The Goonies by James Kahn Read Free Book Online Page A

on the secret map.
    But we took it now.
    We walked our bikes, it was so steep. At the bottom it turned into a sort of gravel path that veered off in a funny direction
     just past the tall stone pillar. We got on our bikes and rode real slow.
    The coast road was behind us now, and then I don't know where it was. We went through this place with mossy trees, and then
     there was this rickety old wooden bridge across a creek, so we walked our bikes over that, and then next thing, we were out
     of the woods and onto this rocky beach.
    We kept going. Trees came right up to the beach at one point, and we were through 'em, down a hollow and up a hill where the
     trees thinned out again and left us with a clear view of the ocean right below us. And here's what we saw.
    There was a small peninsula with waves smashing all around it. On the near side was a little cemetery with a bunch of crooked
     old falling-down gravestones. Beyond that, at the tip of the land, was a tall stone lighthouse, broken off at the top and
     bent over so it almost looked like it was a giant tombstone too.
    And sitting between them was a square one-story building. Real run-down. It was made of wood, painted white about a hundred
     years ago, it looked like. It sat kind of crooked, too, like the gravestones, like maybe one end of it had started to sag
     into the ground. Its windows were twisted and dirty, and a broken red-and-green neon sign was sort of stuck on top like a
     big wind had planted it there by accident. It said L IGHTHOUSE L OUNGE .
    There was an O PEN —C LOSED sign hanging in front of the front door, but it was flappin' around in the heavy wind, so sometimes it showed one side and
     sometimes the other.
    The place looked pretty spooky, I gotta say. None of us said a word.
    And then, swear to God, I saw a shadow pass by one of the windows inside.
    I looked at the other guys, but nobody was talkin'.
    I stared out over the sea. Those three rocks we'd passed before were sitting out there in the distance, way behind the lighthouse,
     and it made me think of something, but I didn't know what. But then I knew what.
    I took out the doubloon. It had these three holes cut into it, so I held it up to my eye—the holes lined up exactly with the
     three rocks and the lighthouse. They were even shaped the same. Not only that, there was an
X
etched on the coin that seemed to sit right over the Lighthouse Lounge.
    I passed the coin around, and everyone had a look.
    I looked back at the map. It seemed to end right where we were, but it was hard to tell, because this crease ran through that
     part where it had been bent in on itself for a long time, before it had been framed.
    I tried to straighten it, but it wouldn't straighten, and that's when I remembered how the doctor had had to break my arm
     back the other way from the way it was broken in order to straighten it. So I folded the map backward to undo the crease,
     and that's when I
really
saw what was what.
    I saw it worked like a fold-in on the back cover of
Mad
.
    And when I folded it in completely on itself, it formed an exact replica of the doubloon, with the holes marked at all the
     same places, and an
X
right by the third hole.
    And when I put the doubloon down over the three signalrocks on the map, the
X
in the side of the coin exactly laid over the lighthouse.
    I showed the guys. “We're here,” I said, pointing to where the little square wooden building was sinking into the sand. This
     is where the treasure's buried.”
    I indicated the
X
on the map, and then, once more, pointed toward the lighthouse. “Right down there.”

CHAPTER 3
    The Lighthouse Lounge… Gunshots… The Old Lady… Jake's Fish Surprise… The Thing in the Basement… Brand Catches Up… The One-Bag
     Trunk… Stef and Andy… Descent into Darkness.
    Mouth read what was written beside the cross on the map.
    Six times five
    Stretching feet,
    To lowest point
    Get the treat.
    We paused, calculating.
    “Six times five.