Chapter 5 An Explorer is born

Joan reached school all jolly and delightful as usual but what met her there was unexpected. She realized that every boy and girl in school were looking at her in a way that suggested they were afraid of of her. She knew for sure what they were all thinking about.

"How could someone get kidnapped and get home unscathed?", she thought. She knew that they now saw her like some super heroine and she kinda liked it. All these thoughts ran through her mind as she made her usual grandiose walk towards the cafeteria.

She allowed herself to see her mind roam through her imaginative world -her rich mansion. She began to wish and see all the little kids come and bow in front of her andcall her your majesty.

These were here so-called servants, maids and butlers who were all under the leadership of Mr Abel the grand servants. She began to imagine having some responsibility. She would always warn them against touching jeep and also to fire them at will.

She would always rant at the and as supposed, Mr Abel will always crawl in front of her begging on their miserable little poor souls. She wuld be th most notorious madam. Just like her mother's boss, a woman who always screams for nothing even though she was as frail as her shadow. Joan proceeded to seeing a huge plantation in her name.

This was one with all the fruits in the world that she could just choose and pluck then it. Yes, there will also be a barn with more farm animals including elephants and giant butterflies. She giggled and thought perhaps she was dreaming too much. "Maybe no elephants and butterflies, I'm now a grown girl." She said out loud.

Just when she was bout to reemerse herself into her world of thoughts, she thought she heard an annoying little voice that whispered something annoying to her hearing. She looked around and realized she was still the topic of discussion but couldn't understand why the entire class was still just roo quite.

"Hunch?!", she asked after discovering a little girl right in front of her with a little toy in her hand and straight her right in the eyes from an inch below her.

"My brother and his friends told me to come and ask you what your father did to those kidnappers and they said not to mention their names" said the little one as she made her way away from the space and headed towards her brothers who were obviously trying to ditch the little girl.

Angrily, Joan screamed at the top of her voice and asked whoever it was ththad asked her that question to come out and face her. There was absolute silence. She asked again and the same result ensed. This time around, Joan didn't know what to say. She realized thther news had gone viral not only through the school towards the various families that were all-around the county. She new tht nothing happened to the men who had kidnapped them but the impression these other kids giving implied that something happened.

"Alright, hear it!", my father paid them their ransom and they went there way. I'm their way, they fired sporadically into the air in order to ward off anyone trying to follow them. "She passed and looked about." The end ! That's it! " She added.

She looked about some more but there was still some atmosphere of disbelief in the faces of kids all around her. She knew what she was saying was nothing but the truth and she would defend this fact wherever whenever.

"Well, none of them got home!" Said a boy who had tried his best to avoid eye contact with Joan.

"And how comes you're so sure? " Asked Joan.

The boy didn't respond. He just walked away and left her standing there in confusion. The truth was, she knew nothing happened afterwards but these kids seemed to know about something she couldn't just get her hands around.

She also needed to class and sat isolated from the crowds. She continued to think how she knew that but until she remembered a time in the past when the boy's father brought him to school.

Yes! She thought, this was the son of the clay merchant who sold just beside her mother and had once engaged her mother in a fight over the freshness of her husband's fish.

This time around, it was getting a bit clear to her. There was some clarity to the matter at least. But this man was nowhere seen when they were kidnapped. Although two of them never unveiled their faces.

She knew that one of the men had assured she and her mother that they would be dealt with if she screamed or amcalledfor help. He mentioned specifically that he knew them more than her consciously given out. He assuringly commended their ability to keep their identities a secret after a vey long time jn such a bustling community full of traitors and friends. He never seemed to underestimate she or her husband.

This man knew what he was doing and seemed to be the mastermind behind the ambush. Joan was now even more petrified to make any conclusions.

The dilemma was getting tougher. She couldn't actually believe what her intuition was suggesting.

Couldn't be? No! She wouldn't allow herself to think against her family like that. Even if the things she was now hearing being opined by others to be true, she wouldn't believe it because however serious or bad the case, it shouldn't be true. She knew her father very well, he can be a kick sometimes but he was a murderer. She couldn't even have herself imagine that.

This realization, no matter how demoralizing, made Joan the more interested in pursuing her answers like a hangry fox after it's prey.

So she went on trough the day like an idle ordinary child hoping to make it through a stuffed day like normal people who have absolutely nothing to hide. Not that she did anyway. She ensured she was transparent enough not to let her parents find out that she was having any doubt but they were smarter than her.

Once she was home and had had her breakfast, her father called her into the parlor. It wasn't like him to call his daughter by himself for talks like that or for any talks in private but Joan knew the situation at hand. In the parlor, she saw her mother waiting for their arrival. The mother had sat down in one of the two armchairs in the house while the gather stood and pointed Joan to the remaining armchair.

"Sit, my dear", said Mr Gonzalez as he walked to the fatven if the room and checked the compound through the windows.

Joan sat there thinking about what the reason for the call was and how this was going to turnout. She was obviously hiding something in he mind and she thought perhaps, just perhaps her parents had been able to decipher her efforts to conceal her feelings and thoughts and had therefore brought her there to punish her.

Firstly, her father closed the window and came back to the center of the room where they had all gathered for this undisclosed meeting.

Mr. Gonzalez was unlike his cheerful self this time around. He looked as though a heavy emotional burden had been placed over him to make him seem this extremely uncomfortable.

Valentina had only seldom seen him in this state ans therefore knew that what he was abit to say might be catastrophic, judging from how much she had known him personally. Mr.

Gonzalez on the other hand had a lot of things going through his mind. He knew that his wife wouldn't ever in forever support this idea for a second or even a millisecond, he knew Valentina so well that he could tell where next she would place her foot. This was the reason why he didn't consult her before concluding that Joan was ready to be let in to the long time family secret which had kept them in stitches all those years.

He wishesd there could be another way but there obviously seemed to be none feasible. On a second thought, he wanted to stop. Perhaps cancel the meeting and just tell them to be careful as they went about with their daily lives in the village and BLA BLA BLA but no. This was his best shot at knowing the true situation. This was the moment he had always been fearing.

What happened many years ago was unprofessional but the fact still remained that the truth had to be told and only then within that moment where he and his wife and child were present was THE MOMENT.

Therefore he thought and decided to let the monkey out the cage. The next thing, he found himself sighing. He said it all in the most possible way possible. Valentina couldn't belief her ears. She couldn't believe that her husband would ever be this reckless. She heard for herself what her ears and heart had always dragged under the train for years. It was the words that busted their long time secret. Although, what she likes about it were the bits of necessary modifications that her husband had brought in.

She listened from the beginning when her husband had started by saying "my dear lovely daughter, Joan. I know that this might come to you as a very big surprise but I still believe that you are a girl big enough to take this.

I would wait until other times before letting you in on this info but this is a different situation and we cant bear to let you give the wraith of misinformation no matter the cause." He paused and looked at Valentina, his eyes filled with regrets and conviction.

Valentina knew that her husband would tear the world apart to take his intended confessions back but this had to be done.

Even Valentina knew this but she couldn't tell why she still felt angry. Perhaps it was realization that her husband refused to inform her before talking to the little girl. The next minute, she knew would be catastrophic. And so, Mr. Gonzalez continued "I'm going to have to apologize to you for not being able let you in on this but we had very good reasons to keeping that a secret.

Firstly, you need to know this...." Suddenly, Joan cut in.

She was unable to hold it any longer, she already realized how much her parents knew and had left it under the carpet but perhaps she could surprise them and ensure that they were surprised and shocked to their core.

"I know it daddy!" She said. He parents were indeed shocked. More shocked than she was.

Mr. Gonzalez knew very well how resourceful his daughter could be most of the time but being able to crack this info was beyond the young girl. He knew that for sure. But the truth was that he couldn't doubt the girl or undermine her abilities that much.

Valentina on the other hand realized that the truth might have been cracked by their little girl.

But she has to be sure. "What do you know?" Asked Valentina.

Joan felt very proud because they couldn't tell her how much she knew at that moment.

The pride under her smiles ensured that she composed herself. So she went ahead to spill the beans to their hearing.

"I know about the actual truth behind the attack day before yesterday" she paused and took a peek around and saw the confusion in their faces." The moment I realized just how much you gave them really made my head spin. Coming back home to still find the money here was another head spinner. I know that you hired some men to pursue after them and catch up to them and guess what? They're mostly men from this community and rumours have it that they didn't make it back home since then. "

She said these very fast and waited for a confirmation but never got one for or against her expectation but it still didn't matter.

" Well? "Asked Joan.

Mr. Gonzalez came closer to her and held her by his side and said, "you're a smart girl but you see, I didn't come here to talk about that and since you've spoken of it, yes you might be right. I hired my friends to help contribute some money for me to use and pay for the ransom but we weren't going to let them get away with all that money you know. So we go after them afterwards. That was the plan and we ensured that every bit of the plan was was carried out amicably.

The money has been returned to the owners and you two are safe and sound, sitting right here with me in this sweet moment and we're living happily very after."

He sighed and just smiled. Perhaps they didn't have to tell her afterall or perhaps this was an indication that she would definitely find out if they don't tell her right away and he knew for sure that that would hurt the most.

Valentina was also in shock as to how their daughter realized all these and just what she could be thinking of them right there.

"Tell me," she said. "How were you able to make head of all this facts?"

" Well, I knew that only daddy and the neighbor brought the bag of cash. " They nodded.

" There and then I'm our presence, they waited afyes after us and looked after us but there were gunshots in the wilderness as the criminals were running away with the cash.

Thing is , it seemed like those kidnappers seemed to be shooting in order to ward off anyone from following them but no one would seem to be after them in such tension. So what had gone down was this: it's either they were either being chased by people waiting for them to head that way or they were shooting to celebrate a win.

I realized it was the former because the gunshots were too much for celebration. They were defending themselves. Perhaps from attack by dad's men" she paused and her parents were in awe to the extent that Mr Gonzalez started to laugh out of joy.

Mr Gonzalez smiled and touched her forehead and said I think you're ready for anything that might come your way from now on.

Firstly, I am happy you realized all these by yourself. But how you realized they didn't return home is the most confusing part for me" he stood and asked." Could you fill us in with how you came up with this information because we know nothing about it"

Joan stood and thought for a while and said to her parents" actually, I was confronted by some of their kids. Tht knew what their fathers were up to and since they didn't return home, they knew it had something to do with our a abduction. "

" What?! " Screamed Mr Gonzalez," you know their kids? "

"Yes. We go to the same school" she responded.

" We are going to visit them soon for some questioning regarding the accusations ", said Mr Gonzalez." Now tell me their names."

Valentina cut in just then and said. "There is more you need to know my dear, just be careful who you talk to from now on. We will tell everything gradually but don't ever listen to strangers. Now go and play with the animals if you wish"

Joan left immediately without a second thought and went about enjoying herself. She wasn't sure what was about to happen but the situation promised more unravelling and the fact that her name seemed to popup im every realization of recents made her wonder where all these revelations were taking her to.

But one thing was certain. She was ready for it all, at least.