Hannah and the Lake Beast Mystery
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About this ebook
Douglas Strait
Writing began while living entirely in Columbus, OH as an elementary school student and continued into adulthood with screenplays. With an interest in demonstrating my stories, they are now being offered in book form.
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Hannah and the Lake Beast Mystery - Douglas Strait
Chapter 1
The Beast Attacks
Apprehension is a powerful emotion, one that can cripple a person psychologically unless they know how to cope with it. Hannah Parker, a cute nineteen-year-old blonde dressed in a swimsuit and top, sits aboard an open pontoon boat, staring apprehensively out at the sparkling waters of Lake Erie as the skipper, Lee Foster, carefully steers through a maze-like marina, filled with yachts, sailboats and cabin cruisers.
Hannah ate a big breakfast that morning, but felt like it might all come up. Although the water was relatively calm, the motion of the boat and concern about the day ahead has her worried. Hannah is scared, but knows that she has to complete the open water certification dives in order to get her C-card. The scuba diving certification was necessary to complete her degree in marine biology. After all, every marine biologist she ever heard of was a certified scuba diver. It’s summer and Hannah decided to use her vacation to learn to scuba dive. She has always been a strong swimmer and mastered most of the skills taught to her in the pool. But, in deep water, with all that weight on and water well over her head, she entertained visions of drowning.
Lee Foster knows how to introduce the sport to a novice. He starts his new students out by simply having them duck their heads underwater, breathing through their regulators, and then slowly, one-by-one, teach the necessary skills they have to know in deep water. How to use the equipment was easy enough, but there was so much of it. Hannah tried to remember everything about how to assemble a scuba unit and knew it would come through repetition.
About her, among the rows of scuba tanks held solidly in tubes, were the other members of her scuba class, people she barely knew. Dressed in colorful wetsuits and with dive bags at their feet, they casually chat away among themselves, calm and relaxed, showing little concern about the day’s excursion. Hannah wondered whether this was a facade and that the others were concerned too. There was Lee, steering the boat, the owner of the dive shop where she took her lessons, and the dive instructor running the class. His name was on the boat, Lee’s Dive Shop. She turns to glance at two young men, not much older than her, Jeff and Martin. She couldn’t remember their last names. There were the two older couples, Dr. O’Brien and his wife, Ann, the other two, Barney and Tammy Johnson. Barney was a lawyer, she seemed to remember.
And then there was another man, introduced simply as Buddy. He wasn’t part of the class and Hannah hadn’t seen him before, but he showed an outward friendly demeanor as he sat on a bench and cleaned a spear gun before putting it in a compartment under a seat that made him fit in like an old friend. Buddy worked with Lee and was a divemaster. His task is to assist Lee with his students. Divemaster, Hannah recalled, was a fairly high-skilled level in the sport of scuba diving, but not as high as a certified instructor like Lee is. Both men were about the same age, mid-thirties, and seemed to have known each other for many years. Both men were rugged and self-assured.
Just as they pass from the marina onto the lake, a large yacht steers away from a dive shop at the end of a long pier, isolated from the rest of the marina. Hannah stares back at a large black and white sign on the dive shop roof saying, Army’s Navy Dive Shop
. The yacht moves slowly into the wake behind their own pontoon boat, then accelerates quickly until it is running parallel with them. Hannah notices a man with brown skin and sheer black hair waving and smiling broadly at them from the helm of the yacht.
Helloooo!
Lee waves back.
How’s it goin’ this morning?
It’s a great day for diving, heh?
Who’s that?
asks Dr. O’Brien.
Lee turns to him. His name is Army Aboud. He owns that dive shop we just passed.
He seems like a jolly fellow,
Dr. O’Brien observes.
Army’s effervescent greeting perks up Hannah.
What is he? He looks Middle Eastern.
Turkish,
replies Lee. He’s lived here for years.
Army steers his yacht, heading slightly away from the path of the pontoon boat. Casually, Hannah notices several other men like Army aboard his yacht.
Lee aims the boat toward an island that peeks over the horizon. As the dive class gets closer, they see a weathered, luxurious mansion atop a white stoned cliff, that is partially hidden behind deciduous trees. Near the base of the cliff, yellow buoys with flashing yellow lights mark a danger zone.
That’s Stone Island. We don’t go beyond those buoys,
announces Lee as he slows the boat. We’ll drop anchor a short distance from there.
That’s private property beyond those warning buoys,
Buddy adds. We have to make sure that we stay on this side of them.
Hannah casually observes Army’s yacht anchor at a black and yellow buoy, not far away.
What’s the yellow and black stripes mean?
Hannah is interested in learning more about buoys.
It’s called a Cardinal buoy,
Buddy pipes in. It just means that’s extremely deep water there.
Do you know who owns the mansion?
Dr. O’Brien asks.
It’s some millionaire. Wilhelm Von Zargo is his name. Don’t know too much about him, though. He’s kind of a mysterious character around these parts,
Buddy answers as he stands and prepares the anchor rope.
Lee stops the boat’s engine as the boat nears a red buoy about fifty yards short of the warning buoys. Buddy pulls the buoy rope in with a boat hook. To that, he ties the anchor and throws it overboard.
Lee picks up a plastic-covered clipboard and addresses the class. Okay, listen up. We will enter the water using the giant stride at places port, forward and aft.
He points them out and then goes on. Once in the water, we will meet at the red buoy and drop down to a sunken catamaran about twenty feet down. This morning, we will do mask clearing, buoyancy drills, regulator recovery and emergency assent. After that, we will break for lunch and start up again this afternoon.
Are there lots of fish down there?
Ann asks.
That’s what I like about this sport; the fish.
Plenty of fish,
Buddy chirps in.
Let’s get geared up,
Lee orders decisively.
Dive bags are opened and dive gear is laid out. The assembly process is under way as everyone loops their buoyancy control devices, known as BCDs, a large inflatable vest, to a tank, and then tightens down their hoses. Hannah pulls a bright, fluorescent green wetsuit from her dive bag and slips it on over her swimsuit. Ann and Tammy become confused trying to thread their weight belts through lead weights. After they waste several minutes, Buddy and Lee come to their rescue.
We get so many people who have trouble with those,
Buddy assures them.
Hannah is relieved for the time being. The drills that they are starting off with are easy. She realizes that Lee probably understands the need to begin with the simpler drills for rookies. But, later, she knows they will get harder. Her apprehension causes her to delay a bit in assembling her unit, causing her to lag behind the others.
Finally, everyone except Hannah is ready and inflates their BCDs. There is a chorus of puffing noises as everyone tests their regulators. Buddy goes in first, followed by Jeff and Martin. The O’Briens and the Johnsons move to the port side gate and drop into the water.
Dr. O’Brien removes his regulator, It’s damn cold in here.
There are whoops and hollers as the cold water soaks through wetsuits, shocking everyone’s systems before their body heat warms the water held in by the neoprene bubbles.
Hannah is helped into her unit by Lee. Being the odd person in the class, she has no dive partner except for Lee and Buddy. She tests her regulator with a couple of puffs, just before she steps to the edge of the boat. There is a momentary, terrifying fear that nearly overwhelms her as she stares down into the dark water. Hannah wonders if everyone feels that way the first time. She drops in and sinks momentarily before floating back to the surface. The shockingly cold water soaks through her wetsuit, taking her breath away. Getting her bearings, she replaces her regulator with the snorkel and kicks with her fins to the buoy where Buddy, Jeff, and Martin wait. After making sure everyone entered the water okay, Lee enters the water last and joins the group.
He removes his regulator and swivels around, making sure no one is missing, Okay, everyone is in. We’ll drop down here. Just follow the buoy rope down and it will take you to the catamaran. Remember to equalize often going down and to watch your bubbles when coming up.
Hannah knows that she has to make a point of watching