Granny Frappler\u2019s cackling was making Ari nervous. She sat rocking in her chair, ever so calmly, turning the compass over and over in her bony hands. Every so often she emitted a sound like \u201chee hee,\u201d or \u201choo hoo.\u201d Ari didn\u2019t know what that could mean, but he imagined that she might make that noise when she examined any worthless piece of junk. Maybe the compass was fake, and some kid had gotten it out of a cereal box and stashed it in the basement ceiling twenty years ago.<\/p>\n
\n\tFinally, Granny Frappler let out a long whistle which started high and got very low. \u201cSpanish Armada,\u201d she said quite decisively.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat?\u201d said Ari.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat do you mean, Spanish Armada,\u201d said Arden nervously.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a Spanish piece,\u201d said Granny Frappler. \u201cMost like, one of them Daylatch ancestors was there when the Armada was whupped in 1588. And got it. Spoils of war. That type o\u2019thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYou mean,\u201d said Ari, \u201cthat this compass is like, five-hundred years old?\u201d He had no idea what this would even mean, but it seemed impossible.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cThereabouts,\u201d said Granny Frappler with a nod. \u201cWorth…oh heck, I cain\u2019t even guess. Tens of thousands. Too much for most normal folk.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cBut if it was Dewey\u2019s,\u201d said Arden thoughtfully, \u201cwouldn\u2019t it rightfully belong to his heirs…even if it was on the Soffits\u2019 property?\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHis heirs,\u201d said Ari. \u201cMeaning Wilton Daylatch.\u201d <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cHeck no,\u201d said Granny Frappler. She spat derisively onto the sidewalk. Arden jumped back a step. \u201cDewey didn\u2019t leave nothin\u2019 to no heirs except jobs. All his money, all his stuff…he left that to the town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSo what do we do with it?\u201d asked Arden.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI guess,\u201d said Ari, \u201cwe give it back to the town.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n*****<\/p>\n
\tMiss Samms, her few bits of wispy hair sticking out from under a sailor\u2019s cap with the words \u201cS.S. Glacier Queen\u201d stitched in blue across the upturned brim, stood facing a small crowd in the DiRosa Public Library. <\/p>\n
\n\t\u201c…and thanks to the sleuthing skills of our own young people Ari Soffit and Arden Feeney,\u201d she said, \u201cDewey Daylatch\u2019s compass, an important artifact in DiRosa history, can now be on display for the whole town to enjoy.\u201d Then she winked at Ari and Arden who each grabbed a corner of a cloth draped over the display case they were standing next to and pulled, revealing Dewey\u2019s compass, polished to a sparkling gleam, resting proudly in the middle of a display called \u201cA Brief History of Daylatch Academy in DiRosa.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tThis time Ari and Arden said yes to buttercream cake before hurrying off to enjoy Ari\u2019s day off from the deli at Town Dock Park. As they passed DiRosa Savings and Loan, they could see chubby Ed Cooley sitting happily at the manager\u2019s desk. Last week the sign in the window had said \u201cUnder New Management.\u201d Now the word \u201cnew\u201d was crossed out, and \u201cold,\u201d with an exclamation mark, was written in above it. <\/p>\n
\n\tIn front of Soffit\u2019s Deli a pair of boxing gloves were hanging from a nail by the window. \u201cFree to good home,\u201d read a hastily written note taped to them.<\/p>\n
\n\tNext door, in her rocker, Granny Frappler issued a sharp \u201chmmmph\u201d as she peered fiercely at an unsheathed hunting knife, while the hopeful seller–a ruddy man with a pencil moustache–hovered nearby. \u201cThis was made fifty years ago by scammers,\u201d she said. \u201cGood for hunting suckers.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAt the end of Spoke Street, across from the school, Morton\u2019s Drugs had placed two crates of Hunka-Vites on a sidewalk table with the word \u201cDISCONTINUED\u201d scrawled on the box fronts.<\/p>\n
\n\tAri and Arden cut across the school playground and headed into the park where Flossie Beemis and two of her friends were gazing, moon-eyed, in the direction of the dock.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOh Flossie!\u201d sighed Eliza Dickens. \u201cYou\u2019re right! They\u2019re so handsome!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tTo his amazement and delight, Flossie didn\u2019t even look at Ari. She was too busy staring dreamily at the Daylatch Academy boys, in neat blue sailor uniforms and caps, who were chatting and laughing happily as they lined up to go rowing in a fleet of sparkling white rowboats, tethered to the dock.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cCan you believe it?\u201d said Finbar Fenker, who had suddenly appeared behind Ari and Arden. \u201cThey took down the big old ugly gate in front of the Academy and everything! Hit me quick Soffit! Maybe you can get us both sent there!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAri looked across the field at the rowboats bobbing along the edge of the dock. He had to admit–it didn\u2019t look bad. Not bad at all.<\/p>\n
\n\tThe boys in blue were being drilled on proper oar technique, and so far, all the boats were still empty. Except for…the one nearest the shore. Ari blinked and looked again. \u201cIn the boat,\u201d he said to Arden. \u201cLook!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cSpecial secret with Feeney-Beeney?\u201d said Finbar, who apparently saw nothing unusual in the boat at all, but Arden and Ari did.<\/p>\n
\n\tIt was Dewey Daylatch. First he wrestled his sailor cap out of Kipper\u2019s mouth and placed it back on top of his mop of unruly curls. Then he popped open his compass, took a glance, and gazed out to sea before looking back at Ari and Arden and giving them an enthusiastic thumbs-up.<\/p>\n
\nTHE END<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Granny Frappler\u2019s cackling was making Ari nervous. She sat rocking in her chair, ever so calmly, turning the compass over and over in her bony hands. Every so often she emitted a sound like \u201chee hee,\u201d or \u201choo hoo.\u201d Ari didn\u2019t know what that could mean, but he imagined that she might make that noise […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=247"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":252,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247\/revisions\/252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=247"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=247"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=247"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}