Key Weirder

by Robert Tacoma

  With the dinner question well on its way to being resolved, I decided to head on up the river and see if I could find the old man’s place again before it got dark, or I got lost.

  ∨ Key Weirder ∧

  53

  Sara

  Sara stayed up late, listening to the boys talking about Disneyworld and the things they planned to do. They were such an amazing pair she had no doubt they could do just about anything they wanted, whether it was in the wilderness or a big city. She slept soundly and didn’t wake up until early afternoon.

  There was no sign of the two boys, they obviously were gone. Sara felt sad about their leaving, and a little hurt that they hadn’t said goodbye. They would be missed.

  She started a fire in the little stove to heat water and took a sniff of the contents of several jars from the shelf that the boys had said were tea. She decided on one that had a minty aroma, and looked through the pile of paperback books while she waited on the water to boil. Down towards the bottom of the pile was a worn old copy of one of Charlie Spider’s first books.

  With the events of the last few days, she hadn’t thought as much about Charlie. Seeing the old book brought it all back. With her new friends gone, the feelings of loneliness were stronger than ever. She wished she had asked Newt about bringing Charlie back once she had all three of the Chacmools. Of course it was a moot point, since she was no closer to having the third Idol than she had been when she left California. The boys had been very vague about where it was. Anytime she tried to ask them about the missing Idol, they had just told her to stay at the cabin and be patient.

  ♦

  Her skiff was still where they had hidden it, back up under some dense mangroves, safe from the curious eyes of Park helicopters. The little dugout canoe was still there as well. Sara decided there must have been another the boys had used to go meet their friend Horse.

  She hadn’t tried the little craft by herself before, but it looked easy enough. The balance thing was a little tricky standing up and poling, but before long she had the narrow little canoe moving along through the swamp like she had been doing it all her life.

  Feeling quite pleased with herself, Sara decided to head over to the garden to pick up some vegetables for soup and some firewood for the stove. It was then that she saw a flats boat with a tall thin man poling along. He was headed right towards her and the cabin.

  ∨ Key Weirder ∧

  54

  Taco Bob Returns to the Cabin

  “Soup is good food!”

  I was getting a little worried that maybe I’d passed the cabin or taken a wrong turn somewhere. I had fresh batteries in my GPS and some spares to boot since my little experience with the fog in Cedar Key. The GPS said I was close when I seen the old man up ahead a ways standing in his canoe. I was sure glad to see the little fella, and gave him a yell and a wave.

  As I poled up through the shallow water in between the mangroves, I noticed something wasn’t quite right. Mr. Small had gone still as soon as I called out, and hadn’t moved a twitch as I came up closer. His clothes didn’t look right either, and he might have even grown an inch or two. It looked like Mr. Small’s boat though, and I could just make out the outline of the cabin back in the mangroves, but that wasn’t the old man in the dugout.

  “Howdy! Looking for Mr. Small. He around?” It was kinda hard to tell with the big floppy hat, but it was starting to look like a young woman. A rather nervous young woman. “Name’s Taco Bob, I’m kind of a friend of Mr. Small’s.”

  “He’s not here.”

  “Okay. You expecting him back soon? I kind of went out of my way a bit here to come by and see him.” I’d stopped poling about ten feet away. The woman in Mr. Small’s boat didn’t seem real talkative. “You a friend of his, young lady?”

  The hat tilted back a bit and the woman gave me a defiant look.

  “I am Sara! I have come to find the Golden Chacmool Idol!”

  This was something. A good conversation starter at least.

  “Uh, is it a little statue about the size of your hand? Got the head of a woman and the body of an animal?”

  I had her attention with that. Thought she might be talking about the little gold good-luck charm Mr. Small had been using for a doorstop before he gave it to me.

  “Yes, it was part of a treasure at one time. Do you have it?”

  I kinda patted my pockets like I was looking for it. I give her a smile and a wink.

  “As a matter of fact I do have a little statue like that, but I don’t seem to have it on my person right at the moment.” This bit of news didn’t seem to be playing too good, judging by the look on the young woman’s face. “I do, however, know where there’s a statue like that though.”

  This was a little better received, and I might have even seen the first little bit of a smile.

  “Is it in your boat? Do you have it with you?” She definitely was worked up over that little statue.

  “No, I would imagine it’s somewhere,” I took a look at my watch, “between Homestead and Key Largo about now. But don’t worry none, it’s in good hands.”

  It was time to get on to more important things than gold doorstops.

  “I really would like to know where Mr. Small is, young lady. Have you seen him?”

  She looked down a second, then back at me.

  “I don’t know where Mr. Small is. I was told there was an old man who lived out here who used to look for pirate treasure, I guess that would be your Mr. Small. Mr. Willie didn’t remember -”

  “Mr. Willie? You know Mr. Willie from Key West?”

  This was some news for me, and the woman calling herself Sara was picking up on it there too.

  “Yes! Two Willies helped me learn about the boat so I could come here! They are my dear friends.”

  Now we were getting somewhere, though I wasn’t too sure how this little woman would know those two fellas.

  “Well, they’re purty good friends of mine too. Looks like we might have something in common here.” We were both smiling now. “Suppose we start working toward continuing this conversation inside before it gets dark and we’re standing out here feeding the skeeters?”

  “Yes, they’ll be bad soon. Do you like soup? I was just about to go get some vegetables for soup.”

  This sounded good, and strangely familiar. I stepped back and opened the icebox and held up the snook I had in there.

  “I kind of had my heart set on fish soup, if you don’t mind.”

  Her eyes got big looking at that fish and she came up with a full-scale grin at last.

  ♦

  Between the two of us, we seemed to pretty well know our way around the cabin and finally got some soup cooking on the stove that evening. While we were sitting there at the table waiting, a thunderstorm rumbled out over the gulf and a fresh breeze found its way through the window screen. We both asked about the things we were most concerned with. Sara kept asking about the little statue, and I was still curious about Mr. Small. I was also wondering about her being out there by herself.

  The little statues Sara showed me looked almost exactly like the one I had, all right. After I had her convinced that the other statue was fine in my old truck and safely on its way down to Key West, I asked her what she wanted it for anyway. I told her I wasn’t all that excited about giving it up since Mr. Small had given it to me as a souvenir an all. She said she only wanted to borrow it. What she wanted it for wouldn’t take long, it was kind of an experiment, and she swore I would get it back unharmed. I told her I didn’t see any reason why I couldn’t loan it to her sometime when we got back to Key West. Figured I’d be asking Mr. Willie what he knew about this strange girl first though.

  Sara got all happy when I told her I’d loan her the statue, and proceeded to tell me all about the young boy who had been at the cabin. She seemed to be really taken with the whole wilderness thing and was going on about how Henry had showed her such wondrous things out in the swamp.

  “Yo
u say this boy’s name was Henry? Did he mention Mr. Small? Was he some sort of kin to him?” Sara looked down a bit.

  “I really didn’t find out much about the old man who used to live here. They just said that there used to be an old man here who had been a treasure hunter.” It was sounding like the old man was really gone. My disappointment must have shown. “I’m sorry your friend is gone. I wish I had asked more about him when Henry was here.”

  “Sara, you said ‘they’ a minute ago. Was there someone else here besides the boy Henry?”

  She hesitated just a second.

  “No.” She jumped up and went to the stove. “Just Henry. I think this is about done. Want to have a look?”

  I decided to let it go and have some soup.

  ♦

  While we ate us some extra fine fish soup, we compared stories on hanging out in the swamp – her with the boy Henry, and me with old Mr. Small. There were a lot of similarities in our stories and I was getting really curious about this young fella.

  We polished off that whole pot of soup between us and got things cleaned up and put away. I realized there was a problem with the sleeping arrangements when we both headed for the mat at the far side of the room. That mat had given me some of the best night’s sleep of my life, and I was determined to sleep there.

  Sara obviously felt the same way because she sat on it the same time I did. We kind of laughed a little and I told her there was a blanket in my boat that she was welcome to use. She told me there was a brand new sleeping bag in her skiff that I could try out.

  When neither one of us made any kind of move to get up, Sara scooted back off the pad and gently pushed me so I would lay down. It was looking like she was going to give me the pad so I took off my shoes and lay on my side curled up a little with my back to the wall. She watched me until I was comfortable, then wiggled in with me on the pad spoon-style with her butt and back firmly against me. I didn’t think this was going to work at all, and then she started making purring noises and wiggling her butt against me.

  It was dark in the cabin, but I could see she had a pretty big frown going when I pushed her off the pad and got up. I went outside and got the blanket and used it as a divider between us and told her it was back to back or she was sleeping on the floor. She looked like she was about to cry and I explained that it wasn’t anything to do with her, that she was a very attractive young woman and a nice person, but there was someone I was seeing that I felt very strongly about.

  None of this played too good to the home crowd, and I was feeling pretty lousy about things myself when I finally drifted off to sleep.

  Trout soup

  One nice trout (or snook) fillet

  Couple medium white or sweet potatoes

  One onion

  Two or three carrots

  Medium-size tomato if you got it

  A piece of gnarly brown root from the ceiling of a little cabin in the swamp (might substitute a little dried or fresh ginger)

  Three heaping tablespoons of powder from the big gray jar on the shelf (maybe use flour or cornstarch instead)

  Spoonful of powder from the coffee can on the top shelf (or some Cajun/Creole spice)

  Cut everything up in small pieces. Get a couple of cups of water boiling, and cook taters and carrots a little. Cut the heat back and add the rest of the vegetables and fish. Stir in the spices and flour and simmer for an hour or so. Add water as needed.

  If you want to get fancy, it’s even better served with a little fresh heart of palm sliced thin and sprinkled on top.

  ∨ Key Weirder ∧

  55

  Taco Bob and His Spot

  “A real nice surprise!”

  I woke up for just a minute when Sara got up and went outside into the gray dawn. I was back sound asleep when she started yelling and calling my name. I came awake and grabbed my shoes, figuring she must have got herself snake bit or something. I was stumbling for the door when Sara burst in and we ran smack into one another. She was carrying something heavy that hit me in the chest and knocked the wind out of me and set me on my rear.

  “Taco Bob! Look what I found! It was in my skiff!”

  I was trying to get my breath while a very excited young woman dumped a cloth bag out in my lap. It was gold.

  “It was in the console locker of the boat!”

  I was still holding my chest with one hand and picking up gold necklaces and coins with the other. There was a big gold bowl in there too, must have been what got me so good.

  “There’s a note! Listen to this!” She held a paper in her hand. “For you Sara, to help you with your journey.”

  She grabbed a necklace with big heavy links of gold and put it over her head, then scooped up coins and more necklaces with both hands. She was grinning and sitting there in front of me making happy sounds and kind of bouncing. Nothing like a bag of gold to make a girl happy.

  “Wait! There’s more writing on the back!” She dropped the gold and picked the note off the floor.

  “If you have a guest, tell him to check his spot before he leaves.” She stuck the paper in my face.

  “Let’s go look in your spot and see what’s there!” Sara was putting all the necklaces on and then putting everything else back in the bag while I read the note.

  The suddenly-well-to-do young lady stood up and dumped the bag on the table so she could look through her loot more carefully. “I can’t believe this! It’s like a dream!”

  I was still in shock myself, and didn’t catch the significance at first of her staring at her hand right after she said that. She let out a little yip and went back to examining her gold. I finally got myself shook out and sat there at the table too.

  “Sara, I got no idea where my spot is, or even if I’m the guest the note is talking about.”

  She didn’t take her eyes off the coin she was holding up to the light.

  “Think about it some. Maybe it’s that sleeping pad you’re so fond of.” I got a hard glance and a quick frown. She slapped the coin down on the table. “I bet it’s buried somewhere! Maybe in the garden! Did you have a favorite spot in the garden when you were here before?”

  I was thinking about it, but before I could say anything, Sara had her gold back in the bag again and announced we were going to the garden.

  ♦

  Acting like she was Cleopatra, Queen of the Nile, Sara sat in the front of the little canoe while I stood in back and poled. She’d put on a few rings and was admiring them as we moved through the water toward the garden. She was still wearing the necklaces, and had the bag in her lap.

  “I never really had any money of my own before. I don’t even know what I should buy. Maybe a new car? Maybe a shiny new sports car!”

  “You might as well. Seems like they’re everywhere you look these days.”

  “And a house? Maybe my own boat too, and some nice clothes!”

  “I would imagine the gold you got there would be worth enough you could get yourself just about anything you want. You just got to decide what it is you really want.”

  She turned around and stared at me. It was like a shadow crossed over her face. She turned back around facing the front of the canoe and got all serious.

  “I know what I want. I know exactly what I want. Let’s see if we can find your spot, then we can go back to Key West.”

  Since it looked like the chances of finding Mr. Small were slim to none, that was sounding like the right plan to me.

  ♦

  The garden was looking good, somebody’d been taking care of it since I’d seen it last. I walked around a little and Sara just sat down in the shade of a big oak still wearing her gold and swatted a few bugs.

  I could maybe understand the boy leaving some gold for Sara in her skiff before he left. He must have come up on a big treasure haul that Mr. Small had somewhere. Might explain why the old fella had been using a little gold statue for a doorstop. I wasn’t sure why this boy I’d never met would be leaving anything for me thoug
h, that is if I was the guest the note was talking about.

  I’d checked out the sleeping pad back at the cabin real good before we left. Nothing there, and I couldn’t recall any kind of place that might be my “spot” out there at the garden. I found the old rusty garden shovel and went poking around an area where the old man and I had been sitting and talking one time. Tried digging a little around where I had helped plant some tomatoes once but only found some worms and a sleepy little toad. I looked over to where Sara had been watching my every move, but she must have had to go off into the bushes. I decided to take a quick one myself, and was careful to avoid the patch of poison ivy the old man had showed me once. I got over to a place in the palmetto shrubs where I knew there wasn’t any ivy and had one of my rare brainstorms. It didn’t seem too likely, but that was a spot I had used a few times before. I went back and got the shovel and dug up a cloth sack of gold right where I had been about to go.

  I made Sara pole back to the cabin since I was too excited and busy inspecting my own little pile of treasure. It was more coins and gold chains, some medallions and even a gold dagger with some kind of jewels set in the handle. There was some mighty impressive stuff and I was a bit stunned by it all.

  “I can be ready to leave for Key West as soon as we get back to the cabin.”

  Sara’s voice kind of brought me back a little. She had taken off her gold jewelry and was all business.