QUINTON HOLIDAY ADVENTURE

                                                                 

INTRODUCTION

"Thank goodness we have torches,” said Dovi, switching on his own and shining it into the opening of the cave. His voice rose in excitement. "It looks as if we can squeeze in here and remain here during the storm."

It did not take long at all before the two boys had pulled themselves through the opening and were sitting in a fairly spacious cave. Rocks, scattered on the ground, provided convenient stools.

"I like this cave", said Dovi, excitedly. "I really like it, and it won't fill up with water at high tide. And we are safe from the storm."

As if in response to his words, the rain started to pelt down, followed by hail which beat mercilessly on the rocks around them. It went on for several minutes.

Dovi noticed that his torch was becoming dim and he switched it off.

 Joel did the same and then they were suddenly plunged into pitch darkness.

“We have to save the batteries,” said Dovi. “We don’t want to be sitting in the dark.”

"But there should be some light from the entrance", said Joel. "The storm can't be that bad. I can't see any light from there at all. I mean, it wasn't a large opening in the rocks, but at least we got through it. It should bring in some light, and it isn't night-time yet.”

Dovi again switched on the torch. The light was not as strong as it had been. The batteries were definitely losing power. The two boys made their way towards the entrance and shone the torch on to it.

"The entrance has been blocked," exclaimed Joel. "There are some rocks over it. Do you think the storm could have shifted them there?" He tried to move them, without success.

"I don't know", said Dovi. "Why should rocks just move in this direction and line up at the entrance to the cave?"

 "Well how would they get there?" asked Joel. "I mean, how could that happen?"

"Only one way, I gather", said Dovi. "Those noises we heard earlier on; those noises in the undergrowth; maybe someone was following us".

 

  "But who would do that?" asked Joel.

"The old man in the caravan park said something", said Dovi. "He said we were dealing with dangerous people.

“ He said that anyone looking for Steve could get into a lot of trouble. And now we are trapped," he said. "We are trapped just like Steve is trapped.”

The Dinansky Family have gone to spend their holiday in a caravan park in the seaside resort of Quinton. They have taken with them two old transmitter sets (walkie-talkies) from the Second World War which their grandfather has lent them. 
Walking along the beach, at some distance from one another, the two older children are talking to one another on the transmitters. Chaya trips and the dials shift frequency and she hears from the machine a man's voice, a voice full of terror. "Please, please help! If anyone can hear me, please help". 
Immediately they are all plunged into a breathtaking and dangerous adventure. 

This book was originally published in serial form in the Concord Magazine, London, England

CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/3819564

ISBN-13: 978-1475001822 (CreateSpace-Assigned)
ISBN-10: 1475001827
BISAC: Fiction / Jewish   184 pages

"Hello... hello... I hear you loud and clear. I will walk a bit further away and see if I can still hear you."

It was their second day in Quinton, and Chaya, wearing headphones and carrying one of the walkie-talkie transmitters, had walked for almost half a kilometer along the beach. All the time she could hear her brother talking to her through the headphones; all loud and clear.

She spoke into the machine: "I still hear you," she said.

"Good," Dovi answered. "Try to go a bit further, but slower."

"You are getting a bit fainter, now," said Chaya. "I will walk slowly."

The machine really was heavy, but it was fun to work with. She looked out towards the sea.

 How exciting it was to be on holiday, and it really was more fun to be in a caravan and in a tent in a caravan park, even though at times there seemed to be very little space.

She was not really concentrating on what she was doing, and suddenly her foot caught on a rock and the machine fell from her hands. "Oh no!" she exclaimed.

She picked it up but the machine was making a great deal of noise; interference.

Now, where was her brother?

She had obviously gone off the right frequency. She was about to look at it more closely when she heard a voice coming faintly through the earphones, a man's voice, a voice which sounded full of terror.

"Please... please help... If anyone can hear me... please..."

She tried to twist the controls to hear better but she found she had lost his frequency. Why hadn't she looked at it? Now she was way past it.

She turned the dials this way and that for several minutes, unable to pick up anything. Then she turned specifically to her brother's frequency. He was shouting into the transmitter.

"Chaya, where are you? I can't pick you up. You are doing something wrong!"

Chaya spoke. "Dovi, someone needs help; I don't know who, or where! Try and pick it up on your receiver. I am coming straight back to you."

She did not wait for Dovi's surprised exclamation but started running, a little

 clumsily, along the beach to just outside the caravan park where her brother

 was waiting.

  

 She went out of the tent and found her parents frying eggs on the primus stove. Rivkie was in the stroller next to them. She was gurgling happily. Dovi was nowhere to be seen.

 

"Where's Dovi?" she asked, after she had greeted her parents. "Has he gone? Did he already daven?"

She was beginning to feel somewhat unhappy and deserted. She loved spending time with her brother, but had a feeling that the inevitable would happen. He would find a boy his own age and that would be that. Her fears were confirmed.

"He davened very early with your father. They even learned a little," said her mother. "And then Joel, a boy from one of the other caravans. came to fetch him. They went off with the walkie-talkies”

Chaya felt even more deserted. She didn’t even know who Joel was. She had never even heard of him! And they had gone off with the transmitters. They would find the man, solve the mystery, and no one would even remember that she was the one who had heard the message.

Her mother noticed the downcast expression which had crossed her face.

"Dovi wanted you to come as well, but I wouldn't let him wake you. Apparently Joel has two sisters he wanted you to meet, Sara and Dina. They are more, or less your age. They will come back for you."

Chaya still looked unhappy.

"He still hasn't eaten breakfast," said her father.

That meant Dovi would definitely be back ... soon.

Even as she was thinking, Dovi rounded the corner, alone, holding both walkie-talkie sets. He saw his sister's unhappy expression.

Close to the end of the story....

 

"I will stay with both of you", said Uri.

"Mr. Goldstein can go with the two boys."

"That would be very difficult," said Dovi who had just examined a tunnel leading off to the right.

"The tunnel is very narrow over here. I think Joel and I are the only ones who can really get through; and we have to be very quick".

No-one disagreed. There seemed only one thing to do. They were fighting against time. Even now Bill Sythes might be setting the explosives to blow up the cave.

Joel found the ledge and heaved himself up, finding another ledge then another.

He climbed for several minutes always reaching out for another ledge.

 But this time he found an empty space over to his right.

He called softly to Dovi as he began to crawl along the narrow, low, passage. At certain points it was becoming dangerously low, but Dovi before him had gone through, obviously lying flat as Joel was doing. It seemed they had been crawling for hours, but it could only have been for about ten minutes before Dovi stopped.

Had he got stuck? Could he not get through'? Joel trembled at the thought. But then Dovi moved forward again and Joel understood why he had stopped.

 They could see light, artificial light. They were coming towards a cave. The tunnel was getting wider and both the boys found they could sit up and stretch a little.

Dovi leaned back and whispered to Joel.

"There is a man over there, in that cave, a man holding a lantern. Don't worry. He hasn't seen or heard us. Listen he is even whistling to himself'.