Free The Wild Kid by Harry Mazer

they ate. Then Kevin would tell them about the adventures of K-man and Sammy, and make everyone laugh.
    *  *  *
    A light woke Sammy. It was shining down from above, swinging back and forth along the cliff. “Sammy?” Kevin’s voice was close. “Sammy, are you there?” The light went this way and that.
    Sammy couldn’t see Kevin, only the circle of light, but that was Kevin behind it. He had come back. His friend Kevin had come back.
    â€œSammy, somebody’s coming, you just hang on. I’ve got to go now.”
    â€œDon’t go away, Kevin. You’re going to live in my house.”
    â€œYou take care, buddy.” The light went off.
    â€œKevin? Shine the light, Kevin.” Sammy kept staring at the spot where Kevin had been, waiting for the light to shine again.
    *  *  *
    When the light came, it exploded across the whole cliff. And then a strange voice said, “Sammy, this is Officer Rosenberg. Sammy, can you hear me? Say hello, and I’ll tell your mother you’re okay. I’ve got her on the phone. Say hello, Sammy.”
    â€œHello,” Sammy said.

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    People in yellow helmets were lined up along the top of the cliff. A crane appeared, popping out suddenly like a long-necked bird, and then a bucket descended slowly toward Sammy. He waved, and two men in yellow helmets in the bucket waved back. “I’m Richard,” the one holding a walkie-talkie said.
    â€œI’m Chris,” the other one said. “Sammy, just relax, we’re going to get you out of there. You sit still and let us do everything. Okay, Sammy?”
    Richard spoke over the walkie-talkie. A second line came down with straps attached to the end. Richard caught it and swung it over toward Sammy. “Catch it, Sammy, but don’t reach.”
    Sammy nodded. He was so tired.
    He missed the line the first time, and Richard swung it toward him again, and he caught it. Richard told him how to put on the harness and where to snap it across his chest.
    Sammy was lifted free and swung out from the cliff. There was nothing under him, nothing to hold on to but the rope. He flew up over the cliff, over a clump of cars and people.
    Then he was down, and hands reached out and held him. A policewoman hugged him, and he hugged back. “How are you feeling, Sammy? I’m Officer Rosenberg. Do you hurt anywhere?”
    â€œI feel hungry.”
    â€œAnybody have something for the kid to eat? Crackers? Candy bar?”
    Lights were flashing, and cars were backed up along the highway. Two men and a woman appeared with a stretcher. “No food till he’s checked,” one of the medics said.
    They put Sammy on the stretcher, blanket over him, and loaded him into the ambulance. The policewoman and one of the medics got in back with him. “Where’s Kevin?” Sammy asked.
    â€œWho’s Kevin?” the medic asked.
    â€œHe must mean the kid who called us,” Officer Rosenberg said. “He’s around someplace.”
    Sammy tried to sit up. “Where’re we going? I have to wait for Kevin.”
Special to the Post-Standard:
SAMMY COMES HOME!
    Twelve-year-old Sammy Ritchie was back in his own bed last night, after being lost for thirteen days. Friends and neighbors were jubilant, and an impromptu party was held on Pine Boulevard in the Green Hills section of the city. The smile on Sammy’s face never faltered. “Am I glad to be home?” the boy who characterizes himself as “a special person,” said. “Boy, oh boy, I am glad.”
    His mother and his two sisters, Bethan, a fifth grader at Green Hills Elementary School, and Emily, a student at the University of Vermont, never left his side. “I never, ever gave up hope,” Mrs. Ritchie said. “I knew I’d get my boy back.”
    Sammy was rescued from the side of a cliff at the edge of Middleburg State Forest Preserve at six-thirty A.M. after an