Tony went on no more dives. He had to stay no more than a few minutes
away from Cindy’s house in case they had to leave in a hurry. Cindy also stayed close to home.
From time to time, friends called to ask
why they had not seen Cindy. Her father
always answered the phone and said that Cindy wasn’t feeling well, which was
true. She wasn’t sick, though; she was
afraid.
Cindy and Tony each packed two bags for
traveling. One bag held all the things
that would go into check-in luggage at an airport. The other was what airlines call a carry-on
bag. For other reasons, Tony had another
name for the smaller bags: boogie bags.
A boogie bag is a bag filled with things a
person will need if he has to leave someplace in a hurry. If Tony and Cindy had to leave suddenly,
their boogie bags would have to serve them until they got to Tony’s home in the
United States. If there were such an
emergency as that, Cindy’s father would mail other belongings to them after
they had left.
On the same day that their plane for Guam
was to arrive, the emergency came. The
chief of police called Cindy’s father and said, “Get Cindy out of the house
right away. The Department of Safety officers
are on their way to get her. They’ll be
there in just a few minutes.”
“If they’re on the way over here,” Cindy’s
father said, “what about the airport? Is
the airport safe?”
“No, it isn’t. They already have Department of Safety officers
at the airport, waiting for her. Leave
for the airport anyway, but hide somewhere nearby. I’ll try to think of something. It’s the only way off the island.”
“What about a fast boat?”
“A boat wouldn’t be fast enough, and it
couldn’t go far enough. The airport is
the only way.”
Cindy and her father, grabbed Cindy’s
boogie bag, hurried to the home where Tony was staying with the homeowner. It took only a minute for Tony to grab his
boogie bag and leave with them. The
homeowner offered to go with them, in case he was needed. It would take the four of them a little more
than ten minutes to travel the four miles from there to the Kanifay Island
Airport—if no on stopped them along the way.
They agreed to travel in Cindy’s father’s car.
The four of them ran toward Cindy’s house
as fast as they could, taking care not to slip or fall on the stone path. As they approached Cindy’s house, they heard
strange voices. “We’re too late,” the
homeowner said. “They’re already here.”
“We’ll never get to the airport now,” said
Cindy’s father.
The homeowner thought for a moment and
said, “I have a friend who lives along the north coast about a mile or so from
here. He has a traditional sailboat. If we keep off the roads and travel through
the woods, we can be there in less than an hour. He may be able to hide Tony and Cindy in the
boat and get them out.”
“Guam is over 500 miles from here. Do you think it’s possible to use your
friend’s boat to go that far?”
“It’s about 120 miles to Haliloke
Island. After traveling that far, they
could rest a day, then go again. From
Haliloki to Guam is a little more than 400 miles. It may be possible; I don’t know; but I think
it’s their only hope.”
The four of them looked at each other, and
Cindy’ father said, “Let’s do it.” He
turned to the homeowner and said, “Lead on.”
As the stepped into a sweet potato field
and began walking northwest, the strange voices suddenly became excited. “They’ve seen us!” Cindy’s father said. “We have to run. Let’s go!”
With those words, began running through the field, heading toward the
woods. Tony, Cindy, and the homeowner
followed closely behind him.
As they ran toward the trees, they looked
to their left and saw about a dozen villagers who were also running toward the
northeast. Then they saw more villagers
off to their right. “What’s going on?”
Tony asked the others.
“I don’t know,” said Cindy’s father, “but
let’s not stop to figure it out. We have
to move fast.” Tony took a quick look
behind him to see if the Department of Safety officers were getting closer to
them. To his surprise, he saw more than
a dozen more villagers running as they followed the Department of Safety officers.
In another twenty minutes, Tony, Cindy,
her father, and the homeowner found themselves at the old Japanese airport,
surrounded by old, broken airplanes.
Other Kanifay Island natives were already at the airport. More than a hundred people from a dozen
native villages formed a circle around Tony, Cindy, her father, and the
homeowner. The Department of Safety
officers stopped outside the circle and watched.
A native walked toward Cindy and her
companions. Cindy recognized the man and
said, “Charles!” She said to her father,
“It’s Charles, our village chief!” The
village chief shook the men’s hands.
“What’s happening?” Cindy’s father asked.
The village chief said, “News travels fast
on this island. We came to help. With hundreds of people watching, the central
police won’t be able to take Cindy while she’s in human form. It would be illegal, because Cindy hasn’t
broken any laws. They’ll have to wait
until she turns into a fox; then they’ll make their move.”
“And then what?”
“It’s still a couple of hours until
dark. Stick dancers from four or five
villages are getting into costume. Other
people are bringing lights to brighten the old airfield. Others are bringing video cameras.”
“Stick dancers in costume? Why will they be wearing costumes?”
The village chief looked around at the
four and said, “Whatever happens, we’re going to put it on YouTube. I seriously doubt that the Department of
Safety want to be seen shooting or beating up one of Kanifay Island’s most
popular tourist attractions.” They all
laughed. The village chief looked at
Cindy and said, “Your classmate Phillip told me he wanted to wear his Boy Scout
uniform. He said that the Department of
Safety would never want the world to see a YouTube video of their officers
beating up a Boy Scout.” He laughed
again and said, “I told him to stick to the plan.”
“So, what is the plan?” Cindy’s father
asked. “What are the stick dancers going
to do?”
“They’re going to dance. Nobody in his right mind would try to push
their way through a group of people while they’re doing a bamboo stick dance. The dancers won’t try to hurt anybody, of
course, but it would be dangerous to get too close to people who are hitting
bamboo sticks together.”
“That will hold them off for a while,”
Cindy’s father said, “but not forever.
How do we get out of here?”
“I don’t know. We’re making this up as we go along.”
An hour later, stick dancers in full costume
arrived. The village chief said to Tony,
Cindy, her father, and the homeowner, “Okay.
Move to the middle of the airfield.”
As they moved, the stick dancers formed four human walls around them on
the airfield. The dancers carefully
looked at the areas near their feet and threw away anything that may have made
it hard to dance. He then said to Cindy
and the others, “I’ve done all I can to keep you safe; but, if the Department
of Safety comes in here with a helicopter, there won’t be a thing we can do to
help you. It’ll be all over.”
In another few minutes, the sun went down,
and the daylight was fading into darkness.
Cindy would soon turn into a fox, and the Department of Safety could arrest
or shoot her.
It was starting to get dark. As the Department of Safety prepared to move
against Cindy, the village chief called out to the dancers. Over a hundred natives began their stick
dance.
Above the noise of the stick dance, Cindy
and the others heard a sound above them.
It was a Bell 407 helicopter moving toward the spot where Cindy
stood. She put her arms around her
father and cried, “Dad, I don’t want to die!”
She reached out and held Tony’s hand.
“Promise me you’ll stay with me to the end,” she said.
“I
promise,” Tony said. The helicopter came
closer.
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