The Goose's Gold

is for Greed…

Spike and Chip came out of the house carrying the box of gold. Gram Hath-away followed them onto the porch.

“Thanks, Mrs. Hathaway” Spike said. “Do you really think your friends will help us?”

Gram Hathaway smiled. “I wouldn’t be a bit surprised. I’m going to talk to my banker on Monday morning!”

A yellow cab pulled up. Spike and Chip got in and sped away. Ruth Rose’s grandmother went back into the house.

“She’s pretty excited,” Ruth Rose said.

“I would be, too, if I was gonna get rich,” Josh said.

“I don’t think she’s gonna get rich,” Dink said. “I think she’s gonna get robbed!”

The Absent Author
The Bald Bandit
The Canary Caper
The Deadly Dungeon
The Empty Envelope
The Falcon’s Feathers
The Goose’s Gold

To Fred and Mary, bestest friends
–R.R.

In memory of Gromere
–J.S.G.

“Hi, Mom, I’m in Florida!” Dink said into the phone. He glanced out the airport’s large windows. “I can see palm trees! And it’s about 80 degrees!”

Donald David Duncan, known as Dink to his friends, was on winter vacation from school. He, Josh, and Ruth Rose were visiting Ruth Rose’s grandmother. She lived on an island called Key West.

Dink’s mother told him to have a wonderful time. “And remember your manners!”

Dink grinned into the phone. “What manners? Just joking, Mom! See you in a few days.”

Dink hung up the phone. As he bent over to pick up his backpack, he saw a pair of feet in the next booth. They were tan and in sandals. One hairy ankle had a tattoo of an eagle’s head.

Dink heard the man’s voice. He was whispering, “…then we take the dough and split. They’ll never find us!”

Take the dough and split? Was this guy planning a robbery? Dink wondered.

He leaned toward the other booth so he could hear better.

“Those old cookies are loaded,” the man whispered. “We get in and out, then we drown the goose and disappear!”

Dink blinked. Loaded cookies? Drown the goose? What was going on here?

Suddenly, Josh snapped his fingers in front of Dink’s face. “Earth to Dink,” he said.

“Come on, we have to go find my grandmother,” said Ruth Rose.

Dink stepped away from the phone. He peeked into the next booth, but it was empty.

Dink hurried after Josh and Ruth Rose.

“You guys aren’t gonna believe what I just heard!” he said. “I think some guy is planning a robbery!”

Josh and Ruth Rose looked at Dink. “Are you kidding?” Ruth Rose asked.

“No, honest!” Dink said.

Dink tried to imitate the way the man had whispered. “He said, ’take the dough and drown the goose!’”

Josh looked at his friend. “That’s it?”

Dink nodded. “Well, he also said something about loaded cookies.”

“Maybe he said ’bake the dough and brown the goose,’” Ruth Rose said. “Sounds like he was a chef, not a robber.”

Suddenly, they heard someone call, “Yoo-hoo, kids. Over here!”

“There she is,” Ruth Rose said excitedly. “HI, GRAM!”

The kids hurried over to a smiling woman with white hair.

“Honey, how you’ve grown!” Ruth Rose’s grandmother said. She gave Ruth Rose a hug. “Merry Christmas!”

Ruth Rose blushed. “Thanks, Gram. These are my best friends, Dink and Josh. Guys, this is Gram Hathaway!”

Gram Hathaway was short and tanned. She wore shorts, a purple T-shirt, and a baseball cap—backward!

Gram shook hands with the boys. “I’ve heard a lot about you two.” she said. “Got your bags? Let’s go home and have a nice supper.”

Ruth Rose’s grandmother led them through the exit doors. The evening was hot and humid. Everyone wore shorts and sandals.

“Boy back home we had a foot of snow!” Josh said. “I can’t wait to see the ocean!”

“There’s a lovely beach not far from my house,” Ruth Rose’s gram said. “I think you’ll find the water pretty warm for December.”

They piled into her small white car. “Buckle up, everyone,” she said.

Dink and Josh climbed in the back. Dink almost sat on a pair of in-line skates. “Just dump those on the floor,” Gram said.

Josh snuck Dink a look. “Do you skate?” he asked Ruth Rose’s grandmother.

She winked at Josh in the rearview mirror. “Only on Tuesdays and Fridays. The rest of the week I jog or swim!”

A few minutes later, they were zooming along a busy street. Dink watched the tall palm trees as the car whizzed past them. Through rows of neat houses, he caught glimpses of blue sea and nearly white sand.

“Look, a pelican!” Josh cried, pointing out the window.

“You’ll see plenty of those here,” Gram Hathaway said. “And they aren’t afraid of people. I saw one swoop down and snatch a girl’s ice cream cone!”

“They better not try that with me!” Josh said.

“Here we are,” Gram Hathaway said. She pulled her car into a driveway surrounded by rosebushes.

Dink saw a small pink house with blue shutters. Window boxes were filled with bright flowers. Pots of pink geraniums sat on the front steps.

“You’ve got an awesome house, Mrs. Hathaway!” Josh said.

She laughed. “Please call me Gram, and thank you!”

The kids followed Gram into a yellow living room. In one corner, a Christmas tree stood on a table.

“Okay, drop your bags and let’s eat!”

Gram led Ruth Rose and Josh into her kitchen. “I hope you like fried chicken!”

Dink followed slowly. He couldn’t stop thinking about the man on the telephone.

If he was just talking about food, Dink wondered, why was he whispering?

“I smell cookies,” Josh said the next morning.

Dink rolled over and looked at Josh. He was sitting up in bed with his nose in the air.

Dink grinned. “You look like a rabbit, Josh.”

“No, I’m serious,” Josh said. He walked over to the window and took a deep whiff. “Yep, it’s cookies. With chocolate chips!”

They heard a knock on their bedroom door. “Hurry up, you guys!” Ruth Rose said. “Gram is making breakfast!”

Dink and Josh scrambled into shorts and T-shirts. They did a quick job of washing up, then hurried down the stairs.

Gram Hathaway stood at the stove, spooning pancake batter onto a hot griddle. She was wearing running gear, and her hair was tied in a red bandanna. “Good morning, boys. How’d you sleep?”

“Great,” Dink said. “Except Josh snored all night!”

“Ha!” Ruth Rose laughed as she poured orange juice into four glasses. She liked to dress all in one color. Today she was wearing green shorts, a green T-shirt, and green jelly shoes.

Josh glanced at the stove. “I thought I smelled chocolate chip cookies.”

Gram smiled. “What an observant young man! There’s a batch in the oven that’s almost done.”

Josh nudged Dink. “See? I’m an observant young man!”

Gram brought a platter of pancakes to the table. “I’m baking cookies for our company.”

“Who’s the company Gram?” Ruth Rose asked.

Her grandmother smiled mysteriously. “It’s a surprise. You’ll have to wait and see.”

While they ate breakfast, Gram told the kids about some of the sights to see on the island.

“Be sure to take a ride on the Old Town Trolley” she said. “It scoots all over town.”

“How do we get to the beach?” Josh asked.

“Just walk to the end of my street, then turn right,” Gram said. “Two more blocks, and you’ll see the water!”

“Can we help you clean up?” Ruth Rose asked.

“I’ll clean up after my run,” Gram replied. “You kids go have fun, and I’ll see you for lunch.”

The kids each grabbed a warm cookie, then hurried outside.

Ten minutes later, they were carrying their sneakers and wading in the ocean.

Dink was looking at guys’ feet on the beach. He saw plenty of ankle tattoos, but none were eagles.

From the beach, they walked up some steps to a wide concrete pier. There were benches and tables, and vendors selling food and souvenirs. A man was juggling oranges and grapefruits. Big gray pelicans sat on posts, waiting for tourists to feed them.

“Let’s go see those boats,” Josh suggested, pointing toward a long wooden dock.

The kids ran along the beach and crossed over to the dock. Dink saw a sign that said
WATCH FOR SPLINTERS AND FISHHOOKS! NO BARE FEET!

People were lined up, fishing. One little girl shouted, then pulled up a silver fish the size of Dink’s hand.

The kids pulled on their shoes and hiked along the long dock. Boats were nestled in slips on both sides.

Everywhere they looked, people were washing, polishing, or painting their boats.

“I wish I had a sailboat,” Josh said as they continued along the dock. “I’d live on it and sail around the world.”

“What about me and Dink?” Ruth Rose asked.

“Oh, I’d hire you as my cook,” Josh told Ruth Rose. “You could make me cookies and pizza.”

He nudged Dink with his hip. “And Dinkus could wash my clothes and make my bed!”

“Yeah, right,” Dink said. “And make you walk the plank!”

“Listen! I hear music,” Josh said.

A radio stood at the end of the dock next to a man holding a paintbrush. He was painting curly gold letters on the side of a white boat. So far, he’d finished G and O.

Smears of gold speckled the man’s tanned fingers. He was short, but the muscles on his arms made him look like a weightlifter.

Another man stood next to him, eating a muffin. He was tall and skinny, with a blond ponytail. Both men wore tank tops over baggy jeans.

The skinny man nodded at the kids. “Howdy,” he said.

“I like your boat,” said Josh. “Do you live on it?”

The skinny man turned down the radio. “There’re two beds up front,” he said. “A kitchen and a bathroom, too.”

Dink noticed a yellow rubber dinghy strapped along one side of the boat. Two long fishing poles were lying on the deck.

“Is it a fishing boat?” Dink asked.

The skinny man shook his head. “Naw, we’re after treasure. We dive for gold.”

“You do?” Josh said. “Cool!”

The man waved his muffin out at the ocean. “There’re plenty of sunken ships out there,” he said, grinning. “Me and Spike here found one.”

The man with the paintbrush gave his friend a sharp look. “Chip, maybe these kids don’t want to know our business,” he said.

Chip shrugged. “Just bein’ neighborly,” he said.

Spike went back to his painting.

“Did you find any gold yet?” Josh asked.

Chip looked at Spike.

“Yeah, we got some,” Spike said.

“Could we see it?” Ruth Rose asked.

Spike thought for a minute, then handed Chip his paintbrush. “Sure, why not?” he said. “Come aboard and watch your feet.”

Spike climbed down some stairs to a little cabin. When he came back up, he had something shiny in his hand.

“These are Spanish coins,” Spike told the kids. “Almost four hundred years old.”

The kids stared at the gold coins in Spike’s hand.

“Pretty neat, huh?” he asked.

The large gold coins gleamed in the sun.

“Awesome!” Josh said.