Chapter One from "The Lost Coast"
Volume Two of The Adventures of Punkin and Boo
Comments appreciated
Thanks so much,
Patrick
Chapter One
A Rocky Beginning
"Oh pancakes," said Boo Roberts when she flubbed a key on the computer as the RV swung awkwardly around a curve on the California Coastal Highway. It wasn't easy to search the internet while riding in the back. "You better do this," she said to the girl lying next to her.
Outside it was a beautiful day on the California coast, north of Fort Bragg. The sky was bright and filled with white clouds. Sunlight reflected off the blue Pacific Ocean like millions of dancing candles, and shorebirds circled above the rocky cliffs leading down to the narrow beaches and teeming tide pools. Picturesque Highway 1 meandered along the side of the cliffs high above the waves. The sleek new RV followed the curving road headed north at sightseer speed.
Inside the RV were John and Carol Roberts and their 14-year-old daughter, Hannah Elise Roberts, known to all as Boo. Bob and Sharon Masters and their 13-year-old daughter, Jacie Elizabeth Masters, affectionately known as Punkin, were traveling with them. John Roberts was driving and Sharon was in the passenger seat. The Masterses relaxed in matching captain's chairs behind the driver's seat. John was concentrating on his driving but enjoying the trip. He noticed an old man walking along the side of the road with a backpack. The man had scraggly white hair and a torn floppy hat to keep the sun off. He was dressed in an old wool shirt and Levis with a patch on one knee. As John drove by, the old man looked up and smiled. He waved as he watched the RV go by. (Click on "read more" to read the rest of the chapter.)
