Chapter 13

CHAPTER 13 BOOM! Chukka chukka chukka... Michael opened his eyes with a start. How long have I been asleep? He lifted his head from his drool-soaked pillow and looked around. It was daylight outside, but many of the passengers around him were sleeping. DING! The red Fasten Seat Belt light flashed on above him. "No big deal." Justin yawned. "Just a little rough air. Might as well go back to sleep." Michael was happy to take the advice. He still felt exhausted. But before he could close his eyes again, he noticed that the overhead bin where his backpack had been placed had been flung open by the turbulence. "Oh no!" Michael gasped. "What?" asked Justin. Michael pointed at his backpack. The top was unzipped, and a crusty, scraggly squirrel tail was sticking out. Then the plane hit another pocket of rough air— and the bag slipped out and fell onto the back of the seat below!

"Ahhhhh!" Michael whispered, fighting to hold back a scream. "Ahhhhh!" repeated Justin in a slightly louder whisper. A squirrel slid out of the bag and onto the head of a sleeping man! "AHHHHH!" Michael screamed, not in a whisper. "Shhhhh!" Justin urged. "You're gonna wake up your dad!" Michael looked across the aisle at his sleeping father. "I gotta get that squirrel!" he whispered to Justin. Michael looked up and down the aisle, checking for flight

attendants. All clear. He unbuckled his belt quietly, stood up, and tiptoed forward. The salty rodent tail covered the nose and mouth of the sleeping man, rising and falling slowly with his breathing. Yuck! Michael thought. As cool as he thought the squirrels were, he would not like one on his face! As he reached forward to grab it, a voice called out, "Young man! You need to remain in your seat!" It was the flight attendant who had stowed his backpack.

Without looking at her, Michael grabbed the squirrel off the sleeping man's face, stuffed it back in his backpack, crammed the bag back into the overhead bin, and slammed the bin shut. He looked over to see the flight attendant standing in the aisle near the front of the plane, motioning to a dark-haired man seated next to her. The man turned to look at Michael. He was wearing a suit and sunglasses and looked very official. Who wears a suit and sunglasses on a 12-hour flight? Michael thought.

"Sorry!" he called out as he scrambled back to his seat. "Everything all right?" Dr. Gomez said sleepily as Michael sat back down and buckled up. "Yeah. Everything's fine," Michael said. He peeked around the front of his seat to see the flight attendant giving him the stink eye as the man in the suit and sunglasses looked on with a steely gaze.