Susanne Stemmer - Ilvie Little and the Fearless Sailors

“Waaaahhhhh!” howls Theo a moment later. He has landed with his butt on the sharp edge of a wooden crate—one he hadn’t noticed. The crate falls over and its contents spill all over the library floor. “Owwwwww!” Theo complains, hopping on one leg and holding his little butt. ‘Darn it! Darn it! Whenever you want to get just one little strawberry cupcake, a stupid crate sets a trap for you! Such a stupid thing!’ twinkles the little monkey angrily while he is still jumping around wildly.

Leonie grins and Ilvie laughs out loud. Theo looks so funny hopping over the planks in the library with both hands on his butt.

‘Yeah, yeah, go ahead and laugh,’ twinkles Theo with annoyance. ‘Don’t worry about me hopping around here with my butt hurting more than anyone can imagine!’

Offended, Theo looks at the floor, where the contents of the box lie strewn about. ‘Bah!’ he twinkles angrily. ‘Stupid old pictures!’

“Stupid old pictures …” repeats Ilvie loudly, looking at Leonie with ­excitement. “Theo cursed these stupid old pictures and … Leonie, I have an idea!” Ilvie kneels down and rummages around in the pictures scattered across the floor. “These are old photos—pictures of the past!”

Leonie looks at her new friend in amazement and murmurs, “By the foot-buttoned Coleoid!” Her free eye shines. “Pictures of the past—wow!”

“Yes,” cries Ilvie rummaging through more pictures. “What if your great-grandmother hid a hint here about where the treasure map can be found?”

“The secret is to look at pictures of the past …” Leonie repeats the old woman’s words. “That would be a lot like my great-grandmother,” she adds, grinning. “Great-grandmother Grace really loved her Anastasia, and ­although she commanded the even bigger ship, she kept taking the smaller Anastasia out to sea whenever she could. And great-grandmother was very clever and very careful; she never would have told anyone directly where the treasure map is. So yes, judging by everything I know about her, that could actually be what happened!”

“Then let’s go!” cries Ilvie. “Let’s see if we can find a hint here!”

Leonie kneels down next to Ilvie on the ground and looks at her friend impishly. “That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?” she says, starting to take a ­closer look at the old pictures.

“Hmmm …” she murmurs after a while. “If we only knew approximately what we were looking for. There are hundreds of photos, and we have no idea what this secret is supposed to look like.”

Now we really need reinforcements!’ twinkles Theo. He has finally calmed down and started rummaging around in the photos a little bit. ‘I, Theo, will now courageously walk through the semi-darkness of this ghost ship and get my knapsack, which I thoughtlessly left on deck. In there are the rest of those delicious strawberry cupcakes, which will ­certainly help us in our search for the strange secret,’ twinkles the little monkey ­happily as he hops carefully toward the stairs that lead to the deck. He still thinks the semi-dark ship is really spooky!

“Pooh! We’ll be sitting here forever at this rate,” sighs Leonie a few ­minutes later.

“You might be right,” Ilvie groans. “But it will be worth it—just imagine if we find the map!”

‘Tadaaa!’ twinkles Theo, returning a few minutes later with the knapsack in his hand. He stands in the door of the library feeling like a hero. He went all the way through the spooky ship in the semi-darkness—all alone! And then back again!

Generous as he is, he gives the last strawberry cupcakes to the girls, keeping the smallest one for himself. ‘Uh oh, something’s missing …’ twinkles Theo looking sadly into his empty knapsack. ‘There‘s a hole in my knapsack! ­Instead of straw­berry cupcakes all there is now is a big empty hole …’

Ilvie, who has one of the old pictures in her hand, looks up as if she’d been struck by lightning. ‘What did you twinkle, Theo?’ she twinkles to the little monkey.

‘What?’ twinkles Theo, confused. ‘I just twinkled to myself that there’s a hole now—instead of the delicious strawberry cupcakes, now there’s just a hole.’

“That’s it!” cries Ilvie loudly. “I’ve got it!”

Leonie looks at her excitedly. “What? Where?”

Ilvie hugs her little monkey. “Thank you, Theo!”

“But what is it?” asks Leonie. “What is it, Ilvie?”

Excited, Ilvie holds up one of the photos for her friend to see.

“There!” she says. “Take a look! I was wondering the whole time what wasn’t right about this picture …”

“That’s a portrait of great-grandmother taken in this library,” murmurs Leonie perplexed.

“Yes! And don’t you see? There—all the way at the top on the left side of the bookshelf … something’s missing! Look at the library! That was the angle of the picture and this here is in the background!” Ilvie jumps up and waves her arms around in the air.

“Okay?” says Leonie slowly, as if asking a question.

“And there in the background—what do you see there?” asks Ilvie.

“Books,” replies Leonie, raising her eyebrows. “That’s a library, and there are books.” She couldn’t understand what Ilvie was getting at.

“Yes, exactly! And what do you see in the background in this photo?”

Leonie stares at the picture. Then she looks at Ilvie and stares at the ­picture again. “You’re right—there are no books on the top left of the shelf. Someone took all the books away and put a shiny chest there!” ­Leonie looks at Ilvie stunned. “That’s it! Great-grandmother Grace, you’re a genius!” she cries. “That’s the hint! Let’s take the books off the top corner of the shelf; there has to be something there connected to the treasure!”

Leonie jumps up, pushes a little table over to the bookshelf, and climbs up on it. Carefully, she removes the dusty books from the upper left corner and passes them to Ilvie.

“Do you see anything?” asks Ilvie with excitement.

“Hmm … No. There’s nothing here,” Leonie answers sadly.

“But there has to be something there!” responds Ilvie. She is so sure they’ve found the answer to the riddle.

“Wait!” calls Leonie, knocking carefully on the wall. “It sounds very ­different when I knock over here! I think there’s a kind of little wooden door with a hollow space behind it! But … by the toothless Sphyraena, I’m too short, I can’t reach it!”

“Wait, I’ll help you!” cries Ilvie, climbing onto the table. “I’ll give you a leg up!”

‘Waaahhhhh!’ twinkles Theo, holding his hands in front of his face. ‘I can’t look, notevenalittle! What you’re doing is very dangerous!’

“Then look away, little monkey,” says Ilvie with determination. “We’re so close now. Surely the treasure map is here somewhere!”