Read Online A Boy Called Duct Tape by Christopher Cloud - Free Book Online

called the Hotel Lobby. It was a short distance from the Cave Entrance.
    “That makes sense,” Kiki said, her eyes trained on the map . “So the first thing you come to in the Jesse James cave is—”
    “—the Hotel Lobby,” I finished.
    We were seated in our customary booth at Lyda’s Café, the one-dollar treasure map stretched out on the table before us. We were trying to make sense of the old drawing. We had established one fact: The long journey inside the cave started at the Hotel Lobby.
    “What about the …?” Pia was verbally in over her head, and she looked at me, her finger resting on the map’s next stop.
    “Boulevard of Chandeliers,” I said, pronouncing each word distinctly.
    “Yeah, what you just said,” Pia said.
    “I have an idea about that,” Kiki said, looking up from the map. “You know those rock formations that hang down from cave ceilings? I’ll bet that’s what the mapmaker meant by Boulevard of Chandeliers. I can’t remember if they’re called stalactites or stalagmites.”
    “I remember this from science,” I said. “Stalactites are fastened tight to the ceiling. Stalagmites might grow to the ceiling. It couldn’t be anything else. It’s a long tunnel or cavern filled with stalactites hanging from the ceiling like chandeliers.”
    “But it’s this Death Cake thing that has me confused,” Kiki said, pointing to the words written longhand on the map. Death Cake was the next stop after the Boulevard of Chandeliers on the curving, twisting route to the treasure. “Confused and a little scared. What the heck could that possibly be? How could a cake kill you? Unless you ate it.”
    “Maybe some sort of trap,” I speculated.
    Pia’s eyes grew wide and she uttered a soft moan.
    “It’s okay, Pia,” I said, even though I wasn’t sure if it was true. “The person who drew this map probably wanted to scare people away from searching for the treasure.” I took a sip of my drink.
    “Oh.” Pia didn’t seem convinced.
    “The only thing I can imagine is a rock formation shaped like a big cake,” Kiki offered, “but that doesn’t seem possible and besides, how could that kill a person?”
    “This location is a little easier to understand,” I said, gazing at the next designation: Lake With Dam. “It’s probably some sort of underground lake or pond with a—what else?—dam.”
    “What could have made the dam?” Pia asked.
    I shook my head. “Don’t know.”
    “Maybe beavers.” Pia beamed. “They’re good at making dams.”
    I gave a gentle laugh. “No beavers in caves, Pia. In fact, no animals of any kind.” I looked at Kiki. “Are there?”
    “I sure hope not.”
    My eyes moved from Lake With Dam to the next stop: Church Organ. “I can’t even guess what Church Organ might be.” I looked at Kiki. “You?”
    “Nope.”
    “Maybe Jesse James carried a big old church organ into the cave,” Pia said. “Maybe he liked to play the organ.”
    I shrugged. It made as much sense as anything I could come up with.
    Kiki moved her finger to the next spot on the map: Room of Ghosts. She seemed at a loss to explain it. “I’m not sure …” was as far as Kiki could get. She seemed uneasy.
    “Is it a room full of ghosts, Pablo?” Pia asked, her eyes fixed on mine.
    I was quick to answer. “No such thing as ghosts.” I could offer no more of an explanation because I was also clueless about the name.
    “Then why did someone write Room of Ghosts?” Pia continued, her dark eyes filled with uncertainty.
    “I agree with Pablo. The mapmaker wanted to scare people away from searching for the treasure,” Kiki said.

    “They’re doing a good job of it,” I said with an anxious grin. It quickly melted away.
    “Uh, if there are ghosts in that room,” Pia said, “then there must be ghosts everywhere. Ghosts don’t just stay in one place.” She removed her straw from her drink and sucked it dry.
    “I’ll bet the words are like some sort of symbol for