Small as an Elephant

Jack boards the bus and rides it as far as possible, to a campground along the highway. The place turns out to be an RV rest stop, and Jack wonders where he might be able to sleep. He smells lobster nearby and finds a lobster shack with people inside. One of the trucks outside has a Massachusetts license plate, and Jack wonders if he has scored a free ride home. He walks up to the couple who he thinks might own the truck and asks where they’re from, and when they confirm they’re from his state, he thanks them and leaves. He sneaks into the bed of their truck, hiding under a tarp, and they drive away. Just as he’s starting to feel like his luck has changed, the truck stops. He appears to be in the middle of nowhere. The couple gets out, going into a cottage in a dark forest, and eats their lobster dinner. Realizing that he’s stranded and lost, Jack starts to feel hopeless. He watches as they toss their leftovers into a trash can outside, so he opens the trash can and eats the rest. He can hear the TV in the cabin, and the news reports a missing boy on Mount Desert Island. Jack knows the odds are high that the story is referring to him, and he wonders who could have made the report, because it isn’t like his mother to involve the authorities.

Waking in the back of the truck, Jack can hear rain pelting down on the tarp. He eats a breakfast bar slowly and thinks about what to do next, deciding to sneak up to the cottage porch and try to figure out if the couple plans to leave soon. After it seems clear they’re staying longer, Jack starts to walk down the main road, certain that he’s going south, toward home, because the ocean is on his left. He stops under the roof of a school to get a break from the rain, and a teacher asks him why he’s there, so he makes up a story about being homeschooled and dropping off supplies. Holding his toy elephant makes him feel brave. Jack is accustomed to missing school, since his mother sometimes pulls him out randomly, often for days.

Jack reaches the general store, and one of the men working there seems to recognize him from the news, so he leaves in a hurry, realizing that he now must worry about being recognized. Finding an L. L. Bean store, he goes inside, taking advantage of the crowd to grab some clothing, and sneaks into a changing stall to dry off. Planning only to borrow the clothes, Jack sits in the stall for hours, eventually falling asleep. He wakes to the sounds of the closing staff locking up and realizes that he can spend the night in the store.

Jack spends the night alone in the store, exploring each area in the dark. He finds a sleeping bag and then stumbles upon the staff room, where a TV and a fridge filled with food await him, along with a computer connected to the internet. Jack looks up the news story and confirms that they’re looking for him. In addition, he learns that it was his grandmother who reported him missing after she found out that Becky was on her way to the Bahamas without Jack. Apparently, Jack’s grandmother talked to Nina, who confirmed that Jack was in Maine. Several of the adults Jack met along the way confirmed seeing him as well. Jack then eats leftovers and frozen meals while watching TV. Lying on the couch, he thinks about his grandmother, who appears to want to steal him away from his mom. (Jack thinks this because of things his mother told him.) He feels angry at his mother and wishes that she would stay on her medication. Then, he looks at his toy elephant, wondering what name might suit it.

Later that night, Jack decides to continue heading for home in the morning. He determines that the best way to do this is to take a bike and helmet, which will both disguise him and give him a way to travel quickly. A police officer comes up to the store, almost entering it, but leaves, and Jack feels relieved. He sets an alarm on the computer and leaves early the next morning.