The Magnificent Glass Globe

by N. R Bergeson

  “I don’t know,” Mary said. “I guess we’ll just have to try again later?”

  “What about email?” Pepe suggested.

  All three kids turned to Pepe with surprised looks on their faces.

  Of course! Mary thought. Why didn’t I think of that?

  She was embarrassed, realizing she’d assumed that life in the Amazon must surely be too primitive for more modern technology.

  “You have internet here?” Ike said, clearly not at all embarrassed for having the same thought.

  “Of course,” Pepe replied with a sly grin. “We may be in the Amazon, but this is still the twenty-first century. Without the internet, how would I keep in touch with my friends on Facebook?”

  Pepe explained everything to the mayor, who nodded and led them into the next room. An older-looking computer sat on a desk. After switching it on, Mayor Peñuela gestured for Mary to take the chair.

  It took a moment for the computer to fully load, but once it did, Mary had no trouble logging into her personal email account. She clicked to compose a new message. She was just about to start typing, when she realized something.

  “I’ve never emailed my parents before,” she said. “I only use my email for school.”

  Dad was always a big stickler about spending too much time behind the computer screen, and was constantly lecturing the kids about how the internet and social media were depriving their generation of social skills.

  “How about you, Helen, do you know your parents’ email addresses?” Ike asked.

  “Not exactly,” Helen confessed. “I always just text with mine. Email’s for old people.”

  Mary, realizing this was going to be harder than it seemed, dropped her head on the keyboard in exasperation.

  Just then, the old rotary phone in the next room began to ring. She listened as Mayor Peñuela answered, and soon his footsteps approached from the next room.

  The mayor looked completely dumfounded.

  “For you,” he said.

  The Mysterious Caller

  Mary was just as surprised as the mayor. She crossed into the other room and picked up the phone.

  “Hello?” she said, unsure of what to expect.

  “Mary! It’s you!” said Grandpa from the other end.

  “Grandpa!” Mary yelled in complete bewilderment. “How’d you know where we were?”

  “Mary, the minute I saw the surveillance video of you kids disappearing with the globe, I knew you could be anywhere. I figured you’d be smart enough to call home at the first possible chance. I asked an old friend from the phone company to help track any out-of-area calls to your parents’ home,” he explained. “Right after your call came in, he let me know, and was able to connect me directly to you.”

  “Grandpa, you’re a genius!” Mary exclaimed, overwhelmed with joy.

  “More like a fool,” Grandpa said, sounding ashamed. “I should’ve never hidden such a dangerous object in the museum. It’s been there for more than thirty years, and I assumed nobody would ever find it.”

  “Grandpa, we’re the ones who were touching your things without asking,” Mary confessed. “We should be apologizing to you.”

  “Nonsense!” Grandpa retorted. “There’s nothing wrong with being curious. That’s what being a kid—especially a Tucker kid—is all about.”

  “Grandpa?”

  “Yes, dear?”

  “We need help. How can we get home?”

  Grandpa chuckled.

  “Mary, I can help you get home before dinner.”

  “What?” Mary said, incredulously. “How’s that even possible? Grandpa, we’re in the Amazon!”

  “I know that, dear,” said Grandpa, still laughing. “My friend at the phone company told me. I should have known that you’d somehow find your way there, given that it’s where you wanted to go more than anyplace else.”

  “But Grandpa, don’t you see? It’ll probably take us days to even get to a city with an airport, let alone fly home,” she protested.

  “Now, Mary,” Grandpa said patiently, “I’m a little surprised that you haven’t figured it out yet on your own. If you used the globe to get there, why don’t you just use it to come back?”

  Mary was completely confused. She also felt a sharp pang of guilt. Grandpa’s words reminded her how she’d let the globe fall into the janitor’s hands.

  “Grandpa, what are you talking about? As soon as we got to the rainforest, we couldn’t find the globe anywhere. We didn’t know it would bring us here. But it was gone when we arrived. We realized that it must have stayed at the warehouse,” she explained.

  Mary started crying.

  “Grandpa, we lost it,” she said. “The janitor came to the warehouse and tried to steal it from us, and I wanted to keep him from getting it. Instead, I accidently put it right in his hands.”

  Mary broke down even more.

  “Oh, Mary, don’t cry,” Grandpa said. “I saw the janitor on the security video. It was a brave thing that you did. I have a bad feeling that I know exactly who he is too. If I’m right, it’s a man named Anatoly. I crossed paths with him many years ago, and he tried to steal the globe then. I never imagined he’d track me down.”

  “Grandpa, I’m so sorry. Now he has the globe, and it’s all my fault!” Mary said, her tears now coming in torrents.

  “Hush now, child,” Grandpa said in an extra soothing tone. “Don’t waste your tears. He most definitely does not have the globe.”

  “He doesn’t?” Mary said, perking up in surprise. “How do you know?”

  “Because I’ve used that globe thousands of times to travel all over the world. I can promise you that when you use it to travel, it travels with you,” Grandpa explained.

  Mary felt the weight of the revelation hit her like a freight train. On one hand, she was elated that the janitor didn’t have it after all. Yet at the same time, she felt distraught. It meant that the globe was still missing somewhere deep in the rainforest.

  “What?” said Mary with disbelief. “But we looked everywhere! We fell into a tree and I was knocked unconscious. I didn’t have it when I woke up. When we finally got down, we looked all over the ground nearby, but we couldn’t find it anywhere.”

  “Well, it has to be there somewhere. At least this explains why you haven’t already tried to use it to come back home,” Grandpa said. “I should’ve never doubted my brilliant granddaughter. I’m so sorry you’ve been carrying that guilt with you for the past few days.”

  “I thought I’d let you down,” she sniffled.

  “And I was beginning to think something horrible had happened, like you taking yourselves to the middle of the ocean or something like that. I’ve been carrying my own guilt these last few days, and trust me, until you’re home safe it’s not going anywhere,” Grandpa said.

  “So, you’re sure it came with us?” Mary asked. “We really did look hard for it.”

  “Mary, I know you’ve already been through a lot, but is there any way you could go back and search the area more? Maybe the globe was caught in the tree’s branches?” Grandpa wondered.

  Mary immediately began to think about what it would take for them to retrieve the globe. If it was stuck in the tree, then maybe, with the help of the Ticuna, they’d be able to find it.

  “I think we could try,” Mary said. “But it might take a few days. We’re far away from where we landed originally. And what if we can’t find it?” Mary asked.

  “We’ll find a way to get you home no matter what,” Grandpa said. “But, Mary, I don’t mean to be the bearer of bad news, but getting home through normal ways won’t be a quick process. You’re in another country, without a passport or any other documentation. I’ll have to talk to lawyers, pay fines, and find other ways to prove who you are before you’ll be able to leave. It could take weeks or even months to get it all figured out.”

  Mary hadn’t thought about all of that. She’d never tra
veled before, but it made sense that there would be all sorts of legal problems with foreign kids just showing up in the Amazon. Mary didn’t know what to say.

  “But my girl, don’t you worry. If that’s what it takes, then I’ll do it,” he continued. “I’ll come and get you myself if I have to. But if you can somehow find the globe, then you’d be home a lot faster.”

  Mary knew he was right.

  “I’ll do it Grandpa, but there’s another thing I’m worried about.”

  “Yes, dear?” he replied.

  “Is there a way you can help us let Mom and Dad know that we’re okay? And Helen’s parents too? When I called the connection was bad, and Mom couldn’t hear me. I don’t know their email addresses either,” Mary explained.

  “I’ll talk to them again. I tried to tell them about the globe, but they’ve been so distraught that they refused to listen to me. They thought that you kids going missing was driving me crazy, and that I was making up stories to cope.”

  Knowing Dad, Mary wasn’t surprised.

  “But maybe you could help make it more convincing,” he continued. “You could send a message to the museum. I know your dad sees all of the general queries that people make through the museum’s website. Maybe that will be enough to get him to believe me.”

  “That’s a great idea!” Mary said, remembering how Dad frequently complained about the general museum query emails that were always forwarded directly to his personal account.

  He wouldn’t be complaining this time.

  “Mary, I can’t tell you how happy this makes me to hear your voice,” Grandpa said. “And I know your parents will be so—”

  Grandpa suddenly cut off in the middle of his sentence.

  “Grandpa, are you still there?” Mary asked.

  “Yes, I’m still here,” he said, after a pause. “I just thought I heard something. Like somebody else breathing and listening in on our conversation.”

  The way Grandpa reacted made her skin prickle.

  “I didn’t hear anything,” she said. “Maybe it’s just static.”

  “I’m sorry, Mary,” Grandpa said. “I’m just being paranoid. After seeing Anatoly hold you at gunpoint on that security video, I’ve been extra worried. He fled the museum soon after you disappeared, and hasn’t been seen since. Your parents think he did something to you.”

  “Grandpa, do you think he’s been looking for it all these years?” Mary asked.

  “Could be. Sometimes greed does scary things to people,” Grandpa said.

  Now that she knew Anatoly didn’t have the globe after all, Mary realized he’d still be looking for it. They were safe in the Amazon for now, but what about Grandpa and her parents? Were they in danger? It struck Mary that she needed to be very careful about what she said over the phone or put in an email.

  “Grandpa,” Mary said, “maybe we shouldn’t talk about the you-know-what anymore.”

  “Mary, once again, I knew you had more brains than you’d ever need,” Grandpa said.

  “I’ll try to find the … uh, find it,” she corrected. “Hopefully it will only take a few days.”

  “And I’ll start doing whatever I can to get you home as soon as possible, just in case you can’t find it,” Grandpa promised.

  “Thank you!” Mary said, grateful for such a loving grandfather.

  “Mary?” said Grandpa. “I’m so sorry you have to go through all of this. But I want you to know, that I wouldn’t trust anybody else in the world more than you to succeed.”

  His words made Mary swell with pride, and fresh tears began to run down her cheeks.

  “I love you, my girl. Get home soon,” he said.

  “I will. And I love you too.”

  Rain

  Mary was elated after talking to Grandpa. For the first time since coming to the rainforest, she felt nothing but confidence. Everything was going to turn out okay, even if finding the globe wouldn’t be easy.

  Before that could even happen, Mary needed to let her parents know that she was safe. On Grandpa’s suggestion, she found the museum’s website. Using the generic contact email, Mary wrote a message, deliberately keeping it short. Thinking of Anatoly and potential dangers, she didn’t give details. Grandpa could fill her parents in on all the rest.

  Dear Dad (Lewis Tucker),

  This is Mary. I’m with Ike and Helen. We’re all okay, but it’s a long story. We’ll be home as soon as we can. Talk to Grandpa, he’ll explain everything. No matter how crazy it sounds, he’s telling the truth. We love you and we’ll see you soon. Please tell Mom and Helen’s parents that we’re okay.

  Love, Mary

  Satisfied, Mary turned off the computer and felt the burden lift from her shoulders. Hopefully, her note would be enough to help ease the anguish her parents were feeling.

  The next step was to get back to the tree where they started. Mary was suddenly grateful to Ike for his insistence that they mark their path, despite her initial resistance to the idea. She was nervous, however, about asking Pepe, Taremuku, and Wueku to take them back upriver. They’d already done so much to help.

  But Mary needn’t have been worried. Her Ticuna friends not only eagerly agreed to take them back to find the tree, they promised to enlist other Ticuna to search the area for the globe. Mary didn’t feel she’d ever be able to repay their kind hosts for all they’d done.

  There was one problem. The weather had taken a turn for the worst. Only an hour after arriving in Puerto Nariño, the skies opened and began dumping water on the village in buckets.

  “I think we will need to wait here until the rain stops,” Pepe said reluctantly. “I am sorry, but it is too dangerous to try and face the river upstream with so much rain.”

  “It’s alright,” Mary conceded. “It’ll take us a few days to get there anyway. Another day won’t hurt.”

  Learning that they’d spend the night in Puerto Nariño, Mayor Peñuela rolled out the red carpet for his guests. Eager to be hospitable, he offered them a place to stay, completely free of charge. Under umbrellas provided by the mayor, they made their way to a small motel.

  “You stay here all days you need,” said the mayor with a wink.

  Though small, the motel was clean and comfortable. After three nights in the wild, little things like a hot shower felt like amazing luxuries to Mary. Pepe, Taremuku, and Wueku left them at their quarters, opting to stay with cousins in town.

  “Wow, this is almost like a vacation!” Ike said, kicking up his feet in front of the television.

  Mary thought it wouldn’t be such a bad thing if they had to wait for an extra day or two for the rain to stop. She got ready for bed, and as soon as the sun went down, had no problem falling asleep.

  She awoke the next morning to more heavy rainfall. Apparently, the rainforest really didn’t want her to leave. Mary hoped Dad had received her message. She thought about trying to write or call again, but decided against it when she remembered Anatoly. It was best to let Grandpa handle everything.

  Pepe stopped by around mid-morning, confirming that the weather was still too rough to travel upriver. To pass the time, he offered to take them into the forest and show them around.

  “Not a chance,” Helen said, as Mary announced that Pepe was waiting outside. “There’s no way that I’m going out in the rain!”

  “Neither am I,” Ike said. “Why be wet when you can sit in a dry motel room watching Latin American soap operas instead?”

  “He makes an excellent point,” Helen added.

  “Alejandra, ¿qué estás haciendo?” Ike said, in his best imitation of the male actor on the TV screen.

  “¡Déjame en paz!” said Helen, likewise imitating the woman.

  Both Helen and Ike almost fell on the floor laughing at themselves.

  Mary didn’t find it funny. How could they waste their opportunity to explore the rainforest with a native, and sit around instead watching TV? The whole thing felt sacrilegio
us to her. She marched over to the television, and switched it off.

  “Hey! What gives?” Ike complained.

  “I’m sorry,” Mary said. “I know you might not be as into the rainforest as I am, but I’m not going to let you waste this chance while you just sit here watching stupid telenovelas! The Ticuna saved our lives, remember? You’re both coming with me, and that’s final!”

  Mary had never seen Helen and Ike look so surprised. They started putting on their shoes without saying another word.

  Mary and Helen pulled on Grandpa’s raincoats, while Ike grabbed one of the borrowed umbrellas. They bustled outside, where Pepe stood waiting. He wasn’t bothered by the rain at all. Water streamed down his face like a faucet.

  “Are you ready to see how beautiful the forest can be when it rains?” he asked.

  Together, they trudged across the wet grass toward the jungle’s edge.

  The world changed once they were beneath the tall trees. Despite the rain, things were as alive as ever. Streams of water trickled sporadically from the thick leaves above. Mary smiled as she became entranced by the familiar music of the heavy rainfall on the canopy coupled with the sounds of animals throughout the rainforest.

  Pepe excitedly showed them every wonderful thing he could spot. With ease, he found animals, plants, and more that Mary would have never noticed.

  These forests were his home, after all.

  A whistling sounded in the distance. A bird, perhaps? Pepe answered by holding his hands against his lips, and perfectly imitating the sound.

  Responding to the call, Taremuku and Wueku came strolling through the trees. They were wet from top to bottom. Wueku carried a basket full of fruit. He passed around a sort of small, wild mango, which was absolutely delicious.

  Biting into his third mango, Taremuku pointed into the trees.