Molly and Anaru's Great Massey Adventure: Chapter 4
Yesterday’s Poll Results
Which portal should Molly and Anaru jump into?
The red portal? 71%
The blue portal? 29%
Chapter 4
Molly’s eyes darted from left to right - from the red portal to the blue one - unsure which of the two mysterious portals to venture into. She squinted at them, trying to make out the vague shapes that were forming at the centre of each.
“Come on!” Anaru shouted at her as he tugged at her arm.
His plea snapped Molly out of her daze and she stared at the red one decisively.
“That one,” she said firmly and ran after Anaru, who had already started sprinting towards the red portal.
As they stepped out of the past and over the threshold of the portal the kids again found themselves being thrust forward at great speed - as if the world’s biggest vacuum cleaner was waiting for them at the end of the time tunnel.
Colours, shapes and lights swirled and rushed past the duo as they sped forward, then after a few seconds, the portal spat Molly and Anaru onto a tuft of long grass before quickly closing and disappearing.
Shaken and dazed, the kids stood up and brushed themselves off. Anaru looked around and noticed that they had been deposited on the side of a dusty path. His eyes fixed on something floating along on the breeze - a scrap of paper, which he bent down to pick up.
“Hey check it out!” he called out to Molly. “It’s from a newspaper.”
Molly joined him and they both started reading the tiny print. It was an article titled “Table Talk” and appeared to be a rundown of small news items - no more than a sentence each. The clipping had the words “AKL STAR, 13/12/12” scrawled in pencil above the title.
The kids scanned through the article until their eyes settled on a name that they recognised.
Auckland Star, Volume XLIII, Issue 298, 13 December 1912, Page 1 - CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 NZ Source: National Library of New Zealand
“Don Buck?!” they both yelped in unison.
“Only to my friends and employees,” a smooth voice with a European inflection responded.
Molly and Anaru jumped and hesitantly turned around, to see a large and imposing-looking man sitting atop a strong black horse. The man had a long black moustache, a brightly coloured waistcoat around his mid-section and high boots that came up to his knees.
“Francisco Rodriques Figuero,” the man said to them with a Spanish-sounding accent and a tip of his hat. “The locals call me Don - Don Buck.”
“My friends Ruth and Lillian live on your road!” Molly blurted out.
“My road?” Don replied. “The only road around here is this path that leads to my camp - and it is not a place fit for children.”
Don Buck’s eyes narrowed as he stared quizzically at Molly and Anaru.
“I ask you this - why are you on my land?” He adjusted his belt and Molly noticed a small pistol nestled in a holster around his waist. She gulped.
“We’re - ummm…” she began.
“We’re trying to find our way home,” Anaru interrupted.
Don looked at them without a word.
“We - uh - we ended up here,” Anaru continued. “I found this…” he said, holding the newspaper clipping out.
Don Buck reached down and took the scrap of newsprint from Anaru’s trembling hand. He glanced at it, grinned slightly and said “I have been looking for this. I like to keep everything the papers write about me or my operations. Thank you for returning it to me.”
Anaru and Molly stared up at him, nervous about what would happen next.
“Come!” Don Buck proclaimed, using his reins to steer his horse back towards the track. “I will give you food and water for your journey - I have provisions back at my camp.”
Molly glanced at Anaru - who was thinking the same thing that she was.
Don Buck himself had said that his camp was no place for children… Was it safe for them to go with him?
On the other hand… they were feeling hungry and thirsty - and there was nothing around here but trees, road and sky…
