Forces of Nature (2 page)

The Ol' Switcheroo

“J
immy has pinkeye,” Zack's little brother, Taylor, reported when Zack dropped his bag at the front door. “He can't go camping with us.”

“No biggie,” Zack said. “More room in the kids' tent.”

“But Jimmy always comes with us,” Taylor moaned. “He just called. Both his eyes are glued shut with pus.”

“Gross! Thanks for sharing, Taylor,” Zack said.

Taylor sighed. “This will be our worst camping trip ever.”

Zack shrugged. “I'm not so sure. The bar is set pretty low.”

“Oh, stop it, you two,” Zack's mom said, rolling out a plastic cooler stuffed with ice and food.
“C'mon, Zack, bring this and your bag out to Dad. Olivia is helping him put everything on top of the car.”

“Olivia? Why?” Zack asked. Helping Dad tie down the tents and bags was usually his job. He looked out the window and saw Olivia on top of the car, helping Zack's dad thread twine through the handles of various suitcases and tent bags.

Mom brushed Zack's hair from his face with her fingers. “Since Jimmy couldn't go with us, I asked Olivia to come instead. It'll be so fun.”

Zack pulled away from his mom. “What?!”

Zack had planned on having Olivia keep an eye on Amp while he was gone. She was the only other person on the planet who knew about Amp, so her going on this trip threw a major wrench into his plans.

Plus, when Zack thought about the close quarters of a tent, camping with Olivia might be a little . . . embarrassing. He flapped his arms, trying to think of something to say. “Mom, I can't sleep in a tent with Olivia. She's a girl. It's just weird!”

“Yeah, Zack likes to fart when he camps,” Taylor said. “Nobody should be subjected to his weaponized toots.”

“Don't be crude, honey,” Mom said to Taylor with a tsk-tsk. “Zack can't help it if he has a sensitive system.”

“I don't have a sensitive system,” Zack said. “It's just that . . . I don't know. It's just weird, Mom.”

What Zack couldn't say was that, while he knew Olivia would make this camping trip a lot more fun, the thought of leaving Amp unsupervised for a whole three-day weekend made him nervous. Amp was like a disaster magnet.

“Zack also likes to sleep in his underwear,” Taylor said. “Now he can't.”

“That's not true,” Zack said.

Mom continued to try to fix up Zack's hair. “Olivia and I can sleep in the small tent, and you, Taylor, and your father can sleep in the big tent.”

“Dad! He snores like a volcano,” Zack protested.

“Volcanoes don't snore,” Taylor said, shaking his head at his brother's lack of basic science knowledge. “But they do sort of burp. Mostly water vapor and carbon dioxide. But also lots of different sulfur compounds. It's a long list and varies by volcano.”

Zack stared at his brother like he was the alien in the house, and then began flapping his arms again. “It's bad enough that Taylor laughs in his sleep, now I get snoring on top of it?”

“I don't laugh in my sleep!” Taylor shouted, apparently insulted at being accused of sleep-laughing.

“She's already coming,” Mom said with a firm nod. “Now let's have fun, you two.”

What Zack couldn't explain was that Olivia
was
going to feed Mr. Jinxy and walk Smokey while they were gone. Now somebody else would have to come into the house to take care of the cat and the dog, further risking the accidental discovery of Amp.

Zack closed his eyes and shook his head slowly. Camping had always seemed inconvenient, but this year there was so much more at stake.

Zack had a bad feeling about this trip.

He wished he were the one who had come down with pinkeye.

But he was not the lucky type.

Carsick

T
he car ride was long and filled with twists and turns.

Zack kept yawning sleepily to pop his ears as the car climbed into the mountains on a curvy, looping road.

They stopped three times so Taylor could vomit on the side of the road. His carsickness was part of the tradition, and more often than not he wound up vomiting alongside Jimmy. Already the trip felt odd without Taylor's co-vomiter.

After his third puking episode, Taylor fell asleep against Olivia and began laughing. Nothing was creepier than a kid laughing at invisible dreams. It gave Zack the willies.

Zack watched out his window as the trees became bigger and wilder.

Olivia, surprisingly, didn't speak much. Usually she could chatter on about stuff until your ears fell off. But Olivia had never been camping, just fishing and hiking with her grandpa. So, before they left she had grabbed some books about camping from her grandpa's shelf and now she studied them like her life depended on it.

Zack's dad had decided to bring Smokey. Nobody was available on such short notice to take care of him. He slept on Zack's feet, jerking occasionally while dreaming about squirrels, bacon, or whatever it is that dogs dream about.

Mr. Jinxy wound up being the lucky one. He got to stay home with plenty of food and water, a fresh litter box, and a few balls of yarn to keep him company.

Zack's feet began to fall asleep. He stared out the window. He was worried about Amp. Although Amp was from a far-off, far more advanced civilization, he was lost on Earth. He needed close monitoring and constant attention. And even then, trouble always seemed to follow him. Without Olivia around to watch him, Zack shuddered to think what kind of mischief he could get into.

Zack eventually fell into an uneasy sleep. He dreamed about eating a salami-and-earthworm sandwich at the front of his classroom. He hated that dream.

It was the dream he usually had just before things went terribly wrong.

Ranger Davis

“Y
ou didn't order a permit for the dog?” a park ranger with a wide-brimmed hat was asking through the open window.

“A what?” Zack's dad asked.

“There's an extra fee to bring a dog to the campgrounds,” the ranger explained.

“Oh, well, the girl who was going to watch him while we went camping is now in the backseat,” Dad explained.

“Hi, Ranger Davis,” Olivia said cheerfully.

“You know him?” Zack croaked.

“His name is on his badge,” Olivia said quietly.

Zack pushed Smokey's tail from his face. “We're here already?”

“You and your brother have been sleeping like two big babies,” Olivia said.

“And you don't have a reservation number?” Ranger Davis asked.

“I must have forgotten it,” Dad said, looking around lamely.

“This happens every year,” Zack mumbled to Olivia.

“One moment,” Ranger Davis said crisply. He entered his little ranger hut.

“Last name is McGee!” Zack's mom called after him. “Isn't this fun, kids?” she asked.

They all sat quietly, the car idling, Smokey panting, his terrible breath nearly melting Zack's eyeballs.

Zack noticed that Taylor was fingering a small pair of binoculars. His binoculars! “Those aren't my binoculars, are they?” he asked with a hollow voice.

“Relax, they're for bird-watching,” Taylor said. “Mom said I could borrow them.”

“You went in my room?” Zack shouted, leaning across Olivia and grabbing Taylor by the sleeve.

“Take it easy, Zack,” Mom said from the front seat. “I told him he could borrow them, sweetie.”

“But they're mine!” Zack said. “You should
have asked me! Did you close my bedroom door?”

“Why?” Taylor said, trying to pull away. “What's your problem?”

“What's your bedroom door got to do with anything?” Dad asked, peering back at him in the rearview mirror.

“Uh-oh,” Olivia whispered.

“Did you close my door?” Zack asked Taylor again. “Yes or no?”

Zack's mom snapped her fingers at him. “Zack, you're squishing Olivia!”

“Is there a problem here?” Ranger Davis asked, reappearing at the window.

“Tell me now, did you leave my door open or not?” Zack hissed at Taylor through gritted teeth. “It's a matter of life and death!”

“It is?” Taylor said, his face wrinkled up in disgust. “Why?”

“Stop the monkey business back there,” Dad barked.

“Did . . . you . . . leave . . . my . . . door . . . open?” Zack grunted.

“I guess,” Taylor said. “I don't know. I can't remember.”

The ranger tapped his clipboard on the open window. “Folks, is everything okay?”

“I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS!!” Zack shouted. “I LEAVE MY DOOR SHUT!”

“What's the big deal, honey?” Zack's mom said.

“Mr. Jinxy could get him,” Zack told Olivia.

“Get who?” Mom asked.

“Folks, please,” Ranger Davis said.

“Or he could get out,” Olivia whispered.

“I was afraid of this,” Zack said, grabbing a fistful of his own hair. “If there's trouble to be found, he'll find it.”

“Who could get out?” Mom asked. “Who could find trouble? Mr. Jinxy?”

“Would everybody just pipe down!” Dad roared.

“Maybe everybody should get out of the car and have a time-out,” Ranger Davis said.

“Sorry, officer,” Dad said, “the kids get cranky after a long drive.”

“We run a nice, friendly campground here and—” Ranger Davis's face froze. He scrunched up his face. His lip quivered and his left eye closed.
“Yikes. Did you folks bring eggs with you? I smell rotten eggs, real bad.”

Zack and Olivia exchanged a glance of horror.

“Oh no,” Zack said.

Ranger Davis pulled off his hat and waved it in front of his watery eyes. “Whew! Here, take it,” he gasped, handing Dad a sheet of paper. “Campsite thirteen. Take the second left. It's the very last one on that road, just past the narrow bridge.” He stumbled back from the car.

“Thank you,” Dad said, taking the paper and putting the car into drive. He pulled the car forward. “What was that all about? Does anybody else smell eggs?”

“Probably Zack tooting already,” Taylor said, glancing sideways at his brother.

“We don't smell anything,” Olivia said, staring at Zack with a look of alarm.

The alleged egg smell could only mean one thing: they had a stowaway. Amp was somewhere in this car! One of Amp's favorite Erdian mind tricks involved convincing people they could smell or taste things—usually gross things.

Zack pressed his fists into his eyes. This is exactly what he was afraid of. He shook his head in disbelief.

Olivia patted Zack's shoulder as the car moved slowly over the gravel road. “Did you hear that, Zack? We're at campsite number thirteen. Some people would consider that unlucky.” She poked him in the ribs, but she couldn't get him to smile or squirm.

“I'm gonna strangle that pipsqueak for disobeying a direct order,” Zack growled quietly.