Lost in the Tunnel of Time (7 page)

“The ghost is not mean, mon. It's gotta be something else! Maybe it's a monster,” added Ziggy nervously. “Monsters live underground, you know.”

“What are we going to do?” asked Rico.

They could barely move in the small cavelike area that trapped them. They huddled together in the darkness, listening in fear.

From the other side of the small opening they had dug earlier, the terrifying sound grew louder
and closer and more dangerous. It sounded like the growling and scraping of a very large animal.

“I bet it's a bear!” cried Rico.

“There are no bears in the sewer, Rico. I think it's a huge rat!” Jerome shot back at him.

“It's getting closer!” shouted Rashawn with terror.

Each boy trembled, too afraid of the darkness and the approaching animal to move, even to breathe.

The scraping and sniffing and growling sounds were just on the other side of the opening now. The terrified boys could smell the damp, animal odor of the creature's wet fur.

It scraped and dug furiously near the opening. The hole got larger. Large hunks of dirt fell away in a loud thudding crash, and the huge, wet, black animal bounded straight at the four boys.

They screamed.

It headed first for Rashawn. He could feel its hot breath approaching. Then it licked his face.

“It's Afrika!” Rashawn exclaimed with relief and happiness. “Where'd you come from, boy? How did you find us?”

“I knew we'd be rescued, mon!” Ziggy shouted joyfully. “I was never even worried!”

Rico was more honest. “I've never been so glad to see that big, old, stinky dog in my life! I'll never call him lazy again! I promise.”

The dog ran from boy to boy, licking their dirty faces, and letting them hug him. He seemed to know that they were lost and needed to feel safe again.

Ziggy exclaimed with a bit of his usual cheerful attitude, “Rashawn, let's follow this wonderful dog of yours out of here, mon!”

The four boys quickly scrambled through the hole Afrika had dug and climbed down a steep hill. Afrika barked once or twice as he led them to what they could see was a sewer tunnel. He ran back and forth, making sure that each boy was following.

When they reached the sewer, they could hear voices coming from above. Rashawn's dad was saying, “I hear the dog barking!”

Rashawn cried out, “Dad! Dad! We're down here!”

His dad, with relief in his voice, shouted, “Rashawn! Are you okay? Are the other boys with you?”

“Yes, Dad. We're all here, and we're fine now. Afrika found us and saved us!”

Then Rico's mom shouted through the small sewer opening. He could tell she had been crying. “Rico! Are you there? Are you okay, baby?”

Rico wasn't even embarrassed to let the other boys know his mom called him baby. He had never heard anything more wonderful in his life. “I'm fine, Mama. We're all okay, really!”

“Stand back, boys,” boomed Rashawn's father. “Here comes the jackhammer. They're going to open the sewer entrance so you can get out. This will be noisy, but it will only take a few minutes.”

The pounding sound of the jackhammer breaking the steel and concrete of the sewer pipe rattled the boys to their bones. The silence when it stopped was sudden.

“Ziggy? You down there, boy?” Ziggy's mom shouted with worry in her voice.

“Oh, my mum!” Ziggy cried with a whoop of
delight. He was the first to crawl out of the sewer and up into the street.

Jerome followed, with Rico and Rashawn right behind him. Jerome ran to his grandmother, hugged her with all his might, and finally broke down and cried. He even hugged his two little sisters.

The boys looked around in amazement at the crowd of people who stood cheering and clapping as they climbed out of the sewer. Rico's mother, Rashawn's parents, Jerome's grandmother, and Ziggy's parents and uncles all hugged the boys, the worry on their faces replaced by joy.

Rescue crews with large digging equipment, two fire trucks, several police cars, an ambulance, and a television news truck were assembled. Mr. Greene, Mr. Lyon, and Mrs. Powell stood together. Several students from their class at school were also there with their parents. Tiana smiled shyly at Rashawn. This time he smiled back.

WRAPPED IN BLANKETS AND SIPPING HOT CHOCO-
late, the four friends sat in the back of an ambulance, a little overwhelmed by all the attention. Mr. Greene and Mrs. Powell walked over to the boys. On their faces was that look that grown-ups use when a kid is no longer in trouble—relieved, a little angry, but really glad that everybody is okay.

“What got into you fellas? Ziggy, if I thought you boys were going to try to follow that map, I never would have loaned it to you,” scolded Mr. Greene.

“We were just going to look around a little, mon,” explained Ziggy, speaking very fast. “Then the
door got stuck and we couldn't get out, and we got scared, and we followed the map until the tunnel caved in!”

“How did you find us?” asked Rashawn.

“At first, when your parents started calling the school and your friends because the four of you weren't home yet, we had no idea where you might be,” explained Mrs. Powell.

“Then Tiana told your parents that she saw the four of you go backstage, but she didn't remember seeing you come out. She thought that maybe you might be up to something.”

“When Mrs. Powell called me to let me know that you boys were missing, I knew it had something to do with that map,” added Mr. Greene.

“We unjammed the trapdoor and followed your path until we got to the cave-in,” Mr. Lyon said with fear still in his voice. “That's when everyone got really worried and we called the police and rescue crews.”

“We heard the ghost, Mrs. Powell,” Rico said quietly. “She's real, and she lives down there. I think she must have been a real comfort to the escaped slaves hiding in the darkness.”

“Ghost?” Mrs. Powell replied with wonder. “That's just an old story from long ago. You probably just heard the wind.”

The four boys looked at one another and smiled. They knew that the whistling song they had heard was more than just wind. They had been touched by a voice from the past.

“Did you find the bundle in the Underground Railroad hidden room?” asked Jerome with excitement.

“We sure did,” replied Mrs. Powell. “You've stumbled across a secret that's been hidden for almost a hundred and fifty years! It's a very important, very valuable historical find.”

“Wait till you read my story, Mrs. Powell,” said Ziggy with a twinkle in his eye. “Now we
really
know
what it's like to travel on the Underground Railroad.”

“It's dark, and it's scary, and it's dangerous!” exclaimed Rashawn. “Whoever left that small bundle was a very brave person.”

“Mr. Greene, do you think it might have belonged to your grandpa Mac?” asked Jerome.

“I doubt it, Jerome,” replied Mr. Greene, “but I sure would like to think so.”

“What's gonna happen to that stuff we found, mon?” Ziggy asked as he stirred his hot chocolate with the pickle his mom had brought for him.

“Let's call the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center right here in Cincinnati,” suggested Mrs. Powell. “I'm sure your discoveries will receive a place of honor in a display there.”

“That's cool, mon.”

Rico said quietly, “I didn't think we would ever get out of there. How did you know where to find us on the other side?”

Rashawn's dad hugged his son once again and replied, “We knew that the tunnel probably ran down to the sewer lines and then down to the river. But we weren't sure where to look. Mr. Greene gave us a general idea, but it was Afrika who found you.”

“He squeezed through a small opening in the sewer line and came back with one green tennis shoe,” added Mr. Greene.

“My green shoe, mon!” shouted Ziggy with glee. “That was part of my secret rescue plan!”

“Afrika then went back and dug until he found you,” explained Rashawn's dad. “He's a real hero.”

“Where is Afrika?” asked Jerome. “We haven't seen him since he found us.”

“Look, mon,” said Ziggy with a laugh.

Curled up in the front seat of the ambulance, with a green tennis shoe under his paw, Afrika, ignoring all the noise and confusion, was fast asleep.

ZIGGY'S STORY

Seven Smooth Stones
by Ziggy Colwin

Traveling on the Underground Railroad was a really scary thing. A boy named Mac ran away from slavery with his mother. They wanted to be free, so they walked four hundred miles to Ohio. It took a long time because they could only move at night.

It was very dark and they heard sounds that
made Mac want to cry, but he didn't. In the daytime slave catchers were looking for them, so they had to hide in the bushes or in barns of people who helped them. It was summertime so it was hot, and when bugs bit him, he couldn't even scratch. Even a sneeze was dangerous.

When Mac and his mum got to Cincinnati, they hid in a tunnel under a house. Mac didn't get to play very much. All he had was a slingshot and seven smooth stones. Mac was a brave boy who didn't know that he was going to be famous. But I know. I was there.