Chapter Two — Fans & Fiction
“Which way?” Finn squawked, his head turning back and forth in search of an escape route.
Just then, a gaggle of girls in their twenties came racing around the corner. “It’s Finn Hudson!”
Finn and Frankie took off, the girls in hot pursuit.
The boys weaved through a series of corridors until the girls were out of sight. The girls’ footfalls could still be heard.
“In here.” Frankie opened a door marked Luggage then pushed Finn into a small dimly lit room. “Just until the coast is clear.” Putting his palms on his knees, he wheezed. “I had no idea fans could run so fast!”
“So does this mean we weren’t busted after all?”
“Looks that way. The hubbub was about your fans.”
“Fictional fans, you mean.”
“Au contraire. The fans are real. Finn Hudson is the one who’s fiction.”
“Good point … Say, get a load of all this stuff, Frankie. Golf clubs, steamer trunks … and over here, there’s a section for animals.”
Frankie inched toward the area that contained cages. “Huh. A white peacock. You don’t see that every day.”
“Or a young leopard!” Finn calmly crept toward the caged wildcat. “Hello there. Aren’t you magnificent. What are you doing in a cage? You belong free in a jungle.”
“You’re not thinking of letting him out, are you?”
“And let him eat the peacock? Perish the thought!”
“I was thinking about him eating us! With all my juicy flesh, I’d make a meal for days!”
“Frankie, what the heck makes you think I’d let a wild beast out on a cruise ship?”
“I know what a soft spot you have for animals … especially wild beasts.”
The sound of a whimper arrested their attention.
“What was that?” Finn whispered.
“It sounded like it came from one of the trunks.”
“You don’t think someone put a pet in their luggage, do you?”
“Define pet … Come on. Let’s search.”
The sound of whimpering increased, and a steamer trunk began to jostle.
Frankie stepped toward the trunk and pulled Finn in front of him. “Sounds like it’s coming from in there … You open it.”
“Why do I have to open it? What happened to you bragging about being bigger than me?”
“I may be bigger, but you’re braver.”
Finn looked around and pulled a heavy golf club from its bag. With his other hand he unlatched the trunk. The trunk went still. Finn licked his dry lips as his heart raced. He then flipped the lid of the trunk open and jumped back.
Slowly, three heads arose from within the shadowy trunk.
“Three heads. Is it some sort of Cerberus?” Frankie asked.
Finn furrowed his brow. “A three-headed dog, Frankie? Really? And with little kids’ faces?”
Frankie stepped forward to inspect the threesome. “Stowaways, eh? I like your moxie!”
“We didn’t mean to stow away,” said the boy peeking out of the trunk. “We have passenger tickets. They’re just for another ship.”
Finn bent down to speak to the kids at eye level. “It’s all right. We’re here to help.”
“We are?” Frankie said.
Finn scowled at him then returned his attention to the three children. “Yes, we are. Did you kids get lost on the docks or something?”
“We could never become lost,” a young girl said proudly, standing up in the trunk. She wore a black poodle skirt, a white blouse with a Peter Pan collar, a pink cardigan, and a strand of pearls. Her chin-length hair was neatly combed and secured on one side with a barrette. Wearing white cotton gloves, she lifted a compass from a chain around her neck. “I have this, plus an excellent sense of direction.”
Finn chuckled. “I bet you do. And who’s this little one?” he asked, holding out his hand to allow a twenty-one-month-old toddler to play with his fingers.
“That’s Betsy,” the boy said, hanging his arms over the lip of the trunk to reveal a somewhat soiled striped tee shirt. “I’m Charles Robinson, but you can call me Chuck. I’m the oldest. Just turned twelve. Maggie’s next. She’s eight.”
“You may call me Margaret,” she said.
“Nice to make your acquaintance, Chuck, Margaret, Betsy. I’m Finn, and this is my best mate, Frankie.”
Maggie leaned forward to get a better look at Finn. “You’re handsome. No wonder all those girls were screaming and chasing you.”
“You could hear that from in the luggage room?”
“I should imagine most of the ship could hear it.”
Finn’s cheeks immediately flushed. “I … ehrm …”
“Well, we best be going back to our stateroom,” Frankie said. “Don’t want to draw any more attention. You understand. Bon voyage and all that.”
“Frankie, where are you going?”
“Like I said, back to the room. It’s naptime for this mariner. Wake me up when the dinner bell rings?”
“But we can’t just leave these kids here!”
“Why not?”
“Because I said we’d help them. Margaret, Chuck, where are your parents? They must be worried sick about you.”
“Dad’s fighting the war in Korea,” Chuck said with an air of pride. “And mom’s resting in a sanity aquarium.”
Finn stifled a chuckle. “Do you mean a sanitarium?”
“Yes, Mr. Finn,” Maggie said.
“Good, so then they won’t be worried after all. Toodle-pip. Coming, Mr. Hudson?” Frankie cracked open the door and peered down the corridor.
Finn stood and dusted off his trousers. “You kids stay put for now. I don’t know how much help we can be because we’re sort of here under false pretenses as well, and we have to be very careful or we could end up in the brig.”
“You mean you’re stowaways too?” Chuck asked.
“Let’s just say, like you, we have tickets that are paid for, but we really shouldn’t be on this ship.”
“Now, Finn!” Frankie barked. “While the coast is clear!”
“I’ll try to find some food to bring you, Robinsons. Wish me luck.”
“Bon chance, Monsieur Finn,” Maggie said.
“You speak French?”
“I am a woman of mystery.”
Before Finn could respond, Frankie pulled him from the room and closed the door, once again taking off running, leaving the children holed up in a small crowded room with a wildcat.