By six o’clock in the morning, rays of sunlight squeezed through the shutters. It was warm in the sitting room. The heat was on again. Henry was sound asleep right next to the Peases’ dog, Blackie.
“Shh, Benny,” Mrs. Pease said when she came in to check on her sleeping guests. “The electricity and heat came back on at four. We told Henry to leave the fire and get some sleep in his own bed upstairs. But he wouldn’t leave you children. He’s been sleeping on the floor for two hours.”
“Well he won’t be sleeping much longer. Look!” Benny cried.
Blackie was licking Henry’s face and making the same kind of whining noises Watch always made to get the Aldens up.
“It’s too early, Watch,” Henry mumbled when he felt the dog’s wet nose on his face. “Go back to sleep.”
The Aldens and the other guests couldn’t help laughing.
“Here, boy, here,” Jessie called to Blackie.
The dog trotted over to Jessie and looked up at her. She patted his smooth, black forehead. “I’ll take you outside.”
The word “outside” was magic. Just like Watch, Blackie raced around in circles while Jessie got his leash.
“I guess all dogs are the same,” Benny laughed.
“And I guess two hours is all the sleep I’m going to get,” Henry said, yawning.
The Peases urged their guests to go back to their rooms for real sleep. It was no use. Everyone wanted to see what damage the storm had done.
“Let’s get dressed,” Benny said. “I want to see the ocean!”
“Wouldn’t you like some breakfast first?” Mrs. Pease asked.
“Wow! I almost forgot!” Benny answered.
The Aldens sat down to breakfast when Jessie came back with Blackie. “The town needs volunteers to help with the clean-up,” she told everyone. “There are branches and papers and things blown all over. Anyone who wants to help should meet down at the beach in half an hour.”
“I’d better have some seconds on those Bennycakes,” Benny said. “Cleaning up a whole town is going to make me hungry!”
The minute they had finished, the Aldens said good-bye to their grandfather and raced through the old, narrow streets.
“Everything is blown all over the place,” Violet said when she looked around.
Ragged Cove did look a bit topsy-turvy. Store signs were hanging crookedly from buildings. Window boxes had smashed onto the streets.
“Looks like the whole town is here,” Jessie said when the children reached the crowded beach and docks.
Owners were busy putting their boats back into the water. Mr. Pease was holding a clipboard. A younger man in a blue sailor cap handed out big black trash bags and work gloves to the volunteers.
Mr. Pease waved to the Aldens. “Come over here and meet Captain Bob. He’s organizing the litter crew. Captain Bob, meet the Aldens—Henry, Jessie, Violet, and Benny. Best crew you could ever have.”
“Welcome aboard,” the young man said.
Mr. Pease teased Captain Bob. “Now don’t talk boat-talk today, Bob. Not unless you want to upset this crew. They were counting on a whale watch ride on the Jonah during their visit.”
The young man’s smile suddenly disappeared. “No boat rides anytime soon,” he told the children.
This didn’t stop Benny Alden. “You don’t know how fast we work. We can get everything shipshape today. Then maybe could we go for a boat ride?”
Captain Bob shook his head. “Sorry, I have to drive up the coast with my truck tomorrow, once we get Ragged Cove in shape. I can’t see my way clear for awhile.”
Benny was about to speak until he saw Henry give him a look. He knew what that look meant: Button up, Benny!
With some of the other volunteers, the Aldens set off through Ragged Cove with a street map, trash bags, some work gloves, and brooms.
“I never cleaned a town before,” Benny said, sounding as if he were on a treasure hunt instead of a clean-up. “Maybe we’ll find something.”
The Aldens found lots of things. Wet newspapers, boxes, bottles, even a sandy old sneaker went into a garbage bag. Then the children fanned out through the town to gather up the broken branches that were lying everywhere.
By afternoon, their group was finished with their work. They reported back to the beach where Captain Bob was directing a group of teenagers raking the sand.
“What else can we do?” Henry asked the captain.
Captain Bob pushed back his cap. “Unless you can drive a pick-up truck, not much else. We’re shipshape here.”
Benny tugged on the captain’s sleeve. “You think you’ll take your whale watching boat out tomorrow?”
Jessie tried to shush Benny, but she was too late.
Again, the man looked upset when Benny mentioned the boat. “I told you, I have work up the coast to do. I won’t be going out on my boat for awhile.”
Benny pulled down his sailor cap and tried not to get upset. “Sorry,” he apologized.
Captain Bob turned away from the children. He didn’t seem to want the Aldens bothering him.
Henry handed over the work gloves, brooms, and extra bags without saying anything to Captain Bob. He turned to his brother: “Come on, Benny. Violet had a good idea in the middle of the night. Let’s see if we can find the grave of the lost sailor from the Flying Cloud. Wouldn’t that be interesting?”
Captain Bob spun around and faced the children again. “Why don’t you kids get going—I’ve got work to do.”
Henry’s eyebrows went up.
“All right, Captain Bob,” Jessie said softly.
The Aldens slowly walked toward the town. They didn’t say anything right away. All of them were puzzled.
Benny kicked sand every few steps. “Why did Captain Bob get angry after we did a good job?”
Jessie shook her head. “I don’t know, Benny. Maybe he was up working all night and got in a bad mood.”
Henry put his arm around his younger brother. “Maybe he’s upset about losing business because of the storm. Mr. Pease seems to like him, so let’s not say anything. Jessie might be right that he’s just in a bad mood from working too hard.”
“What about what that guest said about Captain Bob last night?” Violet asked.
Henry walked along. “You mean that the museum curator says Captain Bob is no better than a pirate? That’s probably just a lot of talk.”
Violet turned around to take another look at Captain Bob. He was off in the distance putting up benches that had blown over. “I think it’s a lot of talk, too. Maybe somebody he loves is buried in the cemetery and thinking of them upset him.”
Henry smiled at his sister. “Maybe you’re right. We’ll be careful and respectful while we’re there.”
The children strolled toward a bluff that overlooked the town and the beach. Beach plum bushes lined the small road that led up to the cemetery.
The Aldens were quiet in this special spot. The cemetery looked very old. Many of the words on the gravestones were worn away by time and weather.
“It’s pretty here,” Violet said quietly. “You can see the town and the ocean in every direction.”
The children walked to the very top of the bluff. The oldest stones were there. They stopped in front of a section marked off by a rusting fence. A sign on it said: COFFIN Family Plot.
Jessie read some of the granite markers. “Oh look! There’s Emily Coffin’s gravestone —1844–1879. She only lived ten years after her husband drowned.”
“It’s so sad that he drowned at sea. They couldn’t be buried next to each other,” Violet said softly. “There’s an empty space between her grave and their children’s graves.”
The Aldens were silent for a few minutes. The wind had died down. They listened to the faint breeze blowing through the beach grass that surrounded the gravestones.
Jessie walked away first. In a minute she found what she was looking for. She waved her brothers and sister over.
“Here it is.” She pointed to a small, half buried gravestone. “Caleb Plummer. 1855– 1869. A brave young sailor, too late to save his ship.”
“Isn’t that the name in the book you read last night?” Henry asked.
Jessie nodded sadly. “Yes. He was fourteen, just like you, Henry. Everyone thought he rowed to shore to get help for the Flying Cloud. But he was too late.”
The children took one another’s hands. The sun was going down. Out in the cove they could see the boaters returning to the docks. A little farther out, they saw a dark figure rowing to shore.
“It’s time to leave,” Henry said quietly.
The children turned away from the graves of Caleb Plummer and Emily Coffin. They made their way back to town without a word and without seeing that the little rowboat had disappeared.
|