Read The Ghost of Lizard's Rock Online
Authors: J Richard Knapp
Tags: #ebooks, #coming of age, #growing up, #action adventure, #bullying, #girls, #school life
The Ghost of Lizard's Rock (22 page)
Allie quickly took the
necklace and placed it around her neck. She kissed the locket and
dropped it inside her shirt. It was back where it
belonged.
“
Will you send his things
to the office? He won’t be back again.” The principal had a warm
smile on her face. “They finally located some of his family where
he can go to live.”
Ms. Kelly turned around
and left for the office.
Ms. Carson walked over to
Robert’s desk and gathered some of his personal things. She went up
to Allie, “How would you like to take these things up to Robert?”
She knew Allie had heard every word of the conversation between the
principal and her.
Allie nodded her head,
gathered the things in her arms, and left for the office. She found
Robert in the corner sitting alone. It nearly broke her heart how
sad he looked. She wondered if they had done the right thing
getting him caught.
She walked slowly up to
him. His eyes were staring at the floor. “Ms. Carson sent your
things down here.”
Robert looked up to take
the things from Allie’s arms. “Thanks.” His voice seemed
shaken.
“
No,” said Allie firmly.
“Thank you!” She reached under her shirt and pulled out the chain
and locket. “It’s all I have left.” She felt tears forming in the
corners of her eyes. Allie felt a quivering in her cheek. “I know
it was you who fixed it.”
Robert forced a smile and
nodded his head without saying a word.
Allie bent over and
whispered to him, “Things are going to get better. You wait and
see.” Allie turned and headed to the door just as an elderly man
walked in.
“
Robert,” said the man
from the doorway.
Robert looked at the man
in disbelief, “Grandpa!” He tossed his things into the air and
jumped into his grandfather’s arms. “I thought nobody would ever
find me.”
Robert’s grandfather held
him tight, “Nobody will ever take you away again.”
Allie felt a warm hand on
her shoulder. She looked up into Ms. Kelly’s eyes. They were filled
with tears that spilled onto her cheeks. “Everyone deserves a
little happiness – don’t you think?”
Allie wiped away the tears
in her own eyes and laughed out loud in the quiet hallway – it was
a laugh of relief and a feeling that things were going to keep
getting better.
Josie’s Rock
I called for a meeting of
the Cow Pie Gang on Saturday morning at 10 o’clock. As usual, I
walked over to get Allie at her house and played with the twins for
a few minutes before leaving. It seemed like they really had
accepted me.
The walk from Allie’s
house seemed like it took no time at all this morning. That’s
because Allie and I never shut up the entire way. Most of the
conversation was centered on Troy’s dreamy eyes, but just to keep
things interesting, I would casually drop in Eric’s name to tease
Allie. Each time she would turn pink and smack me a good
one.
It only took us about an
half hour to get to the dry tunnel’s entrance. I grabbed the big
rock blocking the entrance and pushed it to the side.
“Look,” said Allie as she
pointed to the ground at a heavy cable running along the entrance
of the tunnel.
All along the left side of
the tunnel were small lights attached to the rocky wall about every
6 feet. A small wire attached to the light was connected to the
main cable.
I pushed the giant rock
back into place to block the tunnel again.
Allie and I turned off our
flashlights, as the entire tunnel was lit up.
“That is so cool!” as I
stepped just inside the hideout.
Both Allie and I stood
silent as our eyes took in every inch of the cave. The lights
continued around the hideout’s walls - providing a bright light
that lit up every inch of the room.
“How did you do it?” asked
Allie.
Oliver and Jacob pointed
to Dan.
“I created a solar panel
this summer at a science camp that I went to. I hid the panel and
all the cable outside on the hillside where nobody will ever find
them.” He walked over to the rocky ledge that had once been
Wesley’s, and most recently, Oliver’s couch. Six large batteries
were placed in a row. “There is enough power created by the solar
panel to run all the lights in the tunnel and in the hideout. If it
is a cloudy day, these batteries will help with the power and last
up to 16 hours.” Dan walked over to a plug in by the last battery.
If we have a sunny day, there is enough power to run a television,
small fridge, or even a microwave.” Dan smiled at Allie, “Just in
case you want to nuke someone.”
The entire gang broke out
into laughter.
I said, “How long did it
take to do all this?”
“We got here a couple of
hours ago,” answered Dan proudly. “We all did it.”
I looked down at the table
in the center of the room where the journal lay. Two new chairs had
been added. Now, each of us had a chair – kind of like the Knights
of the Round Table.
I sat down in the chair at
the end of the table and pulled the old journal and the pen toward
me. I began writing and didn’t stop until I had written all the
events surrounding Robert. To protect Robert’s name I called him
‘Bashful’ from the story of the seven Dwarfs’. Nobody would ever
know it was him.
I talked out loud as I
wrote so each member of the gang could hear the words I was writing
on the page, “As of today, we the Cow Pie Gang, understand that it
is more important to protect those who can’t protect themselves,
than it is to have revenge on someone who has hurt us. We must
remember that standing up for that which is right is more
courageous than doing nothing in the face of that which is wrong!
Signed Kati – keeper of the journal.”
I smiled into the eyes of
each member of the Cow Pie Gang, “Let’s go home.”
Each of us walked out of
the tunnel and into the bright light of the morning sun.
Dan turned off a switch
near the entrance and all the lights inside turned off. “The
batteries will keep charging even though the lights are off. Once
the batteries are full, there is an automatic switch that cuts the
power to the batteries.”
“Very impressive,” said
Allie as she patted him on the back.
I looked at Allie, “How
about going up to the top of the rock with me?” She nodded her head
and followed me.
A couple of minutes later,
we arrived at the edge of Lizard’s Rock and sat down. We waved our
hands at the boys as they disappeared into the forest.
“Do you think Maggie and
Josie were like you and I?” asked Allie.
I nodded my head, “I’m
sure they were.” I turned toward Allie, “From now on this place is
Josie’s Rock.”
We continued to sit there
quietly staring out over the beautiful forest below.
“Strange,” I said after a
few minutes, “but it feels as if Josie is sitting right here with
us enjoying this very wonderful and peaceful moment.”
We will release our second
book of the
Cow Pie Gang
series entitled,
Letters
for Allie
in September of 2012. This
wonderful story will focus on a series of letters written by
Allie’s mother just before she died and given to Allie on her
13
th
birthday. Follow this heart-warming story with all the gang,
as Allie sees a part of her mother that she never knew.
Shona Anderson & J.
Richard Knapp