Uncle D was up to his old shtick again. He had the map all wrong. Upside-down, to be exact. Left was right, right was left, and so on to infinity.

Huey'd been glued to the same window for over an hour, holding his breath, hoping to catch a glimpse of that storied Las Vegas skyline, the flashing neon lights, the big commercial airliners swooping down overhead packed with playboys and gamblers and camera-faced tourists.

No such luck.

Outside all was desert and dust, dry spongelike shrubs, miles upon miles of empty sunstained road.

Whoever put Uncle Donald in charge of navigation anyway? Huey wondered aloud, sinking back into his seat with a frustrated sigh.

Louie stirred in his bunk, mumbled something unintelligible, then carried on sleeping.

Search me, I said.

Up front Daisy was doing her best to keep it together. Well we must've missed a turn somewhere, she grumbled.

Uncle D just huffed and puffed, crumpling the map into a tiny ball and lofting it over one shoulder as if that settled it.

The map rolled in by Huey's feet. He scooped it up off the floor and flattened it out on the table. This looks familiar, he said, using one finger to trace the bold yellow line representing Highway 375.

I lowered my bill to the map, followed his roaming finger. Rachel Nevada? I whispered. Didnt we just pass Rachel Nevada?

That means we're heading in the wrong direction, he groaned. We're probably halfway to Groom Lake by now.

It's okay. I hear Area 51's beautiful this time of year.

He glared at me, then gathered the map up in his arms and scampered to the front of the cabin. Daisy—stop the truck, he said, pawing at her shirtsleeve. We're going the wrong way! See?

She took her deeply-veined eyes off the road. The wrong way? How could we be going the wrong way?

Look—Rachel Nevada!

As the RV slowed, Louie rolled over, pushed back his bedsheets and sat up. Then he wiped the sand out of his eyes and gazed down at me with a lazy yawn and asked: Are we there yet?

Not exactly.

Uncle D screwed up the directions again, didnt he?

Lucky guess.

Louie grinned, pulling on his shirt and trademark baseball cap. Not lucky, he corrected me, raising a finger. Educated.

With that he scurried down the ladder at the foot of the bunk and nabbed Huey's newly vacated seat. Far out, he muttered, pressing his beak to the window. Where the heck are we?

Search me, I said.

Meanwhile Huey and Daisy were pointing fingers, scolding a thoroughly red-faced Uncle D for his fallacious map-reading.

Aw phooey, croaked Uncle D.

When it was all over, and Uncle D had finally thrown in the towel, Huey handed the map off to Daisy and swiveled around on his heels and came strutting back into the cabin. His eyes suddenly widened.

Hey—you're in my seat! he cried, tugging at Louie's arm.

Your seat? I dont see your name on it!

Dewey doesnt wanna sit next to you anyway!

Oh yeah? I'm sure he'd much rather sit next to you!

I could feel a headache coming on.

In a flash the disputed seat was up for grabs and Huey and Louie were under the table trading headlocks. I pulled my feet up, out of their way.

Outside the desert was all aswirl. Little tornadoes of dust and sediment. Terracotta hills. High sun.

I was studying the slow circular flightpath of a lonely desert hawk when what sounded like a distant roll of thunder issued from somewhere beyond the next hill.

Huey and Louie poked their heads out from underneath the table.

What was that?

I dunno.

Huey stole back his seat. Louie squeezed in next to me.

We all gathered around the window, watching in wide-eyed silence as a bright orange flash the size of a small fireworks display rippled out across the sky, bleeding through the clouds like waterpaint, growing steadily in diameter.

Far out, Louie droned.

Then down came the wreckage. A steady hail of warped metal and plastic thumping heavily to the desert floor. A giant triangular aircraft tumbling groundward, headed straight for us. Less than half a mile out and gaining.

Louie tightened his grip on my shoulder.

Daisy! Huey yelled. Step on it!

But the nose of the plane had already touched down, the wings folded in on themselves. A great metallic crashing. A tidal wave of dust lurching up over us, trapping us in its shadow.

I closed my eyes just as the world flipped upside-down.