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everything.”
    Nancy smiled. “Everybody’s confused,” she said. “I guess I owe all of you an explanation.”
    Just then, Benny came out of the cabin, rubbing his eyes. “What’s everybody doing out here?” he asked. “What happened?”
    â€œGood question, Benny.” Henry laughed and put his arm around Benny’s shoulder.
    â€œAnd I think we’re about to get some answers.”
    â€œLet’s all go into our cabin,” Jessie suggested. “We can have breakfast and talk.”
    Benny yawned again.
    Henry laughed. “I said we’d take care of this first thing in the morning, didn’t I?” he said. “And that’s just what it is— the first thing in the morning!”

CHAPTER 10
    Last Day at Work
    E veryone started to go into the Aldens’ cabin. But suddenly Nancy stopped. “I almost forgot,” she said. “I need to make a telephone call. Mr. Taylor, may I use the phone in your cabin?”
    â€œOf course you can,” he said, gesturing toward his cabin door. “Go on inside, Nancy. The phone’s on the wall, next to the refrigerator.”
    â€œThanks.” Nancy started toward his cabin, then turned back. “Don’t worry,” she said to the others. “I won’t be too long. When I come back, I’ll tell you the whole story.”
    The others went into the Aldens’ cabin. Jessie got out the things she needed to make pancakes. Henry took out glasses and started pouring orange juice for everyone. Benny and Violet put plates and silverware and napkins on the table.
    Jessie was stirring the pancake batter when Nancy came back in. She was smiling.
    â€œYou look so happy, Nancy,” Violet said.
    â€œI am,” Nancy said. “I just talked to my parents. I haven’t spoken to them since I ran away from home.”
    â€œWe were right,” Jessie said. “She was running away.”
    Nancy smiled. “Why don’t we all sit down and I’ll tell you everything.”
    Everyone found a place to sit. Nancy sat on one of the chairs by the fireplace. She still looked very happy. “It was so good to hear my parents’ voices,” she said. “I can’t stop smiling.”
    â€œYou sound like you love them,” Benny said.
    â€œI do love them, Benny,” Nancy told him.
    â€œThen why did you run away?”
    â€œLet me start from the beginning,” Nancy said. “You see, my family is very wealthy,” she explained. “There was almost nothing I wanted that I didn’t get.”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound too terrible,” Mr. Taylor said with a smile.
    â€œNo. I know I’m very lucky to have so much,” Nancy said. “But there was one thing I wanted that I didn’t get. That was the chance to make my own decisions about things.”
    â€œLike what?” Henry asked.
    â€œOh, about how late I could stay out and the places I could go,” Nancy said. “My parents and I even argued about the kind of clothes I should wear. I felt like a baby. It seemed like they were always telling me what to do.”
    â€œAnd you wanted to decide things for yourself?” Jessie asked.
    â€œThat’s right,” Nancy said. “When I graduated from high school, they expected me to go straight to college. They even had the school all picked out.”
    â€œBut you didn’t want to go?” Violet asked.
    â€œActually, I did,” Nancy said with a smile. “But it was just one more thing they were telling me to do. And I got stubborn and said I wouldn’t go at all. We had some awful arguments about it. Finally, two weeks ago, I ran away.”
    â€œTwo weeks?” Henry said as he passed out glasses of orange juice to everyone. “Then we were right. You never worked, did you? This is your very first job.”
    â€œYou’re right, it is,” Nancy admitted. “But you sound