The flashlight hit the rocky cave floor, shattering the bulb and plunging Michael into complete darkness. If Michael had been a truly experienced cave explorer, he would have known to bring an extra flashlight, but he was not, and he did not.
“Uh-oh,” Michael said, clinging to his rope. If anything is scarier than a random bat flying at your face, it’s being suspended eight feet in the air in total darkness. Michael’s first reaction was to reach for the ledge he remembered last seeing in front of him. Bad idea.
THUD! Michael hit the floor.
“Owwwww,” he groaned. As much as falling hurt, at least he’d gotten it over with. His only other option had been to get stuck up on the ledge. Michael felt around for his backpack, which had landed a few feet over. I need to get out of here! His map was still in his backpack. A map that you can’t see isn’t at all useful, but at least Michael had drawn it. He reasoned his best chance would be to retrace his steps from memory. He knew how many turns to take, but could he remember when to take them? Or would he just get more lost in the cave? Maybe he should stay put and count on Justin figuring out where he went and leading a rescue team to him? On the other hand, if he found his way out on his own, no one—especially his dad—would ever know he’d been gone.
Michael made his decision. “I gotta get back,” he said out loud, the words bouncing off the cave walls. He wobbled to his feet, slung on his backpack, and stumbled forward into the darkness.
CHAPTER 8
Dr. Gomez, followed by Justin and a handful of workers, ran toward the mouth of the cave.
“How long has he been gone?” Michael’s dad shouted over his shoulder to Justin.
“I don’t know!” Justin answered. “Probably all night.”
“Break up into three groups,” Dr. Gomez ordered. “Justin, you come with me. Think you can remember where you were?”
“I think so.”
Three groups of searchers, led by experienced cave guides with plenty of flashlights, entered the cave.
“Yell if you find him!” Dr. Gomez shouted as the groups split up and headed into separate corridors in search of Michael.
CHAPTER 9
Michael walked sideways with his hands stretched out in front of him, feeling his way along the rocky cave wall in the darkness. He had no idea what time it was, but he felt like he had been lost for hours. He’d taken what he’d thought were all the correct turns, but here he still was, lost in the dark with no way of knowing if he was moving toward or away from the exit.
Maybe I should take a nap, he thought. He had been up all night, and he was exhausted. The thought of a giant cave spider or boy-eating mole discovering him in his sleep, however, was enough to keep his eyes open and his feet moving.
“Why didn’t I listen to my dad?” Michael said out loud, his voice echoing through the corridors of the cave. “I wouldn’t be in this mess if I had. I don’t even care anymore if I get in trouble. Dad can ground me for a year—I just want to go home.” Suddenly, he heard a noise coming from the distance. It sounded like legs scurrying along. Lots of legs. He froze, terrified, his heart pounding so hard he could feel it in his ears. What if it was the giant cave spider? (It sounded like it had too many legs to be a boy-eating mole.)
A narrow beam of light appeared on the wall about 50 feet in front of Michael. Because he’d been in total darkness for hours, just that little bit of light hurt his eyes, but it could only mean one thing.
“Thank you, God!” he prayed. “I’m here! I’m here!” he shouted.
Two men rounded the corner, carrying flashlights. Light flooded the cave corridor as they approached the tired, dirty, and squinting boy.
CHAPTER 10
“Michael!” Dr. Gomez shouted as he emerged from the cave with Justin. They ran over to where Michael was sitting with the men who had rescued him. Dr. Gomez hugged his son tightly. “Thank goodness you’re all right! You had me worried sick.”
“I’m so sorry, Dad,” Michael said. “I should have listened to you.”
Dr. Gomez took Michael’s face in his hands and looked him straight in the eyes. “We’re going to need to talk about this,” he said sternly.
“Yes, sir.”
Beep! Beep! A small car drove up the rocky path outside the caves, its rooftop packed with luggage and crates. The driver leaned out the window and called, “Dr. Gomez! Are we going?”
“If we hurry, we can still make our flight. C’mon, boys!”
Dr. Gomez jumped into the front seat of the car while Michael and Justin piled into the back, and they sped off to the airport in a cloud of dust.
After a loud and extremely bumpy ride to reach the main road, Michael noticed a glare coming from the seat next to him. He turned his head slowly toward Justin and smiled sheepishly. “Sorry . . .”
“You should be!” Justin barked in a loud whisper, hoping to keep their conversation confined to the back seat. “I hope you’re happy. What could have been so important that you had to go back into that cave to get it? You do realize you’re going to be grounded for a year, right?”
Michael wiggled out of his backpack and unzipped the top, making sure to not draw any attention from the front seat, where his dad was busy talking to the driver about the fastest route to the airport.
“Check this out!” He reached inside the backpack and pulled out what appeared to be a bone-dry squirrel covered in a thick layer of salt.
“Ewww! What is that?” Justin got as far away from the object as he could.
“I think it’s a squirrel,” Michael replied. “Look, I’ve got another one.” He pulled another dried rodent out of his bag.
“Ewww!” Justin said again. “You have two? That’s double gross! Get rid of those things. Who knows what kind of nasty disease we could catch?”
“No way.” Michael patted the squirrels. “I’m bringing them home as souvenirs. Mementos of our awesome summer!”
“You can’t do that!” Justin said.
“Why not?”
“It’s probably not even legal—smuggling squirrels across international borders.”
“It’s not like taking a live plant or an artifact,” Michael argued. “It’s just a couple of petrified squirrels. Plus, they’re so dry and salty, no germs could live on them.”
Justin shook his head disapprovingly as Michael stuffed the stiff rodents back into his backpack.
CHAPTER 11
The car came to a screeching halt outside the airport. “Let’s go, boys!” Dr. Gomez said, jumping out of the car. “Everybody grab a suitcase!” Michael and Justin grabbed as many bags as they could handle and headed inside.
“Get rid of those squirrels,” Justin urged Michael. “There’s no way they’ll let them on the plane.”
“I bring seashells back from vacation all the time,” Michael responded. “It’s the same thing.”
“It is NOT the same thing!”
With only minutes remaining until their plane departed, Dr. Gomez and the boys rushed to the check-in counter and then to the security line. “I don’t know if we’re going to make it!” Michael’s dad said nervously. “Quick, boys—backpacks on the X-ray belt!”
When Michael heard the word X-ray his heart sank. He had totally forgotten about the X-ray machine! His squirrels were sure to be discovered. “Um, Justin,” he whispered, “I think you were right. Salty squirrels are not the same thing as seashells.”
“You are so busted,” Justin replied. “Grounded for two years, for sure.”
“Whose is this?” a security officer demanded as he held up a backpack. Michael couldn’t bear to look. He braced himself for what was coming.
“That’s mine, sir,” Michael heard his dad say. Confused, Michael looked up to see the officer holding a bottle of water.
A backpack showing the faint outline of two squirrel skeletons passed through the X-ray machine unnoticed.
“You have to get rid of this,” the officer told Dr. Gomez, shaking the water bottle.
“Of
course. Sorry,” Michael’s dad said. The officer threw the water bottle in the trash.
Michael grabbed his backpack the second it exited the machine. “Whew!” he gasped.
Justin shook his head in disbelief as they headed toward the gate.
CHAPTER 12
“Let me take that for you, sweetie,” the flight attendant offered.
“No, it’s okay—I got it!” Michael grunted as he kicked his backpack, trying to wedge it under the seat in front of him. He would feel a lot better if he could keep an eye on it himself during the flight.
“I don’t think it’s gonna fit, buddy,” Dr. Gomez said from across the aisle.
“Yeah, Michael. You have too much stuff jammed in there,” Justin said. He settled into the seat beside Michael and buckled in.
Michael looked back up at the smiling attendant.
“Can I keep it on my lap?” he asked.
“Sorry,” she said, looking at him suspiciously and holding out her hand for the bag.
Michael reluctantly handed over his backpack, along with its questionable contents. The flight attendant placed it in an overhead bin a few seats up. “Have a nice flight,” she said.
Surprisingly, with his bag locked snugly away, Michael felt like he could finally relax. And feeling like you can relax after you’ve been up all night fearing for your life in a pitch-black cave could only mean—
“Zzzzzzzzzz.” Michael was out cold, drooling on his tiny flight pillow.
CHAPTER 13
BOOM! Chukka chukka chukka . . .
Michael opened his eyes with a start. How long have I been asleep? He lifted his head from his drool-soaked pillow and looked around. It was daylight outside, but many of the passengers around him were sleeping.
DING! The red Fasten Seat Belt light flashed on above him.
“No big deal.” Justin yawned. “Just a little rough air. Might as well go back to sleep.”
Michael was happy to take the advice. He still felt exhausted. But before he could close his eyes again, he noticed that the overhead bin where his backpack had been placed had been flung open by the turbulence.
“Oh no!” Michael gasped.
“What?” asked Justin.
Michael pointed at his backpack. The top was unzipped, and a crusty, scraggly squirrel tail was sticking out. Then the plane hit another pocket of rough air—and the bag slipped out and fell onto the back of the seat below!
“Ahhhhh!” Michael whispered, fighting to hold back a scream.
“Ahhhhh!” repeated Justin in a slightly louder whisper.
A squirrel slid out of the bag and onto the head of a sleeping man!
“AHHHHH!” Michael screamed, not in a whisper.
“Shhhhh!” Justin urged. “You’re gonna wake up your dad!”
Michael looked across the aisle at his sleeping father. “I gotta get that squirrel!” he whispered to Justin. Michael looked up and down the aisle, checking for flight attendants. All clear. He unbuckled his belt quietly, stood up, and tiptoed forward.
The salty rodent tail covered the nose and mouth of the sleeping man, rising and falling slowly with his breathing. Yuck! Michael thought. As cool as he thought the squirrels were, he would not like one on his face! As he reached forward to grab it, a voice called out, “Young man! You need to remain in your seat!”
It was the flight attendant who had stowed his backpack.
Without looking at her, Michael grabbed the squirrel off the sleeping man’s face, stuffed it back in his backpack, crammed the bag back into the overhead bin, and slammed the bin shut. He looked over to see the flight attendant standing in the aisle near the front of the plane, motioning to a dark-haired man seated next to her. The man turned to look at Michael. He was wearing a suit and sunglasses and looked very official. Who wears a suit and sunglasses on a 12-hour flight? Michael thought.
“Sorry!” he called out as he scrambled back to his seat.
“Everything all right?” Dr. Gomez said sleepily as Michael sat back down and buckled up.
“Yeah. Everything’s fine,” Michael said. He peeked around the front of his seat to see the flight attendant giving him the stink eye as the man in the suit and sunglasses looked on with a steely gaze.
CHAPTER 14
The shout echoed through the concourse as Michael walked out with his dad and Justin. Michael covered his face with his hands. Cookies was his mom’s super-embarrassing nickname for him, and hearing it yelled out loud in public was THE WORST. Michael’s mom waved at him wildly. Next to her stood Jane, Michael’s little sister, who seemed surprisingly happy to see him too. Justin’s mom was also there. It was hugs all around as the women welcomed their men back home after a long summer.
“Let me get that for you!” Mrs. Gomez offered, reaching for Michael’s backpack.
“No, I got it.” Michael didn’t want to let it out of his sight until he got home. “And please don’t call me Cookies. I’m in fifth grade now. Well, almost.”
“Did you bring me anything?” asked Jane, who was four years old and about to start preschool, taught by Mrs. Gomez. Michael assumed this was necessary because his parents couldn’t convince any other teachers to take Jane.
“Of course, sweetheart!” Dr. Gomez responded.
“What about you, Michael? Did you bring me something?”
“Um . . .” Before he could answer, Michael caught a glimpse of someone familiar. The man in the suit and sunglasses from the plane was standing about 30 feet away by the escalators, looking up at Michael over his phone.
When the man noticed that he had been noticed, he quickly looked down at his phone, turned around, and went down the escalator.
“Well, did you?” Jane asked again.
“Was I supposed to?” Michael responded, distracted.
“You all must be exhausted!” Mrs. Gomez said. “Let’s get you home!”
“See you in school tomorrow, Michael!” Justin said as he headed toward the escalator with his mom.
CHAPTER 15
DEAD SEA
AD 70
How did two squirrels get stuck in a cave, anyway? There are three types of squirrels: tree squirrels, which live in trees; ground squirrels, which live underground; and cave squirrels, which don’t exist. Had Michael known that the “cave squirrel” has never been a thing, he might have asked himself the same question. And the answer? Vacation, of course!
“You know what I love most about the Dead Sea, Pearl?” Merle said as he waded into the super salty water.
“What could you possibly love about this awful place?” Pearl responded from behind her little sunglasses, lying on her little lounge chair under her little beach umbrella. “It’s too hot, it’s too dry, and it’s waaaaay too salty.”
“That’s the best part! Woohoo!” Merle jumped high into the air and landed flat on his back on the surface of the water. SPLASH! “Oooof!” He grunted with the force of the impact. “Look! You can’t sink!”
“That’s just great, Merle. We came all this way to see you not sink.” Pearl wiped the salty splash out of her eyes. “Couldn’t you have just worn your floaties in the lake back home?”
“It’s not the same,” Merle replied, using his tail to swirl around in circles on the water. “I’ve always wanted to not sink!” Merle turned over and tried to dive down under the water, only to pop right back up. “Pffffft!” He spit out a mouthful of salty water. “Wow. That IS salty.”
“Well, it is nice to get away,” Pearl said, shifting her umbrella aside so she could bask in the sun. “And it was a relaxing raft ride down the Jordan.”
“Made that raft myself!” Merle said proudly, returning to floating on his back.
“You’ve always been good with your paws,” Pearl complimented him.
“Now I just have to figure out how we’re gonna get back.”
Pearl sat straight up in her tiny lounge chair. “What?!”
“Well, the river only carries a raft one way, and that’s here.”
Pearl sighed. “Merle, sometimes you just don’t think things through.”
CHAPTER 16
“I’m sooooo hooooot!” Merle groaned as he and Pearl huddled under the tiny bit of shade cast by the umbrella. He’d had his fill of not sinking and now was hoping for some relief from the sun.
“It doesn’t help that we’re both covered in fur and hugging,” Pearl responded.
“We have to get out of this sun! Why aren’t there any trees around here?” Merle complained.
“My guess is because it’s the desert.”
Merle spotted a rocky cliffside along the shoreline. “Let’s head over there,” he suggested. “Maybe we can find some better shade. Maybe even a cave!”
Leaving their raft behind, the two picked up their beach chair and umbrella and headed for the cliffs, their stiff, salt-covered fur crackling as they walked. Before long, they spotted an opening in the rocks with a large, beautiful pool of shade underneath. The squirrels ran toward it and collapsed on the cool, sandy ground.
Pearl, the more sensible of the two, suggested they wait in the shade until nightfall and then look for a town or a camel caravan.
“Good idea.” Then Merle realized something. “Hey . . . I’ve never been in a cave!”
“Don’t get any ideas,” Pearl warned. “There are only two types of squirrels: tree squirrels and ground squirrels—”
Squirreled Away Page 2