by Annie Bryant
“In your dreams.” Jody paused for some suspense. “The green team is going on an all-day hike to a swampy area which is farther away than the top of the mountain, but the terrain is mostly flat. And the bird life there is exceptional.”
“Which group are you going with, Jody?” Chelsea asked.
Jody paused for effect. “I’ve earned a day off to go swimming and sunbathing. Actually, I have some reports to catch up on today. Your leader for the hike will be your science teacher, Ms. Weston, who is a birder, and Nash, who is an experienced wilderness hiker.”
“Ms. Weston!” A few kids exclaimed. No one had even seen their science teacher since they had arrived.
“You probably wondered where she’d gone off to,” continued Jody. The BSG looked at each other and all of them had to stifle a giggle. The fact of the matter was that they had been so busy they had completely forgotten about Ms. Weston. Charlotte felt a little guilty. She imagined that no one would like to be forgotten.
“Ms. Weston,” Jody announced proudly, “has been working with the New Hampshire forest rangers and is eager to share what she has learned with the green team. I’m sure it’s going to be an exciting time.” Jody walked off to give directions to the other teams.
“I’ll bet,” Dillon whispered. “Isn’t this the very same student teacher who got us lost going to the auditorium to see a film last week?”
Everyone around Dillon, including Maeve, giggled. “Maybe she is better at directions when she can see the sun or the stars.”
“I wish I was going with the green team,” Isabel said as they gathered their backpacks. “I don’t know if I can climb a whole mountain in a day.”
Nick reached out and punched Isabel gently. “Sure you can, Izzy. And if you get stuck, I’ll help you.”
Charlotte found yet another feeling churning inside her already overloaded nervous system. Izzy? Charlotte mused. Was a small green monster growing larger inside her?
“So will I, Isabel,” Charlotte added. “I’ve hiked a lot with my father. We’ve climbed a lot of mountains. The rule is one step at a time, sometimes resting between each step.”
Nick grinned at Charlotte. “That’s for something like Mt. Kenya or Kilimanjaro, isn’t it?”
Charlotte flushed. Had she sounded like a know-it-all again?
Even though they were excited about the hike and mountain climb, the BSG were not thrilled about being separated for an entire day.
“Remember that part of going on an odyssey is misfortune.” Maeve screwed up her face to suggest tragedy, but exaggerated the emotion so much that she had everyone around her laughing.
“Aren’t you being a little bit over the top?” Joline said. “How can you guys be attached at the hip all the time? It’s so juvenile.”
“That’s calling the kettle black,” Avery said. “You and Anna are never apart. But anyway, I wish I was climbing the mountain, too. Walking to some swamp isn’t much of a challenge.”
“It could be. You could see a red-bellied woodpecker,” Dillon teased.
“Or a duck-billed dinosaur who has been freshly cloned and reintroduced to Lake Rescue.” The Yurtmeister opened his mouth to name other possibilities, but Ms. Weston cut him off.
“All right, greenies. How many of you have binoculars?”
Charlotte handed her binoculars to Katani. “Here, you can use mine. Not only will that lighten my pack, but looking at rocks close up isn’t as much fun as birds or squirrels, or for that matter, dinosaurs.”
“We might see the swamp ghost,” Billy Trentini suggested.
“How about the Creature from the Black Lagoon?” Maeve started listing swamp monster movies as they prepared to leave.
John got their attention. “Each of you is responsible for your own backpack. Don’t forget water, an extra layer of clothing, a whistle, a compass if you have one. Ms. Weston has the lunch pack for the greenies, and I have the lunch pack for the blue team. But you should grab some high energy snacks from the canteen.”
“Like chocolate?” Charlotte asked hopefully.
“Only if it’s wrapped around a protein bar or has some nuts. Chocolate kicks up your blood sugar, but drops you down twice as hard. Anyone have gorp?”
“Is that a fish or leftover barf?” asked Dillon.
“Gorp is a mix of peanuts, raisins, or other dried fruit, and M&Ms. There’s your chocolate, Charlotte. I have a few extra bags.” John handed them around. “Please share.”
“Billy, why don’t you grab the lunch pack and we will all take turns carrying it on the trip,” Ms. Weston requested.
Suddenly Jody clapped her hands for everyone’s attention.
“Campers…I must have your attention now. Before we all leave on this hike, the rangers have given us each a copy of the hiker code of responsibility. I am going to read it out loud and it’s very important that you all follow it. Every year the state spends thousands of dollars and asks rangers to risk their lives to save lost hikers. So listen up!”
There was another mock-tearful good-bye for the BSG. Complete with mopey faces.
“Good grief,” Anna said. “Joline and I have to split up for the day and you don’t see us carrying on like that.”
“Joline is probably relieved,” Katani whispered to Chelsea.
Chelsea was impressed that Katani let Anna’s comment roll off her back. She’d have to learn that little trick herself. Life would be much easier, she thought, if you could ignore the people who were annoying. Of course it was much easier to ignore an insult if you had a group of friends around who were supporting you. All in good time. Chelsea was suddenly reminded of her grandmother’s favorite phrase.
As they trailed behind the green group, Chelsea showed Katani two digital photos of the group’s gathering. “I have two extra discs, and an extra battery, but this camera holds sixty-four photos. A good photographer is supposed to take tons more photos than she uses. The nice thing about going digital is that you don’t have to print the bad pictures.”
“The ones of someone’s backside?” Katani laughed. “We better hurry up. Remember the code—no separating from the group.” Her long legs began to set a strong hiking pace and Chelsea struggled to keep up.
Chelsea was relieved not to have to climb a mountain, glad not to be climbing a wall or weaving through ropes, and determined to have a good time. She vowed not to eat her whole bag of gorp at once. She would parcel her gorp out in small handfuls to keep her energy up. Those M&Ms sure were tempting, though.
For awhile there was a whole lot of punching and pushing, laughing, and shoving going on. Maeve stopped to add a new dance step to the mix.
“My new hiking boots feel great. They’re really comfortable since I wore them around before we left to break them in. I’m glad Mr. Ramsey made me be sensible for once and get these instead of the pink ones. And he found me these hot pink shoelaces.”
“I wondered if some shoe manufacturer was colorblind.” Dillon laughed, but occasionally he’d stop and break into a dance routine with Maeve.
“Please stay focused, group, and quiet.” Ms. Weston frowned at Dillon and Maeve. “I have heard about a sighting of a ruby-crowned kinglet still here in this area. Usually they’ve moved farther south by now. What a red-letter day it would be to see one. They are fairly hard to find. In any event, I’ve never found one.”
“What does a ruby-crowned kinglet look like, Ms. Weston?” Billy Trentini kept a remarkably straight face when he asked. “Is it anything like a loon?”
“Oh my, no. While it inhabits swampy areas, it’s not a waterfowl. It’s a perching bird. If I see one, it will go on my birder’s life list.”
No one, not even the Yurtmeister, could think of a funny comment about “life lists.” While birding wasn’t on Chelsea’s life list of things she wanted to do, she understood being passionate about something. Her love of photography was growing every day. Not only had Katani helped her see some ways of expanding her vision, but Jody had said it’s good to
have something you love to do. “It fills you up,” she had said.
“Where are you going, Natalie, if you don’t mind my asking?” Nash asked Ms. Weston.
Chelsea snapped a photo of the pretty young teacher staring through her binoculars as she eased off the path and into the woods.
“Shhh, do you hear that song?” Ms. Weston spoke without taking her focus off the trees ahead of her.
“They’re playing my song,” Dillon whispered.
Maeve giggled and that set off Katani. Soon the entire green team was laughing softly.
“What does it sound like?” Avery asked.
Anyone could see that Avery was about to explode. She could have run to their destination and back by now. She wore off a little energy by sparring and racing back and forth with Billy, but Ms. Weston had cautioned them about getting split off from the group. As if they could. A blind rat in a complex maze could have found the green team at the snail’s pace they now were moving at.
Ms. Weston had no idea people were teasing her. “It’s kind of a husky ji-dit, ji-dit. The song is quite loud. Three or four high notes, several low notes, and then a chant. Tee, tee, tee, tew, tew, tew, tew, ti-dadee, ti-dadee, tidadee.”
Yurt nodded. “Okay.” He cupped his hand around one ear and listened intently. “Is it a soft ti-dadee or a shrill tidadee?”
“Oh, it’s very musical.” Ms. Weston turned and walked back to the group.
“We better keep walking, Natalie. We’ve got to reach our marker within the hour.”
“Yes, of course, Nash. It’s so hard to keep a birder on track once they are on the hunt of a rare specimen.”
The entire team was about to erupt into laughter, but they didn’t dare. If Ms. Weston had indeed found her “life bird,” they really didn’t want to spoil it for her. Obediently they followed the counselors down through the woods, through a small swampy meadow where they had to watch their footing, and into the woods on the other side. Then they waded through some tall, wide-bladed grass and skirted an alder and maple swamp.
Beyond the water, they entered a thicker stand of evergreens, beeches, and oak. The leaves underfoot didn’t give them away to the elusive bird, since the leaves were wet and matted down from the earlier mist and fog. Occasionally, an outcropping of granite gave them a place to rest for a few minutes and watch Ms. Weston searching for her bird.
Blue Team Klutz Attack
John looked at the kids surrounding him and shouted at the top of his lungs, “Is the blue team ready?”
Isabel, startled, jumped up from loading her backpack and let out a little yelp.
Josh Trentini screamed back even louder than John, “We’re ready!”
Joline stuck her hand on her hip and rolled her eyes. “This is going to be painful…extremely painful. Can we please get going so we can get it over with?” She slung her backpack over one shoulder and started walking toward the foot of the mountain. She hoped Anna was working as hard as she was.
“Hold on a minute, Joline,” John said. “We have to make sure we’re not missing anything important.” He read out a list of the blue team’s names to make sure everyone was there, and then packed the group’s lunch in his backpack. “Now, does anyone have to go to the bathroom? From now on, it’s just you and the great outdoors, so I’d suggest you all take the ‘trip.’”
Charlotte, Isabel, and Betsy hurried to their cabins, while the boys jogged off in the opposite direction. Joline sat on a rock, looking annoyed, and pulled a fashion magazine out of her backpack.
When they all gathered together again, they set off, walking up through the trees to the base of the mountain.
“Remember to watch out for poison ivy,” John warned the group as they trekked up the steep path. He pointed to the three-leafed plant. “No one will want to dance with you tonight if you’re itching like crazy. Even though it’s not contagious.”
Nick leaned over to Charlotte, who was walking with her head down to keep a close eye on the rocks and sticks lying precariously in the path.
“Hey Char…would you dance with me if I had poison ivy?” he whispered.
Charlotte tried to will her face from turning red, but she had no such luck. “Maybe,” she whispered back.
As she turned to smile at Nick, her foot caught on a tree root, and she tumbled forward. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Nick lunge forward to try to catch her, but it was a pure Charlotte moment.
“Hey Char, you all right?” Isabel dropped down on her knees to put her hand on Charlotte’s shoulder.
Charlotte buried her head in the dirt for a minute. “I’m fine,” she replied. Isabel and Nick took her arm from either side and helped her up.
Charlotte turned to Isabel as she brushed dirt off herself and realized that Isabel had covered her mouth with her hand.
“Are you laughing at me?!” Charlotte exclaimed.
“I’m sorry,” Isabel said, her voice shaking with laughter. “It wouldn’t have been funny if you had been hurt. But you…you looked so hilarious!”
Charlotte had to giggle. She was a little embarrassed, but she knew that it was probably better to laugh than be angry or upset. And it was pretty funny.
“I better walk a little closer to you from now on,” Nick said. “I almost caught you before you took a dive. Sorry…I mean, before you…had your little accident.”
Charlotte grinned and punched Nick lightly on the arm. Despite the rough start, she could tell that it was going to be a fun day.
Green Team Finds the Ruby
Suddenly, Nash halted the group. His brow was furrowed and he seemed to be a bit…confused. Resting his pack on a log, he unzipped the front compartment and pulled out a map. Ms. Weston rushed over. “What’s the matter, Nash? Are we lost? I thought we followed the correct trail.”
“We did,” he answered. “But we should be here,” he said, pointing to a marker on the map for a trail head, “and we are not. There is something very wrong.”
“I…are we really off the trail? Do you know where we are, Ms. Weston?” Avery asked with concern in her voice.
Ms. Weston took the binoculars from her eyes and looked around. “Oh, well, no, but we can’t be that far off the trail. Can we, Nash? We’ll just retrace our steps.”
Suddenly, Ms. Weston’s eyes opened wide. “Oh, wait, there’s the call again. Look, class, up there, in that evergreen, flicking its wings. There it is! Oh, oh, how exciting! Isn’t this terribly exciting? A ruby-crowned kinglet. They aren’t that rare, but as I told you, I don’t have one on my list. I always hoped I’d see one, and I knew this trip was my best chance this fall.”
Katani wondered how Ms. Weston could be so unconcerned about their predicament when Nash was so clearly worried. He was looking at that map as if it were in ancient Greek.
Suddenly, Chelsea spotted the tiny bird that Ms. Weston was ecstatic about. She thought some extra science points were right there within her grasp. She crept even closer, knelt down, and snapped several photos.
“Oh, Chelsea, you are a perfect wonder. If you got a good photo, we might be able to sell it to some birding magazine. I know at least three that would just die for a good picture.”
Hey, science points and money. This was getting better by the minute. Maybe Ms. Weston wasn’t crazy after all, figured Chelsea.
Billy Trentini sneezed, and that was the end of the ruby-crowned kinglet, which took off like a shot into the woods. Billy had sneezed it away in an instant. “Sorry, I think I’m allergic to these woods.”
“Hey, you might be allergic to kinglets.”
“You can get shots for that,” Avery said with a straight face.
“Oh, green team, thank you, thank you.” Ms. Weston’s face lit up with satisfaction. Finding that bird was really a life goal for her. “Now, where were we before I got sidetracked?”
“That’s a very good question.” Avery looked around.
Nash stood up. “Green team,” he announced carefully. “We are definitely lost
! Somehow a trail marker has been removed, or fallen. It’s possible that the wind that blew through camp last night may have knocked it off. Or sometimes a few really misguided hikers think it’s fun to grab a souvenir, and I don’t think the rangers have been up here today. In any case, we must have taken a wrong turn.”
“But I remember where we went, Nash. Follow me,” shouted Avery. And before anyone could stop her she had begun running back down the trail. And then, to everyone’s horror…almost as in a slow-motion movie, Avery went flying through the air like a spinning top and crashed to the ground.
“Trying to be a hero, Madden?” Billy shouted as he raced toward her, followed by Ms. Weston and Nash.
“Great,” Maeve whispered to Katani. “We’re lost and Avery’s acting like one of the Flying Wallendas…Katani?” Maeve shook her friend’s arm.
“Shush, Maeve. I think Avery’s hurt…really hurt. Look,” pointed Katani.
CHAPTER 16
Pink Socks and Swamp Thing
Blue Team
The blue team was keeping a good pace, climbing steadily through the trees up the side of the mountain.
John whistled softly as he hiked, pausing from time to time to point out different types of vegetation.
Charlotte kept her journal out and wrote furiously every time they stopped on the trail. She wanted to record how it felt to be out in the woods, away from the busy life of school.
“Uh, John?” Joline said hesitantly.
“What’s going on?”
“I have to go to the bathroom.”
“All right. Go ahead.”
“What do you mean?” Joline asked, looking worried.
“I warned you before. Now it’s between you and the woods,” John replied, gesturing through the trees.
Joline hesitated for a moment before turning from the path and heading into the woods.
“Although,” John added, “I happen to know that we are about five minutes’ hike from an old shack that has an outhouse attached to it. Lucky you.”