Cartboy Goes to Camp (15 page)

When I came to, Vinny, Scot, Perth, and I were tangled in the rope. Our pants and shirts had pretty much popped completely open.

Vinny had a chisel, a mess kit, and a flashlight on his chest. My dad's canteen conveniently landed near Scot's mouth. And a shovel ended up right on Perth's stomach.

FAARRT!

“Ha ha. Ho ho.” Ryan and Billy fell on the ground, laughing.

I squinted toward the sidelines and saw Cora, Theo, and a bunch of kids staring at me. Some of them were pointing toward my pants. Which made sense. Seeing as how they had slipped down and my dinosaur underwear was in plain view for all the world to see.

Mr. Prentice came over and sized up the situation. “Sacred Saint of Skivvies,” he said.

And then it was not just Ryan and Billy, but the
whole camp
laughing.

I stood up and threw my dad's old junk off me. How could I be so dumb, I thought. Why did I think his stuff would be of any use? Why would it ever help me?

“Are you okay, Hal?” My mom was standing above me, reaching out her hand.

I was just about to grab it. Then I saw my dad walking toward me with the look on his face. Yep. The same one he had when I showed him my beadwork.

Before my dad reached me, I stood up and walked straight toward the woods on the edge of camp.

I had no plan. Just two feet going in front of each other.

“Hal, wait!” I heard my mom say.

“Hal, come back!” said my dad.

But when I reached the woods, my walk turned into a run.

And I just kept on running.

 

Field Trip

Dear Friend from the Future:

I ran through the woods so fast, it was like my feet were attached to someone else's body.

The trees rushed by me and the sticks snapped under my feet, and all I could think was: Get away. Get away. Away from my dad and Mr. Prentice and Ryan Horner and everything.

I was running and panting and sweating. And had no idea what to do. Except keep running.

I ran until I stopped hearing people call after me. Until I stopped hearing any sounds of civilization at all.

When my feet finally stopped moving, the woods were quiet. Deadly quiet. All around me were trees, trees, and more trees. The light was fading, and the trees cast dark shadows everywhere. Darker, it seemed, every second.

I sat down on a log, and pictured how I was totally lost. How I'd never make it out of the woods alive. No one would find my body for years. And by the time they did find it, I'd have been eaten by vultures or raccoons.

My stomach growled so loudly, a flock of birds flew out of a tree. I was
starving.
And so thirsty, my mouth felt like sandpaper.

If only I could figure out how to get back to camp.

I grabbed a stick off the ground and squinted up at the setting sun. Why? Why hadn't I listened when Mr. Prentice showed us how to make a compass using a stick and the sun's position in the sky?

I combed the forest for anything that looked like food, and spotted a patch of wild mushrooms growing near my feet.

Could I eat one? Was it safe? Would I die after it touched my lips? Mr. Prentice had talked about edible versus poisonous mushrooms during one of his lectures. But I was too busy thinking about the treasure to listen.

Once again, my stomach howled. Begging me to feed it.

I would have to take my chances. I lifted the mushroom to my mouth. Opened wide. And was just about to bite it—

VROOM VROOM.

I stopped because of the noise.

VROOM VROOM.

What was it? Was it a person? Did Ryan follow me?

Maybe it was a bear. The same bear that left the fur on the edge of the woods at Camp Jamestown. The night the boy went missing.

“Yaahaa.” I jumped back when I saw a shadow move in the woods, but when I looked again, the shadow was gone.

VROOM VROOM VROOM.

There it was again. The noise was smooth and repetitive. Like a motor. I scanned the dark shadowy woods and realized there was only one thing to do. Follow it.

VROOM VROOM VROOM.

My feet stumbled through the forest, past a thousand pine trees and the jaws of countless woodland animals who were waiting to eat me.

Finally I came out on a small two-lane highway.

There was a car a few hundred feet away, and as it came toward me, it slowed down.

A skinny guy with long hair leaned out the window. “Hal? Hal, is that you?”

“Theo?”

“Climb in.”

I opened the passenger door and jumped in so fast, I sat on his grandfather's feathered cap, which was sitting on the passenger seat.

“Sorry, Theo,” I croaked.

“Hal. What happened? Are you okay? Why did you run away?”

I would have answered his questions. Except for one thing. I didn't feel like talking.

I guess Theo got the clue that I wasn't in the mood for conversation. “What do you say we ride to Colonial Williamsburg together?” he said. “We can talk about it there.”

A couple of minutes later, we pulled into a restaurant.

All the waitresses were dressed as either pioneers or Indians. The pioneers had on long skirts and bonnets, and the Indians were wearing beaded leather dresses.

A lady wearing a giant Indian headdress showed Theo and me to some seats at the counter.

We ordered cheeseburgers and salads, but getting lost in the woods must have shaken me to the bones. I could hardly look at my food, let alone eat it.

While I was staring at my burger, Theo walked to a pay phone at the far end of the diner.

“I called camp,” he said when he got back. “Told them you're okay. They asked me why you ran away, but I didn't know what to say. So I told them you were playing a practical joke. You know, camp stuff.”

“Thanks, Theo.”

“I ran away once,” he said. “After my grandfather got sick. I didn't know what to do. So I just … took off.”

“Did you go back home?”

“Yes. Eventually. My parents were pretty mad. But in the end, they forgave me.”

Theo pushed the burger in my direction.

“Why don't you eat, Hal?”

I looked down at the burger, but instead of eating, my mouth started to talk. “That's nice for you, Theo,” I heard myself say. “About your parents. But the thing is, my dad is
never
going to forgive me. I think he hates me.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Yes. I mean, first of all, history is his favorite thing in the world. And I almost failed history last year. Then he sent me to Camp Jamestown. Where I got
zero
hats.”

“That doesn't mean he hates you—”

“I'm a total embarrassment to him. I might as well just keep on running.”

“You're not a total embarrassment, Hal. Your leather beading was nice. And your bow-and-arrow skills were not bad. I mean, you really nailed that squirrel on the other kid's target…”

“I'm sure you were good at other things too, Hal.”

I thought for a few seconds, then looked up at Theo. “I found a clue to the treasure,” I said.

“Treasure?”

“Yeah. I'm not supposed to say anything. But I'll tell you. Seeing as how there's no way we'll find it now. The treasure is a bunch of pearls buried by Sam Prentice.”

I told Theo the whole story. How Vinny told me about the treasure on the bus. How we spent the past two weeks hunting for it.

“Are you sure it's buried on camp grounds?”

“Five hundred feet west of the B. E. Whatever that is.”