Lucky, age ten, cant wait another day. The meanness gland in her heart and the crevices full of questions in her brain make running away from Hard Pan, California (population 43), the rock-bottom only choice she has. Its all Brigittes fault -- for wanting to go back to France. Guardians are supposed to stay put and look after girls in their careInstead Lucky is sure that shell be abandoned to some orphanage in Los Angeles where her beloved dog, HMS Beagle, wont be allowed. Shell have to lose her friends Miles, who lives on cookies, and Lincoln, future U.S. president (maybe) and member of the International Guild of Knot Tyers. Just as bad, shell have to give up eavesdropping on twelve-step anonymous programs where the interesting talk is all about Higher Powers. Lucky needs her own -- and quick. But she hadnt planned on a dust storm. Or needing to lug the worlds heaviest survival-kit backpack into the desert.