The Timeless Island

By Kathy Testa

He opened his eyes slowly, aware that noise in the room had interrupted his sleep. He stared at the ceiling, studying the familiar lines and cracks that criss-crossed above his head. The pattern the lines and cracks he saw this morning formed what looked like a baseball diamond. He found home base, then 1st, 2nd and 3rd. he heard the crack of bat against ball and could feel the rush of adrenalin required to run to 1st base. The ball went down the middle-he rounded 1st, passed 2nd and stole 3rd when the centerfielder dropped the ball.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Mar 15, 2007
• ISBN: 9781466956964

Book preview

Copyright 2006 Kathleen C. Testa.

Illustrations by Melanie L. Testa.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrievalsystem, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Note for Librarians: A cataloguing record for this book is available from Library and Archives Canada at www.collectionscanada.ca/amicus/index-e.html

ISBN 1-4251-0968-3

ISBN: 978-1-4669-5696-4 (ebook)

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Printed in Victoria, BC, Canada. Printed on paper with minimum 30% recycled fibre. Trafford’s print shop runs on ‘green energy from solar, wind and other environmentally-friendly power sources.

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Contents

Chapter 1    The Beginning ... Of Summer Vacation

Chapter 2    Exploring

Chapter 3    Where?

Chapter 4    Katie ... And The Plan

Chapter 5    A New Friendship

Chapter 6    A Visit

Chapter 7    The Brothers Meet Dan

Chapter 8    An Ordinary Summer Day

Chapter 9    The Brothers Watch Dan

Chapter 10    The Blood Oath

Chapter 11    The Dilemma

Chapter 12    The Next Morning

Chapter 13    Another Tunnel

Chapter 14    The Discovery

Chapter 15    Preparation

Chapter 16    The Rescue

Chapter 17    The Capture

Chapter 18    The Reward

Chapter 19    The Brothers Go Home

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To Michael, Kyle and Cameron ...

you are my inspiration!

Chapter 1

The Beginning ... Of Summer Vacation

He opened his eyes slowly, aware that a noise in the room had interrupted his sleep. He stared at the ceiling, studying the familiar lines and cracks that criss-crossed above his head.

The pattern the lines and cracks he saw this morning formed what looked like a baseball diamond. He found home base, then 1st , 2nd and 3rd. He heard the crack of bat against ball and could feel the rush of adrenalin required to run to 1st base. The ball went down the middle-he rounded 1st, passed 2nd and stole 3rd when the centerfielder dropped the ball.

Mitch, at twelve years old, had an athlete’s body-thin and wiry, all muscle. His long dark brown hair, styled like his favorite ball player, almost obscured his big brown eyes, which were flecked with green. He loved sports-baseball, soccer and tennis-as well as skiing, in the cold months. But his true love was baseball. His dream was to win a baseball scholarship to college, then go on to the big leagues. He could envision himself playing for a big league team, retiring at age 35 or so, then becoming a TV announcer on a sports TV station. He knew, deep in his heart, that by the time he was thirty-five, he would be inducted into the baseball hall of fame. The TV stations would out-bid each other, in their attempt to get him on their station. It was so great to know what he’d be doing for the rest of his life!

The noise in the room stopped his ruminations-Mitch glanced over at his younger brother, still asleep beside him. His brother slept on his stomach, both arms slightly askew. Looking at the screen on the window, he identified the noise as coming from a huge moth that was banging against the screen, begging to be let out. He looked again at his brother, who was now snoring. Stealthily, he crept out of bed, tip-toed to the window, gently raised the screen and released the relentless moth.

Patrick, eight years old, had bright blonde hair and green/blue eyes-just like his mother. He loved sports, too-although he played baseball with his brother, his true love was basketball. Even with the four year age difference between them, Patrick was only two inches shorter than Mitch. He figured this meant that he would be the taller of the two, when they were fully grown. His dream was to earn a basketball scholarship to college and play for some truly great college team. After college, he dreamed of being a hero. When he was six he wanted to be a policeman. Then Mitchy told him that policemen didn’t earn very much money-at least not enough to live in a fancy house and own a cottage on the island. And Patsy wanted nothing more than to own his own cottage on his grandparent’s island.

Patrick lay there, listening to his older brother’s peregrinations. He let his brother think that he was afraid of insects, but he wasn’t-not anymore. He had been afraid when he was seven and younger, but-now that he was eight-who cared about a dumb moth? He snuggled into his pillow and faked some more snoring, secure in the knowledge that his big brother had gone to the effort of releasing the moth before he could wake up and be afraid.

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AFRAID-he heard his Mom, Dad and brother say he was afraid of things. They were wrong. Pat wasn’t afraid-he was cautious!

His 2nd grade teacher, Mrs. Fritzell, had taught him about being CAUTIOUS. She said that CAUTIOUS meant CAREFUL. And Patrick was a very careful boy-he knew that if everyone paid attention they would be CAUTIOUS too. After all-he wasn’t afraid or even cautious when it came to basketball-he could dribble right down the middle of the court, making the basket almost every time. He loved basketball.

The brothers were spending their summer vacation at their grandparents’ cottage. Each year, their entire family-Mom, Dad and now their new baby brother Connor-would stay at the cottage for two weeks-then their parents would go home, leaving the boys to stay with their grandparents for the rest of the summer.

Their grandparent’s cottage was bigger than their own home. The only reason it was called a cottage was because it wasn’t winterized. None of the cottages on the island were, because the water between the island and the mainland froze during the winter. Anyone who tried to live on the island during the winter could be stranded for weeks at a time-no access to food, fresh water, civilization. The cottage was built on a point of land that overlooked the ocean. There was a really cool lighthouse at the tip of the point-Pop-pop called it Dead Man’s Light. He said that when they got older he would explain how the lighthouse earned its name.

Their grandparents were cool. Pop-pop Pat and Grandma Kate took them sailing, fishing, crabbing and clamming. There was always something fun to do when they stayed at the cottage, especially after their parents went away. Their parents were great and they loved them, but-Dad was really strict.

And Mom worried about everything.

As soon as their family arrived at the cottage a few weeks before, Pop-pop and Grandma had a surprise waiting for the boys-their own 12 W sailboat! Well, Mom was sure that they were going to capsize and drown the first time they sailed it. She stood there on the beach, holding their baby brother Connor, yelling be careful! Don’t jibe! Pull in your mainsheet! Pop-pop and Grandma had been right near them, trailing along in the power boat, just in case there was a problem. It would have been nearly impossible for them to drown. Did she have to stand there yelling in front of the other people on the beach? It had been very embarrassing.

And Dad-oh, the speeches he gave them about how lucky they were to have their own sailboat! You guys have everything. Did you thank Pop-pop and Grandma? Then, do you think other kids get their own sailboat? You’d better take care of it! One day Mitch and Pat forgot to take the tiller and rudder off the boat for storage in the marine stores room at the cottage after sailing. You don’t deserve a boat like that! Dad yelled. I should tell Pop-pop to put it in storage until you’re responsible enough to take care of it properly. You guys don’t understand value! And on and on and on. They loved their parents, but they were glad that they would be alone with their grandparents for the rest of the summer. Grandma and Poppop seemed to understand them better. They almost never yelled at the boys. Instead, they discussed things.

The day after their family had taken the ferry back to the mainland, Grandma and Pop-pop told them that there were a few simple rules to follow with the sailboat. They absolutely had to remove the tiller and rudder and store it at home. The boat couldn’t be stolen easily if there was no tiller to steer with. Additionally, the rudder could become stuck in the mud at low tide, since the boat was moored fairly close to the beach so that the boys could get out to it easily. That was one thing that made Pop-pop and Grandma so cool-they explained the rules so that the boys could understand why things had to be done a certain way. Then their grandparents promised them that, once they had learned their mooring knots, to maintain the boat and sail it completely around the island, they would be considered captains of their ship, and would receive a Captain’s Cake in celebration!

Now, the problem with that was that Mitchell loved chocolate cake-while Patrick loved white cake. What to do? Mitch and Pat