"How much time do you need to pack?"

Andrew stepped from Evan's car and leaned back into the window. "What makes you think I'm not packed?"

Evan rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Fifteen minutes."

Evan put the car in reverse. "Should I just walk in since that's what people do at your house?"

"Isn't that what you've always done?"

Evan cocked his head in contemplation. "Only since the day I met you."

"Exactly."

Andrew walked through the kitchen and put his phone on the charging pad, then headed up to his room to pack. He pulled a well-worn backpack out of the bottom of his closet and dropped it on the floor by his bed. When his mother had first started taking Andrew hiking, she had bought him a smaller pack that fit his eight-year-old frame, but by the time he reached high school and they were climbing as much as hiking, he needed a bigger bag that would hold all the gear collected through the years. His father's backpack and the matching leather utility belt were the best birthday presents he had ever gotten.

An all-weather down sleeping bag was on the floor of his closet and he pulled it out to re-roll it tighter. He tied it and set it aside so he could do the same with a compact tent with camouflage colors on one side and a silver lining on the other. A rubber band stretched around the middle of the bundle to keep it from unrolling.

Socks and underwear. Shorts. Tee shirts. Everything was tossed carelessly into the top of his backpack. A headlamp sat on a shelf by his laptop. He flicked the switch on and covered the lens. The bright beam of light made his hand glow pink.

"Bwahaha," he said spookily. He left the light on and pulled it onto his forehead. The light danced as he moved around the room packing.

From one of the side pockets on the bag, he took out a first aid kit and opened it up. He pushed around the items inside. Bandages, gauze, tape, scissors, and a first aid booklet. He had never needed the book but his mom insisted he take it on every hike.

Andrew opened the book where a photo had been stuck between two random pages. One of the pages showed how to use a paper cup to stabilize an eye with a pencil stuck in it. He thought about how that might feel and wondered if he'd even remember he had the book if a pencil found a way into his eyeball.

The photo was a picture of Andrew and his dad. Andrew was sitting on his father's shoulders like he had so many times before his father had died. Andrew stared into his father's eyes, so like his own and mostly hazel but with a deeper green near the irises. From there, Andrew thought the resemblance ended. All his other features, from his dark hair, wider smile, and darker skin looked just like his mom. His mom liked to say he walked just like him, but he couldn't remember how he walked. He walked back and forth in front of the full-length mirror in her bathroom for days, trying to see what she meant.

"Keep us safe." He tucked the photo back into the book with the same prayer he had heard his mother murmur every time before they took a trip or made a hike, and he had picked the habit up, satisfied that the words had always been answered. After all, the worst that had ever happened was a twisted ankle.

He put the book back into the box and snapped it shut.

When he tried to shove the box into a side pocket, it jammed on something. It was a carabiner. It had the dull glint of age and was covered with scratches. The metal clip snapped under his thumb.

"Don't worry. You're going with me, Dad."

"What are you doing in here?"

"Nothing!" Andrew spun around keeping his hands behind his back. The closet yawned open behind him. A footlocker was thrown open and its contents spilled around on the floor.

"What do you have, Andrew?"

Andrew stared at his mother. She didn't look angry, but sometimes she yelled at him and he didn't know why. And then she would cry. She cried a lot.

He held his hand out. A steel blue carabiner caught the light from the closet and winked from the palm of his hand.

His mother sat down on the bed. She patted a spot beside her and Andrew climbed up. She used her foot to give him a boost since his six-year-old legs hadn't grown long enough yet for him to make it in one hop.

"Do you know whose that was?"

Andrew shook his head.

"That was your father's. Along with all the rest of it." She waved to the hiking boots and ropes laying on the floor. "Do you know where he is?"

"Heaven."

"Yes, that's right. Heaven. You remind me of him, did you know that?"

Andrew shook his head again.

"You do! You are brave and smart and–"

"And a good climber."

"And a good climber. Just like your daddy."

"But I won't fall off of a mountain."

He reached across his bed, picked up the leather belt and snapped the carabiner onto a loop. Opening a small pocket on the belt, he pulled out a vial of water treatment drops, shook it and put it back.

He hefted his bag and walked downstairs to the kitchen. In the pantry, he dumped out the remaining granola bars from a partial box into his pack and threw the empty box on the counter. He found trail mix in a sealed container and pulled a baggie out to dump in the mix. As he was zipping it shut, he heard the front door open.

"I'm in here," he yelled out.

Evan walked in and picked up the granola bar box. He broke it down and put it in the recycle bin. "What are you, twelve?"

Andrew ignored him and set a handful of tea bags on the shelf long enough to dig through another cupboard. He threw them into his pack along with a partially used jar of peanut butter and a can of chunked chicken with a pull-tab lid.

"Are we hiking?" Evan smirked. "Or having a tea party?"

"You'll thank me if we have to dig our water out of the ground," he said as he dropped them into a plastic bag and zipped it shut.

Evan wrinkled his nose.

"Did you bring water tablets?" Andrew asked.

"Of course. You trained me well, Andrew San. Or your mommy did anyway."

Andrew opened a half-eaten box of crackers and pulled the bag out of the box, then threw the box in Evan's direction. Evan snagged it from the air and flattened it. He pointed at a container of whipped frosting. "Please?"

"Why not?" Andrew replied handing it to him. He walked out of the kitchen and took the stairs two at a time back up to his bedroom. Dropping his pack on the floor, he put the utility belt around his waist and fastened it, then pulled the light from his head and switched it off and tucked it in a pocket. The belt rested low on his hips.

"Nice belt, sweetie." Evan stood in the doorway holding his frosting. "What're you packing there?"

"Water drops...carabiners for climbing...did you bring some?"

"Check."

Andrew reached into the box on his bed and pulled out a small hunting knife in a leather case. He slipped it out and ran his thumb against the edge. It was a little dull from carving small blocks of wood into animal shapes.

"We aren't going to war," Evan told him as he snapped the knife into a pocket on his belt.

"And that's why I keep a bag of these in the gun holster," Andrew smirked pulling out a bag of gummy worms. "I think I'm ready. If I'm forgetting it, I don't need it."

He closed his pack and added the rolled sleeping bag and tent to the straps on top. Rolling the pack over, straps pointing up, he wriggled into them and hoisted the pack onto his shoulders. From his bedpost, he lifted a pair of hand ropes and threw them over his other shoulder and took one more look around.

"Do we need a map?"

"I have one in the car."

Evan pointed to a spot on the map on Andrew's wall. "Okay, so look...here's where the blind spot is on the electronic maps."

Andrew joined him at the map for a closer look. Evan pointed to a mountainous region and then moved his finger to the Interstate highway. "This highway comes the closest to it but it's still eight miles–"

"And three mountains."

"–and three mountains away. You might be man enough to make those climbs in a couple days, but we can both agree that I'm not."

"Well, you're not man enough to–" He stopped.

Evan looked at him. "You done?"

Andrew grinned and Evan turned back to the map. He traced a faint line with his fingertip. "This. Unless they take a bird in and out. This is the road in. And this is probably the closest we can get driving up." He pointed out more locations along the line. "I looked at the satellite views and if we park right here, nobody is likely to notice my car. Or they'll assume we're exploring this mountain."

Andrew moved Evan's finger and stuck in a blue pushpin. Blue pins marked all the places Andrew and Evan had hiked. It was a handful compared to the larger number of yellow pins stuck all over the wall representing the excursions taken with his mom. Evan pointed to the lone red pin on the wall and raised an eyebrow leaving a question hanging.

"My dad. My mom doesn't want me anywhere near it, but I'm going to make that climb someday."

"You miss him?"

"I don't really remember him. It seems like he never really existed. But then sometimes, just when I'm waking up in the morning, it's like he was there, sitting beside me on the bed. My mom said he used to read to me a lot like that, sitting on my bed, and I'm probably remembering that."

"Maybe," Evan replied. He drew a circle around the pushpin with his finger. "Or maybe he is there with you at those moments."

They stared at the map until Andrew finally asked, "Do you believe that? Like angels and God and all that?"

"I'm not sure. We're all energy, right? Energy isn't this substance we can create. It just is. And it doesn't go away. Remember? We learned in science the law of conservation of energy is that it can't be created or destroyed. It transforms. So the body goes away, but what about the energy? Maybe we become something else. Like angels. I would make a good angel."

"Angels don't drag their best friends into adventures that end in community service."

"Really? That? Again?"

"Forever. If you hadn't chickened out, we wouldn't have gotten caught." Andrew laughed when Evan straightened up and stomped into the hallway ignoring him.. "Don't go away mad..."

"Just go away," they sang out in unison.

"Oh!" Andrew snapped his finger and walked into the bathroom. He took the roll off the toilet paper holder and set the holder on the counter. Andrew looked into the mirror at himself. His face was tanned as dark as worn saddle leather making his eyes appear more amber than brown. The summer sun had seen its share of him hiking to excavations all over the area with his mom. He was disappointed she had to work.

He walked past Evan.

Evan had pale skin but so many freckles he seemed darker than he really was. He kept a bottle of sunscreen in his book bag and another in his car, and he was constantly smearing it on his face and ears. If he forgot to lather up and had the misfortune of burning, his skin would peel about a week later leaving him looking like a molting snake for three or four days.

Shaking his head, Evan walked into the bathroom after Andrew took off down the stairs. He took a new roll of toilet paper from the closet and put it on the toilet paper holder. On second thought, he shrugged his shoulders and pulled another one from the closet, and then followed Andrew out of the house.

As Andrew locked up, Evan opened the trunk of his car. He shoved the roll of toilet paper into an overstuffed pack and then waited for Andrew.

"It's a two-day trip, right?"

Evan tilted his head in question. "Yeah? Unless I want to lose my car for the next six months."

He pointed at Evan's bag. "Well, what the hell did you pack?"

"Your mom's nighty. I like to use it for a pillow."

"Her nighty is not that big."

Evan put his index finger to his chin and cocked his eyebrow with a serious look. "Tell me more."

"Um, no." Andrew shoved Evan's bag over and dropped his pack in. He walked around and opened the passenger door. "Oh, wait."

Back up the drive to the side of the garage, he punched in a code on the keyless entry. The garage door lifted and he walked back into the kitchen.

His phone had a full charge when he unplugged it. He dismissed all the notifications and shoved it into his pocket. Evan started the car while Andrew closed the garage. As soon as he got in, he fiddled with the radio until he found a station cranking out a pounding beat heavy with bass.

Evan backed out of the driveway and Andrew hung his head out the window yelling at the top of his lungs, "Whoo-who! Best day ever!"

He pulled his head back into the car and shouted at Evan. "We're going to find a black hole!"

"Or a blind spot! Since, you know, we're here on planet Earth not in outer space!" Evan turned his blinker on to enter the freeway and looked at Andrew. "So, are you going to leave that lamp on your head the whole way there?"