Still looking at the scratches on the chamber, I said, “Don’t worry. It may be an older model, but it’s still tough.””
“No, Falcon, not that,” Chura said. “I think something just bit me. This really hurts.” She reached to pull up the left leg of her overalls.
We all looked at the ground near her feet. [...]

I drove past the trailhead parking area and cut the steering wheel hard to the right. The Scout bounced hard, lifting all of us off the seat. Chura, the lightest, yipped as she hit her head on the bare metal roof of the cab.
“Falcon, the azaleas!” Danetta yelled.
We flattened them, and anything else between us [...]

“Hi, I’m Chura.”
“It’s my pleasure,” said the boy. “I’m Nathan, but please call me Nate. All my friends do.”
Chethra stepped up and put her left shoulder between the two youngsters, her right hand outstretched. “Hello, Nathan,” she said. Nathan offered his hand and they gave each other a customary two or three pumps before letting [...]

For a full minute, all I heard were the sounds of water lapping the sides of the canoe’s metal hull, and birds calling from the trees.
“I don’t like tense silence,” Danetta said. “Somebody sing a song or something.”
“I’m fresh out of bouncy tunes,” I said.
“I’ve heard pulling a gun on somebody will do that to [...]

I felt someone poking my shoulder. “Rise, sunshine,” Chura said.
I was groggy. My legs and arms ached as I stretched them. “So, your aunt told me what her name means. Please tell me yours means ’snooze bar,’” I said.
“Well, until mom entered it wrong for my fake ID, it was Charu, which means, ‘beautiful.’”
“Even with [...]

“So, your sister doesn’t seem to be crazy about me.”
“You’re not the problem. She’s just one of those types who has very few friends and takes a long time to feel like she knows somebody. If I didn’t have her along, I wouldn’t be strong enough to do this. She supports our cause, but thinks [...]

After I paid Miss Jean, I headed back to the Jeep and helped Danetta lug the money case to our room door. I heard the river mumbling and gurgling in the darkness. I pulled out the room key, a piece of metal with jagged teeth about the length of my pinky finger. A piece of [...]

“That’s exactly what I was doing, and your treasure is right back there,” I said, pointing my thumb at the case. “I need to know which direction to turn. Chura, you might find a map in that compartment in front of you.”
By the time Chura unfolded the map and she and the others located us [...]

“Nothing,” I said. “Now, you still haven’t told me your plan. Let’s hear it.”
It was clear we would have time. The road became so steep and narrow that each tight curve put us at risk of a head-on collision. I only hoped that anybody coming the opposite direction had the sense to slow down, too.
“It’s [...]

“Just ignore that and keep going,” I said. “Danetta, get in.” The pounding on the front door continued.
She grabbed the case of money and walked as quickly as its weight allowed.
The controls on the older panel came back to me, and I managed to set the date and time and get her on her way. [...]