work?”

“From 9 to 5, Monday to Friday like everyone else.”

“I work 'bout sixteen hours a week, if'n I'm busy. Yer the first person I flew fer 'bout two weeks now. How off'n do ya get ta do want ya want? Ya know, like vacation, goin' to a football game, things like that?”

“Um, not very often. I do get three weeks vacation each year.”

“I get ta take time off whenever I wanna. If'n I decide I want ta go somewhere, but I have a flight scheduled, I kin cancel it. I can do whatever I want! I'm master of ma own schedule! No one ta tell me what ta do, er when ta do it!”

“But... you said you only had seventy dollars in your bank account! How can you live on that?”

“After I buy gas, food, and pay my rent, that's what's left over. It's enough fer me ta live on. Well, I reckon we oughta find some shelter fer tonight. You stay here'n eat. I'll go find somethin'.” He grabbed a stick and caught the end on fire, and went out into the woods.

About half an hour later, he came back. He got Jenna to go into the woods, and led her to a tree.

“This is it? A tree? You want me to sleep on a tree?”

“Not on a tree. In a tree.”

He pointed to the base of the tree, and there was a hole big enough for her to crawl through. She went in, and there was enough room for her to stretch out.

“How did you find this?” she asked.

“Find? Who says I found it? I made it.”

“You made this?”

“Yep. It's quite simple really. Ya take a burnin' stick 'n ya build a small fire at the base o' the tree with it. Ya just keep it burnin' 'till you got yerself a cozy little hole like this. The hard part is keepin' the rest o' the tree from catchin' on fire.”

Even before she could thank him, he turned around and walked out into the forest to find some place for himself to sleep.

Jenna woke up the next morning and started looking for Balto. She eventually found him up in a tree. He had cut a tree into several planks and then laid them out between two branches. As soon as Balto saw her, he jumped ten feet down out of the tree, landed on his feet, and it didn't seem to hurt.

“Say, Jenna, I was walkin' 'round last night an' I found this black goo. I tasted it, an' it tasted kinda oily. I's just wonnerin' if'n ya knew what it was.”

“You see goo and you taste it?”

“Well, yeah! How else'm I s'posed ta figger out what it is?”

“Wait. What did you say it tasted like?”

“Oily.”

Jenna had a crazy idea, and she hoped she was right. She hurriedly asked Balto to take her there.

When they arrived, Jenna was about to check, when she realized “I don't have my equipment. There's no way I can see if there's oil!”

“Y'ever seen 'Beverly Hillbillies'?”

“No. Why?”

“Ya shoulda. Y'd 'ave learned a lot.”

Balto got his 'spear' and threw it with all his might into the ground.

“Okay.... what good did that do?”

“Shh. Just wait.”

Three seconds later, oil began bubbling out from where the 'spear' struck. Soon, there was a puddle of oil in a four foot radius around the 'spear'.

Jenna was even more in awe of Balto than she ever was before. He had personally found the largest oil well she had ever seen. While she stayed behind and did what little work with the oil as she could, Balto decided to explore the island some more. After an hour, he had found nothing. After the second hour, he wished he had stopped at the first hour. He turned tail and ran for where Jenna was. They had to get off the island immediately!

Jenna was thrilled. “A village? Are you serious? We should go and see if we can get some help! They might have a radio we can use! We could...”

“Jenna! We need to get off the island! We can't go anywhere near that village!”

“Are you crazy? Here we are, stranded on an island, and you find a village and think we need to stay away from them? They can help us! I'm going there and I'm going to see if we can get off this island.”

“No! Look, I'm your pilot. Pilots are captain of the plane and the passengers. The pilots are in charge of keeping their passengers safe, and if you want to remain safe, you need to stay away from that village!”

“And what makes you think there's anything wrong with that village?”

“I just know, okay? And we need to stay away!”

Jenna didn't listen to Balto. She turned away from him and walked into the forest in the direction of the village.

Balto was on the beach, trying to build a raft. He had to get off. It didn't matter if he just found another island, even if it was smaller than this one. He just had to get away from this island. He stopped working for a moment and thought about Jenna. She was heading for the village, unprotected and unprepared. He knew he had to find her. He had to save her.

Jenna had finally found it. There was a clearing in the forest about half the size of a large mall. Inside the clearing was ten hut-looking things. She entered the clearing and began looking for someone. She heard a crack next to her. She turned her head to see what it was....

Balto was running as fast as his feet would carry him. He reached the area that the village was in, just in time to see someone throwing a knife at Jenna. It struck her in the leg, and she fell over. All of a sudden, ten people were upon her, tying her up. Balto knew it would be stupid trying to save her then, but there was nothing else he could do. He grabbed the biggest rock he could find and hurled it at the crowd of people. It hit one on the head, knocking him over. Everybody turned their head and looked at him.

“Hello Balto.” said one of the men. “Welcome back.”

Balto and Jenna were being carried to a metal hatch in the ground. The man who had recognized Balto said “See if you can actually escape this time.” Before they tossed them down, the dog noticed Balto had a knife. He took it from Balto.

“Thank you.” Then they were thrown in.

“How did you know these people were going to be like this? Who are they?” asked Jenna.

“They're part of a criminal organization. They had been sent to jail many times, but each time they had a 'mastermind' on their team that would keep busting them out. Finally, a judge sent them to this island instead, believing that they wouldn't be able to get off. Every four months the government would send a helicopter to check on them. However, their mastermind thought of a way to get them off. He drew up a design to make a boat. Not merely a raft, but a seaworthy boat, sails and all. But, the day before they left, their man told them he realized there was a flaw in the design, so they decided to fix it the next day. That night, the mastermind stole the boat.”

“How do you know all this?” asked Jenna.

“I was the mastermind.”

Jenna was shocked, not only by the confession, but he was no longer speaking with a hillbilly accent.

“After I stole the boat, I made my way up to Nome, where I became a Cessna pilot. I took on that accent, and made an honest living. Well, now you know the real reason I don't have insurance or any of that stuff. If I applied for insurance I would have to give my name and all that stuff.”

Then, the hatch lid opened, and one the dogs from the village threw down something.

“What's that?” asked Balto.

“Food! Thank goodness. I haven't had a thing to eat all day!”

“What kind of food did they give us?”

“Um, a fish, a coconut, and two bananas.”

“Sweet! Jenna, we're getting out of here!”

Jenna was impressed with Balto once more. In under a minute, he had devised a plan to escape, using only the food their captors had provided. It was over the top, but it was effective. What Balto did was, the next day when the guy came to give them food, Balto hurled the coconut at his forehead, knocking him into the pit. Fortunately, he had a rope slung over his shoulder, which Balto tied to the fish. He then used the fish as a weight on the rope so he could throw the rope out the hatch, and hopefully snag the rope on the handle. After a few tries, he finally got it snagged on the handle. Balto gave it a tug to make sure it was secure. Then him and Jenna climbed up the rope, then ran.

Unfortunately, Balto's plan did not include what to do afterward.

Nikki had a proposition for Balto and Jenna. The helicopter would be coming soon, and Nikki and the gang planned to leave on it. One problem though. They needed Balto to fly it for them. He was headed for the hatch to tell Balto his plan, when he saw the hatch was wide open. He ran over to it, looked down in it, and saw one of his men down there. He gathered everyone, and sent them all out to look for Balto. They needed him, badly.

Balto and Jenna were furiously working on a raft to get them off, when Nikki came on the beach. He pulled out the knife he took from Balto and pointed it at them.

“Now look Balto, you have two choices. A helicopter will be arriving today, and we're going to hijack it and get off this stinking island, and we need you to fly it for us. So, you can either join us again and leave this island, or you can stay. Your choice.”

Balto had hoped he would never have to make this choice again, but now he had no option.

“Alright. I'll join.”

Well, things were screwing up in Balto's life once more. When he had told Nikki he would join them again, he had lied. Unfortunately, he had made it sound a little too convincing, and Jenna believed him. Now she was avoiding him like the plague. They were walking back to

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