Baby-Sitters On Board (6 page)

We were going to find buried treasure on Treasure Cay. All the signs pointed to it. I had just finished reading Treasure Island, and what was one of the movies they showed on the boat yesterday? You got it, Treasure Island. I made Adam and Jordan, my brothers (we're triplets), watch it with me. They didn't want to at first (because Treasure Island, the book, is a classic, and they think all classics are boring). But finally they came along.
On the other hand, our little brother Nicky and his friend David Michael begged to come with us, but we didn't want them. You can't keep people out of a movie theater, though, so they sat with us anyway. By the time the movie was over, we'd forgotten all about who did and didn't want to see it, and who did and didn't want to sit with whom. All we could talk about were pirates.
"A really good pirate," said Adam, "wears red-and-white striped stockings and has a black patch over one eye and a wooden leg." "And a parrot that sits on his shoulder," added Nicky.
"And the parrot can squawk out, 'Yo ho ho and a bottle of rum,' " said David Michael.
"He wears one big gold earring," said Jordan. "The pirate, I mean, not the parrot." "And he's rude and mean," I finished up. "He steals a treasure, buries it, and won't tell anyone where if s hidden. Except he tells his best friend — " "Whose name is Old Bad John," said Nicky.
" — but he doesn't really tell him," I went on. "He gives him a hint in a treasure map. That's all. And he only does that when he's about to die. He figures that if Old Bad John is smart enough to figure out what the map means, then he deserves the treasure. But if he isn't smart enough, then the treasure should stay hidden." "Right," said the others.
That was yesterday. Today we were still talking about pirates and treasures. And the Ocean Princess was going to dock at Treasure Cay! (Cay, which is pronounced either "kay" or "key," is just a word meaning small island. I asked my dad.) We were sure the cay was going to be like islands in movies — all jungly and wild with monkeys and coconuts and maybe a couple of pythons.
When we got off the ship, we sort of had a surprise. Treasure C^ay didn't look too different from Nassau. I saw hotels all along the beach.
I glanced at my brothers and David Michael with raised eyebrows.
"They must have let us off at the wrong island," said Nicky.
"No way," I told him. "The captain knows what he's doing. They announced Treasure Cay7 so this must be Treasure Cay. But wouldn't you know?" "Wouldn't you know what?" asked Adam.
"There are thousands of cays and islands in the Bahamas. Only a few are inhabited, and we get one of them. Why couldn't we have gone to one of the other ones? It probably would have been real easy." "How do you know all this stuff?" asked Jordan.
"I read a pamphlet/' I told him. "Come on, you guys. Let's get going." Since Treasure Cay was small, Mom and Dad had said that us triplets could be on our own, just like on the ship, as long as we behaved ourselves. The only thing was, Nicky and David Michael begged to come with us again. This time we didn't mind so much. They made up pirate stories that were almost as good as ours. But we had to do some fast talking to get permission. We got it, though, and so the five of us set off to explore.
"I don't see jungles anywhere," said David Michael, looking very disappointed. "Just hotels and swimming pools. Where are we going to look for buried treasure?" "Where?" I replied. "Everywhere! Think, you guys. Were these hotels here hundreds of years ago?" "Of course not," said Jordan. "So what?" "So years and years ago, this island was probably just as wild as those uninhabited islands. A pirate could have buried his treasure here as well as anywhere else." "Yeah," said Nicky slowly. "I bet lots of them did." "Sure," I replied. "That's probably how the cay got its name." "But everything must have been dug up when they built the hotels," said Adam.
"Not necessarily. Look at all this beach." I pointed up and down the sandy coast of the island. "They didn't dig here. And even if they did, that doesn't mean we can't be explorers." "Adventurers!" added Nicky.
"Discoverers!" cried David Michael.
"Come on," said Adam. "Let's see what we can find." Most of the people from the Ocean Princess had drifted away to try snorkeling or sailing or fishing, or to watch the shipbuilders I'd heard about. But my brothers and David Michael and I were happy on the beach. We peeled off our shorts and shirts and stood under a palm tree in our swimming trunks.
"This beach sure looks different from the one at Sea City," said Adam.
"Yeah, no waves," I replied with satisfaction. "Shallow water." I hate swimming where the water is deep, especially when you can't see the bottom. But here, not only was the water shallow a long way out, but it was a sparkling clear aqua blue. You could stand in it and see your toenails and every grain of sand around your feet.
"Look!" cried Nicky. He'd waded out as far as his ankles. "Coral! I found coral!" "Look at this shell!" said David Michael, joining him.
"Throw it back. It's pink," said Nicky, looking disgusted.
David Michael dropped the shell.
We waded through the water, following the coastline, until we came to a tide pool.
"Cool!" exclaimed Jordan. "Look at all those little animals." We watched crabs scuttle along the bottom. They sent up puffs of sand. And a school of tiny silvery fish darted back and forth near the surface of the pool.
Then we walked to dry sand.
"Let's dig," I said suddenly.
"Huh?" asked the others.
"Let's just start digging. Right here. Right now. Maybe we'll find something. Look at that cliff of sand over there. Wouldn't that be a great place to hide a treasure chest?" We all began searching. We turned over rocks, we combed through masses of shells, we dug deep holes in the sand, and we clawed at the cliff I'd seen.
Adam found a comb. Jordan found a pair of sunglasses with one lens missing. Nicky found a lobster daw. David Michael found another pink shell. (Nicky made him throw it back.) But I was the one who found the treasure map.
It was under a rock, far back on the beach, in a spot where the sand would always be dry (unless it rained).
"Hey! Hey! . . . Hey!" I cried. I could hardly speak.
"What is it?" called Jordan, running over to me.
"If s — it's a treasure map!" I exclaimed. I held out the small yellowed piece of paper. "Look! There's a diagram and some funny words. They must be in another language. I wonder what language pirates spoke." None of us knew. We tried to make sense out of the arrows and X's and lines that had been drawn on the piece of paper, but since we couldn't read the words, we couldn't figure out directions or where the ocean was or anything.
"Let's show it to that fisherman," I said, pointing down the beach to a man at the water's edge. "He looks like a native. Maybe he knows some stories about Treasure Cay." But when we showed the map to the man, he just laughed gently and shook his head. Then he got a bite on his line, so we left him alone to reel in his fish.
Later, we saw Dawn Schafer walking down the beach with some boy we didn't know. We showed the map to her, but she barely looked at it. She acted like she was in a daze.
"It's a treasure map, Dawn," I told her urgently.
But all she said was, "Mmm." Disgusted, we let her and the boy walk on. It was almost five-thirty, and we were supposed to be back at the Ocean Princess by then, so I folded the treasure map and put it in my pocket. We headed for the ship.
"You know," I said to my brothers and David Michael on the way, "this map could be for anywhere. We don't really know. We could use it to look for treasure in lots of places. It doesn't have to be a map for treasure on Treasure Cay." "Right!" cried Jordan. "We'll look every- where. On the ship, at Disney World. Who knows?" "Yeah," said Nicky, and his eyes lit up. "You know, there's a stowaway on the ship. Va-nessa and I saw him. Maybe he has something to do with the map and the treasure!" We all began talking at once. We had big plans.
Dawn.
"Ow!" cried Kristy. "Claudia, for gosh sakes, do you have to step on me every morning?" "No," replied Claudia, sounding offended. "I don't. Not if you sleep on the top bunk. Then you can climb up and down the ladder." "Nice try," said Kristy. "This is our last day on the ship. Tonight we'll be in a hotel. I have a feeling there won't be any bunk beds." "Good," said Claudia.
"And wake up Dawn, will you? I wouldn't want to contaminate her or anything." I smiled. This morning, Kristy couldn't bother me. Even the messy room couldn't bother me.
I was pretty sure I was in love.
Love is a tricky thing, so if s hard to tell, but there was no doubt that I felt different that morning. I felt a way I had never felt. It was a pleasant feeling. And since love is supposed to be both different and pleasant, and I had spent the afternoon before with the boy of my dreams, I assumed that I was in love.
It all made sense — in a confusing sort of way.
Even though I knew we were supposed to get up so we could meet Kristy's family for breakfast, I rolled over and dosed my eyes. I wanted to try to remember everything that had happened the day before, on the most wonderful afternoon of my life.
Kristy and Claudia and I had gotten off the ship together. The three of us were going to spend the afternoon — at least the beginning of it — together, because we all wanted to try snorkeling. We'd heard about the water sports on Treasure Cay, and snorkeling sounded like the most fun. So when the ship docked, we immediately asked directions to the nearest snorkeling class.
When we found the place on the beach we also found a whole bunch of other people from the Ocean Princess. They were wandering around, trying on the masks and breathing tubes, and asking the instructor questions.
But I couldn't have cared less about masks or breathing tubes or questions. That was be- cause I'd spotted someone from the ship, and he was the only thing I could see, hear, or think about.
It was the Gorgeous Guy. Ever since the first time I'd seen him — that time when we'd actually spoken — we'd been eyeing each other, watching each other, smiling at each other. But that was it. However, when he saw me on the beach that afternoon, he came right over to me.
Kristy's jaw dropped. (Mine may have, too.) "Hi," he said.
"Hi," I replied.
(What great conversationalists we were.) "You here for the class?" he asked.
It was a dumb question, because why else would I be there? But all I said was, "Yup. You too?" He nodded.
Claudia nudged Kristy then, and it occurred to me that I should introduce them to the boy, but I swear I couldn't even remember their names. (Plus, I didn't know his.) Claudia didn't care, though. She just smiled at me, nodded her head slightly as if to say "Go get 'im" or "Good luck," and walked away with Kristy.
"You know something?" said the boy. "I don't know if I really want to go snorkeling. This is probably the only time I'll ever be on this island. Why spend it underwater? Thaf s no way to see it." My heart sank. What was it about me? The boy and I had barely spoken two words and now he didn't even want to be in the same snorkeling class with me.
I had to look away. I couldn't let him see my disappointment.
But the next words out of his mouth were, "Do you really want to go snorkeling? Why don't we take a walk instead?" I tried to remain calm. "Sure," I said. "That would be nice." Nice? Nice? Couldn't I come up with a better word than that?
Apparently not. But the boy (what was his name?) didn't seem to notice.
We set off down the beach together. I knew Claudia was watching us and would be happy and not worry.
We walked down the beach for a long way. At first we didn't say much. We pointed out coral and shells and palm trees, and we gawked at the fancy hotels.
Finally I got up the nerve to say, "My name's Dawn Schafer. What's yours?" The boy laughed. "I can't believe we haven't introduced ourselves yet. My name is Parker Harris." "Parker Harris!" I couldn't help exclaiming. "That's some name. I mean, Parker is." "Ifs a family name, my mother's maiden name. She didn't have any brothers — only sisters — so there was no one to carry on the name. Finally she just decided to call me Parker. It's not the same but . . . you know." I smiled. "I think that's nice." Parker reached for my hand. "You don't mind, do you?" he asked.
Mind? If we held hands? Was he crazy? That hand was attached to the most Gorgeous Guy ever to walk the sands of Treasure Cay.
We spent that afternoon just wandering around, enjoying being together. I barely remember what we did. Once, I know, we ran into the Pike triplets, Nicky, and David Michael. They tried to show us something, I think, but I couldn't tell you what it was. Parker and I were too busy being with each other.
The last thing Parker said to me as we boarded the ship was, "See you tomorrow, okay? It'll be our last day on the Ocean Princess.
Maybe we could spend it together." Another day with Parker? It seemed too good to be true. But he promised to meet me on the Sun Deck at 10:30. So after breakfast (during which Kristy strewed crumbs all over the table and purposely gave herself a milk mustache, which she wouldn't wipe off), I got into my bathing suit and went up to the Sun Deck. I was half afraid that Parker wouldn't show up, but he did, promptly at 10:30.
And our day began.
I had thought we were going to lounge around and go swimming, but Parker wanted to do things. With a mischievous grin, he said, "There's a Ping-Pong tournament today. Let's sign up." "Ping-Pong!" I cried. "Only old people and little kids play that." "Exactly," said Parker. "We'll give 'em a run for their money." So we played Ping-Pong. I'd only played a few other times (the McGills have a Ping-Pong table in their basement), but Parker must have played a lot. Anyway, he was good. And we were a good team. We kept beating the other couples. I nearly died when Kristy and her old man friend took their Iturn playing against us, but I managed to psych Kristy out.
"Whoo-ee," I teased her. "Who's your boyfriend?" It was mean and I knew it, but Kristy had been mean to me on the ship. She'd been rude and messy and had made jokes about contaminating me. So I was glad to be able to psych her out.
Parker and I won the tournament. We were awarded a huge tin loving cup, which Parker said I could keep. After that, we ate lunch at the cafe and then we went back to the Sun Deck for a swim. We lay on the lounge chairs, drying off in the hot sunshine.
Somehow we started talking about divorce. I told him about my family. Then he told me about his. "You're lucky," he said. "At least your mom isn't remarried. I ended up living with my dad after the divorce and what did he go and do? He got married to this lady who has two little boys. They're five and eight. Right away, I asked to live with my mom instead. My parents said okay, but only for a month. I just moved back in with Dad a couple of weeks ago and he took me and my stepmother and the two brats on this trip so we could get to know each other better. What a stupid idea. I spend as little time with them as possible." "How do you know the boys are brats then?" I asked him.