* Where serpo lives *
Carefully, I lowered my thumb and forefinger to
Roddy's ear- and pinched them around the
wriggling green thing. Gently, I tugged it out.
" Sid cried. "Oh, gross! Kelly let out a low moan.
I stared at the fuzzy caterpillar between my
fingers. "How did this get in your ear?"
Roddy was still shaking. Tears rolled down his
face. "It .. it must have crawled in while I was
..thought it was a snake" asleep.
Just a caterpillar " I said. I tossed it out the
cabin window.
"Sick," Kelly said, s scratching his ears. That
"I don't want to think about it ever again."
"Hey, Boone -what if it laid eggs in there
was way sick."
"0oh, my ear still itches," Roddy moaned.
Sid said.
What if, in a few weeks, a million caterpillars
hatch inside my head?"
"I don't think caterpillars lay eggs," I said.
A few minutes later, Nathan came to make
sure we were awake. He was surprised to find
us already getting dressed. He made us spray
ourselves with Sun-Glo before we could go to
breakfast.
We had egg sandwiches on English muffins in
the mess hall. Not too shabby.
I saw Heather at a table across the long
room. I walked over to her. "Did you sleep?"
I asked her.
"Diggety diggety," she said.
The other girls at the table laughed.
Did you hear the hissing?" I asked.
"Diggety diggety," Heather repeated.
Did you hear there's a two-mile hike this
morniıng
"Diggety diggety."
I could see I wasn't going to get anywhere
with her. She does this to me all the time. She
thinks she's a riot.
Diggety diggety to you, too," I muttered. I
went back to my table and had another egg
sandwich.
Dr. Crawler had promised us we'd hike, and
that's what we did. The counselors led the whole
camp along a dirt trail that twisted through the trees and bushes.
It was pretty awesome. I walked with Nathan
Sid, and Kelly. I made sure I kept ahead of Roddy.
I wanted to enjoy the snakes. but we didn't see a single snake.
some amazing birds right above our heads
as if daring us to see them.
We saw a lot of chipmunks, some fasta
field mice, and brown rabbits. T
on two legs and stood as still as closer.
The rabbits froze like statues, Sid kept snapping pictures with his phone . He stopped suddenly when we skunk cross the path up ahead.
for us to pass. when we saw far We all stopped. There were five skunks in a single line. The mother walked in first and four little ones followed.
"Keep downwind," Nathan whispered, waving
us back. "Keep downwind."
ss he meant, "don't let the skunks smell you
no one moved .
I froze like everyone else. and only
talked till the skunk family went away.
Then we all started talking and laughing
sight.
once. And everyone kept repeating, "
wind, keep downwind" It was the joke
By the time we got back to camp, the s
morning.
high in the sky. And beating down on us. I
hot and sweaty, almost as smelly as a shunk
Nathan gathered Sid, Kelly, Roddy, and me
utside our cabin. "Swim trunks" he said. "Get
moving, guys. Swim trunks. We need a nice
wim in the lake."
I saw the flash of fear in Roddy's eyes. But I
didn't care. A cool swim in the lake was just what
I needed.
Swim trunks!" Nathan ordered.
"And keep downwind," I added.
A few minutes later, the four of us were stand-
ing on the shore of Lake Hither. Tall grass ended
a few feet from the water, leaving a muddy
beach.
The lake was shaped like a perfect circle.
The water shimmered so brightly in the sun-
light, I could barely see the land( on the
other side.
A short dock made of wood planks stretched
out into the lake. The dock had two rowboats and
a Sunfish tethered to it. They bobbed against
each other in the gently lapping water.
Two tall stacks of black inner tubes were piled
at one side of the dock. I took a step into the
water. Warmer than I expected. The cool mud
0ozed between my toes.
I took another step- -and a hand grabbed
my shoulder, pulling me back. "Boone
check it out...
It was Roddy. He pointed to a deep rut in the
made that track," he said. "Look. He came out of
I rolled my eyes. "Roddy, Nathan wouldn't let
Roddy kept staring at the rut in the mud and
muddy shore. "Ill bet the giant snake
us swim here if there was a giant snake."
shaking his head.
Nathan stepped beside us. He hitched up his
long gray swim trunks. He pushed his stringy
hair out of his eyes and gazed at Roddy. "T'm
worried about you, dude," he said.
Roddy blinked. "Huh? Me?"
"I heard what you said," Nathan replied.
"About the giant snake and everything" He
kicked at the rut until he filled it with mud.
"T'm gonna prove to you how safe this lake is,"
Nathan told Roddy. "Tm going in first. Watch."
Nathan spun around. He took off, running past
us. His feet kicked up mud and then splashed
water as he ran.
He stretched his arms in front of him and did
a surface dive into the lake. We could see himn
swimming underwater smoothly, going deeper,
then rising back up.
He surfaced, maybe ten or twenty feet from
us. Not far from the shore. He motioned for us to
join him. "Water's fine!" he called.
Then suddenly there was a big splash. Nathan's
arms shot straight up in the air. He opened his
mouth in a terrifying, shrill cry.
"Ohhh... help! It's GOT me!"
Water flew up all around him and Nathan
shot straight down. His chest slid under. Then
His hands moved over the surface for a sec-
ond, as if trying to grab on. Then they
his head ...disappeared, pulled down under the tossing water.
The four of us stood frozen on the muddy shore,
not moving, not breathing Waiting...
But Nathan didn't come back up....
*End of Chapter*
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