Fire on the Mountain by Pamela McDowell

Author:Pamela McDowell [McDowell, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Orca Book Publishers
Published: 2022-01-29T20:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

In her dreams Cricket couldn’t escape the sandwiches. She tossed and turned until morning, dreaming about a mountain of bread that filled the kitchen. She struggled to find the mustard. She searched under loaves and lettuce, slipped on pickles and squished jam between her toes. Slices of bread tumbled toward her, like the mountain was crumbling. She was trapped. She couldn’t move her legs. She heard Tyler’s voice calling her from the other side of the mountain of bread.

“Cricket! Are you up?”

Up? Why would the mustard be up? She was still stuck, unable to move. She felt a hand grip her shoulder. Cricket froze.

“Cricket, wake up. It’s morning. Shilo’s here.”

Her eyes flew open. “Did she find the mustard?”

Tyler laughed and shook his head.

Cricket struggled to sit up. She frowned. Her legs were tangled in her blankets, and she could hardly move. That was a crazy dream. Why would Tyler hide the mustard?

When she heard her mom talking to Shilo, Cricket untangled her blankets and jumped out of bed. She ran down the stairs.

“Hey,” Shilo said. “I just came to say goodbye. My dad says we have to go now.”

Cricket’s eyes widened. “Already? We have to deliver all those sandwiches.”

“You can do it, you and Tyler.” Shilo bit her lip and handed Cricket a cat carrier. “This is for Socks. If you find him, you can put him in here for Mrs. Steeves.”

Cricket nodded.

“There’s a couple of cans of food too. He’ll be hungry.” Shilo gave a little hiccup. Outside a car horn beeped. Before Shilo could turn to the door, Cricket put her arms around her in a big hug.

“We’ll see you really soon, Shilo,” Mrs. McKay said.

Cricket stepped back. “At the pool, right?”

Shilo gave her a small smile. “Sure. At the pool.” Then she turned and ran down the steps to the car.

Cricket stood on the steps in her pajamas and waved, watching Shilo’s car until it disappeared around the corner. For the first time, she smelled thick smoke in the air.

Later Tyler stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed. He leaned against the counter, watching Cricket eat breakfast.

“If you eat any slower, you’ll have to call that lunch,” he said.

She rolled her eyes and slurped another spoonful of cereal. She would much rather crawl back into bed and hide under the covers, but they had sixty-seven sandwiches to deliver. They would have had sixty-eight, but Tyler had eaten one of the weird ones just to prove they were good. Like peanut butter and pickles could be good.

While she finished her cereal, Tyler packed all the lunches into their backpacks and the baskets on their bikes.

“Dad said we should start at the Prince of Wales Hotel, then make some stops in town,” he said.

Cricket nodded glumly. Their dad had been out of the house and up in a helicopter before she’d even gotten out of bed, and their mom was at the warden’s office, coordinating radio communication. The plan was very clear—make their deliveries, then get home to grab their go bags.

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