Jillian And The Sea Serpent

SLITHERING SEA SERPENTS AT LOST LAKE? Jillian and Josephine encounter a series of clues pointing to a mythical sea serpent lurking alive in Sliver Moon Bay's Lost Lake.  Join them as they search for answers to the mystery, interview eyewitnesses, pursue suspects, and ultimately face the beast. Will the sisters, with help from their irascible neighbor Huckleberry and fearless Yorkie terrier Merlin, solve the next "Jillian's Magical Adventures"? You’ll have a fun time helping them solve the mystery reading Jillian And The Sea Serpent!

Jillian and the Sea Serpent
Chapter 1 - Lost Lake:

"Mr. Bigelow told my dad he saw a sea serpent in Lost Lake," Huckleberry announced matter-of-factly, leaning against the white picket fence.

Josephine Lockhart, nearly finished watering the flowers that ran along the east side of the old Victorian style house where she lived with her younger sister and parents, turned to stare over the fence that surrounded the property. "Huckleberry, did I hear you right?  Did you say Mr. Bigelow saw a real live sea serpent?"

"You heard me right," her neighbor nodded confidently. A real ... live ... sea serpent."

Josephine knew about Mr. Bigelow. He was an old man who lived alone on the other side of the lake. He used to be the captain of a commercial fishing boat that operated out of Pillar Point Harbor. When he grew too old to run his boat on the open sea where he fished for salmon for part of the year and crabs the rest, Mr. Bigelow retired to a little cottage he owned on Lost Lake.  He'd built it many years before with the help of his wife Dolores when he was still a young man.  

The other kids at Josephine's school, SeaCrest View, teased that Mr. Bigelow had a scattered mind - he didn't remember things very well. Worse, eighth graders Tommy Hamaker and Evan Jenkins (Tommy Trouble and Evan Evil) called him that crazy old man.  They said he believed in ghosts.

Josephine's mother disagreed.  She said old Mr. Bigelow was just lonely out there all by himself in his cottage by the lake.  Ever since Dolores, his wife of forty years, died from poor health, things had gotten worse.  Josephine heard her mother say privately to Josephine's father that Mr. Bigelow suffered from Alzheimer's disease.  Later, Josephine looked the word Alzheimer's up in the dictionary.  It meant someone who forgot things.

"When did your dad talk to Mr. Bigelow?  I didn't realize they knew each other that well."

"Jiminy Cricket," replied Huckleberry, "I didn't say they were best friends.  They've bumped into one another over the years.  Dad sometimes talks to Mr. Bigelow at Johnson's Coastside Hardware Store downtown.  That's where they ran into each other yesterday. Mr. Bigelow was there buying fishing gear.  Heavy duty fishing gear if you know what I mean... like he was going to catch a great white shark.  Something BIG!  And there ain’t no great white sharks in Lost Lake if ‘ya know what I mean!"

“The correct words are ‘there aren’t any, not ‘ain’t no’, Josephine corrected.  

Huckleberry rolled his eyes.

Downtown was the small nearby coastal town of Sliver Moon Bay. It's picturesque restaurants and shops were popular with tourists, but to the people that lived year around on the seacoast, like Josephine, her sister Jillian and Huckleberry's families, it was a working town.  They bought their groceries there, used the hardware store and public library, and exchanged gossip with neighbors.

                      

Josephine thought for a moment about the meaning of the words heavy duty fishing gear and then said, "C'mon, Huckleberry, you can't possibly believe that a real sea serpent lives in Lost Lake."

"Well, what about what Mr. Bigelow saw?" replied Huckleberry, shrugging his shoulders.

"Maybe he was mistaken. Maybe Mr. Bigelow thought he saw a sea serpent when he actually saw something quite different."  Josephine was thinking about what she had read earlier in the dictionary about the word Alzheimer's and forgetting.

"Like what?" shot back Huckleberry.

"That lake has lots of things in it," she replied. "Lake trout.  Maybe he saw a beaver.  Or simply a floating, half-submerged log."

"What are you two arguing about?" interrupted Jillian, hurrying across the garden to join them at the fence.  Seven-year-old Jillian was Josephine's younger sister by two years.

"Huckleberry insists there's a sea serpent living in Lost Lake," replied Josephine calmly.

"A SEA SERPENT!  Is that the truth, Huckleberry?  Is it?"

"Well," Huckleberry replied with a slow drawl," old Mr. Bigelow said he saw it with his own eyes plain as day."

"Mr. Bigelow... that creepy old retired fisherman who lives by the lake?"

"He's not creepy," scolded Josephine. "He just has a hard time remembering things.   And besides, don't forget that mother warned you about gossiping..."

"Right, right," replied Jillian dismissively. "Anyway, how can a sea serpent live in a lake?  Lost Lake's filled with fresh water.  Shouldn't it live in the ocean if it's called a sea serpent?"

The three friends thought about that for a moment.  Finally, Huckleberry offered: "Unless that lake is connected to the ocean someway we don’t know about."

"Yeah, like through an underwater tunnel," Jillian agreed, warming quickly to the idea of a mysterious underwater tunnel nobody in Sliver Moon Bay had seen before.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here," cautioned Josephine.  There may be nothing more than a floating log that Mr. Bigelow simply mistook for a sea, or lake, serpent."

Josephine sighed, knowing what her younger sister was going to say next.  Jillian was a girl of action.  Energetic, fearless and always ready for an adventure.  Patience was not part of her personality.

"I say we go on a hunt for that sea serpent right now!  We'll investigate this mystery and see if Mr. Bigelow's sighting of the sea serpent was real... or imagined.  I'm betting it's real.  C'mon, are you with me?" she almost shouted.

"Count me in," nodded Huckleberry, smiling happily at the thought of the start of the great sea serpent hunt.

Merlin, the Lockhart sisters' small brown and black Yorkie terrier, barked his agreement, staring eagerly up at them. The little dog, sensing he was about to be invited for a walk, stood up on his hind legs, balancing like a tiny ballerina while hopping excitedly.

Josephine, Jillian and Huckleberry laughed at the little dog's antics.

"You are magical, aren't you Merlin?  Well that's it then.  If Merlin insists on going, let's all go on a sea serpent hunt down to the lake," agreed Josephine.

"Ok," yelled Jillian. "And when we catch that old sea serpent we'll give him to the San Francisco Zoo as a gift from the Lockhart family. In exchange they'll give us a free life-time pass to get in to see our sea serpent and all the other zoo animals.  Maybe they'll even name the zoo after us.  The Lockhart Lacertilian Zoo.  We'll be famous!"

"Lacertilian... what's that mean anyway?" Huckleberry asked suspiciously, squinting his eyes at Jillian. 

"You don't know?  How could you not know?" insisted Jillian in an amazed voice.

"Oh, Jil, quit teasing," Josephine interrupted, smiling slightly.  "You only know the meaning of Lacertilian because father used it during Scrabble last night.  

"Whatever" shrugged Jillian.  "It means having to do with lizards... you still should have known it, Huckleberry."

"Heeeyyy, aren't you forgetting something?  I heard about the sea serpent first.  I deserve to be famous too," complained Huckleberry.

"Calm down, we'll give you credit too, Huckleberry, you old badger, Jillian answered quickly.  It'll be the Lockhart and Huckleberry Lacertilian Lachrymose Zoo."

Lachrymose!  What in tarnation does that mean?

 "Weeping... you know, a big old crybaby," Jillian answered with a mischievous smile. 

"What, who, weeping, me?" Huckleberry sputtered.

"First, let's see how fast you are Mr. Lachrymose - race you to the backyard tree-house," Jillian yelled, ignoring the question.  She and Huckleberry ran around the side of the Lockhart house toward the rear where a tree-house had been built onto a prominent oak standing dead center in the backyard.  

Josephine walked slowly after them, wondering what they would they do if they actually came face-to-face with a real sea, or lake serpent, at Lost Lake. Could they catch it?  Or, would it catch them?  And, she wondered, shivering slightly, what exactly did sea serpents eat?

At that very moment, some distance away down a long dirt path, across the Coast Highway through a shadowy forest, the blue waters of Lost Lake were calm.  Even in the summer the deep water remained uncomfortably cold.  The local children learned in school that the lake used to be part of an inland sea during the Jurassic Period, a time thousands of years before when fearsome dinosaurs walked the earth, flew in the sky and swam beneath the primordial sea.  Some of the Sliver Lake old-timers believed there was still a secret underwater tunnel connecting Lost Lake to the not too distant Pacific Ocean.  That explained the high salinity, or salt content, of the lake’s water, they said.

If you stood alone on the shore of Lost Lake it was impossible to see what lay beneath the surface. The only visible image was your reflection on the mirror like surface of the dark water.  Or the eerily swaying trees behind you, standing like mute sentinels in a circle around the lake.  The blinding brightness of the sun bounced off the surface of the dark water, finding your eyes like a laser beam.  You’d wince, shielding your eyes with an arm, temporarily blinded.  What did the lake waters conceal beneath?  The three friends were about to find out.

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 2 - Earthquake:

The massive earthquake struck at noon during the Jurassic Period 200 million years ago.  Moments before, Brachiosaurus, Apatosaurus and the other sauropod dinosaurs grazing placidly on over-sized leaves and yard tall grass surrounding a vast inland sea sensed something was not right.  The dinosaurs stretched their long necks skyward, searching for something they could not see with their eyes, but still sensed.  Pterodactyls and other bat-like winged dinosaurs abruptly rose from cliff-face ledges into the sky, screeching their alarm.

Thousands of giant palm trees began to sway violently while car-sized boulders crashed down the surrounding hillside slopes.  Fissures suddenly appeared in the earth, at first only a few feet wide, then spreading quickly to form dark, gaping cracks.  Streams of brackish, muddy water emptied, the water sucked down through the widening fissures into the earth below like bathwater through an open drain.  As the shaking intensified a mountain of rock overlooking a long water-channel connecting the inland sea to the ocean beyond toppled over, completely covering the channel.  In minutes the inland sea, which for thousands of years had been part of the larger ocean beyond, was cut off.

The many and varied aquatic dinosaurs that traveled freely between the ocean and the inland sea were now trapped within a vast salty lake.  Including Liopleurodon.  Fully 50 feet in length, with a thick body containing four paddle-like feet, each as long as a canoe, a short tail and a blunt, massive head dominated by a mouth filled with row upon row of sharp, dagger shaped teeth, Liopleurodon was the real sea-serpent of the Jurassic Period.  It could stay underwater for long periods of time, using its sharp teeth to capture and eat fish and smaller aquatic dinosaurs such as Plesiosaurus. 

The Liopleurodon was even known to attack land dinosaurs that strayed too close to the shallows as they came to the shore to drink and eat the abundant water plants that grew there. It lunged from beneath the water like a horrible, impossibly giant crocodile to catch them with its sharp teeth, dragging its terrified prey below the surface.  As a result of the earthquake, from then on, those Liopleurodons living in the inland sea could no longer swim to the open ocean.  The sea serpent had become a serpent of the lake.

It took Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry some time to walk to Lost Lake.  Once they crossed the Coastal Highway, they walked east away from the ocean along a narrow, unpaved road that divided fenced horse pastures on either side.  Further on, the road narrowed even more, becoming a dirt path as it plunged into a thick forest, zigging and zagging through the trees until it came to a stop at Lost Lake.  From there the path made a 'Y' shape, with each end of the 'Y' disappearing as separate, smaller paths to the left and right.  The new paths followed the lakeshore.  After a brief consultation the friends took the right side path.  At the end of a long walk they found themselves standing just beyond Mr. Bigelow's lake side cottage.

"That place looks more like a lighthouse than a regular house," said Jillian as they stood and stared.

Captain Bigelow's career as a fisherman had inspired him to build a house that really did look like a lighthouse.  The kind you'd see on the seashore that warned boats away from dangerous reefs and shallows.  Bright white, the three-story-high cottage was cylindrical shaped and dotted with porthole type windows.  Like the kind you’d typically see on a passenger ship.  The sturdy oak front door was bordered by heavy black metal bands.  It looked strong enough to withstand a hurricane.  Or, at the least, prevent someone, or something, from gaining entry. 

Josephine wondered about that.  Why did the captain need a door that stout?  There were no hurricanes on the lake.  Her eyes scanned the dark waters beyond.  She suddenly felt a shiver of uneasiness course through her body. 

"That captain's door looks strong enough to stop a truck from driving through it," said Huckleberry.  "Maybe he's trying to keep out a bear..." he added, glancing nervously at the forest they had just come out of.

 "There aren't any bears around here, you old potato head," a smiling Jillian shot back.

On the other side of the lighthouse weathered stone steps sloped steeply down to a creaky wooden dock.  A medium-sized fishing boat floated gently in the water, connected by thick ropes to the dock, one at the bow and the other at the stern. 

"How on earth did that boat get into this lake?" Huckleberry wondered out loud.

"That's an easy answer, Huckleberry.  Haven't you ever heard of a trailer?" replied Jillian sharply.  "You load the boat on a trailer, attach the trailer to a pickup-truck, and drive it where you need to go.  Simple as that."

"I know what a trailer is," Huckleberry answered back irritably.  "I'm just saying that is a big boat for this lake.  Why would Mr. Bigelow need such a thing here, after he's retired and all;is he planning on catching a Great White Shark?"

Or maybe a sea serpent, mused Josephine.  Neither Jillian nor Huckleberry heard her.

"You can call me captain, son.  And, that's my boat, The Nessie," a deep voice rumbled from above!

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 3 - The Captain:

Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry glanced upward with alarm to see Captain Bigelow leaning out of an open lighthouse window on the second floor, staring down at them. 

"What brings you to my lake, youngsters?" he asked in a gruff voice. 

"We heard there was a sea serpent, or at least a lake serpent, in Lost Lake, and we want to see it," answered Jillian without hesitation.

“Yeah, and we plan to catch it,” Huckleberry proclaimed confidently.

"Who told you that?" the captain asked suspiciously.

"My dad,” volunteered Huckleberry.  “He heard it directly from you at the hardware store."

"Yep, I recall me sayin’ something ‘bout that," said the captain, less gruffly.  "Said it while over at Johnson's hardware store, buying fishing tackle."

"Now that we've got that cleared up," said Jillian impatiently, hands on hips, "where actually IS this sea serpent?"

The captain signaled he was coming down from the lighthouse.  The friends watched as he closed the portal shaped window.  They listened to the clanging of his steps on what sounded like metal stairs.  That was followed by the sound of a metal bolt sliding, followed by the front door opening.  Out he stepped.  Captain Bigelow was a big man, standing well over six feet tall.  He had thinning gray hair, a bulbous nose that looked like a mushroom under bright, squinting eyes.  His chin was heavy.   It looked like he hadn't shaved in a week.  The captain carried an enormous belly under an untucked, long-sleeve collared shirt held up by frayed suspenders that were clipped to dark gray work pants. 

As he walked toward them, they noticed the captain stooped forward slightly.  As if his back was permanently curved.  Josephine surmised it was a result of all those years he had spent at sea fishing, bracing himself against an endless gale of stiff ocean headwinds.  Surprisingly, the captain wore a pair of furry slippers on his feet, each shaped like a lizard! 

Captain Bigelow noticed the three friends staring at his slippers.  "Oh those - they're a gift from Dolores, my wife," he said, his eyes getting a far-away look.

The friends exchanged a puzzled glance, as they knew the captain's wife had died some years before. 

"She passed away, you know..." the captain’s voice trailed off into an uncomfortable silence.  "Sometimes I forget ‘bout that.  Anyway, Dolores was worried I'd catch a cold walkin’ barefoot around the lighthouse," he explained, nodding his head over one large shoulder toward his peculiar looking house.  

"Why are they shaped like a lizard?" demanded Jillian.

His squinty eyes suddenly twinkling, the captain said: "That's not a lizard they're shaped like, Missy... but the great Nessie herself."

"He's referring to the legend of the Loch Ness Monster," explained Josephine, glancing away from the captain's slippers toward Jillian and Huckleberry.

"Why, you're exactly right," said the captain with delight.  "You're a smart kiddo, aren't you?" 

Josephine didn't say anything. 

"Only it isn't a legend," he added.  "It's a real living sea serpent trapped all these years in a deep Scottish loch." 

“That means…” began Josephine.

“I know what loch means,” interrupted Jillian.  “A lake.”

Captain Bigelow nodded.  He then went on to explain that he'd had a life-long fascination with the legendary tale of the Loch Ness Monster.  The term Loch Ness refers to a lake in the country of Scotland, close by an enormous fissure in the earth that nearly splits Scotland in two. There are a series of lochs, or lakes, that link the Atlantic Ocean on one side of Scotland with the blustery North Sea on the other. 

Loch Ness itself is the largest freshwater lake in Scotland.  It is twenty-four miles long and nearly two miles wide. It's a murky, cold and very deep lake, plunging 750 feet to the bottom in some places.  Over the last 80 years there have been scores of sightings of a large, mysterious creature by people walking or driving along the shore of Loch Ness.  The creature quickly disappears beneath the lake's surface when seen.  There have been pictures taken of it from a distance, but only a few.  Unfortunately, they are not very clear.  Many people believe the creature is a long-surviving aquatic dinosaur, Plesiosaurs.  Or even a Liopleurodon.  Others are not convinced.  Some say it's a hoax - someone clever playing a joke.  Captain Bigelow himself had traveled all the way to Scotland and the Loch to see if he could see the creature with his own eyes.  Perhaps even get a picture of Nessie.  He'd come up empty.  No sighting.  No picture. 

  

"Just because I didn't see her on my trip to Scotland doesn't mean the Loch Ness Monster isn’t there," he stated, squinting at them with a challenging glint in his eye.

"So, what does this Loch Ness Monster have to do with Lost Lake here in Sliver Moon Bay?" Jillian asked impatiently.

"Jillian, don't be rude." Josephine scolded.

"She's not being rude, kiddo," the captain said, his eyes twinkling some more.  "She's just curious.  The answer to your question is I've found Nessie's cousin right here in this lake.  By Davey Jones' Locker I'm sure of it, I am."

“What’s Davy Jones’ Locker mean?” Huckleberry wondered out loud.

“Never mind, you old badger,” Jillian said.  “Let the captain answer the question.”

“It’s a nautical term, means the bottom of the sea,” explained Josephine patiently.

“Aye, and it means more than that, kiddo,” agreed the captain, rubbing his chin.  “Tis’ the drowning of sailors - death itself....”

Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry glanced at one another.  They didn't speak, waiting for the captain to continue. 

He then told them his story: "My boat The Nessie," he said pointing toward the dock," carries sonar.  Many of the modern commercial fishing boats do, ya’ know.  When I was fishing in the Pacific off Sliver Moon Bay durin’ the old days, I used it to locate vast schools of fish beneath the surface. Can't catch 'em if you can't find 'em, 'ya know?  Now that I'm retired I trailered The Nessie here to Lost Lake.  I take her out every so often for old time's sake.  Sometimes I’ll even turn on the sonar to see what's below the keep.  And, guess what?"

The three friends were silent.  Nobody said a word.

"I found something.  Something BIG under those waters.  While I was cruising near the middle of the lake," he said ominously, lowering his voice as if he didn't want anybody else but the three of them to hear their conversation.  The captain paused for a moment while he gazed solemnly at the lake just beyond where they stood.

 Huckleberry shivered slightly as his eyes scanned the surface of the lake.  And it wasn't from cold weather.  "Nessie?" he gulped.

Jillian looked at Huckleberry, shook her head and said: "What are you talking about you scaredy cat?  The Loch Ness Monster lives in that country called Scotland.  This is America.  We're in a different country, far, far away. What do you think, it flew over here like an eagle for a visit?"

“Maybe it’s Nessie’s cousin?” offered Huckleberry.

Josephine said: "Stop arguing you two.  So what did you find in Lost Lake?" she asked the captain.

He continued: "Like I was ‘sayin, I was out on the boat when my sonar identified a large object deep under the surface.  A couple hundred feet down.  When it first popped up on the sonar screen it was stationary.  Dead in the water so to speak.  I thought it was a large tree that might have been washed down into the lake during a bad storm and sunk below the surface."

"Or maybe a sunken boat?" offered Huckleberry.

“Aye,” the captain nodded at the possibility, and continued, "then, it dawned on me that the depth the object was at - 200 feet - was not the bottom of Lost Lake.  This lake gets as deep as 600 feet, or more, in some parts."

"Which means," added Josephine thoughtfully, her fingers tapping her right temple, "that the large object you were viewing on that screen was floating in the water, some hundreds of feet above the bottom."

"And 200 feet below the surface," added Jillian.  "Then it couldn't have been a sunken tree or boat because both those objects are too heavy to float suspended, 200 feet below your boat.  Their weight would have caused them to sink to the bottom."

"That's right," nodded the captain.  "And, egads, by the ancient mariner himself, Davy Jones, whatever it was on my sonar screen began to move.  Upward.  Toward my darn boat!"

The captain went on to explain that the object moved very quickly across the screen as it headed toward the surface of the lake.  Wanting to get a look at it, not sure what he was facing, he left the boat's wheel-house and stepped outside.  As his eyes searched the dark waters surrounding the boat, something solid crashed suddenly into the underside of The Nessie, almost causing him to fall over the railing and into the water! 

The boat shuddered violently as if a giant, unseen hand was gripping and shaking it from below.  Then, as suddenly as it begun, it stopped.  The captain said he crossed excitedly to the other side of his boat to see if he could identify what it was, but there was no sign of anything in the water. 

Worried that whatever hit the bottom of The Nessie may have damaged it, he turned the boat around and headed toward the dock.  On the way back the captain noticed the impact from the mysterious collision had somehow damaged the boat's sonar.  The screen was blank, preventing him from using it to see what might still be in the water below.  Soon, he was back at the dock, his boat securely tied alongside.  A quick inspection showed no water leaking inside the cabin.  That was a good sign. 

The captain went on to describe how he walked along both sides of the boat looking for any evidence of the earlier collision above the water level.  He saw none.  Then, he noticed something odd stuck to the boat's side near the waterline.  It was dull white and triangular shaped.  He hadn't noticed it before because it was embedded in the hull just below the water's surface.  As The Nessie gently rocked up and down, the object appeared for a moment above the lake water and then disappeared below its opaque surface. 

Bending down to pry it loose, the captain immediately pulled his hand away as if he'd stuck it into a pot of boiling water.  His finger was bleeding!  Somehow he’d cut it.  The jagged cut crossed his index finger, like he had tried to grab the serrated teeth of a saw.  Once he had washed and bandaged his hand back at the house, the captain returned to the dock.  This time with a pair of heavy work-gloves and pliers.  Bending down again he carefully grasped the triangular shaped object with the pliers and, after several vigorous yanks, dislodged it from the hull. 

"And, kiddos, here it is!" he said dramatically, reaching into his pants pocket and pulling out something wrapped in multiple layers of coarse cloth.

The three friends crowded eagerly around to get a closer look.  It was a tooth!  The largest they'd ever seen.  Five inches long, triangular shaped, it was wide and uneven at the base, tapering to a narrow, sharp point at the other end.  The sides of the tooth at the wider end were serrated, like a saw.

"It looks sharp both at the point and on either side.  Like a pointed razor-blade.  Is that where you cut yourself, on the edges?" Josephine asked.

"Dern right it's sharp on either side, Missy," agreed the captain, glancing down at his hand.  "Cut myself directly along the edge of this dagger tooth."

"What kind of an animal would leave that attached to your boat?" Huckleberry asked in awe.

"So it is a real sea serpent tooth..." answered Jillian.  "That means the tooth you're holding was inside of a mouth before it got stuck taking a bite of your boat."

"And looking at the size of this tooth, that must have been one large mouth belonging to one very large creature," Josephine added bending over to peer closely at the object in the captain’s hand.

"So, what comes next?" asked Huckleberry.

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 4 - A Warning:

Before anybody could reply, a large black Hummer automobile honked loudly at them as it drove down the trail, screeching to a halt in front of the captain's lighthouse.  The driver's side door was flung open and a well-dressed man stepped out.  He was followed by a second man who exited the Hummer from the front passenger-side door.  The second man was dressed like a construction superintendent in khaki pants over work boots, a long-sleeved blue denim shirt rolled up to the elbows, and baseball type cap.

The well-dressed driver of the Hummer walked purposefully over to where they stood, stuck his hand out toward the captain and said in a voice as smooth as syrup: "My name is Rupert B. Sharpe.  Glad to meet you." 

Captain Bigelow looked him up and down and said gruffly: "Can't shake hands... cut the dern thing."

Rupert B. Sharpe glanced at the bandage on the captain's hand, looked at his own hand extended awkwardly in the air for a handshake, made a half-turn and instead shook Jillian’s, Josephine’s and Huckleberry's hands each in turn.  The smile frozen on his face never left. 

Josephine didn't have a good feeling about Rupert B. Sharpe.  She felt as if she had just shaken hands with a thief.  One that hadn't stolen anything from her.  Not yet.  Josephine cast a sideways glance at Jillian and Huckleberry as they were shaking hands with Mr. Sharpe.  They didn't look like they were enjoying it either.

"Glad to meet you kids," said the syrupy voice.  "What brings you out to Lost Lake?"

"We came to see the sea serpent," answered Jillian matter of fact.

At the mention of the word sea serpent, Mr. Sharpe's smile changed.  If it was at all possible, it looked like he was smiling even harder.  Like a rattlesnake.  Just before it struck with its fangs. 

At that moment, the other man from the Hummer came up beside Mr. Sharpe.  He didn't say anything - simply stared, unsmiling, at Jillian, Josephine, Huckleberry and the captain.  His face was pinched, like a mean weasel.  He had an ugly, prominent scar running down one cheek.  His eyes were flat looking.  No life or sparkle to them...like stones.  He gave Jillian the creeps.  Merlin, standing between the sisters must have felt the same way, began to growl.

"Wait a minute... I remember you," said the captain, rubbing the whiskers on his chin.  "You're that big shot land developer from San Francisco.  The one who's been talkin' about building all those new luxury houses on the south shore of Lost Lake." 

"Exactly right," agreed Mr. Sharpe.  "And, allow me to introduce Mr. Colm Meany here next to me, in charge of construction of those houses."

The weasely-looking man said nothing.  Just stared.

Rupert B. Sharpe continued enthusiastically: “My vision for the future of Lost Lake and the surrounding community of Sliver Moon Bay is to bring the beauty of this location to others through access to grand lake-front homes. 

“Many...too many lake-front homes,” muttered the captain under his breath.  

“And not just any lake-front home,” continued the the driver of the Hummer, “but grand view homes fit for a king and queen! Once built and their new owners have moved in, you'll see Sliver Moon Bay grow and evolve to meet the ever-changing needs and desires of its residents.”

And overcrowding and traffic, with more pollution, thought Josephine, her mouth curling into a sour grin.  

Rupert B. Sharpe did not notice as he continued his speech.  His companion, ‘scar man’ stared intently at Josephine, as if he knew what she was thinking.  

“My company, Sharpe Development and Yachts, is nearly ready to begin construction!"

Huckleberry thought for a moment, and said: "Yachts?  What do those big boats have to do with it? I thought you were a house-builder?"

"I have two businesses, my boy.  My smaller business is building yachts.  There's nothing more satisfying than traveling the ocean - or lake - by yacht.  In fact, I expect to sell more than a few to those buying my lake-front homes right here at Lost Lake."

"Shady," said Jillian.

"What was that, my dear?" replied the still smiling Rupert B. Sharpe.

"I said SHADY.  It's the acronym that comes from your company's name: Sharpe Development and Yachts."

"Like a shady tree," offered Huckleberry.

"Maybe.  Or maybe something else," said Jillian quickly.

Remarkably, Mr. Sharpe held onto his smile.  "Very clever, my dear.  You are a smart one.  Now, about all this silly talk of sea serpents. There's no reason to go worrying folks about something that doesn't exist, is there?"

Captain Bigelow had enough: "Now you listen here, Mr. Big Shot Developer, it's not your place to be lecturing me or these children about sea serpents.  I expect you drove out here because somebody in town told you I’d seen one with my own eyes.  That’s the dern truth. And, second, you know well enough I'm against your developin' those lake-front homes.  The last thing this place needs is somebody cutting down our trees and tearing up the lake shore to make room for a bunch of monster sized mansions with yachts fouling up the lake water."

"Now, now, Mr. Bigelow.  You can't stop progress.  People want my houses."

"Not any people around here," interrupted the captain.  "The only people who'll buy your jumbo sized houses will be a bunch of wealthy out-of-towners lookin' for weekend vacation homes.  They don't care anything about Sliver Moon Bay."

Mr. Sharpe's smile left his face.  It was as if a dark cloud suddenly blocked the sun.  "Well, I can see by Mr. Bigelow's tone that we'll make no progress here, Mr. Meany," he said, glancing at the man with the scar on his face. 

Mr. Meany's face remained as lifeless as a hard stone.

"We'll be going then, Mr. Bigelow.  I'd strongly advise all of you," his menacing gaze swept across the captain, Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry, "to stop this talk about sea serpents.  It's not good for business.  MY business." 

And with that, the well-dressed man and his creepy companion walked briskly to the Hummer, started the engine, and drove away.

"Well doesn't that beat all," said the captain.  "The last thing this town needs is the likes of Mr. Sharpe and his henchman around."

Jillian asked: "Captain Bigelow, what do you plan to do about your sea serpent?"

"Why, I'm going to catch it," replied the captain.  "And when I do, I'll be known far and wide as the man who proved the existence of a real, live sea serpent.  Not in Loch Ness... no siree, right here in Sliver Moon Bay."

"But wouldn't that bring all kinds of people from out of town INTO the town?" observed Josephine.

"Yeah, I thought you were against Mr. Sharpe and his construction company because those houses they plan to build would make things real crowded around the lake," added Huckleberry.

"It's important to share this amazing discovery with the world," said the captain defensively.  "And, once people know what’s really in the lake, the local politicians won’t let slippery Mr. Sharpe build his big box mansions around the lake.”

The three children nodded their heads in agreement.

“Besides, maybe they'll name it after me.  Bigelow's Monster.  Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it, kiddos?  I'll be famous!"

"We better be going, Captain Bigelow," Josephine said.  "Thanks for everything."

"Why you're welcome, kiddo.  By the way, what was your name.  I seem to have forgotten."

"Josephine.  Josephine Lockhart."

"That's right," the captain said, rubbing the back of his neck some more.

"And, goodbye to you two as well," he said, looking at Jillian and Huckleberry, clearly forgetting their names.

"S'long, Captain Bigelow.  I'm Huckleberry, and she's Jillian, by the way."

"Right.  Huckleberry, Jillian.  Goodbye."

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 5 - The Professor:

"Let's take a closer look at the other side of the lake," suggested Josephine, as the friends walked on the trail away from the captain's lighthouse.  They soon reached the 'Y' in the road and walked the opposite direction from where they had come, alongside the lake shore.

"Those two home builders, Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Meany, give me the creeps," said Jillian.

"You too?" agreed Huckleberry.  "I don't trust either of those guys."

"And I sure didn't like what Mr. Sharpe said back there about not mentioning the sea serpent anymore.  It sounded like a warning.  What right does he have to threaten us?  I felt like giving him the business end of my slingshot," Jillian said huffily, patting the metal slingshot sticking out of the back of her pants pocket. 

Josephine smiled.  Her younger sister never went anywhere without that slingshot.  Jillian was a deadly shot with it too.  The friends kept walking, talking along the way about the dramatic encounter back at Captain Bigelow's lighthouse. 

After an hour of hiking along the lake, seeing nothing out of the ordinary, the friends stopped to rest.  They sat on a fallen tree overlooking the lake. The water was calm.  The only sound was the cackling of two Northern Ravens from one of the nearby trees.

"What, by Christmas, is that?" Huckleberry said with a startled tone, pointing toward the lake. 

Jillian and Josephine followed his gaze and saw the surface of the lake become agitated about 150 feet offshore.  Within seconds, what looked like two huge, square black eyes began to emerge from the water, moving toward the beach where they sat.  Alarmed, the friends jumped to their feet, ready to run to the shelter of the trees behind them.  

Merlin began barking frantically.  As they watched, the eyes, water streaming from either side, grew bigger.  Two round, smaller ears appeared, one on either side behind the eyes.  A cylindrical shaped nose in front of the eyes broke the surface like a barrel and grew in size as whatever the creature was powered toward them.

"Why, it's orange colored," said a perplexed Huckleberry, as he began to back up toward the trees, ready to run for it.  "An orange sea serpent!" he shouted.

"That's not a sea serpent, it's a submarine," Jillian finally said.

"A miniature submarine," corrected Josephine.

The beast, or machine, kept coming until it was only 20 feet from the beach, finally stopping and floating in place.  At this close distance, they could see that the eyes of the machine were actually windows.  Its ears were a type of glass or plastic viewing bubble.  Behind the viewing bubble half of the thing’s body rose above the water, with the other half unseen below the surface.  The friends heard the faint, screeching sound of metal rubbing against metal from inside.  As if a door lock was sliding away.  

Then, the top of it opened.   A man's head and shoulders popped out of a roof-top hatch like a beady eyed gopher from its hole in the ground.  The man looked at them, blinked twice, and said with a perfect British accent,"Good day.  How do you like my mini-submersible?"

Astonished by the sight, Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry didn't know what to say.  Even Merlin, surprised to see a man's head attached to a large cylinder floating atop Lost Lake, stopped barking.

The man began to talk. “It’s called an Ambient Research Sub.  A submarine manufacturing company in the state of Connecticut makes them.  It is the smallest, lightest and fastest mini-submersible available.  But, it still comes with underwater lights, sonar and expanded air supply.  Just like a larger submarine.  The Ambient Research Sub seats two people and has excellent photography and video capabilities.  The pilot can automatically take pictures and record an underwater film of whatever surrounds the mini-submarine when it is under the water.”  

The man with the British accent kept talking, without catching his breath, “You sit in a cockpit like flying an airplane, and drive the mini-submarine with a simple steering wheel, using these two windows to see out," he explained proudly, reaching down to fondly pat the eyes of the machine. 

"You can't take it deep ocean diving of course, but it's just fine for lakes, rivers and coastal ocean waters."

"Cool," said Huckleberry and Jillian simultaneously, as they continued to observe the exotic looking machine.

"And just who ARE you?" Josephine asked.

"Allow me to introduce myself; My name is Professor Maximilian Southern.  I'm a researcher, a doctor of oceanography and paleontology, and am head of the aquarium at the San Francisco Academy of Science."

"I've been there," said Huckleberry.  "They have all kinds of neat animals and fish you can see."

"We've all been there," answered Jillian, rolling her eyes.  "Everyone at school gets to go on a field trip to The Academy."

"Rightly so.  The Academy welcomes school children of all ages," agreed the professor.

"So, what are you doing with a mini-submarine in Lost Lake?" asked Josephine directly.

"I'm searching for evidence of an Liopleurodon."

"What is a L I O P...?"

"It was an aquatic dinosaur, over 50 feet in length, that lived during the great age of dinosaurs.  Specifically during the Jurassic Period."

Huckleberry replied: "And, you think its bones are in the lake?

"Fossils, the word is fossils, you old badger," Jillian corrected him immediately, an impatient look on her face.

Josephine observed Professor Southern's appearance. He was well over six feet tall, his arms long and gangly, with curly black hair over a round, pumpkin shaped face.  His eyes were rounder still and very dark.  He had a mouth full of dazzling white teeth.  His hands were large, and fingers long.  Like a scarecrow.  The professor wore a black rubber wetsuit. Something puzzled Josephine about the professor and his mini-submarine. 

She decided to ask him: "If you're searching for a Liopleurodon fossil, wouldn't it be at the bottom of the lake?

"Yes, that's right young lady.  That would be the most likely place to locate a fossil," he smiled.

"But didn't you say earlier that your submersible only works in the shallows?"

Professor Southern's smile vanished.  As if he had been caught stealing.

Jillian chimed in, "Yeah, what about that?  You said your sub can't deep-dive.  This lake is VERY deep.  So what good is it then for locating a fossil at the bottom of the lake?"

After a pause, the professor answered forcefully, "The Ambient Research Sub WILL help me locate what I am searching for.  This living sea serpent - I mean fossil, fossil that is, will be found."

Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry glanced furtively at one another, and back at the professor.  Did they just hear him use the word living when describing the sea serpent he was hunting? 

The professor appeared uncomfortable.  Like he had revealed something he should not have through a slip of the tongue.

"And when I find that fossil, I will be famous.  Celebrated the world over for such a bold discovery!" he continued with rising excitement in his voice.

The friends didn't say anything.

"I must be going now," said the professor abruptly.  "Perhaps I'll see you at the Academy of Science one day soon?  Until then, good day."  And with those final words he slid below into the mini-submarine cockpit, closed the hatch, and started up the motor.  The machine's propellers reversed it backward to deeper waters, where it turned and moved slowly forward, rapidly disappearing beneath the lake's surface.

The friends continued to stare silently at the lake where the miniature submarine had slipped beneath the surface.  The water was calm now.  Finally, Huckleberry spoke up, "Jiminy Cricket, this trip to Lost Lake has been a strange one.  I saw a lighthouse, talked to a sea-captain, met two guys who give me the creeps, saw a real submarine, and met a professor wearing a wet-suit.  What next?"

"How about a sea serpent?" added Jillian.  "Isn't that what we came here to see in the first place?  What about that tooth Captain Bigelow took from the bottom of his boat?  That was real.”

"We did see a big, sharp tooth, but how do we REALLY know it was a sea serpent's tooth?" said Josephine cautiously.

Huckleberry thought for a moment and said: "Because Captain Bigelow said so."

"He said so, but was he telling the truth?  Maybe it wasn't even attached to his boat," Josephine replied, doubt clouding her voice. 

Jillian chimed in, "Maybe there's more to this story… maybe somebody’s not telling the truth about that sea serpent."

"I don't get it," Huckleberry said, confused.

"No, she's right," broke in Josephine.  "Captain Bigelow's sea serpent could be Professor Southern's submarine.  What do we really know that are facts and what do we know that are just guesses?" 

Josephine went on to review what they had learned today, and the clues that bubbled to the surface as a result:

Captain Bigelow claimed he was using his sonar equipped fishing boat to locate moving objects beneath the lake's surface - like a sea serpent. 

The captain showed them what looked like a very large animal tooth he claimed was embedded in the hull of his boat.  Was it the tooth of an Liopleurodon, a supposedly extinct, aquatic dinosaur that somehow still survived after all these years?  And THAT had actually attacked the captain’s boat? 

Or was it simply a fossil tooth the captain had simply discovered on the lakeshore, or even a fake he had acquired somewhere else?  And, what were those two creepy home builders, Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Meany, really up to?

Then, there was the mysterious Professor Maximilian Southern and his mini-submarine.  Was the professor really looking for hidden dinosaur fossils in the lake?  Or, did he too believe a living Liopleurodon existed there and, as a result, was attempting to gain worldwide fame by being the first to catch a real live sea serpent? 

"That gives us three suspects: the captain, the professor, and those shifty home developers, Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Meany," said Josephine thoughtfully.

"It's hard to believe Captain Bigelow would be lying about the sea serpent," said Jillian, shaking her head with disbelief.

"Yeah, just so he could be famous," said Huckleberry.  “He doesn’t seem like the type.  The captain really cares about Lost Lake.

"Now what do we do?" Jillian asked, looking at Josephine.

Josephine was silent, lost in thought staring at the glassy surface of the lake.  Finally she spoke, "We need to pay a visit to Professor Southern.  To learn more about just what he's up to."

"How do we do that?  He's under the lake in that mini-submarine of his," complained Huckleberry.

"Why, we'll go to the spider's lair itself," smiled Jillian.  "We'll take a trip to the Academy of Science."

"That's right," Josephine agreed, nodding her head enthusiastically.  "We'll go where the professor spends his time when he's not submerged under Lost Lake searching for fossils--or a real sea serpent.  We’ll find answers at the Academy."

Hearing the excitement in Jillian and Josephine's voices, Merlin barked his approval while dancing on his hind legs.  The friends laughed at the little dog, turned and walked briskly away from Lost Lake toward home.  Behind them, just offshore, a stream of bubbles from below broke the surface of the lake, agitating the water into a violent froth.  The friends didn’t notice as they disappeared into the trees.

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 6 - Pursuit at the Museum:

On the afternoon of the following day, Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry rode the bus to the San Francisco Academy of Science.  The enormous facility, located in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park, was made up of individual, box shaped, connected buildings housing a splendid aquarium, maze-like planetarium, and natural history museum.  The aquarium contained the deepest coral reef exhibit in the world while the planetarium featured a spectacular 5-story tropical rain forest.  The natural history museum displayed hundreds of lifelike dinosaur models posed in dioramas - including a 40-foot long, towering T-Rex skeleton--the largest in the world.

The three friends walked up the building's outside stairs, entered one of the many front doors and joined the throngs of children and parents scurrying from one Academy exhibit to another.  They entered the wing, or section, of the building that housed the natural history museum.  A sign said that the offices where the museum staff worked were in the rear.

“That would be where Professor Southern is located, I’m sure,” said Josephine.    

To get there, Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry had to walk past the museum's world famous Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton and then past the dinosaur dioramas.  A diorama was a full-size replica or scale model of a landscape typically showing historical events or nature scenes.  The natural history museum specialized in dinosaur scenes, with incredibly realistic looking dinosaur models!  The models themselves, all full-size, looked like real, breathing dinosaurs.  Alive and ready to do what dinosaurs did: screech, charge, bite and eat.

The first exhibit the friends encountered was the T-Rex skeleton.  This was not a model, but a real skeleton discovered in the state of South Dakota many years ago.  Fifteen feet above them, the carnivorous dinosaur’s head pointed downward toward them, heavy jaws open, with huge, dagger-like teeth studded throughout.  It was a chilling sight.

Huckleberry gulped loudly, saying in a low voice: "Get a load of that! That big lizard must have been pretty frightening to deal with when he was alive."

"Yes, and with a mouth big enough to easily swallow you whole, like a piece of huckleberry pie," said a grinning Jillian.

Huckleberry shot her a sour face. 

"C'mon, you two, let's keep going... we need to find Professor Southern's office," urged Josephine.

Just past the huge T-Rex skeleton they came to the first diorama.  In a large, natural setting they saw a full-sized Stegosaurus model.  It looked real enough to walk over to where they stood on the viewing walkway.  Fully 20 feet long, the dinosaur was posed on a flooded plain, eating small shrubs scattered around it.  Two rows of triangular shaped plates ran along its back leading to a serpentine tail that displayed four, two foot long spikes.

Huckleberry read out loud the sign attached to the side of the diorama:

The Jurassic period marked the beginning of the Age of the Ruling Reptiles. During this period, vegetation was greener and more lush. Huge dinosaurs such as Stegosaurus, Ceratosaurus, Brachiosaurus, and Allosaurus walked the lands. Flying reptiles ruled the skies.  Immense aquatic dinosaurs swam within the warm inland seas.

“Lucky for us that one’s a plant eater,” grinned Jillian.

The friends continued through the natural history museum wing, one diorama after another unfolding before them as they continued toward the building’s rear offices. 

"Hey, look at that," pointed Jillian excitedly.  "It's a sea serpent!"

The friends stared at an extra large diorama containing a real sea serpent.  Well, it looked real.  This particular diorama was constructed to show a blue water bay.  An awesome sea serpent was posed lunging violently from beneath the water upward toward the sky; the upper half of its thick, 50 foot body exposed.  The creature's long, paddle shaped front feet were pressed tight to its body while the jaws of its massive head - filled with dagger sharp teeth - snapped shut like a bear-trap on a flying Pterosaur overhead.  The flying reptile had made the mistake of flying too low over the bay in search of a fish to snatch for its breakfast.  The Liopleurodon, unfortunately for the Pterosaur, lurked just beneath the surface.  The sea serpent was posed at the instant its terrible snapping mouth trapped the flying dinosaur.  

"Whadda’ you know. I'd hate to think that's what Captain Bigelow and the professor are looking for in Lost Lake," Huckleberry whispered nervously.

"That beast’s too big to live in Lost Lake," replied Jillian confidently. 

"Why do you say that?" said Josephine.

"It would have been discovered by now.  After all these years, something that big couldn't have remained hidden for this long," answered Jillian confidently.  "Maybe the captain's sea serpent is actually the professor's mini-submarine."

"Don't forget the tooth Captain Bigelow showed us," reminded Huckleberry.

Jillian frowned at him.  She remained unconvinced.  “Somebody’s playing a trick on us I think.”

The friends stared at the diorama some more and then continued onward looking for Professor Southern’s office.  Past the dioramas there was a large door with a little sign that said Research and Administration.  They pushed against it.  Surprisingly, it swung open.  They entered a wide hallway with offices on either side.  The doors to the offices were shut, the overhead lights turned off.  There was nobody there.  They appeared to be alone.  Josephine tried the door handle on the one nearest to where they stood.  It was locked.

"This one's locked too," said Jillian, jiggling the handle of the next office door along the row. 

"Where is everybody?" wondered Huckleberry out loud.

"Silly us, of course nobodies here - today's Saturday," said Josephine, tapping the side of her head with a finger.  "It's the weekend, and all the professors and administrators that work here are off today."

"Only a few of the museum staff are working out there, I guess, assisting the visitors," Jillian added, looking over her shoulder toward the door that led back to the dioramas and the main building.

The friends noticed that each office door along the hallway had a shiny rectangular plate with the name of the office occupant written on it. 

"Let's find Professor Southern's office... should be easy enough," said Jillian.  They began walking down the hallway glancing from one name-plate to the other.  Although it was still afternoon, the sun shining outside, the long hallway was dim due to a lack of windows.  Even those offices that had windows didn't add much light as they were covered by blinds. 

The further Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry walked down the hallway the quieter it became.  They could no longer hear any sound from the bustling museum behind.  As they continued searching for the professor's office, the main hallway they were in was suddenly intersected by another, smaller hallway that led to additional offices on the left and right.  They ignored the smaller hallway and kept walking.  Soon, a second hallway appeared, again crossing the main one, leading to yet more offices. 

"This place is like some kinda’ crazy maze," complained Huckleberry.  "Maybe we should leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind us so we can find our way back to the museum."

Jillian stopped and said scornfully: "Huckleberry, you'd get lost walking between your bedroom and the kitchen in your own home!"

"Heeyyy, I know where the kitchen is.  I'd never forget that place.  It's where all my favorite food is: ice-cream, bubble-gum, chocolate-chip cookies, and giant salty pickles in a jar.  Did I say ice-cream - oh yeah, already said that." Huckleberry had rattled off his favorite food list as he smacked his lips together with pleasure.

"Giant pickles in a jar?" Jillian repeated with a grimace.  "Who eats those salty things anymore, besides you?"

"Doesn't matter what you say," argued Huckleberry.  "I like 'em and that's what counts.  Mmmm, those Clausen brand salty pickles are the best.  All crunchy and..."

"C'mon you two, pay attention.  It's getting late and we need to find the professor's office before the museum closes," warned Josephine.

A few minutes later, Jillian said loudly: "Found it!  Here's the office we’re looking for." 

Once they had checked all the offices off the main hallway, they had started looking down one of the two side hallways.  Halfway down, Jillian made her discovery.  

The nameplate to the left of the office door clearly spelled out Professor Southern's name.  The office door was unlocked, and open.  As if someone had forgotten to shut and lock it.  

"That's strange.  The only office of the bunch not closed and locked," murmured Josephine.

Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry entered the empty office.  It contained a large desk, with a plastic and aluminum swivel chair behind it.  A cup and open magazine lay on the table.  A bookshelf built into one wall held dozens of books.  Many were about oceanography, paleontology and geography.  Many of the geography books were about Scotland.  Others detailed California geography and geology.  There were even a few books that covered the history of submarines. 

The office's floor to ceiling rear windows were uncovered and looked out on a forested section of San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.  A table to one side of the professor's desk held two small, remarkably detailed plastic models of a sea serpent.  And, not just any sea serpent - Liopleurodon.  The same one they had seen back at the museum diorama. 

Huckleberry went to the desk and picked one of the models up, admiring its realistic details.  The only sounds were their breathing and the tick-tock of a small, shiny aluminum desk clock.

Suddenly, Jillian spoke: "This coffee's still warm!"

Josephine and Huckleberry looked at the twelve inch paper coffee cup Jillian held in her right hand.  The word Starbucks was printed on the outside.  They could see a faint trail of steam rising from the top of the cup before it dissipated into the air above.  Someone had been drinking THAT coffee.  Someone close by!

Collectively, the friends held their breath.  Slowly they turned toward the poorly lighted hallway just beyond the professor’s office door and listened.  The clock continued to tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.  Then, they heard it: the barely audible click of a heavy door closing some distance away.  The main door connecting the administrative offices and the outside museum!

"Now we're in for it," groaned Huckleberry.

"Ssshhh," hissed Josephine, placing a finger to her lips.  "This way, quick," she ordered, looking around.

Josephine led Jillian and Huckleberry out into the hallway, made a sharp right and walked rapidly to the end, away from the main hallway.  There, they crowded together into a narrow alcove that fronted an exit door.  It led to Golden Gate Park.  A sign over the door said Emergency Exit.  Josephine grasped the handle and twisted it.  It was locked.  No escape.  The friends waited silently, barely breathing, their backs pressed hard against the exit door. 

Soon, they heard the approaching sound of footsteps.  The footsteps left the main hallway and entered the smaller hallway leading to the professor's office - and stopped there.  All was quiet. 

Jillian's hand felt for the slingshot in her back pocket.  Her other hand rested on the outside of her front pocket, ready to grab and load any of the three extra-large glass marbles she always carried.  They made great missiles for her slingshot.  She was a deadly shot.

Disaster!  Huckleberry felt an itch inside his nose.  He desperately resisted the urge to scratch it.  Huckleberry wriggled his nose and squinted his eyes, trying to stop the itch.  One eye teared up with the effort.  Excruciating.  Jillian frowned at him and shook her head slowly from side to side warning him to stay quiet, no matter what it took.

Suddenly, the sound of the footsteps started up again, appearing to enter an office.  That was followed by the gentle click of the office door closing.  The friends guessed it was Professor Southern's office.  Josephine sneaked a quick peek around the corner of the alcove.  All clear.  She put her finger to her lips and nodded her head toward the hallway.  They crept out, entering the hallway quiet as church mice. 

As the friends tiptoed nearer the door to the professor's office, now closed, Jillian removed a heavy, blue rubber band from around her left wrist.  Bringing up the rear behind Josephine and Huckleberry, she quickly and silently looped it around the handle on the outside of the professor's office door and attached the other end to a metal box screwed tightly to the wall beside the door. 

The box, common to all the offices, was used for holding books and reports delivered between offices, and even incoming mail.  The rubber band in place, Jillian sneaked a quick glance through the window glass into the professor's office.  Somebody dressed all in black, back to the door, was bent over the desk.  He, or she, wore a black stocking cap, like a thief in the night.  Jillian couldn't tell who it was.

She quickly caught up with Josephine and Huckleberry, who were about to turn the corner.  As they walked softly to the main hallway that would lead them to the museum, Huckleberry, without warning, sneezed!  Loudly.

"Now you've done it, you old badger," hissed Jillian.  “We’re in trouble now.”

"Couldn't help it, I had an itch," Huckleberry whined defensively.

"Let's get out of here," commanded Josephine.

Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry ran as fast as they could toward the door leading to the outer museum. 

Behind them, they heard the professor's door click open ... and then immediately slam shut.  Whoever it was pounded on an office window in frustration.  Reaching the exit door, the friends heard a loud metallic crash behind.  Jillian knew it was the metal box outside the professor's office being ripped from the wall.  The friends dashed into the museum in a rush.  The dioramas lay spread out before them.  No time to waste.  Their pursuer was only seconds behind! They ran swiftly toward the entrance to the museum.

"This way," shouted Josephine.  Before them was the Academy of Science's four story Rainforest of the World Exhibit, contained within a spectacular 7-story glass dome.  It was the largest in the world and contained dozens of exotic plants, birds, amphibians and butterflies.  An old man dressed in a safari outfit - tan khaki shorts and short-sleeved shirt, wearing a jaunty field guide's hat - was lecturing a group of students at the entrance to the exhibit about the world's rainforests. 

Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry slipped unnoticed past the man through the exhibit's entrance door.  They ran through an acrylic tunnel that took visitors beneath the catfish and arapaima that swam overhead in an artificial pool. 

"Huckleberry, hurry-up," commanded Jillian urgently.

"Heeyyy, I just stopped to look at that giant Mekong Delta Catfish - its supposed to be the largest catfish in the world," he said, staring at a large whiskered fish near the pool's sandy bottom.

"Huckleberry?"

"They're found in the rivers of Vietnam, we learned about them in school, and..."

"No time - we need to see who's following us," said a nearly out-of-breath Josephine as she led them up a spiraling glass enclosed walkway. 

They quickly reached the top of the Rainforest Exhibit.  Breathing heavily, sweating in the humid 80 degree artificial tropical air, they stared intently through the exhibit's glass walls at the museum floor they had left behind only moments before.  There were excited children everywhere, rushing from one exhibit to the next.  Accompanied by parents or teachers, together they created a swirling mass of humanity.

"Remember, look for somebody wearing all black," reminded Josephine.

"And a stocking hat too," added Huckleberry, nodding his head vigorously.

Try as they might, the friends couldn't see anybody below who looked like the person pursuing them. 

Growing bored, Huckleberry's eyes followed a very large blue butterfly as it drifted softly a few feet over their heads where they stood.  The butterfly flew over the railing behind them, and into the air above the rainforest trees that plunged seven stories to the artificial pool below.  He watched as it began to circle lazily downward toward the water.  That's when he saw the black clad figure.  It was in the acrylic tunnel on the first floor they had walked through earlier.  Looking straight down from where he stood leaning on the fourth floor railing, all he could see was the figure’s black hat and shoulders.  Then it disappeared.

"He's here," Huckleberry whispered.

"Who's here?" said an alarmed Josephine.

"That man, I mean woman, man, whatever it is…something dressed in black.  The one we saw in Professor Southern's office," whispered Huckleberry urgently.

"Where?" said Jillian, craning her neck downward.

"I just saw it in the tunnel below,” Huckleberry pointed nervously below them.

Jillian and Josephine crowded the railing next to Huckleberry, desperately searching the exhibit area below them.  There!  On the second floor ramp heading upward!!

"This way," Josephine ordered, pointing toward an elevator a few steps away.

Josephine pressed the elevator button indicating down and they impatiently waited for the doors to open.  Jillian suddenly darted back to the railing where they had seen their pursuer.  The elevator doors slid open.  The inside of the elevator was empty.  Josephine and Huckleberry entered.  Huckleberry pressed the button marked one.

"Jil, c'mon or you’ll be left behind!" yelled Josephine urgently. 

The doors began to slide shut.  Jillian, her body turned sideways like a playing card, jumped into the elevator just as the heavy doors whooshed closed.  She was holding her trusty slingshot in one hand and smiling mischievously.

"What were you doing?" a worried Josephine asked.

"I bought us some time.  With one of these," Jillian answered confidently, holding up one of the glass slingshot marbles she always carried in her pocket.

"You're tellin' me you shot your slingshot at that creepy thing dressed in black?" said Huckleberry in awe.

"I did.  And it was a direct hit," she replied triumphantly.

"Did you see who it was?" interrupted Huckleberry.

"Unfortunately, I got him in the back of his neck.  I couldn't see his face because he was turned the other way."

What did he do when the marble hit him?"

"He bent over like he'd been stung by a bee!" Jillian said, grinning.  "And, began furiously rubbing the back of his neck.  I didn't stick around to see anymore.  I didn't want to miss the elevator."

With that the elevator door slid open.  Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry exited the first floor of the Rainforest Exhibit and rapidly left the building, not wanting to chance another encounter with the mysterious man, or woman, in black.

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 7 - Suspect Review:

Later, in the early evening after dinner, the friends met in the tree-house situated in the old oak tree behind the Lockhart house to review the day's events. 

"I bet it was that slippery Mr. Sharpe who was dressed in black at the museum," stated Huckleberry with certainty.

"Why do you think that?" asked Josephine.  “What if it was the professor from the lake?”

"Jiminy Cricket, why would Professor Southern be sneaking around his own office on a Saturday dressed like a spy?  It had to be somebody else... like Mr. Sharpe."

"Huckleberry, you know Mr. Sharpe wouldn't risk getting caught at the museum," argued Jillian.  "That's why he has that henchman of his, creepy Mr. Meany.  The bosses always have a henchman to do their dirty work."

"I have to agree with Jil on that one," said Josephine, nodding her head thoughtfully. 

Huckleberry shrugged his shoulders: "Then WHO was it -- creepy Meany?"

Josephine answered: "I don't think we should jump to the conclusion it was Mr. Sharpe or Mr. Meany."  She went on to explain to Jillian and Huckleberry that while the developers, Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Meany, would almost certainly want to keep the professor away from Lost Lake to protect their building project, the friends had no proof that the two men even knew of the professor.

"Think about it: it's a big lake and Professor Southern is always under the water in that mini-submarine of his.  The two developers may not have even seen him."

"Come to think of it the only reason we saw the professor was because he wanted us to see him," agreed Huckleberry, running a hand through his reddish blonde hair.

Josephine went on to explain that while she understood there would be an obvious tension between the developers  (Mr. Sharpe and Mr. Meany), and Professor Southern about the lake, there was no proof they had met.  There was another person to consider. "Captain Bigelow had a motive for being at the museum, you know," Josephine said matter-of-factly.

Jillian snapped her fingers in recognition.  "You're right.  The captain is desperate to be the first to discover his sea serpent.  He wants people to know it was him that discovered it.  He'd do anything to be famous."

"Which means the captain would be pretty mad if he knew the professor was jumping ahead of him to be the first to catch a sea serpent," nodded Huckleberry.

"The captain may know about the professor and his mini-submarine in Lost Lake," said Josephine, tilting her head and frowning.  “He knows everything that goes on over, under and around that lake.”

"Which, if true, would explain why the captain was sneaking around the professor's office today," said Jillian.  “Maybe he was trying to find out how much the professor knows about the sea serpent.”

"All dressed in black. So that’s was who it was - the captain," added Huckleberry, his eyes lighting up.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves," warned Jillian.  "We still need PROOF it was the captain."

"So, let's get that proof!" said Huckleberry excitedly.

The friends agreed to meet the following morning.  They planned to make another trip out to Lost Lake to visit Captain Bigelow at his lighthouse. 

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 8 - Too Close For Comfort:

The next day, accompanied by the always excitable Merlin, they walked the same long path through the forest, around the lake to the captain's lighthouse.

"Jiminy Cricket, Merlin," Huckleberry drawled in a complaining voice, looking down at the panting Yorkie terrier, "If you hadn't stopped to sniff at every squirrel hole in the path along the way we'd have been here a long time ago." 

The little dog, happy to hear its name, danced a circle on its hind legs in front of the three friends.

"Could have been worse, Merlin might have cornered a skunk in one of those holes," laughed Jillian.

The friends stood in front of the lighthouse.  There was no sign of the captain.  The only sound was the gentle lapping of the lake water against the small dock behind the lighthouse.  Huckleberry started toward the door.

"Don't bother," said Josephine.  "The captain's not home.”

“Welll, how do you know that for sure?” drawled Huckleberry.

“Because, neither is his boat."

Huckleberry and Jillian followed Josephine’s gaze toward the dock.  Captain Bigelow's boat was missing.  A blue jay screeched at them from a tree overhead.  The friends stood still, listening, watching.

"There it is," said Jillian strangely, her arm raised, a finger pointing toward the lake.

Some distance offshore Josephine and Huckleberry saw Captain Bigelow's boat.  It was still, floating unmoving on the lake's surface.  The longer they stared at they realized there was no movement on the boat's deck. 

"Wish I had binoculars," said Josephine, "that way I could see what's happening out there."

"Why don't we simply go see for ourselves," said Jillian, walking quickly toward the dock.

"How are we going to do that, swim?" drawled Huckleberry sarcastically.

"No, we'll row," said Jillian, pointing toward a small rowboat lashed to the end of the boat dock.

They hadn't seen it before as its color and texture blended with the wooden dock.  Jillian climbed into the rowboat and sat next to one of the two oars on either side.  Josephine got in behind her and began to untie the rope that lashed the rowboat firmly to the dock. The little boat rocked dangerously back and forth.

C’mon, Huckleberry, what are you waiting for, ya’ old badger?" demanded Jillian.

Huckleberry eyed the rowboat dubiously from the edge of the dock.  "It looks awfully small from here," he said reluctantly.

"You're scared, aren't you?" an exasperated Jillian said.  "What're you scared of?  It'll only take us a few minutes to row out to the captain's boat.  We'll check it out, look for clues, then row right back."

"Aren't you forgetting something?  You know, the sea serpent?" he gulped.

Josephine replied persuasively, "Huckleberry, we don't even know if there IS a sea serpent.  It could be all that's in this lake is the professor's mini-submarine.  And besides, it's broad daylight.  I doubt a sea serpent would be lurking on this side of the lake during this time of day."

Against his better judgement, Huckleberry climbed into the rowboat.  It rocked back and forth some more as he settled into the same narrow wooden seat Jillian sat on. 

“You’re upsetting the boat, you landlubber,” Jillian said crossly.  She ordered Huckleberry into the prow - front.  He was only too glad to move.  It meant he wouldn’t have to row.  

The sisters took an oar and began rowing.  At first, a little disjointed, then in unison as they got the hang of it.  The boat picked up speed as it sliced through the lakewater toward the captain’s craft.  The only sound was the quiet splashing as Jillian and Josephine dipped their oars rhythmically in and out of the water, rowing ever closer to the larger fishing boat just ahead.  Huckleberry glanced nervously at the dark, opaque lake water on either side. 

It took them 15 minutes to reach their destination.  Their rowboat bumped gently against the side of the larger fishing boat.  Huckleberry reached out and grabbed the aluminum railing and pulled them parallel.  Jillian deftly tied the row boat's mooring line to the railing above them.  Jillian was the first to clamber over the railing and onto the deck.

“Why, there’s nobody here,” drawled Huckleberry, glad to be standing on the larger boat above the water.

Jillian ducked her head into the boat’s semi-covered wheelhouse.  “Deserted,” she reported out loud.

Josephine joined them on the deck.  Hands on hips she surveyed the scene carefully.  She noticed nothing unusual.  Everything looked normal except that nobody was on a boat anchored in the middle of a lake, including the owner of the boat, the captain!

“By Christmas, maybe this boat got loose from Captain Bigelow’s dock and just floated out here by itself,” offered Huckleberry.

“That’d be difficult, given the boat’s anchor is deployed,” replied Josephine calmly, staring at the taut anchor line stretching from the back of the fishing boat into the water.  She walked to where the line was attached to a small winch and tugged.  “Tight as a violin string,” she said, her eyebrows arching in puzzlement.

Josephine added: “There is no way this boat could have drifted from shore by itself.  Which means somebody had to use that winch to lower the anchor to the bottom once it got out here.”

“But who?” said Huckleberry uneasily.  “And where is the captain?”

“The rowboat!” Jillian shouted with alarm.

They all looked at the little boat as it began to drift magically, as if pulled by some unseen force, away from the fishing boat.  It had already floated some 20 feet away, headed further toward the deeper, middle of the lake.  The rope line that had linked the rowboat to the larger fishing boat had somehow come loose and now stretched tightly underwater, into the depths.

“That line is caught on something underneath,” said Huckleberry excitedly.

“Whatever it’s tangled up with is pulling that rowboat toward deeper waters,” said Jillian.

As they watched in fascination, the little boat picked up speed, moving ever further away on the lake.  Minutes that seemed like hours passed as the three friends watched it get smaller in the distance.  Suddenly, the row boat’s pointed prow tipped downward, the stern angled almost vertically into the air, and in the blink of an eye the rowboat slid beneath the surface of the water.  It was gone!  The water frothed violently on the surface as if boiling where it had disappeared.  

“Jiminy Cricket! What on earth just happened?” screeched Huckleberry.  “Something pulled our boat clear under the water like it was a rubber ducky in the bathtub!”

The friends stared intently at the spot on the lake’s surface where the rowboat had disappeared.  The froth had turned to quiet ripples on the lake’s surface.  Squinting, Josephine carefully scanned the surface for a sign.  Nothing.

“I knew it. I just knew it.  Now we’re going to have to swim to shore,” muttered Huckleberry in disbelief.

“Quit complaining.  The swim will do you good; it’ll cool you down.  You do know how to swim, don’t you?” grinned Jillian.

“YES, I know how to swim.  Better than you,” he shot back.  “That’s not the point, though.”

“No way.  You know I’m faster swimming freestyle than you,” Jillian declared.

“No, no, no.  My point is I don’t want to get in that water with THAT thing,” Huckleberry insisted.

“We better skip that swim and get this fishing boat back to the dock instead-and quickly,” Josephine interrupted with urgency, pointing toward the middle of the lake.

Jillian and Huckleberry stopped arguing and followed her gaze.  The water where the rowboat had sunk was frothing violently again.  Clearly, something below was agitating it. More worrisome, whatever it was had begun to move toward the captain’s fishing boat!

Jillian ducked into the wheelhouse to look over the controls.  “Can you get us started, Jil?” yelled Josephine.

“Think so,” she answered determinedly.

Within seconds, the fishing boat’s motor coughed into action, then just as quickly shut down.  Jillian tried to start it up again.

“Better hurry, we’ve got company!” Huckleberry warned.

Behind them the churning water and whatever was causing it below the surface was picking up speed as it move toward them.

   

“It’s moving fast now, getting closer!” he shouted.

Josephine could just make out something rising above the agitated water--a dark, ridge-shaped hump.  She couldn’t tell if it was man-made – metal or plastic – or something else.   “Jil, now’s the time to get this boat moving.  How’s it coming?”

The boat’s engine started up again.  This time it stayed on.  Jillian pushed the handle to fast forward.  Gripping the steering wheel, she pointed the prow of the boat toward shore.  They began to glide over the surface of the lake, picking up speed.  But would it be soon enough?

“Whatever’s chasing us is gaining.  It’s ‘gonna be close!” yelled Huckleberry over the noise of the engine and the slapping of the lake water on the sides of the boat.

“Josephine, take the wheel,” directed Jillian toward her sister.

Jillian moved to the back of the boat, pulled her sling-shot from her back pocket and placed a shiny marble in its pouch.  The thing under the water was only 200 feet behind them and gaining.  Jillian aimed at the mysterious hump, drew the sling-shot taut and fired.  “Hit it!” she called triumphantly.

The fishing boat had reached the wooden dock behind Captain Bigelow’s lighthouse.  Josephine throttled back the handle and turned the engine off so they wouldn’t crash.  The boat glided up to the side of the dock.  Jillian and Huckleberry watched as the mysterious, hump-like object sank below the water in a flash.

“I see it underneath…there!  It’s moving toward deep water away from shore.  It’s a tail!  No, wait!  It’s a neck connected to something large and wide, maybe a head!” yelled Huckleberry excitedly.

“It’s a porpoise!  No, too big!  It’s a whale,” argued Jillian.

“No way.  More like a giant crocodile,” insisted Huckleberry.

Josephine reached the boat’s stern where Jillian and Huckleberry stood, trying to see it.  She squinted, searching the dark water.  There was nothing to see.  Whatever it was had disappeared, returning to deeper water.  The surface of the lake was now calm.  The only sound was the scratching of the captain’s fishing boat against the dock as it bobbed in the water.

“Geez’, that was too close for comfort,” Huckleberry finally said, nervously.

Jillian secured the fishing boat to the dock using a rope so it wouldn’t float away.  As they left the dock and walked up the path toward the deserted lighthouse, both Jillian and Huckleberry admitted they hadn’t gotten a clear look at what was chasing them.  The lake water was too murky.

“Could it have been Professor Southern’s mini-submarine?” Josephine asked.

“Hard to believe,” Huckleberry replied, shaking his head no.  “And why would the professor chase us, trying to ram our boat like that?”

“Maybe he didn’t know we were on the boat.  Maybe he thought the captain was on the boat and wanted to sink him,” offered Jillian.  

“Captain Bigelow and the professor are competing with one another to see who will be the first to discover the sea serpent,” added Josephine thoughtfully.  “Could be the professor wanted to get rid of the captain.”

Josephine suddenly said: “Jil, did you hear anything when you shot that thing?”

“Like what?”

“A metallic sound, maybe?”

“You mean like the sound a mini-submarine might make when you bounced a rock off it?” added Huckleberry.

Jillian thought for a moment.  “No, I didn’t.  The noise of the boat motor was too loud,” she admitted.

Standing in front of the captain’s lighthouse, Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry reviewed the facts:

Someone had chased them at the museum.  

Their best guess was that SOMEONE was either Captain Bigelow or one of the developers, Mr. Sharpe or Mr. Meany.

The captain’s boat was anchored offshore toward the center of the lake, with no sign of the captain, or anybody else.

It was unlikely the captain swam ashore from his fishing boat.  The captain was missing.

SOMETHING had chased them on the lake.  It was either something living – a sea serpent? – or not - a submarine?

Jillian and the Sea Serpent

Chapter 9 - Aftermath:

“Hello.  San Francisco Academy of Science.  You’ve reached Administration, how can I help you?”

“Yes, will you please connect me to Professor Southern,” Josephine said politely over the phone.

“One moment,” the older woman’s voice on the other end of the line replied.

Josephine was put on hold.  With agreement from Jillian and Huckleberry, she was calling the professor to request a meeting.  The three friends planned to ask him if he knew about the captain and his search for the sea serpent, and confront the professor about his possible involvement in the incident on the lake the day before.  Maybe it HAD been the professor and his submarine that had pursued them.

There was a click on the phone and the older woman’s voice said in a businesslike way: “Sorry to keep you waiting, however, Professor Southern is no longer with the Academy.”

Josephine held her breath for a second.  That was strange she thought.  Then, she said: “Where is he?”

“He’s left the Academy.”

“I understand.  But, do you know when he will be back?”

“He won’t,” replied the woman.  “He’s no longer employed here.”

“So, where has he gone?” Josephine asked, pressing the issue.

There was silence on the other end of the phone.  Finally, a strong hint of annoyance in her voice, the woman explained curtly that the professor had relocated to Scotland.  There, he had taken a teaching position at the University of Edinburgh.  

Josephine thought about that news for a moment.  She then asked if there was a new phone number available.  

The woman said no with a cross tone and suggested Josephine call the university directly.  “Is that all?” she demanded.

“Yes, thank you,” Josephine replied without emotion, and hung up.   

A chilling breeze rustled the leaves overhead in the ancient oak tree. Some tore away from their branches as if yanked by an invisible hand.  Perhaps Old Man Wind’s hand.  Those leaves zigged and zagged crazily through the air, pushed by the breeze to a distant, unknown location.  

In the tree-house beneath the dense canopy of leaves above, in the yard behind the Lockhart house, Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry sat on the wooden floor.  Josephine quickly briefed the others on her phone conversation with the San Francisco Academy of Science, and the sudden departure of Professor Southern.  

She explained to Jillian and Huckleberry that she’d even followed up and placed a long distance call to the University of Edinburgh.  But, without success; the professor was unavailable.  Josephine had left a message.  Her call went unreturned.  Her questions unanswered.  

“Maybe he just gave up looking for what he was searching for in Lost Lake,” offered Jillian.

“Or, he was afraid of what he might find,” countered Huckleberry.

Strange, they agreed, that the professor had departed so suddenly.

Stranger still, there was no sign of Captain Bigelow.  They had reported him missing to Sliver Moon Bay’s chief of police.  Jillian, Josephine and Huckleberry had also explained to the chief how they had found the captain’s fishing boat floating free in the lake.  They decided not to mention the part about being chased by something under the water.  

The police checked the captain’s lighthouse and boat.  There was no indication that anything was amiss.  Nothing broken, missing or disturbed.  Nothing.  And, the captain had no relatives the police could contact.  So far the search for his whereabouts had hit a dead-end  It was as if he had vanished.  

The chief and his officers planned to search the forest surrounding the lighthouse.  There was a rumor they would even search the lake itself - perhaps the captain had drowned.  

“Or worse,” Jillian muttered.  

The fact the captain’s fishing boat had been found by the three friends floating mysteriously on the lake was troubling to the police.

“Maybe the chief WILL find the captain at the bottom of Lost Lake,” said Huckleberry emphatically.  “A victim of drowning.”

“Maybe,” replied Josephine cryptically.  

They had also learned that the builders, Mr. Meany and Mr. Sharpe, had shelved their plans to begin construction on the lake.  The word was they were nervous about the Sea Serpent rumors.  Not good for business; nobody would buy a big, expensive house on the lake where the captain had mysteriously disappeared.  Or drowned.  Or, worse!  

That news, accompanied by the reported sightings of a monster in the lake, was not conducive to selling homes.

For now, the case of the sea serpent in Lost Lake was closed.  The real truth yet to be found.  Did the deep waters of the lake hide a real, living monster from the days of the dinosaurs?  A giant sea serpent?  Only time would tell.

This chapter book, "Jillian And The Sea Serpent" is available both in eBook and paperback formats at Children's Books on Amazon.com.  Simply search by title "Jillian And The Sea Serpent".

Copyright © 2014, JG Hitchcock