by Dan Gutman
“Wait!” Julia yelled from behind us. “Don’t drink it!”
Henry lifted his head out of the pond.
“Why not?” he asked, water dripping down his face.
“It’s poisonous,” Julia said as she limped over near the water.
“How do you know?” Arcadia asked.
“There’s no vegetation around the pond,” she replied. “The plants died.”
“I’ve seen plenty of ponds that didn’t have vegetation around them,” Henry insisted. “This water looks fine to me.”
But he didn’t drink from it. We all watched as Julia walked around the pond for a minute. Then she kneeled down and picked something up.
“What’s that?” Arcadia asked.
“A bone,” Julia said. “It may be from a rabbit or a squirrel. Some small animal. I’m guessing it took its last drink here.”
“But how could a pond out in the middle of nowhere get poisoned?” Mrs. Herschel asked. “It’s not like there’s a bloody toxic-waste dump around here.”
Julia shrugged. “Who knows?” she said. “Maybe some big animal happened to die around here and was lying in the water. I don’t think it’s safe to drink.”
Oh, man! What a letdown. I could almost taste the water going down my throat. I could have gulped a gallon of it. A wave of depression swept over me. I think we all felt it. I know we all felt it, because Henry started crying. Mrs. Herschel and Arcadia went to comfort him, but he was beyond that.
“I just want a drink,” he sobbed, “and something to eat.”
“We’ll dig a well if we have to,” Julia told him. “We’ll dig until we reach the water table.”
“We’ll find something to drink soon,” I assured Henry. “I bet there’s a water fountain right out here in the woods. Or maybe a soda machine. Did you bring any change with you?”
“It’s not funny!” Henry shouted. “There’s no water out here. We’re gonna die in a few days! We’re finished! Nobody’s gonna find us out here, Zimmerman! At some point, they’ll give up trying! I should’ve gone with David. I’ll bet he found water. I’ll bet he found food.”
I couldn’t blame Henry for freaking out. We were all on edge. We had seen blood and death. We very nearly died ourselves. We were hot and sweaty, hungry and dehydrated. On top of all that, poor Henry had never even been away from home before. He wasn’t about to say how much he missed his parents, but I knew he did because that’s how I felt. I put my arm around him and held him while he cried.
That’s when we heard a loud crack. It had to be one of three things.
Lightning.
A tree falling.
Or a gunshot.
CHAPTER 14:
What a Glorious Feeling
And then it started raining.
I hadn’t noticed the clouds gathering overhead while we were searching for water. But the sky had darkened and when we looked up through the trees, storm clouds were sliding across the sky and lightning was flickering in the distance.
There was never a drizzle. Almost right away, the rain came down in sheets. We were under the trees, so it didn’t hit us full force. But none of us needed to be told what to do. We ran out into the clearing and opened our mouths.
The rain tasted so good. It was like when you’re all sweaty on a really hot day and you’ve been skateboarding for hours and you take that first drink. But even better. The water was fresher, cooler. Or maybe it was just that my body needed it so badly.
“Drink up,” Mrs. Herschel advised. “It could be a long time until we see rain again.”
She didn’t have to tell me. I filled myself with water. Henry cheered up almost instantly. After we drank as much as we could hold, Julia took out one of the plastic garbage bags and we held it wide open to catch some rain for later. We got a couple of gallons in there when Julia said we’d better tie the bag up or it would become too heavy and burst when we tried to carry it back to the campsite.
The rain was still pouring down and we were all drenched and laughing and happily dancing around. My sister just laughed. For all we knew, we were about to get hit by lightning, but it was a risk we were willing to take. And then something really weird happened.
Mrs. Herschel took off her clothes!
“What are you doing?” Arcadia shouted over the storm.
“What does it look like?” Mrs. Herschel said. “I’m taking a blooming shower!”
I couldn’t believe it! I mean, I know we’re born naked and all that. I know it’s perfectly normal and natural to be nude. And when you think about it, wearing clothes is pretty abnormal, especially in the summer when it gets really hot. But here was this old lady peeling off her clothes like it was no big deal and dancing around in the rain! I didn’t know if I should look at her, look away, or what. Mrs. Herschel even pulled a bar of soap out of the pocket of her dress and started soaping herself up with it. Who carries soap around with them?
“I’m taking a shower too!” Julia declared, and she started peeling off her clothes.
“You are not!” I told her. I wasn’t about to have my little sister parading around in the nude with all these people watching.
“Oh, lighten up, Jimmy!” Julia said.
There was nothing I could do. She had already pulled the splint off her leg, and then her pants were off, and they were so wet there was no way I was going to get them back on her.
“What a great idea!” Arcadia said, taking off her flight-attendant uniform. “Let’s skinny-dip in the rain!”
I hadn’t mentioned it to anybody, but before the rains came, we were all starting to smell pretty bad. Especially the guys. And with the dirt and the sweat and the stress and everything we had been through, a shower sounded really good. My clothes were smelly and ripped and soaked anyway.
But I wasn’t sure I had the nerve to take my clothes off. Mrs. Herschel and Arcadia were holding hands and dancing around. Julia was hopping around on one foot while she soaped herself up.
“We’re singin’ in the rain,” they sang, “just singin’ in the rain…”
I looked at Henry, and he looked at me.
“Come on, boys!” Julia shouted. “It feels so good!”
Henry took off his T-shirt, so I took off mine. Then I took my pants off, and he took off his. Then he took his underwear off, and I took off mine.
If it had been just one of us or two of us, it would have been weird. But with all five of us stark naked, it just felt like the thing to do.
Julia handed me the bar of soap, and the dirt ran off me in little streams. Henry and I joined the girls in the song, shouting, laughing, dancing, and drinking more water as it splashed down on us.
Then, just as suddenly as it arrived, the rain stopped falling. It was like a faucet had been turned off. The storm cloud passed over our heads and the sky was sunny again.
It was weird, too. Before, we had been having fun being silly in the rain. Once it stopped, we were five people standing around with no clothes on. We covered ourselves up the best we could with our hands. Suddenly, I felt cold.
“My uniform is soaked,” Arcadia said. “I don’t want to put it on again.”
“My clothes are filthy,” said Julia.
“They’re the only clothes we have,” Henry said.
“No, they’re not,” said Mrs. Herschel.
We all looked at her, and one by one we figured out what she meant. Those suitcases we had recovered from the back of the plane were filled with clothes. Dry clothes. Clean clothes.
“What a great idea!” Arcadia said.
“Oh, no,” Henry said. “I’m not putting on old lady clothes!”
“Me neither,” I agreed.
“Suit yourselves,” Mrs. Herschel said. “But as soon as we get back to the campsite, I’m getting dressed.”
Julia picked up her clothes. Arcadia and Mrs. Herschel helped her walk. Henry and I didn’t have a lot of options. Neither of us memorized the route we took to get there. We didn’t want to stand around t
he forest naked. So we followed them.
By the time we got back to the campsite, we were almost dry. The girls rushed to open up the suitcases and they rifled through the clothes like there was a half-off sale at Target. Mrs. Herschel had no problem finding something that fit her. She put on one of her knitting buddies’ outfits and looked pretty much the same as she did before the rain came.
With Julia and Arcadia, it was another story. My eleven-year-old sister—who usually wears blue jeans and T-shirts—looked hilarious dolled up in an old-lady dress. She tried on a few of them before she found one she liked that fit her.
“I feel so grown-up,” Julia said, spinning around on her good leg so we could all admire her dress.
Arcadia found a green dress that she liked and slipped it over her head. She looked great, of course. She could wear a trash bag with holes cut out for her arms and she’d still look great.
Henry and I pretty much stood around awkwardly while the girls were playing dress up. Once the three of them had clothes on, it felt even weirder to be standing there naked. In the woods. The two of us. The girls were looking at us. Julia giggled.
“Okay, okay!” Henry finally said. “Get me something to wear.”
“Way to go, Henry!” Arcadia said.
The three of them dove into the suitcases looking for the perfect outfit for Henry. It seemed like they had even more fun dressing him up than they did dressing themselves.
“Don’t you think blue would bring out his eyes?” Arcadia asked, holding a flowered dress up in front of Henry.
“Oh, that is so you, Henry!” Julia said.
“Do you think it makes him look fat?” Arcadia asked.
“Let’s accessorize him!” said Mrs. Herschel.
“That’s enough!” Henry yelled, grabbing the dress. “I’ll put it on myself.”
Henry put the dress on, and I have to say, it was hilarious. He looked like he escaped from a Monty Python skit.
“Don’t slouch,” Mrs. Herschel ordered.
“You look ridiculous,” I told Henry.
“Not as ridiculous as you, Zimmerman,” he replied, adjusting the dress.
He was right. He may have been dolled up like an old lady, but at least he had something on. I was the only one who was standing out there in the middle of the forest, naked.
If I wanted to, I could tell you how the girls went through the suitcases until they found the perfect outfit for me. But frankly, it’s just too embarrassing to even discuss. Let’s just say I happen to look good in a purple polyester pantsuit.
“You should see yourself, Jimmy,” my sister said, trying her best not to laugh. “I wish we had a mirror.”
“A mirror?” Arcadia said. “It’s too bad we had to break that camera. This should be recorded for posterity.”
The two of them had a good laugh over me. Mrs. Herschel didn’t laugh, though. She took Henry and me aside and put an arm around each of our shoulders.
“I must hand it to you gentlemen,” she said. “That was not easy to do. But you’ve earned my respect. It takes a real man to dress up like a girl.”
CHAPTER 15:
Food and Shelter
Amazingly, it didn’t take long to get used to the fact that Henry and I were walking around in women’s clothing. Eighty-year-old women’s clothing. Eighty-year-old dead women’s clothing. Within five minutes, nobody was paying any attention to what I was wearing.
We had more important things to worry about. Julia needed a new splint for her leg, and we all pitched in to make her one. Also, the rain just about knocked our fire out. It was a smoldering mess of soggy ashes. If a plane flew overhead, it wouldn’t spot us.
Julia wasn’t concerned. She got down on the ground and poked and prodded until she found an ember that still had some life in it. She added a little tinder and blew on the ember until a few sparks leaped out. The next thing we knew, the fire was blazing again.
When we first crashed, everybody treated my sister like a little kid who needed to be protected. But after seeing the way she started the fire and helped us get water—despite her broken leg—it felt like Julia was the one who was protecting us.
“What do you suggest we do now, sweetie?” Mrs. Herschel asked her.
“After that rain,” Julia said, “I think we need a shelter.”
“You mean we should build a lean-to or something?” asked Arcadia.
“Not exactly,” Julia said, limping over to the plane. “Most of the shelter is already here.”
She was right, as usual. The rounded shell of the front of the plane was mostly intact, and it was waterproof. All we had to do was empty it of the first-class seats and we could sleep in there.
The opening was in the back, where the front half of the plane had separated from the rest. There was that gaping hole there, big enough to walk through. It would be a drag to be sleeping in the plane and have a friendly bear or moose or something decide to join us for the night.
It wasn’t hard to construct a big leafy door to cover the hole. Me and Henry made a basic four-sided frame from thick branches, using vines to tie it together. Julia, Mrs. Herschel, and Arcadia pulled down a bunch of long, thinner branches from the surrounding trees and crisscrossed them the same way you would weave together a piece of cloth from threads. Mrs. Herschel showed them how to do it, because she had spent her whole lifetime sewing.
Once our door was fairly solid, we stuffed thinner branches with leaves through any holes we could see through. Finally, we lifted the whole panel up and leaned it against the plane to cover the hole. There was a real feeling of accomplishment when we were done.
While the girls were weaving the inside of the door, Henry found a tool kit in the cockpit. He and I used it to remove everything we could from the inside of the plane. It wasn’t hard to unscrew the seats. We hauled six of them outside and arranged them in a big circle around the fire. That made enough room on the floor of the plane for all six of us to sleep.
Six of us. I had almost forgotten about David. It had been hours since he stormed out in a huff. David could be a real pain, but he was still my friend and I cared about him. I hoped he was able to drink some water during the downpour.
“Where do you think David is?” I asked Henry.
“He probably killed a bear and he’s walking around in a bearskin coat,” Henry said. “I’m sure he’ll come cruising back here any minute, gloating and telling us about the cool adventure he had.”
It took about an hour to strip most of the stuff out of the plane. When we were done, the place looked pretty good. It wasn’t a Holiday Inn or anything, but it was home.
“Not a bad shelter,” Julia said. “Not bad at all.”
“Boy,” Henry said, “we sure are lucky this plane happened to crash here. That made building the shelter a lot easier.”
“Very funny,” I said, flopping into one of the seats around the fire. Henry took the seat next to me, and one by one the girls came over too. I was glad they joined us. I was exhausted, but I didn’t want to lie around and rest while the others were working.
“Remember when you said people can survive a month without food?” Arcadia asked Julia.
“Yeah.”
“How is that possible?” Arcadia asked. “I mean, my stomach is growling right now, and it’s only been a day or so since we crashed.”
“Mine too,” Henry said. “You think Domino’s delivers out here?”
I had almost forgotten about food. I guess my stomach somehow figured out it wasn’t going to get anything to eat, so it just closed up shop. But as soon as Arcadia brought it up, the hunger pangs returned. I could really go for Chinese, or Italian.
“If you don’t eat,” Julia explained, “your digestive system starts to use the nutrients you have in storage. First it devours carbohydrates, then fats. After that, it will get proteins from muscles and tendons.”
“Are you suggesting that the body starts eating itself?” Henry said.
“I guess you could
say that,” Julia agreed.
“All those in favor of looking for food, raise your hand,” I said.
All five hands went up. Julia added some wood to the fire, we got up, adjusted our dresses, and went shopping for groceries.
Julia said she’d been on the lookout for food when we were searching for water and didn’t see any, so we should try the opposite direction. We followed behind her in single file.
“What should we be looking for, sweetie?” Mrs. Herschel asked as we walked through the woods.
“Oh, lots of stuff in nature is edible,” Julia replied, pulling up a tall piece of grass and sticking it in her mouth. “Nuts, dandelions, flowers. Just about half of all plant species are edible.”
“What about the other half?” I asked.
“They’ll kill you,” Julia replied.
“That’s comforting,” Henry said.
“How about acorns?” Mrs. Herschel asked, picking one off the ground. “Can I eat this?”
“Only in an emergency,” Julia said. “They have tannic acid, and you’ll get a stomach ache if you eat too many.”
“Ix-nay on the acorns,” Henry said.
Julia stopped beside an evergreen tree and pulled off a pinecone.
“Pine is great,” she said, pulling apart the cone and popping something in her mouth. “You can eat the seeds. The needles are a good source of ascorbic acid. And the inner bark is soft and chewy.
“Yeah, I ate a bookcase made from pine once,” Henry said. “It was delicious.”
“Very funny,” Julia said. “You can chew pine resin too, just like gum.”
“Only a real sap would do that,” Henry said.
“Ugh, I’m not eating something that grew up out of the dirt,” Arcadia said.
“Ever eat a potato?” Julia asked.
I was just about hungry enough to eat a tree. But a few yards past the pine tree Arcadia spotted something that looked a lot more appetizing.
“Berries!” she shouted.
Sure enough, there was a bush with purple berries sprouting all over it. We ran over and started to pick them off.