Eighth grader goes scuba diving during spring break

By Nicole S.

Scuba diving ? Self Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus. Big deal. But did you ever think of yourself actually putting on the BCD vest attached to the tank and doing a giant stride entry into the Pacific Ocean? A year ago I hardly knew what Scuba meant. I’d heard it a few times, but it never stuck to my brain. Well, in October, I heard about a class at the Elk Grove Park District and my parents agreed to let me take the Scuba Certification class. It consisted of five classes, one day a week. I was able to put the tank on and practice in the pool. Breathing underwater is the weirdest feeling. So is being weightless. Yes! Even with a 20 pound tank on added to all your weight, plus sometimes a weight belt, you still float. That is what the BCD, or buoyancy control device, vest does. It is connected to the tank of air, and you can fill it up with air as needed to make you float or sink. At the end of the course, I took four Open-water dives to test my skills. I also took a written test. I did pass and received my certification card.

Now what? I know what to do, so what’s next? Well, the ocean. My dad is also a certified diver. This Spring Break, we went on a cruise and some of the excursions were Scuba trips. My dad signed us up and I couldn’t wait to go.

The first excursion was a dive at Cozumel, Mexico. It was a one-tank dive, meaning we only use one tank of air. It was also a beach dive, and a shallow dive, too. We got in right from the beach and only went down to 35 feet. I saw 3 stingrays. There was a lot of coral.

When we went to Grand Cayman, we took a boat to the area where we wanted to dive. This was a two-tank dive, meaning we took a boat to one dive sight, came back up and the boat took us to a different dive site. We switched tanks and dove again. The first dive, called Wall Street, was a wall dive. The land underwater dropped to 6,000 feet. We only went down to 75 feet, but it kept going down and down. We followed the rope from the anchor down to the bottom. The visibility was great. From the surface, I could see the bottom. The only thing was, I guessed it was about 30 feet to the bottom. But when I got to the bottom and glanced at my depth gauge, I gasped as I read 75 feet, for it hardly felt like I was that deep. All the while descending, I was equalizing the pressure in my ears. On this dive, we saw many creatures and different coral formations. As we were swimming along, I spotted a turtle. I swam over to my dad and pointed him out. My dad swam toward it and grabbed it with all his might. The turtle tried to get away. He was very strong and my dad finally had to let go of him. I watched him swim away into the blue of the ocean. Even today, we still laugh on this experience with the turtle! On this dive, as well as the one in Cozumel, we followed a guide.

On the second dive at Grand Cayman, we visited a shipwreck dive site. This was a shallow dive, clearing 45 feet. The neat thing about this dive is that we didn’t have to follow a guide. Yes, that’s right! My dad and I went by ourselves. It was the neatest experience! There were many other dive boats with people around so the dive almost felt like we were visiting a tourist attraction with people everywhere. It sure is something to believe when you see it! My dad pointed out a fish in a crevice of the shipwreck and I gasped. It must have been four feet long, a grayish color, and I almost thought it was a shark! We swam up and around the shipwreck, through windows (which was slightly tricky when you tried not to get your tank caught onto it) and in between places. I loved exploring the shipwreck.

Scuba diving is something out of this world! When you scuba dive, you are exploring a world where other kind of animals live and where we cannot. Breathing underwater is a relaxing feeling! Definitely something you’ll never forget!

Horses + Competition = Danger! An interview with Audrea J.

By Amber S.

Imagine that you're astride a horse whose shoulder is as high as the top of your head and who weighs ten times as much as you do. Now picture yourself barreling towards an obstacle three feet tall that your horse has to hurdle while you have to stay in the saddle. This is what Audrea J., better known as A.J., does as often as possible. The idea that her horse, Casey, whom she trusts with all her heart, could unintentionally kill her, does not faze her. The only thing that could really save her life is an ASTM certified riding helmet, which she always wears. Even actor Christopher Reeve's terrible accident a couple years ago did not lessen Audrea's passion for riding, which began when she was only six.

A.J.'s sport, competitive horseback riding, is one of the most dangerous sports out there. Yes football, hockey, soccer, gymnastics, and figure skating fans, horseback riding is as dangerous if not more dangerous than those sports. Even at the professional level, people are injured all the time. At this year's Kentucky Rolex, a four star, three-day eventing horse show, a rider fell off and broke four ribs, and in another accident, a horse was killed. The most frightening horse-related experience that Audrea had was when her horse ran away with her for the first time. Yet A.J. still loves the sport as much as she did when she started, if not more.

Audrea doesn't do all of that prissy "Oh, I'm a rich kid on a pony!" stuff, she gets down to the nitty gritty, in-your-face competitions. Three-day eventing consists of one day of dressage, a day of show jumping, and a day of cross-country riding. Dressage is a very prestigious event, for which A.J. usually wears tall black boots which must be shiny, white breeches, a black coat, spurs, and her trusty helmet (not required). Dressage has been compared with dancing, but to be more specific, it is a routine that the horse and rider team have prepared that consists of three gates (walk, trot and canter) and a series of skills, ranging from a simple circle to the very difficult piaffe. They perform under the critical eyes of a panel of judges who count every mistake.

In the second event, show jumping, horse and rider follow a prescribed course of movable obstacles in which every pole knocked down and every foot fault count against your score. In show jumping, Audrea wears her same dressage attire with a white saddle pad and she also carries a crop if her horse needs it.

Cross country, which I think is the scariest of the three events, takes place in a rustic setting with a course that possibly includes a forest, a meadow, and a stream or two. The rider must guide his or her mount over several obstacles as quickly and as safely as possible. This is the event at Rolex in which the rider broke her ribs and the horse was killed. A.J.'s cross country wardrobe consists of a royal blue polo shirt, navy blue body protector, beige breeches, her tall boots, and of course, her helmet. Casey is out fitted in a royal blue saddle pad and royal blue boots (protection for his legs). Even though it may be the most dangerous event, Audrea admits to liking cross country the best. "I like it because Casey's so good at it and he loves it so much," she commented.

In the past year with Casey, A.J. won second place at the Baby Barrington Mini-event (which was her first competition) and she also took sixth place out of twenty-two competitors in Queeny Park, Missouri. In addition, her Pony Club team took fourth place overall at a Pony Club rally last summer, and Audrea received a small trophy as the best on her team.

Competitive horse back riding can be dangerous and expensive, so why does Audrea continue? It's quite simple. She loves everything about horses and horse care, so why not? A.J. has been riding many years and at a number of stables. With every new stable, she also acquired a new horse to fall in love with. While at Fox Creek, the chestnut quarter horse gelding, Stoneybrook, caught her eye. At Crosswinds Farm (where a certain editor used to ride) she met Tia, another lovely chestnut quarter horse mare, and most recently, Casey, a chestnut quarter horse gelding.

Whichever stable she was at, Audrea loved bonding with the horses the most. To look the animal in the eye, to give him or her a nice bath, whatever, it is just nice to be around the horses. Audrea's most memorable moment with horses was her first fox hunt in October 1996. It was so much fun galloping around through the woods with other people of similar interests, and as her first fox hunt, it was a great learning experience as well.

Rider Dorothy Crowell is Ms. Johnson's idol. When asked, A.J. said that she idolizes her because Dorothy was not born into horses, as some many horse people are, but fought her way to her current success. Dorothy won a silver medal in the 1994 World Equestrian Eventer and won second place in the 1998 Kentucky Rolex. The fact that she only had one horse to ride (she just retired him after Rolex) while the other riders had six mounts made this an amazing feat. ?

This year, A.J. plans to ride in many different shows in places like Hoosier Park, Indiana, Barrington, Illinois and at Dunham Woods Farm (where I also learned to ride) in Wayne, Illinois. She also intends to compete in the Queeny Park show again near St. Louis, and is considering a show at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington. One day, when you're flipping channels and the Olympics are on, check to see if you find Audrea, because she dreams of one day riding in the Olympics. But don't expect her to be riding some fancy new horse, count on Casey. Hey, they make a really great team, plus she really love him, what more do you need?

The Photographer, continued from March

By Amber S.

We cleared off the pictures and sat down on the couch.

"Doesn't Buddy live in Iroquois?" Megan asked.

"Yeah, I called him on his cell phone."

"Where was he? And how do you know his cell phone number?"

"I've called it before when we were selling pictures. I don't know where he was, and why does that matter?" I replied getting a tad bit irritated and a ton more terrified. "Zeus come here!" The dog walked in and laid down by my feet looking up at me.

"Something is seriously wrong with that dog," Meg said. "Where's the cat and the rabbit?!?" Horror shot through me. If they did anything to those animals I don't know what I'd do. Horrid pictures whisked into my mind as I ran up the stairs to my room. I threw open the door. There, sleeping (I hoped) on one of my pillows was Hera. I walked to the sleeping cat and she slowly picked up her black head and her violet eyes stared at me. A wave of relief went through my body.

"Where's Aphrodite?" I whispered as I looked at the cage door that was open. Frantically I searched under my bed, under my bureau behind the door and slowly got up to look in the bathroom. Shaking, I pulled back the shower curtain. At the back of the tub was a trickle of blood running towards the drain. I slowly walked to my dad's room. I flipped on the light and looked towards the bed. There, on top of a pillow was a dead rabbit. I slowly sat down fighting back the terrible urge to vomit.

"Meg! Meg!" I wailed while I swayed back and forth biting my hand. "Please, please come here!"

"What is it?" Meg asked as she came into the bedroom. "Oh my..."

"Hello? Cat? Where are you?" Buddy called from down the stairs.

"We're up here!" Meg called. I heard Buddy thud up the stairs dragging his jacket behind him. When he came in the door he sucked in his breath when he saw me huddled and crying in the corner, hands covered in blood.

"Come on," Buddy said taking my hand, "we're going down stairs."

We walked down the stairs; Buddy and Megan supporting my elbows. I nearly collapsed, but Buddy caught me and picked me up.

"You guys stay here while I go and clean up the tug and get rid of the body," Buddy told us. It made me upset, but I didn't protest. "Where are the rubber gloves and cleaning solution?"

"They're underneath the kitchen sink," I replied as I pointed toward the kitchen. I wiped my face with the back of my hands. "I'm going to go wash my face and hands," I declared trying to regain my composure. Slowly I made my way towards the downstairs bathroom. I wondered what horrors this room held as I half expected a monster to be following me. Closing my eyes, I turned on the light. Ever so slowly I opened my eyes. To my relief nothing was out of place, I saw nothing wrong, yet. Sighing, I went to the sink and opened the medicine chest. There, just behind the toothpaste were two Polaroid pictures. One was of Buddy's house and the other was of Meg's house. I didn't care anymore. I washed my face and hands and took the pictures out into the living room. "You guys may want to see this," I called.

Buddy walked down the stairs and Megan got up from the couch and walked to where I was standing. I handed them their respective pictures and waited for a reaction. Buddy stared at the picture in disbelief as a silent tear fell down Megan's face.

"You better call your families and tell them to go stay at a hotel," I said quietly as my anger mounted. "I'm going outside,"I said. If I ever met this "Dave" person something terribly wrong would happen. I walked out to the porch. I gazed out of the darkening window as one of my friends called their parents. I must have spaced out or something because the next thing that I remember is Buddy tapping me on the shoulder.

"The phone's dead," he told me. "I'm going to go get my cell phone."

"It's not going to help. They took your car," I replied absently.

"When could they have?"Buddy asked. Meg and Buddy stared at me as if I weren't there.

"When we were cleaning up," I replied. "Get all of the flashlights, blankets and warm clothes that you can find. We're going camping."

"Cat, you're insane! It gets down below zero out there!" Meg cried.

"Would you rather be outside and cold, or inside and dead," I retorted dryly.

"You can't be serious. We'll die either way," Buddy replied.

"So be it." With that I walked up stairs avoiding the bathroom and began packing all the warm clothes that I had into my sleeping bag. "Meg, you know where the extra blankets are don't you? Take 'em and put them on the radiator to get them extra warm," I yelled down the stairs. "And Buddy, go into the pantry and grab three flashlights. And in my dad's camera bag on the porch, grab extra batteries." I went into my dad's room and took every sweater, sweat shirt, flannel and pair of sweat pants that I could find. I put all of it into a hiking backpack that I had in my room. I attached my sleeping bag to the bottom of the backpack and went down stairs. I walked into the living room to find that Buddy and Megan still stood there with horrified looks in their eyes.

"Come on! If we don't get out of the house, they'll find us and kill us. If we go into the woods, at least we can have a chance of out running them!" I screeched as I searched for some kind of understanding in their faces. "The only way we'll survive this is if you trust me." A hint of a meltdown showed in Buddy's face, but Meg's was still skeptical.

"Fine," Buddy replied in a none-too-happy tone. "Let's get ready to go."

It was a grim victory for me as we got ready to survive a frigid night in the woods.

"Should we leave a note for my dad in case something goes wrong?" I asked them as we assembled some semblance of a meagre dinner on the table.

"Where would we put it?" Meg asked.

"In the freezer, I guess 'cause my dad always gets a glass of ice water before he goes to sleep."

"Sounds a little whacked out, but okay. But what if 'Dave' finds it, how can we write it without giving our whereabouts out?" Buddy asked.

I took out a piece of paper and began composing the cryptic note. It read: "Gone to Missouri with the Morrisons. We're going skating. Will be back in the morning. Love, Cat."

"How's that?" I wondered out loud as I surveyed the bizarre letter.

"It makes no sense, but if your dad figures it out I guess we're okay," Megan conceited.

I looked at my watch which read 8:59, and visualized the long night ahead of us.

"We better go," Buddy said as he hooked Zeus's leash to his collar.

Hoping that Hera would be okay, we trudged out the door not bothering to lock it. The frigid night air still bit at us even through the several layers of clothing that adorned us. We were completely paranoid. You have no idea what's like to be hunted until it happens to you. Every headlight caused us to crouch in the snow, the irregularity of someone's breathing began to make us feel as if Death were watching over our shoulders. Even the seemingly harmless crunching through the snow became torment like the sound of breaking bones occurred every time stepped.

That is the way it was as we walked deeper and deeper into the coniferous forest. The wanning moon created little comfort as our flashlights tried to create enough light. Walking in silence into the unknown was awful. Not even Zeus uttered a sound.

We reached the pond where I had gone ice skating when I was younger, but no longer was this a joyous place. We took the tarp that we had found in the basement out of my backpack and laid it on the ground. On top of the tarp we placed every single blanket that we had brought.

"Cat! Meg! The ten o'clock game was canceled and I'm back. Zeus! Come on! Where are you guys?" Philip Pascal called into his empty house. "That's weird," he told his friend and boss, Rich.

"What is?" Rich replied.

"Cat and her friend Megan aren't here and they were supposedly going to spend the night here."

"They're probably over at Megan's or at a party."

"Could be," Philip said as he got himself a glass of ice water. "What the..."

"What is it, Phil?" Rich asked.

"It's a really bizarre note from Cat. Read it."

Rich read the note which of course would make no sense to him.

"Let me read it again," Philip said taking the piece of paper. "'Gone to Missouri with the Morrisons,' only Cat would write something so strange in a note and put it in the freezer. Wait a second, maybe she went out camping. We did go camping with the Morrisons in Missouri. That would fit. But where?"

Rich looked uneasy as Philip read the letter, "Maybe there's something else in the letter to tell where she went. Anyway, I've got to go."

"What happened to you other car? With the one you driving now you won't get home. I'd offer to give you a ride, but I've got to figure out where Cat is."

"That's alright, it's just a rental. Trisha needed to borrow the car because hers broke down."

"OK. I'll see ya," Philip said a little skeptical of why Rich had to leave so suddenly. He walked him to the door when he realized where Cat was. "I know where she is! She's at the pond! Oh my God she could die out there, it's so cold. I'm sorry Rich, bye."

"It's OK," he said as he ran out the door a little too quickly. Michael picked up the phone and dialed 911. As the phone rang he wondered why Rich had that clunker of a car. His thoughts then turned to the Delanie murder and hoped the dispatcher would hurry.

"What time is it?" Megan asked.

I glanced at my watch and replied, "It's 11:02."

"When do you think we should go back," Meg questioned.

"I think at daylight," Buddy answered. "We should probably have some dinner. It would pass the time and keep us warm." Silently agreeing with him I took out the sandwiches and the coffee thermos that I had packed. Even though little, the sandwiches provided an easing of the hunger that ate at us. The coffee filled our veins making us warmer and more alert. Even Zeus was grateful for the scraps that we gave him.

"We should probably try to sleep," I said, "but one of should stay awake for a while."

"That's a good idea," said Buddy. "Who volunteers for the first watch?"

"Since I thought of it I guess I'll do it," I replied, thankful for something to do.

"I'll go with it, but what is Zeus for?" Meg put in.

"Oh yeah. I guess I can sleep too, then," I replied as I tried to talk myself into believing that it was a good answer. I yawned and that said it all. We all drew off our boots and put on four new pairs of socks each on top of the two we already had on.

We crawled under the blankets and each took some extra clothes and wrapped them like a cocoon around ourselves. With all of the head bands and hats on, we didn't need pillows so we laid there in silence, hoping for sleep or a swift death.

For hours I must have stared up at the stars wishing that this was all some crazy dream. Meg and Buddy eventually dozed as I stayed awake that long, cold night.

At about one or so I felt Buddy stir next to me.

"Are you still awake, Cat?" he mumbled groggily.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No, no. I was just wondering because I've been going insane from boredom for the past hour or so."

"I haven't slept at all, I don't think anyway."

"That's gotta be awful."

"Tell me about it."

"Are you scared?" Buddy asked as he sat up and looked down at me as I propped myself up on my elbows.

"I don't know. It's weird 'cause you really know you're gonna die, but it doesn't scare you."

"I kinda know what you mean. I'm not really scared about getting killed, but getting caught."

That frightened me. As calmly as I could I asked, "What do you mean 'getting caught?'" Hundreds of worst case scenarios shot through my mind as I stared into Buddy's ice blue eyes.

"You think that I'm going to kill you don't you? Cat, you know I would never do anything like that don't you? How could you think that I would do that! We're in this together, you, me, and Meg. You yourself said that we can't get through this unless we trust each other!"

"It's just the way you put it," I replied meekly avoiding his penetrating gaze. "I, I, I, I don't know." I stammered. He took my hand from the other side of Zeus.

"I would never do anything like that. Never," his voice was so intense and calming that I melted.

"What could you get caught for?" I quite stupidly asked again as my barriers went up again. Why can I never let it be! I wondered as I visually saw Buddy form the right words in his mind.

"I can't tell you," he finally declared. That got me angry.

"We might die, and you're not going to tell me what you could get caught for!" I whispered fiercely. I quickly bit my tongue as I saw the look on Buddy's face. Every single smile line had disappeared. His eyes merely held sadness instead of their usual boyish, gleam. Slowly he leaned over and kissed me. Suddenly, there was a noise in the woods. The kiss ended as Zeus shot up and ran barking into the woods.

"I'm going to go see what that was," Buddy declared.

Fear gripped my heart. "Buddy, you can't go. You'll die!"

"Everyone dies sometime," he said cryptically. I watched as he went into the woods after Zeus and the noise. I waited for what seemed like an eternity until I heard a gun shot.

"BUDDY!!!" I screamed as Meg stirred. I ran as fast as I could toward the gun shot. I ran till I came to a male figure standing up right looking down at the snow. "Buddy?" I whispered.

The man turned around. It was Rich.

"Did you get my messages?"