Mystery on Cocoa Beach

Blazing Eyes

THE COTTON TREES whistled as the restless breeze gushed into the slightly opened window, cooling off the room. The youngster lay in bed observing the shadows from the cotton trees as it played and danced freely on the silky white curtain while the wind blew heavy on the outside. He meditated on the upcoming summer vacation, as his eyes grew heavy. He closed his eyes and silently fell asleep as faint wisps of the dream world took control of his soul.

Suddenly, gasping for air, his heartbeat grew loud and heavy as he broke out in a cold sweat. He felt a hand on his shoulder and instantaneously let out a scream while another hand reached for his mouth, muffling the sound. Magically, a man, with fire in his eyes and anger in his voice, appeared in front of the youth.

You should have stayed out of my way. You should have turned your back and walked away," the man scowled with blazing eyes.

The boy recognized the man's face. It was the man from Cocoa Beach, who he had seen carrying out the body bag, gazing deeply into his big brown eyes. The man's muscular body and long blond hair gave him the appearance of a rugged wrestler. This was obviously a mismatch. The boy was up against a man ten times his size. So he made an attempt to escape, and immediately the man tightened his grip, locking his biceps around the boy's skinny frame. The boy's body was almost suspended in mid air, hanging from the man's arm.

"Please don't body slam me," the boy cried, forcing a couple words from his mouth as the man growled with anger.

The boy's adrenaline kicked in. He kicked and punched. He bit and scratched, but nothing gave. He made a wish and his wish was granted as he wiggled his way out of the man's arms of steel, falling to the ground. He rolled forward and sprung to his legs. He ran as fast as he possibly could, but didn't move an inch as though he was running on a treadmill. He screamed as loud as he possibly could, but not even a sound was ushered from his wide opened mouth as though he was suffocating under water. And in a split second, the man's left arm was, once again, wrapped around the boy's body like the trunk of an elephant hugging his master.

Once again, the boy struggled to be free as beads of sweat slithered down his forehead. He pulled and pushed and amazingly a scream emerged from his mouth, like thunder, propagating for miles and miles. Even the crickets in the pastures would have felt the vibrations. Yet, nobody came to his rescue. Nobody heard his cry for help.

The boy became more terrified when a third hand grabbed his shoulder. He saw his life flashed before his eyes. He screamed and this time it was real.

"Wake up, Wake up," his younger brother, Otto, who was nine years old at the time, said tugging on his shoulder. "Snap out of it, come on-wake up."

Finally, the eleven year old boy escaped from his nightmare as beads of sweat made its way from his forehead, down to his soaking pillow. He quickly sprung up in a sitting position as his eyes peered through the dark room trying to make out his brother's face.

"He's trying to kill me," the boy panicked, gasping for words. "Where is he? Did he escape through the window, into the marshes?"

"It's only a dream." Otto grumbled feeling tired and sleepy.

"The man I saw carrying out the body bag from last summer's vacation on Cocoa Beach is trying to hurt me," Brian panted. "He was trying to choke me."

It's only a dream. Snap out of it before you wake everybody."

Otto woke Brian, just in the nick of time.

"It was the kiss of death," Brian said, still terrified.

"Go back to sleep," Otto mumbled.

Ronald who was two years older than Brian crawled out of bed to see what the

commotion was all about. His bed was across the room next to the window. Brian and Otto shared a bed because they were smaller and fitted comfortably on one bed.

Brian, still in a sitting position, gazed into the darkness as Ronald crawled out of bed

in his stripped pajamas. Ronald, who was thirteen at the time, peered at the boy who was two years younger than he was. "What's going on?" asked Ronald.

"He's dreaming about that man on Cocoa Beach again," Otto mumbled as he went back to sleep.

"What happens if somebody gets killed in their dream?" Brian asked.

Tired, Ronald looked at Brian and said, "Just be thankful you didn't have to find out. You were having a nightmare. Go back to sleep before you wake up the dead."

Brian swallowed, "Man, that was a close encounter with death. What a nightmare that was?" He fell back on the bed staring at the window.

Ronald started back to his bed when he spun around, almost landing on top of Otto.

"Ouch!" Otto bellowed. "Watch it!"

Ronald quickly got up and stumbled back to his bed as Brian's eyes froze on the silky white curtains that mingles with the dancing shadows of the cotton trees.

Brian complained. "It must have been real. My throat hurts and-and my body aches." "Hush!" Ronald said as he crawled under his blanket. "You were only having a

nightmare." Brian mumbled. "Something fishy about that lady's death on Cocoa Beach.

You think they put the wrong man in jail?"

"Shush! I'm trying to sleep," Otto grumbled. "I have an arithmetic quiz tomorrow and if I don't get at least ninety eight percent, you'll be in big trouble."

"You and your academics," Brian mumbled, silently under his breath. "I'm thankful if I get fifty percent. I'd even settle for forty nine and a half-I'm sure the teachers would round it up to fifty."

Last summer's vacation still lingered with Brian. He had witnessed a struggle between three shadows on the curtains of a mysterious looking house hidden behind some tall trees. Shortly after the struggle, a man came out from the house fetching a body bag to his car trunk as a lady followed. The following day a lady's body was found on the beach along with a body bag similar to the one Brian had seen.

The next morning came in with a bang as nature's alarm clock went off with the sound of peacocks and chickens, adding to Brian's headache. It was definitely not sweet melodies from the Amazon nor was it the Mardi Gras season in New Orleans. The youngster drifted back into the dream world as dawn took over the night sky above Cottonfield, turning the horizon into golden sunlight.

The emerging sunlight peeked through the silky white curtains inviting the youngster to rise with the rising sun; it was an invitation Brian tried to refuse, until he heard his mother's voice calling.

"Brian, Brian. It's getting late, hurry up! Get up and take a cold shower!"

"A cold shower!" He grumbled. "What am I, the iceman? I'm feeling sick. I'm too sick to go to school today," the boy said raising his voice.

"Hurry up!" His mother, Naz, called again.

He ignored his mother and stayed in bed dozing off.

While Brian was still in bed, the other siblings got ready for school.

Brian figured he could get away with not going to school because their father was away, for a couple weeks, working on a project, leaving the boys and girls with their mother to manage and take care of things around the house.

Brian snapped out of it when he heard Otto's voice. "Come on, get up! It's almost time to go to school and you're not even out of bed."

"I'm not going to school today."

"Sure! Try telling that to mom," Otto chuckled, getting dressed in his school uniform, khaki pants and a light-blue short sleeve shirt.

Naz called again. This time the intensity in her voice was felt. The thin looking youngster quickly dragged his body out of bed and jumped into the shower.

"Bye mom." Brian heard the others as they walked out the door.

"Otto wants coffee. Otto wants coffee," Laura, called. "Bye, bye. Later! Later!" That's her way of saying goodbye to the boys and girls. Laura was their parrot, which their father had bought many years ago from a lady named Martha. Laura used to say, "Martha wants coffee! Martha wants coffee!" Obviously, Martha was a lady who loved coffee. When their father, Mr. Allysen, brought home Laura for the first time, Otto was outside playing in the yard when his father called his name. And that's when Laura started to say, "Otto want's coffee! Otto wants coffee!"

"Brian! Hurry up. It's getting late," his mother called again.

"I'm coming!" He grabbed his books and rushed out of the room, buttoning up his light blue shirt."Hurry up, your breakfast is in the lunch bag," Naz said.

He grabbed his lunch bag, kissed his mother and ran off as fast as he could to reach the others.

Ronald stopped and waited for him while Famie, Rafena, and Otto continued on their way to school. Before getting on the main street there were a couple gravesides. Brian watched as Otto skipped over a couple.

Ronald called, "Come on, hurry up!"

"I'm hurrying! I'm hurrying!"

"Seems like your dreams are becoming more and more horrific."

"Yeah! You can say that."

"What was that dream all about?" Ronald asked as they walked on a couple gravesides on the way to school.

Brian, six inches shorter than Ronald and two years younger, shrugged his shoulders. "What do you think? My worst nightmare, of course-that man from last summer's vacation on Cocoa Beach. The more I dream about him the worst my nightmares become."

"Put him out of your mind. You don't need anymore hassles."

"It's not that easy. I've been trying, but, but he's always there. He appears out of thin air and pops into my head and play mind game with me. It's beginning to psyche me out, man."

"And that's why people go crazy," Ronald said.

"You think I'm going crazy?" Brian asked, rubbing his tired eyes.

"If you keep it up, you will go crazy."

"Something doesn't add up," Brian said as they caught up to the others. "Do you think they put the wrong man in jail?"

Ronald shrugged. "I don't know. But, you got to put it out of your mind."

What Brian had witnessed from last summer's vacation had affected him deeply throughout the year, which resulted in bad sleeping habits and low school grades. He became the black sheep of the family with a nickname of dunce. Teachers and relatives had stamped the word, 'DUNCE,' on his forehead. It became one of his many nicknames given to him. The boy didn't like it, but he learned to live with the ignorance.

Famie noticed the small dark circles around Brian's eyes. "Must be those nightmares again, ha? You better start getting some sleep if you're going to function properly in school and get some school work done."

Brian shrugged his holders. The word 'school' hit the wrong nerve. "I hate school! I hate it with a passion," he shouted.

"Well, no wonder you hate school," Famie said. "You can't concentrate because of your nightmares and not getting enough sleep."

Famie was the eldest child and had more responsibility than the others. Her major challenge was trying to keep the boys in line and away from trouble. She was two months older than Ronald was. Famie, Rafena, Brian and Otto were biological brothers and sisters. Ronald was their first cousin. He was their first cousin on both his mother and father's side. Two brothers had married two sisters. Ronald went to live with them, for brother and sister companionship, after his father's fatal gun shot wound to the back when he was three months old. The boys and girls grew up as brothers and sisters. They had their share of sibling rivalries like most brothers and sisters do, but over all, they got along well as they carried out their adventures and solved mysteries.

Famie's main task was to make sure the younger ones, Rafena, Brian and Otto, get to school and back home safe. Ronald took care of himself, having some street smarts and quite often, Brian managed on his own, but sometimes needed a hand after getting into trouble due to the mischievous side of him.

Rafena was one year younger than Famie and Ronald. She enjoyed getting involved in solving mysteries, too. But she often thinks that Ronald, Brian and Otto goes a little too far, getting into trouble and dragging the girls into their mischief.

Rafena shrugged her shoulders. "Could you guys cut it out. That man you keep talking about from Cocoa Beach is just a pigment of your imagination. It wasn't real, even the police didn't believe your story. The police already caught the criminal."

Brian shrieked. "It's not my imagination. It's for real," he retorted.

The conversation died down on the way to school.

Brian was glad when Saturday morning arrived with golden sunshine and the calling of peacocks and whistling of birds. He was up early sitting on the verandah, which overlooked the green pasture of Cottonfield. He was gazing at the cows, horses and birds while trying to play a tune on the harmonica, which their father had brought home from a trip. He noticed somebody opening the front gate. He looked closer and was quite surprised.

"Uncle Buddy! It's Uncle Buddy." He quickly ran inside. "Uncle Buddy is here. Uncle Buddy is here."

Everybody came charging out on the verandah, rushing down the stairs to greet their uncle, their mother's eldest brother. His work had sent him to Cottonfield for one week, to work on an electrical project.

Buddy was a slender soft-spoken man whom everybody loved and respected. The boys and girl were happy to see their uncle who had brought them some presents. While their uncle was visiting, he shared some knowledge about magnets and electricity with the girls and boys. And for a while, this new knowledge kept their minds occupied. Brian's mind had drifted far away from last summer's vacation, as he became curious about the behavior of magnets.

Ronald figured it was time for a bigger challenge and asked their Uncle to help them tackle Otto's broken Audio Beamer that sat in the storeroom, collecting dust just waiting to be fixed.

The Audio Beamer was an old electronic device, which was left in the storeroom by a friend of their fathers. After their father's friend had moved away and didn't return for the broken Audio Beamer, Otto took possession of it.

"It's a piece of junk," Otto said. "Why fix it? I was about to take it apart and use it for parts?"

Ronald nodded a couple times. "Adventures and solving mysteries my lad. When you get to be my age, you will appreciate any device that could assist us in solving mysteries."

Otto insisted that it was still a piece of junk and that it would never work.

Ronald took their Uncle down to the storeroom to have him look at the Beamer.

Buddy was happy to teach the boys some electronic repairs. He inspected the Beamer for a couple minutes and said, "This is very old technology. We're talking vacuum tubes-and from what I see, the Beamer uses three vacuum tubes. Looks like two of the tubes are blown." He looked at it a bit closer. "There are some broken solder joints that needs to be repaired."

"Why would the Audio Beamer have vacuum tubes?" the nine-year-old boy, Otto, asked innocently. "Aren't vacuum tubes only used in a vacuum cleaner?"

The boys and girls listened attentively as their uncle explained. "Well, the name vacuum tube is misleading in a sense. Before electronics became popular, vacuum tubes were used to amplify sounds." Buddy then went on to explain that the outdated piece of equipment was once used in the army for eavesdropping on the enemies. Later, Buddy took the boys and girls to an electronic store and bought two vacuum tubes along with some other parts. The youngsters were fascinated with their uncle's electrical skills; they became his apprentices and he became their electronic teacher.

"This electronic stuff is real cool stuff," Rafena said, delightfully.

A broad smile appeared on Ronald's face. He shook his head. "The Beamer will come in handy on our adventures and mysteries to come."

Buddy nodded. He smiled with the girls and boys. "I got daredevils for nieces and nephews."

A Sample from Chapt 10 The dim lights flickered on again. "What's going on up there?" Brian said fearfully. "I don't know," Ron answered in a low voice. "Let's call the police," Ron said. "No! Brian commanded. We need solid proof, else the police will spit in our face like they did last summer."