"Here goes the adventure!" I whispered.
"Shhhh!" Lori said.
The U-Haul started up and lurched forward. Maureen let loose with a
loud, high-pitched wail. I shushed her and rocked her and patted her, but
she kept crying. So I gave her to Lori, who whispered singsong into her
ear and told jokes. That didn't work, either, so we begged Maureen to
please stop crying. Then we just put our hands over our ears.
After a while, it got cold and uncomfortable in the back of the dark U-
Haul. The engine made the floor vibrate, and we'd all go tumbling
whenever we hit a bump. Several hours passed. By then we were all
dying to pee and wondering if Dad was going to pull over for a rest stop.
Suddenly, with a bang, we hit a huge pothole and the back doors on the
U-Haul flew open. The wind shrieked through the compartment. We
were afraid we were going to get sucked out, and we all shrank back
against the Prospector. The moon was out. We could see the glow from
the U-Haul's taillights and the road we'd come down, stretching back
through the silvery desert. The unlocked doors swung back and forth
with loud clangs.
Since the furniture was stored between us and the cabin, we couldn't
knock on the wall to get Mom's and Dad's attention. We banged on the
sides of the U-Haul and hollered as loud as we could, but the engine was
too noisy and they didn't hear us.
Brian crawled to the back of the van. When one of the doors swung in, he
grabbed at it, but it flew open again, jerking him forward. I thought the
door was going to drag Brian out, but he jumped back just in time and
scrambled along the wooden floor toward Lori and me.
Brian and Lori held tight to the Prospector, which Dad had tied securely
with ropes. I was holding Maureen, who for some strange reason had