THE CODE OF ABUBASI
by
Dakota Orlando
CHAPTER 2
THE GREAT ESCAPE
Bolting between the two houses, I dashed into the dead-end street. Uncle Benjamin will be out the back door any second. I can’t let him find me, or he’ll make me spend the day with Nate.
Looking both ways, I struck out for the cross street to my right. I turned left and, after a few yards, arrived at a two-lane highway. There’s a small paved road across the street … ‘Darcy Cave Road,’ the sign says.
I waited for several cars to pass before darting toward the little road. Sprinting uphill, my right side ached and forced me to stop. I breathed deeply for several seconds. I’ll get into big trouble for this. Uncle Benjamin needs to leave for work. He and Aunt Karen will be gone all day.
I stared at the pink sock on my shoeless left foot. One shoe … walking all day with only one shoe?
Ripping off the sock, I balled it up and tucked it in my skirt pocket. Might as well go barefoot instead of ruining my sock.
I walked up the hill to the first curve and stopped. Bending with my hands on my knees, my chest heaved as I gasped for air. It’s a good thing the road is mainly in the shade. Pavement can get awfully hot in the summer.
I examined the bottom of my left foot. Yuck! That little bit of walking, and it’s stained all black.
Looking ahead, I dropped my foot and saw that the road had changed to dirt. It’s not too steep … still, being from Florida, I’m not used to walking up any hills.
I scanned the road ahead. Oh God, I left my book in my beach bag. What will I do all day? My sunblock is in my beach bag as well.
Slapping the top of my head, I felt my hair. My hat blew off! Guess I’ll have to stay out of the sun. I continued my slow plod until I spied a thickly wooded area with a gully running along its edge to my left. A stream gurgled along at the bottom.
It’s been about a quarter-mile, and I haven’t seen a single house. I stopped and looked into the gully. The stream flowed eight feet below where I stood. About halfway down my side, two narrow logs stretched across the gully, disappearing into a thicket and hanging branches on the opposite embankment.
It looks as if some kids have a hideaway, but where are the houses? I glanced down the road. Uncle Benjamin might take the day off to find me, and he’ll probably search this street first. I better get out of sight for a while.
After scrambling down the embankment, I stood with a foot on each log. It looks easy enough to cross.
The makeshift bridge reached fifteen feet across and rested on top of a larger log that extended left and right. Someone must be using the logs as a trail.
I heard a faint voice and looked toward the road. I don’t think it’s coming from there.
The voice grew louder. I shot my eyes across the stream, but the large log on the other side disappeared into a thicket and overhanging tree branches.
Someone’s walking along that log. I squatted and stared toward the voice. It’s a high-pitched voice. A kid? A girl? What should I do?
The voice grew loud enough to tell that the speaker had a strong Southern accent, but the odd-sounding words made little sense.
“Avast ye scoundrel pirate captain, ’tis I, Captain Nevie. Now, ye will tell me what you’ve done with the fair child. Speak, or I’ll gouge out your gizzard and feed it to the gulls.”
A girl popped into view, swishing a bark-shaven stick like a sword. She kept her eyes on her feet as she stepped onto the smaller logs and started across.
Too late! She’ll see me. I stood and examined the barefoot girl. She’s five inches shorter than my five-foot plus height, and that tangled mass of dirty, curly chestnut hair could be hiding who-knows-what. She has dirt smudges on her face and arms.
The girl, dressed in a torn, patched, dirty top and ragged jean cut-offs, stopped, closed her mouth, and slowly looked up.
“Wendy?” she said. She thrust her sword-stick through an empty belt loop over her right hip. “The Captain’s let you go?” She bowed like a boy. “Maybe you can return to the Lost Boys and tell us another story. We loved the first one.”
I tilted my head and squinted. “Wendy? Are you playing Peter Pan?”
“Yes, but first …” She extended one hand. “Do you know the Code of Abubasi?”
“The code of what?”
She slapped her hands on her hips. “The written code from Abubasi in Egypt … can you read it?”
I shook my head. “I don’t think that was in Peter Pan.”
“Well ….” She shrugged, her shoulders nearly touching her ears. “If you can’t read it or speak it, then you can’t help me read the secret message … so what good are you?”
She scooted closer, grabbed my left hand, tugged, and released it. “Well, I forgives you. You can come along with me, anyways.”
The girl spun, darted back across the log bridge, and turned to face me. “Second star to the right,” she drew her sword and thrust its point to her right, “and then straight on till morning, Wendy.” She turned and skipped along the big log in the direction her sword pointed.
She’s a little dirty but harmless enough. About ten, I’d say. I threw a look over my shoulder. I’m better off away from the road.
Walking across the creek, I followed her. The log stretched forty feet along the stream bank before it met another log that angled off to the right, disappearing into the trees.
I followed her away from the stream along the second log, then onto a third, fourth, and yet another. By then, a hill had risen to my right, and the creek was nowhere to be seen, though I could hear the water gurgling over the rocks. I stopped at an open area in the woods and looked back toward the gully. A patch of tall grass had been flattened.
“Board her mates!”
I spun and looked at the top of the hill. A body flew through the air. It grabbed my shoulders, and we toppled onto the matted grass behind me.
We tumbled over and over until we stopped with the girl straddling my torso. I lifted my head to find the sharp end of her shaved stick pointing at my throat.
My God. She’s going to stick that thing in me?
END SAMPLE CHAPTER
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