PITTSFIELD – Melanie Brown, a 17-year-old from North Carolina, will have an interesting chapter in her “What I Did on my Summer Vacation” story this year.

Shortly after noon Saturday, believing that both Melanie and her sister Melissa, 15, were asleep in the back of their van, Brown’s parents drove off from the Interstate 95 rest area in Pittsfield, leaving their daughter behind.

Their separation was discovered when Brown’s family had traveled about 20 miles north, toward Bangor. Meanwhile, Melanie Brown had gone from car to car at the rest stop, borrowing first the 35 cents needed for the pay phone and, eventually, a cellphone to contact police.

Brown’s aunt, Florence Doyle of Essex, was waiting for her sister and family to arrive Saturday when Pittsfield police called, notifying her that her niece had been left behind.

Reunited later in the afternoon, the family spent the night at Doyle’s home in Bangor and, on Sunday, continued on to Perry, where they were unable to be reached.

Doyle said Sunday that her sister Ann and her husband, Harold, had pulled into the rest area to stretch their legs and to take the family dog for a walk. “The girls were both asleep in the back in the van when they took the dog out,” said Doyle.

“When they got back, they just assumed that the girls were still asleep. After about 20 miles or so, my brother-in-law looked in the back and said, ‘Where’s Melanie?'” Doyle said.

“My sister screamed ‘Oh, my God!’ and then Melissa woke up and was terrified. They all thought that someone had taken Melanie,” Doyle said. “Her sister was very, very upset and scared, thinking someone had abducted Melanie at the rest stop.”

The family immediately turned around and, using their own cellphone, called the Pittsfield police.

“My daughter is missing,” the caller told the dispatcher. “What is her name?” she was asked, and when she said “Melanie,” the dispatcher said, “We have her right here.”

Brown, realizing that her parents had left, began asking strangers for money for the pay phone.

“She said everyone was very, very kind to her,” said Doyle. She said this was her sister’s family’s second visit to Maine and they were not that familiar with the area.

“But she did exactly the right thing. She remained calm and called the police. She did really well,” said Doyle.

Pittsfield police Officer Nicholas Fletcher retrieved Melanie Brown from the rest area and brought her to the Pittsfield police station to await her parents’ return. “They said that was the quickest 20 miles they ever drove,” Doyle said with a laugh.

Doyle said everyone was laughing about the incident when they arrived in Bangor, but they admitted it had been a frightening few minutes before they found their daughter safe.

“I hadn’t seen them in a year, and I was just too happy to see them to give them a hard time,” Doyle said.