Chapter 30

No one has to wake me up today. I’m too excited to see how many new people will be at church this morning! I’m up before everyone in my family, so I decide to take a quick look at my new tree house.

Building it was quite an adventure, and I’m looking forward to even more adventures now that it’s done. Billy and I can have tree house campouts. My cousins will have a new place to sleep when they visit, and I won’t have to give up my bed or hide all the snacks in my room. I might even hold meetings in the tree house to teach wilderness survival skills to other kids. After all, I’m practically one with the woods—

Ooof! I trip over a rock and stumble down a hill. Jumping to my feet, I brush myself off and look around. I’m pretty sure that only one squirrel saw me, and I don’t think he’ll tell anyone.

I lean against a branch and look up. The big tree is right in front of me, supporting the tree house I built. Well, not just me. I did have some help.

If I’m actually being honest, I didn’t do that much. I really only put up one wall by myself. But I did get all the wood and supplies. That’s something, right?

Suddenly something snaps. It’s the branch I’m leaning against. I fall over into a large bush that evidently hasn’t had a hug in a while. It grabs me and doesn’t let go!

“Help!” I shout.

I finally wrestle away from the squirming bush and climb to my feet. Looking around once more, I’m thankful the squirrel is gone, but now I hear the sound of laughter mixed with coughing. I turn to see Mr. Polvado.

“Hey,” I say. “How did you know I was down here?”

“Everything within two miles knows you’re down here with all that tripping and falling and bush wrangling.”

Maybe I’m not quite one with the woods—yet.

Mr. Polvado and I look up at the tree house. Neither of us says a word.

“You kids really did a great job building that thing,” he says, breaking the silence.

“Come on, we all know you did most of the work,” I say. “This was supposed to be my summer project. But I’d still be working on the floor if it wasn’t for you. Thank you.”

“Well, I helped a little,” Mr. Polvado says. “But it’s your job to finish. I just realized there’s a missing nail over in the corner.”

“What?” I say, looking up. “A missing nail? Where?”

“Yup, you’re one nail short of creating The Greatest Tree House Ever Built,” he says with a grin. “I just happen to have a nail in my vest pocket. And I think my hammer’s still up there. Climb up and finish your project, Bob.”

I take the nail from Mr. Polvado and scurry up the tree. Just as he suggested, Mr. Polvado’s hammer is conveniently waiting for me. I inspect my creation. It’s better than I ever could have imagined. But that’s not too surprising—after all, I am the brains behind it all!

“Um . . . where does the missing nail go?” I call down to my helpful assistant.

“How should I know?” Mr. Polvado shouts back. “You’re building this thing. I didn’t even want this monstrosity so close to my house.”

He smiles and starts walking away. “I’m a busy man,” he says, just loud enough for me to hear. “I can’t stick around here telling a kid where to put a nail in the upper-right corner where I marked an arrow with a pencil.”

Mr. Polvado disappears into the woods. I turn and look. Sure enough, there’s an arrow pointing to where the final nail should go. I hammer in the nail, finish my tree house goal, and head back to the house to get ready for church.

✽

We arrive ten minutes before the service starts. I know that good Christians are supposed to be ten minutes late, but today is a big day!

We walk in to see that the place is already full. The number of people is at least double our normal attendance. Sure, several of them are asking where the neighborhood watch meeting is being held, but they’re here!

“I guess I have you to thank for this unusually high turnout,” my pastor says, walking up behind me. “My wife and I thank you for your invitation. And I guess you also invited everyone else in town?”

“I did,” I reply. “It was my biggest summer goal and I made it!”

“I’m very proud of you,” my pastor says. “You’re living out what the Bible says about being a light for God. In fact, speaking of lights, I saved you a special seat today in the very back row. It’s far enough away that a phone light can’t reach the stage.”

“Yeah, sorry about that,” I say. “But I appreciated the shout-out. Do you think you could give me one today?”

“We’ll see,” my pastor says with a smile. “So, did you finish your tree house?”

“I did!” I say too loudly for being in church. “Mr. Polvado helped, but he needed me to finish the job.”

Hey, it’s sort of true.

We stand together watching more people arrive. That’s when I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn to see Old Man Gus.

“Wall, wall, hey thar Bobby boy,” he slowly says in his tough-to-understand country accent. “Imma thinkin’ this har thang is yors.”

He holds out his hand. It’s my missing survival handbook!

“Ya lef it in ma sto. I knew yeed wanna it bek, so ah made sure to roosh it ret over to ya.”

“Rushed it right over?” I ask. “I don’t even remember leaving it in your store.”

“I reckin yoo dun it sum tim round April,” Gus says.

“Thanks, Gus,” I say, grinning as I take the book. “You’ll stay for church, right?”

“Guessin’ I wil, since Im alredee har.” Gus sits down in one of the few empty spots.

I walk over to my special reserved seat in the back. Sitting down, I realize it’s a good thing I didn’t leave a carton of milk at Gus’s store. It would’ve been cheese by the time he got it back to me.

I open my survival handbook and flip to the table of contents. I think about how many times I could’ve used this book over the past few months. I also know that, with or without my survival handbook, this summer has been way above average.

The service is about to start, but I spot a chapter about becoming one with the woods. Flipping through the pages, I can’t help but smile. I had forgotten what I used for a bookmark.

It’s my toothbrush!