why don’t you come back in another week?”
“We’re supposed to get you back now. Maybe you can come back here if they let you. And Mango is really upset. You don’t realize how much she misses you.”
“All she does is bug me! And … she probably says I bug her too.”
“There’s more than that,” said Ernie. “In a way she likes the bugging, and playing with you.”
“You go play with her.”
“It’s better she plays with you since you’re a lot closer in age.”
“That doesn’t matter.”
“This is going nowhere,” commented Pineapple. “Let’s go back and see what the others are saying.”
They rejoined the rest of the group where Jackie and Joe were still refusing to come along peacefully. Mickey was getting exasperated. “Do we have to hunt you down like animals, capture and tie you up, and drag you on board?”
Jackie, Joe, and Farina exchanged glances and nodded in agreement. “Yes!”
Mary was having a hard time believing the conversation. “You’re seriously going to try to tie them up?”
“Sure,” answered Mickey. “There are some good vines here we can use. They can handle it. It will be our last adventure on this island.”
“There’s lots of real rope on the ship,” pointed out Andy.
“Fine, get some.”
Andy went into the boat to get half a dozen lengths of rope.
A big grin came over Ernie’s face, and soon the same was true for Pineapple and Jack.
Jackie, Joe and Farina realized what was going on and ran away. Ernie gave chase, and called out, “Pineapple, get some rope and follow me. Listen for my voice.”
Jack got the idea immediately and started after his little brother. “Sing Joy, same here.”
Mickey was left with chasing Joe. “Give me some rope, Andy, and follow me.”
Mickey grabbed two pieces of rope and took off after Joe. Pineapple and Sing Joy grabbed at the remaining rope from Andy, and their fumbling gave the others a head start. Mary did not want any part of this, and Andy noticed.
“Say Mary, why don’t you stay here and guard the ship?”
Andy ran off before Mary could answer, and she shook her head, rationalizing the behavior as “boys will be boys.”
Jackie, Joe and Farina had a head start but were never going to outrun the older kids.
“They’re gaining on us,” observed Jack.
Jackie had to agree. “We’re making it too easy for them to catch us. We need to split up. Every man for himself!”
The hunted trio veered in different directions uphill, but it only delayed their capture by a few minutes. Ernie kept chasing Farina and in a couple minutes caught up and tackled him. They wrestled, and while Farina was no match for his older brother, he did manage to make a big tear in Ernie’s shirt before he got pinned to the ground on his back.
“Over here, Pineapple!” Ernie shouted.
A couple minutes later Pineapple appeared. “What are we going to do?”
“I know. Here, hold him down and give me the rope.” Ernie took Farina’s hands and crossed his little brother’s wrists over his head, and then let Pineapple holding Farina down the same way. Ernie took one of the pieces of rope and lashed it around Farina’s wrists.
“You’re really tying me up?” queried Farina. “You could get in trouble for that.”
“Oh, are you going to tell Mommy on us?” Ernie replied with a derisive sneer.
“Then we’ll have to tell her you ran away and this is the only way we could get you back,” added Pineapple. “If we didn’t tie you up, you’d only run away again, right?”
Farina snarled, figuring lying wasn’t going to do him any good. Ernie finished tying Farina’s hands and then crossed Farina’s ankles, and lashed them together. Farina flexed his wrists, and observed that they weren’t tied too tightly. He felt a tinge of excitement at the prospect of some hope.
“What now?” asked Pineapple.
“I saw this good branch just over there. We put it between his arms and legs, and carry him back like a game animal that was hunted down.”
Pineapple chuckled while Farina objected, “Hey!” but he was powerless to prevent his older brothers from executing Ernie’s idea. Soon Ernie and Pineapple were carrying a sturdy branch about twelve feet long on their shoulders, with Farina slung underneath it, hanging by his wrists and ankles like a sloth or some kind of hunting trophy. When they got back to the beach, they propped the branch in the forks of two nearby trees about six feet off the ground.
Mary was appalled at the sight. “What’s wrong with you two?” she directed at the older brothers. “Did you really have to tie him up? And like that? Couldn’t you leave him any dignity?”
“Hey, this vicious pirate gave us a hard time and he likes to play rough,” answered Ernie. “Don’t you, Farina?”
Farina clenched his teeth. This was humiliating, but displaying any weakness in front of Mary or any of this other friends would be worse. “This isn’t over!” he snarled.
“You boys are impossible!” exclaimed Mary as she turned away in a huff.
“Come on,” said Ernie to Pineapple. “We should help capture the other two pirates.”
Their help would turn out not to be needed. While they were battling Farina, Mickey caught up with Joe, and then Andy a couple minutes later. The two-against-one struggle lasted about a minute before the two managed to tie Joe’s arms behind his back. As they tried to get Joe to his feet he rolled downhill several yards.
“Andy, let’s get him up. And one thing: be careful not to muss his hair.”
Joe was disappointed to hear his best chance of escape being thwarted. Grudgingly he let Mickey and Andy help him to his feet, not wanting to be rolled down to the beach the rest of the way. When they got there, Ernie and Pineapple were approaching, and they could see Farina hanging underneath the branch wedged in the forks of the trees, struggling to get loose. Mickey and Andy had a good laugh at the sight.
“Nice job with Farina,” Mickey complimented Ernie and Pineapple.
“Thanks,” said Ernie. “I thought that was a good way to keep him until his pirate buddies are captured. What are you going to do with Joe until we get the last one?”
“I know,” grinned Mickey. He got Andy to help him lead Joe to the hole Mickey had dug and stood in the day before, and guided Joe into it. Since Joe’s waist was significantly larger than Mickey’s, Joe went in up to his stomach, with his feet dangling over empty space. The sand around Joe’s waist appeared to be ready to collapse under Joe’s weight.
“Now hold still, Joe,” admonished Mickey, “while we get Jackie. If you struggle, the sand will give way and you will fall in all the way, which I figure will be up to your nose. Then it will be hard to get you out.” Joe frowned and said nothing, but clearly understood the situation.
Mary came over and made a face, not pleased with the situation. “Mickey, you too? Joe’s been stranded here for almost a week and you have to do this to him?”
“Yes we do. You haven’t been around, so you don’t know what he’s capable of. And he can certainly handle this.”
“What have you been doing?”
“I think we’d better wait till we’re on the way home before I tell you. You’re getting upset over nothing.”
Mary reasoned that Joe’s treatment wasn’t as bad as Farina’s and felt by not interfering more this whole thing would be over with sooner.
Joe remained motionless until the older gang members walked off to see how Jack and Sing Joy were doing with Jackie. Three years older than his younger brother, Jack took advantage of his greater size and strength to catch up with and tackle Jackie. They wrestled, and Jack silently admitted Jackie put up a better fight than ever before, but it could not be enough. With Jackie pinned to the ground, Sing Joy caught up. Jack told Sing Joy to tie Jackie’s feet together. Sing Joy wasn’t thrilled with the prospect but getting Jack mad at him would be a lot worse. When Jackie’s feet were tied, Jack grabbed the rope and dragged Jackie back to the beach.
Left alone, Farina’s mood was turning from anger and frustration. He could pull himself up somewhat, and by lurching bring his hands closer to his feet. If he could get his hands close enough he could untie his feet, and then escape before anyone noticed. He twisted his neck to see that the others were occupied with Joe and Jackie, and then resumed his escape attempt. Now he was excited at the prospect and no longer mad at his brothers for putting him in this situation. The adventure was still going on.
Joe was not going down without a fight. When Mickey and Andy left, Joe tried to free his arms from tied crossed behind his back. He felt himself make a little progress, but as Mickey predicted the sand around the edge of the hole did give way and he slid a couple inches further into the hole. He stopped struggling, and he did stop falling. He braced his feet against the sides of the hole and twisted his wrists some more. He felt the rope getting a little looser, but it wasn’t enough to pull his hands free. He made a bigger effort, and then his feet slipped. He slid deeper into the hole. Joe made one more big effort before he fell in too far, but that made him slip all the way to the bottom. The sand caved in over his shoulders and he shook his head and leaned it back to get some breathing room. He was left buried up to his chin, and now his arms were wedged tightly against the back of the hole. Joe sighed, and thought, “Well, this is still better than going down without a fight.”
The other older gang members met Jack dragging Jackie near the beach. Jack finished the job, and looked around. He guffawed at the sight of Farina, and then turned and barely saw part of Joe’s head. “Did you have to bury him that deep?” Jack asked Mickey.
Mickey turned around. “No … what? He was supposed to stay still. Now we got to go drag him out. Help us.”
“Sure, but we can’t leave Jackie like this.”
“Sure you can,” said Jackie.
“It’d be too easy for you to hop or crawl away. Sing Joy, you got another rope, right?”
“Yes, here.” Sing Joy gave the second rope he had to Jack. With a little help from Mickey Jack turned Jackie over on his stomach and tied his hands behind his back.
“There,” announced Jack smugly. “That’ll hold you until we get Joe out.”
“Right,” agreed Mickey. “Then we’ll take all you pirates home.”
Mary wasn’t pleased but also wasn’t surprised at Jackie’s treatment. “Mickey, you could be hurting him.”
“Trust me, Mary, he can handle it. Isn’t that right, you no good pirate?”
Of course Jackie would never say he couldn’t. “I can take a lot more than this. You better watch your back!”
“You better wait by the boat while us menfolk handle this,” said Mickey to Mary.
“Fine, play your stupid games!” Mary stalked off to the dock.
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Post by RJH on Jan 18, 2016 0:27:21 GMT -5
Hanging under the suspended branch by his tied hands and feet, Farina continued his effort to bring his hands close enough to his feet to untie them. It was awkward, but Farina was in good shape thanks to the activities of the past couple weeks and he made rather quick progress. Soon he brought his hands to within reach of his feet. It was hard to see with his knees in his face under the branch, but he felt around for the knot binding his feet and with a couple minutes of fairly strenuous effort managed to untie it. His legs promptly swung down, but his hands were still tied over his head and around the branch, leaving him dangling there at full length while he tried to catch his breath and figure out how to free his hands.
Lying on his stomach on the sand, Jackie struggled to free his hands from being tied behind his back but couldn’t, and kicked the sand with his bound feet in frustration. He could turn his head and see the bigger boys digging out Joe, and turning his head in the other direction saw Farina hanging from the branch by his own tied hands. Figuring that they might somehow be able to help each other, Jackie rolled toward Farina.
Unfortunately for Farina and Jackie, their motion was detected. Looking up from digging out Joe, Andy noted, “Hey, they’re trying to escape!”
Ernie and Pineapple ran toward Farina, who was wriggling in attempt to free his hands. The older brothers got there before he could.
“Didn’t we tell you to keep still?” demanded Ernie.
“No,” answered Farina as he kicked at his brothers.
“You should have figured that out.”
Ernie dodged a couple kick attempts from Farina, but when a third landed, Ernie grabbed Farina’s right foot, and then Pineapple was able to grab the left.
“Should we make a wish?” asked Pineapple to Ernie.
“I ain’t no wishbone!” yelled Farina, loud enough to get Mary’s attention.
“Next time,” said Ernie, who took Farina’s left foot from Pineapple, who then got the rope that had been tied around Farina’s feet from off the branch and used it to tie Farina’s feet together, more tightly this time. Then Pineapple tied the other end of the rope around the branch again. When Ernie let Farina go, the young pirate was left suspended under the branch again, but this time with his feet below the branch and his hands still above it. It didn’t look possible for him to reach his feet this time. It also didn’t escape his notice that his brothers were rather enjoying themselves as they tied him up again.
Mary arrived and was obviously displeased at this treatment but Ernie cut her off. “Look the pirate tried to escape, so we had to do this. We’ll never get you home otherwise.”
“Can’t you …” but Mary wasn’t sure what to suggest, and figured she’d never win the argument with Ernie and Pineapple. “Just promise you won’t hurt him.”
“You obviously don’t know anything about pirates, and we ain’t hurting him,” retorted Ernie. “Now just wait by the boat until we have all the pirates rounded up.”
Mary huffed and stalked off, but did notice Jack had caught up to Jackie. The older brother lifted Jackie’s feet off the ground, turned him so Jackie was on his back, and dragged him back closer to where Joe was stuck in the sand hole.
“Now don’t get any more clever ideas,” scolded Jack.
Jackie stuck out his tongue. It was clear he hadn’t given up yet. Mary reasoned that she couldn’t improve the situation by injecting her opinion on this occasion, and held her tongue. She recalled Jackie being dragged by dogs for some distance at least twice, and this wasn’t much worse than those.
Ernie, Pineapple, and Jack returned to where Mickey, Andy, and Sing Joy were digging up the sand around Joe. With his hands tied behind his back Joe couldn’t offer any help or resistance, and instead just scowled. From his position he could see Jackie and Farina continue to struggle to free themselves.
With his feet tied more securely than before, Farina worked on freeing his hands. He tried sawing the rope against the branch while twisting his wrists, and made some progress. One part of the rope split a little, and then Farina managed to pull his hand free. Since he wasn’t holding onto the branch, his body immediately swung down, leaving him swinging upside-down like a pendulum with his hands a few inches above the sand.
Jackie saw this, and reasoned that if he got over there, Farina could untie Jackie’s hands, and then Jackie could untie Farina. Then maybe they could do something about Joe. However, Ernie, now very suspicious of Farina, looked up every several seconds to check up on his youngest brother. Sure enough, Farina had been swinging for just a few seconds when Ernie noticed. Once again, Ernie ran over to Farina, who was trying to swing to one of the trees supporting the branch his feet were tied to. Ernie caught Farina’s arm and brought it down so that Farina was hanging still with his arms over his head, pointing to the sand. Pineapple arrived a moment later.
“We told you to keep still,” scolded Ernie, but not without a hint of glee in his voice.
“I am still,” retorted Farina.
“You weren’t a second ago. What do you think, Pineapple? Will he hold still when we move away?”
Pineapple waited several seconds, as if to keep Farina in suspense, and then answered with a bit of smirk. “Based on what just happened, I’d have to say no.”
“I have to agree. Now what should we do about it?”
“Go away!” was Farina’s comment.
“I’m afraid that’s not an option,” replied Ernie, who picked up the rope that had been binding Farina’s hands and that had fallen to the ground. Pineapple crossed and then held Farina’s arms behind his back while Ernie lashed Farina’s wrists together.
“We hate to do this …” started Ernie.
“No you don’t,” interrupted Farina. “I can tell you two are enjoying this.”
Ernie was left speechless and hesitated for a few seconds.
Pineapple committed, “You know, Ernie, Farina’s right. I had forgotten how much fun it is to play with him.”
Ernie recovered and finished tying Farina’s hands. Ernie stepped back to look at the finished result. “Yep, I have to admit, Farina’s right, this is kinda fun.” Ernie and Pineapple shared a laugh and high-fived each other.
Farina tried to twist and pull his hands apart, but soon could tell that he couldn’t free his hands by himself. He was condemned to remain hanging upside-down like a large trophy fish until someone else freed him, but he did have the satisfaction of being right on the one point.
Mary couldn’t believe what the big brothers were doing to Farina. Well, actually by now she could, but felt they had gone way overboard this time. “You guys are crazy! You’re being too rough. Let him down this instant!”
“He’d just try to run away again, and we’d never get you home.” Ernie was not going to change his mind. “And you’re not giving him enough credit. This isn’t anything he can’t handle. Isn’t that right, you rotten pirate?” Ernie gave Farina a little poke in the stomach.
“Farina, you don’t have to say …” pleaded Mary.
True to form, Farina would continue to display his toughness. Glaring at Mary, he snarled, “Ha! You call this rough? I can take a lot more than this!”
“See?” Ernie was glad to hear Farina’s response.
Mary was not convinced. “Of course he’s going to say that! He doesn’t want to look weak in front of his friends.”
“I am not weak!” Farina had to comment.
“You might have hurt his feelings,” suggested Pineapple.
“Me?” questioned Mary. She continued, “I can’t believe we’re having this conversation with Farina hanging upside-down all this time!”
“Hey, it’s not bothering him, so don’t let it bother you. Anyway, let’s end this conversation then for your sake. The sooner we get back to digging Joe out, the sooner we’ll release Farina and the sooner we’ll all be on the way home.”
Mary wasn’t pleased at the outcome, but figured she wasn’t going to change it. “I’m sorry, Farina, I tried my best.”
“You can still them to let us go and go on home without us.”
“We can’t leave you here.”
“We did fine without you.”
It was clear to Mary that Farina was too obstinate to argue with. She then noticed that Jack caught up to Jackie again and this time dragged him across the sand on his stomach back to near where Joe was. Mary headed in that direction.
“I warned you!” Jack exclaimed. He then located an extra piece of rope that hadn’t been needed to tie Joe, and used it to hogtie Jackie threading it between Jackie’s arms and legs and tying it so he couldn’t reach the knot.
“What is wrong with you? You don’t have to do that!” exclaimed Mary.
“Yes I do. We tried it your way, and he tried to get away twice.”
“That wasn’t my way! You didn’t have to be that rough before, and now you’re a lot worse!”
“I had to do this; we can’t take any more chances on him escaping. And you call that rough? He’s plenty tough enough to take this. Isn’t that right, you no-good pirate?” Jack gave Jackie a little shove with his foot.
It was certainly uncomfortable with the hogtie arching his back but with Farina holding up, there was a zero percent chance that Jackie would tell Mary he couldn’t take it. “Ha! I’m the toughest pirate of them all! If this landlubber had any brains he would have hogtied me right away but I guess he was afraid of getting you upset.”
Mary wasn’t expecting that statement out of Jackie, but then she realized that maybe she should have based on Farina’s reaction.
“Fine!” she shouted and stalked off toward the dock.
With two pirates secured, the older boys all resumed digging Joe out of the sand hole. This took another half an hour, considerably longer than Mary had hoped for. During this time, Jackie tried rocking back and forth, alternately pushing off his knees and chest in an attempt to reach Farina in another hope they could untie each other somehow. Maybe Farina could undo a knot binding Jackie with his teeth. But that possibility proved to be too remote.
Mickey and Andy pulled Joe along, the latter’s hands still tied behind his back. Mary saw this and ran toward them.
“Finally, you can untie them now!”
Mickey was well aware of what had been happening. “Their hands stay tied until we’re all on board and out to sea!”
All the other boys agreed, so Mary said nothing further. Ernie and Pineapple untied Farina’s feet from the branch and marched him to the boat. Jack united the knots making the hogtie and around Jackie’s feet, and also marched him to the boat. Finally everyone was on board. The three pirates were directed downstairs to a small room in the back of the boat. Under Andy’s instructions the older boys untied the lines securing the boat to the dock, unfurled the sails, and they were off.
“Now will you finally untie their hands?” pleaded Mary.
“Actually I think they’d prefer to untie themselves,” countered Mickey.
“What?” Mary turned to the captives, but Joe had a response ready.
“We don’t need your help!”
“Come on Mary, they can do it, trust me.” Mickey guided Mary back on deck.
Mary shook her head, but by now had no doubt Mickey was right. She had another question for the rescuing crew. “Did you guys bring any extra clothes? It will look silly bring the missing guys home in only their underpants.”
Ernie, Pineapple, Jack, Andy, and Sing Joy exchanged glances. Andy, acting as captain, touched his captain’s hat and replied, “Guess it never occurred to us that we would need to bring any.”
“Well, is there something you can use?”
They looked around, and the best they could get was a piece of canvas about four by six feet in area that Sing Joy found. “You could make this a cape, I suppose?”
“Take it, Mickey,” ordered Mary. If there was only one thing they could use it would go to Mickey and not the three recalcitrant pirates. Mickey draped the canvas over his shoulders. At least it restored some dignity.
“Andy, can we make it home before sundown?” asked Mickey.
“I don’t know. We lost a lot of time on that island. It could be close. But we can weigh the anchor and sit still overnight if we have to.”
Belowdecks, standing back to back Jackie was able to untie Joe’s hands. Then Joe untied Jackie’s, and then Farina’s. The three boys rubbed their wrists and shoulders and Farina and Jackie their ankles, able to admit to themselves that they had undergone quite an ordeal at the hands of their rescuers.
“What now?” asked Joe. “I don’t want to go home yet.”
“Me neither,” echoed Farina.
“Me too,” added Jackie. “I have a plan.”
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Post by RJH on Feb 14, 2016 23:56:14 GMT -5
Author's note - Wow, over 400 views from last time, far more than for any other chapter, even adjusting for time! Was it that compelling to get a lot of repeat views?
The three pirates, otherwise known as Jackie, Joe, and Farina, were plotting in the back lower room of the Treasure Finder.
“So what’s your plan?” asked Joe.
Jackie answered, “We pretend that we don’t want to go back to that island any more. It was a lot of fun while it lasted but it’s time to go home. Say there are things we miss, like food. But don’t overdo it; we have to be believable. Then we find out how to sail this ship. Then at night, when everyone’s asleep, we turn the ship around, go back to the island, point the ship home, and jump off. Hopefully they’ll want to get Mary back home as fast as possible so they’ll leave us alone for several more days.”
Joe was skeptical. “A lot of stuff needs to go right. Like we don’t make it back home before night. And we have to not fall asleep.”
“We can take naps during the day. Just one of us needs to stay awake for a while, and then can wake the other two.”
“Well, it’s worth a shot.”
“We gotta go for it,” was Farina’s opinion. “Too bad Mickey didn’t want to stay a pirate with us.”
“That’s because he’s in love with Mary,” explained Joe. Jackie and Farina snickered a little.
“All right let’s do this.” Jackie might have been a little too eager to get the show on the road. The trio carefully walked across the bottom level and up the stairs to the main deck.
“So, are the pirates plotting a mutiny?” demanded Jack.
“No, that’s over.” Jackie acted defeated. “We surrender.”
“You know what happens if you try to take over this ship?”
“How can we?” Jackie spread his arms. “We’re outnumbered, you guys are all bigger, and we got no weapons. You’d overpower us, and I’ve had enough of being tied up by you.”
Mary butted in. “Let me see your hands.” There were minor rope burns on Jackie’s wrists, and also his ankles. Mary turned and glared at Jack. He answered,
“Hey, those will heal soon enough. And he deserved it. We could still be out on that island chasing those rascals down.”
Mary was not convinced that Jack needed to treat his little brother so roughly, but Jackie interjected,
“I’m fine; this ain’t a big deal.”
Mary saw she wasn’t going to get anywhere and faced Joe. “How are you doing?”
“I’m fine now. I guess we kinda got carried away back there.”
“It sure looks like you did.”
“Yeah, well I was having a great time, but I was getting awful tired of bananas and oranges. I can’t wait to eat some meat. Got any on board?”
“I don’t think so; it would spoil in a day.”
Sing Joy chimed in. “We brought lots of canned fruit and beans, and some other vegetables.”
Joe sighed. “Well, it’s better than what we’ve been having, but I’d love to sink my teeth into a steak.”
Joe seemed normal enough to Mary, so she turned to Farina. “Are you really okay? Let me see your hands.”
“I’m fine.” There were visible rope burns on his wrists and ankles, but the skin wasn’t broken.
“It was still awful the way your brothers treated you.”
“No, it wasn’t.”
“How can you say that?”
“It was exciting to be hunted. And I almost escaped twice after they did capture me. But they got me good at the end.”
“You certainly didn’t deserve to be strung up upside-down.”
“Maybe I did.”
“Don’t say that.”
“I mean it. I realize now I was being selfish. I never got to do anything like all the stuff we did on this island, and wanted to keep going ‘cause it will probably never happen again, but I wasn’t thinking about you and how you need to get back home.”
“That’s big of you to stick up for your brothers like that. Are you really okay with going home now?”
“Yeah, it was a lot of fun while it lasted, but I’ve had enough. My mother’s cooking would taste very good right now. And … I wouldn’t mind a clean set of clothes. Though I could keep going if I had to.”
Mary turned to Ernie and Pineapple, who were close by but felt it best not interrupt her conversation with Farina. They were pleased with how Farina defended them. She told them, “Well, I still think you overdid it, but it seems you haven’t hurt Farina too much, so I’ll stop complaining to you.”
That matter settled for the time being, the group had lunch from the provisions the older gang members had brought. Then with some hours of sailing ahead, they wandered around the boat, with Ernie resuming his position in the crow’s nest. Soon Andy was adjusting the sails.
“What are you doing?” asked Jackie. His co-conspirators were standing nearby.
Andy was only too eager to show off his expertise. “It’s called tacking. The wind isn’t blowing in the right direction, so we have to sail at angle, and then zigzag back. The wind fills the sails and the ship goes in the direction it’s pointing in.”
“Oh. And you tie the end of this pole here?” Jackie pointed to the horizontal support of the biggest sail.
“Yes, or on the other side. You have to be careful; this is heavy, and you don’t want to get hit by it.”
Joe then asked, “If the wind is blowing against us, can we make it home today?”
“I don’t think so,” was Andy’s honest answer.
“What do you do then?”
“We have to drop the anchor, and then weigh it in the morning."
“How much does the anchor weigh?” asked Farina.
Andy grimaced. “That’s not what ‘weighing the anchor’ means. It means we raise it from the ocean floor so the boat is free to sail."
“How does it work?”
“You release this lever here, and the anchor drops. To pull it back up, you turn this crank, and put the lever back in place so it doesn’t slip.”
Shortly thereafter a thick fog rolled in. Mickey asked Andy, “Is it safe to keep going?”
“Not for long. There was nothing close, but we don’t want to run into anything. If the fog doesn’t lift in a few minutes we’d better drop the anchor. This time of day the fog shouldn’t last long.”
A few minutes later the fog was still there, so they did lower the anchor. Jackie yawned, part of his plan, and announced, “I need to take a nap.”
That didn’t seem too strange so everyone let him go back down, and he took a spot in a hammock. Around a half hour later the fog lifted as the wind shifted direction. “How are we doing now?” asked Mickey.
“Help me move the sail over here,” responded Andy. Jack and Pineapple offered to help, while Joe and Farina got well out of the way. Joe was paying attention to what the older boys were doing while not acting like it.
Andy continued, “We’ll never make it all the way back today, but we should get reasonably close. We’ll just need an hour or two tomorrow.”
Mickey turned to Mary. “Sorry we’re not getting you back home today.”
Mary was not upset. “It couldn’t be helped. The important thing is that we’re together and free from those awful kidnappers.”
Farina surreptitiously went downstairs and took Jackie’s place. Farina told him the good news from their standpoint, and then settled in for his nap. The remaining afternoon hours were uneventful. Progress was slow with the light wind. No one paid attention when Joe went down another half hour later and shook Farina awake and replaced him in the hammock. Jackie then went to get Joe when it was time for dinner.
There were plenty of canned provisions and jugs of water for the evening meal. After it ended Jackie announced, “All this stuff the past few days made me more tired than I realize. I have to go to bed now.”
“There aren’t enough hammocks for everybody,” pointed out Jack.
“That’s okay, I’m used to sleeping on the ground.”
“You shouldn’t have to sleep on the floor,” protested Mary.
“If it weren’t for him nobody would have to sleep on the floor,” countered Jack.
“It’s okay, Mary, I’ll be fine.” For a change Jackie was agreeing with his brother. Jackie went downstairs and to the back lower room, and lay down on some old rags.
A few minutes later Farina yawned, mumbled, “Me too,” and joined Jackie. Joe held out a while longer to avoid suspicion and watched as Andy guided the lowering of the anchor when the sun set. Then he went to the lower deck and lay down next to Farina and Jackie in the back.
It was hard to sleep on the ship’s floor, but that was part of the plan. Well rested from their afternoon naps, the younger trio stayed awake with little difficulty. They waited until all the older kids and come down and filled up the hammocks in the adjoining room. After waiting another half hour, during which time their eyes adjusted to the darkness, they carefully crept out of the back room, across the larger room where the others were asleep in the hammocks, and up the stairs. Their conversation was a whisper.
“We’ll just raise the anchor a little so the others will think it got loose on its own,” explained Jackie.
With a fair amount of effort, Joe and Jackie raised the anchor about a foot. They could feel the boat drift slowly.
“Can we make the boat go back to the island?” asked Farina.
“We have to aim the sail in the right direction.”
“It should go this way.” Joe pointed a direction.
“I think it’s more that way.” Jackie indicated a direction about ten degrees away from Joe’s. They moved the pole attached to the bottom of the large sail to a position close to halfway between their estimates, and tied a line to keep it in place. They weren’t able to place it more accurately, and hoped it would be close enough. The boat slowly began to reverse its previous course, and then picked up speed.
“Now what?” asked Farina. “We can’t stay awake all night.”
Jackie was quite optimistic.
“We go to sleep, and wake up before everybody else. Get off at the island, and turn the boat around. They’ll be so anxious to get Mary home they’ll leave us for a few days.”
“What if something goes wrong?” asked Joe. “They’ll know we did it.”
“I didn’t think about that. You mean like pretend we’re asleep and pin the blame on someone else?”
“Yeah, something like that. But I’m really tired now; I have to go to sleep for real.”
“Me too,” added Farina.
The three buccaneers quietly returned to their spot past the others and into the small back room. However, it was not easy to fall asleep on the hard wooden floor. It was very late when they did, and thus they didn’t come close to waking up with the sun as the older kids. Mickey wondered out loud,
“It feels like we’re moving.”
“No way,” countered Andy. “We dropped the anchor last night.”
They went upstairs and Andy exclaimed, “This isn’t right. Wait …” He tested the crank, and found the anchor wasn’t on the ocean floor. “Hey, this has been raised a little.”
“Could it have broken loose?” asked Mary.
“That’s very unlikely. But … hey, the sail’s been moved.”
“Where are we?” asked Pineapple.
“I don’t know … uh oh … I think we’ve been going in the wrong direction.”
“For how long?”
“Looks like a long time.”
“Like most of the night?” asked Ernie.
“Maybe. It’ll take all day to get back to where we were yesterday evening. Here, help me get this sail back where it belongs.” Mickey and Sing Joy helped reset the sail, and the ship turned and headed slowly back in the correct direction.
“I think I know who’s behind this,” snarled Jack.
Jack and Ernie went downstairs to look in on the younger trio, who were fast asleep. Jack thought they might be pretending.
“What should we do with them?”
Ernie wasn’t sure. “They won’t cause any more trouble right now, but we’ll have to keep an eye on them at all times. Let’s discuss this upstairs.”
They went back up to report.
“Farina, Joe and Jackie are still asleep,” announced Ernie.
“Or pretending,” added Jack.
“So what should we do with them this time?” Ernie asked the crowd.
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Post by RJH on Feb 29, 2016 23:50:34 GMT -5
“I say we throw the pirates in the brig!” declared Jack.
“This ship doesn’t have a brig,” pointed out Andy.
“We can barricade that back room downstairs,” suggested Pineapple.
Despite the turn of events, Mary still didn’t like how the boys were talking. “You don’t have to do anything like that. They can’t do anything to delay us again when now that we’re awake. They’ve been through an ordeal and aren’t thinking straight.”
“I went through everything they did, and I’m not acting like that,” countered Mickey.
“You’re older and more mature than they are.”
“Well, yes, but … okay, nothing’s going to happen during the day, but if we’re all asleep at night, they’ll pull the same stunt.”
“Mickey’s right,” agreed Ernie.
“I say we tie them up in that back room tonight.” Jack was confidant he had the right solution.
“Why is tying them up always your answer?” complained Mary.
“You see what happened when we didn’t tie them up.”
“You can guard them at night. Take turns so someone is awake at any time.”
Ernie was aligned with Jack. “I don’t think we can afford to take that chance.”
“How about we put it up for a vote?” suggested Pineapple. “Everyone in favor of tying up the pirates at night raise your hand.”
Jack, Ernie, Pineapple, Mickey, Andy, and Sing Joy raised their hands.
“That makes six,” announced Pineapple. “Even if the three of them vote with Mary, that’s only four.”
At that point Jackie, Joe, and Farina had woken up and were listening at the top of the stairs. It was clear their plan didn’t work, and their sentence had already been determined. Jack noticed some movement behind Mary, and called out, “You guys are in big trouble now.”
Mary turned around, and countered with, “No you’re not. But you’re not well. You need to be checked out at the hospital.”
“You mean get their heads examined?” asked Ernie.
“Yeah, they have these x-ray machines now,” said Mickey. “Doctors can see right into their heads.”
“They probably won’t find anything,” opined Jack.
“Hey!” Jackie finally came to life. “That was the result of your last x-ray.”
“See, he’s normal. At least for him. They knew what they were doing.”
“Oh, just stop it!” exclaimed Mary.
The rest of the day was rather uneventful, with not much talking. The ship had missed the island to the south and drifted far out to sea to the west, in an area no other vessels were. They ate regular meals, and then came sunset.
“Bedtime,” snickered Ernie at Farina. Farina growled, but that did nothing to prevent the older boys from dragging the younger trio downstairs to the back room. Mary pleaded with Mickey,
“If you have to do this, don’t make it too uncomfortable.”
“They’ll be fine,” assured Mickey. “But we all might not be if we don’t tie them up well enough that they can get loose and sabotage the ship again.”
“You’re having fun with this, aren’t you?”
“Maybe a little, but it has to be done.”
Mary shook her head, and Mickey went downstairs with the others. Sing Joy wasn’t all that thrilled with the idea and stayed on the top deck with Mary.
Downstairs, Jack surveyed the back room. There was a board running along the wall near the ceiling, and another near the floor. Those were possible places to which to tie the pirates. He commanded Jackie, “Hold out your hands.”
Jackie refused.
Jack continued, “We to this the easy way, or the hard way. Now be a good pirate and hold out your hands so we can tie you on the floor.”
“Why don’t you go away and leave us alone?”
“All right, you asked for it.”
With Mickey and Ernie’s help, Jack forced Jackie’s hands in front of him and tied with them with a piece of rope. Then Jack lifted his little brother’s hands over his head and tied them to the board above, with Jackie’s heels barely resting on the floor. Jackie tried to pull his hands loose, but couldn’t. He was left standing there at the center of the back wall.
“You expect me to sleep like this?”
“Eventually. This way you’ll be nice and tired tomorrow morning and won’t be able to mess things up anymore.”
When Jack turned to Joe. “Your turn. What will it be?”
The thought of standing tied against a wall all night wasn’t appealing to Joe, but giving up without putting up any resistance was anathema, especially after Jackie’s reaction. Joe’s hesitation was enough to convince Jack that Joe needed the same treatment Jackie got. While his hands were being tied over his head to the board, Joe scowled at Mickey.
“You turned out to be a lousy pirate.”
“You have to understand that it was time to stop playing. There’ll be other times to play pirates.”
Neither was going to be persuaded by the other’s argument.
When Joe was trussed up a few feet to the left of Jackie, Ernie and Pineapple turned to Farina.
“What’s it gonna be?” asked Ernie.
Farina had made up his mind. With surprising quickness, he punched Ernie in the stomach, and then hit Pineapple as well, though not quite as hard. The older brothers needed a few seconds to recover, and then managed to grab Farina’s arms. Soon Farina was tied up the same way, a few feet to the right of Jackie. With the curve of the end of the ship Joe and Farina were partially facing each other.
With the sun going down, it was time to drop the anchor and settle in for the night. The lower deck was illuminated by a couple kerosene lamps, which turned out to be enough for Mary to see Joe through the opening to the back room from the hammock she was going to sleep in.
“Oh! That’s what you’re doing to them?!”
“Hey, they gave us trouble,” explained Jack. “They won’t any more.”
“This is still a game for them,” added Mickey. “It’s not so bad; they can move their legs.”
Joe tried to kick Mickey, but it was just a glancing blow.
“Did you do the same to Farina?” Mary asked Ernie as she stepped up to where she could see the youngest. “Oh! How could you do this to him?”
“Easy. He punched us,” replied Ernie in a matter-of-fact manner.
“I don’t blame him. Won’t you please let him loose?”
“Then he’ll untie Jackie and Joe and try to turn the ship around again.”
“Give him a chance.” Mary turned to Farina, not comfortable at looking at him in his current situation. “Farina, if they untie you, will you promise not to cause any more trouble?”
“Come on Farina,” cajoled Ernie. “Look Mary in the eye, and don’t lie to her.”
Farina looked Mary in the eye, and then turned his head away.
Mary pleaded, “Come on Farina, you’ll get very uncomfortable standing like that all night.”
“I can handle it.” Farina remained defiant and true to his cause.
Mary could see this cause was hopeless. “Then promise me you’ll call out if it gets too bad.”
“Okay.”
“And the same goes for you two,” directed at Jackie and Joe.
The latter two grumbled. None of the three pirates would want to admit to being unable to handle the situation, so they could be in for a long night.
“I’ll keep watch for a while,” offered Mickey.
“Thank you,” said Mary, who climbed into one of the hammocks.
The buccaneers closed their eyes and relaxed as much as they could, which was actually a fair amount as they could position their feet so as to keep their bodies erect. After an hour Mickey got bored, extinguished the lamps, and got into the last hammock. Around midnight Jackie woke up due to Joe’s snoring. He gave Joe a little kick.
“Joe, you awake?”
“Huh ... what?”
“I got an idea, but you got to keep quiet.”
“Okay. What are you going to do?”
“Bust you loose. Please try not to hit me too hard.”
“What?”
Jackie raised his legs and judging from the direction of Joe’s voice in the darkness, tried to get a foot on Joe’s head. Jackie managed to get a foot on Joe’s shoulder first, and rubbed the other foot across Joe’s hair.
“Hey!”
“Quiet!”
“Why you …” Seething, Joe jerked violently against the rope binding his hands. It took about fifteen seconds of Jackie mussing up Joe’s hair before the loop in the rope around his wrists widened enough for Joe to break loose. Enraged, he sought to slug Jackie, but didn’t see his target clearly in the dark.
“You okay?” whispered Jackie.
Now knowing where Jackie was, Joe gave him a light punch in the stomach. “Why’d you do that?”
“It was the only way to get you out. Now untie me, and we’ll get Farina and take over the ship again.”
After his breathing settled, Joe reached up to try to untie Jackie’s hands. It was awkward standing on tiptoe, and Joe only managed to loosen the knot a little.
“I got my own idea,” announced Joe. “He clamped Jackie’s mouth shut with one hand, and tickled him with the other. Joe’s plan worked very well, apart from getting kicked once by a squirming Jackie. Several seconds later Jackie was also free. It took a minute for him to catch his breath, and then he said,
“Okay, now let’s get Farina. Farina are you awake?”
The nearby commotion had woken him. Joe and Jackie loosened the knot tying Farina’s hands, and then couldn’t resist. Joe covered Farina’s mouth, and he and Jackie both tickled Farina until he wriggled loose.
“Did you have to do that?” asked Farina when he got his breath back.
“Yes,” answered Jackie. “I don’t have any itching powder here.”
Joe listened at the entryway to the large room on the lower deck. “Quiet, I think we woke someone.”
The trio listened, and it sounded like two or three guys were stirring. The pirates had to sit quietly for half an hour before all the noises stopped.
“I think we can go now,” opined Joe.
The three crept silently through the larger room, up the stairs, and onto the deck. They repeated their actions from the night before, raising the anchor a little and moving the sails in the moonlight and starlight.
Joe had a concern. “We got such a late start that we won’t get far enough away tonight. There’ll be enough time tomorrow to make it all the way back home.”
Jackie sighed. “You’re probably right. But it’s so much fun escaping; it’s worth whatever happens tomorrow.”
“Think they’ll tie us up again?”
“Naw,” piped up Farina. “Not during the day when they’re awake and can watch us all the time. Besides, Mary is too concerned about us – especially me.”
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Post by RJH on Mar 27, 2016 23:47:40 GMT -5
Mary didn’t slept very well that night. She should have been home by then, but the kids playing pirates had delayed it by a day or two. Yet, the older boys didn’t seem to mind too much. They acted angry, but she could tell that they were enjoying the good-guys-versus-pirates game. They were all overdoing it, and she was the only one still completely rational.
As Mary drifted in and out of sleep, another thought crossed her mind. “What if everybody else is normal, and there’s something wrong with me? Why can’t I have fun like everyone else? Oh, it doesn’t matter; it will be over a couple hours after dawn.” Mary tossed and turned again, and eventually did get to sleep. However, due to her trouble falling asleep she was the last to wake the next morning.
The pirates rested on the deck in the fresh night air for a couple hours, and then decided to try to resume their previous positions to make it appear they hadn’t escaped. They put their hands through the loops in the ropes over their heads with some effort, but it wasn’t very tight due to the knots being loosened previously. Maybe their captors wouldn’t notice in the dark that something was different.
A little while later Mickey woke up as the first rays of the morning sun filtered through the portholes. Remembering where he was, he made his way to the back of the ship and confronted the pirates.
“Are you awake?”
“No,” answered Jackie.
“Do you have anything to say for yourselves?”
Joe did have something to say. “I’m hungry.”
“Me, too,” added Farina.
“Okay, I’m awake,” admitted Jackie.
“Fine, you’ve served your sentences.” Mickey worked on the knots tying the buccaneers’ hands. Something didn’t seem quite right, but Mickey wasn’t awake enough to notice. In a few minutes the trio was freed, and the others, except for Mary, were waking up during the process. In the strengthening daylight, Andy saw that it was foggy again and there was no rush to raise the anchor, so the boys moved to the front of the lower deck and ate breakfast.
The morning meal completed, the gang headed up to the top deck. The fog was lifting, and soon it was noted that something was amiss.
“Isn’t the sail in the wrong position?” asked Sing Joy.
“Yes,” declared Andy.
“Hey, the anchor’s raised a little!” shouted Jack.
The noise woke Mary up and she staggered out of her hammock, across the lower deck, and to the stairs leading to the top deck. Meanwhile, Ernie clambered to the crow’s nest and then back down to make his report.
“I can see the coast – we didn’t drift too far away this time. It’ll just be another few hours.”
There was some grumbling as the older boys surrounded the younger ones as Mary reached the top deck. “What’s going on?”
Mickey answered, “The pirates broke loose again last night and sabotaged the ship, but we’re not so far away this time. It’ll take us a few extra hours to get home.”
The expression on Mary’s face changed, and no one saw the eruption coming. She had had it with the pirates.
“CHAIN THOSE SCURVY DOGS UP SO THAT THEY CAN’T MOVE AN INCH!”
“Uh, this ship doesn’t have chains,” explained Andy.
“DO YOU WANT TO FEEL THE BUSINESS END OF THE CAT-O-NINE TAILS!?”
Andy took off his captain’s cap and handed it to Mary, who smartly put it on. The older boys then hustled the pirates back downstairs and into the back room. Ernie and Pineapple tied Farina against the center of the back wall first. In shock at Mary’s reaction, Farina didn’t put up a smidgen of resistance as his hands were tied to the beam overhead a few inches wider than shoulder width, and then his feet tied to the board running near the floor at a similar width. On this occasion the older brothers’ faces displayed fear rather than any enjoyment, afraid of Mary’s reaction if they didn’t do a satisfactory job. As a result they did an excellent job, with Farina left in a moderate spread-eagle, unable to bend his arms or legs at all.
During the process, Sing Joy nervously asked, “What’s a cat-o-nine tails?”
“That’s a whip with nine ends,” explained Andy.
“Do you have one of those?”
“No, but I’m not going to say anything to Mary. You can if you want to.”
“No way.”
Jack then took the lead in tying up Jackie in a similar manner to the left of Farina. Jackie was also stunned by Mary’s outburst, and didn’t put up any resistance either. In a couple minutes he was bound hand and foot as well.
Joe knew his turn was next, and that there was nothing he could do about it. Mickey, Jack, Ernie, and Pineapple each tied one of Joe’s hands or feet to the beams. Working efficiently, the group had Joe tied up in barely a minute.
Once the pirates were all secured, the older boys heaved sighs of relief.
“What now?” asked Pineapple.
“You can tell Mary we did the job,” answered Jack.
“I don’t want to talk to her now.”
“Me neither.”
“Let Mickey tell her,” suggested Andy. “She likes him best.”
“Uhh …” responded Mickey, but everyone else agreed he should be the one. “Okay, but you guys gotta back me up.”
The group headed back up top and Mickey nervously made the report to Mary. “The pirates are secured, Madam Captain. Do you have any more orders?”
“Just keep the pirates chained up until we reach port.”
“They’re not really chained …” Mickey gulped as Mary’s face soured. “I mean, yes Captain, keeping them chained up until we reach port is the wisest thing to do. We can’t take any more chances on them sabotaging the ship again.”
“That’s better.” Mary continued to bark out orders.
“You!” she shouted pointing at Ernie. “Up to the crow’s nest and report anything I need to know about!”
“Aye, Captain.” Ernie saluted and raced up the net to the crow’s nest in record time.
“You!” now pointing at Jack. “Raise the anchor and make sure it stays raised! You can help him!” pointing to Pineapple.
“Aye, Captain.” Jack and Pineapple spoke and saluted in unison, and quickly raised the anchor and locked it into position.
“The rest of you,” Mary commanded, “Set this ship on a true course for home and make sure nothing else bad happens!”
Mickey, Andy, and Sing Joy, after saluting, scrambled to the sails and readjusted them, glad not be directly in front of Mary.
Belowdecks, the pirates slowly came out of shock.
“What are we going to do now?” asked Joe.
“I think we better do nothing for a while, like an hour,” answered Jackie. “I’ve never seen Mary like that before, and we probably need to give her time to calm down.”
“It will be very easy for me to do nothing.” Farina did not sound very happy. “My brothers tied me up so good I can barely move.” Farina wiggled his fingers and toes and shook his head, which was the limit of what he could do.
“Same here,” agreed Joe. “I can move about half an inch.”
“Mary did say to chain us up so we can’t move an inch.” Jackie’s observation wasn’t reassuring to his two co-conspirators. “The crew was too scared to disobey her.”
There was silence for several minutes, which was eventually broken by Joe.
“Hey Farina, you said Mary wouldn’t let this happen to you.”
“Okay, so I was wrong. What are you going to do about it?”
“I can’t do anything, same as you.”
“Come on you guys,” said Jackie. “We gotta think on how to get out of this.”
“Like talk our way out?” asked Joe.
“Maybe. I don’t think yelling for help and saying we’re in pain won’t work.”
“You’re right about that.”
“Yeah,” agreed Farina. “But I don’t feel like I have to prove I’m tough any more.”
“I have an idea,” announced Jackie. “When someone comes, don’t say anything but look miserable. Farina, you can do that best.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
After an hour, Mary marched down the stairs to the back room to see the prisoners. With the curve of the stern, Jackie and Joe were angled inward so Mary was directly in front of all of them when she stood a few feet in front of Farina. As planned, the boys said nothing, only glancing at Mary before looking down. Mary then paced in front of the captives, and then spoke.
“I have good news. We’ll arrive mid-afternoon, and you won’t do anything to change that.”
The captives said nothing. Mary remarked at Jackie, “Once we’re home, we’ll have to teach you what a comb is.”
More pacing, and then to Joe, “Have you lost weight? Let’s give you a chance to lose a little more.”
Joe just took a deep breath and Mary moved on. To Farina, she noted, “Aw, look what hanging around these guys has got you. I wonder if you’ve been tied up in your underwear long enough.”
Farina gave Mary his best sad look. Mary’s face changed to one of sympathy.
And then changed back to one more maniacal.
“Ha! If you think that puppy-dog eyes look is going to get you loose, you are sadly mistaken! You are going stay chained up until you’re returned home where you will be given a fair trial, be found guilty of piracy and kidnapping, made to walk the plank, be keel-hauled, and sent to Alcatraz.”
“In what order?” asked Jackie.
“Are you trying to be funny?”
Jackie gulped. “No.”
“You two have anything to say?” glaring at Farina and Joe.
The latter two shook their heads.
“Good!” Mary stalked off and went back upstairs, where she went to Mickey.
“How did that go?” Mickey asked, regaining his nerve.
“It went fine. You look funny. What is it?”
“I was just thinking, we don’t have to keep the pirates tied up now that we’re all awake. They can’t do anything now.”
Mary grinned. “I know.”
“Huh?”
“What a rush! You guys are on to something. That was the most fun I’ve had in a long time!”
“You mean, you were acting?”
“Yes. Pretty good, wasn’t I?”
“I’ll say.”
“Just don’t tell anyone else till we’re almost home, okay?”
Mickey smiled. “Aye, Captain.”
Back downstairs, the pirates had plenty of time to think.
“Well, that sure didn’t work,” noted Joe. “Do you think Mary was playing with us?”
Jackie had to think a moment. “I didn’t think so, but it could be. What do you think, Farina?”
“She had me scared, but now that I think about it, you’re probably right. This is what I get for telling her I’m so tough all the time.”
“So this is it?” asked Joe mostly rhetorically. “What a way to come home.”
“Look at the bright side,” said Jackie. “We gave it everything we had, and went down fighting. We got two extra days out of this. It would be a drag if we were loose and weren’t doing something to continue our adventure. Look at what all those bigger kids had to do to us to stop us from taking over the ship.”
Jackie laughed.
“It’s kind of funny actually.”
Jackie laughed harder.
“It’s not that funny …” started Joe, but he was interrupted by Farina joining Jackie in laughing. It was contagious, and Joe burst out laughing as well.
Outside, Ernie had a report. “A ship’s coming over to us!”
A few minutes later the ships met. The captain introduced himself.
“Ahoy there, I’m Captain Whelan. You’re those missing kids, aren’t you? Lots of ships have been looking for you, but we didn’t expect you this far out and south.”
Andy looked at Mary, who handed him back his captain’s cap. Andy then answered, “Yes, and we found all the kidnap victims. They’re all right, but it might be a good idea to have doctors look at them.”
“Good. I’ll head back and alert the authorities. A lot of people are worried about you.”
Whelan headed his boat back to shore, with the “Treasure Finder” following at a slower speed.
“Okay,” Mary announced, “it’s time to release the prisoners.”
Ernie, Pineapple, and Jack did as instructed, but Pineapple had to ask, “Why are you pirates laughing? Are you delirious?”
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Post by RJH on Apr 29, 2016 22:57:55 GMT -5
Jackie, Joe, and Farina were too out of it to answer, and continued laughing until they were escorted upstairs and got a good dose of fresh salt air. Coming to their senses, they came to the realization that they adventure had finally come to an end. The dock from which the boat they had stowed away departed more than a week earlier was easily discernable.
Soon the Treasure Finder reached the dock, on which was gathered a crowd of anxious parents along with Mango, Johnny, Jay, and Bonedust, in addition to some reporters. The kids were a lot calmer than the adults. Mary was the first one off the ship, and ran into her parents’ arms. The older boys made sure Farina, Jackie, and Joe got off next. There were some gasps as the latter appeared in undershorts, but Mary’s father made the best of the situation.
“I insist on rewarding all of you involved in bringing back my daughter,” declared Mary’s father. We’ll start by getting you all some new clothes.” He made a mental note to make the arrangements at his first opportunity.
Mango didn’t care about Farina’s appearance and broke through the crowd, rushing toward him and jumping into his arms. Farina didn’t want to show much emotion or appear rude in front of so many people, so he simply hugged her back and then continued across the dock to the shore. Then Mango remembered to welcome Ernie and Pineapple who were close behind. Next came Mickey, whose grandmother elbowed his mother aside to hug him first. Jack, Andy, and Sing Joy followed with a bit less fanfare.
There were so obvious signs of ill effects, but under the circumstances the kids were rushed to the hospital. They were all examined by physicians, and some of the results were not what the parents expected. Dr. Pipp declared that Mary seemed unaffected by the whole episode.
“You have an amazing girl there,” the doctor told Mary’s parents. “You’d never know she’d been through anything out of the ordinary.”
“She can take care of herself.” Mary’s mother realized that her and her husband’s being away from home so much may have contributed to a lot toward Mary’s independence and self-reliance. Was that a good thing? She decided she needed to spend more time with Mary and Mildred.
The doctor had surprisingly good news for Joe’s parents. “Joe has lost five pounds since the last time I saw him. He’s in significantly better shape, and if I didn’t know anything about this incident I’d have to say this experience was highly beneficial for him.”
“Does that mean I can go back to that island?” asked Joe hopefully.
“No way!” exclaimed him mother. “It’s still dangerous and you have lots of things to do around the house.”
Joe looked at the doctor for help, but it was not forthcoming. The doctor responded, “You can keep up good eating habits and exercise at home and in your neighborhood.”
The news for Mickey, Jackie, and Farina was also encouraging. They hadn’t lost weight, but appeared stronger, more fit and confidant. The main concern was rope burns, especially for Jackie and Farina. Their parents weren’t thrilled at the explanation their older brothers needed to tie them up in order to bring them back home. Considering that Jackie and Farina admitted that they couldn’t think of a different way, Farina’s father came up with what he considered an appropriate task.
“Ernie and Pineapple, we need a wagon to continue the family laundry business. Tomorrow is Sunday. On Monday you two can ride bicycles to where our wagon crashed, and bring it back any way you can.”
“It’s in several pieces,” commented Ernie.
“You’re clever. You’ll think of something.”
“That’ll be a big job,” added Pineapple.
Jack figured that helping with that would be better than anything his parents might come up with.
“I’ll help,” he offered. “Maybe we can get Andy and Sing Joy also.”
That matter settled, the kids were all cleared to go home. Before they left the hospital Mary’s gardener arrived with new sets of clothes for all the adventurers. While the kids were being examined Mary’s father had called his house and gave instructions to the gardener, who was sufficiently familiar with the gang to know their sizes. For the quartet that had been stranded on the island it felt strange putting on shirts, socks, and shoes, but back in civilization they would have to readjust. The fact that a hundred dollars had been slipped into the pockets of their new clothes, as well as in the new clothes for Mango and all the rescuers who had set out on the Treasure Finder, would make it easier.
The rest of Saturday and Sunday morning was time for reunions and relaxation. Then on Sunday afternoon Mary’s parents hosted a large party for everyone in the gang, including all the older members and the two Peggys and Lassie Lou. On Monday morning, Ernie, Pineapple, Jack, Andy, and Sing Joy took some tools and rode the bikes they had been using to the site of the wreck of the wobbly wagon. They would have a full day ahead of them, but they liked the challenge of restoring the wagon. It was certainly better than having to return to the boarding school.
Meanwhile, the younger gang members, Mickey, Jackie, Joe, Farina, Johnny, Jay, and Bonedust, gathered in the park to resume the discussion that had been so rudely interrupted almost three weeks before, of what they were going to do in the summer days ahead. Jackie, Joe, and Farina voted to be pirates, when Mickey’s face got splattered by a tomato. The Man-Eating Tiger Cubs of Wildcat Alley were continuing from where they had left off.
“So you think you’re big shots now?” taunted Toughey. “Think that you’re so great that this park belongs to you?”
Mickey wiped the tomato off his face. “It belongs to everybody, but should be off-limits to you.”
“You get out of our park, now!”
“Come here and make us!”
The Tiger Cubs approached the gang, but they were ready. Jackie had used some of his reward money to buy more itching powder on Saturday afternoon, and poured a good portion of it down inside the back of Farina’s shirt. Then they agreed to pour more down inside the front of Farina’s shirt. They rubbed the powder into his skin, and as Farina felt the effects of the powder Jackie pushed him toward the oncoming Tiger Cubs. Just as the rival gangs met Mickey mussed up Joe’s hair from behind, and stepped back out of the way.
The Man-Eating Tiger Cubs didn’t know what hit them. Farina seemed to be hitting all of them but moved too fast to be hit by a significant blow. Toughy got in one half-decent punch on Joe but received a devastating clout in return, sending him to the ground and rolling away downhill. Tuffy found Mickey a much stronger opponent than before, and couldn’t do serious damage before being clocked by Joe. Scrappy had a similar experience with Jackie, and Johnny, Jay, and Bonedust were holding their own, long enough for Joe to clobber an opponent or Farina to race in with a quick punch and dart out of the way.
The fight was over in barely two minutes as the last of the Tiger Cubs was knocked down and rolling down to the edge of the park – into the patch of poison ivy that Bonedust had been forced into almost three weeks before. They lay there dazed, until a family of skunks objected to their presence near their home and sprayed them. Utterly defeated, the Man-Eating Tiger Cubs of Wildcat Alley retreated to Wildcat Alley, and wouldn’t be bothering the gang again for some time, if ever.
As the Tiger Cubs were slinking away Mary arrived, just having finished some obligations at home. “Mickey, what happened? Your clothes don’t look brand new any more.”
“We took care of those Tiger Cubs once and for all. And … I guess I’m more comfortable in not-so-new clothes. What do you think?”
“You look fine just the way you are.”
Mary turned to the others. “Are you all right?”
Farina was panting the heaviest, but had suffered only minor damage, mainly to his new clothes.
“I’m fine. That fight was great.”
“Well, good thing Mango isn’t around.”
“Ha! I bet she’s hiding behind a tree and saw the whole thing. Isn’t that right, Mango?”
Mango stepped out from behind a tree around a hundred feet away and ran up to the group.
“Farina knows me too well. Now can I play pirates with you?”
Farina considered the suggestion. “You might be too vicious to be a pirate. You’ll scare the rest of us off.”
“ARRR!” Mango chased Farina, who weaved in and out of the gang, and soon everyone dissolved into a chaotic scramble with frequent pirate sounds. It was a fitting end to their long adventure.
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Post by RJH on May 29, 2016 22:48:42 GMT -5
Epilog
The next day, Tuesday, producer Cal Cockroach was muttering over the financial statements regarding his latest flop, “Should Husbands Work?”, with his director Dob McCowhand.
“This isn’t working at all. We need to do something different. Got any ideas?”
“Not right now. I’ll think about it.”
“Well, that’s the morning paper right? Can you please hand it to me?”
Dob picked up the newspaper from the doorstep of their office and handed it to Cal. Dob paced up and down the floor while Cal read the paper. Dob noticed that Cal appeared to be very absorbed in the newspaper, perhaps reading one article in great detail. Cal seemed lost in thought, and Dob tried to shake him out of it.
“You okay, Cal?”
“What? Oh, yeah.”
“Read something interesting in there?”
“There was this gang of kids who’ve been on a crazy adventure, some were kidnapped and others found them on an island, but there’s a lot more to it than that.”
“Well, it sure kept your interest for a long time.”
“Wish we would come up with a plot for a movie that would keep our audience’s interest for a long time.”
Then it hit Cal. “That’s it! We’ll make a movie about the adventures of these kids.”
“Let me see that.” Dob read the article. “It would be a long movie to get all that in.”
“You’re right. It would probably be better as a serial – say two reels a week for a couple months.”
“Sounds good. So what’s the plan?”
“We round up everybody we can and have a meeting in the town hall tonight, say seven o’clock. We’ll offer them the usual starting contract. Try not to tell them many details ahead of time.”
That evening, the entire gang and many of the parents were assembled in the hall, asking each other if they knew what this was all about. Then Cal Cockroach spoke.
“Good evening, ladies and gentleman. In case you aren’t aware, I am a movie producer looking for new material. Reading your story in the paper, I was captivated by your adventures, and I believe the theater-going public will be as well. Your adventure should be shown just as it happened. But I want genuine kids to be in this movie, not professional actors. I believe this will give the film a more natural and believable feel. Thus I am offering you all the chance to be in this movie, playing yourselves.”
“You mean we can be movie stars? And make what, five dollars?” asked Mickey.
“Actually, we’re offering each of you one hundred dollars. Per week that you are used in the filming.”
Farina’s father suddenly got excited. “How much exactly does this mean?”
“For your family, it looks like we’ll need Farina and Mango every week, and Ernie and Pineapple in the second half, so that would be two hundred dollars per week for your family to start and four hundred to finish. Plus a week or two for the parents; we’ll have to make up a schedule for that.”
“We’ll do it!” The kids were in agreement, but Farina’s mother had some questions.
“I don’t want Farina knocked out again or jumping over a train in that old wagon again.”
Dob answered, “We have special effects for those sort of things. In fight scenes we use camera angles that make it look like someone is getting hit, but he leans away and pretends to have been hit. And no one will be in the wagon when it jumps the train. No one is going to be in danger.”
“What else does this involve?”
“The stars will pose for lobby cards. These depict scenes from the movie that are intended to pique interest. From your story it sounds like there are a lot of possibilities.”
“Like Farina in the barrel?” asked Mango.
“Uhh … “was Farina’s comment.
“Yes,” noted Cal. “But another good one would be Farina standing over all the guys in the gym after he knocked them all out.”
“Yeah, that will more than make up for it.” Farina grinned at the thought of such a lobby card.
“There should be one of me standing over Farina flat on the floor after I knocked him out first for mussing my hair,” was Joe’s thought.
“And Farina with the ‘F’ painted on his chest and “Kick Me” on his back,” added Jackie. “Especially at the tea party with the girls.”
“Then there has to be one of you guys with ‘Bad Boy’ painted on you,” retorted Farina.
“Those are all great ideas,” agreed Cal. “I’d like to hear more suggestions.”
Many suggestions came from the audience.
“Bonedust in the poison ivy.”
“Farina in the garbage can getting skunked.”
“Bonedust and Jay R. rolling downhill in the tires.”
“Farina and Mango in towels, washing the paint off and massaging each other.”
“Johnny and Mickey boxing.”
“Mary and Mango at the lemonade stand.”
“Farina stuck in the tires in the gym.”
“The boys in the wobbly wagon out of control.”
“Sing Joy looking like a detective tracking the missing boys.”
“Mary driving the kidnapers crazy playing cards.”
“Farina stuck in the deep mud.”
“Jackie hanging upside-down in the rope trap.”
“Joe stuck in the net.”
“Mickey trapped in the cage.”
“The boys tied to trees playing Cowboys and Indians.”
“The boys buried in the sand, especially when Jackie and Farina were stuck after the rainstorm.”
“The rescue crew on the ‘Treasure Finder’.”
“Ernie and Pineapple carrying Farina hanging under the branch with his hands and feet tied around it.”
“Jack hogtying Jackie.”
“Mickey and Andy burying Joe up to his neck in the sand.”
“Ernie and Pineapple leaving Farina tied up hanging upside-down.”
“The three pirates getting captured.”
“Andy weighing the anchor.”
“The pirates sabotaging the ship.”
“The pirates getting captured again and chained up.”
“We didn’t have real chains …”
“That doesn’t matter; it would still be a great lobby card.”
“The gang beating up the Tiger Cubs at the end.”
“Okay, that’s enough for now,” interrupted Cal. “If you think of something else later we can use those ideas. So are you all onboard?”
There was no dissent.
“Great! Then we can begin working tomorrow. I anticipate everything will take eight weeks.”
“What happens after eight weeks?” asked Mickey. “Will we still be movie stars?”
“That depends on what the public thinks of this movie. If there are positive reviews and we get suggestions and ideas for more films, then you can star in more films. If your movie doesn’t draw any reaction, then it will be just another one of my ideas that failed and you will be forgotten soon afterward. In any case, have fun the next two months, and good luck in the future!”
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Post by Deleted on Jan 21, 2018 7:36:16 GMT -5
This was an enjoyable read and a nice insight into the relationship between the rascals and other characters.
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