Into a rare moment of silence, Sylvia said, “oh, did you hear about those two boys?”
Now that was a subject that was never discussed. The other four girls simply stared at their friend.
Sylvia gave them a disgusted look. “I’m talking about the boys who are trapped in that mine.” There was a sigh of relief that passed around the table. That was better . . . sometimes it’s acceptable to talk about boys, but only if they were up to something really and truly stupid.
“I did” said Presley “what were they thinking?”
“My mom said that they were just exploring when it caved in,” added Melody.
“I heard that they can’t get to them . . . you know . . . before they run out of air. Isn’t that awful?” asked Angela.
“I didn’t hear about this,” said a wide-eyed Egg. “When did it happen?”
“Saturday night their parents reported them missing. The rescue people have been there ever since trying to get an air tube thingy down to them. But so far, it hasn’t worked.”
“That’s just too horrible. They must be so scared.” Egg’s mind was racing. She was sure that Flying Girl could help, but how was she going to get away? Then an idea came to her. “I have to go to the nurse, I have a terrible headache. I’ll see you guys later.”
“Hope you feel better” said Melody.
“Do you want me to walk with you?” asked a very concerned Sylvia.
“No, I’ll be okay. Thanks.” And Egg dropped the remains of her lunch in the trash and hurried off to the nurse.
When she got there, she told Nurse Kratchet that she had a terrible headache and she needed her medicine. “Can I call my grandmother? My mom’s not home.”
“Of course, dear. Meanwhile, I’ll get you a nice cold compress.”
When the nurse left the room, she dialed her Grammy.
“Hello.”
“Grammy, it’s me.”
“Egg . . . is everything all right?”
“No” and she told her about the two boys and what she had in mind.
“I’ll be right there.” She arrived in about ten minutes and in another five minutes, she and her granddaughter were heading home.
“What should we tell my mom?”
“No need to tell her anything. I called and asked her to run an errand for me. So she’s not home and won’t be for another few hours.”
“Grammy, you’re the best.”
“No, dear, you are. This is a very brave thing you’re going to do. But, I’m not sure how Flying Girl can help.”
Egg laughed and said “Oops. I forgot to tell. Guess what the ring does?”
“You got the magic to work? You are amazing. Don’t keep an old lady in suspense . . . what does it do?”
“You are not old. I keep telling you that. You’re not old until you turn seventy-seven.” That was the number of months she calculated till the suit ran out of power and the number just popped into her head.
“You’re sweet. Now tell me about the ring.” Her grandmother was very excited to find out what it did.
“It lets me change size . . .” and she told the story.
“I’m . . . I’m . . . I’m . . . speechless.”
“Why?”
“Because the magic keeps getting more and more amazing; and because you keep uncovering the jewelry’s secrets. For hundreds and hundreds of years no one could do what you have done in a few months. I am awed.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means that you are as special as I always knew you were. It’s like the suit and jewelry were made just for you.”
They arrived at Egg’s house and she ran upstairs and changed into her suit. She slipped the ring on her finger, kissed her Grammy goodbye, went to the balcony and leapt into the sky. “Hang on, guys . . . Flying Girl will save you.”
Her grandmother told her to follow the river that ran not far from her house. If she headed west, in the general direction of the sun, she would soon come to the highest hill in the area. On top were two observatories – buildings where they put telescopes. These belong to the university and should be very easy to spot.
And sure enough, after flying as fast as she had ever flown, she found what she was looking for . . .
Now she made a left turn and followed the road. And it wasn’t long before she saw all the rescue trucks and people. She was surprised that there were so many – she counted seven trucks and stopped when she got to twenty-three people.
Her grandmother had told her what she had to do. First, get into the cave unnoticed which would be very easy. Next, she should follow the air hose that the rescuers were trying to get down to the kids. When she got to the end, she would have to grab the hose and pull it to wherever the kids were trapped. Most importantly, she had to hurry . . . time was running out. Actually, it was the boys’ air that was running out.
She landed out of sight and commanded the ring to shrink her to the size of a butterfly. She had almost said fly . . . you know, without the butter . . . but, ugg, who wanted to be a dirty old fly. ‘And, talking about flies’ she thought to herself, ‘why in the world would anyone call a pie . . . shoe fly pie?’ It made absolutely no sense.
As before, the sensation wasn’t that of shrinking, but of the world growing incredibly large. It made you kind of dizzy for a few seconds. Her grandmother warned her that at this size she wouldn’t be very strong. So pulling the air hose would be difficult. But, more importantly, a spider or mouse would be bigger than she was. Without her normal strength, they could eat her. So, her Grammy made her promise to be very, very careful.
She flew past some of the rescuers who were doing . . . well rescue things and into the cave.
It shocked her at first. She was expecting a dark, quiet cave. Instead, it was bright from dozens and dozens of flashlights and noisy beyond belief. Men were talking or shouting and some were banging into the rock walls with some kind of a hand held . . . whatever-you-called-it machine. It was throwing bits of dirt and rock in every direction. A couple of pieces nearly hit her and that would have been a catastrophe.
She saw the air hose and flew down low so she could follow it. The first part was easy. There was lots of room and lots of light. Then it went down into a dark hole and the light soon disappeared. Now she had to go very slowly with one hand on the hose. If she lost contact with it, she might get lost and never find her way back. And down she went . . . deeper and deeper. And it got darker and darker. It also got colder and colder. She wasn’t sure what she had expected, but this was certainly not it.
As she went even lower, the sounds from the rescuers became very faint. The feeling of being trapped in this dark, cold place began to take hold of her. It wasn’t too much longer before she became very frightened and began to doubt whether she could do this. There are some things a nine-year-old girl – even Flying Girl – shouldn’t have to do.
Taking a deep breath to calm herself, she forced herself to go on. It was the hardest thing she had ever done.
Then she came to the end of the hose so she stopped. In the total darkness, how was she ever going to find those boys? She decided to yell and hope they could hear her. “Hey guys are you down here. Say something. I came to help you.”
Nothing. “Oh, you ninny” she thought to herself. I bet they can’t hear me yelling when I’m so tiny. She felt around as best she could and decided there was room for her to make herself bigger. “Ring, make me half my normal size.” Now that was good thinking because the space she was in wasn’t that big and she bumped her head, as she grew bigger.
“Ouch” she cried.
“Hey, who’s there?”
The sound of a voice made her jump in fright until she realized it must be one of the boys. “Are you alright?”
“No, you stupid person. We’re trapped a million miles underground and it’s getting very hard to breath.”
“Hey, be nice. I came all this way to help you.”
“Well, hurry up.”
She could not believe it. She was risking her life and this guy was being incredibly rude. Boys! ‘Are they all this bad mannered’ she thought to herself.
“Your rescuers should be here in a little while. In the meantime take this” and she pushed the air hose towards the sound of the voice.
“Got it.”
“You’re welcome,” she said in an irritated voice.
“Hey.”
“Hey, what?”
“Who are you and how’dya get here?”
“I’m Flying Girl and I flew.”
“Yeah, right.”
She was so irritated she wanted to scream. Instead, she said, “Have a nice day” and followed the air hose back up. ‘I guess it takes all kinds’ she thought to herself sadly. ‘I know I’ll never have a boyfriend. Never.’
Chapter 5 – Shoo Fly
She giggled. The boys hadn’t sounded love sick; they were just rude. But, to her amazement, she didn’t care. It wasn’t the thank you’s that made doing good deeds rewarding . . . it was the deeds themselves. She had saved two people and for that, she was very happy. Besides, the two boys were probably scared out of their very small minds but were too proud to show it.
When she had flown back home, her Grammy was standing on her balcony looking very anxious. As Egg came into view, the older woman broke into a gigantic smile. She landed and they hugged for a long time . . . Grammy didn’t seem to want to let go.
“Well, tell me everything.”
And she did. When she got to the part about how rude the boys were, they both laughed. “Wait till they tell everyone that some girl gave them the air hose. Ha . . . no one will ever believe them.”
Then they heard the front door unlock and Egg’s mom call out “Hello, Mother, I’m back.”
“Quick, change out of your flying suit and I’ll go tell your mom that you came home with a headache.”
So Egg fetched her little chest, slipped out of her suit and put it, and the ring, inside. She locked it and went to put it back on the shelf in her closet, but she couldn’t find her little stepladder. Hearing her mother coming down the hall, she put the chest on the floor, covered it with some shoes and jumped on the bed.
The door opened and her mother walked in. “How are you feeling, babe?”
“Oh, absolutely fine now, thanks.”
“Can I get you something?”
“No, mom, really I’m fine. The headache’s all gone and Grammy said I didn’t have a temperature.”
“Okay, but if you change your mind, just holler.”
*****
Her mother was pleased to see that Egg had recovered enough to have dinner with the family. And she was particularly pleased with her dinner conversation. Her daughter was talking and laughing and all in all seemed very pleased with herself.
Egg’s dad noticed the same thing. “Sweetheart, you seem particularly happy tonight. Care to share?” It was his pet phrase whenever he wanted one of his three girls to talk about what was on their mind.
“Oh, Daddy, I’m just a naturally happy person. Besides, Grammy said I should smile and laugh a lot more. So I am.”
Her mom, dad and big sister all exchanged looks. Finally Ashley said ‘I bet I can guess why she’s so happy . . . she must have a boyfriend.”
At first Egg’s eyes flew wide in horror, then her mouth flew open and she let out a giant squeal. She started to laugh and laugh and nothing anyone could say could make her stop. About a gazillion seconds later, she finally got control of herself and said to her older sister “. . . yup, I have a boyfriend and I can fly like a bird.” Then she started to laugh again.
Her family was saved from all this uncontrollable happiness by the ringing of the phone. Ashley ran to answer it.
“Oh, hi, Gram. Sure, I’ll get her. It’s for Scrambled Egg,” teased the older girl.
Egg got up and answered the phone. “Hi, Grammy. Yes, I’m fine now. Thank you for everything today. Saturday . . . oh, that would be wonderful. Let me ask.” And she put the phone down and turned to her mother. “Can I go to Grammy’s on Saturday? She’s invited me and Ham for a sleepover.”
“Of course. Just remember that we’re having a garage sale on Sunday so you need to get back early to help.”
“Grammy, I can. I’ll call Ham. Thank you. Love you too” and she hung up.
*****
Sylvia was very excited about the sleepover. She had heard so much about the farmhouse and was dying to see it. On the drive over, Egg and her mom were telling Ham all the stories they could think of about the farm and Grammy.
“Did you know that my mother was a hero?” asked Egg’s mom.
“No. What did she do?”
“Hey, I didn’t know that either.” Egg sounded offended that there was a family story that she hadn’t heard.
“Well, she rescued a little girl that had gotten lost. Apparently, a bunch of folks were at the farm for a Fourth of July picnic . . . including the Mayor and his family. When it was time to leave, one of his kids, a five-year-old girl, turned up missing. So they organized a big search party. They had to move fast because back in those days there were a lot of mountain lions and bears in the hills . . .”
“Lions?” asked a startled Sylvia.
“And bears?” asked an even more startled Egg.
“Oh my, yes” replied Mrs. Graystone “but thankfully no tigers.”
“TIGERS” both girls squeaked.
“Don’t be a pair of ninnies. Remember what Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz . . . Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh my.”
The girls just stared at her.
“Never mind. Anyway, they searched everywhere but they couldn’t find the girl. The Mayor’s wife was hysterical . . . you know – crying and crying. By evening they called off the search and everyone met back at the farmhouse.”
“Well, my mother was ten years old at the time. And as everyone was sitting around the porch trying to decide what to do next, guess who walked up the front steps? It was your grandmother and she had the little girl.”
“What happened?”
“Truthfully, no one really knows and your Grammy won’t tell. Supposedly, she went out looking like everyone else and just happened to find her down in some gully about two miles from the farm. Ha . . .”
“Why do you say ‘Ha’?”
“Because all the grown-ups with all their skills at tracking people couldn’t do what a ten year old girl could do. Seems pretty fishy to me.”
“Mother, it’s not how old you are, but how big your heart is.”
“That sounds like your grandmother talking. Anyway, the girl was safe and everyone was very relieved. When they asked her how she was found, do you know what the child said?”
“No. What?”
“That your grandmother flew down like a bird, picked her up and flew her back to the farmhouse!”
Sylvia laughed . . . but Egg only smiled.
*****
As she was dropping them off, Mrs. Graystone asked her daughter “Did you gather up your old clothes and other junk for the garage sale like I asked?”
“Yes, Mom. I put it in a pile by my closet.”
“Thank you, dear. You two have a great time.
*****
Sylvia fell in love with the farm and farmhouse; it was everything she thought it would be. It was almost like a museum with all the old furniture and antique appliances and bathroom and . . . well, everything.
After the grand tour, which took almost an hour, the girls settled in for a lovely night of fun. First they all helped with cooking dinner and making cookies for dessert. Afterwards they played UNO and Gin Rummy. Then Grammy made a big bowl of popcorn and they all sat around the table and tried to complete a big jigsaw puzzle of . . .
“Isn’t she wonderful?” said Sylvia dreamily.
“I think that she’s the finest lady in the world,” answered Grammy.
“Why?” asked her granddaughter.
“Because for the millions of people w
ho came to live in this country, it was the first thing they saw. It meant freedom and opportunity. And, it still does.”
“I would love to see it someday,” said Sylvia.
“A trip to New York would be a wonderful adventure for us. What else could we see there?”
“Umm . . . how about the Empire State Building” chimed Egg. She knew her grandmother was trying to make a game of this.
“How about St. Patrick’s church?” asked Ham.
“It’s called a cathedral,” corrected Grammy.
And so for the next ten minutes everyone took a turn naming something famous in New York . . . Broadway, Ellis Island, Central Park, the Hudson River, Yankee Stadium.
Then, Egg mentioned the World Trade Center. “I think we would absolutely have to visit the Memorial. It’s the least we could do to honor those poor people.”
“That’s a very patriotic thought and I agree with you one hundred percent.” said her Grammy. “They are going to replace those two buildings with one magnificent skyscraper. Then the whole world will know that the bad guys can’t win.”
“That’s why we need heroes, isn’t it?” asked Egg.
“Yes, dear. You can never have too many heroes.”
They completed the puzzle and the popcorn and then headed for Grammy’s big comfy bed. When Sylvia went to the bathroom to brush her teeth, Egg said to her Grandmother “I think I’ll fly Ham to New York next week. I think she’ll love it.”
“That’s a wonderful idea. Just be careful.”
“Always.”
*****
They got a late start the next day, and by the time they dropped Sylvia off at home, it was almost noon. When they pulled up in front of the house, there was a bunch of cars.
Boxed Set: Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood: [The 12 book 1st adventure + the series prequel] Page 19