Chapter 3
The next morning was grey and overcast. Laura peered worriedly at the sky and hoped the rain would hold off. She didn't want to have to disappoint the boys; they were really looking forward to exploring the caves.
Frank already had the map out and was pouring over it, looking for the location of the caves.
"Found it!" he declared triumphantly, looking up from the map, a piece of toast clutched in his left hand.
"Where?" Joe rushed over excitedly. Frank had told him first thing that morning about the proposed hike, and Joe had been looking forward to it ever since. A cave sounded like a good place to find a skunk.
Frank pointed to the spot on the map as his mother and brother leaned in for a look.
"We'll be heading in that direction," Frank told his mother importantly as he indicated towards the lake.
"Where are we now?" asked Joe, staring with interest at the map. Frank was a Boy Scout and could read maps, but it looked like double-dutch to him.
"Here," said Frank, pointing to the map again.
Joe studied the map and frowned, thinking hard.
"Do you think we should bring a picnic lunch?" asked Frank, turning to his mother as Joe wandered over to the window.
"I think that would be a good idea," Laura smiled. It still amazed her that Frank could read maps. He had pestered his Scout Master to teach him when he had first joined the Boy Scouts and the Scout Master had humoured him, never really thinking that Frank would understand what he was saying. The Scout Master had been floored when Frank had picked up the skill in just a matter of days.
"Our son really is a genius!" Fenton had smiled proudly.
Laura yawned suddenly. She felt very tired. Must be from the long drive yesterday, she mused.
"I can't see them," Joe's voice broke into Laura's thoughts.
"See what, honey?"
"The caves," said Joe. "I can't see them."
"You can't see them from here, Joe," Laura explained. "We have to walk to the caves."
"Nu-uh." Joe shook his head and trotted over to the table where the map was spread out. "Look."
Laura looked at the spot that Joe was indicating.
"See? We're here and the caves are there," Joe told her, jabbing at both spots on the map. "Look how near they are, we should be able to see them."
"Oh, honey," said Laura, as she understood what her son was saying. "Maps don't work like that. What seems really near on a map is actually much further in real life. Look, I'll show you." Laura pointed her finger at the spot on the map where the cabin was. "We're here now, but do you remember how long we had to drive yesterday to get here?"
Joe nodded.
"Well, this is where Bayport is on the map," Laura continued, as she tapped on the map to indicate where Bayport was. Then drew her finger along the road they had taken saying, "and this is the road we took to get here."
"The map is only a small version of the real road," Frank added. "Like your toy garage is a small version of the real one in Bayport."
"But that's just silly," Joe burst out. "My garage is only a toy, but people use maps to find their way to places. It shouldn't be like a toy road!"
"It's not," Laura responded. "The maps are done in scale, they…" Laura trailed off. She didn't know how to explain about size and scale to Joe. He was a very bright child for his age, but he wasn't a child prodigy like Frank either. She knew that explanations about size and scale would go over his head, and possibly confuse him even more. Then an idea struck her.
"I know, why don't you bring your notebook and pencil with you?" said Laura. "That way, you can draw your own map to the caves. And when we get back, I'll be able to show you the difference between your map and the real one. Then you'll be able to understand why the map makers have to make the map smaller."
"Okay," said Joe and shot off to the room to retrieve his notebook and pen.
Frank smiled at his mother. "I think you'd make a better Scout Master than even Mr. Higgins, Mom. You explain things so well."
"Thank you, Frank," Laura smiled, pleased.
"You're welcome." Frank beamed. He was going exploring with two of his favourite people in the whole world today. This would be fun.
Pity Dad can't come…
Frank's smile faded as the thought flitted through his mind.
Laura saw his smile drop and immediately moved to distract Frank. "Come on, Frank. Why don't you help me with the picnic lunch? The sooner we get it done, the sooner we can leave."
The walk to the caves took longer than Laura had anticipated. Joe kept stopping every few minutes to draw his map and by the time they reached the caves, the normally level-headed Frank was sizzling with impatience.
"Come on, Joe!" said Frank in exasperation, as Joe stopped just ten feet from the cave to add to his map again.
"Hang on," said Joe, scribbling in the little notebook. Sticking his tongue out at the corner of his mouth in concentration, he added the final touches to his map.
Laura suppressed a laugh to see her usually serious son hopping with impatience from one foot to the other, while her usually boisterous son stood frowning seriously at his little map.
Finally they reached the cave. Laura handed Frank and Joe a flashlight each, then switched on her own flashlight. Frank and Joe followed suit.
"Stay close behind me," Laura warned. "I don't want either of you to fall or get lost." She didn't need to warn them. Now that Frank and Joe were actually in the cave, they found the gloomy darkness a little scary.
Laura walked into the cave with the boys following close behind. They walked for quite a while until the roof started to slope down. Laura stopped and shone her light into the cramped space beyond. The beam fell on what looked like a bed of grass and twigs.
"Hey, look at that," she said with interest to the boys. "It looks like a bear hibernated in here at some point or another."
"Bear!" Joe exclaimed, looking around fearfully. Frank also looked a little apprehensive.
"Don't worry, there haven't been any bears in these woods for quite a while," their mother reassured them. "Besides, it's summer…bears only hibernate in winter."
"Oh, yeah," said Joe, relieved.
"Guess we forgot," Frank added sheepishly.
Their mother laughed. "Come on, lets go back. We can have our picnic just outside the cave."
On the walk back, the boys flashed their lights around the cave walls with interest. The little fear they had felt earlier was completely gone.
"Why aren't there any pictures on the walls?" asked Frank, suddenly.
"What do you mean, honey?" asked Laura.
"Pictures," Frank repeated. "The ones drawn by cave men. Dad was watching a documentary on TV about them last month."
"Ah!" Laura nodded in understanding and explained briefly to the boys about prehistoric cave paintings. They were fascinated.
"Wow, imagine living in a cave and hunting, and never having to take a bath," said Joe enthusiastically. "Cool!"
"What makes you think they didn't take have to take baths?" asked Laura, amused.
"'Cause when Aunt Gertrude took us out for ice-cream the other day, that weird guy who hangs out in the park asked her for money, and she called him a smelly cave man and told him to take a wash and get a job," Joe explained.
Laura laughed. "I see your point, I…oh!" Laura stopped dead at the mouth of the cave and stared out in dismay. It had started to rain while they were in the cave.
"How are we going to get back to the cabin?" asked Frank, while Joe stuck out his tongue to catch the rain drops.
"We'll just have to wait for it to pass," said Laura, as she pulled Joe away from the mouth of the cave. "Come on, lets have our lunch in here."
The boys threw themselves on the floor of the cave as their mother un-slung the bag on her back and took out sandwiches, fruit and cake. Finally, she withdrew a flask of tea and a bottle of soda. Frank loved tea but Joe wouldn't touch it. He maintained it was the colour of mud.
After they had eaten, Laura tried to explain about maps to Joe.
"Map makers make the maps small so that they can fit everything in," Laura said. "Look at how big your map is, Joe."
Joe looked at his notebook. His map covered ten pages.
"Now, imagine trying to give every map that much space. Nobody would be able to carry the map around with them. The point of a map is so that you can see your route at a glance."
A look of understanding flitted across Joe's face. "Oh, I get it!" He glanced at the map that Frank was still studying seriously. "But then why can't I read the map?" he asked in irritation.
"It's not like reading a book, honey. You need to know which way is North, South, East and West, and you need to be able to calculate distance."
"Frank can," Joe pointed out.
"Frank's older," his mother answered.
Joe wrinkled his forehead. "Will I be able to read maps when I'm seven?"
"Sure, honey, I'll teach you how."
The rain continued to fall so Laura attempted to entertain the boys with a game of I-Spy. They played happily for half an hour before Joe became restless.
"Why won't it stop raining?" he groused. "It's cold! I want to go back to the cabin."
"It'll stop soon," Laura tried to reassure him. "Come here to me. If you're cold, you can cuddle into me. You too, Frank."
The boys did as she suggested and Laura managed to pass another hour by telling them stories.
Finally, it stopped raining. Quickly, Laura slung the bag on her back and hustled the boys out of the cave. The sky still looked grey and she wanted to get them home before it started to rain again. Unfortunately, the ground was now muddy from the rain and it hindered their progress. They were only half way back to the cabin when it started to rain again. Before long, they were all soaked and shivering.
Laura tried to keep their spirits up by getting them to sing as they walked, but the boys were too tired, cold and wet to comply. She was relieved when the cabin finally came into view.
"At last!" Joe exclaimed and ran for the shelter of the porch.
"Be careful, Joe!" Laura called. "The ground is very slippy!"
The words were no sooner out of her mouth when Joe slipped forward. Instinctively, he put his hands out to break his fall and landed hard on them, crying out in pain as he did so.
"Joe! Are you okay?" Laura ran forward as quickly as the wet ground would allow and bent down beside him. Frank followed closely behind.
Joe was covered in mud and tears were streaming down his face, His right hand was curled in a ball.
"What's wrong, honey? Did you hurt your hand?" Laura asked gently.
Whimpering, Joe nodded.
Laura reached for his hand, frowning as she noticed a trickle of red between his fingers. "Okay, Joe, I need to see your hand."
Joe shook his head. "N-no," he moaned. "H-hurts!"
"I know, sweetheart, but I need to see it to make it better," his mother said gently. "Will you let me see your hand?"
Still crying, Joe nodded and slowly held out his hand. He winced a little and cried out in pain as his mother gently rolled his fingers back from his palm.
Laura was alarmed at the large gash that was stretched across the small palm bleeding heavily. Behind her, she heard Frank's sharp intake of breath.
How on earth did he cut himself like that? she thought, her eyes scanning the ground for signs of a sharp rock. Instead, her gaze fell on several shards of broken glass. Where did that come from? Laura was furious at whoever had thrown the glass there but didn't have time to wonder. The rain was now torrential and both boys were shivering hard.
She took her keys from her pocket and handed them to Frank. "Frank, open the front door, please," she said. As Frank ran towards the porch, Laura reached down and carefully lifted Joe up, then followed Frank. Once inside, she made for the kitchen and sat the shivering child on a chair.
"Frank, I need you to get me the first aid kit in the bathroom and then I want you to take a hot shower," Laura instructed as she put the kettle on to boil.
Frank quickly ran from the room.
"Don't worry, sweetie," she said in soothing tones to Joe. "It'll be fine. I'll clean your hand and it'll be fine."
"Actually," said a hard voice from the hall, "everything is far from fine!"
Laura spun around to look at the doorway and gasped as she saw a masked man standing there. He was holding Frank tightly to him, a gun pointed at his head!