Getting Air by Dan Gutman Read Free Book Online Page B

something we can eat? We’ve got a lot to do. Am I the only one who’s starved?”
    “What shall I do?” Mrs. Herschel asked. “Would you like me to make a rocking chair out of sticks and sit in it?”
    David stopped fussing with the branches and stared at Mrs. Herschel, as if he wasn’t sure if she was goofing on him or not.
    “You can—” David started.
    “Don’t you tell me what I should do!” Mrs. Herschel scolded. “Who made you king of the forest? Why don’t you sit down and put a sock in it?”
    Whoa! David sat down right where he was, almost falling into his Deathtrap. He does have a tendency to boss people around. There have been more than a few times when Henry and I got into arguments with David and he walked out on us when he didn’t get his way. But he always comes back. I was glad that David took charge when we were on the plane. I guess he decided that one of us had to be the leader on the ground too, and it should be him.
    “Sonny,” Mrs. Herschel continued. “I grew up during the 1930s. We had the Depression in England too. I worked in a factory putting together airplanes during World War II. I lived through Hitler and the Nazis and the Cold War. What have you done in your bleeding life? Roll down the street on a piece of wood with wheels on it?”
    “Hey, no problem,” David said. “You can be in charge if you want.”
    “I don’t want to be in charge!” Mrs. Herschel replied. “But a kilometer away are a bunch of my closest friends. I think that before we fuss with eating and drinking and building shelters, we should give them a proper burial. You show respect for the dead. That’s the least we can do for them.”
    “She’s right,” Arcadia said.
    It was a long walk through the woods to find the rest of the plane. I told my sister to sit and rest her leg, but she insisted on coming with us. There were skid marks on the ground showing where our section of the plane had slid. It was amazing to think that we could slide so far through the woods.
    Finally, we reached the back part of the plane. Or what was left of it, anyway. My guess had been right. The force of hitting two thick trees must have caused the front part of the plane to break off and slide forward. That’s what saved our lives.
    Even though we had run out of fuel, there must have been enough left in the wings to ignite the back of the plane. We were lucky it didn’t burn down the whole forest. The metal frame was twisted and blackened. It was a miracle that Mrs. Herschel got out before the fire destroyed the back of the plane.
    Unfortunately, there weren’t any people left for us to find. We looked all over for survivors. None of us said a word until we were finished combing the area. A few of us stopped in the middle to go off to the side and cry, be sick, whatever.
    “I hope your friends didn’t suffer much,” Arcadia said, putting an arm around Mrs. Herschel.
    David found a piece of metal from the plane that was shaped a little bit like a cross. He stuck it in the ground and said a prayer. We were all shaken. Even Henry bowed his head. I’ll never think of people the same way again.
    We searched for any food, water, or supplies that we could salvage from the wreck, but there was nothing. Everything had burned. Scattered behind the plane were some suitcases that must have fallen out of the cargo hold before the plane exploded.
    “Would it be disrespectful for us to take this luggage?” I asked Mrs. Herschel. “There might be something inside we can use.”
    “I’m sure my friends would be honored if we made use of anything they had,” she replied.
    “We’ll need to make a few trips to carry it all,” Julia said.
    “No,” replied Mrs. Herschel. “Let’s take everything now. I don’t want to come back here ever again.”
    Each of us grabbed a couple of suitcases and lugged them back to the campsite with us.

CHAPTER 10:
Priorities
    The suitcases were heavy . What do old ladies bring with them when