Volume Two of The Adventures of Punkin and Boo
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Patrick
Chapter Two
A Real Cliff Hanger
When the yellow car screamed around the corner on the wrong side of the road, John Roberts swerved to the left to avoid it. The RV shot straight toward the cliff on the left side of the narrow highway. His wife, Carol, shouted, and he slammed on the brakes, trying to stop the RV.
In the back, Punkin and Boo were thrown into the space between the wall and the bed. Boo landed on top of Punkin with a thump and the mattress followed, pinning them beside the bed. Up front the four adults grabbed their seats and braced for what looked like a certain and terrible crash into the ocean. Suddenly there was a grinding noise and the RV jerked to a halt.
John cautiously looked over the dashboard to see where they were. All he could see was the ocean below.
"I think our front end is hanging over the cliff. Be very careful and don't move. Punkin, Boo, stay right where you are!" John shouted.
"Gee," whispered Punkin, "it seems like every adventure we have starts with you crashing into me.”
Even though she was really scared, Boo giggled. She was thinking about the day she had met Punkin, when she had flown down the stairs and crashed into the younger girl. The image of a cheerio on the end of Punkin's nose and a milk-soaked city-girl outfit came into her mind and despite the precarious situation they were in, she began to laugh out loud.
(Click on "read more" to read the rest of the chapter.) Suddenly there was a knock on the door.
"You folks okay in there?" asked a voice.
"I think so," said John, "but I don't know how close we are to going over.”
"It's okay," said the voice. "You found a metal support for an old guardrail and it's grabbed you quite nicely by the fender. Open up.”
John reached over and slowly cranked the handle that opened the door.
Standing by the RV was the old man with white hair and a floppy hat. "You're safe, folks. Come on out," he said. "You're hooked real good on this post and you ain’t goin’ nowhere.”
Just then the CHP cruiser pulled up. The patrolman leaped out and ran over to the RV.
"You folks okay?" he asked.
"It seems so," said John, his voice shaking.
"Sure," said the old man, "they'll be fine. They got hooked up on this old post."
"Man, oh, man," said the CHP officer, "that's what I call luck. All these posts got pulled last year when they widened the road. They must have missed this one.”
The Masterses and the Robertses exchanged wondering looks.
"I don't think it was luck," said Carol. She looked around and asked, "Where are the girls?"
Suddenly they heard muffled cries from the back of the RV. It was Punkin's voice.
"Help, help us.” Quickly they ran to the back. They pulled the mattress off the girls and helped them up. Both of the girls looked a little rumpled.
Boo looked at Punkin and began to giggle again. She tried not to, but after a minute she burst out laughing.
"What's so funny?" asked Punkin crossly.
The adults looked at the younger girl and they all began to laugh too.
"Look at your face," said Boo in between gasping for air. Punkin looked in the mirror. The candy bar had landed on her head and when the two girls had been trapped under the mattress, the heat had begun to melt the bar. Chocolate ran down Punkin's forehead and onto her nose. And right in the middle of her new white blouse was a big chocolate stain.
"My new blouse!" she cried. "What is it about you, Boo?" she asked. "Every time we get together I end up looking like a walking food court.” She tried to keep a frown on her face, but she started to laugh with Boo. The adults joined in and soon everyone was roaring with mirth, partly from Punkin's chocolate accessories, and partly from relief of having escaped a horrible accident.
Outside the RV, the policeman scratched his head in amazement as the sound of laughter came out of the RV.
"They must be in shock," said the old man, grinning.
The CHP patrolman got on his radio and called his office in Leggett, a small town up the road, to report the accident.
"You better send a tow truck up here to get these folks off this post," he said to his dispatcher, "and put out an all points bulletin for a yellow BMW sports car, license number GXV5529. I didn't get a look at the driver, the windows were tinted.”
The officer looked at the front of the RV again, still amazed that John had hit the one thing in miles that could have kept him from going over the cliff.
"This is really amazing," he said to the old man, but there was no answer. He turned around and there was no one there! The officer ran around to the side of the RV and looked up and down the highway, but the old man had vanished!
Early in the evening, the RV pulled into a gas station in Leggett. It had taken the big tow truck about an hour to get them off the post, but amazingly enough the damage was minimal. John asked if there was a body shop in town to check out the frame, but after a quick examination the shop owner had pointed out that, except for a dent in the fender and a big scratch where the post had hit the fender, everything seemed to be working. They left the RV overnight for a thorough inspection and checked into the local motel. Bob ordered some food from room service, and after they finished eating, the adults all went to their rooms.
Punkin and Boo were too wound up to go to sleep right away so they went to the little restaurant that was attached to the motel. They found a secluded booth in the back and ordered cups of hot tea. Quietly, they talked over the events of the day.
Suddenly the front door opened with a crash and a couple of big, rough looking men came into the restaurant. They walked over to the counter and swung up onto two of the stools. The bigger of the two, who was huge, had long, dirty brown hair, a full beard, and was dressed in old overalls and a wool shirt. The smaller man had short hair, was clean shaven, and also wore old clothing. He had a small scar below his left eye. The two of them looked like miners out of an old west picture book.
“They look kind of like pirates,” whispered Boo to Punkin as they watched the two men from their booth.
The cook behind the counter, an older man in his fifties, nodded and said with a smile, “Hello boys, find the safe yet?”
“Don’t start in on us tonight, Jake,” said the big man, “Or I’ll come over the counter and dip you in some of your own pancake batter.”
“Okay, Big Bob, don’t get all bent outta shape,” said Jake. “Just havin’ a little fun.”
“Okay, Big Bob, don’t get all bent outta shape,” said Jake. “Just havin’ a little fun.”
“Yeah,” said the smaller man, “fun at our expense.”
“Look. Boo,” whispered Punkin,” it’s those two treasure hunters we saw on the internet, Crazy Jim and Big Bob. They’re the ones that are looking for that stolen ship’s safe.”
“See,” whispered Boo back, “Adventures R Us. Wonder what these guys are doing in here?”
Meanwhile Crazy Jim and Big Bob had ordered some late night breakfast and were chatting with the cook while they waited for their food.
“When are you boys going to give up this crazy hunt and admit that there is no gold?” asked Jake.
Big Bob slammed his water glass down on the counter. “I told you not to start in on us, Jake! We know that the safe is hidden around here somewhere and we are going to find it. Why, just yesterday we got us some new metal detectors...”
“Shut up, Bob,” interrupted Crazy Jim. “Don’t be telling everyone our business.” He nodded toward the two girls in the back. Bob quieted down and the two men started eating the steaming pancakes that Jake had handed over the counter.
The two girls sat with their heads together, talking about the treasure.
“We just can’t help it,” smiled Boo, “we are adventure magnets. I bet we could find that treasure easy. We have the internet and we could find out everything we need to know.”
Suddenly a shadow fell across their table. Looking up they stared into the face of Crazy Jim Jeffries. “What do you know about the treasure?” he asked quietly, but with a hidden menace in his voice.
“Why, we just saw a story about you on the internet,” said Punkin, before Boo could put her foot in her mouth. “We were just wondering if the stories were true.”
Crazy Jim leaned over closer and said, “It is true and I’m going to tell you both something for your own good. This treasure belongs to me and Bob. We’re gonna find it, and we’re not sharing it with anyone, and you girls better just keep your nose out of it. The sooner you clear out of here the better.” With that he turned on his heel and went back to the counter.
Punkin and Boo got up quickly without looking at the two men who were staring at them coldly, paid for their tea and headed to their rooms.
“Wow,” said Boo, “those guys are serious. Boy, what else could happen today? We nearly get run off the road, and then we meet two crazy treasure hunters who tell us to get out of town.”
“That’s what I get for hanging out with you,” said Punkin, laughing.
As they walked back toward the cabins they didn’t see the hooded figure standing in the shadow of a big pine tree by the road. The figure watched them closely until they went into their rooms, then turned and slipped away into the darkening woods.
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Out on the coast, an old man sat by a fire on the beach.
"Well, Boss," he said, "if this is how we are starting out, it seems like we've got another adventure on our hands.”
The old man warmed his hands at the fire and looked out at the ocean. The sun was just going down and the beautiful golden rays broke through a low-hanging bank of clouds far out to sea. Purple and orange clouds filled the sky and to the east, the stars began to twinkle in the night sky.
"How do you do that, Boss?" the old man asked quietly.
A few miles away, two dark figures stood about fifty feet apart, high on the cliff above the Lost Coast. Carefully they aimed powerful hooded flashlights out to sea and clicked them on and off, on and off and then left them on, pointed down. Below them was a forbidding cliff with waves crashing against the sharp-edged rocks. Out to sea there was an answering flash of light and soon they heard the sound of a motor coming in toward the shore. Then out of the darkness, a small fast boat with no running lights approached the shore.
"That's them," said the older man. "Keep your light shining directly on the big rock, so they can see the channel that goes into the cave.”
"I know, I know," said the younger man, "I've done this before, ya know.”
The men shined their flashlights on two large rocks that were sticking up in the turbulent water about ten feet apart. Slowly the small boat approached the forbidding cliff. Soon it was almost below them. The waves were crashing and foaming all around and it seemed as though the boat was going to wreck on the reef, when suddenly the engine revved up and the boat sprang straight between the two rocks and then disappeared under the cliff.
"Come on, Billy," said the older man, "let's go give them their goods.” The two men switched off their lights and vanished into the rocks by the side of the trail...
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