"You better be able to run this morning, Joe!" Frank said grumpily, knowing his brother had just thrown a pillow at him.

"Well, I think I can run just fine, but not nearly as fast as Joe," Chet said trying not to laugh. He had just arrived to meet the boys for their trip, surprised to find them still asleep.

As Frank threw the pillow to the floor, he glared at Chet, and jokingly said, "You two are hopeless, and you have the same M.O. - annoying tricks, jokes and comebacks."

"You know Frank, I might be offended by that if it weren’t so true," Chet said with a smile. "Now then, my fearless friend, you get to wake up my partner in crime." With that remark, Frank flung a pillow in Chet’s direction.

"Okay! Okay! I’ll wait downstairs, I can see you’re a little grumpy this morning," Chet stated.

"No!" Frank almost yelled. "Wait Chet, I need to talk to you before Joe wakes up."

"What’s up, Frank?" Chet replied.

Within minutes, Frank had filled Chet in on what had happened to Joe after they had left the farm, and about Joe’s insistence on going to the mountains.

Chet was speechless, but only momentarily. "Is he crazy? If whoever these guys are decide to go after Joe, he’s a sitting duck!"

"I tried to talk him out of going, but he won’t hear of it. He is determined to go, one way or another. That’s the other thing I needed to talk to you about. I need you to help me keep an eye on Joe," Frank said.

"You know you can count on me Frank, but I still think this is a bad idea," Chet replied.

"Joe feels like he owes this trip to Vanessa." Frank hesitated before he went on to explain. "Chet, Joe had a real rough day yesterday…"

There was no need for Frank to continue.

"I noticed," Chet began, "he was thinking of Iola wasn’t he?" "When is he going to stop blaming himself?"

"I don’t know if he ever will," Frank said sadly. "Anyway, he feels badly for being so out of sorts, and wants to make it up to Vanessa."

"Frank, you know as well as I do that Vanessa would not want Joe to be in danger, just to do something for her. Does she know about last night?"

"Yeah", Frank chuckled, "she and the girls beat the ambulance there."

"You mean Cassidy was there, too?" Chet asked blushing.

"Yes, Chet, she was. I really like her, although if she’s going to survive in our group she is going to have to learn to speak up."

Chet laughed, "She is only shy around you guys."

"You’ve got it bad Buddy! Very bad!" Frank said pushing Chet out the door. "Now, WE get to wake Joe."

When they entered Joe’s room, they were not at all surprised to find him sleeping soundly.

"Joe! Time to wake up," Frank said gently shaking his brother’s shoulder. "Come on, Joe, Chet’s already here."

Joe didn’t stir, so Frank decided to try a different approach. "We’re already running late, Vanessa and the girls will be waiting. You don’t want to keep Vanessa waiting do you?"

When that approach also failed to rouse his brother, Frank began shaking him a little harder. "Joe! Joe! Wake up!"

"What’s wrong with him Frank?" Chet asked.

"I’m not sure," Frank replied nervously. "He took a pretty good blow to the head last night, and he was out for quite awhile." Fighting the urge to panic, Frank shook Joe one more time and yelled, "Joe, wake up!"

Finally, Joe’s eyes flew open and he saw his brother and Chet staring at him.

"What is wrong with you guys?" Joe questioned.

"What’s wrong with us? Only that we’ve been trying to wake you up for almost five minutes," Chet said bluntly.

"Oh, come on guys," Joe said.

"No, Joe, I was starting to get worried…" Frank started, only to be interrupted by his brother.

"No way Frank, don’t even say it." Noticing what time it was Joe jumped to his feet. "Come on guys, we need to get a move on, we don’t want to keep our lovely girlfriends waiting."

"Hold it, Joe," Frank said grabbing his little brother by the arm. "I want the truth, I’m only going to ask you this once more; are you sure you’re up to this?"

Joe was walking a fine line; his headache had returned with a vengeance, and Frank was starting to wear on his nerves. He hated to be mothered or fretted over.

Looking Frank straight in the eye, Joe said, "Okay Frank, here’s the truth, my head is pounding; it freaks me out every time I think of some nut job running around with my ID thinking I saw more than I did; and my big brother is driving me crazy, but I’m going to the mountains today with or without you!"

Not knowing how to respond to Joe, Frank looked at Chet and said, "I guess we better get loaded up, we’re going to the Adirondacks."

Chet headed downstairs to start loading the boy’s gear. Frank and Joe finished dressing, and soon all three of them were raiding the refrigerator.

As they devoured some cold pizza, Frank said, " I can’t believe Mom and Dad aren’t up yet."

"They’re up and gone guys," Chet said. "They let me in on their way out. Your mom said to remind you that they were meeting old friends in New York and would be back late."

"I completely forgot about that; I really wanted to tell Dad about last night," Frank said in between bites.

"You mean they don’t even know what happened?" Chet said amazed.

"Well, no," Frank said quietly. "They were already asleep when we got in. We planned on telling Dad first thing this morning."

"Your mom is going to blow a gasket," Chet said seriously. "You two are in BIG trouble!"

Joe who had been sitting there quietly eating his slice of cold pizza said, "Not me, he’s the big brother, I’m her baby. And besides, I was injured and not thinking clearly."

"Sorry Joe," Frank said "I’m afraid we will both be facing Mom’s wrath this time. Just what do you think she will say when she finds out you refused to get checked out at the hospital?"

Frank had hit his target. Joe couldn’t say anything this time.

"Chet my friend," Frank said "You have just witnessed a rare moment…Joseph Hardy, speechless."

Before long, the boys had the van loaded. "Boy, you guys are prepared for anything," Chet said, as he looked wide-eyed at all the provisions and equipment. "I thought this was only a picnic."

"We try to be prepared," Joe replied. "We learned a lot at that survival hike last year, but it’s the unexpected that always gets you."