"I'm not going to put cooking oil on my head," Donkey said. "I'll break out in a thousand zits and smell like french fries."

"The boys will love that," Ding-Dong joked. "They'll all be sniffing after you."

We spent the evening picking the knots out of each other's hair. As with everything else the Amazons did, they did it in an organized way.

Mirina perched on a table, and pulled a chair in front of her. She motioned Knickers to sit down, and began working her way silently from the ends of Knickers' long hair, gently untangling and untying.

Boogers, following Mirina's example, sat on the table and began working on Boogers. Graffy and Grooty paired up in the same way.

"I have an idea," said Ding-Dong. "What if we gang up on each other? Three of us can work on one, and it will go faster."

"It will be the same amount of ti—" Wiggy began, but Cakey and I both shot her a look, so she stopped.

"Why don't you go first, Ding-Dong?" I offered. "You have the longest hair."

Cakey sat on the table behind her, and Wiggy and I each took a side.

"Work from the ends to the scalp," Boogers said. "Otherwise you make the knots and snarls bigger."

We worked in silence for about twenty seconds, and then the chatter began.

"I can't believe that nobody — not even one girl — has a brush or a comb!" Knickers declared.

"What — does that mean we're not feminine or something?" Graffy countered.

"No, it's just that we all have long hair — except Marcie and Wiggy. It's normal to carry a brush."

"None of us has a cell phone, either," Ding-Dong pointed out.

"A lot of good a cell phone would do us here," Graffy countered.

Ding-Dong turned her head toward Graffy and was about to reply, when Cakey said, "Ding-Dong, quit moving your head!"

After a pause, Boogers called out, "You know, there is oil in the pantry, if anyone wants to use it."

Cakey frowned. "What are you saying, Boogers? To put the oil on our hair?"

"Cooking oil?" Donkey cried. "Yuck-o!"

"Oil is good for your hair! What do you think is in those detangling sprays? Magic water? It's oil. People pay good money for hot-oil treatments on their hair. We could heat it up on the little stove."

"We could deep-fry our hair," Cakey put in. "Make it crispy on the outside—"

"—and moist and meaty inside," Ding-Dong finished.

"You girls don't know what you're talking about," Boogers replied. "Sometimes at home I put olive oil on my hair."

"And then you wash it out, right?"

"No. I leave it in."

"You do have really nice hair," I admitted.

"Thanks," Boogers said. "The oil makes it soft, too!"

"I'm not going to put cooking oil on my head," Donkey said. "I'll break out in a thousand zits and smell like french fries."

"The boys will love that," Ding-Dong joked. "They'll all be sniffing after you."

"Oh, yeah," Cakey laughed. She pretended to sniff and sniff at Ding-Dong's hair, and said in a her best boy voice, "Hey, honey, ooh! You smell so—" sniff! sniff! "—Mmmm... makes me hungry! You smell... You smell so SEXY, baby!"

Everybody broke up laughing, repeating the joke. When it finally died down, Boogers said — a little sadly — "So I guess no one is trying the oil," which it set us off laughing again.

"Are *you* going to put the cooking oil on your head?" Donkey challenged.

"Well, no..." Boogers said, shyly. "I just thought someone else might..."

A chorus of NOs closed the discussion.
 

Although everyone did their best to put a good face on our situation, we didn't need to talk to know how each other felt. The cave was dry and well-appointed, "as far as caves go," as Ding-Dong put it, but at the same time it was creepy. The sense of being underground was a bit oppressive. Thank goodness the ceilings were high, or else I think we'd all have gone a bit claustrophobic.

I wasn't wearing a watch, and I was trying to not ask the time every five minutes, but I couldn't help glancing at Wiggy's watch when most of us went to lie down for bed. It was only 8:30. There wasn't anything else to do but go to sleep.

When Ding-Dong said, "Going to bed early will make the morning come faster," I thought, She really *is* a Pollyanna, isn't she? but at the same time, I knew I would have said it if she hadn't.

Since we were still in our underwear, Wiggy, Cakey, and I slept in the other dorm room, which was slightly cooler. Ding-Dong slept with us for solidarity.
 

Wiggy woke me at six the next morning, and handed me my clothes. They were stiff, but dry. I slipped them on and quietly joined Wiggy, Cakey, and Ding-Dong in the Great Room. They were already dressed and waiting. The rest of the Amazons were still asleep. Wiggy put a finger to her lips and pointed to the door. I nodded, and the four of us slipped outside without making a sound.

The air was fresh and clean. It was still dark outside, but I could tell from the silence that the rain had finally stopped. Wiggy led us from the cave and said, "It's a hour before sunrise. Pretty soon we should be able to see what's what."

I looked up into the dark, starry sky. It was a relief to be able to look up without flinching; to feel fresh air on my skin, rather than water. "Thank God the rain stopped!"

"You said it," Cakey agreed.

"Why did we get up so early?" I asked.

"I couldn't sleep," Wiggy replied tersely. "Listen: if we follow that path over there, and keep to the right, it will take us to the top of a hill. From there, we can see the ocean to the east, and see if the boat is there."

"How do you know all that?" I asked.

"Know what?" Wiggy asked, stiffening slightly. "That the boat's to the east? I heard Flannery say that we had to keep due west to get through the coral and land on the island."

"No," I said. "About the path and the hill."

"Oh," she said. I wished it was light enough to see her face. She was silent for a few moments, then answered, "I saw a map of the island before we left. I have a good memory for maps."

I didn't pursue it, but it didn't sound quite right. Maybe it was something she'd tell me later, when Cakey and Ding-Dong weren't around, so I mentally filed it away.

Wiggy went back inside the cave's entryway and took two flashlights from the drawer in the table. She handed one to Cakey, and started pumping the handle to charge hers.

"I think we only need one," Cakey said. "The sun's coming up soon."

"They're not heavy," Wiggy told her, "and it's not far. Maybe the last girl in line would like a light."

"I'll take it," Ding-Dong said. "I can be the last girl in line."

We quietly and slowly made our way through the tropical darkness and near-total silence.

"Not even the birds are awake yet," Ding-Dong commented, in a low voice.

After five or ten minutes, Wiggy said, "This must be it." She and Ding-Dong shined their lights around at the trees and rocks.

"Maybe we should sit down," I suggested. "That looks like the edge of the hill."

"We'll just be careful not to step over the edge," Wiggy replied. "Besides, I'm not sure I want to sit on the ground in the dark."

"We should have waited," Cakey said. "We can't see a thing, and there won't be any light for another twenty minutes."

"We wait down there, we wait up here," Wiggy replied. "What's the difference?"

"It's clean down there, and we know what we're sitting on. We could even light a candle."

"We're here now," Wiggy told her. "If you want, you have enough time to go down and come back again, for all the good it'll do you, but I'm staying here. I'm going crazy not knowing! I don't understand why the adults didn't come ashore. Even if they had to abandon ship, they had the dory and the life rafts, and — except for Bossy and Poppy — they're all sailors. They could have rowed ashore."

"What if the boat went over and they didn't have a compass?" Ding-Dong asked. "Then they wouldn't know which way to go."

Wiggy searched in silence for an answer, but found none.

"Could they have GPS?" Cakey offered.

"I don't know," Wiggy sighed. "I suppose. I guess they'd have to, but then... if they do, why aren't they here?"

We were silent for a bit. The thought of the adults lost at sea — or worse, dead — was a little too somber for the four of us in the still-dark morning. I moved closer to the others. Cakey put her arm around my shoulders.

At last, Wiggy said, "The Captain would have known which way the wind was blowing. She'd know the directions, so she'd know which way to go."

No one replied. I voiced the silent wish, Dear God, I hope so! and tried to stifle the scenarios that jumped into my mind... scenarios in which the boat got blown so far, or the wind changed, or a dozen other things that could happen to leave the adults adrift at sea with no clue as to which way to go.

"At least now the storm is over," Ding-Dong said. "Help is on the way. They'll find us and they'll find the adults."
 

After that, we tried to make conversation until the world began to light up and the birds began to chatter. The instant there was a bit of light, Wiggy cried out, "Look! The boat is there!"

I didn't see it at first, but soon we all did. "HEY! WE'RE HERE!" we cried, shouting and waving.

"It's so far away," I said, "I can't make out whether anyone's on deck."

"Me neither," said Ding-Dong, "and I have really sharp eyes."

"Let's go back and tell Mirina," Cakey proposed.
 

The others were awake, and unwillingly eating gummy oatmeal and flappy, chewy french toast when we entered. No one had a problem leaving the unappetizing food behind, and soon the ten of us were crowded on the hill.

Mirina said, "Am I wrong, or do I see the longboat tied up behind?"

Wiggy strained to see. "Maybe."

"Yes, it is!" Ding-Dong confirmed. "Is that a good thing?"

"We need to get it," Mirina said, "and see whether the adults are still on the ship."

I thought it was odd that she put the two things in the order she did. It sounded like Mirina didn't think the adults were onboard. It sure didn't look as if they were.

"How are going to do that?" Cakey asked. "Wiggy's the only one who knows anything about boats."

"And I can't swim that far," Wiggy put in.

"No, *you* can't, but Graffy and Grooty can," Mirina replied. Then, looking to the pair for confirmation, "Can you swim that far, and tow Wiggy in a life jacket?"

"Oh, no!" Wiggy protested, but Graffy and Grooty said, "Sure," and "Piece of cake."

"You have to go, Wiggy," Mirina said. "You know you do. Bring that boat back here, and show Cakey how to run it."

Why? I thought, but I didn't ask out loud. It turned out (just so you don't wonder) that Mirina, in spite of her prohibition about thinking bad thoughts, had had quite a few bad thoughts of her own. She'd already figured out that the ship had been abandoned, and that the adults were gone.

We returned to the beach, near the dock, and Mirina took Graffy, Grooty, and Wiggy aside for a private conversation before they left for the ship.

Graffy and Grooty were calm, almost business-like. They didn't have any qualms or fears about what they were about to do. I couldn't imagine anyone swimming that far.

Knickers brought a life jacket for poor Wiggy, who looked scared to death. "Put your glasses in your pocket, Wiggy," Mirina instructed. "You don't want to lose them."

Fumbling and sniffing, Wiggy took off her glasses and clumsily closed them up. She put them into her shirt pocket, and buttoned it closed. Knickers helped her into the life jacket, and made sure it wasn't pressing on the glasses.

Graffy and Grooty threw off their clothes. "Take your shoes off and come into the water, Wiggy," one of them said, and they led the poor girl backwards into the cove. The water soaked her shorts, then her shirt, and then the twin blondes towed her out to sea.

© 2008 by Kaleigh Way

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