Kids
Chapter 8: Searching for the Unknown
12:40 PM EST on Monday, November 15, 2004
A breakfast serials story | Written by Avi | Illustrated by Joan Sandin
The story so far: It's 1972. Ed Goddard, while parachuting, has lost the money he stole and has started searching for it. But Jamie is looking for him, even as Gillian is looking for Jamie.
Searching for the Unknown
Goddard moved back into the open, heading for the spot where he had come down. His leg was hurting him increasingly, so he used the stick as a cane. When he reached his landing place, he tried to gauge his position. On a hill not too far away, he noticed a large pine that rose higher than the other trees. He remembered having seen it while coming down.
Limping, he walked toward the tree as fast as his sore knee allowed. All the while he kept looking for some sign of the kid as well as the money bag. Where could it be? Had the kid taken it? The thought filled him with anger. Except for that stupid kid in the field, everything had been going so well.
Goddard tried to push his feelings away, knowing they would only make his search harder. The bag -- with its million dollars -- was somewhere. He just had to find it before the kid did.
Goddard continued searching until, out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a black lump upon the ground. It was up the hill to his right, against a gray boulder. Heart pounding, he tried to run, but was slowed down by his aching knee. Then he saw the object for what it was -- a rock.
His disappointment mounting, Goddard looked down at himself: his clothes were wet, rumpled, and covered with mud. Incensed to the point of trembling, he sat down to rest. He reminded himself that there was a million dollars close by. His million. Determined to find it, he forced himself up, took five steps down the hill -- and saw Jamie coming around some trees.
Goddard flung himself down. Then, with great care, he lifted his head and looked. Was this the kid who had seen him? He gripped the stick tightly and thought, If it is, I'll clobber him. But though the boy was acting as if he were looking for something, he didn't have the bag.
As Goddard continued to watch, Jamie came to a stop. He seemed to be making up his mind which way to go. Suddenly it occurred to Goddard that if this was the kid who had seen him, not enough time had passed for him to have told anyone. That meant that -- other than this boy -- no one yet knew about him. But was this boy the one who had seen him? Maybe not, he thought. Maybe it's just a coincidence he's here.
Illustration by Joan Sandin
As Jamie moved farther away, Goddard decided to let him go. In moments the boy disappeared. Goddard stood up and relaxed his grip on the stick.
I'll get out of this yet, he told himself, turning back in the direction he had been heading and continuing to search for the bag. But he was tense. All the time, he kept glancing over his shoulder in case the boy came back.
Gillian walked along easily, carelessly. The whole thing is a downer, she thought, and that includes me. Jamie was nowhere in sight. Worse, she had no idea where he might have gone. Halting, she looked about. Maybe he's only tricking me, she told herself. I deserve it for being so nosy.
That thought was enough to make Gillian decide to go only as far as the next hilltop. Then she would go home. So when she reached the hilltop, she stood tall and turned slowly in a full circle to look at the land about her. She saw no one.
Tossing her hair away from her eyes and telling herself she didn't really care, Gillian started walking down the hill. That's when she saw a black, round object stuck between two gray rocks. If she had come from any other direction, she would never have noticed it.
Curious, Gillian moved toward it. Gradually she realized what it was: a satchel. What an odd place for a satchel, she told herself. Maybe Jamie has a secret hiding place.
Drawing closer, Gillian examined the object. It seemed to be a leather bag with a strap around it and a lock, which had broken open.
Gillian climbed up on the rocks, reached down, gripped the bag's handle, and pulled. It would not budge. Grabbing it with both hands, she leaned on the rock, then yanked back with all her strength. The bag began to move. She pulled again. Each effort made it move a little more. Finally it burst out so quickly that she fell back. The bag tumbled to the ground, falling upside down. Out onto the wet ground spilled bundles of money.
Gillian stared at the money, bent down, and picked up one of the bundles. It was real money, all right. A ton of it.
She stood up, half expecting that someone would be watching what she was doing. But no one was in sight.
With an immediate sense of something important happening, Gillian shoved the bills back into the bag, picked it up with both arms, began to walk home -- and stopped. Maybe I shouldn't take it, she told herself. It has to belong to someone.
Gillian looked about again, but still saw no one. Deciding that she had better get home as quickly as possible, she clutched the bag tightly and began to walk rapidly toward her house.
(To be continued next week in Kidsbeat.)
****
Breakfast Serial - Reading The Sky Weekly Activity for Chapter Eight
As Goddard searched, he felt hopeless, and he wanted to cry. When he kicked the stone, he felt disgusted. What did he feel when he saw Jamie? What expression might he have on his face? Can you make that face? Describe it in words. What might Jamie's face have looked like? What about Gillian's?
You can often tell a lot from the expression on someone's face, or their posture, or the way they move. In the same way, pictures tell stories. Turn to the Sports section of today's Providence Journal and look at the pictures. What stories do they tell? Cut out pictures that go with different stories and arrange them in pairs. Write a short story about what might be happening in the two pictures. How can you relate them to each other?
Text copyright 2004 by Avi
Illustrations copyright 2004 by Joan Sandin
Reprinted by permission of Breakfast Serials, Inc.
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