Cam Jansen and the Summer Camp Mysteries by David A. Adler Page B

said. “You have my suitcase. I can carry this stuff.”
    Eric had his baseball glove on his left hand. His hockey stick was pointed straight up. His baseball bat was under his right arm. His tennis racket was under his left arm. Heheld his book bag in his right hand. It was dragging on the ground.
    “Let’s go,” Eric said.
    He rushed ahead and his tennis racket fell. He bent to pick it up and dropped his baseball bat. He picked up the bat and his hockey stick fell.
    Eric reached the road and stopped. He put down his bag of books.
    “I’ve got to rest,” he said.
    Honk! Honk!
    Someone in a car was just leaving the parking lot and wanted to get past. Eric picked up the book bag. He bent down to get the hockey stick and dropped his baseball glove.
    Mr. Shelton took out a digital camera. “What a great picture,” he said, and pressed the shutter. “Got it,” he said.
    Cam was standing next to Mr. Shelton. “
Click
!” she said, and blinked her eyes. “I have the picture, too.”
    Honk!
    Mr. Shelton hurried to Eric. He took thebook bag. Eric and his father stepped to the side and the car drove past. As they continued down the road, Cam saw lots of children and their parents on the baseball field. There were lots of signs, too.

    “There’s Danny,” Cam said. “He’s standing in the outfield, by the B8 sign.”
    “I’m in B8,” Eric said. “That’s my group. The ‘B’ is for boys.”
    “There’s my group, G8,” Cam said. “It’s meeting right next to B8. Let’s go. I want to meet the other girls in my bunk.”

C HAPTER T WO
    The groups of younger children, six- and seven-year-olds, were in the infield. Cam hurried past them to the people gathered around the G8 sign. A tall teenage girl with long brown hair held out her hand. HELLO. MY NAME IS FRAN, COUNSELOR G 8 was written on her name tag.
    Cam shook her hand.
    Fran looked at Cam’s tag. “Welcome to camp, Jennifer.”
    “Most people call me Cam.”
    Fran smiled. She held her hands to her heart, looked up, fluttered her eyes, and joked, “Most people call me ‘Beautiful.”’
    Fran laughed.
    She introduced Cam to the girls in her group.
    “Now we’re all here,” a girl named Terri told Cam. “There are eight girls in G8. That’s about average for this camp. This is my third summer at Eagle Lake. Three weeks here is just five hundred and four hours. I wish it was more.”
    “Save me! Save me!” Eric called out as he ran to Cam. “Danny won’t stop asking me riddles.”
    “I’ll stop. I’ll stop,” Danny shouted as he followed Eric.
    Cam introduced Eric and Danny to Terri.
    “We’re in B8,” Eric said.
    “We play your bunk in baseball,” Terri said.
    “Hey,” Danny asked Terri. “Do you know why Cinderella was no good at baseball?”
    Terri shook her head. She didn’t know.
    “She ran away from the ball,” Danny said. “That’s why.”
    Terri shook hear head again.
    “Don’t you get it?” Danny asked. “In the story, at midnight, she ran away from the prince’s ball.”
    “You said you’d stop,” Eric told Danny. “Now stop!”
    “But I didn’t tell
you
a joke. I told Terri. And she likes jokes.”
    “No,” she said. “I like math.”
    “Oh,” Danny said. “Do you like baseball, too? Can you hit?”
    “I can hit a little,” Terri said. Then she pointed to a girl sitting on the grass who was reading a book. “Do you see her? That’s Gina. She’s better at baseball than anyone. Last year she hit a ball into the trees.”
    Tall evergreens surrounded the field.
    “Do you know what she did after she crossed home plate?” Terri asked. “She picked up her book and read some more. Gina loves books.”
    Cam’s mother and Mr. Shelton joined them.
    “You have to hear Danny’s highway joke,” Mr. Shelton told Cam’s mother. “Go on, Danny. Tell her.”
    “I can’t,” Danny said. “I promised not to tell any more jokes.”
    “Okay, I’ll tell it,” Mr. Shelton said. “Why did the orange stop