by Patricia Fry
“Oh, stop with your whining,” Savannah teased, then changed the subject. “So when are you going fishing?”
“As soon as we get legal,” Michael said. “I guess we’ll go see Skip about renting a boat, then motor or row across the lake to buy our licenses.”
“I want to go in a boat,” Cassie announced.
“Me too,” Adam said.
“Me too,” Bethany chirped. “Want to go on a boat, Lily?”
Lily nodded.
“What is he doing?” Michael asked, pointing at Rags.
Savannah turned to look. “I think he and Lexie chased a bug under that lamp, although it appears that Lexie has lost interest. I guess I’d better let it out from under there before Rags breaks something.” She walked to where the cat continued pawing at the base of the floor lamp. “What is it, sweet boy?” she crooned, lifting the lamp a couple of inches off the floor. She asked the others, “Did you see anything crawl out?”
“No,” Holly said. “It must be hanging onto the lamp—you know, up inside there.”
Savannah shook the lamp a little. When nothing fell out of it, and seeing that Rags was still anxious about something, she lifted it higher, trying to look inside the base.
“Wait!” Adam shouted. “There’s something hanging out of there. What is that?”
Savannah took a few steps back, holding the lamp at arm’s length. She screeched, “Is it alive?”
“No.” He pointed. “Look, it just fell out.” Adam walked closer, studied the object, and picked it up.
“What is it?” Savannah asked, placing the lamp on the floor.
“A little package,” he said.
“Probably something someone hid for safekeeping,” Keith suggested. “That lamp looks pretty old. It could have been in there for a long time.”
“Can’t be anything too valuable,” Michael said. When the others looked at him, he explained, “It’s too small to be an expensive diamond ring or someone’s life savings.”
“Open it,” Cassie prodded.
Everyone stood around quietly while Adam unwrapped the package, finally revealing, “It’s a key.”
“Oh!” Holly exclaimed.
Keith moved closer. “What kind of a key? I wonder what it goes to.”
“Looks like it could fit a cedar chest, or maybe an old safe, or…” Michael started
“A cash box,” Savannah suggested. “You know, a metal box for cash.”
“Hmmm,” Michael murmured. He thought of something. “Hey, is there anything else up in there?” He reached for the lamp, removed the shade, and tipped it so he could see inside. “Nope. Just that key, I guess.”
“And maybe a bug,” Keith added. When the others looked at him, he explained, “Rags and Lexie must have thought there was a bug under there, or they wouldn’t have been so interested.”
Savannah thought for a moment. “Or this was sticking out enough to make them curious. Rags can’t resist anything that’s poking out from under a door, a box, or whatever. I have to be careful when putting the kids’ clothes away. If I catch Teddy’s sleepers in a drawer or one of Lily’s tutus in the closet door, he starts clawing at it. He’s obsessed with things that are half hidden.”
Meanwhile, Adam announced, “Hey, here’s a note. Someone wrote a note on this wrapper that was around the key.”
“Does it say what the key goes to?” Cassie asked.
Adam smoothed out the paper. “Let’s see. It says, ‘Rodes are red…’”
“Huh?” Michael questioned. He suggested, “Is it roses?”
Adam looked down at the paper. “Yeah, roses.” He started again, “Roses are red, violets are blue, this key will unlock a dream for you.” He looked up at the others. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I don’t know,” Savannah said. She stared at the key in Adam’s hand. “I wonder who it belongs to. It could be meant as a gift—like a graduation gift for a college student or something.” When the others looked at her, she explained, “It might go to a box containing money or a car key or…”
Michael took the piece of paper from Adam and turned it over a few times. “But what’s it doing in Craig’s lamp?”
“Good question,” Savannah said, pulling her phone out of her pocket. “I’m going to call him.”
“But hon,” Michael warned, “it was hidden. He probably didn’t mean for us to find it.”
She thought about what he’d said, then admitted, “Well, I’m curious. Anyway, it obviously wasn’t very well hidden. He may want us to put it someplace else so Rags doesn’t dig it up again.” She started to walk out the door to make the call.
“Maybe he doesn’t know about it,” Michael suggested. When the others looked inquisitively at him, he said, “Can you imagine the detective writing a poem?”
Savannah chuckled. “Maybe a bad one like that.”
“But he may not have written it. He might not even know about that key,” Holly said. “Yeah, call him. I’m curious, too.”
Savannah started to walk outside with her phone, then stopped to check on Teddy, who was bouncing in his bouncy chair.
“He’s okay,” Gladys said. “I’ll entertain him.” She smiled. “That’s one thing about Teddy, he’s easily entertained.”
“Yeah, as long as the little girls are close by, he’s happy. He loves the girlie shows,” Michael quipped.
“What did Craig say?” Holly asked, when Savannah returned.
“He doesn’t have a clue,” she said, shaking her head. “He doesn’t even recognize the lamp by my description. I’m going to take a picture and send it to him.” After returning to the cabin the second time, she reported, “He’s never seen it before.”
“The lamp?” Michael asked. “Oh, probably Iris bought it without him knowing. He just never noticed it.”
“Yeah, he’s going to show her the picture when she gets home. But he’s pretty sure she wouldn’t haul a large lamp like this one all the way up here.”
Michael lowered his brow. “Are we in the right cabin?”
“Yes,” Savannah said. “I’m sure of that.” She frowned and glanced around the open area from the living room, into the kitchen, then said with more confidence, “Yeah, this is their place and their furniture.”
“But apparently not their lamp,” Keith said. “Have they had renters here since their last stay?”
Savannah nodded. “Craig said they’ve rented it out a couple of times lately. But why would a tenant bring a lamp to a mountain cabin and leave it?”
Holly said thoughtfully, “Well, either a renter needed more light during their stay, bought it, and left it here, oblivious to the secret key inside or…” she rolled her eyes and spoke using a mysterious tone, “someone sneaked it into the cabin intentionally with the secret inside.”
“And leave it to the wonder cat to find it,” Keith said, petting Rags.
“Yeah,” Michael complained, “Rags the secret detector.”
“Uncle Michael, are you mad at Rags?” Cassie asked. “Don’t you like it when he finds things?”
He looked at her and explained, “No, because Rags’s secrets usually have a way of coming back and biting your poor old Uncle Michael.”
Chapter 2
“Is everyone wearing a life jacket?” Michael asked. “I see that Beth-Beth is.” He tickled her. “You little mermaid, you.”
“I’m a mermaid,” Lily said, showing off her life vest. She pointed. “Cassie’s a mermaid, Daddy.”
“I want to be a porpoise!” Cassie offered.
Michael picked up a twig, tapped her on top of the head with it, and said, “I crown you a porpoise.”
The girls giggled.
“And Teddy,” he said, tapping his head, “you’re a pollywog.”
“A pollywog,” Adam said, laughing. “That’s funny, Dad.”
Michael faced his older son and spoke in a low, eerie voice, “And you, lad, are a big bad shark.”
“Amen,” Holly agreed.
Adam cocked his head. “Then why are we wearing them, if you don’t want us to get wet?”
“It’s called a precautionary measure,” Keith explained.
“Huh?” Cassie asked.
“In case you fall overboard,” Savannah said.
“Over a board?” Bethany questioned.
Savannah chuckled. “Out of the boat.” She spoke more sternly. “But that’s not going to happen, okay?”
“Good morning,” Michael called when they approached the dock and saw a man working on an outboard motor. “Are you the keeper of the boats?”
The man stood and greeted them. “Hello there! Yes, I’m Skip. Yer the folks stayin’ in the Sledge cabin, right?”
“Yes. I’m Michael. This is my wife, Savannah, and her mother, Gladys; my brother, Keith, and his wife, Holly.” He made a sweeping motion with one arm, adding, “These are our children.”
Skip squinted. “Yeah, I think I remember some of ya.” He focused on Savannah. “You was here a few years ago with Mrs. Sledge and some other ladies.” He shuddered. “That was a nightmarish weekend. All heck was broke loose when the awful secret about that crazy actor and Mr. Sledge’s relative came ta light.”
“Tell me about it,” Savannah quipped. “I hope this stay will be saner and safer.”
Skip chuckled and looked around their ankles, asking, “Did ya bring yer cat? I remember that cat of yers. In fact, you brought two cats, didn’t ya?”
Savannah nodded. “Yes, we have one of the cats with us.”
“Not by choice,” Michael interjected.
When Skip looked quizzically at Michael, Adam explained, “He hid in the trailer and we didn’t know it until we were almost here.”
Skip studied Adam for a moment, then burst out laughing. “Is that a true story?”
“I’m afraid it is,” Michael said. “Say, Skip, we’d like to rent a couple of skiffs for our stay here—through Saturday. We’re leaving on Sunday.”
The boat tender lowered his eyebrows. “Yer not stayin’ fer the big show—ya know, the big reveal, some are callin’ it?”
“What’s going to be revealed?” Keith asked.
“Well, we don’t exactly know, but it’s happenin’ at the church, and I don’t think anyone’s gonna miss it.”
“What is it, some sort of promotional ploy to get more people planted in the pews?” Michael snarked.
Skip thought about Michael’s comment. “I don’t think so. Oh no,” he said, shaking his head. “Whoever got them keys is gonna be there fer sure and everyone else is too curious to stay away. Yeah, that church will be jammed, come Sunday.”
“Sounds like a good place to stay away from if you don’t like crowds,” Michael remarked. More seriously, he asked, “So can we rent two boats from you? Two will be enough for the ten of us, right?”
“Sure. I have a couple that’ll accommodate yer group. Let me show ya.” He led the men to the other side of the dock and pointed out two larger boats. Skip made some marks on a form and asked Michael to sign it. He then handed Michael a copy and instructed, “Show this to Phyll on the other side and she’ll hold these fer when yer ready to come back. If I’m not here when ya return, pull ’em ’round to this side of the dock and take the key with ya. As you can see, the boats on this side are reserved.”
He winced, adding, “We pretty much go on the honor system, but you’ll want to take the motor keys with ya just in case.” He faced the men. “While we generally live a quiet, peaceful life up here among the pines, things are gettin’ a little crazy and unpredictable, what with that secret key fiasco stirring everyone up.”
“Key?” Keith questioned. “Do you mean the outboard motor keys?”
“No!” Skip insisted. “I told y’all about the meetin’ at the church come Sunday. Well, it’ll all be explained then, from what I’m told. As I understand it, chosen people are findin’ keys in strange places with notes attached—notes that don’t mean beans to most of them. Some believe the keys are somehow gonna transform their lives into somethin’…” he paused, then threw his arms up in the air. “…well, magical. They’re all livin’ in fairyland, if ya ask me.”
Holly appeared confused. “So no one knows where the keys are coming from?”
“No. People are findin’ ’em in some of the most unusual places and some others are tryin’ ta get their hands on those keys.” His eyes grew wide when he said, “How do they know that findin’ a key’s a good thing? It might be somethin’ bad. Know what I mean?” He scoffed, “Well, alls I know is that this mountain community has been turned upside down by the findin’ of a few ordinary keys because of what people hopes is true or dreams is true. It’s crazy, I tell ya!”
Savannah and Holly rolled their eyes at each other.
Keith thought about what Skip had said, then let out a sigh. “Okay, shall we go fishing?”
“And shopping!” Cassie shouted.
Keith checked Bethany’s life vest to make sure it was secure, then Cassie’s. “Okay, Holly, you climb aboard first and I’ll help the girls in.”
Once the three of them were seated, Holly called out, “Gladys, there’s room for one more. Why don’t you ride with us?”
“Okay,” she said, taking Keith’s hand, stepping gingerly into the skiff, and sitting down.
Once the Iveys were seated in the second boat, Michael looked at Adam with a glint in his eye. “Shall we race them to the other side?”
“Sure,” Adam said, grinning.
“Are we going to fish in this water?” Cassie asked.
“No,” Holly said. “We’re going to motor over to the other side, right, Keith?”
“That’s right.”
“We girls are going shopping,” Holly reminded her.
“And Teddy?” Bethany asked.
Savannah nodded from their boat while double-checking Teddy’s tiny life jacket.
Adam looked toward the cabin, asking, “And Rags and Lexie have to stay back there?”
“Yes,” Michael insisted. “We have two full boatloads as it is. If one of them could row a boat, then I might consider bringing them with us.”
“You’re funny, Uncle Michael,” Cassie said. “Animals can’t row a boat.”
Bethany chirped, “My teacher read a story about a cat that rowed a boat.”
“Knowing Rags,” Keith said, “he could probably do it. Ship ahoy!” he shouted, starting the outboard motor.
Meanwhile, as the Iveys got situated in their boat, Savannah pointed and spoke loudly enough to be heard over the whirr of Keith’s motor, “There’s a kind of neat waterway up that direction with pretty scenery and, I believe, good fishing. You can take a boat from here.” She pointed in the other direction. “There’s a waterfall from this lake into the river over there, so stay clear of that or you could be in for some serious trouble.” She added, “You can fish down that way from the bank. I’m not sure if you can get boats somewhere along that part of the river. Do you know, Michael?”
“I think you can,” he said.
“Sounds like you’ve had experience with that waterfall,” Holly affirmed.
“Yes,” Savannah said, wide-eyed. “Our boat drifted awfully close one late night…”
“You came out here in the dark?” Keith asked, shocked.
She nodded. “It was an emergency.”
When Michael started the motor on their boat, she shouted, “I’ll tell you about it later.”
The dock on the other side of the lake was bustling with anglers preparing for an afternoon of fishing.
“Looks like we’ll have some competition, bro,” Keith said, once they’d pulled up to the dock.
“No matter,” Michael responded. “With my luck, competition is a moot point.”
“Think positive, man,” Keith urged.
“Can we leave the life vests in the boat?” Holly asked.
“I don’t know why not,” Michael said. “We have the boat for the next three days, and I think Skip and Phyll are pretty good watchdogs.”
“Naw, there’s no problem,” a rotund woman of about forty said, walking toward them. “Did Skip release these skiffs to you?” she asked. “By the way, I’m Phyll.”
“Yes,” Michael said, showing her the paperwork. “These two skiffs.”
“Okay, then they’re yours through Saturday.” She squinted up at Michael. “You’re leaving Saturday? Aren’t you staying for the church program?”
“Uh...” Michael stalled. He looked at Keith and the women.
“You don’t want to miss it. Everyone’s sure keyed up around here.” She laughed at her play on words.
“We found a key in a lamp,” Adam blurted.
Phyll looked at him. “No kidding? Was there a note with it? A poem?”
“Yeah,” Adam said. “Do you know what it’s to?”
She shook her head briskly. “No one does. Everyone knows about the keys and the notes, but no one knows what it means. Pastor Sterling says he knows and he’s going to tell us all about it on Sunday.” She frowned. “I hope he isn’t fooling us and alls he’s going to do is rattle off that churchy stuff that no one understands.”
“So others have found keys?” Holly asked.
“Yes. Lots of people.” She promptly changed her tune. “Well, maybe not so many, but there sure are lots of people looking for them.”
“Did you find a key?” Cassie asked.
Phyll shook her head and grumbled, “No. I keep looking everywhere—the props on those motors, under the seats in the boats, the bottoms of my shoes. One guy found a key taped to the bottom of one of his work boots. But I haven’t found any keys.” Her face brightened. “Skip did.”
“Where?” Adam asked.
She looked at him for a moment before saying, “In one of the tubs where he collects extra feed and greens for some of the wild animals in winter.”
“Is he a hunter?” Savannah asked suspiciously.
“Oh no. He loves the animals. He’s just trying to keep them healthy and happy.”