The Secret of the Sand Castle (6 page)

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FOLLOWING the sound, Judy soon discovered a man at work repairing the boardwalk that went up to one of the cottages on the ocean front. He looked up as the girls approached.

“Mermaids,” he chuckled, “washed up from the sea.”

“Not quite,” Judy said with a laugh as she held up the figurehead for him to see. “This was washed up, though. We just found it when we were gathering driftwood.”

“Say, that’s quite a find! Got a boat to put her on?” the carpenter asked.

“No, I wish we did have a boat. We came over on the
Island Queen,
but we forgot to ask about boat schedules. Can you tell us when we ought to be at the dock?” Judy asked.

“’Bout ’leven o’clock next Sunday, I reckon.”

“Next Sunday!” all three girls exclaimed.

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“Yep. I reckon you’re stranded here until then,” he said without much sympathy. “Boat only comes once a week startin’ the first of November. You stayin’ in the Sand Castle?”

“Yes, how did you know?”

“Smoke comin’ out the chimney. A man notices things like that when he’s workin’ alone. I live in Ocean Beach the year round. Lots of work fixin’ up the cottages for the summer people. I get out when-ever the weather lets me. Can’t stand bein’ cooped up in the house all the time. The wife likes it, though. We got a real cozy little place on the bay side of the island. Why don’t you walk over and pay us a visit while you’re here?”

“We won’t be here that long. We can’t be. What about my job?” Flo asked.

“It’ll wait for you, won’t it? You work in the city?” the carpenter asked.

“Yes, on Madison Avenue.”

“So do I. Emily Grimshaw will be furious,” Pauline began.

“A lady boss, eh?”

“Yes, she’s a literary agent. There are times she doesn’t behave very much like a lady,” Pauline recalled. “Oh, girls! What are we going to do?”

“We have to be back in time for the studio party on Saturday,” declared Judy. “Irene’s television audience will be expecting her, and little Judy is 53

looking forward to celebrating her birthday with the other children and eating a piece of that big cake.”

“You’re looking forward to it yourself, Judy.

That’s why you came, isn’t it?” Flo asked.

“One reason.” There were others. Judy suspected Flo had other reasons, too. The carpenter kept looking at her as if she reminded him of someone. Had he known her mother when she and her father met each other? Judy wanted to ask, but her better judgment told her to wait and let the story unfold when and if Flo wanted to tell it.

“My parents don’t even know I’m here,” Flo said.

“We’ll have to find some way to notify them.” There wasn’t any telephone in the Sand Castle, but Judy had seen a public telephone down near the dock and the carpenter assured the girls that, if that one was out of order, there were plenty of telephones in Ocean Beach.

“There’s a store, too,” he added. “Bill’s Market stays open the year around. Good place for you girls to order groceries if you run short. Haul ’em home in your wagon—”

Judy explained that they wouldn’t be staying long enough to need any more groceries. She introduced herself and her friends to the carpenter, who said his name was Gus Henderson. He wanted to keep them there while he talked about the island and how good it was to forget the city.

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“I’d like to forget it, too, but jobs like mine aren’t easy to find,” Flo told him. “I simply have to be back there tomorrow. Maybe, Mr. Henderson, if you own a boat—”

“Nope,” Gus interrupted. “No need to go over to the mainland once the boats stop running. I walk down here from Ocean Beach. Been doin’ it ever since I was a kid working with my father. Helped him clean up after that first bad hurricane—”

“You did? Then perhaps you knew a woman named Hazel Barton,” Judy began.

“Sure, I knew her. Knew the whole Terry family.

She was a Terry before she married Henry Barton.”

“She was!” This surprised Judy so much that she almost dropped the driftwood she was carrying. She turned to Flo to question her about the Aunt Hazel she had mentioned but, seeing the expression on her face, decided against it.

“Yep, I knew the lot of them,” Gus went on in his slow drawl. “Agnes, the oldest girl, was all set to marry Henry herself when Hazel took him away from her. Had an unhappy life, Agnes did,” he continued, shaking his head. “She finally married a bank clerk who died in prison. Went around in black after that. Lost her house, too, in what folks around here call the big blow. Lost everything, they say, includin’ her mind, before she died.”

“But I don’t understand,” Judy protested. “Wasn’t 55

it Hazel who lost her house?”

“Both houses went. Flimsy little cottages they were, and the hurricane took ’em. Never touched the Sand Castle, though. That was the family home then, but none of the Terrys ever come back to live in it.

Rented it to summer people and paid the taxes and such out of the rent. Nice piece of property. I’d hang onto it if I was you, Miss Terry.” He turned to Flo as he said this, but she had started walking back toward the Sand Castle. She seemed in something of a hurry. Was she afraid of what the carpenter might reveal, or had he said too much already?

“ ‘If you can’t say anything kind about a person it’s best to say nothing at all,’ ” Flo had quoted her father as saying. And so, when Judy overtook her, she said nothing at all.

Pauline waited long enough to thank Mr. Henderson and learn, from him, that it might be possible to rent a boat.

“He says he’ll ask around and let us know tomorrow morning,” she reported. “Meantime, we’re stranded here. Come on, let’s tell Irene.” 56

JUDY was deep in thought as she followed her friends along the uneven boardwalk back to the Sand Castle. Each one of them, she suspected, had her own reason for coming to Fire Island.

“I came simply for a day’s outing,” Pauline was saying, “but you’re one of the heirs, aren’t you, Flo?”

“Who said I was?” she retorted. “Irene promised not to let anyone know until I said the word. If she said anything—”

“You know she didn’t. It was that Mr. Henderson,” Judy pointed out. “He made it quite clear that he thought you were a Terry. Edith Terry was Roxy’s stepmother, you know. You’d be a sort of cousin—”

“A stepcousin to your cousin. How close is that? I should have told Mr. Henderson my name is Garner, not Terry. Garner is a name I can be proud of. He 57

had everything all twisted, anyway. That bank clerk who married Aunt Agnes didn’t die in prison. I’m sure he’s still alive. And if she lost her mind I would have heard about it from Uncle Bert. He used to visit us quite often. I haven’t seen much of the others.”

“Would you like to see them?” asked Judy.

“Not if what I’ve heard about them is true. Aunt Agnes is dead. I know because I went to her funeral.

Aunt Hazel wasn’t there but, according to Uncle Bert, she’s a horrible woman. She must be the woman in black who comes back to dig for the family jewels, and she can have them for all I care.

He didn’t mention my mother,” Flo went on, calming down a little. “What if she was a Terry? I’m sure she doesn’t want any part of the estate. I should have listened to my father. He didn’t want me to come over here, and I hope he never finds out I disobeyed him. My parents never worry about me, anyway, when I’m with Irene.”

“There’s Irene at the door!” exclaimed Pauline.

“I’m afraid she’s, been worrying about us.”

“We shouldn’t have stayed so long,” agreed Flo.

“What’ll we tell .her?”

“The truth. What else? On second thought, it might be better to say nothing until after we’ve changed into something dry and had a bite to eat.

She does look worried,” observed Judy.

“Oh, there you are!” Irene’s worried expression 58

left her, but only for a moment. “Lunch is ready.

There’s hot soup on the stove,” she announced.

“You look as if you need something to warm you up. Judykins!” she called a little louder. “Soup’s on!”

“She wasn’t with us,” Pauline said anxiously.

“No, and I’m sure she didn’t follow us, because she wanted to dig,” Flo added.

“I don’t see her out here anywhere digging,” Judy began when a muffled voice from under the house called back.

“I’m coming, Mommy!”

“Where are you?” cried Irene, alarmed.

“Right here.” Little Judy backed out from a tunnel much too large for her to have dug out by herself. “Don’t worry,” she said gravely as she brushed the sand from her clothing. “My playhouse won’t fall on me.

“She’s right,” agreed Judy, investigating. “It’s got the bottom of the house for a roof. Someone has made a huge tunnel down here.”

“Digging for jewels, no doubt.” Flo was suddenly sarcastic.

“We’ll have a look at it as soon as we finish lunch. It doesn’t sound very safe for a playhouse,” Irene went on in a worried tone. “We don’t need anything more to go wrong. Did you find out about the boat?”

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“There isn’t one. I’m afraid we’re stranded here until next Sunday—”

“But we can’t be! Oh, girls! What are we going to do? I have to be at the studio on Saturday and there are a couple of rehearsals before then. Isn’t there
any
way for us to get over to the mainland?” Irene asked in near panic.

“There has to be,” Judy reassured her. “Mr. Henderson did say he’d ask around, didn’t he, Pauline?”

“Yes, but he may forget it. He didn’t impress me as being very trustworthy.”

“He was downright mean,” declared Flo. “As soon as we get out of these soggy sweaters and wet bathing suits and into something warm and dry—”

“And as soon as we have some of that hot soup—

—”

“What will you
do?”
Irene cried.

“We’ll walk to Ocean Beach and find someone with a boat. We’re bound to be lucky,” Judy told her. “We already found this!”

“A figurehead!” Irene exclaimed as Judy held out the wooden lady for her to see.

“What else did you find?” asked little Judy, seeing that Judy’s arms were full.

“Just a few shells here in my pocket and driftwood for the fire.” Judy put the wood down beside the stove and handed the figurehead to her little namesake. “Like her?” she asked. “Flo named 60

her Lady Luck.”

“She hasn’t brought us anything except bad luck so far,” Pauline complained.

“She will,” Irene began hopefully when little Judy interrupted to ask, “Where’s the rest of her?”

“ ‘She ain’t got no body,’ ” giggled Flo.

“Now she has,” declared Judy, taking the figurehead and placing her on the flat top of the newel post at the foot of the winding stairway that led to the tower room.

“She looks cold without any clothes on,” remarked Pauline.

“We’ll soon fix that.” Flo draped her scarf over the figure, so that the trailing ends of the scarf now appeared to be a flowing garment. With a cord tied around it, the newel post was just right for Lady Luck’s body. She actually appeared to be smiling.

“She’s grateful to you for finding her, Judy,” Irene said, “and I am, too. I’m sure she’ll bring us good luck even if we are stranded on this island.”

“The carpenter we spoke to did say we might be able to rent a boat at Ocean Beach. It isn’t too far to walk,” Judy added.

Judy, Flo, and Pauline climbed the circular staircase and changed quickly into dry clothes. The sea air had made them all hungry. They had planned to start walking as soon as lunch was over, but it was a temptation to linger over the attractive spread Irene 61

had prepared. Besides the soup, cooled now to just the right temperature, there were dainty sandwiches and a fruit salad for dessert.

“Where did you find the lettuce?” Irene was asked.

“In the refrigerator. There’s lots of stuff there, enough to last a week,” she replied, “but, of course, we won’t stay that long. We can’t. I have to be at that studio party to help entertain the children.”

“Mommy sings and tells good stories. I’m going to sing, too,” little Judy announced.

“You are? What will you sing?” Judy asked.

“I can’t tell. It’s a s’prise,” the little girl answered and went on eating her soup. When it was all gone, she asked to be excused. “I want to dig some more,” she explained. “Judy, will you come out and help me?”

“There’s another shovel in the shower house around in back,” Irene told her. “If you’d really like to help little Judy dig out a playhouse, Pauline and Flo and I will run down to the dock and make sure about the boat. I can telephone Dale from the public phone booth beside the firehouse.”

“Aren’t we going to Ocean Beach?” Pauline questioned.

Irene shook her head. “It’s too far. Haven’t you girls noticed how the weather’s changed? We’d never make it before the storm. We’ll be lucky if we 62

get back from the dock before it breaks. Come on, let’s hurry!”

Judy felt the need to hurry, too. She ran back to the shower house and returned with a shovel twice the size of the one little Judy had been using.

“I’ll help you,” she offered, eager to find some clue to the digging that had been done under the house.

Little Judy was just as eager to show off her playhouse as Judy was to see it. She pointed out what she called rooms, actually smaller tunnels branching out from the large one.