The Family Fletcher Takes Rock Island

by Dana Alison Levy

  Frog paused. “Does subsidize mean ‘buy it’? Because if it does I want a double-dip chocolate Bomb Pop. But if it doesn’t I only have a dollar and I’ll get a grape Popsicle.”

  John Galindo-Green laughed out loud. “It does indeed mean to buy it! I’m a writer, and sometimes we use a long, slippery word when a short one will do just fine. Thanks for reminding me. Now let’s get you boys your ice cream.”

  Soon everyone was served, and while Sam edged back to the house, Jax and Eli wandered around the back of the massive mansion with Alex, hoping to see the green snakes. Just as they were peering under an old rubber tire that was lying on the far end of the property, a voice pierced the quiet.

  “Aleeex! Where are you? We’re going on a bike ride!”

  Alex groaned and stood up. “Well, that’s it for the snakes. They disappear when there’s the slightest bit of noise. And with my sister there’s always more than a little bit of noise….It’s like an explosion. Especially when her friends are around.”

  Jax and Eli both kept quiet. Neither one wanted to say anything nasty about their friend’s sister, but Jax had to bite his tongue not to agree. Instead he gazed away from the tire and back across the windswept moors, toward their house. In the distance he could see the lighthouse, large and important, against the deep blue sky. From here you could barely see the fence.

  He turned to Alex. “Hey! Do you know what’s going on with the lighthouse? We used to be able to go there all the time and now there’s a fence around it.”

  Eli chimed in. “It was amazing,” he said, his voice wistful. “It’s right outside our back deck, and we would have water fights, and see the seals on Tuckernocket from the top—”

  “—which we could go kayaking to if you weren’t such a wimp!” Jax interrupted, annoyed all over again at his brother.

  “—and we even slept upstairs there once. Well, most of the night, until midnight at least,” Eli continued, ignoring him. “And now there’s a terrible fence around it, and we can’t even get in!”

  Alex looked impressed. “That sounds so cool. I wish I could do that! All I know—”

  Valerie’s voice cut in. “There you are! I’ve been calling you. It’s Janie’s last day, and Mami and Dad want to bike to Gilly’s for chowder.”

  Jax was getting desperate. “Do you know about the lighthouse? Why is the fence there? What’s going on?”

  Valerie’s eyebrows shot up above her silly sunglasses. “Oh! I heard about that! First of all, the federal government is selling it. Did you know they sell a lot of lighthouses? Dad was fascinated and started writing an article about it, so he told us all about it….I guess there are tons of lighthouses, all around the country, that the government just sells off. Whoever buys it has to keep it as a working lighthouse…that’s part of the deal. Anyway, this one needs some work, and a group of people in town were going to buy it. There are big cracks in the plaster and the town thought it was just cosmetic—you know, that it was just how it looked and not a big problem. Then some artist decided he wanted it and put in an offer, but then he was painting up there and got hit with crumbling rock and plaster. I think he was hurt pretty bad! It was big news. It just happened too—a few days before we got here, and we only arrived a week before you guys.”

  Jax and Eli both digested this in silence. Valerie pushed her sunglasses on top of her head and continued to talk. “I wish we had seen it! I mean, not like I wanted anything bad to happen to him, but it would have been so cool if I had grabbed it on video! It’s a cute island, but there’s not a lot to do here, really. I joined the theater group, which they were pretty psyched about, since I’ll film the play later this month. But other than that…” She sighed.

  Alex groaned. “She’s obsessed with her stupid video camera. She thinks she’s going to be the next—”

  “The next Sofia Coppola, only the coolest female movie producer in the world,” Valerie said, with a roll of her eyes. “And it’s better than you. What do you want to be, the next—”

  “I’m going to be the next Lionel Messi. Only the best soccer player ever,” Alex said.

  Jax nodded in approval. Messi wasn’t his favorite soccer player, but it was a solid choice.

  “Anyway, she’s forever filming everyone and everything. It’s totally creepy. Remember that guy who got really mad last summer in Prague? And Mami had to assure him you weren’t working for the CIA.” Alex sighed. “Anyway, I guess they put a fence around the lighthouse to fix it, or until the new owners take it over or something.”

  Eli looked concerned. “But there’s no work going on. No restoration, no signs about it, just a big Keep Out sign. How long ago did the guy get hurt?”

  Valerie answered immediately. “July twenty-fifth. Three days after we got here. I was over at the docks, filming the fishing boats coming in.”

  “Like watching paint dry,” Alex muttered, but Valerie paid no attention.

  “¡Vámanos!” she said, turning to leave. “Mami will lose her mind if we don’t get moving!”

  Jax and Eli followed them, but Jax’s thoughts were still on the lighthouse. He was sorry to hear about the artist, of course. But what was going to happen next? When would they be allowed in their favorite place?

  It was grocery day, and it was overcast, which meant that the boys all decided to go to town with Dad to get food. Dad had looked a little depressed about it, asking if they were sure they didn’t want to play soccer in the yard instead, but they were insistent. Behind his back, Papa pretended to do a victory dance, then waved goodbye.

  Eli was torn. Normally they’d never waste an afternoon shopping, but they were cramped at the house, and grouchy. Papa had to take work calls, so they needed to stay quiet, which normally meant they’d go to the lighthouse, but of course that wasn’t an option anymore. Even outside in the yard felt different. Though nobody said it, Eli knew they were all self-conscious that the nosy girls next door would be watching, maybe thinking their games were stupid. At least Janie had left, which felt to Eli like a definite improvement. But even so, it was strange having kids so close by. He had tried to explain it all to his friend Anna, who lived on a farm in Maine. But he wasn’t sure even she would understand. He wasn’t used to having Rock Island feel weird. So now here he was, crammed in the van while Dad and Sam fought over the radio. Finally they pulled into the tiny parking lot.

  Eli untangled himself and clambered out. Town was busy, as everyone took advantage of the rare cloudy day to run errands. The general store was mobbed and there was a line forming next to the one fancy-ish restaurant on the island, the Sisterhood. Sam was staring at it longingly….It had the best clam chowder ever.

  Eli walked toward the corner, where the road turned down to the water. From there he could smell the brine of the fish being cleaned at the dock.

  “Let’s walk down to the docks and see if Captain Jim is there,” he said. “We need to get some answers about the lighthouse.” The boys had discussed and pulled apart the information Val had shared, but they hadn’t found out anything more, let alone anything important, like when the lighthouse might be open again.

  Jax nodded. “Come on, Sam. There’s no way we’re going to the Sisterhood today. Way too crowded.”

  Sam gave a last longing look, then followed his brothers toward the dock.

  “Stay together, please,” Dad said, grabbing Frog’s hand. “We’ll meet you down there.”

  “I’ll get good stuff!” Frog said importantly. “Maybe we can get blueberry muffins!”

  “Nice try, Froggie,” Dad said, pulling him toward the store. “Papa calls those second-mortgage muffins for a reason….It would cost a hundred dollars to feed us all. How about you get to choose the cookies?”

  Frog yelped in excitement and they disappeared into the building, leaving the three older boys on the sidewalk.

  “Why does everything good have to cost money?” Jax asked as they walked.

  Eli considered this. The island was really expensive,
he knew. But that was because everything had to come over on the ferry, other than the stuff they bought from the one big farm, like corn, tomatoes, and other vegetables. And fish. They could buy fish from Captain Jim or one of the other fishermen on the docks, and that was pretty cool. But blueberry muffins were not something that could grow locally, he guessed.

  “We could try to make muffins,” he said. “Then they wouldn’t cost as much.”

  “Or we could sell them! And we’d make all that money!” Jax said. He tripped on the warped and splintery wooden dock and nearly went flying into a bin of fish.

  “Whoops! Careful there, sailor!” Captain Jim grabbed Jax by the elbow before he hit the fish. “Welcome back! I was hoping I would see you around here.”

  Captain Jim Fish—yes, his last name was really Fish, and he was a fisherman—had been born on the island, as had his parents. He had known Papa since forever, and always had a new story or treat for the boys when they saw him. Today was no different. Captain Jim reached around to his “office,” which was a big wooden table with a locking drawer on the side of the dock, and grabbed a telltale brown bag with a red ribbon on the handle.

  “Thought I might see you soon, so I swung over to Aunt Sarah’s Sweets and picked this up. Well, picked up the first bag a few days ago, but I ate it all. Can’t be surprised by that, can you now? Anyway, I went back and got more and locked it in the drawer so’s to keep my hands to myself.” He grinned and handed around the bag of Aunt Sarah’s famous fudge.

  With a loud overlapping babble of heartfelt thank-yous, everyone reached in and grabbed a chunk of dark chocolaty deliciousness. Sam hummed a little with happiness as he chewed.

  “Hits the spot, doesn’t it? I swear there’s witchcraft involved in this fudge. It shouldn’t be so darn good.” Captain Jim put the bag away and turned back to the boys. “Now. How are you boys doing? Having a good summer, I hope? What do you think about your new neighbors? They have a couple of kids your age….That has to be fun, right?”

  Eli nodded politely. “It’s pretty good. But, Captain Jim, can you tell us what’s going on with the lighthouse?”

  Sam, who had been staring at the bag of fudge, swung around. “Yeah, what’s up? It’s for sale? And then someone got hurt? What’s the story?”

  Captain Jim shook his head. “Well, that’s part of the story. But not the bad part.” He paused and looked around. “This is sort of confidential, meaning I’m supposed to keep my trap zipped.”

  “Please! Please, Captain Jim!” Jax said.

  “Seriously, we’re freaking out!” Sam added.

  Eli didn’t say anything but just looked at Captain Jim.

  Captain Jim sighed. “Well, I shouldn’t have said anything at all, I suppose. I’m getting as bad as the librarians…they’re the biggest gossips on the island. But I figure you kids are practically islanders, and heck, it’s going to be in the paper soon enough.” He sighed, and Eli’s heart sank. Whatever it was didn’t sound good.

  “What happened was this. The lighthouse was in kind of a bad way, from a fix-up point of view. The paint was peeling, and that led to the plaster under the paint crumbling, and that led to it looking a bit like the dog’s dinner, from the outside, at least. And it turns out the light itself will need some mighty pricey upgrades within the next ten years. Now, lighthouses are the federal government’s problem, and they have a heap of other problems, most of which are far more important. So all around New England, the Feds have been selling off lighthouses to private buyers. The buyers have to keep them running, and have to let the Coast Guard do their thing, but beyond that…the sky’s the limit. The new owners can turn them into hotels, or private homes, or they can keep them open to the public. Anyway, we had hopes that a group of islanders could raise the money to buy the lighthouse, but once these repairs came up…well, our pockets are just about turned inside out, and an off-islander made an offer to buy it. Then, unfortunately, he got conked on the head with some falling stone, which I guess loosened when the plaster crumbled. He was okay, but he got scared pretty good.” Captain Jim sighed and looked around again.

  “And here’s the latest news, and it’s not pretty. This artist fellow’s so concerned about public safety that he’s convinced the town to keep the lighthouse closed until some surveyors can find out just how much damage there is.” He looked away from the boys. “The worry is, if the damage is too bad, they’ll have to tear it down and build another one, modern-like, to do the job.”

  “Tear it down!” Jax, Sam, and Eli all spoke at once.

  “How is that fair?”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “Who is this guy?”

  Captain Jim held up his hands. “Easy, tigers! I don’t have all the answers. Just telling you what I heard. There’s got to be an inspection, and the folks around here will raise what money we can. They’ll kick up quite a fuss before anyone takes a wrecking ball to it. But meanwhile it’s off-limits.”

  “But really, how can that even be an option? It’s a historic…whatever, isn’t it?” Eli asked. He was so flustered he was forgetting his words. The lighthouse was famous! It was mentioned in some major old whaling book, and a movie had even been filmed there. How could it just be torn down?

  Captain Jim nodded. “It’s on the National Register, but that doesn’t grease the skids, as my dad used to say.” He saw their questioning faces, and added, “That means it doesn’t pay anything. The government’s going to take the cheap road, and you can’t blame them. There’s a lot of fixing up needed around the country. Can’t make every lighthouse the most important one.”

  The fisherman looked at them, and Eli imagined they looked pretty bad, because he slapped a hand down on the fish-gutting counter with a bang. “Now! Enough of the bad news. What else can I tell you? Ah, I know! Did I tell you about the new baby seals on Tuckernocket? Cutest little buggers I’ve seen in my life, and I’ve been around a bit. If your folks say it’s okay I’ll take you out on the boat to see ’em. Or is this the year you’re going to paddle yourselves out there? I’ve heard some such talk, right?”

  “We would be kayaking out there this year. If Eli wasn’t such a wimp,” Jax said, glaring at his brother.

  “No need to be scared,” Captain Jim said. “Choose a nice calm day and let me know, and I’ll have the Coast Guard keep a beady eye on you. You’ll be safe as kittens!”

  Eli pressed his lips together. He knew Captain Jim was trying to be nice, but his stomach lurched from one miserable thought to the next. The lighthouse was in danger! And it would take a ton of money to fix it. And now the stupid kayaking again! Since when was it a crime not to want to be in a tiny tippy boat in the open ocean? He was an okay swimmer, but nothing special. And every time he sat in one of those boats it wobbled and slid like it wanted to throw him out.

  “We should probably get back to Dad and Frog,” he said, trying to ignore the lump in his stomach. The day had soured badly, and he just wanted to get home.

  Captain Jim looked at him, and Eli tried not to look away. The captain’s face was thoughtful, and he held Eli’s gaze.

  “An awful lot of old dogs who work on this dock were pretty scared of the water when they first got here,” he said finally. “And they’re the smart ones. It’s a good thing to be a little careful round the water, especially off Rock Island, when the tides and currents can give you a ride you weren’t expecting. But your folks are pretty savvy. If they’re with you I don’t think you’ll have anything to worry about.”

  Eli nodded, but he didn’t say what he was thinking, which was that even with Dad and Papa he didn’t trust that stupid boat to stay where he wanted it to.

  Captain Jim just laughed a little. “You’re smart and stubborn! A dangerous combination, on land or sea! I tell you what, if you kayak out to Tuckernocket, I’ll let you name the new seal pup we have at the marine center. Poor little thing was abandoned by her mama over on Surf Beach. Probably got spooked by some fool tourists taking photos. N
o offense to the present company, but some people don’t know how to leave wild things alone. Anyway, she’s a sweet little thing, and, Eli, if you make the trip, we’ll see if you can’t get naming rights.”

  At this Eli’s head came up. The marine center rescued any and all wild animals, and the Fletchers loved to visit. Imagine a tiny seal pup, named by him! But the kayak…He sighed and shrugged.

  Captain Jim laughed. “Well, you can ponder it and let me know. And tell that Frog boy of yours to come see me. We’ve got some fun new friends at the marine center.”

  The boys nodded and headed back up the dock. All thoughts of blueberry muffins were gone, from Eli’s mind at least. His brain was a swirling mess of worry over the lighthouse and unhappiness over kayaking. He couldn’t seem to stop the two bad thoughts from fighting for his attention, each making him feel worse than the other. By the time they made it back to the van he was ready to cry.

  Dad was loading groceries as they arrived.

  “You weren’t supposed to come back yet! I wanted to walk down to see Captain Jim,” Frog wailed from the backseat.

  Eli ignored him and climbed in.

  “The lighthouse might be torn down!” Jax blurted out. “Captain Jim told us!”

  “What?” Dad dropped a grocery bag into the back. “Darn it. I hope that wasn’t the eggs,” he muttered. “Anyway, what’s this all about?”

  Sam spoke from the front seat. “It’s true. Captain Jim wasn’t supposed to tell us, but it’s going to be in the paper anyway. The federal government owns the lighthouse and they’re selling it. Captain Jim says that a lot of lighthouses get sold but stay open to the public. And people here were raising money to buy it, but this artist guy wanted to buy it. Then he got hurt and apparently the lighthouse needs more repairs than anyone thought. So the artist dude still plans to buy it, but before he does he’s having some inspectors come from off-island to make sure it’s okay. And if it’s not okay…” He paused. “If it’s not okay,” he repeated, “the government will probably tear it down and build some modern one.”