2 A Day At the Beach

2. A DAY AT THE BEACH "Well," said Jim's dad, flopped on a beach towel, "isn't this nice?" Nobody could hear him. Nugget was out of earshot, exploring tide pools with Bones, and Jim and his mom were surfing, just visible over the top of the

windbreak. Jim's dad poured the last dribble of warm grog from his flask into a plastic mug and gulped it down. He'd finished the word search in the Pirate Times, and it was too cloudy for sunbathing. "What shall I do now." he muttered. "HMMM... I think I'll get the metal detector out." Jim's dad loved his metal detector. It made treasure hunting so much easier. He was terrible at measuring steps and always got his left and right confused,

so he found treasure maps tricky to follow. Not that he'd ever found any treasure. I've got a good feeling about this beach, he said to himself. I can almost smell the gold. Before long, Jim's dad was wandering along the beach, swinging his metal detector left and right over the sand. He wasn't sure why, but a cave had grabbed his attention. He had an irresistible urge to walk toward it, and everything seemed to be getting a bit hazy. From outside his headphones, he heard the faint sound of Nugget asking if she could come too. He wasn't sure if he answered her, but he felt her fingers

encircle his hand as they strolled into the darkness. BEEP! went the metal detector. BEEEP! BEEEEEP! BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP!

"What's all that barking about?" said Jim. Jim and his mom were waist deep in the surf, clutching their boards, but Bones had grabbed their attention. He was bouncing excitedly around on the shoreline. "WOOF! WOOF! WOOF!" "ARRRR, I dunno, but Bones don't normally get so agitated," said Mom. "I can't see Dad or Nugget. Maybe we'd best go and see...."

They waded ashore, boards under their arms, and stopped at the spot where their stuff lay abandoned in the middle of the beach. "COME 'ERE, BONES!" called Jim, but Bones kept on running, toward the rocks. He barked and dived into a cave, then poked his head out and barked again. "You dry yerself or ye'll catch yer death of cold," said Mom. "And I'll go see what's got him so worked up."