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.
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
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."
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu6q6P0PBalZ_IW7nogri1I44QrFzUPzLWfnjn3Z-8Azfuo1f6-2kOvYWQoxQZCx2faGiMfoSON6jZ2Dg85RX7izHcRYaptR5egCluCJXPv-sNuXRS_57nOXULXaHW1wT0E9g5fXbn1RSq/s1600/Johannesburg-20140704-00287.jpg)
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'.
No comments:
Post a Comment