Aya, 9, Brookline, MA
It was a cool day in August. Well, cool for summer. In fact, in a city in Florida, Owen was sweating his head off. And playing four rounds of solitaire was not making it colder.
Mr. Thornhart came out of the kitchen.
“Sorry, kids, no more air conditioning,” he said, like there ever was any. “You know, your mother will get you a treat! Right Phillipa?”
“Um... Dad, Mum isn’t home,” said Eleanora.
Their dad stared at her like she had two heads.
Meanwhile in Maine:
“Theodore Jefferson STRANGE!!! Don’t hit Jenny like that! You got in a tiny argument, so what!?” said Miss. Strange.
“Muuum! Can I have cake?” said Jenny.
“NOOOOO…!!! You started it!!!”
Jen’s mom always got in fits like this now that Papa had died.
“Ug!” yelled Jenny as she stomped up the stairs. Well everybody has days.
The doorbell rang. “Theo?” a small voice said. “Um… Ms. Strange, I'm here for a playdate with Theo? Um... okay?”
…It went on and on. You get it.
One day Jenny was on the beach with her family, on the Fourth of July. She was licking a strawberry ice cream bar in the background of booms and pops of the fireworks.
She was tired.
“Muh… can we go now?” she said.
“No. But you can explore, just don't get poison ivy. And stay close.”
She got lucky. If her mom remembered she was grounded, it would be “no, no, NO!” for her.
Eleanora and Owen biked home together and sometimes brought friends, and today at school they found out about the Stranges. A family that moved from Maine (sounds familiar!) and they found out that the kids were about the same age. Theodore and Jennifer Strange. Being neighbors, they biked home together.
“What ya’ doing today?” asked Owen.
“I don’t know, normal -- homework?” said Theo.
“Well then, want to bike over to Mary’s path?!” cried Eleanora. “We can stop at home and tell our moms.”
Mary’s path was a path in the woods where Owen and Eleanora went a lot.
“Yeah! Perfect!” said Jenny.
Finally, they went home, parked their bikes, and went inside.
“Let’s go inside, ask our moms and get a snack,” said Jenny.
But when Jen and Theo got in, no mum.
“Muuuuuum!”
“Huh? Mom is always home,” said Jenny. “That's weird.”
“Let's go in her office,” said Theo.
But again, no mom.
“Ugh!!” said Theo, half-heartedly. “Let's leave a note.” So they did.
Outside:
“Our mom wasn't home, so we left a note,” said Jenny.
“Oh!” said Eleanora, “Our dad wasn't home ether! We thought he wouldn't care! But we have a peanut chocolate bar!”
So they packed it, got their bikes ready, and soon they were on their way.
By the end of that street, none of the stores or houses that usually were there were. But not even Jenny noticed, being deep in conversation.
“So what’s Maine like?” Owen asked.
“I dunno,” said Jenny. “Like full of restaurants and beaches.”
“It’s normal for us,” Theodore cut in.
“Oh, well. Do you miss it?” Eleanora questioned.
“Yes!” Jenny responded.
“But you can visit there. Maybe we can come,” Eleanora said.
“Sure!” Theo said.
“Good,” said Owen.
But then they stopped their bikes and stopped chitchatting. Mary’s path wasn’t in the woods!
“It’s not here!” Yelled Jenny.
“MARY’S PATH ISN'T HERE???” screeched Owen.
“No, it isn’t!” yelled Theo.
“Maybe it was renovated and gotten rid of?!” said Eleanora, truly upset.
“Well ... maybe,” Jenny sighed. She loved Mary’s path.
But they decided to go into the woods anyway. It was dark in there. Clouds rumbled over them, and rain began to fall.
“You sure this is a good idea?” Jenny whispered.
“You mean “was.” Owen shivered. “Let’s go back.”
Everyone broke into a run. But in fifteen minutes, they couldn’t find a way out of the woods.
“Are we lost?” Eleanora asked.
“Yes,” Theo said, plainly scared.
They sat down on a log, ate the peanut chocolate bar, and exchanged hoodies. Then they heard a mysterious sound.
“Bop. Bop bop beep. Bop beep beep. Beep. Beep bop beep bob. Bop beep bop.”
“What’s that?” Jenny asked timidly.
“Do I know?” Theo almost laughed. They walked toward the sound.
Within a few feet, there was an open, broken and wet computer with wispy gas streaming out. It seemed to have been destroyed; but these sounds kept coming from it.
“I’m scared,” Owen whispered. “What if it has to do with robbers? Or worse...?
The others tried not to think about robbers while they examined the computer.
“Hey! On the screen it says, ‘unknown message.’ It might be a message,” Theo noticed.
“But unknown?” Jenny shivered again.
They tried to rack their brains on how to decode the message.
“HEY!” Eleanora said suddenly. “What if it’s Morse Code?”
“How could it be?” Theo asked.
“Because of the noises! One’s ‘Bop,’ the other’s ‘Beep!’ yelled Owen.
“Yeah! One’s DASH and one’s DOT!!!” Theo said.
“I get it!” Jenny said. “But which are which?”
They pondered.
“You sure we want to find this out?” Owen whispered. But he wasn’t answered.
“The longer lettered one is dash!” exclaimed Eleanora. She explained that a dash is longer than a dot, and that maybe “Beep” was longer because of its letters.
“We know all the stuff now, but who knows Morse Code?” Theo asked.
“Not me,” everyone said.
“Ugh,” Owen said.
“But what if it isn’t Morse Code?” Jenny said.
Everyone looked at her.
“How?” Theo said.
“You know, it could just be rhythm,” Jenny responded.
“What do you mean?” Eleanora asked.
“What if those noises are in the same RHYTHM as letters?!!”
“Wow! Let’s try to see if it that works.” Owen said.
It did work. And when they made out all the letters, the whole message said “EARTH IN DANGER – STOP – BEWARE DRAGONS – STOP – FIND SAFETY TO SAVE YOURSELVES – STOP – GO IN THROUGH RAIN WAY – STOP – I REPEAT GO IN THROUGH RAIN WAY – STOP – SAVE THE EARTH – STOP – YOU HAVE VERY LITTLE TIME – STOP – GO NOW – STOP – OVER.”
Not the most pleasant message.
The children were much more scared than earlier and tried to figure out what “rain way” meant, with shaky hands and many questions.
To be continued…
Comments