“You can’t leave tonight!” replied my father. “You just got here this morning — and you’re staying until Monday.”
“But, Dad, these are my friends. I have to help find them.”
“Stacey, I’m sure nothing horrible has happened to them. Even if there is a big search tomorrow, what can you do? You don’t know anything about boats.”
“I can ride around with the Pikes. Or I can join the search on the shore for the wreckage.”
“I really don’t think you need to go,” said Dad firmly. “Besides, we’ve got the theater tickets and it took me forever to get them. Furthermore, I never get to see you. Well, hardly ever. Well, not as often as I’d like. I miss you.”
“And I’ll miss Claudia and Dawn if anything has happened to them.”
“That’s a pretty big ‘if,’ Anastasia,” said my father.
Whoa. Anastasia: It was time to back off. Dad only uses my full name when he’s fed up with me.
“I’ll get dressed,” I said. I bet my lips were white. That’s how mad I was. As soon as Dad left my room, I closed the door. I’m sure my father thought I just wanted the privacy, but I was closing him out.
Then, instead of changing, I called Kristy to tell her I couldn’t come home. Then I called Laine Cummings and told her the whole story. Every word.
“Claudia and Dawn are missing,” she whispered. “Wow. I don’t believe it.” (Laine knows my Stoneybrook friends.)
“Yeah. And Dad won’t let me go back to Connecticut.”
“That’s pretty bad.”
“He’s just being selfish!” I cried. Then we had to get off the phone, since I really did need to change for the theater. But while I was getting dressed, all I could think about was my parents’ stupid divorce. If they had behaved like grown-ups, worked out their problems, and stayed together, then I wouldn’t be a divorced kid. I wouldn’t be stuck with one parent in one place, while my friends were in trouble in another place. They needed me and I couldn’t go to them.
I hate being a divorced kid.
Claudia must have seen the look on my face because she reached over from where she was sitting and put her hand on my arm. “What’s wrong?” she asked gently.
“Our watches!” I cried. “They’ve been ruined by the water. How will we be able to keep time?”
“Don’t worry,” said my brother. “My watch is waterproof.” He checked it. “The time,” he said grandly, “is exactly nine-oh-two.”
I relaxed. I knew the time. And the kids and Claud and I were safe, warm, dry, and had full stomachs. Our fire was burning nicely, although we had to put sticks on it all the time to keep it going, and knew we would have to do that throughout the night. We were sitting around the fire in a circle, as if we were at camp. Jamie was in Claudia’s lap, though, because we weren’t sure he was old enough to know to stay away from the fire.
We’d been talking for quite awhile, the six of us, but it was odd; nobody mentioned our awful predicament. We talked about Kristy’s softball team, about a test that Dawn and I would have to take at school the following week, and about what a pest Jamie thought Lucy was.
By the time we found out that it was nine o’clock, though, we were beginning to fade. Jamie was almost asleep in Claudia’s arms, and Becca’s head was beginning to nod.
“I think,” I said (and Becca came to), “that it is bedtime.”
At home, probably any one of us would have given our parents a hard time about going to bed at nine o’clock, but the exhausted castaways agreed with me immediately. We had just one problem.
“What are we going to sleep on?” asked Jeff.
Sitting on the floor of the cave was one thing. Sleeping on it was another. It was dusty and cold, not to mention hard.
“Well,” I said, “there’s the blanket we packed for our picnic. That’s still dry, thanks to Jeff.”
Jeff grinned. He’d wrapped it in a tarp and tossed it onto Claud’s boat.
In the cave, we had put the tarp-wrapped items next to the bottled water and Claud’s candy bars. Now we unrolled each one until we came to the blanket. I spread it on the floor near the fire and Jeff lay down on it.
“Won’t do,” he said. “It’s practically as hard as the cave floor. Just fuzzy. It’s like lying on a really, really hard peach.”
Becca and Haley giggled.
It took some thinking and experimenting, but we finally hit on the idea of spreading out dry leaves (not too close to the fire) and lying on them with the blanket over us. This way we kept warm and were reasonably comfortable.
“Jeff,” I said, “can you help Claudia and me keep the fire going tonight? We could use some help, and you’ve gone camping a lot.”
“Sure,” he replied. Ever since Jeff moved back to California, he has become one of the most easygoing, agreeable kids I know.
So we lay under the blanket, with our heads facing the fire, since Claudia said that her grandmother used to say, “Keep your head covered!” whenever it was cold out. And Becca added that Dr. Johanssen had told her that we lose the most body heat through our heads. We lay in this order: Me, Jeff, Becca, Haley, Jamie, Claudia.
Before we lay down, we moved our supply of kindling nearer the fire. “But how will we wake up to feed the fire?” I asked. I had a feeling that once the six of us lay down, we’d be out like lights.
“I’ll set the alarm on my watch,” answered Jeff.
“Are you sure it’s working?” asked Claudia.
“No.”
“Then maybe we should keep watches,” she said. “That might be a good idea in any case.”
“What does that mean?” asked Jamie sleepily, and I knew he was confusing “keeping watches” with “wristwatches.”
“It means … stay awake and make sure that, um, nothing happens. I mean, that we’re safe.”
“Safe from what?” asked Jamie, sounding more awake.
The six of us were snuggled into our nest, but the kids didn’t seem so sleepy anymore.
“Safe from, oh …”
Claudia and I exchanged a Look, wondering how to get out of this mess.
“Bears?” asked Jamie, beginning to cry.
“Poisonous snakes?” asked Haley.
Next to me, even Jeff looked alarmed. “We don’t know what’s on this island,” he said. “Maybe this cave belongs to a —”
I nudged him in the ribs before he could say anything too horrible.
“Maybe it belongs to a monster!” cried Becca.
“Oh, Becca. You don’t really believe in monsters, do you?” asked Claud.
“Noooo,” she said uncertainly. “But I’m afraid of the dark.”
“Me, too,” said Jamie, as Claud comforted him.
“Now come on, you guys.” I tried to sound cheerful.
There was a silence. Then Haley said, “When will we be rescued?”
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly, “but I can tell you one thing. Everyone must be searching for us. We were supposed to be home this afternoon. Now it’s almost ten o’clock.”
“Are they looking for us in the dark?” asked Becca.
Again I had to say, “I don’t know.” But then I added, “They’ll definitely be looking for us tomorrow.”
“Then we can go home tomorrow!” exclaimed Haley.
“Well, only if they find us,” Claudia pointed out. “We’re not sure which island we’re on.”
“Oh. I see,” was Haley’s reply.
Another silence followed, and I allowed myself to think, Good. They’re all going to sleep now.
I was fooled. The moment of silence was just the calm before the storm. Suddenly all four kids cried out at once:
“What if a rattlesnake slithers in here and bites us?” asked Haley.
“What if there really are monsters?” asked Becca. “Island monsters.”
“I’m afraid of my dreams!” exclaimed Jamie.
And Jeff said, “What if we’re in Nova Scotia or someplace? No one will eve
r find us! We’re doomed.”
Claudia and I started talking fast.
“We can’t be too far from Stoneybrook,” said Claud. “We didn’t drift for very long.”
“And if we’re still near Connecticut, then we don’t have to worry about rattlesnakes or other poisonous snakes. There aren’t any around here,” I pointed out.
“Plus, the fire will keep animals — and monsters — away,” said Claudia.
“And if you think about nice things, then you’ll have nice dreams,” I told Jamie. “Now go to sleep, everyone.”
After a few minutes, Claud whispered, “Dawn?”
“Yeah?”
“Come over for a sec so I can talk to you while the others are sleeping.”
I wiggled out from under the blanket, walked around our bed, and sat on the cold floor next to Claudia. “What is it?” I asked.
“We should think about tomorrow,” she said.
“Right,” I agreed.
“We’ve only got two options as far as I can see. We could send a couple of us out in the boat, or we could wait here to be rescued.”
“I guess. They don’t sound like great choices, do they?”
“No,” replied Claud uncertainly. “But we don’t have to make a decision until tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather is like. We’ll walk around the island. Maybe we’ll even be able to see land from somewhere. If we can, then going out in the boat will make more sense.”
We talked a while longer. And then, dead tired, I tiptoed back to the other end of the bed. As soon as I got there, Jeff opened his eyes. “Even the people on Gilligan’s Island were finally rescued,” he whispered.
I grinned. “Go to sleep, Jeff,” I said.
“Where’s Jeff?” were the first words I heard the next morning.
Dawn, Jeff, and I had spent the night keeping the fire going. Jeff had had the last watch. Now, as the rest of us woke up, we discovered that he was gone. Dawn was the one who had said, “Where’s Jeff?”
I sat up in a hurry. I looked across our bed, which was a huge, leafy mess. There were Jamie, Haley, and Becca sitting up sleepily. And there was Dawn, standing up, looking panicky.
But Becca said, “I saw him tiptoe out of the cave a while ago.”
“Are you sure?” asked Dawn.
“Positive.”
“I bet he went exploring,” said Becca.
“I hope so,” replied Dawn. “I mean, I hope that’s all he’s doing.”
Becca stretched, stood up, and walked to the entrance of the cave. “Whoa,” she said. “It’s a really nice day, even though it’s hazy. But it’s cold out there. Our cave is warm.”
Dawn joined Becca at the cave entrance. “It is a nice day,” she agreed. “I bet it will warm up later. Maybe the haze will burn off, too.”
“You know what? It’s almost too hot in here,” said Jamie, looking flushed.
“It is pretty warm,” I said. “But we better not let the fire go out. We’ll be sorry tonight if we do. Besides, we don’t have that many matches.”
“I wonder what time it is,” said Dawn. “My brother has skipped out with our only watch. I could ki — I mean, I wish he hadn’t done that.”
By that time we were all awake. And the more awake the kids got, the more excited they became. After last night, I’d expected them to greet the morning with fears, asking when we would be rescued, but Becca was excited about the weather, Haley was excited because she could see the water from the cave entrance, and Jamie dashed around crying, “We can go swimming later! It’s nice enough to go swimming! And we all have our bathing suits with us. Isn’t that great? Can I go swimming now?”
I shook my head. “No. But you can go later. After it’s warmed up and after we’ve eaten our breakfast.”
“What’s for breakfast?” Haley wanted to know.
Dawn and I exchanged a glance.
“Well,” said Dawn, “not a whole lot. You have a choice. Fruit or candy bars. I’m afraid that’s it.”
The kids looked a little bewildered.
Finally Jamie said, “No scrambled eggs?”
“I’m sorry,” I told him. “Not unless you find a chicken on the island.”
Jamie giggled.
Becca looked thoughtful. At last she said, “I love candy bars … but I’ve never had one for breakfast.” She also looked a little naughty, as if she’d been told, “You can’t have candy until after three o’clock in the afternoon,” and now she was being given the opportunity of a lifetime. “I’ll take the candy!” she cried suddenly. I’m sure she thought she’d never have the chance again.
“Me, too!” exclaimed Haley.
“I will have a banana,” said Dawn.
“Me, too,” said Jamie bravely.
“Well, I’m no fool,” I said. “I’m going to have a candy bar.”
“Or you guys could have fish,” spoke up another voice.
We all turned toward the cave entrance. There stood Jeff, looking extremely proud of himself. He was grinning from ear to ear. And in his hands he held out some leaves on which he’d placed three small fish.
“How did you catch those?” asked Dawn, amazed.
“I’ll show you later. It was easier than I’d thought it would be.” He held up a stick, attached to which was a length of string with an open safety pin tied to it. I guessed he’d found the things in the survival kit. “I would have caught more, but I figured you guys had woken up and were wondering where I was.”
“We had and we were,” said Dawn sternly, and I thought she was going to yell at him. Instead she said, “By the way, what time is it?”
“Nine o’clock,” Jeff replied.
“It’s always nine o’clock on this island,” commented Dawn.
“I think we should name this island,” said Jamie. “We’ll call it Nine O’Clock Island.”
“That’s a stupid name,” said Haley.
“Hey, come on, you guys,” said Dawn. “With any luck, we’ll leave the island today and we won’t have to worry about naming it.
“Jeff, could you see land from your fishing spot?” asked Dawn.
“Nope,” he replied. “Too hazy.”
Dawn sighed. “Oh, well,” she said. Then she went on, “Now look. Jeff’s got three fish. We can cook them over the fire and have a nice, healthy breakfast.”
“Fish?” squeaked Becca. “No way! I’m not eating fish.”
“Me, neither,” said Haley. “Not at breakfast. Not at any other time.”
Dawn looked at Jamie, who had said he’d eat a banana. I guess the thought of a banana and fish for breakfast was just too much for him. He changed his mind entirely. “I’ll have a candy bar!”
In the end, Dawn and Jeff divided the fish, cooking them over the fire, then eating one and a half each (they really were small), while the rest of us ate one candy bar each.
“This is good,” I said, surveying our food supply as we sat around the fire with our breakfasts. “We still have most of the candy bars and the fruit — and Jeff can fish.”
“Now can I have something to drink?” asked Haley.
“Just a little,” replied Dawn. “I have this feeling that we should save our water and stuff. You can have half a juice box, okay?”
“Okay,” replied Haley. She ended up splitting the box with Becca.
Before we had finished eating, I said, “You know, Jeff, we’re very grateful to you for the fish, but when Dawn realized you were gone, she was worried. We don’t know our way around this island yet and I wouldn’t want anybody getting lost. From now on, nobody should go anywhere alone —”
“Except maybe Claud or I,” spoke up Dawn.
“Right,” I said, “and nobody goes anywhere without telling Dawn or me first. Okay?”
“Okay,” said Haley, Becca, Jamie, and Jeff.
“And no swimming without a buddy and a life preserver,” added Dawn.
“A life preserver?” cried Jeff. “Just for swimming?”
“Absolute
ly,” replied Dawn. “Claudia and I are responsible for you guys and we aren’t taking any chances.”
Well, no one was very happy with Dawn and me for laying down rules, but they forgot their anger when Becca brightened suddenly and said, “I have got a great idea!”
“What?” cried the rest of us.
“Jeff, did you see any shells on the beach when you were fishing?”
“Tons,” he replied. “Big ones. Clamshells, maybe. I think they washed up during the storm yesterday.”
“Great,” said Becca. “Listen, this is my idea: Since people think we’re lost at sea, they’ll probably be looking for us in boats and airplanes, right?”
“Right,” we agreed.
“And we ought to let them know where we are, right?”
“Yeah?” we said tentatively.
“So what we do is gather up about a million of those clamshells and use them to spell out HELP as big as we can on the beach. Then people could see our message from the air.”
“Becca, that’s a terrific idea!” exclaimed Jeff. “Anyone would see that.”
I wasn’t so sure because of the haze, and I could tell that Dawn wasn’t, either.
Becca’s brilliant idea sounded like something she’d seen on TV. And she probably had. Seen it, I mean. On the other hand, Dawn and I hadn’t come up with any better ideas. None that we wanted to try soon, anyway.
So we let the kids get carried away with enthusiasm. As soon as the day had warmed up, we stripped off our clothes (we were wearing our bathing suits underneath) and slathered on sunscreen. Then, keeping my promise to Mrs. Newton, I made Jamie put his wind-breaker on. When we were ready, we followed Jeff to the beach near his fishing hole and there found the “tons” of clamshells.
“Oh, boy!” exclaimed Becca.
“Let’s get to work,” added Haley.
And so we began our first attempt at getting rescued.
We have never held a meeting at the Pikes’ house. In fact, I don’t think we have held a Stoneybrook meeting anywhere but in Claudia’s room. We held them there when we were all mad at each other and conducted meetings one person at a time so we wouldn’t have to look at each other’s faces. We held them there when Claudia was all caught up with this new friend of hers, Ashley Wyeth, and kept missing meetings. We even held them there right after Claudia’s grandmother had died, because Claud had said she wanted her life to go on as normally as possible.