Chapter Fourteen

Edward got everyone off of the dock and back to the lake house and tried to calm Lucille down to find out what was going on. Looking around he saw that the car was all packed up for the trip home. He also saw that Uncle Bob’s family were all searching hurridely around the perimeter of the house.

“Jake’s missing, I said. And we’ve got to find him.”

“Lucille, calm down. What do you mean – Jake’s missing?”

“I haven’t seen him all morning and I just assumed he left early with you on the boat fishing. I’ve been working all morning to help get the house closed up and get the car packed up. Bob was helping me with the car and I asked him when you and Samand Jake would be back. He said that Jake didn’t go with you!”

“That’s right. I needed to talk to Sam, so we went out alone. Do you mean that Jake is not around here somewhere?”

“Edward, will you listen to me?”, Lucille said as she shook him by the shirt. “Jake is missing and we need to find him.”

Bob and Verdela rushed up to them at that point. Bobby and Diana joined them. They confirmed with each other that the whole house and surrounding area had been searched. Edward was calm as he thought through all of their options. “Okay”, he said to everyone. “He’s got to be around here somewhere. We just have to figure out where.”

“It’s my fault”, said Sam from the edge of the circle. “He was annoying me this morning and I told him to bug off.”

“Sam, it’s not your fault”, Edward said, reaching out to him. “You know Jake gets himself into his own scrapes. We just have to find out what it is this time.”

Bob stepped in to help move this along. “All right”, he said authoritatively. “Everyone think. Did Jake have anywhere in the area that he liked to go this week? Did he go off anywhere by himself that you know of?”

No one spoke up right away. Sam was clueless, as were the adults. Diana had spent most of her time avoiding the boys and did not have any ideas either. Finally, tentatively, Bobby spoke up. “I think I may have an idea.”

“Bobby, do you know something about this? Tell us now son, if you do”, said Verdela.

“I think I do, but I don’t want to get him in any trouble.” Bobby was hanging his head and shuffling his feet. He wasn’t sure how they were going to react, or if he himself was going to get in trouble.

“Bobby, baby”, said Lucille. “Jake may be hurt or in trouble. You have to help us and tell us anything you know. I swear to you that nothing will happen to you if you do.”

“Well”, he said slowly. “There are two possibilities. One of them is the shelter area where it drops down to the boat dock. Jake took his camera down there Tuesday and Wednesday to try to get a good shot of the lake. He was disappointed though, and didn’t think that his camera was good enough to take the picture that he wanted to take. He wished that he had a camera like Uncle Bob’s.”

Edward looked quickly over at Lucille. She looked right back with a pain on her face. “Why are you looking at me?”, she asked. “I didn’t know he went there. You know how good Jake is at sneaking off.”

“Bobby, where is the other place?”, Uncle Bob asked him. “It’s okay, you can tell them.”

“Well, yesterday he went down the road to the Burke’s to play with Rick. He was looking at the new Honda minibike’s that Rick’s family just got and he really wanted to ride one.”

“Thanks, Bobby”, Verdela said. “You did good telling us.”

“All right, everyone”, Bob said. This was his house and he was taking charge of the search party. Here’s what we’ll do. Edward, take Sam and go over to the shelter area and see if Jake is there. Hopefully he’s there taking pictures and this will be over in a few minutes. I’ll go down to the Burke’s and see what’s up there. ‘Del and Lucille, you take the kids in the house and wait for us. Make them some sandwiches and milk so that they can leave when we find Jake soon.” Bob was not as confident as he sounded with that last part. He had a gnawing feeling that something was seriously wrong here.

The shelter area was just five hundred yards or so down the road from the lake house and Eward and Sam got there quickly on feet. “Jake!”, they hollered into the treeline as they searched the area. It didn’t take long to know that there was no sign of Jake here.

Uncle Bob had better luck down at the Burke’s, where he found Mrs. Burke outside tending her garden. “Betty”, he shouted as he ran into the yard. “Is Rick here? Have you seen the little boy that has been staying with us this week?”

“Bob, what on earth is wrong?” Betty said as she stood and turned. “You look frightened.”

“Betty, just tell me. Are they here? Jake is missing.”

“Well, they were here earlier. But they are gone now. They went for a short ride on the minibikes. They should be back anytime now. They’ve only been gone an hour or so.”

Betty’s ten year old daughter stopped playing nearby and she stepped over into the conversation. “Mom, they’ve been gone longer than that. You always lose track of time when you are gardening. I think it’s been at least three hours or more.”

“Thank you, Rose. I appreciate you helping us. We really need to find them. Did they tell you where they were going?”

“Am I in trouble for this?”, Rose asked nervously. “I couldn’t stop them from going and they didn’t ask me to go anyway. They just went.”

Bob knelt down to eye level with Rose and said calmly to her “ You’re not in any trouble, honey. But you can be a big girl and help us. Did your brother Rick say where they were going.”

“Yes”, Rose answered tentatively.

“Can you tell, us where?”, Bob said calmly.

“Yes.”

“Okay, honey. Just tell us.”

“They went up to the top of the hill. Jake had a big camera with him and he said he wanted to get up as high as he could to get a good picture of the lake. Rick told him about the overlook and I think that’s where they were going. They should be all right, though”, said Rose.

“Why is that, honey?”, asked Bob.

“Well, because they were both wearing their helmets. I made them. So they should be all right.”, she said earnestly.

Bob pulled her tight and hugged her and said “Thank you, young lady very much.” He turned and ran back toward his house, shouting over his shoulder “We’ll find them.”

Bob got back to the house right as Edward and Sam returned and he ran past them up into the house. He had a nagging suspicion that he needed to check out. Moments later he came back into the kitchen where they were all standing and waiting for him.

“It’s okay. I know what’s going on. We need to hurry, but I know where they are. I just talked to the Burke’s down the road and they saw Jake this morning.”

Lucille gasped. “Jake was down the road? Doing what? Is he all right?” She was frantic and was jumbling all of her words together.

Bob continued. “The Burke’s just got two brand new Honda 50cc minibikes and it seems that Rick and Jake have taken off for a joy ride.”

Edward frowned. “Bob, there are roads all around here. How will we know where to look for them?”

“Because they left us a clue, that’s how. Rose Burke told me that Jake was talking about getting up high some where to get a good picture of the lake. She also said that he had a “big camera” with him. I just checked in the bedroom and my Nikon camera bag is missing. I think that the boys took the camera and the minibikes and are headed up to to high ground. There is only one road up to the overlook area that they are probably at and we can get there in about twenty minutes. Edward, go with me. Everyone else stay here.”

“Should we call the police?”, Verdela whispered to Bob out of earshot of Lucille,who was sitting at the kitchen table crying.

“That wouldn’t be a bad idea”, Bob whispered back. “Right now I don’t know if we need help up there or not. Fortunately the weather is good so they should have had good riding conditions. Go ahead and alert them and they’ll decide what to do.”

Edward and Bob jumped into Bob’s car and headed up the hilltop road. It was a medium grade gravel road all the way up to the top, but it had some steep curves and no shoulder to speak of. They had to keep a reasonable speed to keep from going over the edge. Bob drove while Edward kept a lookout for either minibikes or kids. “The lookout is not far away and hopefully they will be there”, Bob told Edward.

“Whoa, look out!” Edward yelled. They were coming out of a steep curve and saw a minibike coming full speed right at them. Bob honked the car horn and the minibike swerved to miss them. The kid riding the bike tried to keep it upright and in control, but he ended up laying it down into a skid on the gravel. Bob hit the brakes and brought the car to a stop sidewasy in the middle of the road. Both of the sprang out of the car and ran back to help the rider, who was trying to get up and right his bike. Fortunately, he had a helmet on and did not seem to be hurt.

“Rick, is that you?” Bob asked him as he helped him get his helmet off. “It’s me, Mr. Laurel from your block. Are you hurt?”

“No”, Rick sputtered. “But you’ve got to help us. Jake’s hurt and I can’t get him out. I need to get down the hill and get help.”

“Rick, we’re here. We’re help.”, Edward prompted. “What’s happened.”

“It’s Jake”, Rick repeated. He was trying to get a good picture. He kept getting closer and closer to the edge of the road, trying to get the picture to look right, and he didn’t know how to use the big lens that moved in and out. So he trying to get closer to the edge of the road.”

“Rick, what happened”, Edward cut in impatiently.

“He fell off the edge and down into a ravine and got stuck. I tried to get him out, but I couldn’t. I’ve got to get down to town and get help! Let me go.”

“Rick, we’ll here now. We’ll help you. Get in the car.”

They set the minibike off to the side of the road for safekeeping and put Rick in the backseat of the car. They quickly finished the trip up the hill and pulled over into the overlook. “Just show us where he’s at, please”, Edward said. Rick pointed down over the side of the overlook. They couldn’t see it at first because of all of the vegeatation. Then they saw a shadow, a black cut in the ground, and recognized it as the ravine.

“Rick, stay here with the car and watch for help. If anyone comes, point them to where you just showed us. Do you understand?” Bob said calmly.

“Yes, I’ll wait here. But hurry, please. I think he’s hurt.”

Bob and Edward found a route to get down to the ravine. They had to sit and slide down the hill on their butt where the hill was the steepest. They raced to the edge of the ravine and laid down and looked over the edge. There was Jake, wedged into some rock in a vee at the bottom. He was half in and half out of some water that had collected there and was wet, but his head was out of the water and he was moving. He looked pale and in pain, but he was alive.

Bob told Edward to stay here with Jake and Bob went back up the hill to his car to see if he had some rope.

“Jake”, Edward yelled down. “It’s Dad. Can you see me?”

“Dad, is that you?”, Jake yelled back. He was looking up into the sun and could only make out shapes.

“I’m here son. We’re going to get you out. Just stay calm.”

“Okay.”

“Are you all right, son? Are you hurt?”

“It hurts, Dad. But I’m okay. I think I broke my leg, but I’m not sure. And my collar bone, of course.”

“Okay, Jake. You know what to do with the collar bone, buddy. Just hold still and we’ll get you.” Edward wanted to weep with fear, but he held his voice calm for Jake’s sake.

Uncle Bob got back up to his car just as help was arriving. Verdela had gotten through to the police, who alerted the park service. Fortunately, they had a work crew up near the summit working and they were able to reach them by radio. Within an hour the crew was able to get ropes down around Jake and extricate him from the ravine. They used their jackets and ropes to immobilize his leg and shoulders as best they could and loaded him in Bob’s car for the ride down the hill.

“I’m sorry I broke your camera, Uncle Bob”, Jake said as they started down. He had chills and was shaking in pain.

“We’ll take care of that later, young man. Just be still, okay”, said Bob.

There was an ambulance waiting at the bottom of the hill and the rest of the Dunbars were there with their car to meet them. Lucille hugged on Jake as they loaded him into the ambulance for the short ride to the hospital in the nearest town. “Jake, give me a break please. We already almost lost you once on this trip. Are you trying to leave us?”

The Dunbars departure home was delayed a day while Jake was put back together. He got a cast on his leg and another figure eight brace for his collar bone and was checked out of the hospital to rest in a motel room for the night. Lucille made sure that he had enough blankets to ward off the chill that he still felt.

And she made sure that the door was double locked so that Jake could not get out again without her seeing him.