John B parked the van when the four teens got out. Pope shut the side door. "Right. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" John B said to JJ.
"Wait... why me?" JJ asked him, looking over to Kie and Pope.
"Because you're not coming," Pope said as JJ scoffed at him.
"Why?" JJ asked him, sounding offended that his best friend did not want him to go.
"Look, JJ. There are independent and dependent variables." Pope started to explain, making JJ scoff.
"Shut up, dude." JJ scoffed at him.
"And you're an independent variable. We don't know what you'll do." Pope started to explain when JJ scoffed at him.
"Shut up!"
"Listen! Listen to me for a second. Just listen," John B yelled, getting their attention. "Pope, you stand and look out with JJ. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house," he continued to explain.
"Great..." Kie said, looking at the boys.
"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies to a minimum," Pope said to JJ as JJ took out the hackysack he had.
"All right, would you just shut up already?" JJ scoffed at him while Kie and John B jumped over the fence.
Kie and John B walked through the lighthouse door to look up at the long staircase that led to the top.
"Remind me what we're looking for again?" Kie asked John B as they looked up at the top of the spiral staircase.
"We'll know when we see it," John B responded, not even sure what he was looking for.
"Okay..." She sighed, following him up the stairs.
John B got up to the door before nervously knocking on it. It was quiet as John B looked back at Kie as the door opened, revealing the lighthouse keeper.
"Um... we're here for the lighthouse," John B said nervously when the grown man said nothing to them at first.
"The lighthouse is closed." The man said, closing the door.
"Um..." John B started to think of what he could say to get inside and ask this man if he knew his dad. "Actually, we... we aren't here about the lighthouse. We're here about the, uh... the Royal Merchant." John B confessed, hoping it might help them get in since Big John always talked about the Royal Merchant and always came to the lighthouse.
John B looked at Kie, thinking it did not work until he heard the door unlock again and open.
"Then you came to the right place." The man smiled.
"I know more... Watch your step here." The man started to say when he led the kids to the fenced-in ledge. "...about the Royal Merchant than anyone else in Kildare County." He continued as John B looked out to see practically the whole island from where he was standing. "C'mon." The man said, motioning for them to follow him as Kie watched out for the holes in the metal she was walking on. "Now, the Merchant disappeared in the graveyard of the Atlantic in 1829." He continued to explain.
"With four hundred million." John B added, looking out at the water, while Kie looked between them.
"Correct." The man nodded. "You're a bit of a Merchanteer yourself, huh?" He asked John B, who shrugged a bit.
"Uh... somethin' like that."
"Well, follow me. I wanna show you somethin'." The guy smirked creepily with a chuckle. "I've been workin' 30 years up here. The view's never changed till two days ago. The Point's almost gone. One more storm like that, it'll take the lighthouse. I'll go with her. Now, the trick to knowin' where the Merchant is... is knowin' whether she was on the north end or the south end of the eye of the storm. Now, most experts believe that she was on the south end. Now, she's on the south end; the bands from the hurricane would have pushed her back out to sea. But I don't believe that. Uh-uh. I think she was on the north end of the eye. Which means the bands would have pushed her..."
"Closer to shore." John B said, realizing what the guy was thinking.
"That's right. Now, by my calculations, the Royal Merchant... is about ten miles away." The lighthouse keeper continued to explain, pointing to the direction as John B looked back at Kie. "Come on... Come on." He said, leading the way back inside the lighthouse.
He led them to what looked like his office as he showed them all of the maps and pictures about the Royal Merchant he had up. He took
"Right here is where the Point used to be. My calculations say the Merchant's right about there, down about 1,000 feet." The lighthouse keeper told the two teens, pointing to the map.
"That's what my dad used to say." John B said, looking a little surprised since this guy seemed to know as much as his dad did.
"Yup..." The guy nodded when John B looked between him and Kie.
"Yeah, I-- I know this is weird, all right? Do you know anything about this?" John B asked, holding up the compass as the lighthouse keeper man looked confused. "Look, it-- it says Redfield in the back, in my dad's handwriting. Yeah, I don't know why I'm here, but I feel like I'm supposed to be here. Do-- do you have anything to give to me, or to..." He continued before stopping as the guy looked worried, running up to the light. "Where are you going?" John B asked him as he followed him, and Kie followed John B.
~season 1, episode 2: "The Lucky Compass"~
~920 words~
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Family Business:
Fanfiction*Takes place during season 1 of OBX* Paul and Delilah Richards were some of the Kookiest Kooks. They were successful in life. Paul owed several condo rentals and a boat rental on the island. Delilah was born into a wealthy family in Charleston and m...
