Page 35

"Did you see the look on that Duke's face when

Brooke put her foot down on the gas pedal?" Raven

said and laughed.

"The door whacked him hard," Crystal said. "I

wonder if he lost any of his own hair."

"I felt the wheels crunch on one of the bikes," I

said.

"They can't exactly go complaining to the

police either, can they?" Raven asked.

"Your ponytail guy sprouted wings," I added.

We laughed again and then grew quiet for a moment. "I think we make a pretty good team," I said.

"We're the super Orphanteers, aren't we, Butterfly?" She nodded, smiling.

"Let's get back on the road," I said and got

behind the wheel. "How about a song, Raven?" She thought a moment and began. Soon we

were all joining her in the chorus. We're all right, I

thought. We're going to be all right.

We traveled for nearly three hours before stopping for lunch and the bathroom again, this time in a

noisy restaurant. It was a little more expensive than I

had thought and I could see that Crystal was right

about how fast we'd spend our money. Despite using Gordon's credit card for gas, traveling was still going to be very expensive, especially on our budget. Thinking about ways to economize, I suggested fast food chicken for dinner and that was just what we

had.

By this time, because we had traveled all night

and most of the day, we were all feeling and looking

drained. Night was some ways off, but I didn't think I

could drive much longer.

"I think we're just going to have to turn in early

tonight," I said.

"Good idea," Crystal said. "Find what looks

like a dead end road," she suggested.

We had to go almost another twenty miles