Chapter 5
Cory put on an extra spurt of speed as he heard heavy footsteps pounding behind him. Wrenching up the canvas cover he tumbled into the boat as a large hand gripped his sweatshirt. Wriggling desperately, Cory struggled out of the sweatshirt and reached out to push the silver button on the panel. The boat lurched then settled down. Cory risked a cautious peep, grinning with relief as he saw the familiar shed again.
“Where have you been?” Meredith asked some time later as she and Cory shared a large fruit cake for afternoon tea. “I went down to help you with the wood for the fire and you weren’t there. I guessed you must be hiding but I thought I knew all the hiding places around here.”
“Well,” Cory hesitated. He wanted to keep the secret of the boat all to himself but he really owed Meredith something for helping him. She had tidied the wood shed and taken the wood inside for him so it was only fair to tell her where he had been. He decided to describe the pirate ship but make it seem that he had made the whole thing up.
“I went on an amazing adventure.” He carefully checked his piece of cake for maggots before continuing. “It’s magic, I think.”
“Wow, magic! Really?” Meredith’s eyes sparkled. She firmly believed in magic even though she had never actually had any magical experiences.
“Tell me all about it,” she said breathlessly. “Were there fairies?”
“Not that sort of magic,” said Cory hastily. “In fact it wasn’t all wishes and dreams coming true. Some of it was fairly horrible. I don’t know if I’d want to do it again.”
“Do what? What?” shrieked Meredith. “Tell me!”
Taking a deep breath, Cory described his experiences to her. Maggie was pleased to see them together and even more pleased that Cory seemed so animated and talkative. She had felt sorry for him when he arrived looking so stiff and miserable, and she had been wondering if he would ever make an effort to settle in.
Meredith was wildly excited about the pirate ship and insisted on going back with Cory to the boat.
“Now do exactly what you did before,” she commanded as Cory reluctantly pulled the canvas canopy over them.
“I pushed this silver button like this.”
Cory reached out and pushed the button. To his relief, nothing happened.
“Oh!” said Meredith, as she looked out from under the canopy. “It was just a story you made up. It wasn’t real at all. That’s the GPS screen anyway. I don’t see why that would be magic.”
“What’s GPS?” Cory looked blank.
“Dad explained it to me. It’s the Global Positioning System. You push the buttons and the screen brings up numbers to show you where you are. It gets them off the satellites in the sky. It won’t work inside the shed though.”
“Why do you need one?” asked Cory.
“It’s so you can find your way home if it’s dark or foggy. Or you can use it to mark where you are if you need to call Mayday for help. Dad mainly uses it to mark his best fishing spots.”
Cory was suitably impressed by this.
“I didn’t know what it was. Look, perhaps magic doesn’t just happen when you want it to. Maybe it will only work at certain times.”
“You mean it could be once a day like when people get wishes from Genies in bottles?” asked Meredith hopefully.
“Could be,” agreed Cory, endeavouring to look suitably mysterious, but secretly wondering if Meredith had guessed correctly.
Cory woke up in what felt like the middle of the night. Meredith was shaking his shoulder.
“What is it? What’s happened? What do you want?” he gasped as he sat up.
“I thought we could go and try that magic button in the boat,” Meredith said happily. “I’ve packed some food to bring with us and everything.”
“But it’s not even daylight yet,” protested Cory.
Meredith was scandalised.
“It’s nearly seven o’clock,” she said “Don’t you want to get up?”
“No, I’m still asleep. Go away,” said Cory. Turning his back on her, he closed his eyes.
“Oh you’re no fun at all,” said Meredith crossly, and flounced out of the room. Cory gave a sigh of relief. All his arm muscles were aching from scrubbing the deck and his knees still felt tender. A couple of hours later he woke up ravenous and went out to the kitchen. Maggie was sewing again and called out for him to help himself.
“Sorry I’m late for breakfast,” mumbled Cory guiltily. He was trying to feel annoyed with Maggie but it was so hard when she was so nice and understanding. He had been prepared to be really horrible to her if she tried to be like a mother to him. After all, no-one could replace his own mother. But Maggie wasn’t trying to mother him at all and seemed to accept what he did cheerfully.
“Meredith is always an early bird,” said Maggie, “but you can do things at your own pace. Time doesn’t matter so much in the holidays.”
Cory was relieved at not having to speak to Maggie face to face. He still felt stiff and shy with her although he wasn’t having the same trouble with Meredith.
“I guess it’s because she talks so much,” he thought. “She’s so happy and friendly she doesn’t give people a chance to be shy. It’s hard to stay cross with her for long.” He decided he would try and sneak out to the shed without her and see if the boat would work its magic again.
“Where is Meredith?” he asked.
“Reading a book in her room, I think,” Maggie replied.
“No I’m not, I’ve finished it. Yum, toast,” said Meredith dropping onto the chair beside Cory.
“Hey, make your own, that’s mine.”
“Make some more for both of us and we’ll share it,” said Meredith through a mouthful of toast and marmalade. “I’m starving. Its ages since I ate breakfast.” She looked accusingly at Cory.
“Yeah, yeah, you’ve made your point,” said Cory. “But I was tired.” If Meredith had been scrubbing decks for hours she would have been tired too, he thought, as he glowered at her. Meredith seemed unconcerned by his expression and showed a distressing tendency to stick to him like glue.
“We’re going out to the shed, Mum,” called Meredith a few minutes later, as she and Cory cleared away the remains of breakfast before heading outside. Cory felt anxious. He wanted to try the boat again without Meredith but there didn’t seem to be any way he could get rid of her. Part of him wanted the boat magic to work again so he could prove to Meredith he hadn’t been making it up. But the rest of him was not looking forward to seeing that pirate ship again. Cory gave a resigned sigh as they climbed into the boat together and Meredith looked at him expectantly.
“Make the magic boat travel for us,” she commanded excitedly.
Cory groaned inwardly as he reached across and pressed the silver button. An enormous jerk tossed the two children together in the bottom of the boat.
“Ouch!” said Meredith indignantly. “Get off, you’re squashing me.”
“Sorry,” said Cory. “I forgot to tell you. That’s what happened last time as well.” He crawled to the side of the boat and lifted the cover back slowly, with Meredith breathing down his neck from behind.
“Keep quiet,” he warned her, “until we see what’s happening.” His warning of quiet was unnecessary. There was a fearful racket going on outside the boat. As Meredith and Cory watched with wonder, a battle appeared to be in progress. Towering beside the pirate ship was another sailing ship from which shouts and the clang of steel issued forth. Cory climbed out of their boat, which was now looking like a lifeboat again, and together he and Meredith crept along the deck of the deserted pirate ship for a better view. The pirates had evidently boarded the other sailing vessel and were having a fight to the death to take control of her. The occasional pistol shot rang out and there were despairing cries as sailors were forced overboard into the sea below.
“Can’t we do something to stop it,” cried Meredith in anguish. “Oh look. There’s blood everywhere. I’m going to be sick.”<
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She ran to the rail and was violently sick over the side. Cory hung onto her sweatshirt from behind, feeling green and unwell himself. It wasn’t so much the blood as the screams of pain and cries for help as the sailors and occasional pirate drowned before their eyes.
“I don’t like this,” wailed Meredith as she turned away from the rail.
“Nor do I,” confessed Cory.
“I thought boys were supposed to like blood and fighting and stuff.”
“Well I don’t. Hey, look at that.”
Over on the stern of the other ship a massive fight was taking place between the pirate chief and a fair- haired man. Cory realised with a shock that the fair haired man was the captain of the first ship he had been on. The pirate chief was slashing madly with his cutlass while the captain had a long gleaming sword that he used to parry the blows and then to thrust at the pirate. Back and forth they battled, high on the poop deck. The wind fluttered the sails billowing above them as they stood silhouetted against the gathering clouds in the sky behind them.
“Oh, I think he’s winning,” cried Meredith, clenching her fists and watching with bated breath. Sure enough the fair-haired man was slowly beating back the pirate chief who was retreating despite his best efforts.
“Oh no,” groaned Cory as another pirate sprang to the chief’s aid. “Look out!” he cried, but it was too late. The second pirate lifted a large wooden bar and cracked the captain across the head with it. The pirate chief instantly picked up a rope and bound his adversary’s arms behind his back. Two more pirates rushed up and threw the man to the deck and it seemed as if the battle was over.
“Come on, we’d better go back,” Cory urged Meredith and they crept back into the lifeboat. They lay there for a minute or two in the dark, while Meredith took great heaving breaths and Cory tried to clench down the sick feeling inside him.
Time For a Change Page 5
