Wagon Trail Read Free

Phil said.
    “Oh, I do, too. I’ll talk to you soon!”
    Stevie hung up the phone and looked at the notes she’d scrawled on the paper. Something seemed vaguely familiar about the dates, but she couldn’t quite place it. Finally it hit her. Phil was going rafting at exactly the same time she had just promised to go on the Oregon Trail!
    “Oh no,” she said, her fingers automatically dialing Carole’s number. “This is terrible.”
    “You’ll never guess what just happened,” Stevie blurted out as soon as Carole answered the phone.
    “Your parents took back their permission for the Oregon Trail because you did something awful to Chad.” Carole had known Stevie to get in trouble like this on more than one occasion.
    “No, nothing like that. Phil just called and invited me to go with his family on a white-water rafting trip on exactly the same dates as the wagon train.”
    “Oh no!” said Carole. “That’s terrible. Are you positive the dates are the same?”
    “Yes,” Stevie replied miserably, studying her scribbled notes. “I’m looking at them right here in black and white. They fly out West on Monday, then start rafting on Tuesday. Just think, Carole, it would be rafting with Phil and camping along the way and having a great time!”
    Carole sighed. “That’s a tough call, Stevie. Phil’s tripsounds wonderful, but don’t forget that you did promise to do the wagon train trip, and Deborah is counting on all three of us.”
    “I know,” replied Stevie.
    “Plus, the newspaper is paying for the Oregon Trail trip. Wouldn’t your parents have to pay for your part of Phil’s trip?”
    “Yes, they would.”
    “Well, Stevie, there’s your answer. No parent would pay for an expensive rafting trip when you have another equally fabulous trip waiting for you for free.”
    “I hadn’t thought of it that way, but you’re right.” Stevie knew her parents were generous, but she also knew that money was always tight in a family of four children.
    “Anyway,” Carole continued, “who says it might not be a good thing for you and Phil to be apart for a while?”
    “What do you mean?” asked Stevie.
    “You know that old saying ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder’? You’ll have plenty to do on the wagon train trip, but if all Phil’s doing is paddling down a river, he might begin to think about you a lot.”
    “Think so?” Stevie pictured Phil pulling a paddle through the Colorado River, all the while seeing her face on the sunlit boulders, in the foamy white water, in the blue sky above.
    “Yes,” said Carole. “He might come back a totally different person.”
    “Well, I don’t know that I want him to be totally different, but a little different might be okay,” Stevie said with a smile. “I think you’re right, Carole. I think it would be crazy for me not to go on a totally free, totally neat trip. Plus it might be the best thing in the world for Phil and me. I’m going to call him back right now and tell him!”
    Stevie hung up the phone and dialed Phil’s number. His sister answered; then Phil came on the line.
    “Hi, Phil, this is Stevie.”
    “Hi, Stevie. Did you ask your parents about the trip?”
    “Well, no. Actually, after we hung up I realized that your trip is scheduled at exactly the same time as a trip I promised to go on with The Saddle Club.”
    “What kind of trip?”
    “It’s a wagon train reenactment along the Oregon Trail. Max’s wife, Deborah, is writing an article about it for the paper, and since Max can’t go and we know all about horses, the paper is paying our way to go along with her.”
    “Didn’t you know about this trip when I called before?” Phil sounded annoyed.
    “Yes, but I didn’t realize the dates were the same. I’m sorry. I’ve talked to so many people on the phone tonight, I just got mixed up.”
    “That’s too bad, Stevie. I was really looking forward to you coming along. Now my little sister will get to invite her best friend,