by S.A. Bodeen
Yvonna asked, “Was he alone?”
Cash shook her head. “There was a woman.” Before Nacho could ask what she looked like, Cash told him. “Her hair was short and dark and didn’t even move in the breeze. Her sunglasses”—Cash made circles of both her thumbs and forefingers, then stuck them to her eyes—“were huge. I couldn’t see her eyes either. And her lipstick was red, like bloodred.” Cash raised her eyebrows. “It was kinda weird. She didn’t even pretend to be dressed for the outdoors. Not at all. Her dress was white, and her shoes, man.” Cash held her hands up, several inches apart. “The heels were like this high and see-through. And had glittery straps. And she had on a bunch of gold necklaces.” Cash held out her fingers. “Her nails were long and polished the same color as her lips. And she had a diamond ring on every finger, it seemed.”
Sarah asked, “Was she nice?”
Cash shook her head. “No. Neither was her dog. She had this big brown purse and this little white yappy thing stuck its head out.” Cash made a face and then looked at Ahab. “I like big dogs a lot better.”
Sarah patted Ahab’s head and smiled. “Me too.”
“Did they tell Sarge their names?” asked Marco.
Cash nodded. “Laird Fox and Bettina Blackstone.”
“So what happened?” asked Marco, wanting her to get on with the story. He had finished his second sandwich and burped loudly.
His mom shot him a look, so he said, “Excuse me.”
Cash blew out a breath. “When Sarge told them he wasn’t interested, Fox nodded at Miss Blackstone. She reached in her purse and pulled out this stack of money.” Cash held up her forefinger and thumb, several inches apart.
Nacho said, “Wow.”
Marco leaned in closer. Suddenly, the story was getting interesting.
Cash said, “I wasn’t close enough to see the number on the bills, but Sarge’s eyes got really big. And then he started to rub his chin, which is what he always does when he’s thinking hard about something.”
Sarah asked, “What did you want him to do?”
Cash shrugged. “I wanted him to take it. I mean, he’s got a lot of money saved, but he always worries about it. He wants to pay for my college some day.” Cash tilted her head to the left. “Plus, I’ve always wanted to go on a sail when he has customers.”
“So what did Sarge say?” asked Marco.
Cash said, “He told them he’d take them for a week.” She made a face. “And Fox smiled.” She waved a hand in front of her mouth. “He had these icky, yellowed teeth.”
Sarah scrunched up her nose. “Ew.”
“Miss Blackstone handed part of the stack to Sarge,” said Cash. “She told him he’d get the rest when they were finished.”
Marco frowned. Wouldn’t it make more sense to say when we get back or when we return or when the sail is over?
John asked, “When did you set sail?”
“Not until the next day,” said Cash. “We had to buy food and clean the linens in the two berths downstairs for them.”
Nacho asked, “Where do you sleep on the boat?”
“Does it really matter?” asked Marco.
“To me it does,” said Nacho.
“Boys!” said Yvonna.
Cash told Nacho, “Sarge and I slept up top. When I was little, he made me a secret hiding spot near the helm.” She smiled, a little wistfully. “I don’t fit there like I used to, but it’s still my favorite place.”
Sarah asked, “What happened when they came back?”
Cash frowned. “Fox had this one small brown duffel bag with him.” She shot a glance at Nacho and said, “Miss Blackstone had the dog and was dressed all fancy again, with a white sleeveless blouse, black capris, black heels.”
Nacho smiled at her. “Thanks.”
Cash said, “Sarge had to haul her massive suitcase on board. He asked her if she was smuggling cement.”
Marco laughed.
Cash glanced at him. “She didn’t think it was funny. She yelled at him to be careful with it.” She bent her knees and hugged them. “Usually Sarge gave the clients a few routes to choose from. But these two couldn’t decide. Fox just pointed at a spot on the chart and said, ‘Let’s try that one.’”
Yvonna picked up another peanut butter and jelly bun and held it out to Cash.
“Thank you.” She took a bite, then started talking with her mouth still half full. “But when we got to that island it was late in the afternoon. Fox had binoculars. He just stood there, staring at the shore through them.”
“Did you go on the island?” asked Sarah.
Cash shook her head and ate another bite of her sandwich. “I heard Miss Blackstone ask him ‘Is this it?’”
John said, “So it sounds like they were looking for a specific island.”
Cash nodded. “We didn’t know it then, but yeah. Because after only a half hour, Fox told Sarge we could leave. So we sailed to another island and got there the next morning.”
“Did you go ashore there?” asked Nacho.
“Nope,” said Cash. “Same thing happened. Sarge was getting ticked off, I could tell. Then that night we hit a storm.” She pointed at the ground. “And we ended up here, at the lagoon. Sarge anchored and went down to make breakfast.”
“And you came ashore?” asked Marco.
Cash frowned. “I was trying to sleep, because it had been a rough night. Fox and Miss Blackstone came up from the cabin and stood at the stern of the boat. They didn’t see me, and didn’t know that I could hear them.”
Cash took a drink of water. “Miss Blackstone asked Fox, ‘Aren’t you going to see if this is the island?’ And he said that it couldn’t be. His island had an old volcano, like this one. But it didn’t have as many trees, and had a lot more rocks.” Cash took another sip. “Miss Blackstone argued with him, saying that the trees could have grown, but Fox mentioned it had only been two years and there’s no way this could be the island he was looking for.”
“But how did he know?” asked Marco. He wanted to know what Fox was up to and wished Cash would get on with it.
She said, “I don’t know. But Miss Blackstone must have been mad about it, because she yelled at him, said she couldn’t believe that he had no idea what island it was.” Her forehead wrinkled. “But then Fox said he did know. That he could never forget the landmark, not in a million years.”
“What landmark?” asked Sarah. Marco was about to ask the same thing but she beat him to it.
Cash said, “The face rock.”
“What’s a face rock?” asked Nacho.
Marco sighed. “Duh. Maybe a rock with a face on it.”
Nacho stuck out his tongue at Marco and turned back to Cash. “Did he say anything else? Like how he got on the island?”
Cash nodded. “He mentioned a rough sail, all the way from Africa. And that his ship was totally wrecked and he was lucky to get off before it sunk. He got rescued by a Dutch freighter, but he didn’t ask them for the coordinates. He didn’t want anyone else to be able to find the place. Or his cargo.”
Marco asked, “What was his cargo?”
“I don’t know,” said Cash. “But he told Miss Blackstone it would make her a millionaire ten times over.”
“Wow,” said Nacho.
Cash yawned.
Yvonna said, “Cash, you don’t have to finish telling us this now. You’ve had a long day and need to rest.”
Sarah, Nacho, and Marco all howled in protest at the same time. Yvonna held up a hand. “Five more minutes, that’s it. I mean it.”
Sarah leaned in. “Just tell us, quick. What happened after that? How did you end up on the island by yourself?”
Cash said, “I told Sarge what I overheard. He told them we were heading back to port, but then—” Her eyes filled with tears.
Yvonna set a hand on her leg. “Oh, sweetie, this is too much for you.”
Cash shook her head. “No. I want to tell y’all what happened.” She swallowed. “But when Sarge tol
d them that, Fox pulled out a gun.”
No one said anything. Marco wondered how Cash could be so calm, even while telling them what happened. He said, “You don’t have to tell us anymore.”
“But you can if you want to,” piped up Nacho.
“Nacho, hush,” said his mom.
Cash said, “I’ll finish.” She paused a moment to take another swig of water, then she took a deep breath. “He needed Sarge to sail the boat and take them to another island. But they didn’t need me. Except for insurance.”
Sarah set a hand over her mouth.
Yvonna asked, “What did they do, sweetie?”
“Sarge packed me a bag of canned goods and water while Fox held the gun on him.” She frowned. “Sarge was so worried. He told me to make a fire, first thing. And he promised he’d come back for me.” She sighed. “So Fox and I got in the dinghy and he started rowing me to shore. I looked back at the boat, and Miss Blackstone was holding the gun on Sarge. I knew I had to try to get away.”
Marco asked, “What did you do?”
“Maybe be quiet and let her tell us,” said Sarah.
He glared at her, then turned back to Cash.
“About twenty yards from shore, I tried to tip the boat.” She paused. “But Fox grabbed me and shoved me over.”
Yvonna gasped. “Oh no.”
Cash glanced at her. “It’s okay. I treaded water. But then he laughed at me. He threw the bag of food in the water and it sank before I could get it. Then he rowed back to the boat.”
As Cash finished telling the family her story, tears welled up again.
Marco asked, “Do you know what the cargo was that Fox hid on the island?”
She hesitated half of a second before shaking her head. But it was enough of a pause to make Marco wonder what—if anything—she might be keeping from them about Fox’s supposed stash.
John said, “I think that’s more than enough for tonight. Cash has had a long day.”
Sarah blurted, “But she hasn’t told us about the—”
“That’s enough,” said John. “There will be time in the morning.”
Marco knew what Sarah was going to say: But she hasn’t told us about the message in the sand.
And he wished John hadn’t interrupted Sarah, because he wanted to know about it as much as she did.
Cash swiped a hand across her eyes and nodded. “If it’s okay with you, I’d rather just tell you all now. The rest of it, I mean.” She glanced around the cave. “I think I’ll sleep better.”
The hair rose on the back of Marco’s neck, making him wonder if he really wanted to hear the rest after all.
3
Sarah handed Cash another bottle of water. Cash took a drink, cleared her throat, and told them more about her past few days.
“I crawled up on the beach. Fox got back to the sailboat. Sarge lifted anchor and began to sail out of the lagoon.” Cash wiped away some tears. Her voice broke as she added, “It was so hard to watch him sail away without me.”
Yvonna patted her arm.
Sarah wondered what she would do if she’d been left all alone on that island. This place creeped her out enough and she had her dad with her the whole time.
Nacho asked, “What did you do then?”
“I remembered the last thing Sarge told me. And that he’d put something in my pocket,” Cash said.
“What was it?” asked Nacho.
“His magnesium fire starter. He’d taught me how to make a fire in his backyard in Louisiana. And so I made a fire. A big one to get me through the night.” She sucked in her lower lip.
Marco asked, “What? Did something happen in the night?”
She nodded. “Well, in the late afternoon there was this awful howl. I can’t even explain it.” Goose bumps rose on her arms. “It freaks me out to even think about it.”
Marco’s gaze met Sarah’s. She said, “I think we’ve heard it too.”
Cash said, “It was so scary.”
Marco and Sarah both nodded.
“I couldn’t sleep, I was so scared.” Cash shrugged. “So I sat there all night. I only moved when I had to put more wood on the fire. Finally, the sun came up and I fell asleep. It was hot when I woke up. So I walked down to the water.” She smiled. “This place is so beautiful. Like a picture from a postcard.”
John said, “That it is.”
“But then my stomach started growling and I realized I didn’t have any food. I knew there was a bag of food out there and I just had to swim out to get it.” She lifted and lowered a shoulder. “But I’m not that great at diving. I was trying to talk myself into it when I heard something in the trees.”
“Something scary?” asked Nacho.
Cash smiled. “No, for once it wasn’t. It sounded like a meow. I thought it can’t be. I didn’t really want to go barefoot into the trees, but then I heard the sound again. And if there was a cat, I wanted to find it, so I wouldn’t be alone.”
Sarah understood that. She glanced down at Ahab and rubbed his head.
“But I never had a chance to find out. I got two steps into the trees and I heard this WHOOSSSSSHHHH! and a white net fell on me.” Cash shivered.
Sarah looked at her dad. He raised his eyebrows a little, like he didn’t exactly believe the girl’s story. Sarah asked, “What kind of a net?”
“A weird one. I tried to stop it.” Cash held her hands out, fingers spread. “But as soon as it touched my fingers, it shocked me. And then the rest of it drifted down. Wherever it touched my bare skin, it stuck right to me.”
“What did you do?” asked Nacho. He was absolutely riveted by her story. But Sarah noticed that both her dad and Marco looked skeptical, like they had stopped believing what Cash was telling them. Sarah began to wonder whether this girl just liked to make up stories. True, she had ended up on the island somehow, and was stuck there like they were. But the net part of her story seemed sort of … farfetched.
Cash became more animated, like this was her favorite part of the story. “I tried getting loose.” She thrashed her arms. “But doing that and kicking my legs only made things worse. The net began to shrink. The more I fought, the tighter it got. I tried to move my legs, but they were so close together, that I fell over. My face smashed in the ground and I got dirt in my mouth. I couldn’t do anything but lie there.”
She paused a moment. “The net kept getting tighter, until I couldn’t breathe. And everything went black.”
John clapped his hands together. “Okay, I think that’s enough for today. Let’s get some rest everyone.”
Nacho said, “But she needs to tell us what happened. What if someone comes with nets to get us?”
Sarah saw her dad and Yvonna exchange a glance. Yvonna said, “Sweetie, I don’t think you have to worry about that.”
Cash frowned at the adults. “You don’t believe me.”
John and Yvonna looked at each other. She said, “It’s just late and you all need to sleep. You don’t need to stay awake and worry about things that won’t happen.”
“But they did happen!” said Cash. Her gaze darted from Sarah to Marco. “You believe me, don’t you?”
Sarah shifted her eyes to Marco. He looked down at the ground.
Cash stood up. “I swear, it’s true. Please, let me finish.”
Nacho said, “I believe you.” He asked his mom, “Can’t she tell us the rest?”
Yvonna widened her eyes at John. He said, “Okay. Five more minutes. And this time we mean it.”
Cash sat back down. “When I came to, the net was gone. I could move my arms and legs again.”
Marco mumbled, “How convenient.”
Sarah shot him a glance, but Cash must not have heard him, because she was still talking. “I was on a bed in a room like the size of my bathroom back home. The lights were really bright and the walls were white. There was one tiny window up high, and I climbed on the bed but I couldn’t reach it. So I went to inspect the door.”
Cash held out t
wo fingers, about six inches apart. “There was a silver strip in the door about this high.” She held her arms about a foot apart. “And this wide. I pushed at it, but it didn’t even budge. And one really weird thing.”
“What?” asked Nacho, who seemed to be the only one still buying her story.
“The door had no doorknob.”
A chill ran up Sarah’s back. She didn’t believe what Cash was telling them, but that detail was creepy.
Cash said, “Then the silver strip vanished. There was just an open empty slot, and a black tray slid through with two glasses of water and a silver dome with a handle. I grabbed the tray and tried to look through the slot.” She sighed. “But just like that”—she snapped her fingers—“it closed right up. Was just a silver strip again.”
Marco looked at Sarah and rolled his eyes.
Cash cleared her throat.
Nacho asked, “What was on the tray?”
“A bologna sandwich and carrot sticks. With ranch.” Her forehead wrinkled. “I was worried at first, that maybe there was something in it, they were trying to poison me or something. But I was so hungry that I ate the whole thing.”
Sarah tried not to laugh. Really? Captured by someone, held prisoner, and she gets served ranch with her carrots? Sarah yawned. “I think I need to go to bed.”
“But I’m not done,” said Cash.
“Yeah,” said Nacho. “She’s not done.”
Yvonna said, “That’s enough for tonight. Cash can finish her story tomorrow.”
“Y’all don’t believe me.” Cash sniffled, like she was about to cry.
Sarah and Marco shared a look. He lifted and lowered a shoulder and snuggled down in his bedding. Yvonna knelt beside Cash. “It’s been a really long day and I think the kids have been scared enough. They don’t need to hear more strange things right before bed.”
“But you believe me, right?” asked Cash. Her gaze darted to Sarah and then John. “I’m telling the truth. He kept me prisoner.”
“Who?” asked Sarah. “Did you see him?”
“Not exactly.” Cash swallowed. “But he spoke to me. And his voice was … weird. I couldn’t exactly tell if it was male or female, but it seemed more male.”
