That night before she went to bed, Lucie took the cordless phone and went onto the back porch. Her aunt didn't allow her to use the phone to call her friends, so she had to hurry and she couldn't get caught. She dialed her friend's number and waited anxiously for her to pick up.
"Hello?"
"Steph!" Lucie screeched in a whisper.
"Lucie? Oh my God!"
"Listen, Steph, I can't talk for long but I need you to do something for me. It's really important."
"Not until you get those bulldozers out here! When I see them out there digging, then the deal will be final. But until then, you stay away from my cabin!" The warden's shrill yelling filled the entire cabin, waking up Lucie and Jake.
"What's going on?" Jake said through a yawn.
"This happens all the time," Lucie told him. "Oh no! What time is it?" She struggled to make her tired eyes adjust on the clock beside her bed. "Seven! I'm late!" She jumped out of bed as fast as was possible only moments after someone is suddenly woken up. She reached for the doorknob, but her aunt got there first. Lucie had to dodge the door as it swung open.
"You're late. Get out there," the warden demanded.
Wearing a white tank top with the orange jumpsuit tied around her waist, Lucie ran all the way out to the digging ground, carrying her shovel over her shoulder.
"You're late Hot Lips," X-Ray stated the obvious.
"I know. I overslept. I guess I'll just be out here longer than the rest of you today."
"Um, no offense chica, but you're out here longer than the rest of us every day," Magnet told her, smiling.
Everyone laughed, including Lucie. She picked out a spot and quickly started tossing dirt away. When she felt someone's eyes on her, she looked up at Squid to see him looking at her and smiling. Her knees gave way a little and she smiled back. Squid got out of his shallow hole and walked over to Lucie. He bent down close to her ear and whispered, "Meet me in my hole later." With a wink, he walked away and Lucie looked down at her work, trying to hide her blushing face from everyone.
The sun got higher and higher into the sky and the diggers got lower and lower into their holes. Lucie was still behind everyone else, but she had set herself at a faster pace so she could be finished sooner after them. She stopped for a moment to take a deep breath and to wipe her sweaty forehead. The blaring sun was hotter today than it had been in a while and Lucie felt the back of her neck and her cheeks being burned. She picked up her canteen and drained the last drop of lukewarm water.
"What, did they forget about us out here?" Zig Zag asked, and Lucie looked up to see him holding his empty canteen.
No one had been out to refill their water all day. Squid shook his in the air and a little bit of water sloshed around in the bottom.
"I've got a little left, but I'm almost out, too."
Caveman and Armpit had a little bit left, too, but everyone else was out.
Lucie got back to work, trying not to think about being thirsty. She had to keep stopping to wipe her eyes of the sweat that was dripping into them.
"Come on, Aunt Lou," she mumbled. "You've gotta know we're thirsty out here."
She threw another shovel full of dirt out of her hole and then had to steady herself. She kept getting dizzy and losing balance. She dug her shovel into the dirt again, but this time she heard a loud thump. What was that? Did she hit something? No, she couldn't have hit anything.
"Water!" Zig Zag shouted triumphantly and instantly all the boys had dropped their shovels and started climbing out their holes.
Lucie looked back down at the spot her shovel had hit the dirt. She shook her head and told herself she was imagining things because she was so thirsty. She joined the boys as they lined up behind the truck.
"Yo, Mr. Sir, where have you been all day?" X-Ray asked as Mr. Sir filled his canteen. Lucie, being the first in line, was already sitting in the dirt gulping down her water. She looked curiously at Mr. Sir.
"I've been busy making phone calls," he grunted. "Got some business to take care of."
Lucie and Squid exchanged glances, remembering what they had heard from the closet. Could it be the plans for the bulldozers and the marriage were being finalized? No one asked any more questions. Everyone was too thirsty to press this issue, so instead, as Mr. Sir packed up the truck and drove away, they all sat in the dirt and enjoyed the temporary relief of the hot sun.
"It's a hot one today," Armpit said, mostly to himself. Everyone nodded in agreement.
"It really takes all your energy away when it's this hot." Magnet remarked, rubbing his tired eyes.
"Man, when I get out of here, I'm never going outside again," Squid said, shaking his head.
"Except in the winter," Zero added.
Everybody laughed and then as if that had been some sort of cue, they all stood up and started back to their holes. Lucie groaned as she struggled to make herself get up. She wanted more than anything to go back to the cabin and settle down on the couch with a cold glass of lemonade. She shook her head at herself, knowing that it was her own fault she was out here. Suddenly, there was a hand around her wrist and she stopped short, averting her eyes from the ground to the person who the hand belonged to. Squid grinned at her and nodded his head toward his hole.
Lucie grinned to and started walking toward it. A couple of the boys snickered as they walked by and X-Ray said, "Hot Lips is at it again."
Squid jumped down in the hole first and helped Lucie down. Lucie leaned in and wrapped herself around him, hoping some of his energy would diffuse into her.
"I'm so tired," she told him.
He put his arms around her, too, and leaned against the wall of his hole. "I know, me too."
Lucie smirked and pulled her head back so that her face was almost touching Squid's. "But I'm not too tired to do this." She kissed him slowly, passionately and allowed him to take over from there.
"Whoa, y'all know we can still see you, right?" Armpit asked, laughing.
Without skipping a beat, the two of them sat down on the bottom of the hole and continued their make-out session.
Lucie had completely forgotten about the possibility that she had found something in her hole by time she got back to digging. She picked up her shovel and started throwing dirt out. After a few digs, she heard the loud thump again. She froze. What was that? She thrust her shovel into the dirt again but it stopped, again making a thump. She looked around to see of anyone else noticed and when she saw that everyone's attention was still on his own hole, she ducked down and started brushing away dirt with her hands.
"What the-" she brushed away the dirt faster and faster. Something brown and leathery started appearing in the bottom of her hole. She picked her shovel back up and started moving the dirt from around the sides of the object. Could she have found what her aunt had been looking for all these years? The object came more into view and Lucie could see that it was a brown chest of some sort. She frantically started digging her fingernails into the dirt, becoming more and more excited as she uncovered more of the mysterious chest. Finally enough of the chest was out from under the dirt and she was able to pull it out and sit it in the bottom of her hole. She sat down next to it and stared at it for a moment. All the things her aunt had said through the years flashed through her mind. Her heart sped up as she dusted off the chest and looked for a way to open it. Under a thick layer of dried mud she found a nameplate. A name was engraved in it and as she uncovered more of it, she gasped.
"Stanley Yelnats?" She said aloud.
"Huh?" she heard Caveman say.
"Hey, Luc, what's going on over there?"
Lucie stood up quickly and pointed to her hole. "Guys, I think y'all better come over here."
All seven of them jumped out of their holes and ran to Lucie's.
"What is that?" Zero asked and squatted down to get a better look at it.
"It's some kind of chest," Lucie told them. She looked up at Caveman who was eyeing the treasure. "And it has Stanley's name on it."
They decided unanimously that they should not tell the warden about their find. They wanted to get to the bottom of it themselves. So, they all finished their holes and then together they re-buried the chest in Lucie's hole, making sure to mark it so they could find it later.
"We'll come back out here tonight and get it. We can decide what to do with it then," Squid told everyone when they had finished covering it back up. He stuck his hand out and looked at all of his friends. "We all have to promise right now that whatever we find out about this, it stays between us. We decide together what to do."
They all nodded and put their hands in, too. They had a pact.
A/N: Hey everyone!! Thanks for reading another chapter. This one was written in a hurry, but I promise I'll spend more time on the next one. If you can't tell, we're getting closer to the end!! Oooh , wonder what's gonna happen?!? Lol! Also, HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY ZERO'S GIRL!!! Hehe. Hope you had a great birthday and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!