by Kit DeCanti
Jimmy went up first to make sure Hero didn’t bark, and then one by one the others climbed up the shaft, and unceremoniously Jimmy pulled them out to freedom; then quickly rolled the boulder back over the vent hole, and covered it with the branch. Silently, Jimmy grabbed a second branch and brushed their foot prints and led the boys to the grassy area, brushing as they went. Looking around quickly, he headed down the ridge with Hero running beside them staying clear of the road most of the way. As they got to the side road Jimmy found his back pack and pulled out five peanut butter and gram cracker sandwiches that he had made for the boys earlier in the cabin, not knowing if they would ever eat them. After few bites he passed a water bottle around and the boys drank thirstily.
Finally for the first time since they left the cave, Jimmy smiled. The boys looked at him in wonder. They were all speechless except for Timmy. “How?” was all he was able to say.
“Later,” Jimmy said. “We’ll have plenty of time to talk soon, but right now we have to get off this ridge before they miss you.”
“Only The Henchman is up there,” Timmy said.
“We haven’t seen Melbourne since they moved us to the trailer,” Joey added.
In stead of being relieved this news concerned Jimmy. Not only did they have to worry about The Henchman descending upon them from the cave but also had to watch out for Melbourne coming from below. He had to switch the escape route. He kept the boys clear of the road, and as much as he would have loved to take them to the cabin to rest as he had been able to, he knew he couldn’t chance it. The crescent moon was beginning to dip towards the horizon as the boys made it to the gate. They climbed through on the grassy side, and finally reached the gravel road but again Jimmy kept the boys clear of the road to avoid leaving any possible foot prints.
Jimmy kept passing out treats and water as he kept the boys moving; only allowing two minute breaks when the exhausted young boys could no longer walk.
Jimmy was as relentless as a drill instructor. He couldn’t rest until they had crossed Highway Fifty-Three and were well hidden inside the orchard. A group of boys this size would surely get attention so Jimmy hurried the boys along, heading through the orchards and fields along Highway Fifty-Three. Knowing if they didn’t get to Mrs. Capra’s before daylight they would have to split up for safety, he pressed the exhausted boys to keep going. He broke out candy bars for energy and, because the first aid book taken from the cabin said that chocolate gave a sense of well being, he also ate one.
“We’re almost there he said,” as they approached the neighborhood. This time, knowing they were racing the clock, Jimmy didn’t take the boys on the zigzag route he had taken the other times.
Finally they were on Mrs. Capra’s driveway. The sun was coming up and Jimmy was afraid to head out on the lake. Six kids and a dog would surely be noticed. Besides he welcomed the chance to spend another night in the garage close to his foster mother. Going around behind the garage he opened the unlocked door and for the first time since leaving the cave the boys were able to really rest. Actually, it was the first time in months.
They fell to the floor of the garage in total exhaustion and the two younger ones started to cry. Jimmy knew the feeling. He had felt the same way when he escaped. He knew the boys needed to howl just as he did back on that rock on the ridge. But he could afford them no such luxury. Someone would surely hear them. He put his hands over their mouths and said firmly, “Hush! Jon and Joey. You have to stay strong just awhile longer. It‘s almost all over. Soon you can make all the noise you need to, but for now you have to stay strong and quiet.”
The boys looked at their rescuer and obeyed. Jimmy spread out some lawn chair pads for beds and the boys curled up next to each other; with Hero keeping watch they slept. A car engine in the drive next to the garage woke the boys up with a start.
Jimmy crept to the window and peeking out he was relieved to see the nurse driving away with Mrs. Capra.
“It’s okay, nothing to worry about,” he assured the scared boys. “Hey!” he grinned widely, “How does it feel to be free?” The boys eyes widened as if realizing for the first time their captivity was over. Stealing glances at each other the boys broke out into laughter.
“We’re free!” The laughing boys jumped up and down hugging each other with Jimmy laughing the loudest and hugging the hardest. The boys finally fell on the chair pads in a heap, giggling uncontrollably until Jimmy finally sat up, “Whose hungry?” he asked. “Me!” the boys cried in unison.
Remembering the close proximity of the neighbors Jimmy said “Shh!” but was still laughing himself. “Alright, you guys stay here and I’ll be right back.” His back pack had been emptied a long time ago, but he knew where he could find some more food.
Jimmy looked out the door and made his way to the rock where the key was hidden and once again let him self into Mrs. Capra’s welcoming home. He hurried to the pantry and rummaged through it gathering into his bag food that he thought would be least missed-food that he knew was bought for him months earlier. He also took a large bottle of children’s chewable vitamins and vitamin Cs.
Jimmy returned the key and headed back to the garage, where his brothers rejoiced over a package of chocolate donuts. “Okay, guys. In just a little while you can make all the noise you want, but for now we better calm down,” Jimmy warned with a grin. The happiness he felt at this moment was beyond compare.
He first passed out vitamins and then, as the boys ate the food from Mrs. Capra’s pantry, he fed Hero an apple. “Good Boy. Hero, you’re such a good dog,” he said as the dog crunched the apple.
“Why is he named Hero?” Denny asked him.
Petting his dog, Jimmy related to the boys about finding the dog on the Ridge the morning after he escaped- omitting how he had looked up seeing him through tears. He told them about the cabin and how he and Hero came up with the plan to rescue them; and how he first had to prepare for them. He told them about how he was heading to Konocti when he heard on the news about the search for him up there.
“What are you talking about?” Timmy interrupted. “You mean they were up there looking for you? Why didn’t they find us?” he demanded.
Jimmy remembered that they had traveled through the night and the kids had not realized that they were on Walker Ridge.
“That was not one of the Konocti Caves. Melbourne lied to us,” he said, “We were on Walker Ridge. I don’t know why he lied; but my guess is they were trespassing themselves. I think they had jumped someone else’s claim and that’s why they went to such an extreme to keep anyone from finding out. I’ll bet the gold we were pulling out of the mine for Melbourne, belongs to someone else.” The boys stared in bewilderment. “I’m sure of it,” Jimmy said. “That’s the only thing that makes sense.”
“Maybe Melbourne thought we might tell someone and if they tried to find the mine they would be looking on Konocti. Then no one would believe us,” Timmy offered.
The six boys were quiet for a few minutes. “They are worried that I can’t take care of them,” Jimmy thought.
Finally Jimmy broke the silence. Looking at Timmy he said, “It must have been hot in that tiny trailer.”
“Yeah,” Timmy replied, “It was so hot I thought we were going to die at first! But then it got better because we were able to work during the heat of the day in the cool cave and sleep at night instead of…”
Jimmy didn’t want the boys to reminisce the days of working all night and cat napping during class, so he quickly interrupted, “Why did Melbourne moved you to the trailer?”
“Melbourne never said anything, they just took us there,” Joey replied.
“But The Henchman said it was so they didn’t have to send us back to school,” Little Jon said.
“I think they were worried that too many people would be asking us questions and they didn’t want to give us a chance to spill the beans. And…” Timmy’s voice trailed off and he grew quiet and looked away. Jimmy saw his expression change to di
strust.
“The Henchman said… he said… he said…” Joey stammered, “He said we should be glad you fell down the hole. He said it was your fault we ended up with Melbourne.”
“Yeah, he said that you gave him a list with our names and that’s why Melbourne chose us.” Marty said with eyes pleading for Jimmy to deny the accusation.
Timmy started to open his mouth but paused for a moment before looking directly at Jimmy and whispering, “Did you give him our names? And more names of…”
Jimmy reached over and put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, searching for an explanation. Wanting this to stop. He didn’t know how to make it stop. He didn’t know what to say so he just said, “Well, that’s all behind us, Timmy. Forget it… just don’t think about it.” Looking at the other boys he said, “We better get some sleep.” The boys lay back down and stared at the ceiling; the excitement of just moments before had left them.
“They are blaming me for ending up with Melbourne. And I don’t blame them. It is my fault Melbourne went after them. And they are mad at me for leaving them when I escaped.” He rolled over and pretended to sleep.
His mind was racing. As much as it hurt to know that he was the cause of the nightmare these young boys had lived the past few months, the pain in his stomach right now was because there were more names in his notebook. The overwhelming guilt that was just heaped upon the small framed boy was too much. Just too much for him to handle. His urge was to bolt! To run out of the garage and leave all this behind. Head back to Sawyer Island and play with his dog in the tules. His skin was crawling as he strained to resist the hyper attack that was trying to break free. If he could only run. He needed to run! But as difficult as it was, the months of captivity in Melbourne’s house taught him that he could control his actions. He lay still. The only racing that took place at that moment was his mind.
Jimmy was searching his mind trying to remember if he ever let his notebook out of his sight at Melbourne’s house. He didn’t think so. He kept it in his pocket until he started leaving it at school.
“Not even the first night when he barged into the room...” Jimmy murmured quietly remembering the notebook tucked into his pajama shirt pocket.
“What?” several little voices asked in unison.
Jimmy sat up and found himself staring into five pairs of eyes looking at him wanting to trust him again. Jimmy drew in a long breath and reached out for Hero to hug while he told the boys about his notebook. He told each of them when their name had been added to the list of boys he had planned on rescuing someday. And then he told them about the letters he wrote to them which he had sent to the foster agency.
“I didn’t get any letters,” Marty said. “Me either,” the other boys said almost in unison again.
Jimmy just looked at them for a few moments; and then looking down he barely whispered that there were more names on the list. He heard gasps coming from the boys and looking up he saw the fear on their faces. He knew that they realized exactly what he had already known.
“Melbourne will be getting more boys from my list to take our place.” The only one who didn’t look shocked was Timmy.
Jimmy fixed his eyes on him. Timmy finally said, “A couple days ago I heard The Henchman talking on his cell phone outside our trailer. He asked which room he should get ready for the new arrival. I heard him say ‘Lonnie. Wasn‘t Lonnie the name of one of the boys in the gymnasium that night we met?”
“Oh No!” Jimmy cried out as if in pain, and gathered his knees to his chest and rocked back and forth for a few moments groaning. Then he suddenly looked up.
“Melbourne must have gotten my notebook and made copies of my list. How else would he have known about you guys… and the others?“ Jimmy shot to his feet, “I have to go back there and find his copy of my list!” he said determined.
“No!” the other boys cried and grabbed his arms trying to pull him back down to the floor, as if they were afraid he meant to leave right then. “You can’t, he’ll throw you down the cave! He will! I know he will!”
Only Timmy stayed calm. “How would you even find the list?” he asked, logically. “I doubt if Melbourne will have it just laying around. It’s probably locked away somewhere.” Jimmy knew he was right. He had no idea where to look. Sinking back down to the floor Jimmy gathered his knees to his chest and buried his face again. Hero whined and lay down beside him.
“Let’s go to the cops!” Timmy said.
“We can’t!” Jimmy said looking up, “No one will believe us.” He got up and walked to the window and looked out at his former home. “They will just put us back in Melbourne’s foster home. Or ship us out to different foster homes and we will never see each other again.” Jimmy buried his face in his arm, “I just couldn’t stand that!” Turning around he looked at his brothers and said defiantly, “We have to stay hidden. At least until we can figure out what to do.”
Little Jon got up and walked over and hugged his older brother, “What about that sheriff you know? The one that took you to the real Konocti… Can’t he help us?” the small boy asked hopefully. “He looked like a nice guy.”
Jimmy looked down at the pitiful face; and patted his little head sadly; but said nothing.
A car engine brought the discussion to a halt. Jimmy looked out the window and sadly watched as the nurse helped Mrs. Capra out of the car and pushed her into the house. He wished it could be him that was pushing her wheel chair. Taking care of her.
The garage remained quiet. Pretty soon Jimmy looked at his watch and then reached for his walkman out of his back pack and turned on the news. The realization that they were not out of danger started setting in and the boys looked to their rescuer for guidance.
“We’re gunna be fine,” Jimmy said, “Don’t worry. I have a plan. Right now get some more sleep because we have a long voyage tonight. Tonight, we‘re buccaneers!” He forced a grin as he said the last part, hoping to get them in a lighter mood.
Even though rowing across the lake at night was precarious, Jimmy reminded himself that it was the only way. Because- as he realized earlier- six boys and a dog in a boat was bound to draw attention in daylight. He was glad that although there would be moonlight, it was not a full moon. That would be too much light. But the crescent moon should be just enough light to see where they were going, but not be seen from the shore.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” Jimmy said, and started gathering up some life jackets, sleeping bags, a pop-up tent and some old discarded back backs and from a shelf; some his and some left by Mrs. Capra’s former foster kids. He quickly stuffed the back packs into the much larger backpack taken from the cabin.
As darkness settled on the lake the five boys, each wearing a life jacket and carrying a rolled up sleeping bag, quietly followed Jimmy who had strapped on his backpack and carrying the pop-up tent; led them single file down the dock to the row boat. Piling all the gear in the bow of the boat, Jimmy padded the pile and whispered to Hero, “Place!” which was the word he used to tell him where he wanted him to be. Hero quickly jumped up proudly taking his place as captain, and Jimmy helped Joey crawl up beside the dog, taking his place direct behind them to keep an eye on them. Despite the seriousness of the situation the boys were excited about the boat ride. As soon as Jimmy got them clear of the dock he let his brothers take turns paddling and was happy to be the instructor and not the rower for a change.
As they got out on the lake Timmy suddenly grabbed the kids closest to him and said “Shhh!” and pointed back toward Mrs. Capra’s dock. Headlights had just pulled into the drive way and stopped near the garage that they had just vacated. The boys stopped rowing and all eyes were on Jimmy. “It is definitely an SUV, but it may not be Melbourne. Maybe it’s Ron, the sheriff deputy you met at CMAS. He drives an SUV.” Jimmy said hopefully. “But I can’t tell for sure.” He could see the terror on his brother’s faces even in the darkness, “It’s okay,” he whispered reassuringly, “No one can see us out here. It’s too dark.”
Again, Jimmy was glad that it was not a full moon. He was also glad that he took the time to make sure not even water bottles or candy wrappers were left in the garage. The boys watched in silence and as flashlights bounced towards the dock and flashed on the larger fishing boat on the lift. No one dared to breathe. Jimmy was notice that the flashlights weren’t being aimed where the dingy had been tied. Who ever it was didn’t know about it.
The porch light came on and the flash lights went off.
“It’s Melbourne, alright!” whispered Jimmy trying to keep the fear from his voice. “If it was Ron he wouldn’t be sneaking.” And to himself he thought, “And Ron would know to look for the dingy.” Jimmy continued to stare at the porch light, holding his breath.
Soon the backup lights of the SUV came on and the kids watched as the SUV pulled away from Mrs. Capra’s house.
Jimmy sunk down on his seat in relief. “They didn’t go into the house. Mrs. Capra is safe. For the time being anyway.” He thought.
He motioned for the kids to resume paddling. And soon the boys were joking and occasionally splashing each other with the cold water, as the dingy glided over the smooth water.
Jimmy was glad to see that his brothers were so resilient. He was glad that the months in the cave didn’t rob them of their boyishness. This time he didn’t try to quiet them. He felt sure they were far enough out to not be heard. Anyway he hoped so.
But he had a new worry. “Were the evil men scared off by the porch light? And had they been there before and knew about this little row boat… and would they return to find it missing?” he worried. “Would they soon be out on the lake searching for us?” Trying to hide this new fear from his brothers, as they passed Sawyer Island he told the boys how he and Hero spent a few nights there and how they played in the tules. The boys wanted to go explore it, but he said “You just wait! I’ve got a better island for you!” He knew they were going to love Windmill Island as he preferred to call it.