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But until I have money of my own, I'll have to Keep raiding Manny's supply. When I was just about ready to leave for the trip, Grandpa gave me a book he said might come in handy. Grandpa said the book belonged to him as a kid, and he gave it to Dad when HE was my age. Now he wanted ME to have it.

It looked a little outdated to me, but I didn't want to hurt Grandpa's feelings. So I told him I'd take it with me and read it the first chance I got. The Essential BOOK FOR YOUNG LADS There was JUST enough room to fit it in my bag, and I figured the more stuff piled on top of the Freshies, the better. When Mom dropped me off at school this morning, though, I realized I was SERIOUSLY unprepared for this trip.

Everybody else had a TON of gear, and I felt like I had underpacked. After all our stuff was loaded onto the bus, the bags took up at least half the space. That meant we had to double up on seats, which made the ride to Hardscrabble Farms feel a LOT longer than it should've.

When we finally got there and drove through the main entrance, I was pretty relieved. But the last stretch was BRUTAL because it was a dirt road. HARDSCRABBLE FARMS Old-fashioned values for today's youths When we got off the bus, a group of kids from another school was just leaving. And they looked like they couldn't be getting out of there soon enough.

A kid in the back was holding a handwritten sign that didn't make any sense to me. A couple of my classmates seemed pretty freaked out when they saw it. A boy standing next to me said his older brother went to Hardscrabble Farms a few years back and told him all about Silas Scratch. Apparently this Silas Scratch guy was a farmer who lived at Hardscrabble Farms a long time ago, but then the county came in and kicked him off his land.

Another kid chimed in and said HE heard Silas Scratch went to live in the forest, where he survived by eating slugs and berries. Then Melinda Henson said she heard he went CRAZY and grew his fingernails really long. See, I could've done without the part about the long fingernails, because that sort of thing really gives me the willies.