by Karen Cossey
Blackbeard looked like he cared. Maybe this whole thing with his foster parents did matter. Maybe he mattered. He smiled as the hope returned, giving him some warmth inside where before there’d only been coldness. Perhaps his black cloud might turn into a rainbow one day soon.
“Okay. Maybe I will,” he said.
Blackbeard studied his face, and then at long last, stopped looking at him. They were quiet for a few minutes, watching the waves.
“Do you know why the ocean makes all that crashing noise?” Happy asked. She kept talking, not waiting for a reply. “It’s crying because people come and put their sad in it. It’s got all the sad of all the people in the world all swallowed up inside it.”
She looked at Logan. “You’ve got big sad eyes, Cliffhanger. When I look in them, I can see down to the bottom of your heart.”
She cupped her hands over his eyes.
“What are you doing?” Logan asked.
“Taking the sad from your heart and throwing it in the ocean.”
She put her cupped hands together and walked down to the water. Logan followed her.
When she got in up to her knees, she bent down and washed her hands in the waves.
“There, all gone,” she said.
Logan stared at the water. “I still feel a little sad.”
“That’s the sad that’s hiding behind your tummy button. You have to wiggle your feet in the water and it dribbles out your toes.”
Logan wiggled his feet. That did feel better—it kind of tickled. He shut his eyes.
Yow! Something had banged hard on his foot. It was Happy, stomping on him!
“What did you do that for!”
“I thought I could make it come out quicker if I pushed it out with my foot. You know, like when you squeeze the toothpaste.”
“I don’t think it worked.” He grimaced. “What I need to do is swing my toes about a bit.”
He lifted up his leg and kicked some water into Happy’s face. Bulls-eye! She squealed and kicked some back and they started chasing and splashing each other.
A piercing whistle stopped them mid-kick.
“I thought the idea was to dry off?” Blackbeard called as he stood at the water’s edge, holding the towels.
“Oops,” said Happy.
She ran up to Blackbeard and grabbed a towel, then handed the second one to Logan.
She turned to face the water again, and pointed to something out at sea. “What’s that, Blackbeard?”
Blackbeard put his hand over his eye and squinted.
“Someone out there’s watching us!” he said and started rummaging in his bag. “I’ve got some binoculars in here somewhere.” He pulled them out and took a look.
“They’re leaving,” he said, thrusting the binoculars away. There was hardness in his eyes, as though something had sucked up all the fun and laughter from his face and turned it into stone.
Logan twisted his hands together. “Lots of people stop to look at the lodge from out at sea. It’s off-limits from land, so it’s the only way anyone around here gets to see the place.” Why was Blackbeard so upset?
“Come on, Dad. If it was you-know-who they’d have landed by now, and be asking a million questions,” said Happy. “They wouldn’t just leave.”
Blackbeard considered what she said, and then sighed, his face relaxing. “Sorry, Cliffhanger. It’s been crazy mad lately and I just hate the thought of losing our peace and quiet. This is one of the few places we can get away from it all. Let’s forget it for now. How about we go climbing?”
They headed off, with Logan trailing behind. Who were these people? What did they need to get away from? Who was that out in the boat, watching them? Why did Blackbeard get so angry? He sure seemed mad, but Logan had only felt unsafe for a moment. Not that he’d needed to. Blackbeard listened to Happy and calmed down. Nothing like his own dad. There was no reasoning with him once he got mad.
Logan stopped in his tracks. When would he stop feeling sorry for himself?
Blackbeard turned and smiled at him, waving him on. Blackbeard, Ma’am and Happy were a lot of fun. No point wasting time wondering who they were. And he could dump the self-pity too. It was time to go climbing.
*****
Out at sea, Oscar and Zach were racing away in the speedboat.
“That was close. No point being spotted and getting them anxious. Last thing we want is them calling the coppers,” said Zach.
“That’s for sure. We’ll hafta take the loot ashore tonight or tomorrow night when they’re all asleep. They’d better be gone by Monday or we’re gonna hafta give them a load of aggro,” Oscar said. “They’ll wish they’d never set foot in Hideaway Lodge.”
Chapter Four
They walked up past the house and along a track amongst the trees. Soon they were standing at the bottom of a cliff about one hundred and forty feet high. Near the top, at about one hundred feet, was the opening to a cave. It looked tricky to climb to—Logan couldn’t wait to give it a go.
“It’s a big cave,” Blackbeard said as he laid out the gear. “What’s great about this place is that we can top rope it—there’s an anchor set up already at the top of the cliff.”
“How are we going to get the rope through the anchor?” asked Logan.
“See that path off to the side about thirty feet up? I’ll climb up to the path, and then run up to the top of the cliff. I’ll attach the rope to the anchor, then come back and belay for you both.”
With that, Blackbeard started climbing up to the path, with no safety gear, taking what seemed to be the trickiest route. He must have done it before, because he didn’t pause to work out his next move. He was an expert climber, scaling the cliff easily.
Logan watched Blackbeard’s technique as he edged himself up the side. He sure knew how to keep his centre of gravity where he needed it, flagging with his legs. That was a skill his older foster brother, Cole, kept telling him he needed to work on—Logan often ended up swinging out from the cliff like a barn door.
“He’s good,” then remembering it was Happy he was talking to, added, “He’s clamberingly soar-sonic.”
“Apingly,” said Happy. “But I always feel better when he gets to the top.”
She kept her eyes fixed on Blackbeard. Logan saw her body relax when he made it to the path.
“Let’s gear up,” she said and started putting on her harness.
Logan did the same and by the time Blackbeard had come back down they were ready to go. Blackbeard made them check their gear twice then he checked them both himself.
“Off you go then, Cliffhanger. Don’t find the treasure without me,” Happy said.
Logan considered his options and mapped out a route in his mind. He was about halfway up when he tried a dyno, a move that required momentum to get to a hold just out of reach. He slapped the hold but didn’t latch, lost his footing, and started to fall. Blackbeard locked the belay and Logan hung in mid-air, eighty feet up.
“Good try, Cliffhanger. Not enough push off with your legs!” Blackbeard called out.
“Try again. You can do it!” Happy yelled.
Logan sprawled himself against the cliff, then pushed hard with his leg. This time his hand latched to the hold. Awesome! The other two gave him a cheer. He felt like doing a thumbs up but stopped himself in time. Instead he started moving again, reached the cave and pulled himself in, then detached the rope from his harness and lowered it to the ground. Sitting down near the edge of the entrance, he waited for Happy to arrive.
She chose a much easier route to Logan’s, and moved fast. She almost fell a couple of times, but managed to latch a hold. Blackbeard called out several times for her to slow down, but she kept moving like a snake escaping from a fire. She hauled herself over the edge of the cave and clicked the button on her stop watch.
“New record!” she yelled out. Logan helped to untie her, then lowered the rope down. It wasn’t too long before Blackbeard appeared.
He squatted down in
front of Happy, frowning. “Well done, Happy, on breaking your record, but I sure hope you’re satisfied now. No more record breaking. It’s time you worked a little harder on your climbing technique.” She nodded and he kissed her forehead, then handed them each a torch from his backpack.
They moved together into the darkness, the light from their torches picking out stalagmites growing up from the floor. In some places they met with the stalactites coming down from the ceiling. Magic.
“Take a look at this,” Blackbeard called out. Happy pulled Logan over and they stared at a rock that Blackbeard was holding. In it were some fossilized shells.
“Ammonites,” Logan said.
“Ammo at night? That could be painful,” Happy said.
“No, dweeb.” Logan smiled. “They were animals that were related to octopuses and squid, but they’re all extinct now. See their spirally shell? It’s made up of chambers, like little rooms. The animal only lived in one of the chambers, and used the other spaces to float. Some ammonites were tiny; others were as big as a person.”
“Wow, a geolololo …” Happy paused. The word combinations were spinning so fast in her head you could hear them banging into each other. She let out a satisfied sigh. “A geo-climb-ologist. Not only climbs them, knows what they’re called. I wish you were my brother.”
A wave of loneliness surged across her face. It was the same look Poet got when she thought about her parents dying.
He banged his arm against hers. “If you can sing in tune, Steve and Abby will adopt you in a flash. My foster sister has no idea. She tortures every song she sings.” He rolled his eyes. “Murder!”
“’Fraid I’ll have to keep her then,” Blackbeard said. “She sings like her mother. She’ll break all the windows in your house.” Happy giggled and elbowed him in the ribs. “You are really bad, Blackbeard.” She smirked. “I’m so gonna tell on you.”
“Don’t you dare,” he said, and then changed the subject before Logan could ask what was so funny. “How d’ya think these ammonites got up here?”
“That’s what’s so amazing. Ammonites were sea creatures, so it means that years ago the ocean had to come up this high for them to have been left here.”
Blackbeard whistled. “Wow, that’s something to imagine. We’re over a hundred feet up! I wonder if there are any more around?”
“Treasure hunt for real!” Happy swung her torch as she took off deeper into the cavern.
They all spread out and started turning over rocks and filling their pockets with ammonite treasures, calling out to each other when they discovered something. After twenty minutes of hunting, Logan had searched the whole cavern.
“Are there any other caves around here?” he asked.
“Janet told me there’s a big one in the next cove. It’s a bit of a hike over the hill, and it’s not so exciting because it’s at ground level. No one ever goes there unless they’re staying here—this is the only way to get to it,” Blackbeard said.
“Unless you kayak there.” Happy seemed hopeful. It sure sounded like a good idea.
“Stop looking at me like that, you two. No way. No kayaking, Miss Adventure, until Ma’am says you’re ready, or I’ll be in big trouble. You know she has a thing about water sports.”
Happy put her hands on her hips. Logan flicked his torch at her face. Total pout.
“She has a thing about any sports,” Happy said.
Blackbeard squeezed her shoulder. “Come on. That’s not fair. After lunch she promised we’d go down to the racetrack.”
“The racetrack?” Logan asked. “Do you mean MacAdden’s?”
“Do indeed. We’ve stayed here three times now and it’s mostly because we like to go to MacAdden’s and take our car for a spin on his circuit. Do you know it?”
“Yeah. I help out after school teaching junior motocross, so Mr MacAdden lets me race his bike on the motocross track in the weekends.” Logan beamed. He loved motocross even more than climbing. He knew his foster parents would find a way to pay for the dirt bike and the gear if he asked, but he didn’t feel right about that. Anyhow it didn’t matter, thanks to Mr MacAdden.
“Have you ever been on the auto track?” Happy asked.
“Nope, but I love watching. We often come down to see the saloons on a race night. My foster dad and brothers are nuts about them.”
Happy and Blackbeard exchanged glances. Blackbeard started to attach a belay device to the rope so they could abseil down.
“Time is getting on. It’s almost twelve o’clock,” he said. “I’m starving. Let’s shimmy on down out of here and see if there’s any food back in the house. Janet promised us something tasty for lunch, which is exactly what we need if we plan to pack in some speed this afternoon.”
It didn’t take long and they were all back at the house, eating a selection of fancy salads, funny little potatoes and baked salmon. It tasted fantastic—like how you’d imagine food in an expensive restaurant would taste.
“I don’t know why we can’t have a pie done in the microwave.” Happy moaned as she pushed the food around her plate.
“Eat it, or you’re not going to the track,” Ma’am said.
The food was gone in a couple of minutes and Happy was standing by the front door, telling them all to hurry up.
When Logan saw their car his mouth dropped open.
“Is that a Ferrari?”
“Yep. Do you like the colour? I wanted red but Ma’am insisted on boring old blue. I mean if you’re going to drive a Ferrari, you may as well stand out don’t you think?” Blackbeard said, while everyone got in. Ma’am sat in the back with Happy so Logan could sit in the front. Door-to-door awesome.
Logan stared all around him as they got started. “How come it’s got four seats? I thought Ferraris only had two?”
“Nope, the Ferrari FF has four,” Happy said from the back.
“You know, the Ferrari Family Fun model,” Ma’am said.
“Is that the best you can do?” Blackbeard said, cocking his head and lifting an eyebrow. “There is no way Mr Ferrari is going to go for that. Totally ruin the whole image. Bet it stands for … Ferrari Furiously Fast.”
“Nope,” Happy said. “Too much like those car movies. Can’t you come up with something a little more original?”
Logan rubbed his cheek. “Ferrari Fantastically Fabulous?”
“Good, but not quite enough imagination for me,” Happy said.
Ma’am elbowed Happy. “Nothing ever has enough imagination for you.”
“I know, Ferrari Fizz-wham Flight-whizzer!” Happy yelled, pushing both arms up into the air. They all cheered.
Ma’am, who’d been Googling on her iPad, interrupted them. “Sorry, Smartypants. It stands for Ferrari Four, after the four seats and four-wheel drive.”
“Really?” Blackbeard asked. “That’s a little disappointing. Not quite as disappointing as not being allowed to buy the two-seater.” He glanced over to Logan, rolled his eyes and complained, “Once again, Ma’am’s choice. I wanted the red two-seater. I told Ma’am when we all planned to go places together we could tie Happy to the roof. She was keen, weren’t you, Happy?”
Happy sighed. “I’d a loved it.”
“Cut it out, you two,” Ma’am said. “She would’ve scratched the paintwork.”
Laughing, Logan sat back to enjoy the ride, soaking in the feeling of luxury. He was like soft caramel inside a piece of chocolate, all runny and gooey and surrounded by richness. If only this feeling could last.
*****
At the racetrack, Alex was working on a motorbike while his boss, Mr MacAdden, was finishing his coffee and flicking through some papers on Alex’s desk.
“What’s this, Alex?” Mr MacAdden asked.
Alex stood up straight. He felt a twitch cross his face so he took a deep breath before speaking. He must stay calm.
“It’s a list of stuff for Janet. You know, a stock take of the things she keeps in the basement at the lodge.”
&nb
sp; “Funny kind of list. What’s RY stand for? And what are all these weights down the side?”
“Let’s see,” said Alex, taking the list from his boss’ hands. “It’s nothing Boss, just some new fancy stocktaking system she thought she would use. She gave it to me to figure out, but it’s all nonsense as far as I can see. I told her to ditch it and count the stuff in her head instead.” He dropped the list back upside down on his desk. Hopefully Mr MacAdden would think it meant nothing.
Alex moved to the doorway. “Why’s it so quiet?”
“I’m expecting some people. They’ve hired the track for themselves,” said Mr MacAdden, joining him. “They should be here any minute. I’ll go down and meet them.”
As Alex watched him leave, he relaxed his shoulders, shook his head and let out a long breath. He went over to the desk, took his tally list, folded it and put it away in the bottom drawer. It would be safe there until Monday, when the buckets would arrive, ready for him to count, weigh and load.
Chapter Five
Saturday Afternoon
The racetrack was only a few miles away. Shame. The Ferrari ride was over almost before it started.
Mr MacAdden was waiting for them. He looked surprised when Logan got out of the car.
“Logan! What are you doing here?”
Oh no! The last thing Logan wanted was for Mr MacAdden to find out he had been trespassing.
Blackbeard put his hand out for Mr MacAdden to shake. “I invited him to join us for the day.”
Phew. Logan felt the heat go out of his face.
Happy pointed at each of them in turn. “We’re all pirates today—I’m Happy, Logan is Cliffhanger, Mum is Ma’am and Dad is Blackbeard. No real names allowed.”
Mr MacAdden looked at Blackbeard. “You’ve got to be kidding me. Blackbeard! You don’t even have a moustache!”
“He’s unco-nerdo!” Happy and Logan synchronised.
Blackbeard shook his head. “They mean incognito.”
“I’ll remember that one next time I see one of your crew,” Mr MacAdden said.
