33 - The Horror at Camp Jellyjam (4 page)

“Good luck,” I mumbled, rubbing my wet hair with the towel.

“Were you in a swim race? Did you win?” Elliot asked, tugging my hand again.

“No. I came in second,” I told him.

He snickered. “You’re a loser. Come watch me beat this kid.”

I rolled my eyes. “Okay, okay.”

Elliot pulled me to a row of outdoor Ping-Pong tables. They were shielded
from the sun by a broad, white canvas awning.

He hurried up to the table on the end. Jeff was waiting for him there, softly
bouncing a Ping-Pong ball in the air with his paddle.

I had pictured a little shrimpy guy that Elliot could beat easily. But Jeff
was a
big,
red-faced, blond kid with bulging muscles. He had to be twice
the size of my brother!

I took a seat on a white wooden bench across from the tables. Elliot can’t
beat this big guy, I thought. My poor brother is in for a major defeat.

As they started to play, Buddy came walking over and sat down beside me. He
flashed me a smile. “No word from your parents yet,” he said. “But we’ll find
them.”

We watched the Ping-Pong match. Jeff did his serve with the special spin.
Elliot slammed it back at him.

To my surprise, the match was really even. I think Jeff was surprised, too.
His returns became more and more wild. And a lot of his special serves missed
the table entirely!

They had already played two games, Buddy told me. Jeff had won the first,
Elliot the second. This was the third and deciding match.

The game was a tie at sixteen, then a tie at seventeen and eighteen.

I watched Elliot become more and more intense. He wanted desperately to win.
He leaned stiffly over the table, gripping the paddle so tightly, his hand was
white.

Sweat poured off his forehead. He began ducking and dodging, groaning with
each hit, trying to slam every ball.

The more frantic and wild Elliot became, the calmer Jeff appeared.

The game was a tie at nineteen.

Elliot missed a shot and angrily slammed his paddle against the table.

I could see that he was losing it. I’d seen this happen to my brother many times before. He could never win if he stayed this
intense.

As he held the ball and prepared to serve, I raised two fingers to the sides
of my mouth and blew hard. He lowered the paddle when he heard my loud whistle.

That was my signal. I’d used it many times before. It meant, “Cool it,
Elliot. Calm down.”

Elliot turned and gave me a quick thumbs-up.

I saw him take a deep breath. Then another.

My whistle signal always helped him.

He raised the ball and served it to Jeff. Jeff sent back a weak return.
Elliot smacked it back into the right corner. Jeff swung off balance and missed.

Jeff served the next one. Elliot backhanded it. Very soft. The ball tipped
over the net and dribbled several times on Jeff’s side.

Elliot had won!

He let out a gleeful cheer and raised his fists in victory.

Jeff angrily heaved his paddle to the ground and stomped away.

“Your brother is good,” Buddy said, climbing to his feet. “I like his style.
He’s intense.”

“For sure,” I muttered.

Buddy hurried over to award Elliot his King Coin. “Hey, guy—you only need
five more,” Buddy said, slapping Elliot a high five, then a low five.

“No problem,” Elliot bragged. He held the coin up so I could see it. King
Jellyjam smiled out at me, engraved on the coin.

Why did the camp pick this silly little blob for a mascot? I wondered again.
He looked like a fat hunk of pudding wearing a crown.

“I’ve got to get changed,” I told Elliot.

He slid the gold coin into the pocket of his shorts. “I’m going to find
another sport!” he declared. “I want to win another King Coin before tonight!”

I waved good-bye, then started toward the dorm.

I had walked only a few steps when I heard a low rumbling.

Then the ground started to shake.

I froze. Every muscle in my body locked as the rumbling grew louder.

“Earthquake!” I cried.

The ground shook hard. The awning over the Ping-Pong tables shook. The tables
bounced on the ground.

My knees buckled. I struggled to stay on my feet.

“Earthquake!” I choked out again.

“It’s okay!” Buddy called, running toward me.

He was right. The rumbling sound faded quickly. The ground stopped shaking.

“That happens sometimes,” Buddy explained. “It’s no problem.”

My heart still thudded in my chest. My legs wobbled as if they were rubber
bands. “No problem?”

“See?” Buddy motioned around the crowded camp. “No one pays any attention. It
lasts only a few seconds.”

I gazed around quickly. Buddy was right again. The kids in the chess
tournament in front of the lodge didn’t glance up from their chessboards. The kickball game on the field across from the pool continued without a pause.

“It usually happens once or twice a day,” Buddy told me.

“But what causes it?” I demanded.

He shrugged. “Beats me.”

“But—everything shook so hard! Isn’t it dangerous?” I asked.

Buddy didn’t hear me. He was already jogging over to watch the kickball game.

I turned and started walking to the dorm. I felt kind of shaky. I could still
hear that strange rumbling sound in my ears.

As I pulled open the door to the dorm, I bumped into Jan and Ivy. They both
had changed into white tennis outfits, and they both carried tennis rackets over
their shoulders.

“What sports have you been playing?”

“Did you win a King Coin?”

“Wasn’t that a great swim race?”

“Are you having fun, Wendy?”

“Do you play tennis?”

They both talked at once and shot out half a dozen questions. They seemed
really excited. They didn’t give me a chance to answer.

“We need more girls for the tennis tournament,” Ivy said. “We’re having a
two-day tournament. Come to the courts after lunch, okay?”

“Okay,” I agreed. “I’m not that good, but—”

“See you later!” Jan cried. They both hurried away.

Actually, I am a pretty good tennis player. I have a decent serve. And I do
all right with my two-handed backhand.

But I’m not great.

Back home, my friend Allison and I always play for fun. We don’t try to kill
each other. Sometimes we just keep volleying back and forth. We don’t even keep
score.

I’ll enter the tennis tournament, I decided. And if I lose in the first
round, it’s no big deal.

Besides, I told myself, Mom and Dad will be here any minute. And Elliot and I
will have to leave.

Mom and Dad… their faces flashed into my mind.

They must be frantic, I realized. They must be worried sick. I hoped they
were okay.

I suddenly had an idea.

I’ll call home, I decided. I should have thought of this before. I’ll call
home and leave a message on our answering machine. I’ll tell Mom and Dad on the
machine where Elliot and I are.

No matter where he goes, Dad checks for phone messages every hour. Mom always
makes fun of him for being so nervous about missing a call.

But they’ll both be glad to get this message! I told myself.

What a good idea! I congratulated myself.

Now all I needed was a phone.

There
have
to be phones in the dorm, I decided. I searched the small
front lobby. But I didn’t see any pay phones.

No one at the front desk. No one I could ask.

I peered down a long hallway. Rooms on both sides. No phones.

I tried the other hallway. No pay phones there, either.

Eager to make my call, I turned and hurried back outside. I let out a long
sigh of relief when I spotted two pay phones beside the long white dorm
building.

My heart pounding, I jogged over to them.

I picked up the phone closest to me. And I started to raise the receiver to
my ear—

—when two strong hands grabbed me from behind.

“Get off the phone!” a voice demanded.

“Huh?” I shrieked in surprise and dropped the phone. It spun crazily on its
cord.

I turned around. “Dierdre! You scared me to death!” I cried.

Her green eyes flashed excitedly. “Sorry, Wendy. I just had to tell you my
news! Look!”

She held out her hand. I saw a stack of gold King Coins.

“I just won my sixth coin!” Dierdre declared breathlessly. “Isn’t that
awesome?”

“I—I guess,” I replied uncertainly. I still couldn’t figure out why it was
such a big deal.

“I’ll be in the Winners Walk tonight!” Dierdre exclaimed. “I can’t believe I
made it!”

“That’s great,” I told her. “Congratulations.”

“Have you won any King Coins yet?” Dierdre asked, still holding out her hand.

“Uh… not yet,” I replied.

“Well, get going!” Dierdre urged. “Show them what you’ve got, Wendy. Only The
Best!” She flashed me a thumbs-up with her free hand.

“Right. Only The Best,” I repeated.

“We’ll have a party,” Dierdre continued. “In our room. Right after the
Winners Walk. Okay? We’ll celebrate.”

“Great!” I replied. “Maybe we can get a pizza from the mess hall or
something.”

“Tell Jan and Ivy,” Dierdre instructed. “Or I’ll tell them. Whoever sees them
first! See you later!”

She ran off, holding the six gold coins tightly in her fist.

I realized I was smiling. Dierdre had been so excited, she’d gotten
me
excited. So excited, I forgot about my phone call.

I have to give this camp a chance, I decided. I have to get into the spirit
of things and start having some fun. Only The Best! I’m going to
win
that
tennis tournament!

We all ate dinner at long wooden tables in the huge mess hall inside the main
camp lodge. The long, high-ceilinged room seemed to stretch on forever.

Loud voices and laughter echoed off the walls over the clatter of plates and
silverware. Everyone had a story to tell. Everyone wanted to talk about the
games of the day.

After dinner, the counselors led us all to the running track. I searched for
Elliot. But I couldn’t find him in the crowd.

It was a warm, clear night. A pale sliver of a moon floated low over the
darkening trees. As the sun set, the sky faded from pink to purple to gray.

When darkness fell, I saw two flickering yellow lights at the far end of the
track, moving toward me. As they came near, I could see that they were torches,
carried by two counselors.

A blaring trumpet fanfare made us all grow quiet.

I stepped closer to Jan, who stood at my side. “They sure make a big deal of
this,” I whispered.

“It
is
a big deal,” Jan replied, her eyes straight ahead as the
torches approached.

“Do we have any food for the party later?” I whispered.

Jan raised a finger to her lips. “Ssshhhh.”

Several more torches had been lit. The yellow balls of light glowed like
tiny suns.

I heard a drumroll. Then a loud march blared from the loudspeaker, all
trumpets and pounding drums.

We stood in silence as the parade of torches passed by. And, then, in the
flickering yellow light, I saw faces. The smiling faces of the kids who had won
their sixth King Coin that day.

I counted eight kids. Five boys and three girls.

Their gold coins had been strung as necklaces around their necks. The coins
caught the light of the torches and made the faces of the winners appear to glow
as they marched by.

Dierdre marched second in line. She seemed so happy and excited! Her coins
jangled at her throat. Her smile never faded.

Jan and I waved and called to her, but she marched right past.

A counselor’s voice suddenly boomed over the loudspeaker: “Let’s hear it for
our winners who are taking the Winners Walk tonight!”

A deafening cheer rose up from the kids watching the parade. We all clapped
and shouted and whistled until the winners had marched past and the final
torches had floated out of sight.

“Only The Best!” the voice shouted over the loudspeaker.

“Only The Best!” we all chanted back. “Only The Best!”

That ended the Winners Walk parade. The lights came on. We all scrambled
toward the dorms. The boys ran in one direction, the girls in the other.

“The torches were really cool,” I said to Jan as we followed the crowd of
girls down the path to the dorm.

“I only need two more King Coins,” Jan replied.

“Maybe I can win them tomorrow. Are you playing in the softball tournament?”

“No. Tennis,” I told her.

“There are too many good tennis players,” Jan replied. “It’ll be too hard to
win a coin. You should play softball, too.”

“Well… maybe,” I replied.

Ivy was already waiting for us in the room. “Where’s Dierdre?” she demanded
as Jan and I entered.

“We didn’t see her,” Jan replied.

“Probably hanging out with the other winners,” I added.

“I found two bags of tortilla chips, but I couldn’t find any salsa,” Ivy
reported, holding up the bags.

“Do we have anything to drink?” I asked.

Ivy held up two cans of diet Coke.

“Wow! Great party!” Jan exclaimed, laughing.

“Maybe we should invite some girls in from other rooms,” I suggested.

“No way! Then we’d have to share the Cokes!” Jan protested.

We all laughed.

The three of us joked and kidded around for about half an hour, waiting for
Dierdre. We sat down on the floor and opened one of the bags of tortilla chips.

Without realizing it, we finished off the whole bag. Then we passed around
one of the cans of soda.

“Where
is
she?” Jan demanded, glancing at her watch.

“It’s nearly time for lights-out,” Ivy sighed. “We won’t have much time for a
party.”

“Maybe Dierdre forgot we were having a party,” I suggested, crinkling up the
tortilla chip bag and tossing it toward the trash basket.