Lost in the Tunnel of Time (4 page)

“Good-bye!”

Back in the classroom Ziggy glanced at the clock. “Fifteen minutes before time to go home! Now, that's my kind of school day, mon!”

Mrs. Powell had been in a good mood all day, but she still remembered to pass out homework.

Jerome groaned. “What a terrible end to a wonderful day.”

“If you give it a chance, I think you'll like this assignment,” Mrs. Powell told Jerome and the rest of the class.

“What do we have to do?” asked Rashawn.

“You better give Ziggy two of those sheets, Mrs. Powell,” teased Rico. “You know how he loses and forgets his homework!”

“You might be right, Rico.” She laughed as she handed Ziggy two of the assignment sheets.

“It's never my fault, mon,” Ziggy protested, trying to explain. But he took the two sheets anway.

Mrs. Powell smiled at Ziggy and said, “What I want you to do is write a story.”

“A story? On what?” asked Nicole.

“I want you to call it ‘From Slavery to Freedom: A Story of Escape.' I want you to make up a story about either a person who was trying to escape from slavery or a person who helped someone to escape,” explained Mrs. Powell.

“You mean like Mr. Greene told us this morning?” asked Rico.

“Exactly!” replied Mrs. Powell. “But this time you're telling the story. Think about the river and think about the people in slavery. Then make up a story about escape.”

“I think this is going to be fun,” said Tiffany. “When do we have to turn it in?”

“Today is Thursday. Let's turn them in next Wednesday. If you like, you can read your story to the class.

“Don't forget now, Ziggy,” Mrs. Powell gently reminded him. “No more excuses, okay?”

“When have I ever missed a homework?” Ziggy asked with fake innocence. The whole class groaned and laughed. At that, the bell rang, and the school day full of river memories came to an end.

SATURDAY MORNING DAWNED COOL AND BRIGHT.
Rico headed down the street toward Ziggy's house. “Hey, Rico!” shouted Jerome from across the street. “My grandma brought doughnuts for us!”

“Great! I'm starving. My mom quit buying doughnuts when she went on a diet. We have a house full of healthy food!”

They stopped in front of Rashawn's house. His dog, Afrika, slept on the front porch. He glanced at the boys, wagged his tail once, and went back to
sleep. Rashawn hurried through his front door and tossed Afrika a dog biscuit as he jumped down the steps, two at a time. Afrika lifted his head, sniffed the biscuit, and seemed to ignore it, but he put his paw over it before he went back to sleep.

“Your dog is so lazy!” said Jerome.

“He's a retired police dog,” explained Rashawn. “He spent his whole life chasing bad guys and finding missing people. He's like Mr. Greene—just sitting around and dreaming about the past. He's allowed to relax now.”

Just then Ziggy yelled to them from the end of the driveway, standing at the edge of his backyard. “Hurry! Come back here! I have something to show you.”

The three boys rushed across the street and followed Ziggy around the corner of his house, down a path, to their clubhouse hidden in the back corner of his huge, tree-filled backyard. Breathless and laughing, the boys glanced over to see Afrika, asleep in the front of the clubhouse.

“How did he get here before we did?” asked Jerome.

“He knew where we were headed. He just took a shortcut,” explained Rashawn proudly. “I told you he was a police dog. He's really smart.”

“Yeah, when he's not asleep!” teased Rico.

“So what's the big surprise, Ziggy?” asked Jerome.

“I found a clue to a secret from the past, mon!” replied Ziggy excitedly.

“What secret?”

“A clue? To what?”

Ziggy said with mock seriousness, “We must first go inside and have an official meeting of the Black Dinosaurs. I say the password today is ‘Mysterious'!”

Ziggy was always forgetting the official password, and the other three always had fun watching him try to remember it. “I bet he can't even remember his own password,” Rashawn whispered to Rico and Jerome.

Rico opened the door of the clubhouse. As he entered, each boy touched the huge, black plastic dinosaur that was hanging inside. Dusty leaves
covered the floor, and a slightly chilly breeze blew through the holes in the walls that served as windows.

“Looks like we need to sweep up a little,” said Rashawn.

“Looks to me like we need to spray for bugs!” Jerome replied quickly. “It's been a while since we've been here and spiders may not know they're not welcome!”

“We can do all that in a few minutes, mon,” cried Ziggy. “Let me show you what I have!”

Rico couldn't wait any longer. “Show us!” he pleaded.

“First, tell me the password,” Ziggy demanded.

“That's easy,” said Jerome. “It's ‘Ghost.'”

Ziggy roared with pleasure. “Finally! Someone besides Ziggy forgot the password!”

“I know,” Jerome said with a grin. “I was just messin' with you, Ziggy. Isn't the word ‘Mustard'?”

“It's ‘Mysterious,'” Rico called out cheerfully. “Now what do you have to show us?”

Ziggy pulled a folded sheet of paper from his
back pocket. He slowly unfolded it, smoothed it out, and placed it on the card table that Jerome's grandmother had given them. “It's a map!” he whispered.

“A treasure map?” asked Jerome hopefully.

“No, mon, a map of secrets!” replied Ziggy mysteriously. He now had their full attention. The map on the table was hand drawn and looked very old. It had lines and what looked like doorways, and the words “Destroy this map!” written on the bottom.

“Where did you get it?” asked Rashawn.

Ziggy took a deep breath and began. “I got it from Mr. Greene. He got it from his grandfather. It should have been destroyed long ago, because it could have meant death to anyone who was found with it.”

“What is it a map of?” Rico wanted to know.

Ziggy paused dramatically. “It's a map of an Underground Railroad hiding place! Not only that—it's a map of the hiding places that are under our school!”

“Wow!” The rest of the boys were truly impressed. “Why would Mr. Greene give such a special map to you?”

“He didn't give it to me, mon. He just loaned it to me because he thought it would help me get a good grade on my homework assignment. I was walking past his house yesterday while he was sitting on his porch, and we started talking, and he ended up digging this out of an old trunk. I have to give it back to him next week.”

“So how is it going to help you do your homework?” asked Jerome.

“It's not gonna help at all, mon,” replied Ziggy with a sly smile.

“Why not?”

“Because I can make up a story about an escaped slave out of my head, mon!”

“So what are you going to do with the map?” asked Rashawn.

“It's not what
I'm
going to do with it; it's what
we're
going to do,” said Ziggy, the excitement building in his voice.

“What's your plan, Ziggy?” asked Rico, who was beginning to see what Ziggy had in mind.

“We're going to follow this map and find the lost secret tunnel of the Underground Railroad that's hidden under our school!”

“HOW DO YOU THINK WE'RE GONNA FIND A LOST
tunnel? Those things have been hidden for over a hundred years!” Rico asked.

“You know those old stairs behind the stage that lead down to a brick wall, mon?” asked Ziggy.

“Sure,” remembered Rashawn. “Last year when we were in the school play, we used to go down there and hide from the girls and scare them when they came looking for us.”

“There's a trapdoor back there too. It's built into the floor at the bottom of the stairs. But it has boxes over it and a big lock on it,” added Jerome. “I used
to wonder why those stairs went nowhere and why a trapdoor was hidden in the floor.”

“The lock is open, mon!” announced Ziggy.

“What? How do you know?”

“Yesterday I was carrying some boxes for Mr. Lyon. He told me to put them in that storage area behind the stairs. And I noticed that
the lock was open
! It looked like it had just fallen apart because it was old.”

“Did you tell anyone?”

“Of course not, mon! But I didn't put that trapdoor and the hidden tunnels together until Mr. Greene gave me this map. I just
know
there's a connection, mon!”

“What's the plan?” asked Rashawn.

“Mr. Lyon is having tryouts for this year's school play on Monday. Tell your parents that you're staying for that.”

“I don't want to be in the play,” complained Rico.

“You're only gonna be there so we can check out that trapdoor,” explained Jerome.

“Oh yeah! I get it! Good plan!”

“What should we bring?” asked Rashawn.

“Flashlights,” suggested Rico, “with extra batteries!”

“Bug spray!” declared Jerome. “And some tools.”

“Some rope and a couple of garbage bags,” added Rashawn.

“And I'll bring the map and the Seven Special Stones of the Sun, mon!” cried Ziggy.

“I don't think there's much sun where we're going,” Rico remarked to Ziggy.

“Then that's all the more reason why we need them, mon! We'll meet in the school auditorium for play tryouts. Don't forget your supplies! The Black Dinosaurs are on the path of another adventure!”

The school day on Monday seemed to pass in slow motion. A few students talked about the homework assignment. Tiffany Lawrence turned in her story early, typed and stapled. Ziggy, Rashawn, Rico, and Jerome had other things on their minds today. They met at lunch to make sure they had everything they needed.

“After tryouts, when no one is looking,” Ziggy
explained, “we'll see if we can get that trapdoor open. It shouldn't take long to just take a quick look and see what's down there, mon.”

“Do you think it might be dangerous?” asked Rico, who tended to be cautious and more timid than the others.

“Not if we're very careful,” explained Rashawn. “Besides, what could possibly happen in just a few minutes?”

Jerome agreed. The bell rang, calling them back to class, but the Black Dinosaurs eagerly waited for the bell signaling the end of the day.

When the students finally assembled in the auditorium for play tryouts, Mr. Lyon seemed pleased with the large turnout. “Read over your scripts, and be ready when I call your name,” he announced. “Think about what part you'd like to play.”

By the time Mr. Lyon got through all the tryouts, it was close to five o'clock and almost dark outside. Rico decided he wanted to be in the play after all and tried out for the part of a young doctor who
saves the lives of millions of people. Jerome tried out for the part of a young preacher who led his people to freedom. Rashawn tried out for the part of a great warrior who conquered many nations. And Ziggy signed up to be stage manager. “I like to be in charge, mon,” he said with a grin.