Page 33 (2/2)

"Have you seen Niko?" Mr Appleton askedto me I had sort of assumed that Mr Appleton wanted to stay, as Robbie clearly did

"LUNCH!" I yelled

Mr Appleton juain "LUNCH! Cory hordeslike you can travel?" I asked Mr Appleton as I set out the plates, forks, and napkins

"I want to honor our agreeet on the way"

"Why?"

"Well, we need to have another ," Mr Appleton said "So I can tell you about Denver"

The kids swarmed in

"Mmmm! Chinese!" Max said

"I love Chinese!" chirped Caroline

"Wait," I said to Mr A "What about Denver?"

Niko came in He had his arms crossed over his chest

He stood behind Batiste on line

"Oh, Niko," Mr Appleton said "I want to talk to you about our departure plan"

"Really?" Niko said "Okay Good"

"And I realized we haven’t told you about Denver yet"

"What about Denver?" I said, shooing Ulysses and Max off to a table

"What’s this now?" Robbie said, a people," Mr Appleton said to Niko and et yourself to the Denver International Airport, you can be evacuated"

"What do youinto the line

By now most of the kids had their plates and were seated

Mr Appleton turned to face them It looked like a class set in a Pizza Shack Weird

"Well, children," Mr Appleton said "When there is a crisis in an area, the govern in that area Evacuation is the transfer of large groups of people to a safer place"

"What do you mean?" Batiste interrupted

"Many people in this area aretheir way to the Denver airport," Mr Appleton explained "It is ru people out by helicopter and taking them to Alaska"

Caroline raised her hand

"Do you oing to Denver to go away in a helicopter?"

"Possibly," Mr Appleton said

All at once everyone was talking, screao to Denver We could drive the bus to Denver We had to leave today for Denver

Niko was shaking his head, already i to create

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Mr Appleton said, holding his hands up The kids gradually fell silent though Henry had the hiccups "It’s not at all feasible for you kids to erous out there for you"

"But ant to find our mommy!" Caroline said

Her freckled face was so sad It was hard not to just sweep her into a hug

"I understand that, Caroline," Mr Appleton said "And that is why Robbie and I are going to Denver We will be airlifted to Alaska, and then ill find your parents and tell them where you are so they can co They started clapping and grinning, wiping their tears away

Niko was grinning

This was the happiest I’d ever seen Niko and I understood why: The ; he hadn’t had to uy anyht be rescued

Hope It was a real gliiven us

Everyone talked with excite about what supplies the men would need

Only one person looked unhappy: Robbie

I could tell that he really had wanted to stay with us

He stalked away

Sahalia watched hioing to beg hi, because Mr Appleton said, "Now, if you kids will please go to your school area, you may each write a letter to your parents for Robbie andaway the ree bin with so?" he askedto showlike we should be

Alex took two video walkie-talkies out of the bin One of the, all held together by some blue electrical tape

"It’s a video walkie-talkie but I amped up the trans it and, so far, it works pretty well in the confines of the store"

"That’s cool," I said "Are you thinking we could use it as, like, an intercoht maybe Mr Appleton would take it with hiain, again, like always, I was bowled over by my brother’s brilliance