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special meals planned for you this week.”
    We gave him a giant hand for that. Coco was wearing a very clean, starchy white kitchen apron and gave us a wave with the only arm he had. He sat down pretty quick, like he still wasn’t used to much attention.
    “Next, Ms. Hawkins, come on up! And bring your trusty little friend with you.” Ms. Hawkins wore big hiking boots and a cowboy hat. And from under her vest, she pulled out some kind of hawk on a leash! He was wearing a black hood. She set him on her shoulder.
    “The bird’s got a bird!” Donal cried out.
    “Oh, cool!”
    “Awesome!”
    “That is
sweet!”
    “Hi there, boys and girls! Welcome! I’m Sarah Hawkins, your guide to the outside, and this is Gypsy, a peregrine falcon. I keep her on a leash for her own safety. You’ll hear all about her and some other fascinating animals in our science and nature classes together. Can’t wait to meet you!”
    The boys were extremely squirmy now.
    “Thank you, Sarah,” Ms. Marshall said. “And I’m pleased to present our dashing prince of the waters, Mr. Carey Bucko, who will be teaching our swimming classes and supervising all of our lake activities.”
    Mr. Bucko was very tan and needed to start using more sunscreen right away. But he seemed like he was nice.
    I took my hands from Aurora and Nit and tried to dry them off on my shorts. Crossed my arms to try to warm myself up and stuffed my hands in my armpits.
    “Hello, campers!” he said. “We’re going to have a blast together this week. The lake is cold, but nothing can beat it for a good time. We’ve got rafts, tubes, and even a brand-new canoe for you!”
    The boys nearly cheered the pinecones right off the trees at that.
    Ms. Marshall laughed and started talking again. “And you’ve seen, but not really met yet, our camp handy-dandy man, Mr. Lonzo Jimenez, and his granddaughter, Chica.The two of them live here at Camp Wickitawa full-time. The man can build anything, fix everything, and play a wicked guitar. You’ll be enjoying some of his music later tonight at campfire. But first things first! Let’s talk about lunch, because I know you all are very hungry. You’ve had a long ride.”
    There were huge hoots from everyone about that, except from me.
    I didn’t think I’d be able to eat with this terrible case of altitude sickness. But maybe I’d see Maxey in the kitchen. Which, for some unexplainable reason, made me feel an eensy bit better. Which tells you just how sick I was if I was looking forward to seeing Bosszilla. The sickness was infecting my brain!
    “Well then, boys and girls,” Ms. Marshall said with a bright smile to all of us, “Camp Wickitawa is now officially in session. Mess awaits!”
    And I wondered then if she meant lunch, or was foretelling the future!

M ess was very loud. We didn’t have a dining hall or cafeteria at St. Dom’s, so I wasn’t used to all the shouting, banging of trays, and blasting of dishwashers. Aurora said it sounded just like her cafeteria at Sam Houston’s. She knew how to do everything, like picking up your tray first, then remembering to get your silverware before you got in line for “chow,” which is the camp name for all your meals. I was glad I had studied my handbook and knew some of this stuff already.
    The good news was that we were having mac ’n’ cheese for lunch, which I love hugely. I can outeat anyone on the planet when it comes to mac. The bad news was that someone in the kitchen had the horrible idea of putting peas in it, which made me near sick to look at. And therewere brussels sprouts for a side dish, which I did not like at all. I didn’t know if you had to eat some of everything or not. But I didn’t want to hurt Coco’s feelings, so I let him serve me everything. But my stomach rolled like a hard snowball every time I looked at my tray. The sight of giant chocolate chip cookies at the end of the chow line cheered me a tiny bit.
    I didn’t see Maxey anywhere in