“Men are pathetically predictable,” she thought.

The cop, his chest now stuck out like an army drill sergeant, tried to compose himself.

“W-w-well,” he cleared his throat and tried again. “When you get to Little Narrows, turn left. There’s a cable ferry that can take you across the channel. It might still be operating. If not, than you kids have no choice but to try St. Peters or find a motel somewhere.”

He stopped, then looked at the other girls.

“I suggest you girls phone your parents and let them know where you are at,” he looked a Paul, “and who you are with. They might want to rent a helicopter to come get you.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Paul blurted.

“Shut up, Paul,” Lucy hissed as she elbowed him.

“Yeah, Paul,” the cop said matter-of-factly. “That's good advice. Nothing would give me greater pleasure than throwing your sarcastic ass in jail. But the jail is on that side of the bridge, and I don’t feel like babysitting you all night. So turn this rig around and get going before I change my mind."

“Thank you, officer,” Lucy winked as she crawled back into the van.

Paul dropped the van in reverse and eased it around. Without warning, he floored the accelerator, throwing everyone in the van forward and spraying dirt at the cop.

“I hate that kid!” the cop grumbled as he brushed off his uniform.

“You’re an asshole!” Lucy yelled as she picked herself up off the van floor and slapped the back of Paul’s head.

“Oh, my god, you are such a flirt!” Lauren laughed at Lucy.

“It got us directions didn’t it?” Lucy replied with a smile. “And it kept big mouth here out of jail. Paul, you really should learn when to shut the hell up.”

“He started it!” Paul snapped.

“He started it!” Lucy repeated mockingly. “You can be such a child sometimes.”

Lucy turned to take her seat and noticed Lauren had moved up and sat next to Emma. Lucy stared at the empty seat next to Michael. Lauren just smiled, but Lucy shot her a dirty look. Lucy took the seat next to Michael. Michael smiled briefly but said nothing.

“Whatever you do,” Lucy silently ordered Michael, “don’t stare at me, and please don’t do something stupid like look down the front of my shirt or Paul will freak. I’m going to kill Lauren, she knows better.”

A few seconds later, as if Michael heard her silent plea, he turned his head away and stared out the window.

“Thank you,” Lucy thought as she looked to the front of the van just in time for Paul to look in the rearview mirror. His eyes narrowed accusingly when he saw her sitting next to Michael, but as the van drove back through the wall of fog, his focus went back to the task at hand. They all looked straight ahead as if everyone’s eyes were needed to navigate. With the yellow line between the headlights, the van crawled back up and over Kelly’s Mountain.

“Why don’t we just go to Margaree?” Lucy suggested when the van broke free of the terrifying fog.

“That’s a great idea,” Emma chimed in.

“My parents have a cabin in Margaree Valley.” Lucy continued, “We could go there for the night instead of driving the long way around.”

“A cabin in the woods with three girls. Works for me,” Paul joked.

“And we can call our parents,” Emma added, “in case they want to rent a helicopter.”

The van filled with laughter.

“Hey, Emma,” Paul smiled, “what do you get when a blonde dyes her hair brown?”

“I don’t know,” she answered.

“Artificial Intelligence!” Paul roared as Emma rolled her eyes.

“When you pass Baddeck,” Lucy told Paul, ignoring his lame joke, “turn right at the Red Barn. You can’t miss it. Then just follow the signs.”

As the trip wore on, one by one the tired teens fell asleep. Lucy had to make sure she leaned far away from Michael. If she accidentally leaned on Michael, or he on her, poor Michael would probably not wake up because Paul would kill him while he slept.

“I don’t know why he gets so jealous.” Lucy thought, “It’s not like I ever gave him a reason to be jealous. It’s Michael for crying out loud.”

Paul turned at the Red Barn Gift Shop and Restaurant and navigated the winding and steep roads of Hunter’s Mountain.

Two hours later, the van jolted to a stop, startling everyone awake.

“Where are we?” Michael asked.

“Beats the hell outta me,” Paul answered.

“Huh?” Lucy mumbled, trying to wipe the sleep out of her eyes.

“There’s the ocean on our left, so we must be getting close,” Paul suggested.

“Ocean?” Lucy repeated, stumbling to the front of the van to get a better look.

“Paul, you idiot!” She slapped the back of his head. “We’re in Cheticamp!”

“Cheti-who?” Paul asked.

“Cheticamp, you moron, you drove past the turn off. Why didn’t you wake me up?”

“You said to turn at the red barn and keep going,” Paul argued.

“I said to follow the signs,” Lucy snapped back. “Think about it dumb-dumb: Margaree Valley. A valley means between mountains, not next to the ocean.”

Lucy looked around and saw a field of stick figures dressed in clothes and Halloween masks.

Lucy pointed to the figures, “Joe’s Scarecrows.”

“Joe’s what?” Lauren asked.

“I remember those,” Emma told them. “I was here with my parents a few years ago. The whole field is a bunch of scarecrows dressed up with cute little nametags and stuff. The restaurant over there has great cheeseburgers.”

“Oh, my god, Emma!” Lauren shook her head. “Do you think about anything other than food?”

“But I’m hungry,” Emma tried to explain.

“You’re always hungry,” Lauren told her. “For how much you eat you should weigh like five hundred pounds.”

“Part of her already does,” Paul laughed.

“Ha, ha,” Emma said dryly. “Like I never heard that one before. That’s about as original as calling someone with glasses four-eyes.” As soon as Emma said it she lowered her gaze to the floor.

“Now that was fuckin’ funny!” Paul roared.

Michael smiled as he pushed his glasses back up on his nose.

“Sorry,” Emma murmured to Michael, embarrassed.

“Actually,” Michael told her, “it was kinda funny.”

They all smiled.

“Well, at least he didn’t keep going,” Lucy informed everyone. “Just up ahead is Cheticamp. As soon as you go through Cheticamp, the road leads into Highland Park. If dumb-dumb here of had kept going we would have went all through the Highlands, up along the coast by Meat Cove, down through Neil’s Harbour and back down to Baddeck. We would have ended up exactly where we started!”

“So, how far is Margaree from here?” Michael asked.

“Ummm, it’s about thirty minutes, I think,” Lucy answered then looked at Paul. “In the other direction. That cop was right, you can’t read signs.”

“I’ll drive for awhile, Mate,” Wade volunteered.

“I can read the signs,” Paul argued defensively.

“No worries,” Wade reassured him, “you look stuffed.”

“I look what?”

Wade laughed. “Tired, Mate. You look tired. I’ll drive for a spell and you rest.”

They switched seats and Wade turned the van around and headed back the way they came.