Dad moved his desk into the attic.
He filled the bookcase with his books.
When Dad wasn't looking, Vinnie and Mandy hid the photo album.
They put it in a bag and stuffed it far under his desk.
"Dad's feet will never reach it," said Mandy.
"Hopefully he won't look under there," Vinnie added.
But a week later something terrible happened.
"The bag is gone!"
Mandy exclaimed as they stood alone in the attic.
The children looked everywhere, but the bag wasn't in the room.
Suddenly Mandy heard a loud bang outside and looked out the window.
"Look, Vinnie," cried Mandy.
"Dad's putting out the trash."
Dad had just put a big box of junk by the street.
"So?" asked Vinnie.
"Silly, I'll bet the album's in there!"
cried Mandy as they watched their father walk into the backyard.
The children ran downstairs and outside to the trash.
Vinnie dove into the box of junk and began to search.
"Here it is!" he shouted, lifting the bag.
The album was still inside, and they hugged and danced around.
Vinnie and Mandy happily went back into the house.
"That was really close," said Mandy.
"We have to find a better hiding place."
"Let's take it back upstairs," said Vinnie.
Once in the attic, Vinnie asked,
"Hey, do you want to . . . ?"
And before Mandy could answer, he opened the album.
"Now this is cool!" he exclaimed.
The old man was standing on a dusty road.
Two men were standing before him.
One was much younger than the other.
The older man wore a long coat and was firing two guns.
In the air were five glowing objects.
"Is he a cowboy?" asked Mandy.
"We're about to find out," answered Vinnie.
The children felt their eyes closing and fell down the long, dark tunnel.
They landed on something soft.
Vinnie opened his eyes.
"Where are we?" he asked.
They lay in a covered wagon among sacks of potatoes, beans, and dried meat.
"This stuff looks like someone is going on a long camping trip," remarked Mandy.
The children had landed on a pile of rolled up blankets.
Mandy noticed some clothing in one corner too.
The wagon was moving slowly, but the ride was bumpy.
"I'm hungry," said Vinnie, opening a sack.
Inside were strips of hard meat.
He picked one up.
"Vinnie! Don't eat that!" Mandy whispered.
"It looks like beef jerky," Vinnie said.
He smelled it.
Suddenly the wagon stopped.
Then, someone opened part of the heavy cloth covering the wagon.
A man wearing a cowboy hat looked in.
"Well, look what I found in my wagon, boys,"
he called out, staring at the children.
Vinnie dropped the jerky.