Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 "Michael!" Dr. Gomez shouted as he emerged from the cave with Justin. They ran over to where Michael was sitting with the men who had rescued him. Dr. Gomez hugged his son tightly. "Thank goodness you're all right! You had me worried sick." "I'm so sorry, Dad," Michael said. "I should have listened to you." Dr. Gomez took Michael's face in his hands and looked him straight in the eyes. "We're going to need to talk about this," he said sternly. "Yes, sir."

Beep! Beep! A small car drove up the rocky path outside the caves, its rooftop packed with luggage and crates. The driver leaned out the window and called, "Dr. Gomez! Are we going?" "If we hurry, we can still make our flight. C'mon, boys!" Dr. Gomez jumped into the front seat of the car while Michael and Justin piled into the back, and they sped off to the airport in a cloud of dust. After a loud and extremely bumpy ride to reach the main road, Michael noticed a glare coming from the seat next to him. He turned his head slowly toward Justin and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry..." "You should be!" Justin barked in a loud whisper, hoping to keep their conversation confined to the back seat. "I hope you're happy. What could have been so

important that you had to go back into that cave to get it? You do realize you're going to be grounded for a year, right?" Michael wiggled out of his backpack and unzipped the top, making sure to not draw any attention from the front seat, where his dad was busy talking to the driver about the fastest route to the airport. "Check this out!" He reached inside the backpack and pulled out what appeared to be a bone-dry squirrel covered in a thick layer of salt. "Ewww! What is that?" Justin got as far away from the object as he could. "I think it's a squirrel," Michael replied. "Look, I've got another one." He pulled another dried rodent out of his bag. "Ewww!" Justin said again. "You have two? That's double gross! Get rid of those things. Who knows what kind of nasty disease we could catch?" "No way." Michael patted the squirrels. "I'm bringing them home as souvenirs. Mementos of our awesome summer!"

"You can't do that!" Justin said. "Why not?" "It's probably not even legal— smuggling squirrels across international borders." "It's not like taking a live plant or an artifact," Michael argued. "It's just a couple of petrified squirrels. Plus, they're so dry and salty, no germs could live on them." Justin shook his head disapprovingly as Michael stuffed the stiff rodents back into his backpack.