Secret Witness

Roque Island is a scenic tourist mecca. The abundant sunshine, warm water, soft sandy beaches, a wide variety of flying birds, and abundant fruits attract thousands of people who come to visit the island. Many luxurious villas have been built on the island to accommodate tourists.

The boy Dero was born on this island, he grew up strong, smart, and well-mannered. A year ago, because his parents divorced, he moved to the mainland with his mother to go to school and study. But he loves the sea by nature, loves the island, misses his childhood friends, and misses his father who is still working on the island. His father, Sandy, is a famous lawyer on the island. So as soon as the summer vacation was over, Dero packed his simple clothes, took a boat alone, drifted across the azure sea, and ran to the island. Countless white seagulls soared over the sea, chirping happily, as if welcoming Dero, filling his heart with a sense of joy.

The ship docked, and in the crowd of welcome, Drew did not see the familiar face of his father, he felt a little disappointed. He put on his travel bag and thought as he walked off the boat: Dad was the island's lawyer, so maybe it was another important case that prevented him from leaving!

"Dero, you've grown so tall!" A familiar voice came to him, making him look up in surprise.

Dero asked, "Auntie Eunice, why isn't Dad picking me up?"

"Your father was too busy helping a Mrs. Katie from the mainland with her divorce. Come on, get in!" Aunt Eunice greeted the child in the car.

"Another divorce fight!" Dero muttered and got into the car. The car sped off along the tree-lined beach road ...... At that moment, the island's police officer received a report from the ship, and he rushed to the ship to check the glass door of the food pantry. The door had been smashed at some point and someone had gotten into the pantry and stolen some food. Who could it be? Could it be that there were undesirables among the tourists who came on vacation? The officer frowned deeply.

Back at his house, Dad was still working at his desk. He turned around, this is a good-looking, smart, and strong man. He looked at his son with delight: "What, don't you want to hug Daddy?"

Father and son embraced each other affectionately. Dad immediately suggested, "Let's go take a seawater bath first!"

"Okay, I'll go get ready." Dero went to his room and was packing his clothes when suddenly the door outside the balcony rang, and he was surprised to see his childhood friend, the girl Jenny, jumping in like a wild child, greeting him: "Dero, you're here! You're here!"

"Hello, Jenny!" Jenny is a round-faced, cute and fanciful, articulate girl.

Jenny greeted her friend: "Come on, I'll show you a new friend!"

Dero apologetically: "No, please excuse me, Daddy wants to go swimming with me."

Coincidentally, Sandy's lawyer received a call from the police officer to deal with an urgent case, so he could not go swimming with him, so he had to go another day.

Jenny cheered up: "Then let's go, I'll take you to a place, adventure, you will be satisfied."

The two of them got on their bicycles and rode along the island road, heading for the beach at the northern end of the rocky island. Jeni introduced him to the wanderer, "This wanderer's name is Cord, he's a very brave man, he's traveled all over the world, he specializes in birds, and he loves to paint, he knows everything." She said she led Dero to a strange structure of the grass hut, pointed, "Look, this is I help Cord build up the Indians live in the grass hut, he has lived here since June, to study the world's birds, come, let's go inside."

At first, Drew was a little hesitant, Jenny dragged him inside. The hut was very disorganized, with things lying around and pictures of various birds hanging on the walls. While looking at the paintings, Dero asked, "What does this Cord do for a living?"

Jenny said, "Living by exchange, he often traded his paintings for food."

"Pop!" A dead seagull thrown at Dero's feet, startled him, looked up, a serious and seemingly deep youth standing in the doorway of the grass hut.

Jenny's the busy introduction: "Cord, this is my friend --- Dero!"

Cord as if he did not hear, just care about their thoughts: "All must be killed, you see, this is the sea water is polluted, the birds poisoned! What a shame! Remember, kids, without birds, there would be no humans!" Then, he introduced some bird knowledge and anecdotes to the two children, so that Dero had a good feeling about him.

On the way home, Jeni told her good friend the news of the island all the way home, and when she broke up, she told the other in a mysterious tone, "Tonight at 10 o'clock, you come down to the palm tree on the pier, and I'll take you to see what's new."

Dero asked, "Will your dad let you out this late?"

Jeni's father was a police officer, and since his wife's death, he often drank heavily, often to the point of drunkenness at night, when he could care less about his daughter. So Genie was always free to do whatever she wanted.

At 10 p.m., out of curiosity, Drew climbed out of the window and rode to the meeting place without his father's knowledge, where Jenny was waiting for him: "I knew you'd come, let's go!

"Where the hell are you taking me?"

Jeni explained to him, "I want to be a writer, to uncover all the secrets of this island, to write all the people here in my book so that the world will know their secrets."

Under the shroud of night, she took Dero to a luxurious villa, the two of them hidden in the garden of flowers and trees, through the bright glass windows, you can see the feast held in the gilded dining room, you can see the bright and spacious hall of the ball, you can see the gambling men, but also to see the whispering lovers of the rendezvous ... ... Jenny watched with great interest and explained to his partner the privacy of some of the leading figures inside. Dero is not interested in these, he insisted on leaving the place. Jenny had no choice but to accompany him back while inviting him to go together tomorrow to climb the island's highest peak - Eagle Head Cliff, you can take pictures of the eagle at the top of the cliff.

At first, Dero did not want to go, but could not withstand Jene's persuasion, so he reluctantly agreed.

The next morning, Jenny came to invite Dero with a travel bag on her back. She took advantage of the moment to get the utensils and the table of oranges into the travel bag. Dero found it incredible: "What are you doing?"

Jenny smiled: "It's not for me, it's for Cord. You forget what he said, the food is for everyone, feel free to take it."

Although Dero does not agree with this view, but also did not say anything, and followed the good friend together with their departure.

It was a beautiful, breezy day. Dero, Jenny, and their new friend Cord rendezvoused at the base of Eagle Head Cliff, which was not too high but very steep. The three made preparations, Jenny in the front, and Cord in the middle with a climbing rope tied to Dero, together to climb to the top of the cliff. While climbing while enjoying the scenery around, really beautiful. Halfway up the mountain, they stopped to drink water to rest. Cord took out a very expensive and sophisticated camera, taking pictures around.

Dero a little strange, asked Jenny: "He is so poor, can not even eat, how can have such a high-level camera?"

Jenny thought Dero's question was ridiculous: "He has a lot of friends, others gave it to him!"

After a short break, they continued to climb, and the slope became steeper and more slippery. Dero has lived on the mainland for a long time, climbing ability is not as good as the two of them, and repeatedly complained of suffering, and is reluctant to go up. Due to the lack of concentration, Dero's feet slipped, straight to the bottom of the cliff out of the slip, scared his blue face, and shouted "help!"

Jenny turned back to encourage him: "Dero, don't be afraid, hold on, Cord will save you!"

Cord turned around and went down, and it was only with great difficulty that he was able to catch the sliding Dero, and finally, with Jenny tugging on the cliff and Cord holding on, he was able to drag the panting Dero up to the top of the cliff. Cord jokingly said, "Dero, I saved your life, you owe me a favor!"

Jenny also thanked Cord one after another.