Summer Camp Mystery (3 page)

“Like making our beds, right?” a girl around Benny’s age asked. “My brother told me. And not screaming at the ferry horn. Only I did ’cause I forgot.”

“And shooting a gazillion baskets in basketball,” another boy added. “When my dad was a camper, his team won the Olympics. He was a good basketball player a long time ago.

“Up until this year, my groups won every single year,” Kim announced. “I’ve been playing soccer and basketball since I was little. I won lots of points in the Camp Seagull Olympics. But not this year.”

“How come?” one of the new campers wanted to know.

“I was a Junior Counselor for the Dolphins last session,” Kim answered bitterly. “But we lost. Sports don’t count as much anymore. The Olympics are
way
harder to win now.”

“No fair,” said the boy with the basketball player dad.

Ginny waited for the campers to quiet down. “Well, Rich and I did make a few changes in the Olympics. We wanted to make it easier for all campers to earn points, even those who aren’t sports stars. So now campers think up new activities together that everyone can be good at — even if you don’t play a sport.”

“Like not talking too much, right?” Benny asked. “That’s what my brother, Henry, told me. Only I talk a lot, so the Dolphins might not win for that.”

Ginny tried not to laugh, but she couldn’t help it. “Well, Benny, maybe you’ll win the Make Somebody Laugh Award. Last session, the Seals thought up that activity.”

Ginny held up a blue notebook. “In here, you’ll find a list of fun Olympic activities from last session. You’ll also get to add new ones when you go to your cabins later. Your counselor will make a list of all your ideas. Then each cabin will choose the one idea that best pulls the whole camp together and give it to me or Rich for our Big Idea Medal.”

Rich continued where Ginny left off. “This medal is worth a hundred points to the winning side. Now we will officially begin camp with our first Camp Seagull Flag Ceremony.”

The next thing the campers heard was a scratchy sound that filled the air. The campers covered their ears as the loud notes of a bugle blared out from a tape recorder.

“Hear ye! Hear ye, campers!” Rich called out over the loudspeaker. “Sorry we don’t have a live bugler yet. We will when Henry Alden’s bugle arrives with his trunk. What you just heard is the famous Camp Seagull bugle recording. Our new Junior Counselor Henry Alden will conduct the Flag Ceremony this session.”

Henry stepped forward with the American flag and the Camp Seagull flag. As he had learned to do in the Scouts, Henry carefully unfolded the flags and fastened them to the ropes. As he guided the flags slowly up the pole, the campers watched in silence.

When both flags reached the top, Rich started the bugle tape again. The whole camp broke into a cheer.

“Let Camp Seagull begin!” Rich cried out over the cheers and the last notes of the crackling bugle tape.

The campers gave the Camp Seagull cheer.
“Crawk! Crawk!”
they all cried.

“Crawk! Crawk!”
a seagull answered from its perch on the top of the flagpole.

After the Flag Ceremony, Ginny assigned each counselor to a group of campers.

“Let’s find Violet,” Henry suggested to Jessie and Benny. “I want to wish her luck before we go to our cabins.”

They found Violet sitting cross-legged on the ground a few feet away from Kim Waters. Kim had a clipboard in front of her. She was speaking with her campers one by one.

When she saw her family, Violet scrambled to her feet. “My group is getting ready to go to our cabin,” Violet said.

“I wish you were on the Dolphin team,” Benny said. “Aldens like to stay together.”

Violet’s eyes darkened. “I know. At least you’ll be with Henry. And I’ll be near Jessie’s cabin. Birch — that’s the name of our cabin — is only two cabins away from hers. Maybe we can visit back and forth.”

Jessie hugged Violet. “We’ll all see one another at activities and meals, though not overnight.”

“Violet Alden!” Kim yelled out. “Over here with the Seals. We have to get to Birch Cabin — on the double!”

Violet gave Jessie one last hug. “ ’Bye. See you at dinner,” she said.

Kim blew her whistle again. “The Seals sit together at meals,” she told her campers. “Now what we’re going to do is come up with the best Big Idea in the whole camp. This session, the Seals are going to win the Olympics. No matter what.”

“Why is Kim so grouchy?” Benny asked. “I’m glad I’m a Dolphin.”

“Maybe Kim wanted to be in the Dolphins again,” Jessie guessed. “Well, time to go to our cabins with our campers. See you later, Benny. ’Bye, Henry.”

Henry and Dave Baylor, a Senior Counselor, were in charge of the six- and seven-year-old Dolphin boys. They introduced themselves to the campers. Since Dave had work to do at the waterfront, Henry led the boys to the cabin on his own. “This way, Dolphins. Driftwood Cabin is just down the Interstate.”

“Henry’s kidding,” Benny explained in case the other boys didn’t get Henry’s joke. “The Interstate doesn’t go to Claw Island, just the Boo boat.”

Henry noticed Zach pushing a cart piled high with duffel bags and trunks. “Hey, Zach, we’re going the same way. That cart looks heavy. Want some help?”

“I don’t need any help,” Zach answered.

“Sorry about leaving our bags onshore,” Henry said. “We didn’t mean to make more work for you and your dad. When Dave comes back from the waterfront, maybe I can help you finish unloading the ferry.”

“I told you, I don’t need any help,” Zach said. “I’m still in charge of luggage. You’re in charge of the Flag Ceremony now. Let’s keep it that way.” Zach then pushed the cart so hard, it nearly tipped over on a tree root.

“How come Zach doesn’t like you?” Benny whispered.

“I wish I knew,” Henry said.

When Henry arrived at Driftwood Cabin with his group, Boo Pines was nailing some loose boards on the screen door.

“Boo!” one of the boys said.

Boo Pines didn’t even look up.

“Let’s not bother Mr. Pines,” Henry told the boys. “First we’ll unpack so we can make up our bunks.”

“But you don’t have a trunk,” a boy named Sam said.

“Not yet,” Henry said, “but it’ll be here tomorrow. My bugle’s in it. I’ll teach you to play a few notes.”

Benny was proud of his older brother. “Henry’s the new bugle player and flag-raiser person,” he announced.

“What about Zach?” Sam asked. “How come he’s not doing it? That was his job last session.”

Slam! Slam!
All the boys, even Henry, jumped when the screen door banged so hard it shook the cabin.

“Something the matter?” Henry called out.

Out on the cabin porch, Boo shut the lid of his toolbox. The next sounds the boys heard were Boo’s heavy work boots thumping down the steps. When Henry looked out, Boo had disappeared into the woods.

“Welcome to Cedar Cabin, Dolphins,” Jessie began when her campers stepped inside. “It looks a little bare right now, but not for long. We’ll fix it up so it’s nice and cozy. My brothers and sister and I used to live in a boxcar in the woods. We made it like a real house.”

“I wish our cabin was a boxcar,” one of the campers said. “Will you tell us stories about living in the woods?”

“Lots of them,” Jessie said, “including how our dog, Watch, found us. But first I need to get Lizzie Pines here. She’s a day camper, but she’s supposed to be in Cedar Cabin right now.”

Jessie dug into her backpack. “Here’s a piece of paper and a pencil, girls. I’ll draw a squiggle on it. Then you girls pass it around and see if you can turn the squiggle into a picture by the time I get back with Lizzie. Here comes Sarah, our Senior Counselor. She’ll stay with you while I fetch Lizzie. Hi, Sarah.”

Outside, Jessie headed toward the ferry landing. She spotted Lizzie and Zach talking.

“But I don’t want to be a Dolphin,” Jessie overheard Lizzie telling Zach when she got closer. “I want to be with Kim like last time. She said I could help her win the Olympics like we used to all the time before Ginny and Rich came. Maybe Kim will let me stay overnight in Birch Cabin. Then I can be an overnight camper like Dad promised.”

Zach turned to his sister. “Look, Lizzie, you have to go along with the Aldens. Ginny and Rich are in charge now, not Dad. But there are lots of ways you can help Kim.”

“Lizzie!” Jessie yelled out without coming closer. She didn’t want Zach and Lizzie to know she had heard them talking about her. She motioned Lizzie to return to Cedar Cabin. Jessie walked back alone, wondering what was going on. What did Zach mean about Lizzie helping Kim?

“Squiggles was a good game for the girls,” Sarah said when Jessie returned. “I have to run to the office. Be back soon.”

A redheaded camper named Laura handed Jessie a sheet of paper. “Here’s what we drew.”

“A boxcar!” Jessie said, admiring the girls’ drawing.

“Where’s Lizzie?” Laura asked.

Jessie stuck her head out the door. Lizzie was coming toward the cabin. “She’s right behind me. Let’s carry in all of your trunks. I’ll help you unpack now that Lizzie’s on her way.”

Lizzie was on her way — but not to Cedar Cabin. Instead, she stopped off at Birch Cabin.

All the Birch campers, except for Violet, had their trunks and duffels open. Violet was helping Kim unpack.

“Clean towels stay folded in the trunks,” Kim told Violet. “I guess your sister and brother didn’t read the rules. Especially the one saying not to leave your trunks on the beach.”

Violet tried not to think about her neatly packed trunk sitting in Dark Harbor. She looked up when Lizzie came in. “Did Jessie send you over to tell me something?”

“No,” Lizzie answered. “I came to see Kim.”

Kim turned around. “What’s up, Lizzie? I was hoping you’d be in my group. I have to teach my campers everything, even not to forget their trunks.”

“I have a message,” Lizzie said. She handed Kim a piece of paper.

Kim read it over. “Hmmm. I guess it’s okay. You’d better go to your own cabin now.”

Lizzie didn’t move. “Can’t I stay a little longer? Or overnight? I’m sure my dad would let me. I could put a sleeping bag in the corner. I wouldn’t take up much room.”

Violet had an idea, but she was too shy to say anything right away. Finally she decided to speak up. “What if Lizzie and I switch? That way she could be a Seal and stay here in Birch since you’re friends already.”

Kim and Lizzie looked at each other.

“Please, Kim,” Lizzie pleaded. “Can I stay here?”

Before Kim had time to answer, there was a knock on the cabin door.

“Come in,” Kim called out. “Oh, hi, Sarah. I thought the Senior Counselors had a meeting in the office.”

“It’s over,” Sarah said. She looked around until she spotted Lizzie sitting on Kim’s bed. “Aha! I see you kidnapped one of my favorite campers,” Sarah joked. “Lizzie, I think you forgot which cabin you were assigned to. You’re with Jessie Alden and me over in Cedar. It’s time to start the fun. We can’t do that if one of the Dolphins in our pod is missing. Let’s go, kiddo. Jessie’s waiting.”

Lizzie didn’t move from Kim’s bed. “But . . . but, we were just talking about Violet changing places and being a Dolphin instead. Then I could stay in Kim’s group like last session.”

“No way!” Sarah said, smiling. “Last session, you were such a great camper, I kept wishing you were on my team. And now you are. Off we go!”

Violet looked on as Sarah led Lizzie back to Cedar Cabin. She tried not to think about how strange everything seemed on her first night at camp. Jessie was just two cabins away, but that seemed as far away as Greenfield.

“I have an extra stuffed animal,” one of the girls said, holding out a floppy fur rabbit. “You can borrow him until your trunk comes, Violet.”

“If it comes,” Kim said before shutting the lid of her own trunk.

A spiral of blue-gray smoke arose from the campfire near Evergreen Lodge. The hamburger and hot dog smells from Camp Seagull’s first cookout began to fade. Now that the day was nearly over, the first day of camp was fading, too.

Benny pulled his stick from the fire. On the end was a melted, golden brown marshmallow. He slid it between two graham crackers and a piece of chocolate. “Yum,” he said after tasting his s’more treat. “Cookouts are my favorite.”