by D. G. Driver
“I found Alex’s kayak,” I told them.
Again, I pointed to the houseboat where the bright yellow kayak was tied to the side of it.
“Did you find Alex?” Brian asked. “Where is he?”
That bad feeling about Alex returned and wiped away my need to taunt them with anything else about the rowboat and ghost story. “No,” I said soberly. “I couldn’t see anything in the dark, and he didn’t answer when I called for him.”
Chris grunted. “I told you he—”
I turned on him, tired of his attitude. “I know what you told me, Chris. But I think you’re wrong. I think something happened to him. Call it a gut feeling or think I’m crazy. Whatever you want. I just know I’m right.”
Bill and Roger were done talking to the other parents that had come to shore and seemed to have successfully convinced all of them to let the boys finish their camping trip. Both of them came back to my little group and stepped up behind me.
“You ready to go?” Roger asked.
“Yeah. I guess.” I apologized to the boys one more time, but I didn’t get the feeling that my apology was accepted by them. Not one of them said the standard “It’s okay” response.
“But, dude,” Jasper said, reaching forward to grab my right shoulder. I winced at the pain, having forgotten for a minute the major bruise the rowboat had inflicted on me earlier. I spun back around to face him and to get his hand off me.
“I’m sorry, Jasper,” I said. “I’m kind of in a load of trouble.”
Just then, a huge commotion came from the parent boats. The adults called out for Bill and Roger as loudly and frantically as they could. All of us ran into the water to get closer and hear what was going on. Carol and Elizabeth had their hands cupped around their mouths and leaned way over the boat railing. “Bill!” they shouted. “Bill! Roger! Come quick!”
The two men dashed through the water toward the boat. “Come on!” they shouted over their shoulders at me. I chased after them. Lamont, Chris, Brian, and Jasper started after us, going in the water up to their thighs before quitting.
“What is it?” Bill shouted back to the women on the boat as he tried to run through the water.
Ted the Policeman stepped up to the front of the police speedboat with a megaphone. “We finally got a response from Alex Mitchell’s father. He has not heard from Alex all day and thought Alex was here on the island with the rest of the boys.”
I knew it! I knew something had happened. I tried to hurry up and get back to the boat, but the water resisted any kind of speed. I plowed forward as best I could.
“Bill,” I shouted at the men just ahead of me. “We have to go find him. Back where I found the kayak.”
“Hold on, Danielle,” Bill said. “Let’s get to the boats and figure out what we’re going to do.”
I glanced back over my shoulder and saw that all the guys from the camp were gathered not far behind me. Lamont shouted at me, “What’s going on, Dannie?”
“I’m not sure!” I shouted back.
A minute later, Roger was helping me onto the police speedboat. Once I was on board, he and Bill climbed up to the deck of their houseboat. The officer named Ted filled us in on what was going on while the other one stayed on the radio with the police station getting his orders.
“We radioed headquarters and they phoned Mr. Mitchell and his wife several times before getting a call back. They said Alex hasn’t been home or called. They assumed he was at the campout where he was supposed to be. If you are saying he’s not here, then no one knows what happened to him.” He gestured with his thumb over his shoulder at his partner. “We’re organizing a search right now. Mr. Mitchell is on his way to the police station, and they are gathering anyone in town who is willing to come search. We may have to bring the dogs in on it too.”
Roger interrupted. “Do they know where to even begin looking?”
“Not really,” the policeman said with a sigh. “We were kind of hoping you’d be a help, since you have his kayak.”
All of the adults looked at me.
“Well, Danielle,” Bill said. “Do you think you can remember where you found the kayak?”
“Yes,” I said confidently. Inside, the doubt crept around and settled on my nerves. I hoped I could find my way back. It had been so dark, and I really didn’t know which way I was going.
Ted the Policeman looked me dead in the eyes, no humor about him at all. “Then we’re all going to depend on you.”
“But I thought you had to get me back to my grandma,” I said.
“Mrs. Garrison will understand,” he said. He stuck out his hand for me to shake. “Name’s Officer Willoby. That’s Officer Drake over there.” Officer Drake waved a hand but kept talking on the radio. I was fully aware that he didn’t introduce himself by his first name and made a mental note not to refer to him as Ted like the adults did. “We need your help now,” he went on. “Are you with us?”
“Yes,” I said. “I’ve been trying to tell everyone for hours that Alex needed help, but no one believed me.”
“I believe you,” Officer Willoby said. “Now, let’s get going and hope we find him before it’s too late.”
14
Leading the Search
I stayed on the speedboat, and it led the caravan of boats back around the island. The wind whipped my face, keeping me alert after this very long day. Once we got to the side of the island where the houseboat picked me up, we slowed down. I looked carefully, but there was no sign of the rowboat anywhere. I don’t know why I thought it would have reemerged whole and ready to resume its legendary role.
“I left the island from over there.” I said to Officer Willoby while pointing to the rocky beach. “I don’t think I went that far, but I know it was up ahead this way and maybe a little to the right. It wasn’t an island, I don’t think. Just like a part that jutted way out in the water. I left my sweatpants on the beach as a marker, but they’re gray. So…probably not real helpful.”
Officer Willoby yelled to Officer Drake, “Keep a sharp eye out on the starboard side! And take it slow!”
All the other boats caught up to us and decreased their speed so that we could slowly scan the shoreline. Our boat had bright floodlights that lit up the water ahead of us, and the policemen aimed a big searchlight toward the land. I watched the bright circle of light roam across our field of vision, but all the shoreline we saw seemed too far away. I knew it wasn’t that far from the island.
“It was like I would run right into it,” I remembered out loud. “Like it was in my way.” Then I added one more thought. “Alex said he was looking for this cove that he always fished in, that it was just across the lake from the island. I think that’s where he might have been headed.”
Officer Willoby thought for a moment. Then his face lit up. “I think I know where you’re talking about.” He gave some directions to his partner, and the boat veered to the left a little bit back toward the middle of the lake.
A few minutes later we came upon the small peninsula, a finger of land stretching out into the lake from the mainland. As we got closer to it, I recognized the curve of the beach and those jagged rocks where the kayak had been lodged.
“This is it!” I shouted.
“Are you sure?” Officer Willoby asked me. “You need to be sure.”
“Shine the light on the beach.”
I watched carefully as the light moved across the shoreline, looking for something that was a bit softer in appearance than a rock. After a moment I saw my bundled-up gray sweatpants.
“Yes, I’m sure this is it.”
Willoby called down to Officer Drake, “Anchor here. Radio the team and give the coordinates. Tell them to start searching from the highway in.” Then he called over to Bill’s boat, “Kid says this is where she found the kayak. Let everyone know, and let’s meet up on the beach.”
Officer Drake stayed on the boat, so that he could continue to work the radio and keep in contact with the land team. W
illoby took a walkie-talkie with him and quickly inflated a life raft. He threw it down to the water and had me get in it with him. Then we paddled to shore. He pulled the raft all the way onto the beach. I went straight for my sweat pants, hoping to put them on because I was so cold. Only, they were still wet from earlier. If I had been a little smarter, I would have laid them out flat rather than leaving them in a crumpled ball. My mom tells me to do that all the time when I come in from being out in the rain. I never listen.
It didn’t take long for a group of moms and dads to join us with their flashlights.
With a smooth skill that made me think Officer Willoby had led a few rescue parties in the past, he organized the group into teams of three and sent them into the woods. He asked me to stay with him, and we held back to make sure all the teams were spread out enough to cover a wide span of the woods.
“It’ll be hard to find him in the dark,” he said to me. “If you get too tired, let me know.”
“I’m already tired,” I confessed, “but I won’t quit.”
We were about to enter the woods when I heard a bunch of voices calling my name from a distance. I stopped and turned around to see a fleet of kayaks on the lake coming toward us. All of the campers had followed us out here to help!
I jumped up and down and waved my arms, so they’d see me. “Guys! I’m over here.”
Officer Willoby was not as excited as I was to see them. “Great,” he said sarcastically. “Now I’ve got them to worry about too.” He spoke on his walkie-talkie to his partner. “Try to keep the kids out of the woods, okay?”
A scratchy voice came back, “Yeah right. You know that’ll work. We’re talking about their friend in those woods. Besides, we can use all the eyes we can get. It’s a dark night.”
“All right,” Officer Willoby said. He put the walkie-talkie back on his belt and steered me back to the rocks. We waited for the guys to drag their kayaks up on the beach. He allowed them to gather around him.
“Some rules,” he said. “Stay in teams of two or three at all times. Every few minutes holler ‘Alex.’ Not only might he hear you but calling out guarantees that we are keeping track of each other. You should always be able to hear another team, or you’ve gone too far away from the group. Everyone understand?”
“Yes, sir,” rang all the boys in unison.
“Sir?” I asked. “Can I partner with Lamont?”
Jasper and Brian whistled and patted Lamont on the back. Chris groaned. Lamont looked like he’d just stuck a sour candy in his mouth. Having me for a partner was probably the last thing he wanted, but I wanted some time to talk to him. I wanted him to get to know me as me and maybe get him to trust me again. Maybe we could still be friends after all of this. I felt pretty sure he was the one who convinced all the campers to come looking for Alex. He didn’t have to do that. They could’ve just continued with their campout and let the adults in town handle the search.
He knew I was worried enough to go out on the lake by myself to look for this kid I didn’t even know, so maybe, just maybe, Lamont was giving me some credit. Maybe, just maybe, he liked me enough to forgive me for tricking him.
Plus, he didn’t say, “No way!” or “I’m not partnering with her!” Lamont didn’t say anything at all, which, to me, meant that he was kind of okay with it.
It took Officer Willoby a while to decide. I knew that he was responsible for getting me back to Grandma, and that’s why he hesitated letting me out of his view. He took a long, deep breath and then said, “All right. Lamont, you keep her close. Mrs. Garrison doesn’t need any more heartache. You got that?”
Lamont nodded sincerely. “Yes, sir.”
Chris, Jasper, and Brian stuck close to us too as we squeezed between the trees into the black, crowded woods. Three of them had flashlights. I had lost Jasper’s, so neither of us could light our own paths. I stayed close to Lamont to rely on his beam as best I could. I didn’t want to run into another tree.
We walked along in awkward silence for several minutes. All the joking and storytelling that was done on the island earlier in the evening was absent now. Was it because I was a girl and they didn’t know how to talk or act around girls? Or was it because they didn’t like me anymore?
After a little bit I asked them, “Any of you know this part of the lake? Alex said that he liked to fish here, if this is that same cove.”
Jasper answered. I decided it made sense that the one with a girlfriend would be the one in the group that had the easiest time talking to me. “Brian and I were members of his dad’s Scout troop when we were younger. We went fishing sometimes, but that was years ago. I don’t remember where it was or how we got there. Do you, Brian?”
“Uh-unh,” Brian grunted. “I never paid attention to where I was going back then. Still don’t. If y’all left me right now, I’d never figure out my way back.”
Jasper pointed behind us. “Lake that way.” He pointed ahead. “Town that way. See ya.” He nodded at each of us, and we all jogged away from Brian as fast as we could until he shouted for us to stop. We all laughed at him as he caught up to us.
“Y’all are idiots,” he said.
“Takes one to know one,” Jasper said, messing his brother’s hair.
When everyone stopped laughing, I said, “I’m just wondering how far from town this is.”
“Pretty far from the Square, that’s for sure,” answered Lamont. It was the first thing to come out of his mouth since we separated from the big group. “We might be closer to the newer part of town, but it’d be a hike for sure.”
“Too big of a hike to get there by now?” I asked. “I mean, I’m thinking Alex should have landed here probably around four o’clock this afternoon. It’s after midnight now.”
“I don’t think it’s that far, if you know where you’re going.”
“And that’s a big IF,” Jasper added.
Some people in the vicinity began shouting “Alex!” and we responded by shouting his name as well.
We moved slowly through the woods, checking behind every tree and boulder. The chatter of all the people around us kept the nocturnal animals at bay. At least that’s what I guessed was happening, because I didn’t see any foxes or deer or anything of that sort anywhere. Bloodsucking insects were plentiful, though, and I must have slapped away at least a thousand or more mosquitoes.
An unexpected feeling washed over me as I listened to the periodic shouts and watched the flashlight beams flicker all over the place. For the first time since I woke up that morning I felt calm. I guess it finally registered that, despite the dark and the mosquitoes and the snakes and the threat of skunks, I wasn’t in any real danger anymore. Everyone knew where I was, and eventually this night would come to an end. When the time came that we finally found Alex, the policemen would take me back to Grandma’s house. She’d be able to relax then, sure that I was safe. I’d be punished for lying and running off without permission, but that didn’t matter much to me as long as I was able to get a shower, some bandages, and to rest my head on a soft pillow.
My concern for Alex was still high. Just because my panicky day was over, my worries about Alex didn’t diminish. Admittedly, I felt a little more settled in my head about him. For some unknown reason, I felt certain that he wasn’t hurt. If he were lying on the ground from a bad fall or snakebite, someone would have found him by now, or we would have woken him with our shouting.
Unless he was bitten by one of those copperhead snakes. I heard their poison acted fast. Alex could be lying dead somewhere. Dread snuck back into my nerves, and I picked up my pace.
“Slow down, man!” Lamont said, having to speed up to stay next to me.
Chris called after us, “Not a man, Lamont. Remember?” He snickered, and the brothers joined in. Lamont ignored them and kept pace with me.
“You’re gonna trip on something walking this fast without a light.”
“Then keep up with me.”
“Slow down.”
�
��I’ll be okay,” I told him.
“You shouldn’t even be here.”
I stopped and faced him straight on. “Why? Because I’m a girl? A girl can’t walk through the woods to try to help someone? Am I too dainty? Too weak? What is the problem exactly?”
The guys stopped a few feet away from us, keeping a respectful distance while they waited to see how this was going to play out. Lamont scratched his head and then gently put his hands on my shoulders, looking down at me like he was my dad or something. He was nearly a foot taller than me, I now realized. All of the guys were substantially taller than me. How did they ever mistake me for a boy?
Lamont spoke very calmly. Patronizing me. “You shouldn’t be here because you don’t know the area. You aren’t from here. You should be home with your grandma. I really don’t care if you’re a girl or not.”
I looked into his brown eyes, hoping to soften them up. “You don’t care at all?”
“You…” He broke off what he was saying and lifted his hand to gently touch the side of my face. He brushed my cheek with his thumb and then let his hand fall to his side. Lamont began walking again. “You had a mosquito on your cheek.”
“Oh.” I put my hand to my cheek. It still felt warm from his touch.
Jasper and Brian were clever enough not to say anything or laugh at that point, but Chris couldn’t keep it quiet. “That’s so gay,” he said, chortling. Jasper hit him hard in the chest, making him cough.
“Shut up!” Lamont snapped back at him without so much as a glance backward.
I skip-stepped to catch up with Lamont and saw the tension in his face. There were feelings going on inside him that were probably really confusing. I imagine it was weird for him. An hour earlier, I was a skinny, wimpy-looking boy in his mind. Now I was a girl who just made it too blatantly obvious that I liked him as more than a friend.
But I still looked like that boy.
Could he ever find me attractive after this? What would I have to do to get him to see me differently? And of course it didn’t help that I was probably completely atrocious-looking at the moment.
