Jonathan had been busy organizing himself, researching the area and working out what he wanted to take. He had borrowed equipment and gadgets from friends and from the resource library at Sean’s Academy.
Molly had been busy, too, and she had lists of things to do. Many had already been ticked off, including the collection of the gift for Jonathan, the collapsible top hat for the hat party. Stacked around her living room were piles of the things she wanted to take on the trip. When Jonathan rang the doorbell, she was checking the condition of an old satchel and a battered backpack.
He was buzzing with excitement as he staggered through the door, carrying a huge backpack and dragging a second bag full of equipment. They took one look at everything they had collected and burst out laughing. It was going to be a long day rethinking what they would be taking.
They spent hours going through what to take and eliminated everything except the most essential items. Jonathan wore the top hat the whole day, making theatrical bows and sweeping gestures. He seemed like a new person, full of an energy that Molly had never seen in him before. The top hat suited the new Jonathan perfectly.
“The Professor sounded downright jealous when I told him I was going!” she giggled. “But he’s pulled some strings with the Academy. You are a field researcher. I’ve organized my travel permit as compassionate travel. It seemed to work. Oh, travel used to be so easy. But I’ve organized the air travel.”
“I couldn’t find any detailed maps of the area,” said Jonathan. “I spent hours looking. It is all jungle and rivers with just a few towns marked, but not much else. It really is remote isn’t it?”
“We have something to go on.” Molly said.
Molly had spent hours in a laborious search through old backups of computer files from years before. She had searched through her scans of all the scraps of paper and mementos she had collected. She was looking for a map Linorio had drawn for her many years before and had finally found it and made a print of it.
It was nothing more than a rough sketch, drawn on a scrap of paper. There were only two place names on the map: Puerto Verdad, which was the port Linorio had mentioned, and Shiringa, which looked like a village. There were a couple of winding rivers and two lagoons. Linorio had drawn it for Molly years ago to explain how the landscape changed with the rising and falling waters of the river. But the thing that made her remember the map was that Linorio had drawn an X alongside one of the rivers, and then tried to rub it out. At the time he had brushed off her question about what the X signified. But she knew there was something more to it.
She explained it all to Jonathan and laughed about how it was like a treasure map with an X to mark the spot.
Jonathan’s expression was a mix of surprise and apprehension. “What is this place we are going to?” he asked.
They repacked and eliminated again several times, every time paring back a little more. Molly kept thinking of things to do or organize and added more and more to her lists. They drank tea, made lunch with the last of the perishable foods and talked endlessly about where they were going, what they were doing and what they might find there. Molly had lived in the area for several years and knew it well, but it had been a long time ago.
They finally collapsed on the sofa and decided that was all they could do for that day.
Jonathan was exhausted and slightly dizzied by the excitement of the day. “I had a dream last night,” he said. “I kept hearing ‘Marry Belle, marry Belle’. When I first woke up, I started to think if I should stay here and carry on with what I am doing. But it felt wrong. I’ve always thought that a life with Belle would be wonderful. But it feels so pre-determined and it lacks something. My life is so good, but I so long to move away from the conventional. Grandma and Grandpa and all you wonderful people gave me so much love, time and energy. But there was always something missing, Molly. I wish I could know some of the adventures my parents had.”
“Well then it’s a good job we’re off to the jungle” said Molly, hugging him with all her might.