The Navigators

by Dan Alatorre

  “The sooner the better, Janice. This is awesome. I feel like I made a new friend.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  Janice sorted through a large stack of notes on her coffee table.

  There was a pile about the mayoral election, a pile about the happy Mills family, a pile about the motherless daughter. She sifted through that last one; that story could be written so many ways. Poor Melissa Mills, the girl who had everything but had no mother; rich girl gone bad; mayor’s daughter is newly crowned internet slut. Depending on who was doing the writing, it could win Michael Mills the election or ruin him politically. A mayoral hopeful who can’t control his own daughter? With the underwear photos and the robbery, the beautiful young Melissa was sure to be a front page news sensation. That would drive sales, and sales was all any newspaper really cared about. With headlines came exposure; with exposure came power. Enough to secure a better position with the Trib for a long time to come.

  She chuckled. Good thing I got Findlay to agree to exclusivity.

  * * * * *

  The canvas roof of the Sun Dome was surprisingly hard.

  Even though Barry had said it wouldn’t be like a bounce house, for some reason I still expected it to be soft. It wasn’t. It was hard as concrete.

  Gazing over the oddly lit roof was a bizarre experience in itself.

  “Peeky, get up. The roof’s safe to walk around on.” Melissa was making her way to the top of the dome. “Come on.”

  I lifted my head a few inches off the canvas surface, where I lay prone in a spread eagle position, not daring to budge. “I’m… just inspecting it.”

  She kept moving. “Don’t be afraid. Stand up. You’re not going to fall through. I didn’t.”

  I stood, feeling the need to hold my hands out for balance against the wind. The concrete buttress at the top of the gutter was six feet tall, but the rest of the stadium perimeter barely rose a few inches higher than the point where they met the roof. And the canvas sloped away at a dramatic angle. This had not been designed to walk on.

  “It’s weird, isn’t it?” Melissa turned around and held her arms out. “It looks like we’re on the moon.”

  I glanced down. “The surface of the moon would be all full of rocks and dust, and with a lot less gravity. And it wouldn’t have a parking lot for me to fall to my death.”

  “Peeky, every once in a while take a break from being a dork, okay? For ten minutes here and there.” She came towards me. “I meant that the roof surface is kinda like those pictures they took on the moon, where it's a big bright white curved surface underneath and when you look up the background is just black.”

  I crawled toward her, glimpsing the night sky. “Oh, I see what you mean.”

  Melissa pointed. “Just watch out for those-”

  My foot snagged and I fell forward. My face slammed into the hard canvas surface. The next thing I knew, I was sliding and rolling. Black-white-black-white, the Sun Dome roof traded places with the night sky as I rolled towards the edge.

  All the while I heard Melissa desperately screaming my name.

  * * * * *

  “Melissa, can you hear me? Melissa? Peeky?”

  Static.

  Barry tried the little pink walkie talkie again. “Melissa, Peeky, can you hear me?”

  He moved the truck to the street side of the soccer field, but that was just far enough to lose the weak signal the toy radios could muster. He talked; static answered. From his new location, he couldn’t see the stadium roof or the gutter.

  But parked on the street, the cops wouldn’t bother him to move the car again, so it was a good location.

  Maybe I can drive past the stadium every five minutes and see what’s up. That way, no parking issues – but I’d eventually raise suspicion. After a third pass, somebody might notice.

  And then what would I do?

  “Melissa, can you hear me? Melissa? Peeky?”

  Nothing.

  He bit his fingernail. Normally, he’d just move around until he could see something, but with a broken ankle, walking had become more difficult. Each step hurt, even with a cast.

  “Melissa, can you hear me?”

  He concluded it was best to wait in the truck for a while. If Peeky and Melissa were making progress putting holes in the roof, they wouldn’t be finished and needing a pickup just yet.

  I wonder how it’s going up there.

  * * * * *

  “Peeky! Hold on! I’m coming for you!” Melissa scurried across the curved roof toward me, being careful not to fall herself. “Don’t move!”

  I was a little dizzy, and something hard and sharp pressed along against my back. My cheeks stung from hitting the canvas as I rolled. I twisted my head just enough to see her spider-crawling to me, a kind of sit and scoot motion that kept both hands and both feet on the surface. Her eyes were huge. “Don’t move. I’m almost there.”

  She lifted herself over a metal spike and rolled onto her stomach. “Grab my hand. Nice and easy.”

  She flattened herself as much as possible and stretched her hand out to mine. The wind seemed stronger and the dome seemed rounder. Bigger.

  I lifted my hand. She stretched even further. “Can you reach me?”

  I moved my hand toward hers.

  “I’m going to pull you this way, okay? Stay flat on the canvas.”

  She grabbed my wrist and leaned her body weight back. The wind tugged at her hair, whipping it around her face. She moved her hands and feet back a bit and pulled again. “That’s it, Peeky. Nice and slow.”

  I felt the whole right side of my body ease pressure, like it was being unstuck from a wall.

  Melissa’s voice was calm but stern. “You’re doing good. Push this way a little with your feet if you can.”

  I pushed.

  “A little more, okay? Can you crawl with me?” She tightened her grip on my wrist. “Come on, crawl. A little with your feet, a little with your hands. Like I’m doing.”

  I pushed a little with my feet, a little with my free hand.

  “Okay, good. You’re coming.” The wind whipped her hair again.

  I pushed myself up onto my elbows. “What happened?”

  “Don’t do that!” Melissa pulled me down. “Keep a low center of gravity.” She took a deep breath and lowered her voice. “Just . . . keep looking at me.”

  “Why? What’s-” I turned my head and stared straight down at the parking lot, a hundred feet below. Adrenaline jolted through my belly. I was perched right on the edge of the roof.

  It was so far down to the ground. All the air went out of me. I tried to force myself to breathe but nothing would come.

  “Peeky. Peeky!’ Melissa tugged my wrist again. “You’re okay. Look at me.”

  I turned my head to her, blinking.

  “You’re okay.” She pulled again on my wrist. “Come this way.”

  I tried my best to move in her direction while not allowing any body parts to move in the other direction—off the roof. It was suddenly very cold up there.

  “You’re doing good.” She eased herself backwards. “Just a little more.”

  I kept myself pressed against the canvas roof as much as possible, inching myself away from the edge.

  “Good. Good. Keep coming.”

  After I had put about ten feet between myself and certain death, I was able to take a breath. “What happened?”

  “You tripped.”

  I closed my eyes and hugged the canvas. Tripped. Of all things. “Okay, I think I can crawl on my own now.”

  She tightened her grip on my wrist. “Go ahead. I’m not letting go.”

  “I need to try to regain my manhood eventually.”

  “You can do that later.”

  “Promise?”

  She chuckled. “Right now, just crawl with me.”

  We inched our way along the canvas to where the angle didn’t feel as steep. At the peak the dome was nearly flat. Every ten feet or so, a metal spike would rise
up out of nowhere.

  I maneuvered myself over to one and inspected it. “Why are these things sticking out of the roof?”

  “I think they’re lightning rods.”

  I tapped the rod. “Don’t they know people walk around up here?”

  Melissa bent her knees and lay back, breathing hard. “I guess they figure that’s on a need to know basis. Maintenance guys need to know. Drunken college kids don’t.”

  Her voice sounded funny. I could see her eyes were closed and a tear had run across her face. She hadn’t been catching her breath after all.

  I pretended I hadn’t noticed. “They have that backwards, then. Drunk college kids need to know about trip hazards most of all.” I wiggled the rod. “What were they thinking?”

  Melissa swiped the back of her hand across each cheek. “They were probably thinking there are a thousand lightning strikes a day in Florida, even on a clear day. So maybe lightning rods would be a good way to keep a canvas roof from getting hit and catching on fire.”

  “A thousand a day!” I flexed the rod in its pocket.

  “Yep. Even at night.”

  I let go of the rod and moved away.

  A gust of wind blew across the canvas and tugged at my shirt. I looked over at Melissa. “You saved my life.”

  She sat up and shook her head. “I didn’t. You stopped all by yourself when you hit the edge there.” Leaning on one hand, she pointed at the little concrete rim with the other. “You gave me a pretty good scare, though.” A deep breath through her nose helped mask a sniffle as her shoulder came up to wipe her eye. “Don’t do that again.”

  “Deal.” I sighed, observing the tiny ridge that spanned the side of the canvas dome. “What a difference a few inches makes, huh?”

  “Every girl knows that, sweetie.” She smiled. “You ready to do what we came up here for?”

  I shook my head. “No. My life flashed before my eyes back there. It wasn’t pretty.”

  “No?”

  “Kind of boring, actually.”

  “Well,” Melissa stood up and put her hand out to me. “Let’s see if we can add an exciting chapter, then.”

  * * * * *

  “Who is this?” A boy’s voice came over the Cinderella walkie talkie.

  Barry hesitated. He held the little pink radio up to his mouth and thought for a moment. “Uh, this is official police business. We need to keep this line clear.”

  “That’s bullshit. Who is this?”

  “Hey, watch your mouth. I said this is police business. Now let’s keep this channel clear.”

  “Screw you, mister. This isn’t police business. You’re broadcasting into our baby monitor. You woke my little sister up, you dick. Now my mom’s pissed.”

  Fuck.

  “Now who are you, asshole? And who’s Melissa?”

  Barry cleared his throat and sat up in the car. “Okay, kid, I’m warning you.”

  “Oh yeah? What are you gonna do, tough guy? You’re talking on a baby monitor.”

  Fuck!

  “Who are you? And who’s Melissa?”

  * * * * *

  Melissa unfolded the little blade from the bottle opener. She tapped her nail against the canvas roof and shrugged. “Well, here goes nothing.”

  Positioned just as Barry had suggested, with her weight on the support frame, she guided the knife into a tiny hole in the Sun Dome roof.

  I took a deep breath. “If this does pop like a balloon, I’m going to be awfully upset.”

  She held the knife ready. “Barry said it wouldn’t do that.”

  “I notice he isn’t up here.”

  She touched the blade to the hole. “Ready?”

  “No.”

  “One…

  “Two…

  “Three.” She pushed the blade in. The roof didn’t pop.

  I drew a deep breath and let it out. Slowly, Melissa moved the tiny knife up and down, sawing away. A slit of about an inch appeared. Lights from inside the dome illuminated it a little brighter than the dull glow of the rest of the roof.

  I strained to look, not wanting to get too close. “Can you see anything? Is it working?”

  “I definitely feel air coming out.” She ran her hand over the opening. “I mean, it’s a strong stream, but this isn’t going to do the job.”

  “Well, the canvas is pulled tight. Can you slice across instead of sawing?”

  “I don’t know, it’s pretty thick. Let’s see.”

  She grasped the knife with her fist and put it back into the hole. Leaning back, she pulled the blade toward her.

  Whoosh!

  A gust of air blew her hair up as she fell backwards to me. The canvas roof hissed its displeasure.

  A twelve inch gash.

  “I’d say that’s the way to go.”

  Light beamed out from the cut. She readied the blade again. “Watch out, I’m going to scoot back as I cut – if I can.”

  I backed up a few feet.

  She re-gripped the blade and heaved. The canvas roof sounded like ripping sheets as the escaping air helped rip open the roof. The hiss grew to a roar.

  She looked up and said something I couldn’t hear over the wind rushing out of the hole.

  The support frame ran in big sections, making a kind of shadow grid across the roof. I backed up again as she turned to make another slice.

  From over her shoulder, I saw the hole grow. I backed up a little more. “Slow down. Barry said to only make a hole the size of a door!”

  She glanced at me, holding up the bottle opener. The blade had broken off. Then she looked back at the hole as it continued to open on its own. The noise from the air was deafening now.

  The roof shook as a loud groan emerged from beneath us. Melissa crouched down. The hole widened, its loose end flapping upward like bed sheets in a hurricane. A four foot hole became ten. Melissa backed away as it chased her, growing wider.

  The twenty foot section of roof seemed to explode upward in pieces.

  She scrambled to her feet. “Let’s get the fuck out of here!”

  * * * * *

  “What the fuck is that?”

  A guard inside the Sun Dome turned his eyes to the ceiling. A huge hole had opened in the roof and the whole building seemed to be shaking. His partner crouched in the middle of the basketball court next to the time machine. The quiet stadium was now filled with the noise of air rushing out the roof.

  “Jesus Christ, it’s an earthquake!”

  The lights attached to the support structure swayed, causing shadows to dance around them.

  “What should we do?”

  “Our instructions were to protect this thing at all costs.”

  A light smashed next to them, sending glass in all directions. The hideous groaning of the roof grew louder.

  “And I say fuck that, Joe. I’m outta here.” The officer ran for the door.

  Joe looked up. Debris swirled up and out through the gaping hole in the roof. The ceiling lights danced crazily in the wind.

  Another broke loose and exploded next to him. His co-worker shouted from the door. “Joe! That thing’s coming down. Get out of there!”

  With his hands covering his head, Joe bolted. Another light crashed to the floor. He paused at the doorway. “What now?”

  “What now? We get the fuck outside and call this shit in, that’s what now!”

  “Ferguson’s gonna be pissed we left our post.”

  A rack of concert lights crashed into the stands above them.

  “Ferguson ain’t here. You can stay. I’m getting out.” With that, he ran into the parking lot. As more lights crashed to the ground and the roof began to sag, Joe made the only decision he could.

  He got the fuck out.

  * * * * *

  Barry sat silent, thinking that after a few minutes the kid would grow bored and go away.

  He was wrong.

  “I know you’re out there, baby monitor guy.” The boy was singing now, taunting. Then, in an artifici
ally high voice, he mocked him. “Where’s Melissa. Where’s Melissa? Ooh, mommy, I’m going to pee my pants if I don’t find Melissa.”

  There was no stopping this brat.

  He sang. “Me-liss-a? Where are you?”

  God damn this little punk.

  A second voice came over the radio. “Hello? Who is this, please?”

  Oh, crap, it’s his mother.

  Barry put his face in his hands. He calmed his voice. “Yes, ma’am. Uh, this is… the USF student volunteer security patrol.”

  “Why are you talking on our baby monitor?”

  “Well, we’re picking up, uh, cross talk on our radios in this area. We’ve had a number of complaints from some of the students—female students ma’am—about a young boy.”

  The woman sounded irritated. “What are you talking about?”

  “It seems a boy in the area has been sneaking over to the campus swimming pool to watch the female students sunbathe. Topless.”

  “Are you talking about my Jimmy?”

  “Jimmy! Yes, that was the name we were given, ma’am. There have been complaints of, well, lewd comments…”

  “Oh, no.”

  “…and fondling himself.”

  “Jimmy!”

  “Mom, he’s lying! He’s full of shit!”

  “And bad language, ma’am. That sounds like our guy.”

  “How many times have I told you!” Whacking noises came over the pink walkie talkie. Jimmy wailed in the background.

  “I’ll be damned.” Barry started the truck. “Sorry, Jimmy.”

  * * * * *

  “Oh, God! Oh, God! Oh, God!”

  Going down the concrete gutter was a lot faster than going up it—and a lot scarier. The ground was way too far down, and it was the only thing to look at. Behind us, the roof was creaking and groaning so loudly it sounded like it might collapse at any moment.

  We were down in seconds, and back to our hiding spot at the dumpster.

  I crouched in the shadows. “What happens next? Does Barry come get us?”

  “Barry? We have to pick the lock first and open the overhead door. Then we’ll radio for Barry.” She dug in her pocket for the hair pins. “Let’s hope these work.”

  She handed me the radio. “I’ll go over to the truck entrance door. You try to call Barry when I wave at you.”