Sports Camp

by Rich Wallace

A counselor dropped the ball in front of Barry, and he passed it to Riley. As usual, two Cabin 4 players scooted toward him. Riley swam sideways and flicked the ball ahead to Vinnie, who was also quickly surrounded.

  Riley did a head count: Cabin 4 had only seven players out there, just as Cabin 3 did, but somehow there seemed to be more of them. Or, with the game about to end, maybe they were just more frantic.

  “Control the ball!” Barry yelled. “Kill some time.”

  Head up, Riley swam toward the center, protecting the area in front of the goal and providing a safety valve for a backward pass. Vinnie was underwater, held down by Kelvin Dawkins. The ball shot straight up and Vinnie emerged. Four players slapped at the ball, and it landed three yards in front of Riley.

  With a couple of fast strokes he was on it, but he had no time to react before Kelvin pushed him under. Riley hugged the ball to his chest, but there was no way out of this without releasing it. Where would it go? Back toward Barry?

  Riley drew his legs in and kicked hard, pushing the ball forward as he broke free. He backstroked underwater and broke through the surface, searching for the ball. Hernando had it, but Kelvin had two hands on his shoulders and a second opponent was coming up from behind.

  As Hernando went under, Kelvin grabbed the ball and tossed it to a teammate who was rapidly approaching the Cabin 3 goal. Eldon swam up to meet him, but a return pass found Kelvin wide open. Barry had no chance to stop the shot. The game was tied.

  “That was a double dunk!” Hernando called, punching at the water.

  “It was!” yelled Barry. “How’d you miss that, ref?”

  “Looked fair to me,” said the counselor who was officiating.

  “You’re blind,” said Barry.

  “And you’re out of the game!” the counselor said. “Unsportsmanlike conduct.”

  Shawn clapped and said, “Let’s go, Barry. Out of the water.”

  Barry shook his head and climbed onto the dock. “That was clearly a double dunk,” he said. “Hernando had two guys putting him under.”

  The counselor blew his whistle hard. “Time’s up,” he said.

  Riley looked straight up at the clouds, treading water. It sure was frustrating to be tied just as the game ended.

  “Clear the water, except for the Cabin Three goalie and one Cabin Four player,” the official said. “That violation brings about a penalty shot.”

  “The double dunk?” Barry asked.

  “No. Your whining.”

  Riley and his teammates stared at the counselor in disbelief. Shawn put Vinnie in goal. Kelvin stayed in the water to take the penalty shot for Cabin 4.

  “This is unbelievable,” Barry said, standing with his hands on his hips and shaking his head.

  Riley stood there dripping. Kelvin took the ball five yards in front of Vinnie, feinted left, then right, and fired the ball toward the upper corner of the goal.

  Vinnie strained and stretched. The ball glanced off his arm and into the goal.

  Cabin 3 had lost.

  Kelvin’s teammates dove into the water and mobbed him as Vinnie climbed dejectedly onto the dock.

  “We got robbed,” Barry said.

  “Just shut up!” his brother, Patrick, said. “Don’t get yourself suspended from the next game, too.”

  Vinnie came over now. He punched his thigh with his fist. “We had those guys beat!”

  “They cheat, then they get rewarded with a penalty shot,” Barry said. “Hernando should’ve been taking that shot. He was the one that got fouled.”

  With that, Barry walked quickly away from the water and headed for the cabin, with Vinnie and Patrick and Hernando trailing behind.

  Riley looked at Tony, who just shrugged.

  “Still want to swim some laps?” Tony asked.

  “I’m wiped out,” Riley said.

  “That’s the best time to train. That’s how you get stronger. When you’re already spent.”

  “Well, I’m definitely there,” Riley said.

  “You know what they say. When the going gets tough?”

  “Yell at the officials?”

  Tony laughed. “Right. The tough get going.”

  Riley took a deep breath and let it out. “Give me two minutes to rest,” he said.

  “Okay. Six times to the ropes and back ought to do it, right?”

  “I guess.”

  “Fast as we can go,” Tony said. “That race is one week away. I plan to be ready for it. You too?”

  Riley closed his eyes and nodded. “Let’s make it eight laps,” he said. “I think we need all the training we can get.”

  CAMP OLYMPIA BULLETIN

  Saturday, August 7

  SURPRISE WINNER IN FREE-THROW CONTEST

  Rios Edges Robertson in Final-Round Shoot-out

  Johnny Rios of Cabin 5 emerged as the surprise winner of the free-throw contest yesterday morning, hitting 9 out of 10 shots in the final round to edge sharp-shooting Lionel Robertson (Cabin 6), who made 8. Robertson had made 16 of 20 shots in the preliminary rounds.

  Vinnie Kazmerski (Cabin 3) and Danny Avila (5) tied for third, with Kelvin Dawkins (4) in fifth.

  Water-Polo Action Heats Up

  Close contests were the norm Friday afternoon at the Aquatics Center, with Cabins 1, 4, and 5 scoring one-goal victories. The scores: Wonders 3, Tubers 2; Fortunes 4, Threshers 3; Fighters 2, Sixers 1.

  In softball, it was Sixers 9, Fortunes 4; Threshers 7, Wonders 3; and Fighters 8, Tubers 4.

  Standings

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Perfect Aim

  “Tonight,” Barry said, sitting on his bunk and looking seriously from camper to camper, “Cabin Four gets what’s coming to them. Eleven hundred and fifty hours.”

  “That’s lunchtime,” Tony said. “You mean twenty-three hundred and fifty.”

  “Whatever. Just before midnight. The witching hour.”

  That was just over an hour away. Riley was lying in his bunk, but he was on top of his sleeping bag and was still dressed. Like most of the others, his flashlight was on and was turned faceup to point toward the ceiling. There was no other light source in the cabins, so this was the usual routine before lights-out.

  Barry made it clear that at least four people had to stay behind.

  “If we’re all gone at once, it’ll arouse too much suspicion,” he said. “Patrick, Kirby, Colin, and Diego stay put. Make it seem like we’re all in the cabin somehow—laugh a lot and say things like, ‘Quit acting like a baby, Tony!’ or, ‘Hernando, your socks stink!’”

  “They do not,” Hernando said. “My mom packed enough so I’d have fresh ones every day.”

  “That’s beside the point,” Barry said. “I want people to think you’re in the cabin.”

  “What about you?”

  “Me too. They can say, ‘Barry, you are a very cool guy.’”

  “Or they can say, ‘Barry, you sure have a fat butt.’”

  “Whatever. Now everybody else follow me. Quietly.”

  Riley figured he’d been chosen because he was fast, not because he was suddenly popular with these guys. He couldn’t see the plan working anyway.

  Barry had explained that they’d hide in the woods near Cabin 4—“With absolute silence,” he demanded—until the campers had settled in for the night. Then they’d begin to toss pinecones or pebbles onto the roof of the cabin. Just a few, just to set a mood that not everything was peaceful outside.

  “Wow,” said Tony. “Pebbles on the roof. What could be scarier than that?”

  “Listen, wise guy!” Barry said. “That’s just the start. We do that a couple of times, then we stay quiet for ten or fifteen minutes. Then we do it again.”

  “Ooh. They’ll be thinking, There must be a ghost on the roof now.”

  “It’s just to set the atmosphere,” Barry said. “Make them slightly uneasy. So when the real fun starts, they’re already sort of agitated.”

  “And what’s the ‘real fun’?” Hernando asked. “Bigger
pebbles?”

  Barry smiled and folded his arms. “Eggs.”

  “Eggs?” asked Hernando. “What’s scary about eggs?”

  Barry reached under his bunk and pulled out an egg carton. He opened it to show that it held seven eggs. “I found these in the Dumpster behind the mess hall,” he said. “They must be rotten or they wouldn’t be throwing them out.”

  “They must be totally rotten,” Eldon said, “or they’d be serving them for breakfast tomorrow.”

  “Exactly,” Barry said. “These are a couple of weeks past their expiration date. When the time is right, I’ll throw one at the door of their cabin. They’ll come out to see what’s going on, then all six of us will let them have it.”

  “I still don’t see what’s scary about that,” Hernando said.

  “It doesn’t have to be scary,” Barry said. “It’ll be gross and they’ll never know who did it.”

  “How won’t they know?”

  “It’ll be dark. And we’ll be hiding. And we’ll be very quiet, got it?”

  Riley looked from face to face. Hernando and Vinnie were grinning as if it was the coolest thing they’d ever heard. Eldon and Tony looked as if they thought it was the stupidest.

  Barry looked smug and triumphant. “Remember,” he said. “No noise. You three—Eldon, Tony, and Night Crawler—head out like you’re going to the Larry, then circle through the woods and meet us at the far end of the clearing. There’s enough of a moon that you don’t need to use your flashlights, but bring ’em anyway. And keep your mouths shut.”

  Riley followed Tony and Eldon, walking away from the cabins. He had an uneasy feeling that he’d probably be getting beat up by the Cabin 4 guys before the night was over. How would they get back to Cabin 3 without being detected?

  “This is beyond ridiculous,” Tony said.

  “Yeah,” said Eldon, “but it would be pretty cool if we could pull it off.”

  “Barry’s got his brains in his butt sometimes,” Tony said. “But yeah, it’d be sweet if we got away with it.”

  As they reached the bathhouse, they saw Kelvin from Cabin 4 walking out. “Evening, chumps,” he said, stopping on the path.

  “Nice job in the contest today,” Tony said. Cabin 4 had won the tug-of-war event that morning.

  “Thanks. Wore me out.”

  “Us too,” Tony said, yawning widely. “Can’t wait to hit the sack. I’m falling asleep just standing here.”

  Eldon and Riley yawned, too.

  “I guess lights-out is any second now,” Tony said. “Everybody else from our cabin is already in bed.”

  Kelvin shrugged. “Yeah, well, whatever. See you boys tomorrow.”

  They waited until Kelvin was halfway to the cabins. “Good one,” Tony said, grinning widely.

  Oh yeah, thought Riley, they’ll never suspect us now.

  The “lights-out” call came and the three of them ducked into the woods.

  Riley swallowed hard. Kelvin seemed like a decent guy, but he was big and strong and could definitely take anybody in Cabin 3. And there’d been enough friction between the two cabins already that they’d be the most likely suspects by about a thousand to one.

  Still, this was exciting. They were supposed to be tucked in their bunks, being good Olympians. Instead they were stalking through the dark forest looking for revenge. Riley’d been “behind the scenes” a lot lately: the counselors’ cabin before the swim race, the mess hall kitchen after. Now this.

  It took at least ten minutes to silently creep across the few hundred yards to the edge of the clearing. They heard Barry making hooting noises as planned, pretending to be an owl. Tony hooted back, and soon all six of them were kneeling and trying not to laugh. Riley’s eyes were fully adjusted to the dark; he could see pretty well.

  “I’ll keep the eggs in the carton for now,” Barry whispered. “Get some little pebbles. And pinecones. When I start moving, you follow me and keep your mouths shut. If you have to sneeze, just suck it up and don’t. We’ll be going slow. This is the last verbal communication you’ll get until it’s over, so listen up.”

  Riley sat on the ground and kept his eyes on Barry. They were all dressed in their darkest clothes—Riley had black shorts and a blue sweatshirt that said SEASIDE HEIGHTS. His mom had bought it for him on the boardwalk back in June, when they’d rented a house near the beach for a week.

  “I’ll throw the stones and things,” Barry said. “Just hand them to me one at a time. When I give the signal—I’ll put up one finger—then you’ll each be given an egg. Spread out so you have perfect aim at the door. I’ll do the first throw, then we wait for them to come out. When I whistle”—he let out a swift double tweeting to demonstrate—“we clobber them with eggs. Then retreat quickly and quietly.”

  “To where?” Vinnie asked.

  “Deep into the woods. Back to our cabin, eventually. Whatever you do”—Barry pointed at Eldon, then at Riley—“don’t get caught. Under no circumstances can this mission fail. Any wimp that screws this up will be plenty sorry.”

  Riley gulped again. Beyond ridiculous, he thought. But maybe it would work.

  They moved to a spot in the woods about thirty-five yards from Cabin 4, which was across the clearing from their own. All six cabins were dark now. Barry opened the egg carton and set it at his feet. He tossed a pebble toward the roof of the cabin and it landed with a ping.

  There was no reaction, so Barry tossed another one, then a third. A flashlight flicked on in the cabin, then went off. Riley felt a small shudder of triumph. Barry nodded approvingly.

  After about three minutes, Barry tossed another pebble, then two more quickly. Kelvin stepped through the doorway and shined his flashlight at the roof, then into the trees above the cabin. He shrugged and went inside.

  Riley caught Eldon’s eye and they both started laughing silently. Barry whacked Riley across the shoulders—not very hard—then started laughing, too. “Five minutes,” he mouthed.

  An unfamiliar sound—like a huff or a cough—made them all turn, looking into the deeper woods. “No flashlights,” Barry said, barely at a whisper but with great sternness.

  They all turned back toward the cabin. Riley looked over his shoulder. He could hear footsteps in the forest. Just a few quiet steps, well spaced, as if someone or something was trying to sneak up.

  Riley nudged Eldon and gestured with his head. “Something’s out there,” he whispered as softly as he could.

  Eldon turned, squinting as if that would help him to hear. There was another huff, barely audible. Eldon looked at Riley and nodded.

  Barry stood and tossed three more pebbles in quick succession, each one pinging on the roof. He opened the carton of eggs, but all of the boys had turned toward the woods.

  Something large was running straight at them; they could hear it crashing through the underbrush. Riley bumped into Hernando as they all tried to scatter, stumbling in the darkness. He felt a quick, sharp pain as his knee hit the ground, but he bounced up and sprinted.

  Barry fell flat, crushing the eggs against his chest, as whatever it was galloped past.

  They made it to the edge of the clearing, with Barry calling them together with his hooting. His shirt was covered with slimy, rotten egg.

  Outside Cabin 4, Kelvin and the others were shining their flashlights and looking around. The Cabin 3 residents stayed huddled in the dark, out of flashlight range. Their only movements were their chests pumping as they tried to catch their breaths.

  “Must’ve been a deer,” Riley said after Kelvin and the others had gone in.

  “I didn’t see no deer,” Barry said, shaking his head. “If it was a deer, we’d have seen it. Whatever it was ran within about two inches of us.”

  “I think it went through us,” Vinnie said. “I swear, I felt something cold and misty.”

  “And angry!” Hernando said. “I felt it, too.”

  “We felt it, we heard it, and we didn’t even see it!” Barry said. “What does that
tell you?”

  “A ghost,” said Hernando.

  “Maynard!” said Vinnie.

  “None other,” Barry responded. “That was him.”

  CAMP OLYMPIA BULLETIN

  Sunday, August 8

  HALFWAY HOME!

  Cabin 5 Leads at Midpoint of Camp

  Balanced scoring in contests ranging from free-throw shooting to the tug-of-war have the Fighters in the lead for the Big Joe Trophy with 33 points, but it’s a close race from top to bottom. The huge points from basketball, softball, and water polo are yet to be awarded. And the decisive Lake Surprise Showdown on Friday night will test the camp’s strongest swimmers in the final event of the season.

  Today’s feature is the cross-country relay race. Who are the fastest runners in camp?

  UP-TO-THE-MINUTE TOTALS

  Cabin Five 33; Six 31; One 28; Two 26; Three 25; Four 24

  The “Larry Awards”

  Cabin 3’s resident comedian Barry Monahan has provided us with his mid-camp “Larry Awards.” Here’s the list, along with his commentary, which he asked us to publish. He did not request police protection.

  Worst meal of the week: Sausage pie with creamed broccoli. (“It looked exactly the same when I puked it up two hours later.”)

  Most disgusting rash: Colin Dugan’s. (“Hint: Don’t wipe your butt with poison ivy.”)

  Biggest crime: That last-second penalty shot against us. (“I will appeal to the highest court in the land!”)

  Worst urinal aim: A multi-camper tie. (“I wish I’d brought my fishing boots.”)

  Dumbest camp rule: No seconds on anything until you’ve eaten everything on your plate. (“Please, then—no more road-killed groundhog burgers.”)

  Most haunted cabins: 3 and 4. (“Something is out to get us!”)

  CHAPTER NINE

  Sprinting the Hill

  Riley trudged back to the cabin after the softball game, not waiting for anyone else. The whole team had been lacking spirit and energy, and it showed. They’d suffered their first softball loss of the season.