better about having a crook for a dad.
“Cricket!” Naomi called. “Are you and Phil still taking us over to Totem Village after Mess?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look up. We were all supposed to get to go right after arts and crafts that afternoon, but they’d closed Totem Village for a while after one of the boys threw up his lunch in there. We heard he’d hurled three times in three different places. Ms. Marshall promised they would try their best to open again after dinner for the girls.
Sister had taken care of the sick kid, but she wouldn’t say who it was. Guess she didn’t realize that the first second we hit Mess we’d find out anyway. One of the boys would be sure to spill the beans. Throwing up was big news. She did say it wasn’t anything contagious, and he would be absolutely fine.
I wondered if it was Donal who got sick! I hadn’t seen him at lunch. I bet Nit was wondering the same thing. I noticed she was chewing her hangnail when Sister talked to us about it.
“I’ll check with Ms. Marshall at dinner, but I’m sure she’ll keep her promise to you about opening up,” Cricket said. “Please try not to spend
all
your money on candy, will you?”
“Heck no!” Kimber said. “I’m getting a camp T-shirt and some different kind of sunscreen, if they have it. The kind my mom packed smells like medicine. It’s horrible. I told her to get me coconut!”
“I’ve got some you can borrow if they don’t have any,” Georgia hollered. Georgia has a big voice. We don’t have fourth-grade cheerleaders at St. Dominic’s, but if we did, she’d be the loudest and most enthusiastic. Her mom is a hotshot lawyer in Houston, and I think Georgia inherited her loud voice from her.
I had to get back in the game, like Mom had said, no matter how crummy I felt! I popped up from my bunk like my fake nap had given me lots of pep. I stretched my arms overhead and yawned. “I hope we have something good for dinner. I’m famished!”
“Me too,” Aurora said, her teeth black from licorice. “Want some, Ef?”
I shook my head. “No thanks, I’ll wait for chow.”
Nit looked like she was about to drill me with some questions about my call to Mom, so I grabbed my toothbrush kit and headed for the biffy. “I’m going to brush my teeth!” Which would be the first time in—I dunno,
ever—
that I had brushed my teeth in the middle of the day, even though I know you’re supposed to.
Our sink for washing up was outside the biffy, and it was nearly as long as a canoe. It looked like some kind of wooden trough for feeding animals, but it had spigots in it instead of mush or hay. Naomi was already there brushing her teeth, and she gave me a wave with her pinky. Maybe I could just carry my toothbrush around with me, and whenever someone asked me something I didn’t want to talk about, I could start brushing!
After I brushed my teeth till they squeaked and my tongue till it got ticklish, I flossed for a while. I think I was impressing the heck out of Naomi. She was washing her face and putting on lotion. Gee, maybe if I didn’t get Outstanding Camper, I could get Outstanding Dental Hygiene of the Week. But that would not get my picture in the hallway of St. Dominic’s. It would not get my picture in the
Tyler Wash Tribune
, and it definitely would not give me the normal kid life that I wanted so bad. The kind where you didn’t get nervous every time you saw two kids whispering, or the kind that didn’t make you or your big sister the first suspects anytime anything at school got lost or stolen.
I sighed and wrapped a second wad of floss around my fingers. I went to the bottom and started sawing between my lower teeth.
The whole time I’d been thinking about what camp would be like, I always thought that for once, I’d finally be like everyone else. If even just for the week! Instead of living in the crook’s house, I’d be living in a cabin just likeeveryone else. All the stuff in
“Cricket!” Naomi called. “Are you and Phil still taking us over to Totem Village after Mess?”
Everyone stopped what they were doing to look up. We were all supposed to get to go right after arts and crafts that afternoon, but they’d closed Totem Village for a while after one of the boys threw up his lunch in there. We heard he’d hurled three times in three different places. Ms. Marshall promised they would try their best to open again after dinner for the girls.
Sister had taken care of the sick kid, but she wouldn’t say who it was. Guess she didn’t realize that the first second we hit Mess we’d find out anyway. One of the boys would be sure to spill the beans. Throwing up was big news. She did say it wasn’t anything contagious, and he would be absolutely fine.
I wondered if it was Donal who got sick! I hadn’t seen him at lunch. I bet Nit was wondering the same thing. I noticed she was chewing her hangnail when Sister talked to us about it.
“I’ll check with Ms. Marshall at dinner, but I’m sure she’ll keep her promise to you about opening up,” Cricket said. “Please try not to spend
all
your money on candy, will you?”
“Heck no!” Kimber said. “I’m getting a camp T-shirt and some different kind of sunscreen, if they have it. The kind my mom packed smells like medicine. It’s horrible. I told her to get me coconut!”
“I’ve got some you can borrow if they don’t have any,” Georgia hollered. Georgia has a big voice. We don’t have fourth-grade cheerleaders at St. Dominic’s, but if we did, she’d be the loudest and most enthusiastic. Her mom is a hotshot lawyer in Houston, and I think Georgia inherited her loud voice from her.
I had to get back in the game, like Mom had said, no matter how crummy I felt! I popped up from my bunk like my fake nap had given me lots of pep. I stretched my arms overhead and yawned. “I hope we have something good for dinner. I’m famished!”
“Me too,” Aurora said, her teeth black from licorice. “Want some, Ef?”
I shook my head. “No thanks, I’ll wait for chow.”
Nit looked like she was about to drill me with some questions about my call to Mom, so I grabbed my toothbrush kit and headed for the biffy. “I’m going to brush my teeth!” Which would be the first time in—I dunno,
ever—
that I had brushed my teeth in the middle of the day, even though I know you’re supposed to.
Our sink for washing up was outside the biffy, and it was nearly as long as a canoe. It looked like some kind of wooden trough for feeding animals, but it had spigots in it instead of mush or hay. Naomi was already there brushing her teeth, and she gave me a wave with her pinky. Maybe I could just carry my toothbrush around with me, and whenever someone asked me something I didn’t want to talk about, I could start brushing!
After I brushed my teeth till they squeaked and my tongue till it got ticklish, I flossed for a while. I think I was impressing the heck out of Naomi. She was washing her face and putting on lotion. Gee, maybe if I didn’t get Outstanding Camper, I could get Outstanding Dental Hygiene of the Week. But that would not get my picture in the hallway of St. Dominic’s. It would not get my picture in the
Tyler Wash Tribune
, and it definitely would not give me the normal kid life that I wanted so bad. The kind where you didn’t get nervous every time you saw two kids whispering, or the kind that didn’t make you or your big sister the first suspects anytime anything at school got lost or stolen.
I sighed and wrapped a second wad of floss around my fingers. I went to the bottom and started sawing between my lower teeth.
The whole time I’d been thinking about what camp would be like, I always thought that for once, I’d finally be like everyone else. If even just for the week! Instead of living in the crook’s house, I’d be living in a cabin just likeeveryone else. All the stuff in
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