Nanaimo, Ill bet. She said it the same way people in Nanaimo would say Vancouver, with a sneer that said nothing good came from the big city. Maybe Victoria. She peered at us. Probably Victoria. Only rich kids can afford to mess up nice clothes like that. Private school, Ill bet. You talk like you come from a private school.
We do. I jabbed my finger at the paper. Salmon Creek School. Privately owned by the St. Cloud Corporation. Our teachers name is Mrs. Morris. Shes the mother of Hayley, one of the girls they said died. There are thirteen kids in our class, which covers grades eleven and twelve. Were in eleven. Look, do you have a computer? I can show you Maya Delaneys Facebook page. Which has my photo on it. Ill have to use my password to access it because all my details are set to private. That should prove its mine.
You kids these days are too smart for your own good, the server said. Im sure youve got Facebook pages set up for this scheme.
What scheme? Sam said, her voice rising. What possible motivation could we have to do this?
Attention. The server crossed her arms. I bet youve got friends out there taping us. Make fun of the locals. Post the videos on YouTunes.
YouTube, Sam muttered.
See? She shook her head. Spoiled brats. You arent even thinking about these poor kids and how their parents must be feeling.
Yes. I met her gaze. I am thinking about how my parents are feeling. They think they just lost their only child. I need them to know that Im alive.
I glanced at the lone customer. He looked away quickly and focused on his lunch.
I turned back to the server. If I can just use your phone
Why? To call your friends to come and get you? Better get walking, girl. Its a long way to town.
She kicked us out after that. There was nothing we could do, nothing we could say. She knew the storythose kids had died in a crash on the other end of the island. DNA said it was the missing kids and everyone who watched CSI knew DNA never lied.
Its official, Sam said as we walked out. Were screwed. The universe is conspiring to destroy us.
If it was, I think it could have managed that a few times by now.
Ah, but thats the trick. You cheat death, it keeps trying. Didnt you see that movie?
All of them, actually. Serena loved A brief pause. She loved horror movies.
Did she? Id have thought her more the romance type.
Girls?
I glanced back to see the man from the restaurant.I slowed to let him catch up.
He was a little older than Id first thought. Maybe forty. Sandy brown hair. Short beard. Golf shirt. Trousers. Loafers. He looked like a schoolteacher.
Im sorry about what happened in there, he said. I dont know anything about that helicopter crashIm on vacation with my family, and havent been reading the papers. But Ive got a girl about your age, and I cant imagine her going to all this trouble to pull a prank. Even if she did He shrugged. Kids do silly things sometimes. No excuse to strand them in the middle of a forest.
I noticed Daniel and Corey circling around by the trees and subtly motioned for them to wait.
Thanks, I said. We really just need to call our parents. If I could borrow your cell phone, that would be great. I pulled out the twenty. I know it might be an expensive call, but this should cover it.
No, no. He waved the money away. You make that call and you take as long as you like. He reached into his pocket and came out empty. Huh. My phone must have fallen out in the truck. Just a sec.
He walked to the pickup. We waited. A couple of minutes later, he came back shaking his head.
Phone not there? I called.
No. Its the damnedest thing because my wife made sure I brought it. I hope it didnt fall out when I was getting gas.
Can you do us a favor then? I said. Talk to the server and get her to let us use hers? I can pay, like I said.
He shook his head. I already tried putting in a good word for you. Shes having none of it. Ill have to give you girls a lift into town.
On Vancouver Island, hitchhiking is considered a perfectly feasible way to travel, prohibited only on the highway, where you could get hit. In Salmon Creek, though, we got stranger-danger classes from kindergarten. Ours were probably a little different from mostwe were taught that anyone in Salmon Creek could be trusted; it was the rest of the world we needed to watch out for.
Some kids did start hitching rides into town when they hit that awkward old enough to hang out in Nanaimo but not old enough to drive there stage. If Id tried it, Im not sure who would have killed me firstmy parents or Daniel.
I didnt trust this guy. I didnt like his story about the cell phone. I didnt like his excuse for not helping us with the server. Even if I totally believed him, I wouldnt have gotten in the truck. So why was I considering it?
Because he had a truck. And we needed it, and if he did turn out to be a creep, even Daniel wouldnt argue about abandoning him by the roadside.
We do. I jabbed my finger at the paper. Salmon Creek School. Privately owned by the St. Cloud Corporation. Our teachers name is Mrs. Morris. Shes the mother of Hayley, one of the girls they said died. There are thirteen kids in our class, which covers grades eleven and twelve. Were in eleven. Look, do you have a computer? I can show you Maya Delaneys Facebook page. Which has my photo on it. Ill have to use my password to access it because all my details are set to private. That should prove its mine.
You kids these days are too smart for your own good, the server said. Im sure youve got Facebook pages set up for this scheme.
What scheme? Sam said, her voice rising. What possible motivation could we have to do this?
Attention. The server crossed her arms. I bet youve got friends out there taping us. Make fun of the locals. Post the videos on YouTunes.
YouTube, Sam muttered.
See? She shook her head. Spoiled brats. You arent even thinking about these poor kids and how their parents must be feeling.
Yes. I met her gaze. I am thinking about how my parents are feeling. They think they just lost their only child. I need them to know that Im alive.
I glanced at the lone customer. He looked away quickly and focused on his lunch.
I turned back to the server. If I can just use your phone
Why? To call your friends to come and get you? Better get walking, girl. Its a long way to town.
She kicked us out after that. There was nothing we could do, nothing we could say. She knew the storythose kids had died in a crash on the other end of the island. DNA said it was the missing kids and everyone who watched CSI knew DNA never lied.
Its official, Sam said as we walked out. Were screwed. The universe is conspiring to destroy us.
If it was, I think it could have managed that a few times by now.
Ah, but thats the trick. You cheat death, it keeps trying. Didnt you see that movie?
All of them, actually. Serena loved A brief pause. She loved horror movies.
Did she? Id have thought her more the romance type.
Girls?
I glanced back to see the man from the restaurant.I slowed to let him catch up.
He was a little older than Id first thought. Maybe forty. Sandy brown hair. Short beard. Golf shirt. Trousers. Loafers. He looked like a schoolteacher.
Im sorry about what happened in there, he said. I dont know anything about that helicopter crashIm on vacation with my family, and havent been reading the papers. But Ive got a girl about your age, and I cant imagine her going to all this trouble to pull a prank. Even if she did He shrugged. Kids do silly things sometimes. No excuse to strand them in the middle of a forest.
I noticed Daniel and Corey circling around by the trees and subtly motioned for them to wait.
Thanks, I said. We really just need to call our parents. If I could borrow your cell phone, that would be great. I pulled out the twenty. I know it might be an expensive call, but this should cover it.
No, no. He waved the money away. You make that call and you take as long as you like. He reached into his pocket and came out empty. Huh. My phone must have fallen out in the truck. Just a sec.
He walked to the pickup. We waited. A couple of minutes later, he came back shaking his head.
Phone not there? I called.
No. Its the damnedest thing because my wife made sure I brought it. I hope it didnt fall out when I was getting gas.
Can you do us a favor then? I said. Talk to the server and get her to let us use hers? I can pay, like I said.
He shook his head. I already tried putting in a good word for you. Shes having none of it. Ill have to give you girls a lift into town.
On Vancouver Island, hitchhiking is considered a perfectly feasible way to travel, prohibited only on the highway, where you could get hit. In Salmon Creek, though, we got stranger-danger classes from kindergarten. Ours were probably a little different from mostwe were taught that anyone in Salmon Creek could be trusted; it was the rest of the world we needed to watch out for.
Some kids did start hitching rides into town when they hit that awkward old enough to hang out in Nanaimo but not old enough to drive there stage. If Id tried it, Im not sure who would have killed me firstmy parents or Daniel.
I didnt trust this guy. I didnt like his story about the cell phone. I didnt like his excuse for not helping us with the server. Even if I totally believed him, I wouldnt have gotten in the truck. So why was I considering it?
Because he had a truck. And we needed it, and if he did turn out to be a creep, even Daniel wouldnt argue about abandoning him by the roadside.
