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all went with him to his school, and then Derrick Dunne tried to steal his notebook …
    “Just what do you think you’re doing?” asks Squid, as he slams his hands into Derrick Dunne’s smug face
.
    “Caveman’s our friend,” says Armpit, grabbing him by the shirt collar
.
    Stanley played the scene over and over again in his mind, each time watching another boy from Group D beat up Derrick Dunne. It helped him dig his hole and ease his own suffering. Whatever pain he felt was being felt ten times worse by Derrick.

12
    Again, Stanley was the last one to finish digging. It was late afternoon when he dragged himself back to the compound. This time he would have accepted a ride on the truck if it was offered.
    When he got to the tent, he found Mr. Pendanski and the other boys sitting in a circle on the ground.
    “Welcome, Stanley,” said Mr. Pendanski.
    “Hey, Caveman. You get your hole dug?” asked Magnet.
    He managed to nod.
    “You spit in it?” asked Squid.
    He nodded again. “You’re right,” he said to X-Ray. “The second hole’s the hardest.”
    X-Ray shook his head. “The third hole’s the hardest,” he said.
    “Come join our circle,” said Mr. Pendanski.
    Stanley plopped down between Squid and Magnet. He needed to rest up before taking a shower.
    “We’ve been discussing what we want to do with our lives,” said Mr. Pendanski. “We’re not going to be at Camp Green Lake forever. We need to prepare for the day we leave here and join the rest of society.”
    “Hey, that’s great, Mom!” said Magnet. “They’re going to finally let you out of here?”
    The other boys laughed.
    “Okay, José,” said Mr. Pendanski. “What do you want to do with your life?”
    “I don’t know,” said Magnet.
    “You need to think about that,” said Mr. Pendanski. “It’s important to have goals. Otherwise you’re going to end up right back in jail. What do you like to do?”
    “I don’t know,” said Magnet.
    “You must like something,” said Mr. Pendanski.
    “I like animals,” said Magnet.
    “Good,” said Mr. Pendanski. “Does anyone know of any jobs that involve animals?”
    “Veterinarian,” said Armpit.
    “That’s right,” said Mr. Pendanski.
    “He could work in a zoo,” said Zigzag.
    “He belongs in the zoo,” said Squid, then he and X-Ray laughed.
    “How about you, Stanley? Any ideas for José?”
    Stanley sighed. “Animal trainer,” he said. “Like for the circus, or movies, or something like that.”
    “Any of those jobs sound good to you, José?” asked Mr. Pendanski.
    “Yeah, I like what Caveman said. About training animals for movies. I think it would be fun to train monkeys.”
    X-Ray laughed.
    “Don’t laugh, Rex,” said Mr. Pendanski. “We don’t laugh at people’s dreams. Someone is going to have to train monkeys for the movies.”
    “Who are you kidding, Mom?” asked X-Ray. “Magnet’s never going to be a monkey trainer.”
    “You don’t know that,” said Mr. Pendanski. “I’m not saying it’s going to be easy. Nothing in life is easy. But that’s no reason to give up. You’ll be surprised what you can accomplish if you set your mind to it. After all, you only have one life, so you should try to make the most of it.”
    Stanley tried to figure out what he’d say if Mr. Pendanski asked him what he wanted to do with his life. He used to think he wanted to work for the F.B.I., but this didn’t seem the appropriate place to mention that.
    “So far you’ve all done a pretty good job at messing up your lives,” said Mr. Pendanski. “I know you think you’re cool.” He looked at Stanley. “So you’re Caveman, now, huh? You like digging holes, Caveman?”
    Stanley didn’t know what to say.
    “Well, let me tell you something, Caveman. You are here on account of one person. If it wasn’t for that person, you wouldn’t be here digging holes in the hot sun. You know who that person is?”
    “My