A seagull squawked from a nearby tree. A guy on a mountain bike pedaled past and smiled. Every few minutes a car cruised by, braking at the stop sign before continuing on.

Just another lazy summer day in Malibu.

Everything perfectly normal.

If they just knew what they were looking for.

The store’s front door opened. A mother and daughter walked out and headed for the parking lot. The top of a stuffed toy animal stuck out from the little girl’s shopping bag. Diana thought it was a giraffe. Jeffrey guessed a snake. Margaret said nothing.

The mom and girl got in their car and drove off. A few stores down, the clock in the window of a mini-market displayed the time: 3:15 p.m.

Jeffrey and Margaret decided to take pictures, maybe they’d be useful later. Tossing what was left of their cones in a sidewalk trash can, they walked down opposite sides of the street snapping phone shots—the toy store, the parking lot next door, the ice cream shop on the corner, street views up and down the block.

Diana, meanwhile, stayed on the bench sucking liquefied ice cream through the hole she’d made in the bottom of her cone. By the time her friends re-joined her, the market’s window clock read 3:28.

Then 3:38.

“Well, Zero Hour is long gone,” Margaret noted. “Now what?”

Jeffrey shrugged. “Let’s wait a little longer.”

Ha! Whoever came up with that had one twisted sense of humor.

I’d been sprawled on my bed for what seemed like days now, reading the owner’s manual for my new phone, trying to get my only three contacts—my mom’s, my dad’s, our landline—into my Contacts Manager.

Easy, right? Three lousy numbers.

Not.

Easier would be learning to fly with my hands duck-taped to my butt.

As you may have guessed, this was my first mobile device. An early birthday present from my mom for my trip. I know, sounds weird—almost thirteen, first phone, twenty-first century. Well, you’d probably understand if you knew me better. For now though, I needed to get this add-to-contacts function working.

I re-read the page for the millionth time, then carefully tapped each phone number before clicking Save.

Please wait...

The little circle spun, and spun, then...

Sorry, invalid command. Please try again.

Arrgh! I tossed the stupid manual over by my suitcase. I’d take it with me on my trip; maybe by some miracle it’d make more sense later. I fell back on my bed and stared up at the ceiling, wondering what was more pathetic: spending half the night trying to add three contacts to my phone, or only having three to add.

But more about my phone later...

I was all packed and ready for my big end-of-summer trip. With school starting in nine days, this was my last chance for some real action in the otherwise boring life of Jeffrey James. And this time I had high hopes, because my lifelong dream was finally coming true. I was going to California!

Me, who’d never been west of the Iowa state line.

Me, who’d never seen the ocean before (I kid you not).