Thank goodness Ethan and I are in the same cabin, because if I walked into this cabin by myself, I would walk right out, find Mademoiselle Fou, get my phone back, text Brianna and beg her to ask her dad to drive me home.
It’s like a log cabin with ten cots in it. That’s all. No sink. No bathroom. One light in the ceiling. Pine Tree Wilderness Prison. Help!
Ethan said, “Don’t worry. By the time we get back here tonight, we’ll be so tired, we’ll fall right to sleep and it won’t matter where we are.”
The bathroom is a separate building. You walk down a path to get to it. No wonder we had to bring a flashlight. I’m actually glad the bathrooms aren’t in these little cabins. It would be too embarrassing.
We put our sleeping bags on our cots, then everyone went to a big wooden building they call the mess hall for lunch, which was soup and sandwiches. I looked around the big room for Brianna. I didn’t see her.
The mess hall (which is actually very neat) has a lot of tables. Looking around, I see that everyone is sitting almost exactly where they sit in the cafeteria, with the exact same kids. That includes Ethan and me, who are at a table by ourselves in the corner.
It’s also as noisy as the school cafeteria, but it just got quieter. I turned around to see why. It’s Brianna. She’s walking across the mess hall wearing a pink . . . I don’t know what you call it . . . it’s almost like a spacesuit. She has pink shoes, too. She’s carrying a little black box. She sees me and waves. Now she’s sitting with her usual group of girls.
She looks happy. I guess she really is over Buzz. I’m glad she hasn’t heard his new song, “Sophia.”
I wonder which other teachers and parents are here. I look around the room and don’t see Brianna’s dad, but there’s Mr. Obester. There’s the assistant principal.
“Hi Sean. Hi.” Brianna came over and sat down with us. I’m glad she finally said hello to Ethan, too. He might have nodded to her, but I couldn’t tell for sure.
“You look very . . . pink.”
“I know. I couldn’t resist.”
“What is that box?”
She opened it. “Oh, just a little bento box. We passed a sushi place on the way, and I brought it just in case.” She pointed to our sandwiches. “Good thing I did, right?”
“How’s your cabin?”
“My what?”
“Your cabin. The girls are in cabins too, right?”
“Oh. Probably. I’m staying at a cute little B&B.”
“B&B?”
“Bed and breakfast.”
“Hi, Brianna.” It was Doug. He sat down next to Brianna. He didn’t say anything to Ethan or me.
Brianna said, “Do I know you?”
“Doug. From Taxadurmee.”
“What’s that?”
“You know. The band. Buzz.”
Brianna got up. “I have to get back to my friends.” She left.
Doug sat there for a second, then must have realized he was sitting a table with only Ethan and me, because he got up so fast his chair fell over. He didn’t pick it up.
After lunch, they split us into groups and took us on a walk around the place. This was a “walk,” not a “hike.” We can take a hike after the walk, if we want to. I probably wouldn’t want to, but Ethan definitely does, and the other activities you can choose are a soccer game with Mr. Obester (that’s where Javier will be), or boats that you pedal on the lake.
I might have wanted to do the pedal boats, but it’s not warm enough to swim, and the lake isn’t very big, and you have to wear life preservers and take a boat safety class first.
On our walk, the guide told us about all the nature we can see while we’re at the wilderness retreat. You know, rocks and trees and insects and things. I asked if there are any bears, and she said almost definitely not. I asked her what she means by “almost.”
Ethan, who hardly ever talks to anyone except me (and now my mom and dad), was asking a lot of questions, and once even corrected something the guide said that was wrong. She didn’t mind. She was glad that someone else besides her is interested in nature.
All the hiking trails start at the same place. There’s The Easy Trail, The Moderate Trail and The Difficult Trail. You can guess which trail I wanted to take. I thought I might at least be able to talk Ethan into The Moderate Trail, but no.
“Come on, Sean. You’re strong. You’re the King of the Pull-ups.” That’s actually true. I can do more pull-ups than anyone in the school, but you would never know it if you saw me. “It’ll be an adventure.”
I said yes, partly because I know Ethan still has his phone, and we can call for help. He’s sure we won’t have to, because he knows what to do.
They gave all of us bottles of water and healthy snack bars, and told us not to litter, then we all went to our activities or trails.
The Difficult Trail is difficult as soon as you start it. It goes up and up and up. Ethan says that’s good, because we’ll get through the hard part while we’re still fresh. I actually don’t feel that fresh. I’m not used to getting up so early on a Saturday, especially after a tiring week with Baxter and the bidding war and everything else.
There aren’t many kids taking The Difficult Trail. So far we haven’t seen anyone. Any people, that is. We saw a fox squirrel (which is more squirrely than foxy), a raccoon and a little family of deer. It was actually very cool. I got a nice picture of the baby deer before they all saw us and ran away.
I never saw Ethan so happy. He loves hiking, and he loves telling you all about what you’re seeing. I guess Ethan was being his Uncle Neil and I was being him. I don’t know if I’ll remember everything he’s telling me, but it’s fun seeing how excited he can get about a bird or which berries you can eat.
Ethan had to pee, so he went into the woods, and I waited on the trail and looked around. It’s so quiet. I didn’t realize how high up we hiked. Then I heard some sounds from behind me.
It was Doug and Myles, one of his football friends.
“Look what’s here.” That’s what Doug always used to say when he saw me before he thought I could help the band get famous. Now he knows I can’t.
“Where’s your girlfriend, Rosen?” He means Brianna. He knows she’s not my girlfriend. “Are you lost on the mountain, you little ___________?” (not a nice word)
I didn’t know what to say, so I didn’t say anything.
He walked over and stood close to me. I hate when he does this.
“Oh, does little Sean want to go home? I see a shortcut.”
I looked where he was looking. It’s a steep part of the mountain behind the trail where I was standing. If someone pushed you, it wouldn’t be good. You might not fall all the way to the bottom, but you’d definitely crash into a lot of rocks.
Myles laughed. “‘Fifth Grader Killed in Hiking Accident.’ Oh, that’s right. He only looks like a fifth grader.”
Doug moved even closer to me. Close enough to push me off the trail. “They’ll probably find you. Sooner or later.”
“Hey, Doug . . .” It was Ethan. Doug and Myles were surprised to see him. I was, too. I didn’t hear him walk up. How can someone as big as Ethan move so quietly? “I want you to meet my friend.”
I moved away from the edge of the trail, and Ethan took his hand from behind his back and pulled out a really, really big snake. You could tell it was alive, because it kept moving its long, slithery body around.
Ethan held the snake near Doug’s face. “Say hello to Doug . . . Poison.”
The snake wiggled his tongue and made a scary sound. It was the only sound you could hear. Doug couldn’t move. He looked like he was going to die of fear right there.
Then Ethan said, “They’ll probably find you. Sooner or later.”
The snake made that sound again.
Myles grabbed Doug and pulled him away. They ran down the trail together.
Ethan was still holding the snake. I didn’t get too close.
“Um . . . Poison?”
“Oh. No. She’s not poisonous.”
“She?”
“Yeah. The females are bigger and a little meaner. It’s just a hognose snake.”
“Did you have it in your backpack, or . . .”
“No. She was on the ground. You pick them up with a forked stick. I just brought her back to show you.”
“Thanks. Excellent timing, Ethan. I hope Doug brought that extra pair of underwear.”