Pierson was stunned into silence; his mind was dismayed by what was happening. Best of friends? They were not even the best of enemies! But before he could say anything, his mother rambled on.
"What a marvelous solution! If your father and Maggie agree, it's settled." Humming with obvious delight, she raced from the room.
"What happened here?" Pierson whined aloud in the empty room. He groaned as he flopped down into the chair, put his elbows on the table and his head in his hands. "As I said, this summer is going to be a disaster!"
CHAPTER TWO
On a typical day at Morgan School, a visitor would find order and discipline. Today was different; it was the last day of school. As Pierson slung his backpack over his shoulder and slammed his locker door, he could see kids running everywhere. Some were excited and others were angry they didn't get their favorite teacher assignments for the following year. On the way down the hall Pierson heard his friend, Logan, call him.
"Hey, Pierce, wait up." Logan jogged to catch him. "Did you get Mr. Rush for next year?"
"Yeah, so did Kevin and Steven. I heard most of the accelerated kids are in his class. Maybe they think he's the only one who can handle us talented kids!" Pierson slapped Logan on the back, and the two of them laughed as they shadow boxed.
"What talented things are you doing over the summer? Can't let your massive brain power go to waste, you know," said Logan.
Pierson immediately sobered. “We're...uh...we're going out of town for the summer." He kept walking toward the door.
"You never told me. Where are you going?"
"My uncle has a cabin in the woods, and he invited us to spend the summer there. Mom thinks it will be...uh...very educational." He shifted his backpack to the other shoulder.
Logan's eyes grew bigger as he walked backwards in front of Pierson. "Hey, that sounds great. Is it a real log cabin? Will you be sleeping in the woods, go fishing and stuff? Are there bears or mountain cats there? I mean, how deserted is it?"
"I don't know," answered Pierson. "I've never been there, never even seen pictures of the place. Personally, I'd rather forget the whole thing. Dad told me my Uncle Sam is a real mountain man, so I'm sure his lifestyle is not my idea of a good time."
“Well, I'd go in a minute." Logan fell in step beside Pierson.
"Good! You go, and I'll live at your house for the summer," said Pierson. They took the front steps of the school two at a time and boarded the bus.
"Okay. You can live with my dumb sisters!"
"Oops, I forgot about them. But then again, I don't know which is worse—your sisters or my cousin Will." They found an empty seat in the back of the bus as it started moving.
“Will is spending the summer with you?" asked Logan, a panicked look on his face. He'd met Will on several occasions and had remarked that on a scale of one to ten, he'd rank Will a minus twelve.
Pierson nodded and frowned.
Logan made a shrill whistle and put up his hands defensively. "Deal's off. At least my sisters can't beat me to a pulp."
Pierson gave him a sideways crooked smile. "You sure about that?" He elbowed Logan in the ribs and rose to get off at his stop.
As the bus pulled away, he heard Logan yell out the window, “When do you leave?"
"Dawn tomorrow."
"It's been nice knowing you."
As he doggedly walked down his driveway, Pierson wondered if there even was a telephone in the ‘limited luxury’ cabin.
* * *
The voice in the mist kept nagging him. In his sleep he tried to ignore it, but it persisted. "Pierce, drag yourself out of bed. It's time to leave."
Pierson opened one eye and spied the clock. The bold red characters 4:00 A.M. glared at him. He decided it was too early and pulled up the cover.
"Pierce!" His father's booming voice was unmistakable. It was no dream.
"I'm up, I'm up," he called. He sat up in bed and stretched. Yawning, he tried to collect his thoughts. What a ridiculous time to wake up. Was it part of the whole experience–getting up with the sun? He looked at the window. Nope, even the sun wasn't up.
"Pierce, we're leaving without you," Dad's voice boomed again.
"I should be so lucky," mumbled Pierson. "I'll be right down," he yelled to his obviously impatient parents.
He dressed quickly and took one last look around his room in a search for any forgotten items. Grabbing his recorder, headphones and tapes, he dashed down the stairs. He was barely out the door before his father locked it and ushered him to the waiting van.
"Are we leaving for good?" Pierson asked when he viewed the load of suitcases, boxes and miscellaneous items cramming the van. He squeezed into the back seat.
"Uncle Sam wasn't specific about what supplies were there. We wanted to have a bit of everything," his mother answered in her cheerful morning-person voice. It seemed positively unfair that her brown eyes could be so wide open when he needed toothpicks for his.
"You mean he isn't going to be there?" asked Pierson. He wasn't sure whether this news was good or bad because his brain's processing department wasn't open yet.
"No, he'll join us toward the end of the summer. He had to go to a series of shows and asked if we wanted a change of scenery. That's how this whole idea started," Dad said as they drove down the street.
"Gee, Dad, how come Uncle Sam never invited us to his place before?"
Dad sighed pensively. "Whew, that's a rather long and complicated story. Let me give you a condensed version. My brother has always been a loner, and we had a vicious argument many years ago. I won't bore you with the details but because of that fight, we grew apart and lost touch. Over the years, I guess we've both mellowed, and now those reasons seem very silly. We've been talking again, and I think this offer of the cabin is his way of breaking the ice."
Uncle Sam was to blame for their exile. Alarmed, he quickly added, "How will we survive out there by ourselves if it's as rustic as you say it is? Who's going to tell us where everything is?"
Dad chuckled, "Sam said he left notes for us. Besides, who do you think taught him everything he knows?"
Pierson could see his father's grinning face and raised eyebrow in the rear view mirror. "Okay, okay. You win. I won't say another word until we get there." He was too tired to talk anymore. "Come on, Kiwi. It's you and I back here." He put on his headphones and settled in with the dog for the long drive.
* * *
It seemed as though they had been driving forever. The fact that his arm felt like a wooden tree stump might have had something to do with his waking. Maybe it was the one-hundredth exclamation of, "Isn't it beautiful?" that did the trick; Pierson wasn't sure. All he knew was that he was stiff, tired, hungry and sick of driving. Besides that, his right arm now had a pins and needles sensation from his having slept on it. Exactly how long did it take to get to the back of beyond?
"Nice to see you're still with us," said his dad. "You've been so quiet since the last stop we thought we'd left you somewhere. We're almost there."
"Really?" Pierson could hardly contain himself. The thought of being anywhere was an improvement over riding in the van. Instead of sulking, he looked out the window and took notice of his surroundings. The small winding road didn't afford much view, but for a kid who had spent his life in the suburbs, the lack of population was a little frightening.
''Where is everyone?" he asked after watching the emptiness go by for a while. "I haven't seen a house for miles."
"It’s mostly