The Wild Culpepper Cruise

by Gary Paulsen

  Amos nodded.

  “Someone wants to speak to you on the ship-to-shore telephone. Would you follow me, please?”

  Amos sat on his bed in the cabin. He rested his chin in one hand. He let out a long sigh and then shifted to the other hand.

  Dunc sat on the other bed and watched him.

  “Cheer up, Amos. It’s a bad deal that your folks got left behind, but it’s not the end of the world. When they called, they said to go on and have a good time.”

  Amos looked at the floor.

  “Let me put it another way,” Dunc said. “We have seven days on a luxury cruise in an island paradise without any parental supervision.”

  Amos sat up. A grin spread across his face. “Hey, that’s right. We don’t have anybody to answer to. We can do whatever we want.” He frowned and slumped back on the bed.

  “Then why do you still look so sad?”

  “I don’t feel so hot. I wish this ship would quit rocking.” Amos ran for the bathroom. After a few minutes he yelled through the door. “I’ll just live in here. You go on and have a nice cruise.”

  “Don’t be silly, Amos. I’ll go up and see if I can get you some pills for seasickness. Don’t go away.”

  “Very funny.”

  Dunc locked the door behind him. He took the stairs two at a time. In the mini-mall he found a box of pills, paid for them, and started back down the stairs to their cabin.

  A tall, thin man was walking down the hall toward him.

  Dunc stared at him.

  The man lowered his head and kept on walking.

  Dunc ran for the room. “Amos. It’s him! The same man from the hotel. He’s here on the ship.”

  Amos’s face had a greenish tint. “Did you get me some pills?”

  “Oh, yeah—here.” Dunc handed him the box. “Did you hear what I said?”

  Amos gulped the pills and leaned back on the bed. “What are you babbling about?”

  “The man. The skinny one at the hotel. He’s here. On this ship,” Dunc said.

  “So? It’s a free country. Probably half the people who stayed in that hotel last night are on this ship.”

  “Don’t you think it’s strange that he keeps coming around to our room?”

  Amos shook his head. “Maybe his room is down this hall.”

  Dunc stared out the window.

  “Please don’t do that,” Amos said.

  “What?”

  “Look like that. That look means trouble. Listen, there is absolutely no reason for that man to be interested in us. So get it out of your head.”

  Dunc snapped his fingers. “Right. You’re right, Amos. He would have to have a reason to be interested in us.”

  He pulled Amos’s look-alike suitcase out of the closet and poured everything out onto the bed.

  “We’ve already searched it. What do you think you’re going to find this time?” Amos asked.

  “I don’t know. But that man is interested in us, and I want to know why.” He carefully examined each item except for the few clothes Amos had managed to buy at the hotel.

  Everything in the suitcase was new. Even the newspaper was only two days old.

  The newspaper.

  Dunc yanked it out and started reading. It was a Fort Lauderdale paper. There were several stories on the front page. The one that caught his eye had two pictures below the headline.

  “That’s it, then.” Dunc sat on the edge of the bed. “At least now we know who he is.”

  “Who?” Amos grabbed the paper.

  Dunc pointed at one of the pictures. “That’s the guy. I should have recognized him from the news story on TV.”

  Amos read the headline. “ ‘Pair wanted in connection with robbery.’ ” He looked up. “These guys stole a half-million in jewels. We’re getting into serious stuff now. Are you sure it’s the same guy?”

  Dunc nodded. “I’m positive. But there’s something I can’t figure out. Why would they go to so much trouble to get this suitcase back? There’s nothing in it … or is there?” He tore the top edge of the lining loose and felt inside.

  “What are you doing? You can’t go around ripping up other people’s suitcases.”

  “I’ve seen this trick on TV. Crooks sew stuff in the lining of their suitcase to get it through customs.” Dunc shoved his hand all the way to the bottom of the lining.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Amos said.

  Dunc put the suitcase down. “I don’t understand it. There’s nothing here.”

  “It’s a good thing you didn’t tear up the clothes and the shaving stuff, or we wouldn’t have anything to give back to the airline.”

  “Of course.” Dunc grabbed the shaving bag. He unzipped it and dumped the contents onto the bed: a razor, a can of shaving cream, and a bottle of aftershave.

  He unscrewed the cap on the aftershave and carefully poured it into a glass. Then he drained the liquid out of the glass.

  “Look at this.” Dunc gave the glass to Amos.

  It was full of sparkling jewels.

  “If you have one of your brilliant plans, now would be a good time to let me in on it,” Amos said.

  Dunc poured the jewels from one hand to the other. “Well, we can’t go to the police. There aren’t any. About the only thing we can do is hide the jewels and do our best to stay away from the thieves until we get back to Miami.”

  “That’s a plan? That’s not a plan. I could have come up with that.”

  Dunc shrugged. “Here.” He gave Amos some of the jewels. “We’ll each take half. Now all we have to do is make sure we stay around a lot of other people. They won’t try anything in a crowd. When we get back, we’ll go to the police. Simple.”

  “Simple? The paper said these guys were dangerous. Do you understand what that means?” He went on before Dunc could answer. “It means we could end up as shark bait.”

  Dunc stuffed his half of the jewels into his pocket. “Let’s get something to eat. I’m starving.”

  “How can you think about eating at a time like this?”

  Dunc opened the door a crack and looked out. “All clear. Come on, Amos. We’re on vacation. Let’s try and have a good time.”

  Halfway down the hall Amos felt someone touch his arm.

  “Aahhh!” He jumped backward.

  “Hello, boy.”

  It was Vanessa.

  “I was looking for you, boy. My mommy said I could show you my new doll. Where have you been, anyway? I had the hiccups last night and kept everybody up until midnight. Where are you going?”

  She stopped talking and stuffed a piece of caramel candy into her mouth.

  “I’ve got things to do, Vanessa. You know … ah—letters to write and stuff.” Amos looked around. “Where’s your mommy?”

  “My mommy’s resting. My nanny is watching me today.”

  “She is? Where? I don’t see her.”

  Caramel dripped down the corner of her mouth. She giggled. “My nanny is pulling the handle of that machine with the fruit. It goes around and around. She really likes to do that. One time she let me pull it, and a whole bunch of silver pennies came out.”

  Amos cupped his hand to his ear. “I think I hear your nanny calling you.”

  Vanessa skipped off down the hall toward the casino.

  “Looks like you have an admirer,” Dunc said.

  “You know me.” Amos held out his arms. “Everywhere I go, women fall at my feet.”

  They climbed two flights of stairs and walked out on deck.

  Dunc took a deep breath. “Doesn’t that ocean air smell great?”

  Amos looked out at the water. It was dark blue, almost black. The waves lapped up against the side of the ship with a gentle rocking motion.

  He held his stomach. “You go ahead and eat. I’ll stay here and keep this rail company.”

  A huge buffet of food encircled the swimming pool. There was a three-piece Jamaican band playing at one end. Dunc piled food onto his plate and carried it back
to Amos.

  Amos took one look at the food and heaved over the rail.

  “Do you feel better now?” Dunc asked. “You still look a little green.”

  “Thank you so much for telling me.”

  “Just trying to help.”

  “Go help someone else. I was doing just fine without you.”

  Dunc looked over the side. “It’s a good thing there’s not much of a breeze. Otherwise the people on the deck below might come up here looking for you.” He plopped a big strawberry into his mouth.

  Amos closed his eyes. “If you are through being helpful, I would appreciate it very much if you would go somewhere else to feed your face.”

  “Are you sure you’re not hungry?” Dunc looked down at his plate. “These little fish swimming in this brown gravy look pretty good.”

  “Go!”

  Dunc started to walk away when Amos grabbed his arm.

  “Would you make up your mind? Do you want me to stay or not?”

  “Shh,” Amos whispered. “Try not to be too obvious. Look at that guy standing by the door.”

  Dunc turned his head.

  It was the other man from the newspaper—the one with the long scar down his face.

  Dunc set his plate on a table. “Let’s see if we can get out of here without being noticed.”

  They inched toward the stairs.

  “Hello, boy.”

  Amos knew who it was before he turned around.

  “Vanessa,” Amos whispered, “I’m busy right now. I’ve got some grown-up things to take care of. You be a good girl and go play.”

  She whispered back, “Who’s a grown-up?”

  “She’s got you there,” Dunc said.

  Amos flashed him a hostile look. “I think your nanny’s calling you again, Vanessa.”

  She looked at him suspiciously. “Are you sure?”

  He nodded his head.

  The minute she was around the corner, they took off running. When they reached the door of their room, Amos fumbled in his pocket for the key.

  “I don’t think you’ll need it.” Dunc said.

  The door was open a couple of inches. He pushed it the rest of the way.

  The room was in shambles. Everything had been dumped out, torn up, or thrown on the floor.

  The sun was shining through the small round porthole in their room. Dunc was already up brushing his teeth.

  Amos yawned. “What time is it?”

  “Time for you to get up. We’re going to miss the sight-seeing tour of Chichén Itzá if we don’t hurry.”

  Amos yawned again. “Chicken pizza?”

  Dunc came out of the bathroom. “It’s pronounced che-CHEN-eat-za. Chichén Itzá. It’s an ancient Mayan Indian city.”

  Amos rubbed his eyes. “Ancient Indians ate pizza?”

  “Never mind. We’re docked at Cancún. The bus leaves in thirty minutes. Hurry.”

  They had to run to catch the last of the three tour buses. It was large and comfortable, with sliding windows and seats that lay back. Dunc took pictures of the Mayan villages out the window.

  Amos took a nap.

  “Wake up, Amos. We’re here.”

  “Already?” Amos stretched. “I’m really beat. I didn’t get much sleep last night because I stayed up and watched the door.”

  “You could have gone to sleep. We were safe enough. We put a chair under the doorknob and piled anything that would move in front of it.”

  “I know. I was part of what we piled in the chair, remember?”

  A tour guide was waiting outside their bus. He was a friendly-looking man with a stubby beard.

  “Good morning. And welcome to the famous Chichén Itzá ruins. If you will follow me, we’ll begin our tour at the ball courts.”

  Amos scratched his head. “Ancient Indians played ball?”

  The tour guide smiled at him. “Yes, they did. The game was like a mixture of basketball and soccer. See the high rings on either side of the court? They had to get the ball through those without using their hands. They literally played for their lives. The ill-fated captain of the losing team also lost his head.”

  “That must have been some game,” Dunc said.

  The guide let the people look around for a while. Then he called them together to move on to the next spot.

  “The next stop is the Sacred Well. It is the site of countless human sacrifices. The unfortunate victim would be purified in a steam bath and would then either jump or be pushed from that stone platform.”

  Amos shuddered. “They sound like real nice people.”

  Dunc was taking pictures. He focused his camera on a tour group standing on the other side of the well.

  He quickly looked up.

  “Amos, we may have a little problem here.”

  “What’s the matter?”

  “They’re here.”

  “Who?”

  “Scarface and Skinny. They’re on the other side of the well. Remember our plan. Stay close to people.”

  Amos decided to glue himself to the tour guide. The man couldn’t turn around without stepping on him or bumping into him.

  When they reached the temple, the guide encouraged everyone, especially Amos, to climb the seventy-five feet to the top.

  “Come on, Amos,” Dunc said. “Let’s go with this group.”

  “No, thank you. I’d rather stay down here with our trusty tour guide.”

  “Amos, give the poor guy a break. Come on.”

  “Oh, all right,” Amos snapped. He turned to the guide. “I’ll be right back.”

  The man gave him a halfhearted smile and waved. “I can’t wait.”

  The group moved slowly up the steep face of the pyramid. At the top was a square door that led to the main room. The room was filled with ornate carvings of birds and animals. A large stone altar sat near the wall in the front.

  “Stand by the altar, Amos. I want to get your picture.”

  Amos moved over to the altar. First he just stood by it, but then his ego took over and he really started posing. He sat on it, then lay on it with his arms folded, eyes closed, and tongue hanging out. They were so busy with the pictures, they didn’t notice their group go on to the next room.

  Amos was showing Dunc a tiny lever he’d found on the back of the altar when another tour group started to filter in.

  The two men saw them right away and started toward them.

  Amos looked up. Right into the eyes of Scarface. He lost his balance and fell against the lever.

  The altar moved. A loud scraping sound filled the room. Where the altar had been was a black hole.

  Amos could feel himself falling. He grabbed Dunc’s arm. Together they fell into the seemingly bottomless hole.

  It was a slide.

  They landed in a heap at the bottom. It was nearly pitch black, and for a moment they could see nothing. Then their eyes became accustomed to the darkness and Dunc grabbed Amos by the arm.

  “Come on.”

  “Where?”

  “We’re at the bottom of the pyramid. It must have been a secret escape route the priests had in case they needed to run. There’s a side tunnel over here.…”

  He dragged Amos along, and in a few moments they came out in bright sunshine, almost in the middle of the main group of tourists.

  “Come on, Amos. We can’t stay cooped up in our cabin for the rest of the trip.”

  “This wasn’t my first choice. I wanted to stay inside the bottom of that pyramid. It was a good safe place. But no. You had to find the way out and insist we come back here. I think you enjoy playing hide-and-seek with those crooks.”

  “We’ll be safe as long as we stay around other people,” Dunc said. “Come on. We’ll go up and find some kind of class to take. It’ll be good for us to get our minds off our problem for a while.”

  Amos sighed. “Okay. But only if I get to choose the class.”

  They made their way up to the recreation deck. Most of the classes had already started.
r />   “Are you boys looking for something to do?” A young man dressed in the ship’s blue uniform smiled at them.

  “We were looking for a class to take,” Amos said. “But it looks like we’re too late.”

  “I happen to know one that hasn’t started yet. Come with me.” He led them down the stairs to one of the lounges. A band was playing.

  “Here we go.” The young man motioned for the instructor to come over. “This is Roberto. He’s our dance teacher.” He turned to Roberto. “These boys would like to be in your class.”

  “I—I’m not too sure about this,” Amos stuttered.

  A teenage girl came over and took Dunc’s hand. “I need a partner. Do you mind?”

  Amos was trying to back out the door. He backed right into a short, plump woman.

  She squealed, “Oh, goody! A partner.”

  Amos looked around. “Who, me?”

  She pulled him onto the dance floor.

  Roberto carefully explained the steps to the next dance, but Amos wasn’t listening. He was glaring at Dunc. “I’ll get you for this.”

  The band started playing. The first dance was a fast polka. The woman danced while Amos ran wildly, trying to keep up. He would have slipped out the door on one of the turns, but she had a death grip on his arm.

  They made two complete circles around the room to everybody else’s one. Each time around she screamed in his ear, “Isn’t this fun?”

  By the time the music finally stopped, Amos was so dizzy he fell to the floor.

  Roberto blew a whistle and told them to change partners.

  Now’s my chance, Amos thought. He crawled for the door.

  “I believe this is our dance, sonny.”

  A gray-haired lady pinned him in the corner with her walker.

  Amos looked up at her. “I think I’ll sit this one out.”

  “Eh? What’d you say, sonny?”

  He stood up, got close, and yelled, “I’m too tired from the last one!”

  She cackled. “You want a fast one? Me too, sonny. Let’s go.” She grabbed his ear and pulled him along.

  The dance was a slow one. Which was good because the old lady could barely walk, much less dance. And she never let go of his ear.

  Amos looked around for Dunc. He finally spotted him sitting on a bench in the corner.