Wagon Trail Read Free Page B

she told herself resolutely. “And if Phil’s horizons are getting broadened, then mine will just have to be, too.”

“W HICH STORE DO we want to do first?” Carole asked as she followed Deborah, Stevie, and Lisa into the mall. “I need a couple of pairs of socks.”
    “I could use some socks, too,” said Stevie. She sniffed the air, then turned toward one corner of the mall, where the aroma of baking cookies rose from a small storefront café. “I could also use a large chocolate macadamia nut cookie.”
    “Let’s get our shopping done first,” Lisa said. “Then we can pig out on cookies.”
    “Did anybody bring a list?” asked Deborah.
    Stevie and Carole shook their heads, but Lisa gave Deborah a resigned smile. “I did. Or at least my mothersent my packing list along. I don’t need to buy that much on it.” She reached in her purse for a sheet of paper. On it was a typed list of supplies Mrs. Atwood wanted Lisa to take.
    “My mother is afraid that the nights will be cold. So she thinks I should take three sweaters, a down jacket, a heavy-duty sleeping bag with two extra blankets, two pillows, three sets of gloves, three sets of long underwear, moisturizing sunscreen, and a pair of earmuffs.”
    “Earmuffs?” Stevie frowned. “Where are you going to buy earmuffs in June?”
    Lisa squinted at her list. “Actually, I already have earmuffs and most of the other things on this list. I just have to buy what my mother’s typed an asterisk beside.” She looked at her friends, then turned the page over and continued. “Then I have to get aspirin, bandages, cough syrup, decongestant, antihistamine, vitamins, and throat lozenges.” She shrugged. “She thinks I might catch a cold.”
    “And I think you’ll be suffering from exhaustion if you pack all that stuff,” said Carole.
    “Wait a minute.” Deborah stopped in the middle of the mall. “Lisa, I know your mother wants to take good care of you, but I don’t think she understands the nature of a wagon train reenactment. This is not going to be a cushy trip. We’re really going to be traveling by covered wagon. We’ll be responsible for all of ourclothes and provisions ourselves. Unless you can fit all these things into a single backpack that you can carry, you’re going to have to leave a lot of things along the trail.”
    Lisa blinked. “Along the trail?”
    “Yes. It’s going to be just like the old days, and the old days were awfully rough. People had to trash treasured items they brought from back East because they couldn’t get them through the mud or over the mountains. It wasn’t uncommon to see horsehair sofas and dining room tables and even pianos abandoned by the side of the trail.”
    “Wow,” said Carole, her dark eyes wide with wonder.
    Deborah went on. “We’re going to have to travel light. I mean
really
light. Here’s the list they faxed me.” She unfolded a single sheet of paper. A short list of supplies covered the top half of the page, with the instructions in big capital letters: ALL YOUR SUPPLIES MUST FIT INTO ONE LARGE BAG .
    “Gosh,” Stevie said. “They aren’t kidding. But why do we have to take laundry soap?”
    Deborah laughed. “Because the directors of this trip want us to live as closely as possible to the lives the settlers lived. That means we’ll be wearing pioneer clothing and washing both our clothes and ourselves in creeks along the way. No showers, no bathrooms, no hot water.” She smiled at the girls’ open mouths. “Thistrip is to be as authentic as possible without endangering the participants.”
    “Cool,” said Stevie.
    “Sounds fun to me,” agreed Carole.
    “I’m all for it, too,” said Lisa. “But we can’t tell my mother. She’ll never let me go if I don’t take everything on this list with me.”
    The girls frowned for a moment, thinking. Then Stevie grinned. “I know what we can do. Let your mother pack all this stuff for you, and then you can bring it over to my house