Boys, Bears, and a Serious Pair of Hiking Boots(12)
Author: Abby McDonald

“Jenna!” Susie calls when I’m contemplating another layer of sunscreen.

“Out here!” I yell back.

“Oh, hey.” She emerges from the house, covered in sawdust. “Your mom called, but she was in a rush, so I said you’d call her later.”

“Everything OK?”

“Well, she did say she was about to go shopping with Milicent. . . .” We share a grimace. Grandma is nothing if not demanding company. Susie pauses to brush dust off her arms. “Now that I’ve found you, can you do me a favor?”

“Sure.” I sit up slowly and wait for the sun-daze to subside.

“I need a bunch of stuff from the store, but I’m waiting on a delivery.” Susie holds up a list, her expression hopeful. “Can you run out for me? It won’t take a minute.”

“No problem,” I agree immediately. I need to get these letters in the mail, and after all, I owe Susie. If it weren’t for her, I’d be trailing around every housewares department in the Orlando metro area right about now. “Is there a bike I can use?”

“Uh, I think you’ll need the truck for this one — unless you can fit five cans of paint in your backpack!” She hands me the scrap of paper just as the phone begins to ring. She jogs back toward the house. “You should find everything at the hardware store!”

I’m losing an epic battle when my cell rings. With one eye on the road, I reach over for my purse. “Olivia? I take back everything I ever said about your driving.”

She laughs, faint and crackling from bad reception. “What do you mean?”

“Tell me how the hell to drive stick!” I hear a grinding sound from the engine and try to pump the clutch again. A bicycle doesn’t have these kind of problems — oh, no, just five gears and two pedals — and no cloud of exhaust fumes either.

“How’s it going out there? Have you been mauled by wild bears yet? How’s Susie?” Livvy peppers me with questions. I check the road, but it’s clear in both directions, so I don’t bother to pull over. Switching the phone to my other hand, I turn the radio down.

“It’s going . . . OK.” I realize how hesitant I must sound, so quickly continue. “Susie’s great, she’s really settled up here, and Adam seems decent enough.”

“And the step-kid?”

“Umm, don’t ask.” I yank the truck into third gear with a lurch. It’s lucky there’s no one around to see my bad driving, just an empty stretch of asphalt lined thickly with trees. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a quiet road — I’m so used to dense traffic and four-lane highways.

“You’ll have to send me photos,” she insists. “I want to see all the mountains and everything.”

“I will, but . . .” I pause. “I didn’t realize, but it might be kind of hard to keep the Green Teen stuff going up here.”

“You’re in the middle of nature!”

“I know!” The irony isn’t lost on me. “But everyone drives around in these hulking great pickup trucks, and the AC is running all the time . . .”

“Maybe it could be like a project,” she suggests. “Give the town an eco-makeover while you’re there. I know how you love a challenge.”

I laugh. “Do not!”

“Umm, you so do. Besides, what else are you going to do? You can’t work up there, right?”

“Nope, I’m on a tourist visa.” I sigh, thinking of my college account. My parents are giving me a guilt allowance, but I was planning on saving all my summer earnings. “Maybe I should,” I muse. “They could be environmentally friendly by the time I leave! Anyway, what’s up with you?”

“We got the job!” Olivia exclaims.

“At the collective? That’s awesome! Why didn’t you say something to begin with?” I cheer. “What will you be doing?”

“Cleaning, cooking, basic stuff. But I’ve got a list of the workshops they offer, and they all sound so amazing.” She sighs happily. “Plus, I get all that time away from my parents — with Cash!”

“Uh, yeah, how are they taking that?”

She giggles. “I haven’t told them about him yet — that he’s going to be there, I mean.”

“So what did you say?”

“You’d be proud of me, it was like, Jenna-worthy levels of planning! First, I left some of the camp leaflets lying around, so they could see . . .”

I settle back in the driver’s seat and listen to Olivia’s familiar chatter, watching carefully for the turn-off to Main Street. Apparently there’s only one, but I’m sure I’ll miss it all the same.

“So then I just had to have Cash’s friend pose as one of the other counselors and —”

“Omigod!” I scream, slamming on the brakes. The truck shudders to a stop. I sit there, seat belt painfully tight against my chest and my breath coming fast.

“Jenna? Jenna? Are you OK?” Olivia cries.

When I recover the phone from the side of my seat, Livvy is having a minor meltdown. I swallow, staring at the street ahead in disbelief. “I . . . I’m OK. I think.”

“What the hell happened?”

“A moose.” I whisper, in case it hears me.

“What?”

“There’s a moose. In the road.” I blink, but the thing in front of me doesn’t disappear; it just swishes its tail and sniffs the asphalt. It’s utterly surreal, seeing something up close that’s only ever been on my TV or in a magazine.

“That’s amazing! What does it look like?” Livvy gasps. “Are you sure it’s not a deer?”

“It’s too ugly to be a deer.” I study the animal, calling on my extensive knowledge of holiday cards. “Maybe it’s mutant goat.” I shake my head. “What does it matter what it is? It’s big and horned and it’s right in the middle of the road!”

“Is it moving?”

“No. It’s just standing there.” The beast turns and looks at me with big eyes from under a set of twisted antlers. By instinct, I duck down, hiding behind the dashboard. “Now it’s staring at me! Should I get out?”

“Calm down!” Livvy laughs.

“Helpful, thanks!” I hiss. “But I don’t have much experience dealing with wild, rampaging beasts!”

“You should probably stay where you are.”