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                Spring

         I looked out the window of the old Ford truck, as we went down a dilapidated, dirt 

road. My family was knocked side to side as we hit pothole after pothole. I gave up 

trying to talk to my younger brother a long time ago, because every time I tried to say 

something, the tires would screech, or we would hit another pothole. So, I just sat 

there, silent. It was our tenth day driving. Every night we would stop the truck at ten-

thirty and sleep on the side of the road, if you could call it that. Then Rick, the person 

who was driving us, would leave at five in the morning. The truck was so loud, nobody 

could sleep while the truck was started. So, every single day on this wretched road 

trip, we all got six and a half hours of sleep. We were so tired, that we were almost 

able to sleep through the noise of the truck. Almost. But, we could never get any actual 

sleep while the truck was going. 

         I looked out the window. Evergreens zoomed by, and everything was blurry, 

partly because we were going so fast and partly because practically the whole road 

was one big bump. Rick turned onto an even narrower dirt road which soon led to a 

dead end. The truck shut off. Rick tried to start the truck back up. It shuddered, and 

went out. Rick tried once more. The truck started. We cheered, but stopped as soon 

as the truck died again seconds later. Rick finally announced that the truck was out of 

fuel.   We were planning on going on a backpacking trip for vacation, but we only had 

food for a one week trip. We were at least a hundred miles away from the nearest 

town, but the town was so small it didn't even have a gas station. We had no idea what 

to do. We wouldn't be able to hike all the way out. I yawned.

         “How about we sleep on it.” I suggested. Then I said, “We can decide what to do 

tomorrow.

          “I’m hungry,” my little brother complained, “can we eat something?”

    “That sounds like a great idea, Connor,” said Dad. 

    “Who’s up for PB&J?” asked Mom. We all groaned. 

    “For the fifteenth time?” we all said, almost in unison.

    “Don’t exaggerate,” Mom said. 

    “We’re not,” I said ,“I’ve been counting.”

           We were all glad that we had sandwiches though, and we ate in silence. After 

dinner we all got ready for bed, and then scrunched together in the truck, rolled up in 

blankets. It was a long, sleepless night. For me, at least. I could hear   Dad snoring in 

the front seat. I thought about the events of the last ten days, and how we got here, 

and I thought about what we would do now that we were out of fuel. Strangely, though, 

I wasn't scared. Somehow I knew we were going to be all right.

           I replayed the cause of our vacation. Dad had come home from work and was 

really tired. He had changed and went to bed. Mom was busy doing bills and what-not, 

while I was laying in bed reading a book. Connor was playing with cars in the living 

room, although, as Dad said, he was “too old” for cars. Apparently, Connor didn't 

agree. Even though he was ten years old, he loved to do the stuff that he did when he 

was younger. He even tried making baby noises sometimes, but Mom and Dad didn't 

think it was cute or funny anymore. So, I was reading my book and Mom called me and 

told me to come to her office. I thought I was in trouble, since I am never allowed to go 

into her office. I approached the office cautiously and walked in.

         “Mom, whatever I did, I’m sorry I didn't…” I stopped when I noticed she had a 

huge smile on her warm, delicate face. She wasn't mad at all. In fact, she was 

excessively happy. I closed the door.

         “I got your report card in the mail today.” Mom said. I was wondering why she 

was still smiling. Was she so disappointed in me that she was smiling? No, that didn't 

make sense. Maybe she was trying to act proud of me to cover up her disappointment. 

No, that didn't make sense either. I must have done something good.

          “You got straight A’s,” Mom said, “I’m so proud of you honey.” Had I really? I 

must have looked surprised, because Mom asked,“didn't you think you got good 

grades because of the effort you put into your work?” To be honest, I didn't think I put 

in that much effort. I didn't even take notes. But, either way, Mom was proud of me, and 

that was what mattered. “To celebrate your good grades, we should go on a vacation!” 

Mom said, getting really excited. “Don’t you think that would be fun?” Before I could 

answer, Mom said, “We could go to the beach or, or how about going and visiting your 

cousins in Arizona? Aha! We could go backpacking!” By that time, Mom 

was yelling, and Dad and Connor had come up to see what the commotion was all 

about. She told them her idea, but no matter what, she wouldn't budge. It was settled. 

We were going backpacking. 

         As I finished up thinking about the events of that day, I noticed that I was really 

tired. I yawned, stretched out, and snuggled up. I started to let my mind drift. I was 

getting really cozy. Soon, I was asleep, and didn't wake up for a long, long time.

           I woke up to a buzzing in my ear. It was a mosquito. I slapped at it, but instead of 

hitting the mosquito, I slapped myself across the face. That woke me up. I noticed the 

sunlight coming in through the truck windows. The sun was almost mid-sky. I sat up 

quickly. I had slept until almost noon! Why hadn't anyone woken me up? I got out of the 

truck and stretched.

         “Mornin’ sunshine. How’d ya’ sleep?” Dad asked groggily, obviously still trying to 

wake up completely. I looked over at Mom, who was sitting by the fire she and Connor 

had just started. I tried to reply to Dad, but all that came out was,“nhnhnhn!” Dad 

didn't even try asking again. As he walked away, I heard him mumble,“That about sums 

it up.” I walked over to Mom and found a log near the fire that I could sit on.

          “Do you want some hot cocoa, honey?” Mom asked me.

          “Sure.” I replied. She walked over and handed me a steaming mug. I took a sip. 

It was a little hot. I heard a noise behind me and turned around, but it turned out to be 

Rick, gathering firewood.“Good morning Rick!” I shouted out. Rick looked up and 

smiled, then kept working. I sat for a while, staring at the mesmerizing red and orange 

flames, dancing around on the wood. Then I got up, walked around, and went to the 

truck. I grabbed my backpack, which had   all my basic first aid and survival stuff, as 

well as field guides and binoculars and other exploring tools. I walked over to Dad, who 

was just wandering up and down the road. 

        "Can I go explore for a little bit Dad?"

        "Sure. Don't go too far," came the reply.

        "Thanks." I said and walked into the woods.

         I walked slowly, looking at anything and everything, pausing every once in a 

while to look up a type of bug, or try to identify a bird call, or look at a tree. I stopped 

and took a drink. I heard a rustling, and I knew it wasn't a human. I was excited to see 

what it was. I walked along almost completely still, until I saw what was making the 

noise. Standing in front of me was a beautiful, majestic whitetail buck, eating the buds 

off of a low-hanging branch. I just sat, and stared, and stared. Time seemed to freeze, 

but I realized that I better get back before Mom and Dad started to worry about me. I 

hated to leave, but I took one last glimpse and then left as slowly and quietly as I could. 

The deer heard me, and bounded off, crashing through the woods. I hadn't wanted to 

disturb it. I walked back, a little quicker now, but I noticed I hadn't gone that far. When I 

returned, I looked for Mom and Dad, excited to tell them about what I had seen, but I 

couldn't find them anywhere. Rick came out of the woods, whistling a tune that I had 

never heard before.

         "Where’s my mom?" I asked Rick. He came over to me and said, "Your mom, 

dad, and brother started hiking for town. They left an hour ago. They couldn't wait for 

you if they wanted to get very far before dark, so they left without you. I’m sorry kid."

         I was speechless. My own parents had left without me. Why?

         Rick started to talk, "While you were gone, we discussed what we should do, and 

they told me that they would hike out and get help, and then come back and get us."

         "But what about food?" I asked, "We don’t have enough!"

         Rick looked down, seeing that he didn't think about that. He looked up again. 

"We’ll gather our food. We can find some in the woods, and there is plenty of fish in a 

stream I found down in the woods a little way back. We can survive until your parents 

come back, right?"

         "I guess so." I said, "But how long will it take my mom, dad, and Connor to get to 

that tiny town?"

         "I don't know," Rick said, "maybe about a week and a half."

         I looked up. I noticed that it was mostly dark.

         "Do we have anything to eat before bed?" I asked.

         "Nope." replied Rick.

         "It’s getting kind of dark, how about we sleep in the truck tonight," said Rick. 

"Okay," I replied. 

         I opened the truck door and hopped in. I bundled up in blankets and closed my 

eyes. I had so much to think about, but it could wait until tomorrow. Soon, my 

exhaustion took over, and I fell asleep.

         I woke up to a growling stomach and Rick shaking me. I got out of the truck, 

stretched, walked around, and then we got to work. The whole time my stomach was 

growling, and I was so hungry that it felt like my whole body was splitting apart. First, 

we started to build our shelter. We hiked in a little way so that we were closer to the 

stream Rick found, and then started gathering materials for our shelter. We built a 

simple little lean-to shelter, but it didn't feel like a simple task, especially with your 

stomach going on a grumbling rampage every few seconds. In the end, it looked like a 

ratty old shelter, but at least it was something. Then, we gathered evergreen boughs 

for making beds and pillows. We wove and stacked and wove and stacked the boughs 

until we were cramped up and sore, and then we wove and stacked and wove and 

stacked some more until finally, we had what looked like a pile of green firewood, which 

would be our beds. We barely got them inside, without the shelter falling apart. At last, 

it was time to go fishing, and catch our food.

         We went to the stream and pulled out our fishing rods which, luckily, we had 

packed for the trip in case we found a pond, river, or lake. We started fishing. The 

weather was perfect. About forty-five degrees Fahrenheit, sunny, not a cloud in the sky, 

and a warm breeze coming from the east, a perfect spring day. If I wasn't starving, I 

would have just sat down and not paid any attention to fishing. But, I was starving, and 

I needed the food for energy. I paid full attention and kept hoping I would catch 

something. After a while, I noticed that there were a few crawdads and clams on the 

bottom of the stream. I waded into the cool, slow moving water, and grabbed a few 

clams. Then I tried to grab crawdads. They were very quick. Finally, I grabbed one. I 

brought it out of the water. The crawdad whipped out its claws and pinched me! I 

dropped the crawdad, but figured out a way that I could hold them without getting 

pinched. After a while I had a bunch of clams and crawdads. I looked over to Rick and 

saw that his rod was bending a lot, and he was fighting it. He yelled,“I have one! I have 

one!”  

         I ran over, excited. He pulled it up and I helped him grab it. It was a large,    

beautiful rainbow trout. “Good job!” I exclaimed. I was really excited now, because 

we had food to eat. We ran back to our camp, excited to have food to eat. We 

started gathering firewood. 

      Soon, we had a warm, cozy fire going, and the fish, crawdads, and clams were 

sizzling over the fire. After about ten minutes, probably the longest ten minutes of my 

life, the food was done. At last! We divided up the food so that we each had the 

same amount. I was excited to taste the food, and took a big bite. 

      “Ow!” I exclaimed as the food burned my tongue. 

      “Be careful,” said Rick,“ it’s hot.”

      “A little too late for that,” I replied sarcastically. 

      I fell asleep almost instantly that night, with food in my belly and a shelter over 

my head. 

      I got up early in the morning. Way early. I was awake before Rick was. I woke 

him up and we got to work. Rick cut down trees while I gathered loads after loads 

after loads of kindling. I thought hard, keeping silent while I ventured through the 

woods looking for dry wood. Each time my arms were full, I would trudge back to 

camp and throw the wood into a big pile. Trip after trip, load after load, the hours 

passed. I looked up at the sky. The sun was almost at its zenith. Still, I kept working. 

Sweat was pouring down my face as I ventured farther and farther into the woods. 

The mosquitoes buzzed and buzzed as they devoured my blood. I dared to venture 

 only a little farther before I turned around. As I stopped to turn around, I heard the 

rushing of a stream. 

         “I will look at it tomorrow.” I said to myself.

         When we stopped working late that night I wanted to tell Rick about what I had 

seen. I was bursting inside to explain about the stream, but I was afraid that he would 

tell me not to venture so far. So, I waited to tell him. 

         We went to bed that day without any food, since we had spent the day 

gathering firewood. 

        I woke up in the morning and knew instantly it would be a rough day. I was so 

sore I could barely move. So, the only thing I could think of doing was going for a walk 

to stretch out. Instantly I thought of going to see that stream. This time, I thought to 

bring a can of bug spray along with me in my pack. 

        “There’s no harm in bringing my pack with me, anyway.” I silently said to myself. 

         I got up, grabbed my pack, and told Rick, who was tending the fire he had just 

started, that I was going for a quick walk. Without looking up, he said, “Be quick.”

         As soon as I was farther away from camp, I got quieter, as if I didn’t want to 

spook something. I walked along, stepping carefully. I looked and looked, but I 

couldn’t find the stream. I started panicking, and eventually sat down, slapping 

mosquitoes. What was I going to do now? I looked around and realized I was more 

lost than I thought. What was Rick going to do once he found out I was lost? After a 

while of thinking, I got up and stretched.

Devastated, I noticed how alarmingly quick the light was fading. I looked around 

and the truth hit me like a bullet. This was real. I could die   at any moment. I 

decided that I better start working if I wanted to last more than five minutes out 

here by myself. “But,” I thought, “I’m so tired…”

   The sun’s rays blasted me in the face. I sat up but felt woozy, so I sat 

back down. It felt like there were ten tennis balls stuffed down my 

throat. There were leaves all over my body, as well as dirt.

      I spent a minute thinking, then laughed at myself for thinking that 

Rick would look for me. He was just a stranger that I didn’t even know. 

      When my mom had presented the idea of backpacking, she decided  

we would need a chauffeur to drive us so that we would have enough 

energy for hiking. So we found Rick, who was a seasoned 

outdoorsman, to do the job for us,   since he was going that way 

anyways. Since he wasn’t an actual chauffeur, it wouldn’t cost as much, 

which would give us a little extra vacation money. I still didn’t trust 

him. The fifty year old just creeped me out.  

      “Yeah, and that might get me killed,” I thought to myself.

      I was lucky that I had been so tired last night that I didn’t even 

notice how uncomfortable and cold the bare ground was. I had made it 

through the night, but if I didn’t start working soon, I doubted there  

would be many more nights where I was as lucky as that. The rest of the 

day was spent working on my shelter, and come nightfall I had a little 

shelter and bed. After the work was over I realized just how hungry I 

was. I hadn’t eaten for… one… two… about two full days. My stomach 

rumbled and raved, begging for food. “If I don’t get food soon,” I 

thought, “I won’t have enough energy for working.” 

    As I looked into the sky, the stars looked like my families’ faces. There 

was Connor, and Mom, and Dad. I felt a sudden wave of relief, like they 

were watching over me. I didn’t worry at all, and fell asleep with a smile. 

I woke up early and decided to look for water. I didn’t bother even 

attempting to look for Rick, because I felt I was better off without him. I 

walked for hours on end, and since I didn’t have any water, I had to take 

frequent breaks. I stopped for a second to take a breather. Instantly, I 

froze, after hearing a sound like ten million mosquitoes approaching me. 

After a little longer, I recognized the sound as the stream! I got up and 

ran to the stream. As well as finding the stream, I also found the home of 

hundreds of mosquitoes. I was so excited to see the stream that I didn’t 

even care about them. 

I ran to the stream, dipped my hands in the water and drank. The 

cool, fresh water tasted like spring. I heard voices far off in the 

woods, and I figured I was just imagining it. I ignored them and 

focused on swatting the swarming mosquitoes that were around my 

head. After a while I felt replenished, so I went back to where I had 

slept the night before. Again, I heard those voices. I started getting 

agitated that I was going crazy. I looked around and was 

astounded that I had wasted so much time at the stream. Most of 

the day was gone and I knew that I needed a shelter for sleeping 

tonight. I started, but before long it was completely dark. 

      I heard wolves howling off in the distance, and it sent a chill in 

my spine. Instead of being scared, I was in awe, wondering what 

other unimaginable species were lurking just out of sight. I saw the 

beauty of the woods instead of the terror. Something had changed, 

like someone flipping a switch. Now I had a positive viewpoint 

instead of a negative viewpoint on things. I had changed. I wasn't 

scared anymore. Instead, I felt a great lightness, like I knew I 

would be safe out here with all of these wonderful creations. 

With the comforting renaissance I felt, I fell asleep quickly, with peace 

in my mind.            

                          Summer - Two months later… 

    I stopped and took a quick break, looking at all the work I had 

accomplished over the last few months. After the initial renaissance, I 

had been comforted, and knew I had to put in more work. If it wasn’t 

for that one special moment, I wouldn’t be alive. I scanned the log 

cabin I had started, the pond I had camped near, my fireplace, my 

outdoor stove, and all my other many creations. I looked back to the 

log cabin I had started. I planned out my next plan of attack, and went 

back to work. I hauled logs into a pile, then started stacking them as I 

finished up the “roof”, or what would become the roof (after a lot more 

work). Right now I had already finished the main foundation and the 

bed I planned on putting in the corner. My hard work had paid off. After 

a little more work, I walked down to the pond. I used the last few 

minutes of light to catch a fish and gather some herbs for my dinner. 

After cooking them over the fire, I ate my first meal 

inside the almost finished cabin. After splurging and eating a little of 

my “dessert”, which was actually dried fish, I walked back outside and 

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