The Journey Home Read Free

to the edge of the forest and rummage around on the ground. When he straightened up, Taylor held a medium-size white-capped mushroom in his hand.
    â€œWho’s hungry?” Taylor said with a laugh.
    Abe leaped forward and knocked the mushroom from Taylor’s hands.
    â€œNever eat that one!” he said, alarm cracking his voice. “Didn’t I tell you never to eat something you aren’t sure of?”
    Taylor looked shaken. “But, Dad, I wasn’t going to . . .”
    Abe held him tight for a moment, then released his grip. “Taylor, that’s a Deadly Parasol! One bite, just one, and you’d have been dead.”
    Jake stepped in. “Dad, it’s okay. Taylor wasn’t going to eat it. He was just showing it to us.”
    Abe looked from one boy to the other. Then he took a deep breath, bent down, and hiked up the leg of his jeans.Both the boys saw the ugly white mass of scar tissue on his left calf.
    â€œSee that?”
    They nodded.
    â€œThat’s what happened last time I got careless out in the wild.”
    â€œIs it a snake bite?” Jake guessed.
    Abe didn’t answer. He just rolled his pants leg back down. “You can never let your guard down out here.” He sighed deeply. “Let’s get a move on.”
    Jake thought back to his dad ranting about how bad the city was. But snake bites and deadly mushrooms? It wasn’t as perfect here as his dad made it out to be.

    When they reached town two hours later, Jake felt a huge wave of relief to be back in civilization. There were only a few dozen houses, a post office, a gas station, and a general store that doubled as an information center for visitors, but after being away from other people for so long, even a tiny roadside stop felt like a bustling metropolis to Jake.
    Abe left Cody sitting outside and shepherded the boys into the general store that fronted the two-lane highway. The boys looked around like starving wolves.
    â€œLook at all this stuff, Jake!” Taylor exclaimed.
    The store offered everything a person could want: groceries, guns and ammo, camping supplies, propane and kerosene, tools and hardware. Jake imagined how mucheasier life would be if their cabin had one of the shiny propane grills the store had for sale.
    Abe briskly shook hands with the manager, Gunter, who wore over his long blond hair a baseball-style hat from a group called the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. He turned to the boys and flashed them a hearty smile. “You two look like you’re going to be even taller than your dad here.”
    The boys glanced at each other sheepishly. It was true that they’d grown since leaving Pennsylvania. With their long hair and tanned faces, they were turning into mini-Abes.
    â€œSo, Abe, you here to stock up for winter?” Gunter asked, leaning on the counter.
    Abe whipped out a list and handed it to the storekeeper. “It’s about that time, Gunter.”
    Gunter scanned the list, nodding. “This won’t take but a few minutes.”
    â€œThe quicker the better,” Abe said. “So we can get home before dark.”
    â€œI could have gotten it ready in advance if you’d called ahead—”
    â€œCalled ahead? Dad doesn’t have a phone ,” Taylor interrupted.
    Gunter raised an eyebrow, and eventually Abe spoke up. “Well . . . I do, actually. For work emergencies. Forest fires, lost ramblers, that kind of thing.”
    If there was a phone in the cabin, what other technology did Abe have squirreled away, Jake suddenly wondered.
    â€œYou sell any books?” Jake asked, looking around eagerly.
    Gunter scratched the side of his face. “Not really. . . . I have a few magazines in back. You might find something there.”
    â€œThanks.”
    Jake headed to the rear of the store while Taylor made a beeline for the candy shelves. Jake found a rack of magazines, mostly sports stuff that