Sara narrowed her eyes at the challenge. What Jack had said was true, and he had pushed the right buttons.
"I'm in," she said. "I say we go tonight. All those in favor?"
The four of them answered in unison. "Aye," they said, as one.
"Tonight," Neil said, "we meet, at Fort Balderdash!"
Sara nodded in agreement. But even as she did so, she couldn't ignore the strange feeling in her stomach. She didn't know what to call it, but years later, when she was older, she would come to recognize that the feeling in her stomach was what you might call intuition. It was a way of instinctively knowing about one thing or another.
And if she had been experienced enough to understand and trust her intuition, she would have known that what it was telling her was that there was more danger in this plan than the Beans could comprehend? and that something terrible would happen as a consequence of their undertaking.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The Grand Adventure Begins
Dark had long since fallen upon the town of Hollow Oak. Neil was staring out his open bedroom window, with Jack at his side. Together, they studied the night beyond, feeling the cool breeze that blew against their faces.
The forest began where the yard ended, and they considered what secrets might lie within. Moonlight reflected from the leaves, as they sighed in the branches, whispering with the breeze. Occasionally, an acorn would drop from an oak tree to the ground beneath, or a rogue leaf from a maple would gently drift about, until it met the earth.
Lowering his voice to a conspiratorial whisper, Neil said, "The hour is nigh?"
"Nigh?" asked Jack, turning to Neil. "What does that mean?"
"I think it means the same thing as near."
"Then why didn't you just say near?"
Neil considered this for a moment, scratching at his sandy hair. "I don't know? It seemed appropriate. It sounds pretty cool, doesn't it?"
"Well, yeah. It does have a nice ring to it," Jack agreed. He tried it out, sampling the word. "Nigh. The hour is niiiiigh. So are you saying that we're ready to go?"
Neil consulted his watch, and saw that it was 10:49 PM. "Yep. We can proceed with the mission. Our colleagues should be meeting us at Fort Balderdash in just a few minutes."
"Okay? let's do this!" Jack said, the hairs at the nape of his neck tingling with excitement.
He pointed at a large duffle bag at his feet, which was bulging with odds and ends. It was one of the sacks that was used for transporting the gear of the Green Beans, but the boys had emptied it of all the helmets, bats, and baseballs, and replaced them with gear that they thought might come in handy on their expedition. Most of the stuff had been borrowed from Mr. Murray's tool shed, but there were also some foodstuffs from Neil's pantry.
"I've gone through our supplies one last time, and it looks like we've got everything we could possibly need," Jack said.
The two of them were up well past their bedtime, and they should have been very sleepy, especially since they had played a hard game of baseball earlier in the evening. The boys were anything but sleepy, however. Invigorated by their nighttime adventure, they felt positively electric with energy.
They had to wait until late at night to begin their investigation, since Neil's parents would surely not approve of such a thing. At this point, Neil was certain that the coast was clear, for he had eased open the door to the hallway, and heard the snores that drifted from his parents' bedroom. Lighter snoring came from his mother, and much heavier stuff (sounding sort of like a chainsaw in desperate need of repairs) from his father.
As luck would have it, Jack's father, Mr. Murray, was working the nightshift at the sneaker factory. The new cleats project was requiring a lot of extra hours, and as the vice president in charge of the new venture, Mr. Murray had oftentimes been working late in recent months. Jack could not stay at home alone, so whenever his dad was working the nightshift, he would go next door to spend the night with Neil's family.
It was like a dream come true - a sleepover at his friend's house, on a school night! Since Jack was already staying at Neil's place, this made their covert mission simpler to launch. And, he had brought Nibbler along, because the dog would much rather come and play with the boys, than stay home alone. Always a faithful friend, and the owner of a most magnificent nose, the Labradoodle would be a valuable team member on their expedition.
"Okay," Neil said. He bumped fists with Jack, and patted Nibbler on the head. "Proceed with Operation: Beast Quest."
Swinging his leg out the window, Neil climbed into the nearby branches of the large maple tree that crowded the house. His ribs were sore from his collision with the outfield fence, but his excitement for the adventure was enough to make him ignore the discomfort that he felt, as he stretched his body out the window. Once he was safely perched within the limbs of the tree, he maneuvered a large, wooden bucket (which had been used for transporting bushels of apples long ago) back toward the window.
Jack grabbed hold of the bucket, and together, they positioned it so that it was adjacent to the house. He then helped Nibbler up onto the windowsill, and the two boys lifted the dog into the bucket. It took both of them to heft his big, furry body.
"Ah-roo," Nibbler voiced quietly, lending his thoughts on this process.
Although game for any adventure, the Labradoodle was a bit apprehensive about this particular aspect of the expedition. The lift system had been built several years ago by Neil and Jack, fastened with a rope that ran over a large limb of the maple tree. They used it to raise and lower items up to Neil's bedroom window.
Of course, they had never used it to transport Nibbler, so this was a first. Neil and Jack groaned with the strain of it, but together they were able to gently lower the bucket to the ground below.
As he descended, Nibbler stared up at the boys, his ears pressed flat against his head. He periodically uttered an inarticulate, canine suggestion as to their technique. When the bucket safely touched down on the earth, Nibbler climbed out. He looked up, smiling happily, his tongue lolling to one side, and waited for the boys.
"Nibbler has landed safely," Neil reported. "Don't worry, boy, we're on our way!"
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rendezvous at Fort Balderdash
With the duffle bag of supplies slung over his shoulder, Jack launched himself out the window, joining Neil in the branches beyond. The two of them quickly climbed down the tree. It was an easy process, for they had done so innumerous times before, and they knew precisely where the best handholds and footholds were located, nestled in the gnarls and nooks of the great tree.
Nibbler watched their descent with barely restrained enthusiasm, his tail wagging wildly from side to side.
"Here we are, boy," Jack told the Labradoodle, as he reached the ground. He ruffled the fur behind Nibbler's ears. "That's a good boy."
After touching down, it was a quick walk to the treehouse, Fort Balderdash, which was located between Neil's house and Jack's. It was located in another large maple tree, where it had been built several years back by Coach, Mr. Murray, and Chief Fresco. The weight of the treehouse was easily supported by the great limbs of the maple, which held the structure aloft like a giant hand. The treehouse was a fantastic refuge and command center for young adventurers.
"Wait here, boy," Jack told Nibbler.
The dog obediently lay down on the ground, smiling and wagging his tail. As the boys began to ascend the ladder, a voice called from above.
"Halt!"
Momentarily startled, Neil quickly realized that it was Sara who had spoken. "Monkeyshines!" he exclaimed. "You beat us here!"
"You're darned skippy we beat you here," Sara answered, as she appeared in the doorway of the treehouse. "Now halt, until you utter the password!"
Neil stared up the ladder. "Uh? but you can see me."
Maria peered over the shoulder of her sister. "None shall enter Fort Balderdash without uttering the password!"
"Very well." Neil
cleared his throat, and with an air of formality, he spoke the password that would grant him entry. "Snickerdoodle."
"Correct," Sara said.
"Come aboard!" Maria added.
The sisters extended their hands, helping Neil and Jack climb within the treehouse. Once they were all inside, the four of them gathered in a circle on the floor. Several window openings had been built into the treehouse, and the moonlight illuminated the structure enough so that the many items that hung upon the walls were visible.
There were wooden swords, and pirate hats, and bandit masks, and squirt-guns, and dormant lanterns, among many other objects. Several pieces of art that had been constructed by the four of them, with colored pencils and watercolors, further decorated the interior walls of Fort Balderdash.
Jack set the duffle bag down in the center of them. He opened it, withdrew four flashlights, and passed them around to his friends.
"Darkness, be gone!" Sara proclaimed, as she and the others tested out their flashlights.
"What else do you have in there?" Maria asked, as she shined her light inside the bag.
"All kinds of stuff!" Jack said, his face splitting into a huge grin. "I borrowed some things from my dad's tool shed."
He reached a hand into the bag and pulled out a fistful of random supplies. "Check this out. We've got a saw, and a tape measure, and a bunch of random doodads. Um, some spare batteries? a compass? Some more tools?" Jack rummaged about, pulling out screwdrivers, duct tape, various pliers, and a coiled rope. "Oh, and we've got some granola bars and chocolate milk for sustenance? also, I grabbed this pay-as-you-go cell phone that my dad keeps around for emergencies. And check this out! I found this big ol' net in the shed!"
"Gears and sprockets! What are we going to do with that?" Sara asked.
"We can use it to ensnare the beast!" Neil said. "Could be an escaped circus animal, you know."
"Cool," Maria said, in awe.
She grabbed one end of the net, while Jack held the other, and together they stretched it out to its full size. The net was quite large, reaching across the entire confines of Fort Balderdash. Fishermen must have used it long ago, for it reeked of seaweed and barnacles.
"Oh, yeah," she confirmed. "We can catch a big one with this net."
"And we've got our nose," Jack said, hitching his thumb out the door, pointing down toward Nibbler.
"Perfect for tracking," Neil said, rubbing his hands together. "Okay, Beans. All the preparations are complete. Commence Operation: Beast Quest."
Chapter Twenty-Six
On the Trail of the Beast
These four children, these brave and adventurous Green Beans, set forth into the forest. Behind Fort Balderdash, there was a path cut through the trees and the brush, which soon led to a network of trails beyond. This complex system winded its way throughout much of the town of Hollow Oak.
Though they had often walked these paths, the network of intersecting and winding trails was so extensive, the Beans had not yet explored them all at this point in their lives. Furthermore, they suspected that their pursuit of the unknown beast might lead them into even less easily defined territories of the forest, off of the paths entirely.
Since this was the case? and since it was further possible that they might get a bit lost in the woods during this nighttime adventure, they were very happy for the company of Nibbler. The Labradoodle was blessed with a wonderfully sensitive nose, and the Beans were confident in his ability to lead them home, no matter what befell them. Were it not for his presence, they would have been much less confident about plunging into the darkened forest, in pursuit of futures unknown.
Though their plan was far from precise, Neil had a general notion that they should be making their way roughly toward the baseball field, since that was where the beast was last spotted. Therefore, it was in this direction that they began their quest.
As they walked further into the woods, the beams from their four flashlights cut swaths through the darkness, illuminating the ground before them. Though they were on a trail, they had to watch where they stepped, for the terrain was certainly uneven at times. It rose and fell in places, and it was littered with fallen branches, rocks, stumps, and the roots of the surrounding trees.
The spring evening was cool, and the Beans were glad that they had worn jackets. Walking at their brisk pace helped to keep them warm, but there still pressed a wavering wind against their bodies. The persistent breeze moved with varying intensities, but would not relent. It whispered through the weeds, stirring the brush, rustling the leaves, lending an eeriness to the moonlit night.
It did not take long for some action to happen. Soon, Nibbler caught the scent of? well, it was the scent of something. Something that got him plenty excited, and he quickly took off, in hot pursuit of whatever it was that his nose had detected. The Beans fell in behind the Labradoodle, accelerating their pace to keep up.
Nibbler's tail swept from side to side with rapid movement, his snout pressed close to the earth. He sniffed like a machine, rapidly inhaling and exhaling with a purposeful rhythm. His interest had been captured in its entirety by this wonderful, mysterious scent.
"Oh, yeah!" Neil said, as he followed close behind. "We must be hot on the trail of the beast, now. Look at him go!"
"Ah-roo," Nibbler said happily, sniffing away, his rump shaking from side to side with the movement of his tail, as he plunged further into the forest.
After following Nibbler for some time, it became clear to the Beans that they had wandered from the network of trails that littered the forest. Now they were in the real woods, evidenced by the increasingly thick brush, which pressed against them.
Low to the ground, Nibbler had no problem weaseling his way through the growths of briars and fallen trees. It was harder going for the Beans, however.
"Uh?" Sara said, as she plowed through the brush. "We seem to have, uh? gone off of the trail a bit, here."
"It's okay!" Jack reassured her. "Nibbler knows what he's doing."
Of all the Beans, he had his hands the fullest, for in addition to his flashlight, he wielded the huge net at the ready. Also, the duffle bag of supplies was slung across his back, and it periodically became ensnared in the low-hanging branches of trees.
"We might have gone off the traditional trail," Neil said. "But now we're on a different trail. Now we're on the trail of the beast!"
"Well, he does seem to know what he's doing," Maria said.
"Yeah, he sure is confident," Sara agreed. "You're right, Nibbler wouldn't lead us astray. As long as he's on our team, we'll always be able to find our way home."
No sooner had Sara voiced these words, than her foot sank into what could best be described as a quagmire. Her leg sank up to the knee in a thick soup of mud and swamp water.
"Hmmm?" she said, as she felt the dank water soak into her pant leg and sneaker. With a great deal of effort, she wrestled her foot from the quagmire. "Then again?"
"I'll admit, things have taken a bit of a turn for the worse," Neil said, as he stumbled over a root, waving his hands for balance. "But we can't give up now! We've already come so far. And Nibbler's hot on the trail."
For some time now, Neil and the other Beans had noticed that the ground beneath their feet was substantially changing. It had been becoming? mushier. As their feet connected with the earth, they made a strange sound, like muck, muck, muck.
The woods that they were exploring were becoming wetter. Marshier. Swampier. At this point, they were really off of the beaten path. They were far beyond any part of the woods they had previously ventured into.
"Don't worry," Neil said, hopping from one stable spot of ground to the next, trying to keep up with Nibbler. "You've just got to, uh? watch your step. Use your flashlight!"
Neil had accelerated his pace, and was close behind Nibbler. He batted branches and briars from his path, oblivious to their bothersome intrusion upon his mission. He ignored the aching in his sore ribs.
Success was near
at hand, he knew. Though all the Beans were interested in what this adventure might uncover, it was Neil that was most invested in Operation: Beast Quest. For it was he who had twice experienced a close encounter while manning his domain of centerfield. It was he who had been gazed upon by those strange, green eyes. His curiosity had been engaged, and it needed to be satisfied.
He wanted to know. He had to know.
He would not be able to rest until he did. Sound sleep would not be his until he knew what was out there, lurking in the woods of Hollow Oak, behind his ball field, behind his school, behind his home.
"We're almost there," he whispered. "I can feel it."
Chapter Twenty-Seven
The Silhouette of Doom
"What?" Sara called from further back, as she pushed vines and brambles from her path.
"We're almost there!" Neil repeated. "Trust me? come on, follow me!"
And so they did. They followed Neil. For he was their friend. And that is what friends do? they trust one another. They offer their support. Friends will help each other, when no one else will.
Do you understand this, my astute reader? Do you understand what it means to trust in a friend, and to help them when no one else is willing? Almost certainly, you do understand. For a life without such friendship is nearly unbearable.
Others would have given up long ago. Adults would have never even begun this adventure, no matter how convincing Neil might be. But Jack, and Sara, and Maria - his friends - kept him company in the darkened woods. They followed him into the dark, even as the forest gave way to swamp. Even as the hour became late, and they journeyed into realms that were absurdly past their bedtimes.
They could have been safe at home, nestled beneath their blankets, dreaming of all those pleasant things that middle graders imagine in their sleep. But they were not. They had come with Neil, to stand beside him in his quest for truth. To follow their friend into the unknown.
And not a one of them regretted it.
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