On a fine Saturday young Scarlet and Davy were bored. Bored of watching the flat screen TV, playing in the cottage, swimming in the pool with the view of the ocean, to be honest even flying to the Bahamas for the day sounded boring. Scarlet, Davy’s younger sister was always very trusting of everybody including the crazy Rasta man who roamed the island talking to the plants. Scarlet was only six and mom’s favorite so Davy entertained her against his will. He was twice her age with another baby sister or brother soon to come. Their mom Maringa chose to come to Jumby Bay every time she was expecting a baby.
“What can we do, Davy?” Scarlet asked. She had the cutest British accent that you will ever hear.
“I don’t know…….” Davy paused to think of something. After a long pause he came up with a brilliant idea, possibly the best in eight months,
“Let’s play a game of hide and seek!”
“That sounds so much fun, Divvy!”
“My name is Davy not Divvy,” he sighed deeply. “Let’s just play the game. I’ll count to a hundred and then you go hide anywhere you want the further from me the better.” Scarlet paused. “One…. Two…. Three….” Davy said and off she went, “Ninety nine…. One hundred!”
Davy went to look for Scarlet. He looked in the cottage, in the bedrooms, on the beach, he even rode his bike all around the island calling out her name, but nothing. Davy came to Hali’s house.
“You see Scarlet today?” Davy asked.
“No…..” Hali replied but Davy knew that ‘no’ better than anyone else especially when it was from Hali. Davy always hated when people did that to him but he had no time for the ‘I’m gonna figure it out if I have to’ gimmick so he gave her an ‘I’m disappointed in you’ look and left it at that.
Soon after Davy left, Hali went up to her tree house and called softly for Scarlet. She peeped through a crack in the door.
“Is he gone?” Scarlet asked.
“Yes he’s gone” Hali replied.
“Good! Can I get some sparkling apple juice and a low fat glucose free chocolate chip cookie…… please?”
“Sure as soon as I figure out what that means.” said Hali.
Meanwhile Davy had returned home and alerted his mother that Scarlet was missing.
“What? My little Scarletta?! All on her own? Oh my my my this isn’t happening!” Davy’s mum was from Italy originally so she spoke with a funny accent. “The Rasta man! What was his name again? Rusty? Dusty? Oh right it was Twado! He must have taken my poor innocent Scarletta! When I find him I will make sure that he is sent to jail!” Davy and Maringa set off to find Twado. They found him an hour later talking to some hibiscuses.
“Give me back my daughter!” Maringa ordered.
“I know nothing of your daughter disappearing,” Twado replied. Twado found it odd that Scarlet would run away from home. So he set out to find her and finally he found her hiding away in Hali’s tree house.
“Scarlet, why did you run away from home?” Twado asked.
“I didn’t I was playing hide and seek with Divvy, I would never run away from home.” Scarlet batted her long eyelashes at Twado. “Please may you take me home now?”
“Of course my little bird of paradise! Did you know that a bird of paradise is a flower?” Scarlet looked at him in a puzzled way. Twado returned Scarlet home safely and her mum apologized to Twado after Scarlet told them the whole story.
That night as Maringa was putting Scarlet to bed Scarlet asked in the smallest whisper she could muster up
” Mummy, can we get Twado to be our gardener?” after a long pause Scarlet felt rather discouraged.
” Well……. if it makes my little Scarletta happy, then sure!” But while Scarlet was getting all excited about Twado being their gardener, Davy was plotting on ways to convince his mother that the crazy guy was no good. Davy was SICK AND TIRED of his sister always getting her way….. so this meant WAR!
TO BE CONTINUED……….
BIO: Vega earned honourable mention in the 12 and younger category of the Wadadli Pen 2012 Challenge and went on to see her story only one of two selected for publication in Anansesem, the online Caribbean children’s literary journal. Her 2013 entry, Hide and Seek, sees her moving up to second place in her age category (12 and younger).
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