“That’s a good question,” Jim said. “And I think you already know the answer.”
Kenny turned and quickly left the kitchen.
“We have to stop him,” Eric said.
“No, we don’t,” Jim said. “Barry will.”
Jim pressed a few buttons on his cell phone. Then he spoke into it.
“Barry, this is Jim. Please close the gate. Kenny is going to try to leave camp, and you have to stop him.”
Then Jim called Sadie Rosen and told her about the stolen sports equipment. He also told her how Cam, Eric, Terri, and Kitty helped him catch the thief.
“Sadie Rosen told me to thank you,” Jim said once he had finished talking with her. “She said she’ll take care of everything. She has an extra lock for my sports shed. She will bring it here. Then I can put everything back.”
“We’ll help,” Cam said.
“No, thank you,” Jim said. “Go back to your bunks. There’s a movie tonight. I don’t want you to miss it.”
Cam, Eric, and Terri walked toward the door to the dining room.
“Kitty,” Cam said. “Here, Kitty.”
Kitty ran to Cam. She followed her and Terri back to their bunk.
CHAPTER SIX
The next night, Cam wore her nicest shirt and pants to the banquet. At the table, on each plate, was a menu with lots of choices. Fran stood by Cam’s seat. She was wearing a white shirt and holding a pad and pencil. She was G8’s waitress for the banquet.
“And what would you like for dinner?” Fran asked.
“I’ll have a hamburger on a toasted bun,” Cam said, “with lots of onions and tomatoes.”
“Thank you.”
Fran wrote what Cam wanted for dinner on her pad.
“This is fun,” Terri said.
Terri ordered chicken and rice.
When Fran had taken orders from all the girls in her group, she stood by her own chair.
“And what would you like?” Fran asked her empty chair.
Fran quickly sat down, looked up, and answered, “Steak, rice, and salad.”
Fran jumped up. She wrote her own order on her pad and went to the kitchen.
The girls giggled.
“She’s funny,” Betsy said.
After dinner, Sadie Rosen stood in the center of the dining room. Jim and Ruth, the arts and crafts counselor, brought in some boxes and put them on the tables beside Sadie Rosen.
Ms. Rosen spoke into a microphone.
“This is the last night of camp,” she said. “We’re all sorry your three-week visit here must end. But when you get home, I want you to think about Camp Eagle Lake. I hope you’ll remember the good time you had here.”
Sadie Rosen held up a pack a photographs.
“To help you remember,” she said, “each of you will get a photograph of your group.”
“Those are the pictures of us that were taken the first day of camp,” Terri whispered.
“What about the awards?” Jacob shouted.
“Yes!” Matthew called out. “Let’s get the awards.”
Sadie Rosen smiled.
Jim and Ruth distributed the boxes. The awards for G8 and B8 were boxed together. G8’s table was next to B8’s.
Fran stood between the two tables. She opened the box and took out the first award, a jar of chocolate syrup and a certificate.
“This is for Betsy,” she announced. “It’s the Sundae on Monday Award. Betsy loves ice cream. With this chocolate syrup she can have ice-cream sundaes every day of the week, even on Mondays.”
Jacob reached in and took out a book and another certificate.
“This is the Camp Eagle Lake Comedy Award and this is The Camp Eagle Lake Joke Book.”
Jacob gave Danny the certificate. Fran gave him the book.
“Please promise us,” Fran said, “that until you go home, you will only tell jokes found in this book.”
“Sure. I promise.”
Then Danny opened the book.
“Hey,” Danny said. “This book is empty. All the pages are blank.”
Jacob and Fran laughed.
“Yes, that’s our joke,” Jacob said.
Terri was given the Number Whiz Award. It was a wood frame with columns of beads all across it.
“It’s an abacus,” Fran said.
“I know,” Terri told her. “Before there were calculators, lots of people used these to do math.”
Sadie Rosen came to G8’s table carrying a large envelope. “I wanted to present this award,” she said. “It’s Camp Eagle Lake’s first Best Detective Award and it’s for Cam Jansen.”
She gave Cam a certificate and a notepad with a black leather cover. “This is a real police officer’s pad,” she said. “When you’re solving a mystery, you can write the clues in it.”
“And this,” Sadie Rosen said, “is for Eric.” She took a silver deputy badge from the envelope and gave it to Eric. “It’s Camp Eagle Lake’s Best Deputy Award.”
Eric pinned the badge to his shirt.
“Thank you,” Cam said, and smiled. “And thank you for three wonderful weeks.”
“Yes, thank you,” Eric said.
The next morning, Cam wrote all her friends’ e-mail addresses and telephone numbers in her police officer’s pad. She promised to write or call them often.
“I hope we’ll come back next summer,” Eric said to Cam before they got into Mr. Jansen’s car.
“I hope so, too,” Cam said.
Cam’s father and Eric’s father helped their children load their suitcases and other things into the trunk of Mr. Jansen’s car.
Cam stood by the car. She took one last look at Camp Eagle Lake. She took a deep breath, then she blinked her eyes and said “Click!”
Cam pointed to her head and smiled. “Now I’ll have a picture of camp right here forever.”
A Cam Jansen Memory Game
Take another look at the picture opposite the main title page. Study it. Blink your eyes and say, “Click!” Then turn back to this page and answer these questions. Please, first study the picture, then look at the questions.
Is anyone in the picture wearing long pants?
Is there a tennis racket in the picture? A baseball glove?
In the Camp Eagle Lake sign, is the eagle facing to the right or to the left?
Is anyone in the picture wearing a hat?
How many people are in the picture?
Which letter in the Camp Eagle Lake sign is hidden?
Cam Jansen and the Summer Camp Mysteries Page 5
