The Summer Experiment by Cathie Pelletier

thunderstorm was over, the rain wouldn’t be stopping until 10 p.m. This wasn’t good news.
    Darn. I’d have to postpone a day, but that was okay. That happens in wars all the time.
    â€œIt won’t kill you to stay in the house for a few hours,” Mom told me. She unwound the cord to her vacuum cleaner and plugged the end into a wall socket. Now that the lightning had passed, I guess she didn’t fear being electrocuted. “Read a book instead of playing games on your computer.”
    â€œYou know what?” I said. “I think that’s a great idea.”
    She gave me a suspicious look as I climbed the stairs. But when I heard the vacuum start, I knew her thoughts were back on the hallway carpet.
    I locked my bedroom door and turned on my computer. Cell phones don’t work in Allagash, as I mentioned earlier, so I sent Marilee an instant message. I didn’t want either of our moms to overhear us on a land phone. Some people call this “eavesdropping,” by the way.
    AllagashRobbie: Plan delayed due to weather conditions! Will keep you posted.
    Her answer came right back to me.
    MeMarilee: Dad is coming for weekend. Bringing “she.” Will not see you until Monday. Staying at motel in Fort Kent.
    Now I was really disappointed, even though she’d be only twenty miles away. But she might as well be in China. It was Friday. I wouldn’t see her until Monday. How many people would Johnny tell about Frog Hill as I waited? Damage control only works if you get on it right away. But at least it was summer and he wouldn’t see most of our classmates until late August. And it seemed like Marilee’s dad wanted to talk to her in person about his marriage plans. That was a good thing. Maybe “she” wasn’t as bad as we thought.
    Mom wanted me to read a book, so that’s what I would do. Actually, I would read “about a book” until I visited the library to read the real thing. This was The Allagash Abductions, written by Raymond E. Fowler. He was the man who first hypnotized the Vermont Four and discovered they’d been taken aboard a spacecraft and examined. The morning after Grandpa’s birthday party, when my family first saw the strange lights, I had called the local library and asked Mrs. Hafford to order it for me. And I also watched the YouTube video of the men on Unsolved Mysteries . This is what led to my awful dream of being examined by Dr. Bumblebee.
    But I wanted to know more. Now that I’d seen the UFOs myself, maybe it would make a great science project. Marilee and I might finally win the Maine State Science Fair. But as Dad often reminded me, a UFO is only an “unidentified flying object.” It may not be from outer space at all, but from somewhere right here on Earth. I had even googled and found a photo of the Flying Wing. Uncle Horace was right. If I saw it even today, I’d think it was from Neptune.
    I typed in “Allagash Abductions” and then clicked on the Wikipedia link. I settled down to read.
    The incident started on August 20, 1976, when four men, all in their early twenties, ventured on a camping trip into the wilderness near Allagash, Maine .
    I smiled. I mean, some towns are known for a brown ball of twine, the world’s largest. And one town in Texas has the world’s biggest cowboy boot. Bangor has Paul Bunyan. San Francisco has that bridge. I think it’s kind of awesome that we are famous for our abductions.
    The group consisted of twin brothers, Jack and Jim Weiner, their friend Chuck Rak, and their guide, Charlie Foltz .
    â€œWeiner” must have been a tough name to grow up with. Kids can be so cruel. I imagined the twins being teased about it on the playground at recess.
    They say their first day went by without incident. However, on their second night, they noticed a bright light not far from their campsite which they first passed off as being a helicopter or a weather