THE PASSAGE

Toby and Pop Are Missing

Chapter 15

I slowly make my way up the steps to the walking cane. As if unsure if it is real or not, I reach out and slowly touch it. Could it have been there all along? It could be Pop's walking cane. I probably glanced at it last night and incorporated it into my dream. I know things like that happen sometimes.

I finally find the courage to pick the thing up. It's a lovely walking cane. The curved part is white, maybe ivory. The rest is wood. The ivory is bound to the wood by some silver metal with fancy designs in it.

As I turn it around to inspect it, I notice an inscription in the wood—J.B.

The cane immediately falls from my hands onto the floor, and my heart sinks. I gasp and take a step back, and both of my hands go over my mouth. After some time passes with me staring at the thing, I slowly pick it up and walk to my rocker to think about it. Why didn't this catch my eye yesterday? I could have glanced at it and incorporated it into my dream. But the inscription? How do I explain that?

Wait, Boudreau. I don't know Boudreau's first name, but this is probably Boudreau's walking stick. J.B., John Boudreau, maybe? I don't know if his first name is John, maybe Jack, Jason, or Jim.

I need to clear my mind and think straight. I sit with the walking stick between my legs, like Julie did last night in the dream. I thump it on the porch three times and hear the same eerie sound it made last night, and I think about Julie's warning of the trouble that Pop and Toby would encounter.

This can't be real. It has to be Boudreau's walking cane. But on the other hand, what if it's not, and she and I did have that conversation. After all, Boudreau didn't appear to need a walking cane. I need to try and call Toby.

I rush inside and grab my phone from my purse, only to discover that it's dead. Crap, now I remember Toby telling me yesterday that my phone went straight to voice mail when he tried to call me. I haven't checked it since, and I didn't bring a charger.

Maybe Pop has an iPhone charger somewhere around here. I check Pop's room and find a charger, but it's for an Android. I look throughout the camp, and I see one other charger, the same type as the first.

How can I possibly help them now? I'm stranded here and have no way to call them. I can't send Toby a message using my iPad because it's not cellular.

I look towards the end of the pier and see Toby's boat. Could I operate it? How hard can it be? Not much different than driving a car, I would assume. I could do it. I had paid attention and watched Toby pretty closely yesterday. But how would I even find them?

The map. Yesterday I noticed that Pop had a map of the swamp pinned on his bedroom wall, labeled with names of different landmarks and camps in the area.

I go to Pop's room to re-examine the map. As I look it over, I spot what I am looking for, Dubois' camp location. This map is excellent, showing all the different waterways. Surely, I could follow this and find Dubois' camp.

So, I have a boat, and I have a map to Dubois' camp. I'm reasonably sure I can find it. Should I attempt it? What happens if I take off in Toby's boat, then see Toby and Pop coming home a short time later? What will I tell them? That I had a dream that they were in trouble? They'll think I'm crazy. Do I have enough evidence to warrant risking that? I need to think about this some more.

I walk back outside, sit in the rocker, and pick up the walking stick. Julie Brown, she first showed up in my dream about the hospital, as if sending me a message in sub-text, encouraging me to let go of Adam. What if she did answer Tiffany's call that day and led me to Pop and Toby? And of course, there's the dream from last night.