User:Chocolate Henry/A Taste of Smoke

A Taste of Smoke A Taste of Smoke is a book written by Marion Dane Bauer. It is part of a book series known as Yearling Books. It was written in 1993.

Plot

A thirteen-year-old girl named Caitlin is going on a camping trip with her older sister, Pam. Caitlin is looking forward to this trip, because Pam has been away at college all year, and they have a lot of things to catch up on. But things do not turn out the way Caitlin expects them to. First of all, while Pam and Caitlin are watching a movie in a museum, Caitlin suddenly sees a fire right before her eyes, and she hears the frantic cries of someone. She screams and her sister and a young man named Alex run over to Caitlin. They ask her what's wrong. She tries to explain what she just saw to them, but they do not believe her. Alex goes with Caitlin and Pam to their campsite, much to Caitlin's dismay. It seems as though Pam has been expecting to see Alex. And once they get to the campsite, Pam ends up spending a lot of time with him. She decides to go for a bike ride, seeing as how Pam seems to be paying more attention to Alex than to Caitlin. While out in the woods on her bike, Caitlin gets lost. She gets scared at first and rushes to ride her bike back to the campsite. Then, she meets an oddly-dressed boy named Frank, who tells Caitlin that she's pretty. Caitlin returns to the campsite, but does not say much about him. The next morning, Caitlin goes out canoeing with Pam and Alex, who is still with them at their campsite. While they are canoeing, Caitlin sees Frank again. Their canoe almost runs into him and ends up capsizing and Caitlin, Pam, and Alex all fall into the river. Soaking wet and clearly embarrassed, Pam yells at Caitlin. They return to the campsite, and Caitlin decides to go for another bike ride. She encounters Frank once again and asks him to explain himself. Frank tells Caitlin that he is the ghost of an orphan boy who died in a fire in 1894. Caitlin is skeptical at first, but when she tells him to move so she can return to the campsite, he refuses to move. She decides to ride her bike past him. So she does. But when she pedals towards him, she rides right through him and his body turns into smoke as she does...Smoke that she can smell. She is startled by this and promptly returns to the campsite. She lies about what she saw to Alex and Pam, telling them she saw a bear instead of Frank, who is indeed a ghost. Finally, Caitlin confronts Alex about Frank, and Alex admits to knowing about Frank, and even knowing that Frank is a ghost. She wants to tell Pam about it, but Alex tells Caitlin he will deny having any relationship with Frank if she does so. This upsets Caitlin greatly, even as they are roasting marshmallows. Caitlin decides to go for a walk. Pam protests her going out for a walk so late at night at first, but then, at last, she agrees to let Caitlin go to the washroom by herself. There, she speaks to a couple of elderly women. Then, she sees Frank sitting in one of the stalls. She briefly speaks to Frank, but when he asks her to let him stay close by her, she refuses and runs out of the rest room. He chases after her and says that he's her boyfriend. Caitlin rushes into the campsite, breathless and yells at Frank to go away. Pam does not see him of course, since Caitlin and Alex are the only people who can see him, and so, she thinks that Caitlin was shouting at Alex to go away. They get into an argument, but then once again, Frank relives his own grisly death-Being burned alive in the fire that occurred in 1894. Caitlin rushes over to save him and he vanishes, but for a brief moment, she felt as though she was holding onto him. Pam asks her and Alex about what just happened. They tell her Frank's story and the next morning, Caitlin goes for one last bike ride. Of course, she meets Frank and he thanks her for 'saving him'. Then, he tells her he has to go away, but before he does, he wants to be able to know what it's like to kiss a girl. Caitlin lets him kiss her and she has a taste of smoke when they kiss. Frank departs and Caitlin rides away. She smiles and touches her lips as she rides back to the campsite.