Shadows of Caesar's Creek

by Sharon M. Draper

  “You scared?” asked Rico.

  “Not really,” Rashawn replied, but his voice was a little shaky.

  “Me neither,” said Jerome. “I just hope there’s no bugs crawling around inside this sleeping bag”

  “Where’s the arrowhead, Rico?” Ziggy asked.

  “Right here in my pocket. You know,” Rico added, “I wish we could do one of those manhood tests Noni talked about.”

  “Like jumping naked in a frozen lake, mon? You must be nuts”

  “No, I mean like going on a night hike or searching for secrets in the stars.”

  “We could go on a hike tonight,” Rashawn suggested quietly.

  “Noni would never allow it,” Rico declared.

  “Noni would never know” Rashawn replied excitedly. “We’ll wait until she’s asleep.”

  “You mean sneak out, mon? Awesome”

  “We’ll get in really big trouble”

  “Only if we get caught”

  “How could they catch us? We’ll be back in an hour”

  “Let’s prove we’re men, and not boys”

  “It’s dark”

  “We’ve got flashlights.”

  “What about the bugs?”

  “We’ll take bug spray.”

  “Let’s do it”

  “Yeah, mon Let’s do it”

  They whispered excitedly for the next hour, listening for the sounds from the girls’ tent to disappear. They planned to walk down to the beach by the lake and sit in the moonlight, pretending to be Shawnee boys on a night journey. If Noni woke up and found them, they decided to tell her they had gone out to go to the bathroom.

  The night finally became silent. Rashawn unzipped the tent and listened. They could hear insects and frogs, but the girls’ tent was quiet. They waited another half hour, just to make sure, then slipped quietly, one by one, out of the tent and down the path to the lake.

  The night air was chilly, and Rashawn wished he had taken his mother’s advice and brought his coat. The moon glowed huge and bright, lighting the water. As the four boys sat on the banks of Caesar Creek Lake, they thought silently of Indians, and adventures, and secrets of the past.

  “This is cool” Rashawn exclaimed.

  “Awesome” added Jerome.

  Ziggy wore his long, purple, many-pocketed coat. He and Rico walked down the beach, scuffing their shoes in the rocky sand, and almost bumped into the canoe they had discovered earlier.

  “Look, mon” Ziggy exclaimed.

  “I wonder if it’s any good,” Rico wondered. “It’s probably full of holes.”

  They called Jerome and Rashawn over to help them inspect the hull of the canoe. They shone their flashlights all over it, and it looked faded but surprisingly solid.

  Together they pushed and pulled it right side up. It was about fifteen feet long. Two seats had been nailed across it, and two paddles were tucked neatly on each side. Inside the boat was a flat wooden board. Hand-lettered on this plank, in faded white paint, were the words BOAT FOR SALE.

  “It looks like it’s been waiting for us, mon,” Ziggy remarked. He climbed in.

  “Maybe we better not,” Rico warned.

  “What harm could there be?” Rashawn said. “We’re only gonna sit here on the beach for a minute.” He climbed in next to Ziggy.

  Jerome got in next. “Come on, Rico” he called.

  Rico climbed in next to Jerome, grinning in spite of himself.

  “Indian scouts, out looking for trouble” Jerome announced. They picked up the paddles and pretended they were paddling the boat as they checked for enemies in the distance.

  “Let’s see if it floats,” Rashawn said suddenly. He jumped out of the canoe. The other boys jumped out too, excited because they had all had the same thought. “Come on, help me push it into the water”

  Rico didn’t want to, but he helped anyway. With a huge push from the boys, the canoe slipped silently into the black water of Lake Caesar and started to float away from the shore.

  “Catch it” shouted Jerome. “If it floats away, we’ll get in trouble” He ran into the water and reached for the canoe, but he couldn’t hold it alone.

  “Jump in, mon” yelled Ziggy. Rashawn grabbed for one other side of the boat as Jerome steadied the other side. Both boys pulled themselves into the bottom of the boat.

  Ziggy jumped in next. Finally, Rico, who didn’t want the other boys to tease him, jumped in as well. The four boys looked around.

  The boat had drifted thirty feet from the shore. Slightly wet and really excited, the boys grinned with pleasure as the small canoe rocked gently in the night breeze, drifting away with each rock of the waves. The moon still shone brightly, lighting what looked like a path on the water.

  “I feel like a Shawnee boy” Rashawn said with a smile.

  “On a night challenge?”

  “Maybe, but this is pretty easy,” Rashawn boasted.

  “We better get back, mon,” Ziggy suggested with regret. Rico was glad that someone else had said what he’d been thinking.

  “Where are the paddles?” asked Rico.

  “Uh-oh I think we’ve got a small problem—no, make that a big problem,” Jerome said softly.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “We left the paddles onshore”

  THE BREEZE HAD PICKED UP, AND AS THEY LOOKED back at the beach, the boys saw that the canoe had drifted almost a hundred feet from the shore. They could see in the distance the tiny faint glow of their campfire. All around them rippled the dark, silent water.

  “What are we gonna do?” Rico worried. “I knew this wasn’t a good idea”

  “We can’t swim back to shore,” said Jerome. “It’s too dark and the water is too deep.”

  “What if we call for help?” Rashawn suggested.

  “Who’s gonna hear us, mon?” Ziggy moaned. “Now I really do have to go to the bathroom”

  The canoe bounced on the water, drifting the four friends farther and farther away from camp, and safety, and even the girls.

  “Do you think Noni will get up and check on us?” Jerome asked.

  “Yeah, but even if she does, where will she look for us in the middle of the night?” Rashawn answered with defeat.

  “Maybe she knows about the canoe and will notice it’s gone, mon. Not to worry—not to worry” Ziggy kept repeating, but he sounded worried anyway.

  “And maybe she won’t notice at all,” cried Rico. “We may drift here all night”

  “What would Tecumseh do?” asked Jerome. “If this was a night challenge, a young person would have to be brave and think of a solution, right?”

  “Right,” agreed Rashawn. “But I don’t feel very brave. I’m cold, and I wish I had listened to my mother and brought my coat.”

  “Hey, I got an idea, mon” Ziggy said suddenly. “What about this ‘Boat for Sale’ sign? We could use it as a paddle”

  “Good idea, Ziggy” said Jerome. “Rico, you said you knew how to paddle a canoe, right? Do your thing, man”

  Rico picked up the plank and dipped it slowly into the water. He pulled it through the water as his father had shown him. But the canoe barely moved.

  “What’s wrong, Rico? Why aren’t we moving?” Rashawn asked.

  “When I was with my dad, it was much easier,” admitted Rico. “And it was daytime. And he was doing most of the paddling.”

  “Let’s take turns, then,” suggested Jerome. “Let me try.”

  Jerome tried paddling with the plank and agreed that it was much harder than it looked. The little canoe bobbed on the water, turning and moving a little as each boy took a turn, but it was no closer to the shore. They could no longer see even a dim spot of their campfire, and the moon had disappeared behind the clouds. Blackness surrounded them.

  “We’re lost.”

  “In the dark.”

  “In the middle of a lake.”

  “In the middle of the night.”

  “Not to worry, mon” Ziggy said suddenly. “I
have an idea”

  Ziggy started digging though the many pockets of his purple coat. “I know it’s in here somewhere,” he mumbled. Finally, he said with a shout of joy, “I found it”

  “What?” they all wanted to know.

  “My umbrella, of course” He showed them a tiny yellow and green umbrella, which, folded up, was only about five inches long.

  “What good is that going to do?” asked Rashawn. “It’s not raining.”

  “I know, mon. But look” Ziggy pushed a button on the handle and the tiny umbrella stretched out to a full three feet long. “We can use this as a second paddle As long as I don’t push this second button to open it up, we’ll be fine,” he explained.

  Ziggy dipped the umbrella into the water and said to Rico, who was holding the plank, “Let’s do this together, mon. Dip, push the water, up—dip, push the water, up—dip, push, up—dip, push, up.”

  Rico nodded in agreement, and for a few moments the sound of the two makeshift paddles splashing together in the water made them all feel better. But

  the canoe still wasn’t moving toward the shore as

  they wanted. In fact, it seemed to be going in circles.

  “It’s not working, Ziggy,” Jerome complained.

  “I’ve got it, mon” Ziggy shouted. “The problem is that me and Rico should be sitting next to each other, not like this That way, we’d be rowing together and we could get this little boat back to camp. Let me just move over next to—”

  “NO, ZIGGY” they all shouted. “DON’T STAND UP”

  But it was too late. In his excitement to change places, he stood up, and the canoe started to rock. Ziggy lost his balance, fell forward, and accidentally pushed the button that made the umbrella open with a whoosh The open umbrella bumped Rashawn and knocked him overboard with a splash. Ziggy tumbled in after him, screaming. He grabbed the side of the canoe, pulled it too far, and Rico and Jerome joined them in the chilly water as the canoe tilted, filled with water, and sank with a gurgle and a thud.

  The four boys were good swimmers, but the darkness and the

  sudden tumble into the water made everything really scary. Ziggy was screaming and splashing, trying to find the sunken canoe.

  “Help I’m drowning It’s dark out here Where are you guys?”

  “We’re right here, Ziggy Grab my hand,” Jerome shouted.

  “I can’t find you, mon The water is much too deep I can’t swim in the dark, mon. Help”

  Suddenly Rashawn yelled, “ZIGGY SHUT UP AND STAND UP We’re in three feet of water Look”

  Silence.

  Then Ziggy said softly, “I knew that, mon. I was just trying to see if you had noticed.” He stood up and sloshed through the shallow water to the shore.

  Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome laughed in spite of themselves and followed him. Wet and cold, but glad to be safe, they sat on the sand, trying to catch their breath. “We made it,” sighed Rico.

  “Let’s brush this sand off and head back to camp in a hurry,” said Jerome. “Maybe Noni hasn’t noticed that we’re gone yet.”

  “Sand?” Rashawn said, sounding worried. He picked up handfuls of the soft white sand and let it spill through his fingers. Then he added fearfully, “There was no sand on the beach we left from. It was rocky, remember?”

  “Oh, no” Rico exclaimed. “We’ve landed on another beach We must have drifted across the lake Now we’ll never find our way back”

  “Well, we can’t stay here. We’ve got to keep moving so we can dry off a little and try to keep warm,” declared Jerome. “Maybe our camp is not too far away.” But he didn’t sound very sure.

  “Let’s go this way,” suggested Rico.

  “Through the woods?” asked Rashawn.

  “Why not, mon Let’s move on” Ziggy led their way into the darkness.

  They walked slowly at first, stumbling into trees and each other, bushes scratching their arms and faces. Gradually, though, the moon came from behind the clouds and they were able to make out shapes and shadows in the forest as they walked. But they were wet, cold, scared, and very, very lost.

  “I wish I had a flashlight,” Jerome sighed out loud.

  “As long as we’re wishing, mon, wish for dry clothes and a pizza” Ziggy added.

  “I wish we were back home,” Rico said quietly.

  “You can’t have an adventure at home, Rico Think of this as our manhood ceremony, like the Shawnee boys,” Rashawn suggested as he stumbled over a vine. “The spirits of Caesar and Tecumseh are watching us. They expect us to be brave.”

  “I’d rather be brave in the daytime,” Rico complained.

  They came to a clearing. A huge log lay across one edge of this break in the thick woods. A large flat rock lay close by. Faint moonlight shone through the trees. Ziggy, Jerome, and Rico sat on the log. Rashawn stretched out on the rock. Jerome scratched his mosquito bites and checked the area for bugs as best he could in the darkness.

  “Wish I had some bug spray, too,” he whispered to himself.

  “What should we do?” asked Rico.

  “Well, we can’t stay here. We’ve got to find our way out,” Jerome replied. “The lake is a big circle. We just walk around it until we find our camp”

  “It’s a big lake,” Rashawn reminded him. “And we don’t even know whether to go right or left.”

  “I saw a movie about some kids who were lost in the woods for six weeks,” Rico remembered.

  “So what happened in the movie, mon?”

  “The kids ate bugs and worms and leaves and stuff until they got rescued.”

  “Yucky, mon Even Ziggy doesn’t want to eat bugs or worms” Ziggy replied. “Let’s get out of here”

  “What would Tecumseh have done in this situation?” Rico asked thoughtfully. An owl hooted above him and he jumped.

  “Tecumseh wouldn’t be lost. He’d know these woods like we know the mall,” Jerome replied.

  “I know he wouldn’t be scared. He would know how to use his head and find his way,” added Rashawn.

  “He’d be scared if he knew he would get in trouble when he got back, like we will, mon,” Ziggy reminded them. “Noni is gonna kill us”

  “If a bear doesn’t kill us first” exclaimed Rico, who turned with a start at the rustling noise behind them. “Did you hear that?”

  “What was that noise?” Jerome whispered.

  “A rabbit, maybe?” Rico offered hopefully.

  “Or a bear, mon” Ziggy said fearfully.

  They heard it again, louder this time, and closer. They could hear it moving through the crunchy leaves. It seemed to be running right toward them

  “Maybe it’s a lion or tiger, like you said, Ziggy,” Jerome joked weakly.

  “That’s not funny” Rico shouted as they started to run away from the noise.

  “No, mon, I think it really is a bear. But whatever it is, here it comes” Ziggy cried out.

  The four boys screamed and started running wildly into the night.

  TERRIFIED OF THE HUGE BLACK BEAR THEY WERE sure was following them, the four boys crashed noisily through the woods. Ziggy, usually the slowest because he liked to act silly, was in front this time. The night breeze chilled his wet, sticky clothes, which stuck to his body as he ran, but he didn’t even notice. He was too intent on outrunning the bear. Rico, close behind Ziggy, tripped over a small branch and fell forward, bumping into Ziggy in the darkness.

  Ziggy yelled over his shoulder, “You all right, mon?”

  Gasping for breath, Rico panted, “Yeah, I’m okay, just keep running I think it’s getting closer”

  Jerome and Rashawn, just a little behind Rico, yelled ahead, “We can hear the bear It’s gonna get us Run”

  Rico yelled to the others, “Find a tree and climb it It’s our only hope of escape”

  With large, gasping breaths, Ziggy replied, “Don’t you know that bears can climb trees too, mon? Just run”

  Jerome knew that bugs were biting his bare legs, which were cu
t and scratched from the bushes and briars. “I wish I knew where the camp was,” he complained as he ran.

  “We’re good and lost” gasped Jerome. “Plus I think we’re going to be dinner for that bear”

  The noise in the bushes behind them got louder and closer. The animal had tracked them and was only a few feet behind them. It was just a matter of time.

  Ziggy broke a speed record. He ignored branches and scratches; he didn’t know where he was heading anymore. In the moonlight he could see the shadows of the trees ahead. He ran for the tree straight in front of him, hoping to try to climb it, hoping this bear didn’t know it was supposed to be able to climb up after him.

  Suddenly the tree moved Standing straight and tall in front of him now were the shadows of two trees—and one of them was moving toward him.

  Ziggy screamed and tried to turn, but the branches of the tall tree-shadow reached out and grabbed his wrist. Then the tree spoke to him in a powerful voice. “Where are you going in such a hurry in the middle of the night?”

  By this time Rico, Rashawn, and Jerome had reached Ziggy and stopped, panting and gasping, almost too tired to scream. “Help” breathed Rico. “A bear is chasing us”

  The shadows of the clouds moved from the moon, and for a moment the boys could see clearly. It was not a tree that held the trembling Ziggy, but a man, tall and strong. “I see no bear,” he said quietly. “And all I hear is the silence of the night, that is, now that you young men are quiet. Even my ancestors could hear all that noise you were making from miles away,” he said with a chuckle.

  The four friends looked at one another in amazement. The night was dark, the breeze was cool, and all was silent except for the forest voices of the night.

  “Who are you?” Jerome wanted to know as the man gently released Ziggy’s wrists.

  The man did not reply immediately, but for some reason the boys felt no threat from him.

  “Where are we?” Now that the immediate danger seemed to be over, and Rashawn had started breathing normally again, he was ready to find out.

  “Can you get us back to our camp?” asked Rico. “We’re in big trouble.”

  “What happened to the bear, mon?” Ziggy asked finally. At that moment a large raccoon waddled slowly into the clearing. It glanced at the strange group that was disturbing its night and moved on into the forest.