The Mystery Quest
by Terry Lynn Johnson
“We’re going over,” screamed Ricki. She clung to the lifeline behind her back, but then saw Gonzo. His claws skidded sideways across the fiberglass. She lunged for him and wrapped her arms around his furry body.
“Don’t be so dramatic. We’re fine,” Luke said. The grin on his wet face spread wider as he glanced at his daughter scrambling on the angled seat of the sailboat. Her eyes were wide beneath the windblown fringe of kinky red hair. They heeled over 30 degrees with the full main sail snapping and huffing. Luke’s calloused hand caressed the tiller handle as he played with the wind gusts. The 26 foot sailboat, Frantic Frog, leveled off slightly and Ricki loosened her death grip.
“Stop making it tip so much, Dad. You’re totally scaring Gonzo.” The dog’s blue eyes fixed on her face when he heard his name. Ricki absently stroked his white head.
“We’re almost there anyway, Rix. Go down and measure the chart and tell me how long it will take.”
Ricki balanced on her freckled legs. Cautiously, she made her way down the bouncing stairs of the galley and wedged her narrow hips against the chart table. She spread out the Lake Huron chart and picked up the divider, her favorite navigational tool. She spread the two sharp points until they measured the same width as one minute of latitude like her dad had shown her.
“We just passed the south tip of Cockburn Island,” Luke called.
Ricki hated grade seven math with the same intensity that she hated peanut butter. But sailing math was fun. She mumbled the calculations softly to herself, “Two and half going five miles an hour…” She lurched back to the stairs and popped her head out.
“We’ll be there in half an hour.”
“You can see Mystery Island now.” Luke nodded to a narrow point of land straight ahead.
Ricki felt a surge of excitement and turned on the stairs to see. The left side of her top lip turned up in a snort. That’s what they sailed for 8 hours to come see on their so called “intrepid adventurers nautical mystery quest”? It looked like a totally regular island.
“That’s it?”
“Yup.”
“So this was a mystery quest for weenies?”
“You haven’t even got there yet. Give it a chance.” Luke laughed and tightened the main sheet as he changed course slightly. The main sail billowed, caught and the boat heeled over again.
“Whaa…” Ricki fell off the stairs sideways onto the quarter berth.
“Sorry, you okay?”
“Peachy. Call me when we’re there.” Ricki reached for her hand-held Yahtzee game and lay on the cushioned seat. She planted her white feet on the side of the stairs to keep from rolling.
The sun was low on the horizon by the time they motored into a bay, dropped the anchor and tied the sails with the special knot Ricki used for her Girl Guides scarf.
“You got the Toad pack?” Luke asked.
Ricki chucked the emergency backpack at her dad. She sat on the edge of the sailboat, her legs dangling into their eight foot rubber dingy she had named Toad.
“Come on, Gonzo.”
Gonzo stood wagging his tail beside Ricki. “Owooooo,” he said.
Ricki laughed. Gonzo loved to talk. The thickly muscled Husky usually said what was on his mind in a series of howling moans.
They all jumped in the Toad and set off to explore
the island. The beach lay undisturbed and empty before them. The Toad nosed into the sand with a soft crunch and Gonzo jumped off the bow he’d been balancing on like a hood ornament.
They wandered the beach, and Ricki found a perfect roll of thick birch bark. She squirreled it away in the pack on top of some heavy rocks with swirly colors. She loved collecting things. Every shelf in her bedroom was piled high with treasures. Funny driftwood, cool rocks, dazzling stones, spiraled fossils bleached white from the sun.
“Here’s a trail,” Luke said.
Ricki left the pack and ran after her dad. The trees closed in over their heads and blocked out the evening light. Their thick, clawing branches stretched forward and pulled at Ricki’s arms. She caught sight of a spider the size of a Loonie just before she walked into its web.
“Ugh!” Ricki raked her hair with her fingers and slapped off the sticky strings across her face.“That’s totally gross!”
“Hey, there’s a cave,” Luke said. He pushed aside a creeping vine and peered into the darkness.
“Rooo,” Gonzo said. He looked back at Ricki and sat down.
“Gonzo doesn’t want to go in, Dad.”
“Well, he doesn’t have to.” Luke stepped into the cave.
Gritty sand crunched under his feet as he shuffled them forward.
Ricki gingerly stepped inside and narrowed her eyes, straining to see. It smelled like wet leaves. She took a few more steps and raised her hand in front of her face. “It’s totally dark in here. I can’t even see my hands.”
“Hand me the flashlight from the pack, Rix.”
“Uh…I left it on the beach.”
“What?”
“It was heavy.”
“Well, go get it.”
Ricki turned and joined Gonzo outside. She was still on the beach when she heard a painful scream.
“Dad! Are you okay?” Ricki dropped the pack again and ran to the trail. “Dad?”
“I’m in here.”
Ricki scrambled over to the cave entrance. “Are you okay? What’s wrong?”
“Don’t come in! I fell in a hole. Think I broke my ankle.”
Ricki felt panic bubble up like Coke gushing up the neck of a bottle that’s been banged on the table.
“W-what do you want me to do?”
No answer.
“Dad! Dad? Are you okay?” Of course he wasn’t okay. He was totally not okay. Ricki tried to control her mind flinging in all directions.
“He must’ve p-passed out,” she sobbed to Gonzo. She hugged him and buried her face in his fur. She had to think. Think. Think.
Rope! There was rope in the pack she could climb down the hole and pull her dad out. When Ricki sprinted to the beach, she noticed the setting sun made the sky blood red.
“Ricki! Where are you?”
“I’m coming Dad, hold on.” She grabbed one end of the thick cord and tied it to a tree, then brought it to the cave.
“I’ve got rope, Dad.”
“Good thinking, throw it down…be careful!”
Ricki stood at the edge of the hole and shone the light down. Her dad was sitting on the bottom holding his foot. Just seeing him made Ricki feel better. She tossed the line. Luke grimaced and pulled himself up, hanging on to the cold granite wall for balance. When he stood, his eyes were level with the floor of the cave.
“You might have to come down and give me a hand,” he said.
Ricki dropped down beside her dad. “It’s totally not far, Dad. You can do it.”
Luke smiled at her and messed up her hair, which she usually hated, but didn’t mind now. Ricki braced as Luke grabbed the rope with one hand, her shoulder with the other and pushed himself up to the rim. He rolled onto the floor of the cave moaning.
“It’s going to need a splint,” he said through clenched teeth. He was breathing hard and his face was pale. Then his eyes closed and he lay still.
“Dad!” Ricki scrambled out of the hole and bent over him. “Are you okay? Dad, wake up.” He didn’t move. Gonzo whined.
“It’s okay, he must’ve hit his head. Don’t worry, we’ll find a splint, get him back to the boat and sail home.” As she said it, Ricki knew that’s what she was going to have to do. She dumped out the pack and found the roll of birch bark and some duct tape. Ricki gently lifted her dad’s foot to slide the bark under it. Luke moaned again, but lay still. She wrapped the bark around his ankle then taped it closed. When she was done, she sat back and inspected it. The splint looked like a cast and her dad’s foot was completely encased. His ankle would not move.
Ricki pulled out a slippery emergency blanket and lay it down next to her dad. She rolled him on it and wrapped the ends around him like a cocoon. Next she wound the line under his arms, tied them with her knot and put it around her waist. She leaned into it and pulled.
Nothing.
She threw her weight forward and Luke began to slide along the grainy floor of the cave with the blanket acting like a toboggan. She made it outside, and down a slight hill, then stopped. It was another ten paces or so to the edge of the beach. The thick forest was going to be tough to pull her dad’s heavy weight.
Ricki sat down, panting and sweating on a stump.
“Wooorooo,” Gonzo said into her face. She pushed him away, then paused. Of course! Gonzo pulled them on skis in the winter. He could pull her dad! Ricki made another loop with the braided cord and tied it around Gonzo’s chest. Gonzo leaned into it and the two of them pulled Luke onto the edge of the sand. When they got to the dingy, Ricki untied Gonzo and gratefully squeezed him.
“Good boy!” Gonzo gave her a noisy ear-kiss.
Ricki rolled her dad into the Toad and rowed them back to the boat. She grabbed a down sleeping bag from the sailboat berth and wrapped it over him where he lay on the dingy floor. Then she tried the radio.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday. This is Frantic Frog. Can anyone hear me?”
“Frantic Frog, this is Thunder Bay Coast Guard.”
Ricki’s hands started to shake when she heard the voices on the radio. Once she relayed where they were and their circumstances, another sailboat called in to help. The Big Dream was anchored in the next bay and they were on their way. Ricki grabbed the chart and studied it under the glow of the cabin light.
“Point five miles….Gonzo, they’ll totally be here in 15 minutes!” Tears slid down Ricki’s face as she hugged Gonzo to her. She pulled the spare sleeping bag out of the locker and went back out to the dingy.
Ricki spread the bag over her dad’s legs and he moved.
“Wh..where….what happened?” Luke propped up on an elbow. His eyes were clear when he looked at Ricki.
“Dad, you fell, but help’s coming.” Ricki looked up to see a light coming towards them from around the point. “And for our next quest how ‘bout we do more nautical, less mystery?”
Luke smiled weakly and leaned against her. “Don’t be so dramatic. We’re fine.”
