Breakdown

by Joseph Monninger

  Whatever it was called, it was often hard to know what he understood. He had difficulty filtering things.

  “We’re going to be okay,” she said calmly. “There’s nothing in the woods that will hurt you, I promise. We’re probably going to be broken down here for a little while, but someone will figure out that we haven’t made our travel connections and then they’ll come for us. No problem. You believe me, right?”

  Simon nodded. He could talk, but he usually didn’t.

  She wanted to say more to reassure him, but then Flash called them back to the van. He stood next to the sliding passenger door and waved them closer. Bess put her arm through Simon’s and walked him over. She made sure to station herself on the opposite side of the small gathering from Tock.

  Olivia cracked a piece of hard candy between the molars at the back of her jaw. She liked the way the candy exploded even more than the taste really. Actually, she liked everything about Mann’s Hard Candy: the little cellophane wrapper that uncurled so easily if you knew how to twist the end just right; the brightness of the candy; the sweet, nearly tongue-numbing flavor of the orange and lime and Hawaiian-punch mango candies; the sugary coating they left on her tongue and lips. She ate a lot of hard candy and kept a few pieces in various pockets on her most of the time. She thought of them as little treats. The dentist warned her about eating so much hard candy, and so did her family physician, but she didn’t listen.

  She stopped chewing long enough to hear what Flash had to say.

  “I guess it’s pretty plain to everyone that we’re broke down,” Flash said, his voice surprisingly reedy for such a beefy man. “And I can’t tell you that anyone is going to be on the way to get us anytime soon. They expect us to make it up to International Falls sometime this afternoon. We’ve come about thirty miles. We probably have close to thirty in front of us.”

  “I thought it was called One Hundred Mile Road,” Maggie asked.

  Maggie always asks, Olivia thought. She needed to know everything. She reminded Olivia of a dragonfly that had to land on everything to know it.

  “It’s called One Hundred Mile Road because it feels like a hundred miles to go over it, what with the ruts and everything. It’s about sixty miles, give or take. And it goes through a bunch of woods. Nothing between here and there.”

  “So what do we do?” Maggie asked.

  “You do nothing,” Flash said. “I’m going to walk back to Camp Summertime and see what I can scare up. I’ll make some calls.”

  “You’re going to walk thirty miles?” Tock mocked him. “You go, Flash.”

  “You have a better idea, Tock?” Flash asked.

  “Why not go in the other direction?” Preston asked.

  Olivia crunched another piece of candy in her teeth. It was interesting to watch the dynamics. Preston was a goody-goody, kind of the angel, opposite of the devious Tock. She had seen a cartoon once in which a little red devil perched on one shoulder of Bugs Bunny and a little white angel on the other. Tock and Preston could have played the roles without combing the hairs on their heads a bit different. It was fascinating to watch.

  “Because I can maybe get the old gray van by going that way and I can call ahead,” Flash said. “It’s probably closer to go forward, but I can’t guarantee I’d find transport for you.”

  “We’re not going to make our connections,” Maggie said, as if fully understanding the situation for the first time. “That’s right, isn’t it? I mean, there’s no way, right?”

  “Not unless someone comes along, and that’s not very likely. The road’s gated at both ends. Devon and I are the only ones with keys beside the Wilmonts and the police.”

  “So what are we supposed to do?” Bess asked. “While you’re walking, I mean.”

  “Nothing you can do,” Flash said. “Except wait and hang tight. Stay with the van. Someone will come get you eventually. If not me, someone else.”

  Olivia thought, Famous last words. She crunched one of the pebbles of hard candy left in her right cheek. It gave a satisfying crack inside her head.

  “We should sue,” Tock said, his eyes moving around in search of support. “I mean it.”

  “Well, you go and sue, big boy,” Flash said. “I’ll be back as fast as I can. It might take a day or more.”

  “A day or more?” Maggie yelped. “Are you serious?”

  “Serious as a heart attack,” Flash said. “You all stay with the van, you understand? Don’t leave it. You’ve got shelter here, and that’s the main thing. Just hold tight.”

  “We don’t have anything to eat,” Preston said. “And I don’t think we have much water.”

  “I’ll tell you what,” Flash said. “You can walk, and I’ll stay here. How would that suit you?”

  Preston didn’t say anything. Olivia smiled, not entirely displeased to see Flash stick a barb in Preston’s perfect composure.

  Flash didn’t wait around. He raised his hand in a salute as he left.

  “Adios,” he said.

  No one, Olivia noticed, answered him back.

  Quincy stood outside the van, his hand up to shade his eyes from the late-afternoon sun. It was boiling. It was the time of day they used to swim at camp, but now they stood on a road in the middle of the woods during the hottest part of the afternoon.

  It was really boiling.

  He kept his hand up and watched Preston walk around on top of the van. This was the big plan, Quincy knew. The idea was to gain height by climbing on the roof of the van and maybe catch a cell phone signal. It had been Preston’s idea, one hatched after everyone had sat in the shade for most of the early afternoon. Quincy had wanted to point out that if it made sense to climb on the van, why not climb a tree instead? A tree was taller, after all, and by their logic they would stand a better chance of getting a signal. But Quincy knew his voice didn’t count for much in these kinds of situations. It just didn’t. Besides, he preferred not to draw Tock’s attention.

  So he stood with everyone else and watched Preston hold his phone up in various directions, the van roof making wobbly metal sounds underneath him. It must have been a zillion degrees on the roof, Quincy figured. Preston reminded Quincy of a priest or a rabbi, his hands up as if celebrating a religious service. It was funny to think about it like that if you didn’t care that it also meant they were stranded on a road in the middle of a Minnesota pine forest.

  “Anything?” Maggie asked.

  Preston didn’t take his eyes off the phone, but he shook his head.

  “Well, don’t point it back toward camp,” Tock said. “There’s nothing back that way.”

  “There’s nothing any which way,” Bess said. “There’s no signal. No one has had a signal all summer.”

  “Ginny McCall got one,” Olivia said. “She was out on the lake when she got it.”

  Quincy didn’t know if that was true or not. It was part of camp lore that Ginny McCall got one, but who knew for sure? Camp life consisted of a million rumors.

  “Nothing,” Preston said, bringing the phone to his side. “Not even a bar.”

  Quincy watched him climb off the van. Preston slid on his butt down the windshield, then took a quick hop and jumped off the engine hood. He landed with a little woof of his air going out. He was showing off, Quincy knew, but that was Preston’s way.

  “So now what?” Maggie asked.

  “Now nothing,” Tock said, rubbing his hands together like an arch criminal and making his voice a little crazy. “Unless we decide to eat Simon. How about a little Simon burger? Or a big roll of Simon bologna? With plenty of mayoooooo …”

  “Leave him alone,” Bess said.

  Quincy watched Bess walk Simon away from the group. Quincy would have stood up to Tock if he thought he stood a chance. Tock was no joke.

  “Does anybody have any food?” Maggie asked. “We should put everything together and see what we have.”

  “We should put everything together and see what we have,” Tock said, mocking her by
trying to match her voice. “Come on, everyone. Let’s all do what Maggie says.”

  “We need water,” Preston said. “Water is more important than food. As hot as it is, we’re going to really need plenty of water.”

  “We’re in Minnesota,” Tock said, picking up a stone and chucking it into the woods. “The land of ten thousand lakes, duh.”

  “Potable water,” Maggie said. “Drinkable water.”

  “Potable? You actually said potable? You guys are ridiculous,” Tock said. “You make me sick. You’re such wimps.”

  “And what are you? A pretend Marine?” Olivia chimed in.

  Tock slowly, slowly turned to look at her. She cracked a piece of hard candy between her teeth. It was strange to see someone call Tock on his junk for once. Honestly, Quincy reflected, Olivia was bigger than Tock and probably stronger. People didn’t mess with Olivia. She had a slow, silent strength that got her selected for teams faster than just about anyone in camp. She didn’t look athletic, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t. She had won the Color Games tug-of-war championship, which meant, more or less, that she was the strongest camper in camp. She had bear strength, people said.

  “You’ll see what I am if you don’t shut up,” Tock said.

  “Anytime,” Olivia said, squaring her shoulders. “Bring it.”

  She didn’t change her tone or expression. She simply stared at him. Tock moved his eyes away after a little while. That was that, Quincy thought. Hierarchy established. He knew, though, that Tock would try his best to get even. Tock didn’t let things slide.

  “Is anyone else getting hotter?” Maggie suddenly asked. “I am so sweaty. It’s disgusting, this heat.”

  “I can’t believe we’re spending the night here,” Bess said, slowly walking Simon back to the group. “I mean, that’s really happening, isn’t it?”

  “Flash can’t walk thirty miles and get back here tonight,” Tock said. “No way. He’s going to be sleeping out if you ask me. We’re stuck here.”

  No one said anything. But then Quincy had a brainstorm.

  “Why don’t we build a fire?” he said. “That would be a place to start. It will give us something to do, and it will keep any animals away.”

  No one said anything against it, Quincy noted, and that was as much of an endorsement as he was likely to get.

  “Collect whatever you have inside,” Bess said after a moment. “Any food or water and bring it out. We can see what we have, anyway.”

  “I’ll collect kindling,” Quincy said. “Does anyone have a match?”

  “I’ll check,” Olivia said. “I’ve seen Flash stash some for his cigarette breaks.”

  “Bring out anything that might be useful,” Bess yelled as people headed toward the van. “Even if you’re not sure, just bring it, anyway.”

  Quincy went to the edge of the woods and collected pinecones and twigs. He loved making fires. It was his favorite thing to do at camp.

  It isn’t much, Maggie thought, kneeling at the edge of the canvas tarp spread on the ground as a collection station. Whatever they had to eat stretched out in front of her.

  It isn’t much, she thought again.

  The trouble was, everyone had cleaned out their stashes to get ready for the trip home. All summer, she knew, they had hundreds of boxes of candy, gum, marshmallows, juice boxes … all the good stuff. The food and candy had come in boxes from home, and you could never walk into your cabin without someone holding out a brown box and saying, “Go ahead, my mom sent it.”

  Brownies, fudge, fresh apples, dried apricots, yogurt-covered raisins. You name it, you could find it.

  But now, she repeated to herself, it isn’t much.

  “Is that everything?” Bess asked from her position across the canvas. “I figured we’d have more than that.”

  “Everyone cleaned out for the trip home,” Maggie said. “It’s not much.”

  “We’re not going to be here that long,” Preston said. “It’s not like we’re going to die out here.”

  “It’s good to know what we can count on,” Olivia said. “Good to know what we have. You need to tally things.”

  Maggie did a quick inventory.

  A half bag of Swedish Fish. A Snickers bar. A six-pack of Cracker Jack. Two cans of diet cola. Ten bottles of spring water. A sleeve of chocolate chip cookies. A pair of bananas so old and black they looked like witches’ fingers. A can of cat food. A jar of salmon eggs. A melted and flattened Hershey bar. Half a stick of beef jerky. A can of ravioli. A single-serving-sized bag of dried beans and rice.

  One book of matches from underneath the driver’s seat.

  It isn’t much, Maggie thought one final time.

  “We could eat a little tonight, divide it up, then save some for tomorrow,” Preston said. “We’ll be out of here tomorrow.”

  “Let’s eat it all,” Tock said, being wild and silly, Maggie knew. She doubted he could help himself. He just said things to say things.

  “We should hold it back for a couple days,” Bess said. “We shouldn’t plan to be rescued right away. You never know.”

  Maggie saw Olivia nod. Simon nodded, too, but he usually nodded at anything Bess said. Preston didn’t comment one way or the other, and Quincy didn’t care as long as he had a chance to make a fire. People behaved in predictable ways, she reflected.

  “Why don’t we make a food committee?” Maggie asked. “The committee could decide how the food should be divvied up.”

  “A food committee?” Tock said. “For what? We’re not on the top of Mount Everest, you know.”

  “We could start with a handful each of Cracker Jack,” Olivia said. “I know I’m hungry. Just a bite.”

  “We should all drink water, too,” Bess said. “Stay hydrated.”

  “Is this a Scout meeting or something?” Tock asked. He reached over and grabbed a box of Cracker Jack and split the top off it. Then he went around and poured out a handful for each person. It took him three boxes, but at the end he emptied the remaining portion into his mouth. Maggie judged it to be the lion’s share, but she didn’t say anything because the bite of Cracker Jack was beyond delicious. She didn’t want to risk losing the taste of it by talking. She chewed carefully and swallowed only when she had sucked the last bit of flavor out of it.

  “Now the fire?” Quincy asked. “It was too hot before, but it’s cooling down a little.”

  “Now the fire,” Bess said.

  Simon watched the fire.

  He had been near fires plenty of times over the summer, but they never ceased to amaze him. He liked the way they moved and danced. He liked how they smelled. Sometimes he could watch a branch or twig take the heat and guess when it would explode into flame. That was an excellent use of his time.

  Simon was very concerned about time usually. But a fire lived outside of time, so he didn’t count it in the same way.

  He sat on the ground. He wore plenty of clothes, too, although it was honestly too hot for the clothes he wore. That had been an excellent use of his time. He felt warm beside the fire. The fire existed down on the ground, and the stars existed in the sky, and he thought the flames could drop down out of the sky as easily as rise up from the earth. That’s what he thought, though he knew he couldn’t explain that to anyone except Bess. And even she wouldn’t understand. Bess knew a lot, but she didn’t know everything.

  He liked everything about the fire except Tock. Tock lived on the other side of the fire, and his face sometimes turned into the face of a wolf. Tock was a horrible use of time.

  “What if Flash doesn’t come back?” Maggie asked. “What do we do then? Do we just sit here and wait forever?”

  “Do we just sit here and wait forever?” Tock mocked her, twisting his voice the way she did.

  Simon believed Tock had twenty or more voices inside him. They ran down inside him, side by side, like two dozen electrical wires that filled up a cable. He could do a Maggie voice better than Maggie could.

  “Well, do we?�
�� Maggie insisted on an answer.

  “We’re better off here beside the van than somewhere else along the road,” Preston said. Preston sat at three o’clock around the fire. Preston used his time very well, Simon thought. Preston kept his eyes on the fire while he talked.

  “We might have to walk out,” Olivia said. “We can’t depend on Flash making it back to camp.”

  “He’ll make it. Thirty miles isn’t that far,” Bess said.

  “Thirty miles is pretty far,” Preston said. “Flash isn’t in the greatest shape, you know?”

  “He smokes,” Bess said.

  Simon nodded. That’s what he would have said. Flash did not use his time well at all.

  “If he makes it back to camp, he can call for help,” Maggie said.

  “Someone is going to come for us, anyway,” Preston said. “People will notice that we didn’t show up for our connections. We just have to hang tight. It’s really no big deal.”

  “Unless we starve,” Maggie said. “Or unless we get dehydrated and pass out.”

  “It takes a few days for that to happen,” Olivia said, her mouth breaking candy in between words. “The heat should break soon for the night.”

  “And there should be some water nearby,” Preston said. “We can find a clean source.”

  “We could walk out, you know?” Olivia said. “It could be kind of cool. It would be an adventure.”

  “It’s about thirty miles,” Preston said.

  “So?” Olivia asked. “We could do it. It might take two days, maybe three. But we could do it. We could just stay on the road. If someone comes along, fine. If not, at least we’re getting somewhere. As long as we took some breaks when it was at its hottest, we’d be fine.”

  “Flash said to stay,” Maggie said. “He was clear about that.”

  Tock threw a big hunk of pine into the fire. He did it just to make sparks, Simon knew. Tock liked anything that broke apart.

  “I’m walking out tomorrow,” he said. “I don’t care what Flash said.”