Free Getting Air by Dan Gutman

Mrs. Herschel.
    “None of the trees…have toilet paper,” Arcadia finally said.
    The rest of us had a good snicker, and even Arcadia giggled a little.
    “Use leaves,” Julia said. “All of the trees have them .”
    “Leaves?” Arcadia asked, turning all red and squishing up her nose.
    “Just do it, dear,” Mrs. Herschel told her. “Don’t be embarrassed. We’re all friends here.”
    “Just make sure you don’t use poison ivy,” Julia suggested. “That could be…uncomfortable.”
    We all groaned and Arcadia went off into the woods. I didn’t laugh or make fun of her, because I knew that sooner or later we would all be doing the same thing.
    We talked a little bit about what we should do next, but Julia felt we should wait for Arcadia. She came back in a few minutes, with a little smile on her face.
    “Feel better, dear?” asked Mrs. Herschel.
    “Much,” Arcadia said.
    “So…how did it go?” I asked. “With the leaves, I mean.”
    “Fine,” Arcadia said.
    “Did everything…come out all right?” Henry asked.
    “I’d rather not discuss it,” Arcadia said.
    “Let’s get down to business,” Mrs. Herschel said. “Your friend David wasn’t the only one who was hungry. I’m sure we all are. Do you think he was right? Should we go off and search for food?”
    That sounded like a good idea to me. I figured we could hunt down some berries or nuts or something that might tide us over until we were rescued.
    “I don’t think so,” my little sister said, and we all turned to look at her. Julia tends to fade into the background until she says something really smart that nobody else thought of.
    “Why not, sweetie?” Mrs. Herschel asked. “Aren’t you hungry too?”
    “I learned in Girl Scouts that the average person can survive for more than a month without food,” Julia said. “But we can’t go more than a few days without water.”
    “Is that so?” Mrs. Herschel said.
    “We’re already dehydrated,” Julia said. “Water accounts for almost two thirds of your body’s weight. So I think it might be smarter to look for water before we worry about getting food.”
    I couldn’t help but smile at my little sister. She was always the smart one in the family. I used to make fun of her because her head was always stuck in a book. But I guess she actually learned a thing or two.
    “It sounds like the Girl Scouts taught you a great deal,” Mrs. Herschel said, stroking Julia’s hair. “Do you know anything about finding water?”
    “A little,” Julia said.
    She was being modest. She knew a lot, about everything . The rest of us knew one way to get water—by turning on a faucet. So we were all ears.
    “Let’s go through those suitcases again,” Julia said.
    Julia told us to look for anything that could be used as a container. The cap from a can of shaving cream. A camera bag. An upside-down umbrella. We collected a bunch of containers. Julia said we should set them out in a clearing and use them to catch rain when it fell.
    “Hey!” Henry said. “I found a bunch of plastic bags.”
    “Jackpot!” Julia said excitedly.
    They were those really big black bags, the kind you use to line a garbage can. Julia ripped off a leafy bough from a bush and stuffed it into one of the bags. She sealed the opening with a rubber band she had in her pocket.
    “What’s that for?” Arcadia asked.
    “It’s called a solar still,” Julia replied. “We’ll leave it out in the sun. The moisture in the leaves won’t be able to escape into the atmosphere, so it will collect in the bag. We should have a little water tomorrow.”
    My sister is a genius.
    Julia said the solar still wouldn’t produce nearly enough water for all of us, so we’d have to go out and hunt for more. We were all a little nervous about leaving the safety of our little campsite, but it had to be done. Julia added some wood to the fire to keep it going while we were gone, and then she led the way. Julia grimaced as she limped