“Is it okay if we join you?” Finn asked.
The girl shrugged. “Sure, I guess,” she said.
“Thanks,” Finn said. “My name is Finn, by the way.”
“And my name’s Molly,” Molly added.
“I’m Tess,” the girl said.
“Hi, Tess,” Molly said. She sat down beside her. “Did you just get here, too?”
“What?” Tess said.
“We just got here, so we’re too late for group swim,” Molly explained.
“Oh,” Tess said. “I’ve been here the whole time. I have a stomachache, so I’m not swimming.”
“That stinks,” Finn said.
Molly leaned forward. “A stomachache?” she said. “Really?”
Maybe the work they had to do was figure out what was wrong with Tess’s stomach!
“Tell me about your stomachache,” Molly said.
“Um…,” Tess said. “Well, it hurts.”
“Hmm. Interesting,” Molly said.
Finn rolled his eyes. “Of course her stomach hurts, Molly,” he said. “She just said she has a stomachache.”
“I know, I know,” Molly said. “But if it’s a certain kind of ache, then it could be her appendix. That’s an organ in your body. Sometimes when it hurts, you need to take it out.”
“You can’t take out one of her organs,” Finn said.
“Obviously I can’t,” Molly said. “A doctor would do it. I read a book all about it.” She turned back to Tess. “Is your stomachache on the side? Or all over?”
“Um…all over?” Tess said. It sounded like a question.
“All over,” Molly said. “Hmm. Then it’s probably not your appendix. That’s on the right side. Maybe it’s the gallbladder….”
“Huh?” Finn said, looking confused. But Molly was too lost in thought to explain that the gallbladder was another organ.
TOOT! TOOT!
The lifeguards’ whistles broke Molly’s concentration. The campers in the water began to swim and paddle toward the shore.
Tess jumped up.
“Wait!” Molly said. “We still need to figure out what’s causing your stomachache.”
“It’s okay,” Tess said. “I’m actually feeling much better. But thanks for your concern.” She waved goodbye and headed over to the flagpole, where a crowd was gathering.
“Wow,” Molly said. “That was a miraculous recovery.”
“Good job, Dr. Parker,” Finn said.
Finn and Molly stayed on the jetty till the very last camper was safely out of the water. Then they ran across the sand and joined Danielle and the other campers by the flagpole. A white flag was hanging down from the top. When the breeze briefly kicked it up, the twins caught a glimpse of a large brown bear in the center.
“Hey, friends!” Danielle called out. “We’re going on a nature hike up Lake Point Trail!”
“Awesome,” Finn said. “I wanted to put these hiking boots to good use.”
“I promise that you and your hiking boots will get a good workout,” Danielle said. “But before we head out, there are a few rules. Make sure to always stay with the group. Don’t wander off the trail. It is easy to get lost in the redwood trees.”
“We don’t have redwoods back home in Harvey Falls, Ohio,” Molly whispered to her brother.
“I know that,” Finn whispered back.
“Everyone will pick a buddy,” Danielle went on. “You should know where your buddy is at all times.”
“Will you be my buddy?” Molly asked her brother.
“Hmm…let me think about that for a minute…,” Finn said.
“Finn!” Molly cried.
“Just kidding! Of course I will,” Finn said.
“Raise your hand if you don’t have a buddy yet, so we can pair you up with someone,” Danielle said.
Tess was the only one to raise her hand.
“Ah,” Danielle said. “We must have an odd number of campers, so…”
“Tess can come with my brother and me, if she wants,” Molly called out. “That is, if that’s all right to have a group of three.”
“It sure is,” Danielle said. “Nice work, Molly and Finn.”
The twins smiled at each other. Maybe their work was easy this time. Maybe Tess needed a friend and that’s why they were there.
Danielle led the group to the beginning of the trail. Molly, Finn, and Tess stayed toward the back. The twins wanted to keep an eye out for any stragglers—just in case.
“Thanks for letting me join your pair,” Tess said. “I was afraid I was going to have to be Danielle’s buddy. She’s super nice, but…”
“But it’s better to buddy up with campers, not counselors,” Finn finished.
“Exactly,” Tess said. “The truth is, I don’t have many friends here. I was up in the treehouse when they did the welcome game in the lake on the first day.”
“Oh wow, there’s a treehouse?” Finn asked.
“Yep. It’s by the ropes course,” Tess said. “You can see the whole camp from up there. I’ll show you later, if you want.”
“That’d be great,” Molly said.
“Hey, friends, did you hear that?” Danielle called from the front of the group.
Molly, Finn, and Tess stopped talking. The other campers stopped talking, too. But no one heard anything. Just the usual birds chirping and the faint sound of wind in the trees.
“What is it?” a boy finally asked.
“The glorious sound of nature,” Danielle answered. “Hear it. See it. Smell it. Feel it.”
Molly closed her eyes and let the sun hit her cheeks. She took a big gulp of fresh air. Then Finn pulled on her arm. She opened her eyes again and followed the crowd deeper into the woods. Towering trees shaded the path, but speckles of light came in through the canopy of leaves. Danielle shared facts about redwood trees. Like how they could grow over three hundred feet tall and live up to two thousand years—among the biggest and the oldest trees on earth!
“Hey, friends, look over here,” Danielle called. She knelt down next to a patch of yellow and brown grass.
“It looks dead,” a girl with a thick, dark braid said.
“Exactly, Serafina,” Danielle replied. She stood up and brushed the grass from her knees. “Because of climate change, we’ve had less rainfall. We all have to start taking better care of our environment if we want our plants to keep growing.”
The campers continued up the twisty path. Orange-gold wildflowers, like the ones the twins had seen out of PET’s windshield, grew along the edges.
“What’s cool about being here in the forest is there are no buildings and no cars, so it’s almost like we went back in time,” Finn said. “Maybe a Brachiosaurus will pop up from behind that tree.”
“You know we didn’t really go back in time, though,” Molly said. “That’s not…” She stopped herself before she finished her sentence. She was going to say, That’s not what PET can do. But she didn’t want to talk about PET in front of Tess.
“It’s so beautiful,” Tess said. “I wish I’d brought my camera.”
“Nope,” Finn said. “Cameras are too modern for these Jurassic times.”
“You’re right,” Tess said. “I’ll have to carve it into the wall when we get back to our cave-bunks.”
Finn grinned and took off his Moonwalkers cap. He leaned against an enormous tree trunk to wipe his brow.
“Hey, Finn, look behind you,” Molly said.
Finn turned around. His eyes went wide as he read the wooden sign with red painted letters:
“Bears?” Finn cried. “Like the one on the flag?”
“Oh, no,” Danielle said. “Our state flag has a California grizzly on it, and those bears are long extinct.”
“Phew,” Finn said. “I mean, I’m really sor
ry they’re extinct. But I’m glad we’re not going to run into them!”
“But black bears are still alive and well,” Danielle said. “They tend to stay away from people. We probably won’t encounter any. But if we do see one, do not make eye contact with it. Remain calm. Move slowly, and sing.”
“Did you just say sing?” a tall boy with a mop of red hair asked.
“I sure did, Toby,” Danielle said. “It’s important to remind bears that you’re human. Bears find humans very intimidating.”
“You sure they won’t think we’re their next meal?” Tess asked. “A group of human campers probably looks pretty appetizing to a hungry black bear.”
Finn nudged his sister. “Could this be our work—saving the group from a bear?”
“I hope not,” Molly said. “Hey, Danielle, should we sing now, before we see any bears? That way they won’t approach us at all.”
“That’s a great idea,” Tess said.
“It certainly couldn’t hurt,” Danielle said. “How about the Camp Eureka song?”
The campers—except Molly and Finn—joined in as she began to sing, “Camp Eureka is the best place to make new friends. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we’ll be together till the end!”
“How much longer do we have to go?” Serafina asked. “All this hiking is making me hungry.”
“Two more turns, and we’ll loop back to the mess hall in time for lunch,” Danielle said.
“Just so you know, after lunch we have a group game,” Tess told the twins. “And then it’s campers’ choice. I was thinking about doing tie-dyeing. Wanna come with me?”
“Totally,” Molly said. “What do you say, Finn?”
“Oh yeah,” he said. “I’ll tie-dye a shirt in the Moonwalkers’ colors. Do they have gray and blue?”
“They sure do,” Tess said.
“Or maybe I’ll do orange and black for the San Francisco Giants,” he said.
“Let me guess—another baseball team?” Molly asked.
“Yep,” Finn said. “Do they have those colors, too?”
“They have every color you can imagine,” Tess told him.
“Cool,” he said.
What a great assignment from PET—the work of being someone’s friend at a summer camp. It didn’t feel like work at all.
The path opened up into the sunny green lawn.
“That’s the mess hall over there,” Tess said. “Race you two!”
She sprinted across the field, with Molly and Finn close at her heels.
The mess hall smelled like Tater Tots and chicken fingers, kind of like the twins’ lunchroom at Harvey Falls Elementary. But way louder. Campers pounded on the wooden tabletops with their fists.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
Molly and Finn would never be allowed to do that at school!
A counselor stood on a chair and shouted into a bullhorn, calling each table up to get their food.
“Isn’t this amazing?” Finn asked.
Molly had her hands over her ears. She couldn’t hear him, so she didn’t answer.
“That’s my usual table over there,” Tess said. “You’ll sit with me, right?”
“Definitely,” Finn said. “Right, Molly? Molly?” He pulled at one of his sister’s hands to uncover her right ear. “Is it okay with you if we sit at Tess’s table?”
“Uh-huh,” Molly said.
As Molly, Finn, and Tess made their way across the room, a table of campers cried out, “Hey, Danielle, let me see you get down!”
Across the room, Danielle jumped up from her seat. She twirled around and shook her hips for all to see.
“D-O-W-N,” the room chanted. “That’s the way we get down!”
“This is it,” Tess said, plopping onto a chair at a long wooden table. “Guys, these are my new friends, Finn and Molly.”
“Hi, Finn and Molly!” the kids chorused.
“Hi,” the twins said back.
There were two empty chairs at the table—one next to Tess and one across from her. “Which do you want?” Finn asked Molly.
“Wait a second,” Molly said. “What was that…that thing Danielle just did?”
“It’s a little game,” Tess said. “You randomly call someone’s name and say ‘let me see you get down,’ and then they do a dance. It’s like this.” She took a deep breath and shouted, “Hey! Ollie! Let me see you get down!”
A boy at the other end of their table jumped up and did the floss.
“D-O-W-N!” all the other campers cheered. Most of the counselors joined in, too. “That’s the way we get down!”
Finn gave Ollie a thumbs-up. The counselor with the bullhorn called for table seven to get lunch.
“That’s us,” Tess said. “This way.” The twins followed her over to the buffet line. They each grabbed a tray and piled plates high with food.
Toby spotted them as they made their way back to the table. “Hey, Molly!” he called.
“Hi,” Molly said.
“Let me see you get down!” Toby cried.
“Sorry, I can’t dance right now,” Molly said, nodding toward her tray.
“No prob,” Toby said. Before Molly knew what was happening, he’d jumped up from his seat and grabbed her tray. “Now you can.”
Molly felt her face flush. Her heart was beating as fast as a jackhammer. “Sorry, I don’t know any dances,” she said.
“Sure you do,” Finn said. “You know how to square dance.”
Molly thought back to the square dance she and Finn had learned in Colorado. She’d bowed to her partner, then crossed her arms and circled around.
It had been so much fun. She would’ve danced for hours, if PET hadn’t honked its horn to pick her and Finn up.
But now Molly couldn’t get her arms to cross or her feet to move. She felt everyone staring at her. What if she looked bad? What if everyone laughed at her? She was too scared to try.
“I’m sorry,” Molly whispered. “I can’t.”
“No prob,” Toby said again. “Here, you probably want this.”
Molly nodded and took back her tray.
“Are you okay?” Tess asked.
“Yeah.”
“Ready to head to the table?” Finn asked.
“Actually, I think I’m going to eat outside, if that’s allowed,” Molly said.
“Sure,” Tess said. “Do you want us to go with you?”
“That’s okay,” Molly said. “I just need some quiet time.”
“You definitely won’t get any quiet in here,” Finn said.
“I’ll catch up with you guys after lunch,” Molly said. She left the mess hall and headed outside to an empty picnic table. Her ears were still ringing from all the noise. But after a few minutes, she could hear the birds chirping and the leaves rustling the trees.
Ah, the glorious sounds of nature, Molly thought. She felt better already, and she took a bite of a chicken finger.
And then, there was another sound—an urgent whisper coming from behind an old shed.
“I’ve just gotten word that things are going from bad to worse,” a man said.
Molly put down her chicken and strained to hear more.
“How much time do you think we have?” another voice asked. It sounded a lot like Danielle.
As quietly as she could, Molly got up from the picnic table and tiptoed closer to the shed. She peeked around the side.
Yep, it was Danielle. She was talking to a man whose back was to Molly. He was tall with black hair cut really close to his head. His shirt had “DIRECTOR” spelled out across the back.
“According to the fire marshal, it’s still beyond the mountain,” the director said. “We should be perfectly fine. But wind is unpredictable. If it shifts, we’re going to need a backup plan.”
“Sh
ould we tell the campers?” Danielle asked.
“Absolutely not,” the director said. “We don’t want anyone to worry if there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll tell them if and when the fire gets any closer.”
Fire!
Molly’s heart started to pound again. This had to be the work PET wanted her and Finn to do!
“Meanwhile, I’ll send an email to the parents to let them know what’s going on,” the director continued.
“Of course, Jeremy,” Danielle said. “I have a list of emergency contacts for every kid, and I’ll spread the word to the other counselors.”
“Excellent,” Jeremy said. “And when you’re…”
The sound of a distant helicopter drowned out the rest of Jeremy’s sentence. Molly took a tiny step closer.
A twig slapped her calf. “Ouch!” she said. Then she clapped a hand to her mouth.
Jeremy startled. “Did you hear that?” he asked.
“The helicopter?” Danielle asked.
“No. I thought I heard…,” Jeremy said. “Never mind. I will let you know as soon as I have any updates. For now, let’s try to act normal in front of the campers.”
“Okay,” Danielle said.
Molly crept backward, watching the ground closely to make sure she didn’t step on any more twigs. She picked up her tray and tiptoed toward the mess hall. As soon as she was far enough away, she began to run. She had to tell Finn what she’d heard. And fast!
Molly went back to the mess hall, but it was impossible to talk to Finn alone. She had to wait until lunch was over, when everyone headed outside. The crowd gathered in a big field at the center of a large horseshoe of log cabins.
Molly pulled Finn off to the side. “I bet those are the cabins, don’t you?” Finn asked.
“It doesn’t matter,” Molly said. “I have to tell you some—”
Before she could finish her sentence, she was interrupted by a counselor with a bullhorn. “All right, Eureka campers!” the counselor shouted. “You know what it’s time for?”
Escape From Camp California Page 2