by Matt Fazio
“I guarantee I would crush a homer off her if I ever faced her again!” Caleb cried.
“Okay, just stop,” said Drew as they began walking along the driveway of Zobby’s house.
Although it was right across the street from Mr. Daley’s duplex, the Anscombe house was much larger. Zobby had the luxury of having a big front yard and a big backyard. And best of all, she had a huge bedroom, probably bigger than both of Drew’s rooms combined.
Mrs. Anscombe opened the door and greeted the boys. As Drew was answering Mrs. Anscombe’s questions about how his mom was doing, Zobby came storming through the doorway, fidgeting into a puffy, navy blue coat.
“Sorry, Mom, we’re already late. We have to go, I’ll be back later.”
“Elizabeth Margaret, get back here right now!” Mrs. Anscombe shouted.
Fearing that their secret plan had somehow been uncovered, Drew, Tommy, and Caleb exchanged nervous glances.
“Fine, Mom,” she said reluctantly. She marched back up to the doorway, hugged her mom, and accepted a kiss on the cheek.
“Now that’s better,” said Mrs. Anscombe. “You’re still not too old for that. Your sister thinks she is, too, and let me tell you, she’s not. And remember, the reason you have that cell phone is so I can get ahold of you. So if I call, I don’t care what you’re doing, you better answer. Understood?”
“I understand, Mom.”
As the kids made their way down the street, Drew began to question what he had told his dad. He wondered why he even lied about Mrs. Anscombe going to the park in the first place. He and his friends had gone to the park by themselves over the summer, so why would it be different now? Meanwhile, the others were captivated by Zobby’s new cell phone.
“When did you get a phone?” asked Caleb, with an obvious hint of jealousy.
“Just last night,” said Zobby, pulling the phone from the left pocket of her jeans. “My family was due for an upgrade, so I finally got my own phone. My mom wanted me to use my sister’s old one, but I didn’t want that. It has scratches all over it, and I can fit like ten times more music on this one! So I had to get an A in math and at least a B in science on my report card. I got an A in both, so I got to pick out any phone I wanted.”
“Wow,” said Tommy, leaning over and looking at the phone as Zobby swiped across the screen, showcasing all the phone’s capabilities. “It’s loaded. Aw man, you got movies on this thing, too? That’s so sick. I wish I had that on mine,” he said as he whipped out his phone.
“At least you two have cell phones,” said Caleb. “I told my parents they better get me one for Christmas. Let me see yours,” he said as he grabbed the phone from Tommy’s hand.
“Yeah, just be careful,” said Tommy.
Caleb’s eyes were glued to Tommy’s phone for the next several minutes. As the kids made their way down the winding hill that led to the baseball fields, Drew continued to turn around to make sure no one had followed them.
Tommy finally noticed Drew’s apprehension. “What’s goin’ on, man? You think the zombie revolution’s gonna start and we’re gonna have to make a run for it?”
“Huh?” said Drew. “Oh, no, it’s just that we’re gonna get in so much trouble if anyone finds out where we’re going. I don’t wanna get grounded, that’s all.”
Caleb lifted his eyes from Tommy’s phone and said, “If you’re scared about something, it should be getting beat up, not grounded. If the older kids see us there, they’ll kill us. Well, not me, since I’m on the hockey team.”
Drew’s eyes grew wide. Caleb looked at him with a cocky smirk. He had plugged a new and horrifying thought into Drew’s head, and he didn’t seem to mind.
Drew began to reconsider the whole plan. On top of having to lie to his dad about it, there was also a chance of getting pounded by older kids? Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all. His feet must have been in agreement with his mind, because his steps had come to a halt, and he was now several paces behind the others. Zobby was the first one to notice.
“Wait, Drew, what’s wrong? Do you not wanna go?” she asked. Her tone was concerned, not judgmental.
“No way!” Caleb exclaimed before Drew had a chance to answer. “You’re scared to go? Are you kidding me?”
“Yeah, what’s the big deal?” said Tommy.
“Well, what’s the big deal about this place anyway?” Zobby asked.
“I’ll tell you what’s the big deal about this place,” said Caleb. “Every kid at Emerson has heard about it, but none of us ever knew where it was or how to get there. Now we finally do, and we know nobody’s gonna be there today, so we have to check it out.”
“Wait,” said Drew, “what do you mean you know nobody will be there? You just said we might get beat up by older kids!”
“No, look, man,” said Caleb. “All the middle school hockey players had practice at seven this morning. I didn’t have to go ‘cause I only play with them part-time. But the coach was real mad ‘cause he thought we slacked in our last game. Which I don’t get, ‘cause we won, so who cares?”
“Yeah, that’s dumb,” said Tommy.
“Yeah. Anyways, practice is always long when he’s mad. And no one’s gonna wanna walk this far after a long practice.”
“But what about the people who don’t play hockey?” asked Zobby.
Although it was a legitimate question, Caleb rolled his eyes simply because Zobby was the one who asked it. “No one goes there without Huddy. He’s like, the leader. And most of the stuff there is his.”
“Who’s Huddy?” Zobby asked.
“Come on,” said Caleb. “You really don’t know who Huddy is?”
Zobby shrugged and waited for an answer. She was never embarrassed about asking questions.
“Everyone knows Huddy,” Caleb explained. “He set a school record for goals when he was in sixth grade! He’s like, gonna go to the NHL someday. His name’s Mike, but everyone calls him Huddy since his last name is Hudock.”
Drew’s eyes lit up. “Did you say Mike Hudock?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Uh, no reason,” said Drew, trying to act casual. “You know what, I think Caleb’s right.”
“You do?” asked a puzzled Zobby.
“Yeah, we’ve wanted to check this place out for a long time. Let’s go for it.”
The fear and regret had evaporated when he heard the name. Mike Hudock, one of the kids on Drew’s list, frequented the very place Drew was on his way to. That meant there could be clues about him there, and that alone was enough for Drew to venture forward, regardless of the consequences.
The four kids continued on. Soon the baseball fields were in sight, but the kids would not be stopping there. They strode through the infield and across the grass of the big field, toward the deep, thick woods, each step that much closer to the forbidden hideout known as The Shack.
****
The Shack was a giant treehouse located somewhere deep in the woods. According to legend, it had been built over 20 years ago, it sat 30 feet in the air, and only those who were invited could hang out there. Over time, kids would leave valuable items there, especially ones their parents wouldn’t approve of. In fact, if anyone made the mistake of mentioning The Shack around any adults, that kid would promptly be taught a lesson.
As Caleb and Tommy began discussing the goods that could be found at The Shack, as well as the rumored methods of punishment for anyone who revealed the location to an adult, Drew found himself focusing on the baseball field. Walking through the infield dirt and the stiff, crunchy outfield grass, he was reminded how much he missed it. He could almost smell baseball – but it seemed dulled. The colder weather had a way of masking the scent of the game.
He thought about how the seasons seemed to change so quickly. The sun was hiding its head earlier each day, and the winter winds were approaching. Summertime always brought out the freckles on Drew’s face, but now there wasn’t a single one to be found. It was as though he physically changed each time baseball
ended, but always returned to form the following spring.
When he rejoined the conversation, Caleb and Tommy were still discussing the treasure at The Shack.
“Everyone says they got paintball guns, fireworks, and a whole treasure chest full of cool stuff,” said Caleb.
“Yeah, and most important, no parents know about it,” said Tommy.
“How’d you guys find out where it is?” Zobby asked.
“Well, like I was saying before, I’ve been playing on the middle school hockey team,” said Caleb. Now, because it allowed him to brag, he didn’t mind Zobby’s question.
“And a bunch of them were talking about it. Since I’m younger, they never woulda told me, but this one kid, Franky, he was talking about it all loud in the locker room. He said all you gotta do is go to the baseball fields and stand behind the right field fence, by the sign for Bo’s Auto Garage. Then you put Drake’s Car Wash into your phone’s GPS. It tells you to go on a road, but if you just walk straight for Drake’s Car Wash, it takes you right to The Shack.”
“How does that work?” asked Drew.
“How does what work?”
“The GPS. How does it know where to go?”
Caleb looked at him strangely. “I dunno. Who cares? It just works. You sound like Mrs. Machado. She’s always asking how you get the answer. As long as you get the right answer, who cares how you got there?”
“Yeah, who cares?” echoed Tommy.
“What if it’s wrong?” said Drew.
“It can’t be wrong,” said Caleb. “It’s a machine.”
Drew shrugged. “Okay, just wondering.” He was skeptical that the GPS would work, but he decided not to say anything else about it.
“Well, there better not be anyone else there, or we’re gonna be in for it,” said Zobby.
“You have no idea,” said Caleb. “If the older kids catch you, they tie you to a tree and shoot you with paintballs. And then if you tell anybody where The Shack is, they hunt you down in school and give you swirlies every day.”
“That’s nothing,” said Tommy. “My brother said some kid named Colin who went to our school a couple years ago, he found the place and tried to steal all the stuff there – you know, the fireworks, slingshots, gold coins, all that stuff. And the older kids caught him and … they made him walk the plank.”
“What’s the plank?” asked Drew.
“Well, they say The Shack’s up in a super tall tree. You gotta climb a huge ladder to get up to it and everything. And at the top there’s a plank, like on a pirate ship, and it sticks out above a creek. There used to be a rope up there so you could swing out into the deep part of the creek, but it fell off or something. Anyways, the older kids made Colin walk the plank. He had to jump off it into the creek, and it’s like thirty feet in the air. ‘Cept here’s the thing …”
Tommy stopped walking and scanned everyone’s face. Caleb tossed some hair from his eyes so he could watch as Tommy finished the story. “From up in The Shack, you can’t tell where the water in the creek is shallow. With the rope you could swing across to the deeper end, but without the rope, you got nothin’. So when you jump off, you could land on rocks and break your legs. That’s what happened to that Colin kid. He had to leave Emerson ‘cause he was in a wheelchair after that, and everybody knew why.”
“Wow,” said Caleb, who seemed to hang on to every word of Tommy’s story.
Drew and Zobby looked at each other, trying to read each other’s reaction to the tale, but neither allowed their expression to reveal any fear.
The kids continued along the outfield fence of the big field. They passed the advertisement sign for Melia’s Market, then the sign for Rizzo’s Pizza, and a moment later they reached the sign for Bo’s Auto Garage. They climbed over the fence, and the four of them stood gazing into the woods.
“Well,” said Tommy, “here we are. I guess me and Zobby should put Drake’s Car Wash into our phones, right?”
“Ye-yeah, that’ll get us to The Shack,” said Caleb, his voice shakier than before.
Tommy and Zobby set Drake’s Car Wash as their destination, and the four kids entered the woods, a bit surprised at, but quite impressed with, their own audacity.
****
Moments later they were wading through brush, ducking under low-hanging branches, and maneuvering around giant trees, and Drew had forgotten about Tommy’s horror story. Dragging his feet through the crumbling leaves, he soon found himself several paces behind the others, but they didn’t seem to notice. They approached a huge tree that had fallen across their path. Drew wondered if this tree had gone down last month, another fallen soldier in the war waged by the storm. The other three kids climbed over the tree, not lifting their eyes from the phones, seemingly unaware that the tree was even there, and then veered to the right. I guess the GPS is saying to go that way, Drew thought, though he still doubted it would actually get them to The Shack.
After he climbed over the tree, he heard Zobby say something about a low battery, but he wasn’t paying much attention. He realized the weather had turned out to be rather agreeable. The crisp, early-December air was cut swiftly by the bright sun. He removed his beanie from his head and put it in his coat pocket. The woods were becoming thicker, but the tree branches were bare enough to allow the sun to shine through, warming Drew’s head and speckling the ground with patches of light. He felt the sun on the right side of his forehead and wished for summer again.
“Come on, Drew, we’re almost there!” yelled Tommy from the front of the line.
“Yeah,” said Caleb, who had also been staring at Tommy’s phone, “we gotta be close.”
Zobby shook her head and looked up from her phone. “No we aren’t! My map says we’re still eight minutes away. That’s eight minutes if you’re driving. That’s at least like an hour walking.”
“Are you serious? No way,” said Caleb. “Let me see that.” He grabbed Zobby’s phone from her hand.
“Hey, give it back,” Zobby snapped.
“Just a sec, I just wanna see it. You don’t have to freak out about it. What … are you a girl or something?” He laughed and looked to Tommy and Drew for support, but neither of them joined him. He rolled his eyes and handed Zobby her phone.
“Thank you,” said Zobby. “And yes, Caleb, I am a girl. I’m surprised you were smart enough to figure it out. But I’m also a girl who can do this …”
She thrust her arms out and pushed her hands into the fronts of his shoulders. Caleb tripped over a branch and fell to the ground. Drew came running up after Caleb hit the dirt. Caleb got to his feet, brushed his dark hair from his red face, and tried to lunge at Zobby, but Tommy stepped in the way.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” said Tommy as he restrained Caleb.
“Are you kidding me?” Caleb screamed. “Why are we even hanging out with this … this …”
“Girl? Is that the word you’re looking for?” Zobby taunted. “The same girl who struck you out in baseball and now the same one who threw your butt to the ground?”
“C’mon, Zob, not helping,” said Drew.
“Well, as long as he doesn’t touch my stuff, we’ll be fine, okay?” she said, still glaring at Caleb.
“Whatever. Let’s just keep going,” Caleb said, stomping off.
“Guys, what if we really aren’t close yet?” Drew asked once Caleb was out of earshot. “We left my house at like 12:15, and we’ve already been gone awhile. I told my dad we were at the field with Zobby’s mom, but, still, I can’t come home too late.”
“Come on, man, we gotta be almost there,” said Tommy. “And it’s gonna be so cool. I even brought my mom’s candle lighter so we can light fireworks.”
Drew looked to Zobby for backup but didn’t get the response he hoped for.
“Well, we have already come this far, right?” she said. “And the fireworks idea does sound cool. Hey, I have an idea.”
She tapped and swiped on her phone and put it to her ear. A few seconds later she
was talking to Drew’s dad.
“Hey, Mr. Daley, it’s Zobby. How are you? … Nope, nothing’s wrong. I just wanted to let you know we’ll be hanging out a little longer than we thought. Drew didn’t want you to be worried. … Yeah, I got a new cell phone. Pretty cool, right? … Uh, oh yeah, she’s here, don’t worry. … All right, thanks. … Um, yeah, we’ll definitely be back before it’s dark out. … Okay, sounds good. Bye, Mr. Daley.”
“Wow, I gotta admit, that was genius,” said Tommy.
“I do what I can,” said Zobby, smiling and taking a bow.
Drew was glad the journey could continue, but he wished he didn’t have to lie to his dad again. As he thought about it, though, he figured that this wasn’t really another lie. It was just an extension of the previous one. His dad already thought the kids were at the field with Zobby’s mom anyway. Besides, he thought, Dad isn’t too worried about me. Mom would be mad if she found out about all this, but Dad isn’t like that.
The three quickened their pace and caught up to Caleb. They continued to trudge deeper and deeper into the woods, farther than any of them ever had before.
“We sure we’ll find our way back?” asked Drew.
“Yeah, we have two phones with GPS,” said Zobby. “I just need to hit a little button that says ‘home’ and it’ll take us straight back.”
“But isn’t your phone gonna die soon?”
“No, Caleb, it’s not. It’s Tommy’s phone that’s close to dying. My phone has an extra-long battery life. This sucker won’t be dying any time soon.”
“Whatever,” Caleb grumbled and looked the other way.
The four kids traveled in silence for the next several minutes. While the other three gazes were sucked into the little cell phone screens, Drew sauntered along behind them, admiring the scenery. He noticed that although most of the fallen leaves were brown, a few still had hints of green and gold and auburn in them. He also detected a unique pattern in the trees. For a while, the kids had been trudging through an area of towering pine trees with thick trunks. But now they had reached a stretch of pale, skinny, leafless trees. Looking ahead, though, Drew saw that soon they would be weaving between more lush, towering pines, grander than any they’d passed so far.