PROMISE If the truck turned right it would go around the bend past the five stone cabins where Kaden lived with Gram Disappointed hikers frequently stopped there to ask where the trailhead was Gram always had a grumpy lecture waiting for Kaden if hikers stopped A worthless lot she’d say They’ve got too much time on their hands if they can just go tromping aimlessly through the woods all day What they need are jobs but not one even offered to help It’s obvious the place could use some fixin up Not that Gram would accept help from strangers and she certainly wouldn’t pay anyone She had Kaden and when hikers bothered Gram Kaden could expect extra chores to satisfy Gram’s fight against laziness Kaden kept his binoculars aimed at the little spot of road If the truck turned left it would curve down the hill and drive by Emmett’s Emmett Adams was the only other person who lived this side of Promise You couldn’t see his house from the cabins but the old man was their only neighbor Unlike Gram Emmett enjoyed company and had hand painted signs lined up by the road inviting people to stop One had a horse’s head with a cartoon bubble saying Be Neigh borly Pull on in and have a chat Another had a dog saying Come on in I don’t bite On a third was a stick figure in a T-shirt shorts and big hiking boots saying 4
Friday August 26 Hike on in FREE DRINKS Not many stopped but when someone did Emmett loved it There’s no hiking trail at the tower Emmett would say but there’s the promise of a good time right down the hill The hikers would politely chuckle at his lame joke but Emmett knew the hikers were good for business at the Big Apple Grocery Store and Pillie’s Purple Cow Now Kaden saw the truck slow to a stop at the main road Good he turned left Kaden told Kubla who had flown back to the tower and was now strutting around the floor proud he had run off another intruder Gram’s been grouchy enough lately without strangers irritating her Even as he said this he wasn’t convinced the man in the white truck was really a stranger though Kaden put down the binoculars and looked absently at the vast view of the late summer forest that spread in all direc tions below him Normally he would have been dreading returning to school This year should have been especially worrisome He would be starting middle school But today the last Friday of summer vacation all Kaden could think about was the letter It had been four days since the letter arrived Four days of being able to think of nothing else 5
