Love and Pollywogs from Camp Calamity

by Mary Hershey

  First place went to Donal and Bryce, who did the funniest ventriloquist act ever. Bryce sat on Donal’s lap as his dummy named Mr. Donabryce, which is their two names put together. Mr. Donabryce wore a tie and a fake mustache. He flapped his mouth open and closed while Donal told funny jokes about Texans. He hardly moved his lips at all!

  When Donal used his dummy voice, he didn’t have much of an accent. He sounded just like a regular boy. I hope his accent won’t wear off for a few more years. I realized I really like it. They got a giant round of applause, and would get breakfast in bed the next day, served by Matt and Jeb. Donal was going to love that. But even more than that, I think he loved having Bryce to pal around with. I hoped when we went back to school they’d keep being friends.

  Swat came and helped me clean up the stage before Ms. Marshall came on. The Dancing Zits had been a very messy act! “Hey, Iced Tea! You guys should have won first place. You three were so good! The green gummy worms were genius. Maxey thought you were the best Dancing Zit!”

  “Really?” I said. That was shocking. I figured she’d be hiding under the kitchen sink, totally embarrassed to be related to me.

  Ms. Marshall climbed up the stairs to the stage and I hurried off, sweeping up one last runaway marshmallow and an olive so she wouldn’t fall and break her ankle too!

  I joined Aurora and Nit where they were sitting on the floor. All the girls in our cabin were sitting in one long row. As soon as I sat down, they started a whisper chain, and it was headed my way. They were all biting their lips in excitement. Nit got a big grin when she heard it, then leaned into me. “Everyone in Coyote thinks you’re going to get Outstanding Camper because of teaching Chica and lots of other things. They’re all saying good luck!”

  Oh, no! How funny … I didn’t want it. It wasn’t right for me to get it. I hadn’t offered to teach Chica because I was generous. And … I didn’t want to be outstanding anymore. I wanted to be the Instanding Camper of the Week. A normal fit-in kid.

  Ms. Marshall tapped the microphone to get our attention. “Girls and boys, what a terrific week we’ve had! I’m proud of every one of you. You’ve each mastered some new skills and made some real contributions to this week’s experience.”

  I could tell Ms. Marshall was going to be talking for a bit, so I reached into my backpack and pulled out my flashlight. I gave it a little shake and heard the familiar rattle of a new message inside. It was always exciting! I unscrewed the bottom as quietly as I could and pulled the note out.

  Funny how things turn out just right in the end, Effie.

  I hoped they would! I passed it so Nit and Aurora could read it too. Aurora gave me a thumbs-up. Nit squeezed my arm.

  “Well,” Ms. Marshall was saying, “I could go on and on about how much I’ve enjoyed you all, but I know that what you really want to hear is who will be this year’s Outstanding Camper of the Week.

  “In our history of Outstanding Campers, we’ve chosen boys and girls for many things—for remarkable work in our science and nature curriculum, for leadership, for noteworthy physical achievements, and for being inspirational campers. We have found one such camper here with us this week.

  “On behalf of the staff of Camp Wickitawa, I am pleased to announce that our next Outstanding Camper of the Week is …”

  She looked right down at the row where Nit, Aurora, and I were sitting! I held my breath. Well, maybe I didn’t deserve it, but I could still see my photograph—

  “Miss Trinity Finch!” she announced.

  I got to my feet and jumped up and down with my hands raised over my head. YES!

  Aurora jumped up next to me and started clapping and cheering like crazy. Our whole cabin did!

  “Trinity, come on up!” Ms. Marshall hollered through the noise.

  Nit was frozen. She looked like she’d just seen the Weeping Widow. I pulled her up and drug her all the way to the stage. Ms. Marshall came and got her from there. I stood at the bottom of the steps grinning. I was so happy for Nit! Until just a few months ago everyone thought she was a really weird kid—even me. Now she’ll be a celebrity forever.

  Ms. Marshall laughed into the microphone. “As you can see, we’ve surprised her!”

  Nit nodded, flapping her jaw like Mr. Donabryce, the dummy.

  “Trinity has had a very busy week, like you all have. But she has made the time to make a significant contribution to the science and nature center. Her many hours of volunteer work there each day feeding and caring for the animals, and even shoveling up after them, has allowed Ms. Hawkins to spend more time with you girls and boys. And Miss Finch’s comprehensive report on the peregrine falcon will be added to the science and nature center’s permanent collection.”

  Donal stood up, whistled, and cheered. “That’s brilliant, Nit!”

  Ms. Marshall made a motion to someone standing near the stage curtain. We all craned our neck to see who it was. Ms. Hawkins and Gypsy came out together. Nit finally smiled. She made her special kek-kek-kek noise, and Gypsy hopped right onto her hat. We all cheered at that.

  Ms. Hawkins took the microphone from Ms. Marshall. “Gypsy and I wanted to personally thank and honor Trinity for her work. We also would like to invite her to come back with us for two weeks this summer as a special assistant to the center. I’ve already spoken to your parents, Nit, and they are very pleased at this opportunity. So if you’d like to come—”

  Nit grabbed the microphone. “Yes, please!”

  We laughed and clapped some more.

  Ms. Hawkins said, “If I can move Gypsy off you for just one second, Ms. Marshall has something for you, Nit.”

  And the medal that I had been dreaming about since first grade, beautiful and shining like I knew it would be, was placed over her head.

  I felt someone come up behind me, and I turned. It was my big sister. She didn’t look at me, but she handed me a napkin with some writing on it. I sighed. She was not going to break her promise to Mom not to talk to me this week if it killed her.

  I squinted in the dark to read it.

  Maybe one of our kids will win it someday.

  Then she butted her shoulder into mine before she walked away.

  As he’d sworn he would, Mr. Bucko called me at home two weeks after Camp Wickitawa was over. He’d promised me a full report on his date with Ms. Hawkins.

  “Did you kiss her?” I asked.

  He laughed. “Wow, Effie. That’s really personal!”

  “Well, did you? I get to know, since I’m your matchmaker.” Pretty Girl rubbed her head on my chin, purring, doing the happy march.

  “No, I didn’t kiss her,” he admitted. “I got nervous. But I will.”

  “You will?”

  “Yep, we’re going on another date next week!”

  “Super!” I said, with a happy grin.

  I looked up at my bulletin board, which had my Pollywog badge pinned to it. I was so proud of it. I’d aced my swimming test the last morning of camp. Chica cheered me the whole way through it.

  Next to my badge was a big colorful painting she had done of the two of us swimming in Lake Cachumo. We both have beautiful sparkly mermaid tails, and we’re smiling at each other. My hair is so red it looks like it’s on fire. I love it a lot. Her painting came in the mail about a week after camp, and Mom said we’ll get a nice frame for it soon so it will last forever.

  And that isn’t all that came in the mail after camp. I got a really cool letter from Cricket on her pretty stationery. I recognized the printing right away. It was the same writing that was on all my flashlight notes! It was Cricket all along sneaking me nice messages. Her letter said that when she was a fourth-grade camper, she got super homesick and wanted to go home. But then her counselor started putting secret notes in her flashlight, which made her feel so much better. She’d sworn that if she ever went back to camp, she would carry on the tradition. She hopes I’ll do the same, because she thinks I’d be a great counselor. It’s an awful lot like being a good friend, she�
�d said. You let people be who they are, and cheer them all the way.

  I smoothed Cricket’s letter on my lap and read the best part again, even though I knew I’d be able to recite it for the rest of my life.

  Nit and Aurora are lucky to have you. And I know Chica felt the same way. You are an outstanding friend, Effie! It’s your special talent.

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  With behemoth thanks to Wendy Lamb, Caroline Meckler, and Erin Murphy for all their divine guidance. And to my fairy god-sisters Robin, Lee, Val, and Thalia for keeping me lucid and laughing.

  I am deeply in the debt of the following former hooligans campers who have served as consultants in this work, sharing lyrics, legends, ghastly concoctions, confessions, secrets, and alibis: Jamie Schlueter, Beth Bierman, Jill Gass, Kim Gardner, Diane Andrews, Nikki Diaz, Neriza Aguilar, Kate Meehan, Ellen Jackson, Charlie Perryess, Devin Chambers, Loretta Redd, Jenna McCarthy, Lee Wardlaw, Thalia Chaltas, Janice Garrett, Sherrie Petersen, Becky Levine, Ann Masters, Carol Karm, Ty Saxby, Lisa Tonello, Elaine Thompson, Linda Krop, Kellie Condon, Darcey Rosenblatt, Bonnie Ferron, Pauline Brand Nelson, Danielle Shaver, Debbie Webb-Smith, Cheri Gurse, Mary Jane Kober, and Alexis O’Neill. And special thanks to Dr. Ana Maria Irueste-Montes for the Spanish lyrics to “Buffalo Gals.”

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Mary Hershey has a number of strange pretty weird fond memories from Camp Talaki, which now rests at the bottom of a big lake not too far from her home. She swears she had nothing to do with that! The parts she loved best about camp were her afternoon snacks, reading, getting benched from swim class, and mail call, because she never gave up hope that her mom would send her a one-way bus ticket home. (Her mom did send marshmallows, and an encouraging note.)

  Mary Hershey loves writing about the stuff she endured enjoyed when she was in middle school. She is the author of two other books about Effie Maloney: My Big Sister Is So Bossy She Says You Can’t Read This Book and 10 Lucky Things That Have Happened to Me Since I Nearly Got Hit By Lightning. She lives in Santa Barbara, California, and still loves a good afternoon snack. To learn more about Mary Hershey, visit her on the Web at www.maryhershey.com.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2010 by Mary Hershey

  All rights reserved. Published in the United States by Wendy Lamb Books, an imprint of Random House Children’s Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

  Wendy Lamb Books and the colophon are trademarks of Random House, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Hershey, Mary.

  Love and pollywogs from Camp Calamity / Mary Hershey. — 1st ed.

  p. cm.

  Summary: Fourth-grader Effie is excited about going to Camp Wickitawa with the rest of her class over spring vacation until she discovers that her bossy older sister is going to be a camp cook, and even worse, she unexpectedly becomes hopelessly homesick when she arrives.

  eISBN: 978-0-375-89486-2

  [1. Camps—Fiction. 2. Homesickness—Fiction.] I. Title.

  PZ7.H432428Lo 2010

  [Fic]—dc22

  2009025497

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  and celebrates the right to read.

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