Böcker av Mary Visker

For fall break, Terry's three brothers take her and Pam back to the slot canyon and hanging garden where they survived a flash flood during the summer. They all make it through the hike in, Tom getting hit in the head by a rock knocked down by a deer on the cliffs above, and the slow hike out. They stop at a gas station to fuel up for the all-night drive home. Terry and Pam decide to eat dried venison while the brothers are ordering from the grill inside. They are leaning against the front of the van reminiscing about their adventure. A rusty, beat-up, old panel truck pulls into the service station, drives past them, and backs into the forward pump. Two straggle-looking men wearing filthy torn bib overalls climb out of the front doors and walk toward the back of the vehicle like they are going to pump gas. They come to the back and open the two doors that are held together with a tied rope. In an instant, they each grab one of the girls and throw them into the back of the truck. They replace the rope, run to the open doors, and race onto the highway.They cackle with laughter, "That was the easiest snatch we've ever made. They make numbers nineteen and twenty. The boys are going to have a party tonight. They'll be really happy; these two are both Miss America types. It's too bad Leno must be first to have his way with them before he kills them.""There is only a thin milky sheet of plastic between the cab and the back of the truck, "Terry, did you hear that? Do you know what they are going to do to us?""I do Pam. This is what Evan's blessing was for. Start praying and tell me everything that comes to your mind.""Terry, look at the back of the truck..."

Terry and Pam have been embroiled in heated competition since third grade. This summer they are returning to Lightning Mountain camp as staff members. They are both assistant unit leaders in the two outback units. Terry plans to hide her animosity for Pam by being totally involved with her girls in preparing for their two week backpacking adventure and avoiding her altogether. She is distraught when she learns that both outback units are going together to explore desert slot canyons. At mid-trip, the camp Director assigns Terry and Pam the task of carrying empty fuel cans down the canyon to trail's end and bringing back full ones for their last week.Their enmity is so intense that neither speaks to the other the entire five mile trip down the canyon hiking in the water. They have been so distracted and turned-in that neither girl knows which side canyon to take to return to their base camp at Big Springs. Terry finally leads them up one canyon that might be the right one. After a half-hour of arduous plodding they both know they're lost in a stream with the canyon wall raising five hundred feet straight into the sky.Pam turns on Terry, "Terry, this is not the right canyon! I don think you...''"Her words are cloaked by a low roll of faraway thunder. Both of our heads snap up to see the distant mountains covered in angry black clouds. My mind swims in self-condemnation. Why have you not been paying attention to the canyon or the weather. Why!? My anxiety level is soaring."Overhead, lightning splits an ominous thunderhead simultaneously as thunder explodes in a ground-shaking rumble."Pam's next words exude sheer panic, 'Terry, it's raining!''