Charlie's Big Adventure

“Over here! We’re over here!”

Charlie followed the hoarse whisper. He thought it came from the left of the benches. “No, dummy, this way!”

He turned to his right and saw Susan’s big blue eyes peeking out from the bushes lining the edge of the playground. He looked both ways quickly to see if anyone was watching then ducked awkwardly behind the bushes. He emerged in a tiny clearing. Robert and Nate were already there, sitting in a small circle with Susan.

“You’re late,” Susan hissed.

“Sorry,” Charlie mumbled. “Max spilled the pencils again and Miss Stone wouldn’t let us go until everything was cleaned up.”

Nate sneered. “I knew we shouldn’t have let a baby in. He’s slowing us down.”

“Shut up, Nate. He’s fine,” Susan countered. “Right, Charlie?”

Charlie looked down at his hands. As the youngest, he’d been thrilled when Robert asked him to join them last year. But since then he spent most of his time with them being picked on by Nate and defended by Susan. And, whoa buddy, there was nothing in the world more embarrassing to his 8 year old self-esteem then being defended by a girl.

“Yeah,” he mumbled.

“See?” Susan said. “He’s fine.”

“Good thing your girlfriend’s here, Charlie,” Nate muttered.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” Charlie yelled, shoving Nate.

“Hey!” Robert got between them. “Calm down. Remember why we’re here.”

Charlie settled back into his spot opposite Nate. “Right,” he said matter-of-factly. “Why are we here?”

Susan looked up from a pile of papers that had appeared in her hands. “The princess has been kidnapped.”

“Ugh, why is there always a stupid princess?” Nate moaned.

“Cuz that’s what heroes do,” Susan snapped. “They rescue princesses. Do you want to be heroes or not?”

Nate glared but didn’t reply so she went on.

“My sources have told me that the princess is in a castle guarded by a dragon. But the castle and the dragon are on an island surrounded by pirates.”

Nate jumped in. “That’s stupid, why would pirates hang around an island with a dragon?”

“Because,” Susan said patiently, “Their hidden treasure is on that island too. That’s what we have to do, rescue the princess and find the treasure.”

“But first we have to get past the pirates,” Charlie offered, excited that he had something to contribute.

“And the dragon,” Robert clarified.

“Without alerting the authorities,” Susan added.

“Plus, they can fly,” Robert finished.

The four of them looked around the circle at each other for a moment.

“Sorry, who can fly?” Charlie asked.

“The dragon you idiot,” Nate snarled.

“And the pirates,” Robert added. “They have a flying ship.”

Around the circle brows furrowed and shoulders sagged as they took in the daunting size of their mission.

“So what’s the plan?” Charlie asked

Susan laid the papers out in the middle of the circle. Charlie could see it was a rough map with the castle, the dragon, and the pirates clearly circled in purple crayon.

“Alright listen up,” Robert commanded with the gentle authority that had made even Nate agree he was their leader. He picked up a small stick and pointed to the picture of the pirates on the map. “For now the pirates are still in the water. Nate and Susan are going to row up to the ship in a life boat and pretend they need help.”

“Aw man,” Nate moaned. “How come I have to go with the girl?”

Susan shot him a glare. “Because, dummy,” she said, her patience fading with each word. “Once we’re inside you’ll have to fight them off while I get to the controls.”

“Exactly,” Robert said. “And when Susan gets control of the ship she’ll fly it over the island and get the dragon to attack it. Once the dragon is flying, Charlie and I will sneak around the other side of the island,” he pointed with his stick, “and get into the castle. We’ll find the princess. Everybody with me so far?”

There were a few nods and grunts in agreement.

“Now the dragon will probably blow the pirates out of the sky so Nate, Susan, be ready for that. You know what to do,” Robert continued.

“It’s every man for himself,” Nate mumbled.

“Whatever,” Susan said. “You’ll probably come begging for my help anyway.”

“I will not!”

“Listen,” Robert commanded. The two fell silent. “You both need to get out of there safely but remember we need one of the pirates alive.”

“Why?” Nate whined.

The wheels turned in Charlie’s head. His eyes shot up to meet Robert’s. “Because we need him to tell us where the treasure is!” Charlie gushed.

Robert smiled at him. “Very good,” he said to Charlie. He turned his gaze to the other two. “Exactly. We need him to lead us to the treasure. Once we have it, we get it and the princess to the life boats and get outta dodge before the dragon comes back. Everybody clear?”

There were excited nods around the circle. Charlie beamed. This was a good plan. No, this was a great plan! And more than that, he’d helped Robert explain it! There was no way they could fail. The treasure would be theirs and the princess free in no time!

“So when do we start?” he asked Robert enthusiastically.

“Well first”, Robert answered, pointing toward the edge of the school grounds, “We’re going to need a ladder to get over that fence and out of here.”

Charlie’s heart sank.

How would they ever find one of those?