The Magic Boat

THE MAGIC BOAT
BY
DOUG LeBLANC


“Bored yet?”
The girls shrugged. “A little,” Sharon answered.
“I’m not!” Cara insisted. “I’m still collecting sea shells for my friends back home!”
“Well,” said Dave, their uncle, “your parents and I have a lot of things to discuss yet, and it’s going to take some time. How would you two like your own boat to row around in?”
Sharon lit up. “Wow, that’d be great!”
“Yeah!,” yelled Cara, “our very own boat!”
He laughed. “Yes, I thought you’d like that! Come this way, then, and I’ll show it to you. Remember, you can’t go out past the bouy, though. You can only stay in the bay itself.”
“Can we go to the island, Uncle Dave?” Sharon asked seriously.
“Well, you’d better ask permission before you go there. You should just stay near the shore, especially until you get used to rowing. It’s hard work, so you should stay close by, in case you need to land to rest.”
They both looked a little disappointed, then he added, “At least, at first. Later, I’m sure there’d be no trouble with you going out further.”
“Yeah,” Cara yelled throwing her arms around him and giving him a big hug, “you’re the best, Uncle Dave!”
He laughed, then pointed. “Ah, there it is. The little coracle there by the wharf.”
Both girls gave a cry of delight. It was a small boat, light weight, painted blue, with yellow stars on it. Two yellow oars lay in it.
“Why, it’s beautiful, Uncle Dave! Thank you!” Sharon told him gratefully as she gave him a big hug.
He laughed, glad that they liked the boat. He took them to it, showed them how to undo the lock, and to untie it. They soon learned all they needed to know, and were ready to take off on their first trip. Their ‘Maiden Voyage’, as Uncle Dave said, and he laughed. He watched as they cast off, and Sharon, the older girl, took the oars and put them in the sockets. Soon she was rowing like she’d been doing it for years, and Uncle Dave gave them a wave of his hand, and left them alone.
They were just starting to enjoy themselves, when they heard a loud voice calling their names.
“Sharon, Cara, you come in here at once!”
It was their mother, Chris, calling and waving from the shore. Uncle Dave was beside her, as was their father, Brent.
Sharon obediently turned the boat around, then rowed into the shore.
“What do you think you’re doing, going out in a boat like that, alone?” she demanded crossly.
“Uncle Dave said we could,” Sharon answered.
“C’mon, Chris,” he answered with a grin, “it’s a beautiful day. There’s no wind, the sea is as calm as can be, what could go wrong?”
“Dave, you didn’t tell us you were going to do this.”
“Well, no, but you’re always such a grouch about these things.”
The two girls began to giggle, then turned serious when their mother glared at them.
“I haven’t inspected the life jackets, either.”
“So what? You don’t know anything about life jackets.”
‘She still should inspect them, Dave,” Brent told him seriously. “She’ll feel better about the whole thing.”
Dave raised his hands in the air. “Look, I gave them the boat, but other than that, I have nothing to do with it. You two look after it from now on,” and he walked away.
They argued some more, but in the end Chris and Brent allowed the girls to go out in the boat, but only if there is someone on the shore watching them, and only if they wear their life jackets. The girls agreed, but not happily.
Still, they were soon rowing about the bay happily, not caring too much about who was watching them. They were entranced by the sea life floating by the boat: brightly coloured jelly fish, bright green seaweed, and fish of many shapes and sizes. So intent on looking over the side that Sharon was not watching where she was going. The boat banged up against a rock, and Sharon hurriedly grabbed for the oars.
“Ouch!” cried a voice.
“Did you hurt yourself?” Sharon asked Cara as she rowed furiously.
Cara looked at her. “Who are you talking to?”
Sharon glanced at her sister. “You, silly. You said ‘ouch’, so I asked if you hurt yourself.”
“I didn’t say ouch. I thought you did.”
Sharon stopped her rowing and looked straight at Cara. “Now, look here, if you didn’t say ouch, and I didn’t say ouch, then who did? I definitely heard someone say ouch.”
“I said ouch, and I meant it!” exclaimed a man’s voice.
The girls looked wide-eyed at each other. “Who – who said that?” Sharon asked, in a frightened voice.
“I did!”
“Who are you?” demanded Cara.
“It’s me, the boat.”
“It can’t be the boat!” cried Sharon. “Boats don’t talk!”
“Who says?”
She was taken aback by this.
“Everyone knows boats can’t talk!” Cara answered after a minute.
“Why not?”
“B-b-b-because they can’t that’s all. They’re not alive!” said Sharon.
“I am.”
“You can’t be, you’re a boat!” cried Cara.
“Yes, but I’m a magic boat.”
“Ahhhh,” said the girls together.
“Yes, and I’m a nice magic boat. There are magic boats that aren’t very nice, but I’m a nice one.”
“Ah, Mr. Boat, do you have a name?” Cara asked politely.
“Well, it’s certainly not Mr. Boat, I can tell you that,” he said with a laugh. “Call me Tiron.”
“Tiron?”
“Yes, pronounced with two ee’s, but spelt with an I. Tiron.”
“Hi, Tiron,” said Cara. “I’m Cara, and this is my sister Sharon. Our last name is Gallant. Do you have a last name?”
“No, I’m just Tiron.”
“Ah, Tiron, if you’re a magic boat, what can you do, besides talk, I mean?”
“Well, I can sink. Watch.”
All of a sudden the boat plunged into the waves, and dropped under water. The girls both screamed, but after a minute they realized they were unharmed. The boat was actually sailing under water! It was like being in a large bubble. They could see fishes swimming past them, and sunlight beaming down from the surface. Everything was a lovely shade of green.
“Gee, Tiron, this is wonderful!” cried Cara. “How long can we stay under water?”
“For as long as you want. I should return to the surface every now and then. The air gets stale after a while, you know. Want to go back up now?”
“Yes, I think we should!” exclaimed Sharon.
“Oh, what for?” demanded Cara. “We’ve only been down here a few seconds.”
“Would you like to explain to Mom and Dad how we managed to go under water?”
Cara nodded. “That’s a problem, isn’t it? You’d better take us up, Tiron.”
“All right, here we go.”
Soon they burst through to the surface, the sunlight dazzling against their eyes. They both had trouble seeing, but soon the sun didn’t seem so bright.
“Sorry about that. I forgot about how bright the sun is when you come up from under the water. I’ll shade it for you.”
“You can do that?” asked Sharon, scarcely able to believe he could.
“Of course.”
“Tiron, what else can you do?” Cara asked.
“What would you like me to do?”
“Can you move without me rowing you?”
Silence. “Well, yes, I can, but it’s not a good idea. What would people say if they saw you in a boat moving without anyone rowing? What I can do is to make myself move a lot farther with each stroke. You’d be able to move a long way with a little effort.”
Sharon smiled. “That’s good enough. What else can you do?”
“What else can you do?” he answered. “I don’t know everything I can do, because there are things I’ve never tried. I can sense the weather changing, and get you safe back to shore before the storms come. I can change the weather a little, but not much, and not easily. I can make people see things that aren’t there, but not for long, and not if they look too hard at it.
“I can imitate sounds easily, like a bird.” Here the boat gave a cry just like a seagull, then a call like a hawk, then he hooted like an owl.
“Wow, that’s great!” cried Cara in delight. Sharon also was very impressed, as she smiled and clapped happily.
“There may be other things I can do, but I haven’t tried. If you can think of things for me to do, I will try to do them.
“The best thing I can do is to have fun. I can show you neat things around this area, and take you to places you might never see by yourselves. Would you like that?”
“Yes, we would!” yelled Cara, happily. “Imagine, our very own magic boat!”
“Yes,” said Sharon, “but we’d better not tell anyone about it.”
“Why not?” demanded Cara, without thinking.
“Because they wouldn’t believe you,” Tiron told them seriously. “And they might not let you come out in me again if they thought you were making up things like that. No, you shouldn’t tell anyone about me. It’ll be our little secret. Okay?”
“Okay!” said the girls together, and laughed.

The next day mom and dad had to go visit some relatives a day’s drive away. They wanted the girls to come with them, but the girls did not want to go.
“I can look after them for the day, Chris. I don’t mind,” Dave told them.
“Oh, please, mommy, please!,” Sharon and Cara begged.
“Well, I don’t know,” she answered, hesitating. “What do you think, Brent?”
He shrugged, and chewed on his breakfast. “I don’t mind, as long as Dave doesn’t,” he answered, and took a sip of coffee.
“Well, I guess it’s all right.”
“Hurray, hurray,” cried the girls happily.
“Girls, girls!,” their mother called into the din, “please!”
Dave laughed. “Okay, get dressed, girls, and we’ll head down to the shore for some fun!”
The girls charged off to their rooms to change, while Brent rolled his eyes. “Chris, couldn’t I stay here and play on the shore, too?”
She laughed. “You know, it sounds good to me, as well. Maybe tomorrow, and we’ll all go out for a picnic to one of the islands.”
“Well, that’s for tomorrow. For now, we’d better get going. Ready?”

“Girls,” said Uncle Dave sheepishly, “I have a confession to make. I lied.”
“About what?” asked Sharon, knowing her uncle was up to something funny.
“Well, I said I could look after you for the day. I really do have to do some work, though. Do you think you can manage to keep out of trouble for the day?”
“Sure, piped up Cara, “we’ll go out in the boat. We can’t get into trouble in our boat.”
Uncle Dave gave them a funny look. “You know, I believe you’re right, but I’m not sure how I know that. Well,” he said, brightening up, “I’d better be off. Take care of yourselves, and don’t go out past the bouy. Have a good day!,” and with a wave, he was off.

“So, where would you girls like to go today?”
“The island!” cried Cara loudly.
The boat shook, and Tiron laughed. “Cara, must you shout all the time?”
Sharon laughed, and Cara stuck her tongue out at her.
“Sharon, do you want to go to the island?”
“Certainly,’ she said in a more dignified tone, but with no less excitement.
“Well, then, cast off, and Sharon, you take the oars. Just move them back and forth; I’ll do the rest.”
“Like this?” she asked, after taking the oars and pushing them into the water.
“Yes, that’s fine. Now, just relax, and we’ll be there in no time.”
The day was beautiful; there was not a cloud in the sky, and the sun was shining brightly. It was not too hot, and a gentle sea breeze made everything quite comfortable. With sunglasses and comfortable clothing, Sharon and Cara were soon relaxing in the deep boat, Sharon making the occasional move with the oars, propelling the craft for remarkable distances with each stroke.
It seems like no time at all had passed, and they were at the island. “All out for Catspaw Island!” Tiron called out to them as soon as he had beached himself.
The girls climbed out of the boat, and were soon exploring the island. There was a small hill near the centre of it, and they climbed it. They were surprised when they got to the top; the hill was higher than it looked, and the view from the top was spectacular. They sat and had a nice picnic lunch that Uncle Dave had packed for them, and the sandwiches and pop tasted wonderful in the warm sunshine. After lunch they both lay back against a tree, and were soon dozing off.
All of a sudden, a voice was crying their names, and they woke up. “Sharon, Cara, can you hear me?”
“It could only be Tiron, but how could they hear him all the way up here?
“Yes, we can hear you,” Sharon answered.
“You have to leave the island right now. Come back to the boat as quickly as you can!” he demanded, and the girls were soon packing up their things and racing down the hill.
When they reached the bottom, they did not hesitate, but quickly jumped into the boat, and were off. Sharon started rowing right away, and they were quickly pulling away from the island.
After rowing a for a few minutes, they finally began to slow down.
“What is it, what happened, Tiron?” Cara asked in a frightened voice.
“Look at the island,” he answered them.
A boat with three men in it was pulling into the shore. Cara, for no reason she knew of, shivered.
“Who are they?” Sharon asked. “Would they hurt us?”
“Probably not; or at least, not right away. They are led by a man named Mr. McGorey. He’s looking for something that doesn’t belong to him.”
“You mean he wants to steal something?” Sharon asked.
“No, he’s looking for a treasure that was lost somewhere around here, and he’ll stop at nothing to get it. He’ll even hurt people if he thinks he has to.”
“Would he hurt us?,” Sharon asked in a scared voice.
“If he thought it would get him the treasure, he would.”
“How long has he been looking for it?” Cara asked.
“For a few years now. He’ll never find it, though.”
“How do you know?”
Because only I know where it is.”
The girls were so surprised, they both stopped and stared at the boat.
“You do?” Sharon asked, shocked.
“Yes, I do.”
They waited, but he said nothing else.
“Well, where is it?” Cara demanded to know.
“My friends,” he said almost sadly, “I can’t tell you that.”
“But,” Cara was about to say, and Sharon interrupted her.
“He’s right, Care,” Sharon told her. “We already have the greatest treasure anyone could ask for: we have a magic boat who’s also a wonderful friend. That’s enough treasure for us.”
Tiron was silent for a moment, then he made a sound that was almost like a sob. “Thank you, Sharon,” he told her quietly. “I’ll never forget.”
“And now,” he added, sounding more like his usual self, “you had better start rowing again, or we’ll end up on the rocks.”
Sharon and Cara looked up, and suddenly realized how close to shore they were. Sharon grabbed the oars, and started rowing, and within seconds they were safely out in the bay again.
They rowed in silence for what seemed a long time. Cara was pouting, thinking about the treasure, but Sharon was simply enjoying being on the water.
“Girls?” asked the boat.
“Yes, Tiron?” Sharon answered.
“You’ve seen the outside of Catspaw Island. How would you like to see the inside?”
“How could an island have an inside?” demanded Cara, still upset about the treasure.
“Some islands do, some don’t. Do you want to go?”
“Sure,” agreed Cara, brightening.
“Okay,” seconded Sharon.
“All right, then, Sharon, just row us around the headland here, and I’ll do the rest. I want to make sure no one sees us when we dive.”
Sharon did so, then she stopped. Tiron told them to hang on, and the boat dropped quickly into the water.
This time the girls could enjoy the sensation of travelling underwater. Once they even passed a small shark, and the girls gasped at how close it was!
Cara became afraid as it swam closer to them, but Tiron told them there was nothing to be frightened of. The shark’s teeth could never bite through his protection, and the girls were perfectly safe.
Soon they were approaching a dark spot, and Tiron told them this was the entrance to Catspaw Island. They entered a large cave, and everything went dark.
“Not to worry, I come with headlights!” Tiron laughed, and the girls gave a gasp of surprise when light flooded the area around them. Bright colours swam into view as the traveled along, but they were actually diving downward, instead of rising!
Tiron must have noticed their surprise, and told them “It’s the secret to getting into the inside of the island. Many people know about the cave, but no one knows you have to go down into it to get up inside the island.”
Soon they stopped diving, and began to rise again. They were going very fast now, and the girls began to wonder how long the trip would take.
Without warning, they burst up through the water, and into air. The girls were too surprised to look at where they were, but when they did they could only stare in wonder.
“Gosh!” whispered Sharon, as Cara could only stare in wonder. Huge rock icicles hung from the ceiling above them, glittering like diamonds. Each colour of the rainbow sparkled out from the rock icicles, and each seemed to be more pretty than the last one.
“Like it?” Tiron asked.
“Tiron, it’s the most beautiful place I've ever seen!,” Sharon told him.
“It’s like a fairy palace!” Cara said in a whisper.
“It’s called a grotto, and the things hanging down are called stalactites. There are some rising from the floor a short ways from here, called stalagmites. Lovely, aren’t they?”
“They’re beautiful!” the girls called together.
The sound of their voices came back at them in an echo, and the girls laughed with delight. Soon they were calling out across the water, fascinated by the echoes coming back at them. Tiron asked them to not do it too loudly, because the ceiling might cave in at any moment. They immediately stopped, but Tiron laughed, and told them not to worry. If things got too dangerous, he could simply dive out of harm’s way. “Besides,” he said, “nothing could penetrate my shield. I won’t let anyone or anything harm you while you’re with me.”
This made the girls feel better, but Tiron then told them they’d been there a long time now, and they should go. The girls held on, and Tiron dove down into the water again.
Going out of the tunnel took seemed to take a lot longer going out than it did coming in, but Tiron assured them it was the same length of time.
Soon they came out of the cave they had entered earlier, and the boat began to rise. Within minutes they broke the surface, and daylight shone all around them.
Suddenly very tired, Sharon rowed half-heartedly back to shore, yet they made it in a matter of minutes. After they had tied up at the dock, they got out of the boat, and Cara noticed a man staring hard at them from across the wharf. She had an uneasy feeling, and noticed Sharon was watching the man in return. He held her gaze for a moment, then spit fiercely on the ground, and turned away.
“Who is that?” Sharon asked, to no one in particular.
“Mr. McGorey,” answered Tiron. “He’s the one I warned you about. He may have noticed how easily we made it back to shore. We must be more careful in the future.”
The girls agreed, and made their way off the wharf. Uncle Dave called out to them, and they ran to him. Soon Cara was telling him all about their adventures, and, without realizing it, told him about going inside the island. Sharon tried to tell her not to, but she wouldn’t listen.
Uncle Dave laughed. “What nonsense is this?” he asked.
Cara suddenly realized she had said too much, and turned red.
“It’s a game!,” Sharon answered. “It’s just a game we were playing.”
Uncle Dave looked at her seriously. “Well, be careful, that’s all. The sea is no place for foolishness. I think I better keep a closer eye on you, just in case.”
Sharon nodded slowly. “Okay,” she said, while Cara kept silent.
Soon they were back at home, or what they called home during their vacation, and washing up for supper. They were in bed by ten o’clock, both exhausted from their day’s activities.

The next day dawned in a deep fog. Sharon was up first, and was fascinated by the swirling mists. She was washed and dressed in a few minutes, then went out for a short walk. She watched, entranced, as the mist fog seemed to part before her. It grew thicker as she moved through it, especially as she drew closer to the water. She couldn’t see it, but she could hear the waves lapping softly at the shore.
All of a sudden, she was splashing into the water itself. She was surprised, because she didn’t think she had gone that far. She turned around to go back, but when she looked behind her, she gasped. All she could see was fog! A large wall of white blanketed everything. She gasped as she realized that she was completely surrounded by white fog!
Panic overcame her. She wanted to run blindly back the way she came, but she knew how dangerous that was. Suddenly, she had an idea.
“Tiron?” she called quietly into the mist. “Are you there?”
Suddenly, the mist parted, and a large man walked out of the fog.
Sharon was terrified for a moment, then she realized who it was. “Uncle David!” she cried with relief, giving him a big hug.
“Hi, Sharon. What are you doing out here alone?” he asked calmly.
“I went out for a short walk, and lost my way in the fog. I was afraid to try to go back, for fear of getting more lost.”
She tried not to sound afraid when she said it, not very successfully. Uncle Dave suddenly knelt down, and looked her full in the face. She had never seen him look so serious before.
“Sharon, just before you saw me, you called out a name. What was it?”
She stared for a minute, trying desperately to think of something, anything, to say. “I, I did?” she managed to stutter.
“C’mon, Sharon, you know you did. What was the name?”
She shook her head, and, try as she might, she started to cry. She didn’t want to lie to her uncle, but she had no right to tell anyone about the boat, especially when she had promised not to.
Dave seemed to realize she was frightened of him, and smiled, then hugged her. “Hey, it’s all right, you don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to. It’s just that when I was a little boy, younger than you are now, I had an invisible friend. No one ever believed me, of course. They think lots of kids have invisible friends when they are young. The difference with me was that my invisible friend was real. He actually had a name. So, when I heard, or thought I heard,” he added with a laugh, “a name, it sounded like the name of my invisible friend.”
Sharon looked pale. “Uncle Dave, what was the name of your friend?”
“Tiron.”
Sharon turned pale, and Dave thought she was about to faint.
“Sharon, are you all right?”
She nodded, and Dave knew that was the name she called.
“Sharon, Is Tiron a friend of yours, too?”
She hesitated.
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to,” he said to her, knowing how to handle this. “I’m sure he made you promise not to, or something like it. And don’t worry, no one knows about this. It’ll just be our little secret. Does Cara know?”
Sharon nodded, but didn’t say anything.
“I understand. We’ll say no more about it. C’mon, we’d better be getting back, now. Your mum and dad will start to get worried about us.”
He stood up, took her hand, and led her through the slowly thinning fog. Had they stayed for a few moments longer, they would have seen another figure, shrouded in the fog. The figure of a man, a man two young girls were warned very seriously about, and who had listened to every word said on the beach that morning. He had some ideas of his own. He turned, and vanished into the fog.

The weather was too harsh for them to go out that day, but Sharon told Cara all that happened between her and Uncle Dave. They felt sure that he was on their side, and that it was all right to have another person know about their magic boat, especially Uncle Dave. Cara accepted things as they were, and was delighted to have a magic boat for a friend. Sharon, however, began to wonder about it. Who was Tiron, and how could he be an invisible friend to Uncle Dave, and a magic boat to them? Who or what was Tiron, anyway? She knew she would probably never find the answers, and that Tiron might be offended if she asked him. She decided to be quiet about it. But that didn’t stop her from wondering.


The next day dawned bright and fair. The sun was shining, the birds were singing (well, the seagulls were squawking endlessly, but no matter), and it was as nice a day as anyone could wish for. The girls looked forward to a good day out in the magic boat. Instead, they had to go to a museum.
“A WHAT?” Cara screeched.
Á museum,” Chris told her firmly. “It won’t do you any harm to see the culture of the east coast, you know.”
They looked at Uncle Dave, but he could only shrug helplessly. There was nothing they could do when their mother was in this mood, and they knew it.
“Is it going to take ALL day, Mom?” Sharon asked seriously.
“Possibly. Why?”
She knew that tone, and looked at the floor. “Nothing,” she said quietly.
“Well, then, let’s go,” she told them as they marched out the door.

An hour later they were filing in to the old, grey building that was the museum. “This is going to be so much fun!,” Uncle Dave said sarcastically.
The girls chuckled, but looked more proper when they saw their mother glaring at them.
Soon their mother and father were happily staring at the endless series of artifacts that were in the glass cases in each room, while the girls and Uncle Dave wandering along behind them. It only took about five minutes before they became very, very bored.
They wandered from room to room, the adults looking interested at everything they saw, the kids trying not to bump into anything accidentally, especially after Cara almost did so.
They came to a room dedicated to old shipwrecks of the past. Plaques and signs were all over the walls, and the girls looked at them without much interest. As they were passing, Cara happened to glance at a plaque dedicated to an old pirate ship that had sunk near the port. The name of the ship was the Starfinder, but what Cara noticed was the name of her captain. His name was a familiar one. It was George. George Tiron.
“Sharon!” she whispered loudly.
Her sister was there in a moment, as was Uncle Dave. “Look at the names on this. Look at the name of the captain.”
Both she and Uncle Dave did so, and they both gasped.
“You don’t think it’s the same person, do you?” Sharon demanded.
“I don’t know,” Uncle Dave answered quietly, “I just don’t know.”
“What are you kids looking at?” Chris asked from behind them.
They all jumped, then looked guilty. The smile vanished from their mother’s face. “Well?”
“Nothing, Chris,” Uncle Dave answered with a smile. “You just surprised us, that’s all.”
“You sure did!” added Sharon.
“Yeah,” said Cara, “you scared me!”
Chris laughed. “Well, I’m sorry, but we have to get going. They’re closing soon, and we don’t want to be left behind. C’mon!”

The next morning dawned with fog, but not as thick as usual. Sharon was up early, and was out wandering. This time she made sure she wouldn’t get lost by always looking behind her to make sure she could find her way back. She did this, but was not paying attention to what was in front of her.
She reached the wharf, and wandered over to the boat.
“Good morning, Tiron. How are you today?”
He didn’t answer.
“Tiron?”
Suddenly a large man was in front of her. “Hello, my dear. Looking for someone?”
Sharon almost jumped out of her skin. It was Mr. McGorey! She tried to answer him, but she couldn’t.
“Nice boat you’ve got there,” he said. “If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was a magic boat.”
Sharon wanted to run, but she was too scared to move.
“I think it is,” he continued, “because I saw you and your friend come up from under the water in it. Now how did you do that, hmmm?”
His tone was friendly, but Sharon knew he was up to no good. What was she to do?
Sharon looked wildly around, and decided to run. She lifted her foot, and started to move, but McGorey was too fast, and grabbed her. Sharon then did the smartest thing she could do: she screamed.
McGorey swore, pulled her up, and put his hand over her mouth, but it was too late. In a small cove like the one they were in, every sound could be heard for miles; especially on a still morning.
Suddenly, it seemed every door in the area was open, and a dozen people were headed straight for them. McGorey paled as he saw Sharon’s Uncle Dave racing toward him, his face a mask of anger.
He hesitated, then turned and started moving toward his boat. Oddly enough, his feet suddenly became entangled in the rope, and with a cry he let Sharon go. Waving his arms, he tried to keep his balance, but fell into the water with a great splash!
Uncle Dave came running onto the wharf, and picked Sharon up. “Are you all right?”
Sharon nodded, then started to cry, more from relief than from hurt.
Suddenly, a voice from below them called for help. Looking over the edge, Uncle Dave and Sharon could see McGorey trying to get out of the water. He was having a lot of trouble doing it, because for some reason every time he tried to pull himself up the boat would hit him, and push him back in.
Sharon and Uncle Dave began to giggle, then laugh outright as the boat kept hitting the man. He suddenly seemed to realize what was happening, and he swam away, out toward the bay. Soon he had made it to his boat, climbed aboard, and was sailing away from them. Water still dripped from him as he did so, making him look like a wet rat.
“Are you all right, Sharon?” Uncle Dave asked, concerned.
“Yeah I’m okay. He scared me, that’s all,” she told him as she wiped away her tears.
“I’m going to keep a very close eye on our friend, there,” he told her seriously. You kids stay away from him, and let me know if you see him hanging around. Okay?”
“Okay, Uncle Dave.”
He smiled, and gave her a big hug, and everything was all right again. Together they left the wharf, and headed back to the house for breakfast.

Later that morning it began to rain. The girls were stuck inside, dejected. Glumly they sat and watched the rain fall dismally into thick, grey mist. They both tried to do several different things: Sharon a jigsaw puzzle, Cara some needlework, but neither could concentrate on anything. A few times their mother began to get cross with them, because they were always in the way. Actually, they weren’t, but the rain was making everyone grumpy.
Suddenly the front door opened, and Uncle Dave stepped inside. The kids cheered, and ran to him.
“Uncle Dave, Uncle Dave!” they yelled, as their mother tried vainly to quiet them.
He laughed heartily. “Hi, kids, hi, everyone,” he said as he hugged the two girls in turn, getting them all wet from his raincoat.
Chris tried to look severe, but everyone looked so funny she had to laugh, then threw them some dry towels.
“What brings you out in this wet, Dave?” Brent inquired.
He shrugged. “Boredom, mostly. However, if the girls have nothing else to do, I thought they might like to come along with me. An old friend of mine asked me to look in on his place while he’s away, and his attic has lots of stuff that might be interesting to them. I thought maybe you two would like to come along, as well,” he said, looking at Chris and Brent.
Chris shook her head, saying they still had lots of work to do right there, but the girls could go along, if he didn’t think they’d be any trouble.
He said of course not, and within seconds the girls had on their rain gear, and were heading out the door, with a promise to be back by supper time.
Soon they were splashing happily through the rain and jumping into mud puddles. Actually, the girls were not sure they should be doing this, but Uncle Dave started it, so they followed along.
They were wandering along, with the girls not paying much attention to where they were going, when they suddenly stopped and stared. The house they were going to was a huge, stone building that looked as if it was hundreds of years old.
“Wow!” yelled Cara, as Sharon stared.
“Is that a castle?” Sharon asked, almost in a whisper.
Uncle Dave laughed. “No, not a castle, but it’s the biggest house I’ve ever seen. C’mon, let’s get in out of the rain.”
Soon they were through the front door, and shaking off their wet things. First they sat down to a cup of tea, then Uncle Dave showed them around the house. After the tour, he showed them the attic, and left them to rummage through old chests and cases of stuff. There was a lot of dust, but the girls went at it with a will.
By the time Uncle Dave went back to check on them, they had sorted out quite a pile of things that fascinated them. One of them appeared to be a vase that looked to be really, really old. They found it in an old box with the letters ‘TARFIND’ written on it. There was more writing, but it was smudged, and below, was the word ‘iron’ in small letters.
They paid almost no attention to the box, but the vase was fascinating. It was made of tarnished silver, and had no writing on it, but appeared to be very valuable. The three of them stared at it in awe. The vase was empty, but was obviously not always that way. The inside of it smelled of spices, like a scent of distant lands, and far away places.
Sharon and Cara both looked at the vase. “Uncle Dave, could we take this home?”
He shook his head. “No, it belongs to the captain.”
Sharon thought a moment. “Could I take it home, just to polish it up? I’ll bring it right back, I promise I will.”
Uncle Dave hesitated, then said, “Oh, I guess there’s no harm in you cleaning it up, so long as you bring it right back tomorrow.”
“Thanks,” she said quietly. Uncle Dave could see she was thinking very hard about the vase. So was Cara, but in a different way. Soon they discovered that the rain had stopped, and that it was time to go. They left the house reluctantly, and made their way home for supper. Both the girls were thinking about the old house, and the things they had found there.

It was their bed time, but neither girl put up much of an argument for a change. The sea air made them very sleepy, and soon they were both comfortably tucked up in their beds. Cara let her mind wander as she lay there, waiting to fall asleep. She thought about the vase they had found, then her mind wandered to the box they had found it in. Suddenly she sat bolt upright in bed.
“SHARON!” she almost screamed.
Sharon grumbled, then sat up. “What is it? I’m trying to sleep.”
She was staring at her. “The box! The box we found the vase in!’
“Well, what about it?”
“Do you remember what was written on it?”
She concentrated, then said “Yes, I do. It was something like ‘Tarfind’; whatever that means.
“”Do you remember anything else?”
“Oh, yeah, the word ‘iron’.”
“But they were bigger words, weren’t they?”
She shrugged. “I guess so. There were letters smudged out in front of and behind them.”
“The letter before the word ‘iron’, could it have been a ‘T’?”
“I don’t know, it might have been. Why?”
She looked at her strangely. “Why do you think?”
Sharon’s eyes went wide. “Tiron?”
“And the other word, it was a longer word, too. Could it have been ‘Starfinder’?
“What’s ‘Starfinder? What does that mean?”
“Don’t you remember, in the museum?”
She thought, then remembered. “The ship! The ship whose captain was named…”
“Tiron!” Cara finished.
Both of them eventually lay down again, but neither one slept very much that night.

Sharon was up early the next morning. It was a Saturday, and her parents had to go the city for some meeting or other. Uncle Dave was left to mind them, although he certainly didn’t complain about it.
She scrubbed at the vase for over an hour, before she was happy that it was as clean as it could get. There was still tarnish on it, but it was much better than it was before. She looked closely, and could make out some symbols and very faint writing on it. She looked closely, and could just barely make out a word. It was ‘SHARDAN’, written right into the silver.
“I wonder what that means?” she asked quietly.
“What what means?” Uncle Dave asked, from behind her.
She turned. “There seems to be a word on the vase. I Think it says ‘Shardan’. What does that mean, Uncle Dave?”
“I have no idea. Perhaps the captain does. I’ll ask him when he gets back. For now, though, I think we’d better return the vase to his house, don’t you?”
“Sure. I’ll go get Cara, then maybe we can go out in the boat this afternoon.”
He grinned. “Sounds like fun to me. Go get your sister, and we’ll be on our way.”

They climbed the stairs to the attic in the old house, the girls quite quickly, Uncle Dave a little more slowly. When they got there, they showed him the box. Now that they knew what to look for, it seemed perfectly obvious that the words were ‘Starfinder’, and ‘Tiron’. They could also make out the word ‘Captain’ written before Tiron’s name, and the year ‘1786’.
“I wonder whatever happened to his treasure?” Cara asked.
“I wonder that, too,” asked a voice behind them.
They turned to look, and there stood Mr. McGorey, with two evil looking men standing behind him. All three were holding guns.
“Now, why don’t you show us where the treasure is, and no one will get hurt.”
No one moved.
He waited, then he began to grow angry. “I said to show me the treasure. Don’t try my patience!”
“But there is no treasure!” Sharon said, then started to cry.
“Don’t you hurt my sister!” Cara yelled in anger.
Uncle Dave stood up slowly. “You fool! You’ve been looking for that treasure all your life, and you’ve not found it. What makes you think it’s here?”
“I don’t think it’s here. But I do think these girls know where it is. And they’re going to take me to it!”
“Oh, okay, if you’re going to be that way about it,” Sharon told them.
Uncle Dave and Cara stared at her in surprise. “Do you know where it is?”
“Of course. He’s right, the treasure’s not here. We have to go to the island to find it.”
McGorey growled. “It’s not on the island. I’ve been over every inch of it.”
“Of course not. It’s under the island. We need to go down to get there.”
A light began to shine in the captain’s eyes. “Ah, so that’s what I’ve missed! All right, let’s go!”

Since there wasn’t room for all of them in the little magic boat, Mr. McGorey made his other two men wait on shore for them, holding Uncle Dave as hostage. Then the three of them boarded the boat, and cast off for the island. Tiron wasn’t talking to them, of course, but when they were out at sea Sharon explained it to him, and he agreed to co-operate. They sailed toward Catspaw Island, then dove below the waves.
Once more the girls journeyed into the depths of the sea, only to rise up inside the cavern. McGorey’s eyes bulged out at the beauty and splendor of the rock formation, but he quickly got down to business.
“All right, we’re here. Now, where’s the treasure?”
“Right over there, behind that large rock.”
“Okay, let’s go.”
Sharon rowed the boat to the rocky shore, and the captain got out first, keeping the gun pointed at the girls all the time. But when he put his foot down on the rock, the boat lurched sideways, and he fell into the water.
Shaking, sputtering and swearing, he climbed quickly out of the water, and onto the shore. Tiron then did a surprising thing. He did nothing.
“Tiron,” Sharon hissed, “get us out of here!”
“Not just yet,” he answered calmly.
McGorey pointed the gun at them. “Now, get out of the boat.”
Suddenly Tiron shouted. The sound roared out like a cannon, and suddenly Tiron dropped below the water. Above them the cavern shook with the force of Tiron’s yell, and the stones began to shake loose. Soon they were falling down on McGorey’s head. Within seconds he was knocked senseless.
As soon as the rocks stopped falling, Tiron rose again. He instructed the girls to get his gun, and throw it into the water. Cara did it, watching it sink into the dark waters. Then she climbed aboard Tiron, and they were off again.
“Thank you, Tiron,” Cara said, and she started to cry.
“It’s all right now, Cara. You’re both safe. I’ll go get our friend later. He’ll have a humungous headache, but it’s nothing he doesn’t deserve. Right now we have to rescue your Uncle Dave. I have a plan.”
“Somehow, I thought you might,” Sharon answered.
Tiron laughed. “You girls did very well, I must say. How did you know to tell him the treasure was in the cavern?”
Sharon shrugged. “I took a chance. I knew there was no treasure, but I knew he would never believe that. We had to go someplace where you could use your powers on him, and the cavern seemed like the best idea.”
“Good thinking, Sharon.”
“Thank you, Tiron. And thank you for saving our lives.”
“You’re quite welcome, girls. Now, let’s get back and rescue your Uncle Dave.”
“How are we going to do that?” Cara asked excitedly.
“I’m going to sneak up on them and yell ‘BOO!”
Cara laughed, as did Sharon. “You’re not really, are you?”
“Well, something like that. Don’t be surprised at anything that happens, though.”
They came up out of the water, and into a large bank of fog.
“Gee, when did it get foggy out?” Cara asked.
“It didn’t. I told you I can make things appear when I want to. The men are waiting on the dock for us. We need to get close to them, without their seeing too much. Fog is the best way to do that.”
Soon they were approaching the dock shrouded in fog. All of a sudden, McGorey was in the boat with them!
“Relax, girls,” Tiron told them, “it’s only an illusion. He’s not really here, but I need those two to think he is.”
“Oh.” Neither of them liked the idea, but hoped Tiron knew what he was doing.
Suddenly the figure of McGorey stood up. “Hey, you two! Get over here, and help us unload the boat!”
The girls stared in amazement. The voice was exactly like that of McGorey!
The two men moved toward them, while the girls tensed up. What was Tiron going to do?
But Tiron didn’t have to do anything. The men, anxious to see the treasure, made the mistake of turning their backs on Uncle Dave. He grabbed both of them from behind, and, with a mighty heave, threw them both full into the water!
The girls laughed with delight as the two men floundered about in the water, while Uncle Dave turned to attack Mr. McGorey. However, he could only stare in surprise, as the bad man disappeared right before his eyes!
“Where’d he go?” he demanded, looking about for him.
“Actually,” Sharon told him, “ he’s back inside the island, out cold. That was an illusion, made by our magic boat, here. Thank you, Tiron.”
Uncle Dave actually knelt down on the dock. “Tiron? Is that really you?”
Silence. Then, slowly, a voice could be heard. “Hello, Dave,” it said at last.
Dave didn’t answer for a moment, but seemed to be upset.
“I’ve missed you, my old friend.”
“Get in, Dave. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
First, let me get those men out of the water,’ he said, but when he turned to them, they had already gotten themsleves out, and were quickly running away. He watched them for a moment, then laughed, climbed into the boat, and together he and the girls rowed out into the bay.
“Where did you go, Tiron?,” he finally asked.
“I had to go away, Dave. You were getting too old to be having magic friends.”
“There’s no such thing as being too old to have friends. I didn’t care about the magic. What I missed most of all was just your company.”
“Thank you, Dave. Sometimes, though, things aren’t that simple. I have to move on, for a particular reason. This is the last any of you will see of me. I have to go away again.”
“What?” Sharon and Cara cried out together.
“It’s necessary, and it can’t be helped. I’m sorry.”
“Why?” Sharon demanded.
“I can’t explain more than to say I have to.”
“Does it have something to do with the treasure?” Cara asked.
“You might say that,” Tiron answered carefully.
“Does the word ‘Shardan’ mean anything to you?” Sharon asked casually.
Tiron was silent. “How do you know that name?”
“It was etched on a vase, found in a box owned by one Captain Tiron of the ship called the ‘Starfinder’.”
“Sharon, how do you know that?”
“We found it in an old trunk in an attic,” Cara answered. “We also saw your name in a museum.”
Tiron was silent for a moment. “This is difficult. I don’t know how to explain everything.”
“Why not start at the beginning?” Cara answered with a grin.
“Because it’s a very long story.”
“Give us the hi-lights,” Uncle Dave told him.
“Well, to start with, Captain George Tiron was a fool, perhaps the greatest fool that ever lived. He forgot something once that is so simple, yet so important. Had he remembered, things would be different today.
“It began several hundred years ago, when I was the captain of a pirate ship. We raided a ship near this coast, and we sunk her. We then headed back out to sea, but were caught in a terrible storm. We tried to make it back to this cove, but our ship was wrecked out beyond Catspaw Island. I alone made it back to shore, carrying only a box. The others died because they tried to take some of the treasure with them.
“At last I made it to the island, although I almost drowned doing it. I was terrified of dying at that time, perhaps because I had come so close.
“Anyway, I opened the treasure I had brought with me. It was only a small box, but it held the greatest treasure of all the things I had stolen. Inside was a small, sealed vase. I opened the vase, and asked the genie to come out.”
“Genie!” cried Sharon in surprise. Cara was just as surprised. Uncle Dave didn’t even move.
“Yes, a genie. Its name was Shardan. It told me I could have three wishes. All that night, and all the next day I thought about what I would wish for. I thought I would be clever, and not waste these wonderful wishes.
“Finally, I had made my decision. My first wish was to ask for magical powers. He had some difficulty with this, but I did get them, although they weren’t great. You girls have already seen what I can do.
“The second wish was to never need anything like food or water. All my life I was in need of something, and I didn’t want to be anymore.
“The third wish, though, was the worst thing in the world I could have wished for. You see, I had forgotten. I hadn’t been to church in a long time, so I didn’t remember. What I wished for is to live forever. The genie laughed when I asked for that, but I didn’t understand why. I do now. Everyone lives forever. God made us immortal. By asking to live forever, I made myself become a ghost. I can only make the occasional friends, like you three, and usually only with children.
“You see, what I hadn’t thought of is how lonely I would get. I can move through the world, but I can’t make friends very easily. Usually only children can hear me, and they are often too frightened of me to be my friends.
“I’ve spent years wandering around, terribly lonely, hoping to make friends, but almost never being able to.
“Dave, you were only the second friend I had ever made since the genie left me on Catspaw Island, so many years ago. The first was an old woman, who died only a week after I met her. I was very sad after that. I also discovered that I can’t stay in one place for too long. I am forced to move on, but I always return here, to the place where my body died.”
“And that’s all there is to tell. I have to move on now, because I’m forced to. I’m not sure why. I’m sorry to have to leave, but my time here is nearly done. It’s just as well, because Sharon and Cara must be leaving soon, anyway.”
“How sad,” Cara said quietly, almost crying.
Tiron laughed, and it was like the sun coming out. “Not anymore, it’s not. We’ll meet again, if you really want to. I know I do. There’s other seas for your magic boat to sail, you know.
“Now, you should return home. It’s getting late, and it must be near time for your dinner.”
At that moment Chris was on the shore, yelling for them to come in and wash up. Dave laughed.
“What about Mr. McGorey?” Sharon asked. “He’s still in the cave in the island.”
“Don’t worry about him. I’ll go get him out later. Right now let’s get back to the dock.”

That night the girls found out they would be leaving the next day. They had to return home quickly, their father said, because of business. He told them he hoped they could return the next year, but for now, they had to hurry. The girls spent the rest of the night getting packed, and had to go to bed early so they could leave first thing in the morning.
The girls finished packing, and wanted to go down to the water to say good bye to Tiron, but their parents wouldn’t hear of it. It was already dark, and past time they were in bed. Soon they were all tucked in, but neither could sleep for wanting to say goodbye to their friend.
In the morning, the girls were up at the crack of dawn, hoping to have one last chance to see their friend the magic boat, but there wasn’t time. As they climbed into the car after saying goodbye to Uncle Dave, they looked back to see their boat. It wasn’t there. Sharon almost cried, and Cara pouted, but they were soon off, and down the road. The sun came up, painting the whole sky red, but neither Sharon nor Cara cared.

The vacation ended so quickly that the girls didn’t know what to do with themselves. They missed their friend, and their Uncle Dave. Life just wasn’t the same anymore. Sharon guessed it would never be the same again, not after having a magic boat for a friend.
The next week, on the Saturday, and the whole family took a walk down to the nearby lake to go swimming. Sharon and Cara were downcast, but Sharon noticed something from between the trees. There was a wharf on the lake, and a boat was tied up at. It was a small boat, painted blue, with yellow stars. It also had two yellow oars.
Sharon stopped, and grabbed her sister’s arm. “Cara. Look!”
Cara looked, and saw the boat. Yelling, she and Sharon took off for the shore, while their parents laughed behind them. Together the ran onto the wharf, and jumped into their boat.
“It’s Tiron, its’ Tiron!” Cara yelled happily.
“Hi, Sharon. Hi, Cara,” Tiron greeted them, happily. “I told you I had to leave. I didn’t say where to.”
The girls were yelling with delight when their parent came up to them. “I thought you’d be pleased,” their father said.
“Yes,” said their mother, “Uncle Dave said you’d like to have the boat here, so he had it shipped here.”
The girls laughed, and jumped about. They had their boat, and their friend, back with them. They couldn’t be happier, and let everyone know it, with the lake echoing to their happiness!


THE END
DEDICATED WITH ALL MY LOVE
TO
SARAH AND CLAIRE VALANT