Finders Keepers (4 page)

Nan's face went white-red even faster than Alex's, but Sheriff Duncan just cocked his head. “You don't say.”

“I do say. They moved here from Arizona.”

Sheriff Duncan studied Alex from head to toe. Finally he said, “Welcome to Hayward, Alex Clark.”

Nan stammered. “So … Alex Clark. Neil's son.” Then she thought a moment. “You're Neil's
son
? Goodness, he got a late start. I already have two grandsons your age.”

“Oh.” Alex rocked on his feet a bit.

“Well, you better be on your way, Christa,” Nan said. “And Alex, tell your dad I said hello. Seems like I'm always open, so tell him to stop by, okay?”

“By all means,” Sheriff Duncan said. “I'm always open, too. Tell him to stop by.”

 

THE CANOE AND THE BASEMENT

DISCOVERING TREASURE IN A SHIPWRECK

The Adventure:
Searching for Buck Punch's family fortune

The Place:
Whitefish Island, Pacific Ocean (Mr. Edmund Clark's sunken canoe, Whitefish Lake)

The Characters:
Chase Truegood (me) and Buck Punch (Alex)

The Wardrobe/Props:
Scuba suits (swim suits with life jackets), oxygen tanks (thermoses held in place with a belt), Exploration Collectron tools (coffee mugs, forks, spoons, salad tongs), swim goggles (swim goggles), and rope (rope)

Chase Truegood and Buck Punch have survived many adventures, but searching for Captain Capone's lost treasure might be their last.

A year before, infamous pirate Captain Capone stole Buck's family fortune and kidnapped Chase's sister Jade. Capone's ship disappeared in the fog and shark-filled waters by Whitefish Island. The ship has never been found. Until now. By treasure hunters Chase Truegood and Buck Punch.

Buck, with the survivor rope around his wrist, jumped into the thrashing waves from the dock of their explorer ship. Chase tightened her goggles and pressed her face into the water to watch for deadly sharks. When Chase felt a tug, she pulled the rope with all her might until Buck popped from the water.

He coughed up seawater and said, “It's definitely Captain Capone's ship. Says so right on the side. Good thing my goggles have lights.” Buck emptied rocks from the Exploration Collectron mug next to Chase.

Chase inspected Buck's samples with the Exploration Collectron spoon. “This stone is from the necklace Jade was wearing when she was kidnapped. Do you think she survived the shipwreck?”

“Depends. Was she a good swimmer?”

“A long time ago, she was the fastest,” Chase said. “Then she got slow and turned afraid and retired.”

Buck nodded. “The sharks are thick down there. Maybe they ate her.” He straightened his goggles. “I'm going back down to look for my family's fortune.”

“I better go, too, Buck. It's almost feeding time for the sharks. Two people oughta be down there.”

“You stay here. I don't need back-up.”

“I'll be the front-up. You be the back-up.”

“Chase, I'm the faster swimmer. I'll be the front-up.”

Chase wondered if Buck's concussion from his earlier dive was making him crazy. Everyone knew she'd won the international swimming race three years in a row. Despite his very best try, Buck came in last place.

“We'll dive together!” Chase said. “We can't take chances. We need that money in case Captain Capone is holding my sister hostage and wants a ransom.”

“Yes! I'll give you my money.”

“You're the best partner ever, Buck!”

Buck and Chase dove into the dark waves and blasted to the ocean floor at top speed. They pulled themselves around the ship, sticking their hands in every hole, feeling around for gold and silver.

Buck grabbed Chase's arm. Having been trained in sign language, he signed a message to Chase. “Look out! Sharks!”

“Hide in the ship!” Chase signed back with scared fingers.

Before Buck could answer, his whole body jerked. Chomped! Buck was chomped by a shark! Chase remembered the bottle of shark repellent in her scuba suit pocket. As she sprayed the shark's face, Chase pulled Buck to the surface. They had barely climbed onto their explorer boat when the shark torpedoed out of the water, narrowly missing Chase's head.

“He got me, Chase.” Buck rolled in pain.

“Thank God it's only a scratch.”

“Yes, a scratch. But sharks at Whitefish Island have poison on their fins. It finned me, Chase.”

Buck's eyelashes fluttered, then closed.

“Buck! Hang on. I've got the anti-fin medicine in the starbird engine.”

He moaned. “Too … late … Go on without me, Chase.” Now he wheezed. “Find the treasure … Save … your … sister.”

“We find the fortune together, or we don't find it at all!” Chase screamed.

“Chase Truegood, turn down the volume, will ya?” Amelia stood on the dock, hands on her hips, showing off her uniform: jean shorts and an
Eatsa Some Pizza
t-shirt. “I'm going to work, and you guys are being called for lunch. A storm's coming, so your next bold adventure might be a card game.”

Clouds were collecting in the sky, gathering in gray clumps.

Amelia The Princess stared into the water. “Is that a canoe?”

I shrugged.

“Really? You guys sunk a canoe? Alex?”

“I think it was an accident,” he said.

“It was not an accident,” Amelia said. “Why'd you do that?”

I took off my goggles so I could see her better. “We needed a shipwreck. It's not easy to sink a canoe. Trust me. Alex had to pour water into it while I jumped up and down. I fell like twenty times.” This information would have impressed Amelia My Sister.

“That's correct. It is not easy to sink a canoe. You know why?” She paused, but neither of us answered. “Because canoes float! Where is Mr. Clark? Are you supposed to be down here without supervision?”

“Do you want to play when you get home?” I asked.

“Christa, I asked you a question. Are you supposed to be down here without supervision?”

Alex said, “Grandpa said it's okay as long as we're wearing life jackets.”

“Do you?” I asked. “This canoe is awesome. Come on. It'll be fun!”

She shook her head and stomped to Mom's car without a word.

Alex pulled himself onto the dock and unclipped his life jacket. “You think we're gonna be in trouble?” He wiped his face on his towel, which was so dirty it left brown streaks on his face.

I crossed my fingers behind my back and said, “It's a boat. Water can't hurt it, Alex.”

Cheese sandwiches were already on the table with cans of orange soda and potato chips. This was our first lunch with Mr. Edmund Clark, and we were off to a good start. No tuna, no carrots, no raisins or apple slices. He understood potato chips came from vegetables, luckily.

The air was heavy and thunder grumbled. I loved storms because they gave the woods a bath, and everything smelled pure. I poked Alex. “You know why it smells good after it rains?”

“Because your nose sensors need cleaning.” He said this all confident, like he'd learned it at school.

I laughed. “That's just stupid! You wouldn't know about rain because you're from Arizona. Rain smells nice because it kicks up bacteria from the ground, and the bacteria smell good, kind of sweet, actually.”

“Now that's stupid.” He picked the crust from his sandwich without breaking it, leaving a perfect square on his plate.

“My mom's a science teacher. She told me.”

“Dough smells good because water kicks the yeast around, and it makes the smell of dough. My family's pizza is so good because we got the recipe from Italian people in Chicago.”

I'd been wanting to ask Alex about his family and gangsters since our visit to the bait shop. This was my chance. “Were the Italian people gangsters?”

Alex chewed fast and hard. “I don't know. Who cares? That was like a hundred years ago. If my family knew gangsters, they were probably trying to reform them.”

“Maybe that's why your grandpa wants to donate all the gangster money to the National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame. He wants to do something good with bad money.”

“There isn't any gangster money!” Potato chip crumbs flew from his mouth as he talked. “I asked my dad about everything the sheriff said at the bait shop. My dad said small towns are rumor mills, and that's partly why he left. He said everything started from one stupid picture. One night Al Capone ate dinner at Clarks Fine Dining, and my great grandpa asked if they could get a picture taken together because Capone was famous. So they did, and my great grandpa hung it on the wall. That was it. He served Capone a steak, and they took a picture.”

“Did you ask your grandpa about it?”

“I asked my dad. Why would I ask my grandpa?”

“Your dad wasn't even born then. Your grandpa is closer to the real story.”

“I just told you the real story.”

“Then why do people keep rummaging around the basement of the restaurant?”

He kept me waiting while he chugged his soda. “Because people here are stupid.”

I couldn't believe those words came from his mouth. I wanted to throw potato chips at him, but I was too afraid of Mr. Edmund Clark. I slipped my hands between my legs and the chair so I wouldn't use them for trouble. “You get to live here and you don't even know how lucky you are!”

“Why do you like it here so much?”

“Because it's awesome!”

“What's so awesome about it? I don't see anything awesome.”

“If it wasn't thundering, we could play in the rain. Playing in the rain is awesome.”

Alex brought his plate to the sink and sort of slammed it against the counter. He stood in front of the window, his back to me, watching the rain hammer the earth. Even if I tried to explain, he wouldn't get it because he loved Arizona and probably had a hundred friends there and probably never got in trouble at school.

I loved the Northwoods for so many reasons. At the cabin my parents belonged to me instead of their students. There weren't any girls at Whitefish Lake telling me my clothes didn't match or that my hair looked funny. In school, I had to sit on my hands to keep them from causing trouble. My hands could do anything at the cabin because they didn't have to be wrapped around a stupid pencil. And for a long time, I had the world's best cabin friend. Amelia My Sister.

Alex shoved his fists in his pockets. “I don't like the rain, and my dad says it rains half the summer. Dad likes it dry. He doesn't like ice or snow or rain or lakes or pine trees.”

“Why'd he come back if he hates it so much?”

“Grandpa's old and sick, and my grandma's been dead since my dad was a kid, so I guess Grandpa's pretty lonely. Mom wants them to make peace. And Dad thought it'd be good to own a restaurant instead of work for someone who owns a restaurant.”

“Trust me, he picked a good place to own a restaurant, even if it rains. Even if it gets cold. The cold is amazing, actually. If you cry outside in the winter, your eyes actually freeze shut. Where else does something like that happen?”

“You'd have to be a crybaby to freeze your eyes shut.”

Alex picked a stray potato chip off the floor and ate it, like it was no big deal that it'd been on the dirty floor. Just chewed and swallowed without even shouting, “Five-second rule!” I liked Alex, even if he was confused about Wisconsin. I wanted this almost-argument to end, so I didn't let myself get mad about the crybaby thing.

“Sometimes I get the eye sweats when I'm sad, but that's not
crying
.” I said it all calm.

“I didn't get eye sweats when I left my friends in Arizona, but they did. All of them. It was like an army of friends with sweaty eyes.”

Alex was lucky to have an army of friends to miss. I didn't have an army. The girls in my class didn't invite me to parties or sleepovers because I don't like dolls, jewelry-making kits, crafts, hair braiding, cookie baking, dancing, gymnastics, reading, cute clothes, or sparkle shoes. Those girls said my pretend-play is weird. At home I only had my neighbor Danny Kellerman. He liked making up stories, but he was only eight, and he spent summer in daycare. Plus he whined too much. Alex was way better than Danny Kellerman.

“So what should we do until the storm stops?” I asked.

“You better think of something because you can't pester me all day.” The voice came from Mr. Edmund Clark, and I almost jumped out of my chair. He'd wandered into the kitchen for some water. I thought the kitchen must be as old as Mr. Edmund Clark. Someone had painted the cupboards white, but the paint bubbled and peeled. You could see dirt around the handles, too. The beige countertop was stained, and the floor was sticky. He should've been spending the gangster money on a new kitchen, or at least a cleaning lady.

Alex asked, “When it stops raining, would you take us out in the boat? Maybe tubing?”

“Tubing? You can barely swim thanks to living in a state drier than the moon. Ari
stona
. Good lord. It should be a prison colony.”

“I can float. Besides, I'll wear a life jacket.”

Mr. Edmund Clark said something that sounded like
no
just as thunder shook the house. Then he wiped his mouth with his sleeve and shook his head. “Damn thunderstorm. What am I going to do with you two?”

Alex asked, “You wanna watch a movie, Christa?”