Isle of Enchantment

by Precious McKenzie

  “Hold onto the railing and hold tight to my hand.” The cable car lurched backward. Tomas and I collided into each other. “Hang on,” I told him, “We’ll be back on the ground in no time.” And we were. Unfortunately, when we got down to the ground, the uniformed men said something to Mom in Spanish. Mom did not look pleased.

  Mom turned to us, “Tomas, Marisol, come. You have some explaining to do to these gentlemen.”

  Tomas and I were in big trouble. The men led us into an office. For about an hour, they explained to us how much danger we faced. They also threatened to call the police. Mom convinced them that we were sorry. And that we wouldn’t do anything like this, ever again.

  “Now, you apologize kids,” Mom nudged me in the ribs.

  “Señors, we are so sorry. I, we, we didn’t mean to cause trouble,” I stuttered. The men, who were security guards, did not smile.

  “Sirs, we were just having such a good time, we wanted to see it all up close,” Tomas added.

  Tomas and I were sincere. We felt lucky to be back on land safely. The security officers were silent.

  One of the officers cleared his throat and looked down his nose at us, then turned to Mom.

  “Señora, We will not press charges or make you pay a fine,” he said.

  “Thank you, gracias,” Mom smiled and reached out to shake their hands.

  “Señora, please make sure your children do not do something as reckless as this in the future.”

  “Yes, sir, sí. Gracias, gracias.” Mom was practically bowing and kissing their hands.

  One of the men led us outside. Then Mom turned to me and Tomas.

  “I will think of a punishment for the two of you. Never do something like that again. You could have gotten hurt.” Mom’s eyes were fiery like a dragons. She paused, caught her breath, and continued, “For starters, you’re going back to the hotel for an early bedtime.”

  “Mom!” Tomas started to argue with her. Tomas wanted to go dancing again, to see if he could find Carmen, the girl who kissed him the night before. When Tomas saw Mom’s hand go up in the air, Tomas decided against arguing with her.

  El Morro

  Because of our mistake at the observatory, Mom and Dad agreed that we would have to be punished. Our laptops were taken away, except for school work time, and we now had a strict eight o’clock bedtime. We would be fine without the laptops. The eight o’clock bedtime was the worst. Tomas and I couldn’t go out dancing in the evening. We missed watching all the funny night time television shows. We felt like kindergarteners again, bath and bedtime by eight o’clock sharp. Boring!

  We were still allowed to go out and explore the island, but only with Mom and Dad. Dad wanted to soak up the history of Puerto Rico. He planned a day at El Morro, a fort by the sea. El Morro is an old Spanish fort that was built to protect the island from pirates and invaders. It’s about four hundred years old. It sits on a cliff overlooking the water.

  In El Morro, we watched a movie about the history of the fort, took a guided tour, but Dad was anxious to explore the fort more on his own, at his own pace.

  “Come on, kids,” Dad said, “Let’s go see the canons!”

  Tomas got excited.

  “Can we shoot canons?”

  “No. Don’t even think about it,” Dad laughed.

  I have to admit, El Morro is pretty cool. We climbed six levels of the fort. From the top of the fort’s wall, we looked out to the Atlantic Ocean.

  “Wouldn’t it be awesome to blow up pirate ships from here?” Tomas asked.

  “Yeah, but it is kind of creepy,” I said.

  “Why do you say that?” Tomas looked puzzled.

  “Well, think of all the people who must have died around this fort, fighting for Puerto Rico.”

  Tomas moved closer to me and whispered, “What are you afraid of? Ghosts?”

  I kicked him in the shin and walked away.

  “Ouch!” he yelled.

  “Tomi, Marisol!” Dad shouted as he jogged across the fort.

  Tomas and I turned to Dad.

  “Kids, I’m going to speak with the park ranger. You two can keep exploring. Just stick together, all right?”

  We told Dad we’d be fine. We knew he wanted to talk about history with the park rangers. He was probably working on a new article or book project and needed to find out more details from the rangers.

  “Mari, let’s go to the Old Tower. I hear it’s haunted,” Tomas said.

  I knew he was playing a game with me, to see if I was afraid. I wasn’t going to let him win this game.

  “Okay. You lead the way,” I agreed.

  After crossing the fort, we found Torre Antigua, also known as the Old Tower. We walked through a crumbling tunnel. The lights inside made an eerie green glow. It felt like a dungeon.

  “Ooohhh, eeeeeee,” Tomas whispered as he crept behind me. I nudged him with my elbow. He stopped pretending to be a ghost. I took my cell phone out of my pocket. I pretended to use its light to help me see in the dark tower.

  “Tomas, look at this,” I said, pointing the light. “It’s shell damage to the fort.”

  “Yeah, Dad said there’s artillery shell damage from the Spanish-American War,” Tomas said like a know-it-all.

  “The damage was caused by the United States in 1898,” he added.

  “Yes, I knew that,” I fibbed.

  “The United States won Puerto Rico from Spain in that war.”

  “I knew that too,” I snapped at Tomas.

  By this time, I was annoyed with Tomas. He thinks he knows everything.

  “Let’s go find Dad. I’m hungry,” I said.

  As we turned to leave the tower, we heard the sound of metal rattling, like heavy chains clinking against each other.

  “What’s that?” Tomas whispered. He looked worried.

  “Shh. Be still,” I whispered back to Tomas.

  I wanted to find out where the sound was coming from. We heard it again, louder this time.

  “Come on, let’s see what it is,” I said as I tugged Tomas’s sleeve.

  “No way, it sounds like a ghost,” he said.

  “So? You’re not afraid of ghosts.” I replied.

  He didn’t say a word. He looked pale and nervous.

  The chains rattled again. Then we heard a low moan.

  I moved in the direction of the sound.

  “Marisol, no! I think this fort is haunted,” Tomas said as he pulled my hand back toward him.

  “Tomas, come on! We might see a real ghost!”

  “Mari, no, please, don’t go into that tunnel!” Tomas cried.

  I didn’t listen to him. I sprinted into the dark tunnel.

  “Mari!” Tomas screamed, “Mari, don’t leave me behind! The ghost will get me!”

  Tomas bolted into the tunnel after me. What he saw next caught him off guard.

  Dad and a park ranger were hiding in the dark tunnel, rattling metal chains, and I was doubled over laughing.

  After Tomas realized that we had played a practical joke on him, he half-smiled and tried to act brave to hide his embarrassment.

  “Yeah, I knew you were playing a trick all along,” Tomas said to me. “I know there’s no such thing as ghosts.”

  “Mmhmm, sure,” I said.

  “I wasn’t really scared,” Tomas insisted.

  I laughed again, remembering the terrified look on his face when he heard the rattling chains.

  “Sure,” I chuckled.

  Tomas started to get angry. He knew he couldn’t fool us.

  “Even if I was scared, which I wasn’t, why would you do that to somebody?” he said.

  I smiled and shrugged.

  “That’s what big sisters are for.”

  Caves

  Tomas was angry with me the rest of the day for scaring him at El Morro. What puzzled him most was how I pulled off the practical joke.

  “How did you get Dad and the park ranger involved?” Tomas asked me after dinner.

  “I
sent Dad a text message while we were in the tower. I told him I wanted to play a joke on you because you think you know everything.”

  Tomas look surprised.

  “And Dad agreed to do it?”

  “Yep. He likes to have fun too, you know.”

  Tomas and I were stuffing our backpacks for a day at the caves. We had one more day to be tourists until we needed to join the research team in El Yunque National Forest.

  “What do you think the caves will be like?” he asked.

  Tomas shook his head and rolled his eyes. Mom popped her head into the doorway.

  “Kids, it’s eight o’clock. Time for bed.”

  Tomas and I groaned. When we got to El Yunque we would be off the hook, Mom said. That meant just two more nights of this ridiculous eight o’clock bedtime routine.

  We left for the Camuy River Caves at sunrise. Dad wanted to get there earlier so we would have all day to go through the caves.

  All four of us were surprised at the beauty around the caves. There were green tropical ferns and wild parrots.

  “Come on,” Tomas said, pulling my arm. He couldn’t wait to explore one of the world’s largest caves.

  “Slow down,” Mom told him. “We have all day. There’s no rush.” Mom did not like it when we got impatient.

  Dad spoke up.

  “Let’s try to stay together. There’s about ten miles of trails down there,” he said.

  “And many caves that haven’t even been explored yet,” Mom added.

  As soon as we entered the caves, we weren’t disappointed. We passed stalactites and stalagmites that were probably millions of years old. The main cave’s chamber felt like we were standing in a giant cathedral.

  “Tomi, look up,” I said, nudging him. “This cave must be six or seven stories tall, like a skyscraper.”

  Tomas nodded.

  “I had no idea that the cave would be so large inside. I always thought caves were small and cramped,” he said.

  We followed the concrete trail as it wrapped around the rock formations. We could hear water.

  “Look, Mari, daylight,” Tomas said.

  Soon we were back out in the sunlight, gazing at a giant sinkhole. Plants grew up the rocky sides. Looking up, we saw blue sky. Looking down, we could see the Camuy River.

  Tomas and I gasped. “Wow,” we said at the same time.

  I pulled out my cell phone and took pictures from every angle.

  “Mari, let’s go see some more.”

  I nodded. We lost Mom and Dad, even though we originally promised them that we would all stick together.

  “Let’s see if we can find Mom and Dad too,” I suggested.

  I led the way but I think I took a wrong turn. We came to a dark dead end. I could feel water dripping on my head and water soaking into my tennis shoes.

  “Tomi, I think I took the wrong path. This isn’t the way we came in.”

  “Look, there’s a light over there. Come on,” he said.

  The light we saw came from an opening in the top of the cave.

  “Well, Tomi, if we could jump four stories high in the air, we could get out that way,” I said.

  “There’s got to be a way to the main chamber,” he said, scratching his head.

  We walked around in circles for what seemed like forever.

  “Tomi, can we sit down for a minute? I need a drink and a snack.” I sat on a damp rock. I unzipped my backpack and found a bag of chips.

  “Sure. If you share some with me.”

  I had two cans of soda in my backpack. I popped the top of my can open. Then I tossed Tomas his can. Except he missed the catch in the darkness. The soda can hit the cave wall hard and ricocheted to the floor. A high pitched shriek and the sound of thousands of wings surrounded us.

  “Wha—wha—what?” I stammered.

  “Bats! Run, Mari, run!” Tomi grabbed my hand. “Cover your head! And run!”

  “They’re touching me!” I squealed. I could feel their little leathery wings brush against my hair as they flew in circles around the cave. “Get me out of here!”

  Tomas and I ran in circles, searching for a way out.

  “How did we get in here?” he yelled. I knew he was scared too. The bats kept flying over our heads. We couldn’t find an exit. The noise we made woke them up.

  I was out of breath and terrified. “Tomi, I can’t run anymore. Please stop!” I grabbed my side. It hurt. I dropped to the ground. Tomi was right beside me.

  “What do we do now?” I gasped.

  “I don’t know,” he admitted.

  We sat on the floor of the cave, unsure of what to do next.

  “Keep your head covered with your arms,” he whispered to me. I did. The bats dipped and swooped around us. I prayed they wouldn’t land directly on us.

  “Be silent. Be still. They should go away,” Tomas said quietly. Gradually, the bats began to slow down. Little by little, they returned to the crevices high up in the cave walls.

  “Do you think they’re gone?” I whispered. I could barely see Tomas’s face in the darkness even though he was sitting right next to me.

  “They’re not gone but maybe they went back to sleep. Get up very slowly. Be quiet,” he said.

  “Let’s feel along the wall, to see if we can find the way we came in here,” Tomas suggested.

  “All right,” I agreed.

  It took us a long time, but we found the opening. Then we found the concrete trail system.

  “You look horrible,” Tomas told me.

  “So do you,” I said. Tomas was dirty, wet, and his hair was standing straight up.

  We followed the trail out of the darkness. When we made it out into the full daylight, we found the picnic area. “Let’s sit here and wait for Mom and Dad,” Tomas said.

  It sounded like a good idea. Until I thought about it a little longer.

  “Tomi, if they find us like this, all wet and messy, they’ll know we got into trouble. Then they’ll ground us again.”

  Tomas thought for a second.

  “I can’t handle any more eight o’clock bedtimes. Let’s get ourselves cleaned up.”

  “To the bathrooms!” I declared. “Use the soap and water to scrub the dirt off yourself. Then take some of the water from the faucet and smooth your hair down. I’ve got a brush in my backpack.”

  Tomas nodded and took off.

  “Oh! Hey!” I shouted after him. “Hurry. We don’t know when they’ll come out of the cave tour.”

  I’ve known Tomas since before we were even born and I’ve never known him to move so quickly. He came out of the bathroom, sparkling clean, in less than five minutes. I rushed into the women’s bathroom, washed up, wet my hair, and tied it up in a ponytail.

  Our clothes were still wet but maybe we could blame it on the dripping water in the caves.

  “Now what?” Tomas asked.

  “Now we settle down and wait like nothing happened,” I told him.

  Mom and Dad exited the cave about a half hour later. They found us sitting calmly in the picnic area.

  “Act cool. Nothing happened, remember?” I whispered to my brother. He nodded.

  “Hi kids,” Mom chirped. “Wasn’t that awesome?”

  Tomas and I looked at each other. We smiled.

  “Amazing,” I gushed.

  “So cool,” Tomas agreed.

  Dad was so proud of himself for picking such a great day trip.

  “I knew you kids would love it!” he said, a massive grin spreading across his face.

  As we walked back to the car, I leaned close to Tomas so Mom and Dad couldn’t hear.

  “I will always, always, always hate bats.”

  El Yunque

  After breakfast the next morning, we loaded our bags into the rental car. It was time to leave the tourist life behind and join the research team in El Yunque. Mom was beyond thrilled. She couldn’t wait to track the elusive Antillean crested hummingbird. I was not ready to leave hot showers and a soft bed. Bu
t there really wasn’t any choice. We came to Puerto Rico for Mom’s work. And her work was in the forest.

  The camp was small. There were less than a dozen tents in a circle. A few pickup trucks were parked behind the tents.

  “Hola!” called a woman with bright red hair as we got out of the car.

  “Hola!” my mother waved back at her.

  It was Dr. O’Malley, a biologist from California. Mom had worked with Dr. O’Malley a few years ago in Tanzania. They were good friends after that adventure.

  “It’s nice to have you on the team, Carolina,” Dr. O’Malley said, giving my mom a hug. “Oh my, look at the twins! How grown up you both are!” Dr. O’Malley gave us hugs, too.

  “Alberto! You don’t age! It’s good to see you again,” Dr. O’Malley said as she hugged Dad.

  She stepped back and smiled warmly at all of us.

  “Come, let me show you around camp,”

  Dr. O’Malley led us to the food tent, the medical tent, and the lab tent. Everything was clean and in working order.

  “Here are my research assistants, Jake and Ben,” Dr. O’Malley introduced us to two college students. They must be good workers, I thought, if they could set all this up in two days.

  Mom smiled and shook their hands, “Nice to meet you. I’m Dr. Perez, this is my husband, Alberto, and our twins, Marisol and Tomas.”

  “Nice to meet you,” Tomas and I said. Mom and Dad expected us to be on our best behavior.

  “We’re going to unpack, then I’d like to hear about your work so far,” Mom told Ben and Jake.

  “Sure. Your tents are on the left,” Ben said.

  The tents were set on wood platforms to lift us off the wet ground. Mom and Dad took one tent. Tomas and I shared another. There was no such thing as having your own room on a scientific expedition. We tossed our duffle bags in the tents. All food had to be stored in the food tent. Food was always locked up tight in animal-proof containers.

  Mom joined the research team to go over their notes and make plans.

  “Well, kids, what do you feel like? A little homeschooling or a dip in the waterfall?” Dad asked.

  “The waterfall!” we whooped.

  Dad drove us to the La Mina Falls. Tropical palms and ferns enveloped us. Water plunged off the side of the mountain into the pool below.