On the last day of second grade, Finn and Molly Parker came home to find a camper in their driveway. It was white with one orange stripe and one yellow stripe. It had a rounded roof and three windows on the sides.
The twins checked to make sure the school bus had let them off at the right house. Yep. This was 24 Birchwood Drive. With its hunter-green mailbox out front and purple Johnny-jump-up flowers in the window boxes. But you couldn’t see the window boxes now. They were blocked by the camper, which was as big as a boat!
Molly turned to Finn. “What’s this doing here?” she asked.
“How would I know?” Finn asked. “I just got here, same as you.”
Molly and Finn walked up the driveway slowly and carefully, as if the camper were a UFO. Finn was wearing his favorite baseball cap. It was from his Little League team, the Moonwalkers, and he never took it off.
Well, not
never. He took it off at school because hats were not allowed during class. And he took it off each night when he had to shower before bed. But every other minute of the day, he wore it, even when he was sleeping.
Except right now, he took the hat off and shielded his eyes with his hand, peeking through the camper’s tinted windows.
Their dad jumped out of the driver’s side door.
“AH!” the twins yelled in surprise.
“Dad, you scared us,” Finn said. “What are you doing home?”
“And what’s this?” Molly added.
“It’s a camper! Isn’t it beautiful?” Mr. Parker said. He patted the side of the camper as if it were a new puppy. “Now we can take the trip I’ve always dreamed of taking.”
“What trip?” Finn asked.
“A family road trip!” their dad exclaimed. “We can go anywhere our hearts desire.”
“That’s not true. We can’t go to Bora Bora,” Molly said.
“Huh?” Finn asked.
“Bora Bora is an island in Tahiti,” Molly said. “It’s in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which means we can’t drive there. Anywhere we travel in the camper has to be on this continent.”
“That’s right, Mol,” their dad said. “Can’t get anything past you! But there are lots of other places these wheels can take us this summer! We can go anywhere in North America. Doesn’t that sound great?”
“I get carsick,” Molly said. “Remember the time we drove to Grandma’s house and I threw up all over Finn?”
“
I remember,” Finn said. “It was so disgusting!”
“I didn’t do it on purpose,” Molly replied.
“But you didn’t have to do it on
me,” Finn said. “Do you get camper-sick, too?”
“Probably,” Molly said.
“Gross,” Finn said, placing his cap back on his head.
“Kids, where’s that Parker family spirit?” their dad asked.
Just then, Mrs. Parker stepped out of the front door, her cell phone pressed to her ear. Her eyes widened at the sight of a camper in her driveway. “Carol, I’m going to have to call you back,” she said. She lowered the phone and shook her head. “What in the world . . . ?”
“Family vacation, honey!” Mr. Parker said.
Mrs. Parker’s eyes scanned the driveway. “Where’s your car?”
“I traded with Professor Vega in the astrophysics department!” Mr. Parker exclaimed. “It was a steal of a deal! The car only sat five, and this camper sleeps eight!”
“Oh no,” Mrs. Parker said. “You have to trade back. This takes up the entire front yard. And it’s crushing my poor marigolds!”
“Phew,” Molly and Finn sighed with relief.
The camper would be returned tomorrow. Dad would get his regular old car back. Everything would be normal again.
But that night, Molly couldn’t fall asleep. She tossed and turned until there was a faint morning light peeking through her window shade.
Molly put on her fuzzy bunny slippers and carefully tiptoed down the stairs. She wanted to look at the camper one last time, and maybe go inside it before Dad traded it back. She couldn’t get carsick (or
camper-sick) if it was standing still.
She quietly slipped outside and opened the unlocked camper door. To her surprise, someone was already there.
Copyright © 2019 by Courtney Sheinmel and Bianca Turetsky; illustrated by Stevie Lewis. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
