Strawberry Summer by Cynthia Blair

two or three minutes. And Alan was driving pretty slowly.”
    “That’s true. Now all we need is a way for one of us to sneak away.”
    “That could be tough.” Susan was pensive for a moment. “You and I both have classes to teach in the morning. You have Beginners’ Swimming at nine, right? And I have an arts and crafts group at ten. Do you think an hour is enough time to get over to the Okie-Dokie and do some snooping around?”
    “Maybe ... maybe not. But I have a better idea.”
    Even in the pale light of the moon, Susan saw in her twin’s brown eyes a mischievous gleam that she recognized only too well. “Uh, oh. What have you got up your sleeve, Christine Pratt?”
    “Only a harmless little scheme.”
    “I’m afraid to ask....”
    “Listen. How about if right after breakfast I sneak away to the Okie-Dokie to see what I can find out. You, meanwhile, pretend to be me from nine until ten, and teach my swimming class. And then, at ten, you can go on to teach arts and crafts. That way, I’ll have plenty of time.”
    “Great—except for one small problem.”
    “What’s that?” Chris could see no flaws in her plan.
    “Chris, how can I teach swimming to a bunch of little kids? I’m not qualified to do that!”
    “Can’t you come up with some clever solution?”
    When she saw the look of dismay on Susan’s face, she added, “After all, you always have in the past. You’ve pretended to be me before, and you always came up with ways of getting around these sticky situations.”
    “ ‘Sticky situations’? You call twenty little kids who can’t swim splashing around a lake a ‘sticky situation’?”
    “Come on, Sooz. Where’s the old Pratt ingenuity? Don’t tell me you can’t come up with something. Why, I’d be disappointed in you if you couldn’t!”
    Susan cast her twin a rueful glance. “Well, if you really think that’s the best way to go about this, I suppose I can think up a way to entertain a bunch of eight-year-olds that enables them to keep their noses above water. I’ll sleep on it.”
    “Great. See, I knew you could do it! Now, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll sneak away right after breakfast, while everybody’s still in the dining hall. You dress in something neutral, something either of us would wear....”
    “How about jeans and a Camp Pinewood T-shirt?”
    “Perfect. I’ll meet you here at the cabin at eleven o’clock, no matter what. Two hours ... that should give me enough time to find out something.’“
    The two girls were silent then, each one lost in her own thoughts, gradually drifting off to sleep. Just as Chris was about to doze off, she heard Susan say, “Hey, Chris?” in a barely audible voice.
    “Yes, Sooz.” She was surprised her sister was still awake.
    “Promise me one thing, okay?”
    “Sure. What?”
    “The next time there’s some investigating to be done on this thing, it’ll be my turn to go sleuthing. To help out. Okay? I mean, I don’t want you to end up doing all the work yourself. After all, I want to do something to help the Reeds, too.”
    Chris chuckled softly. “Sure, Sooz. That’s only fair, right?”
    Both girls drifted off to sleep, satisfied that they were doing something to help.
    The fact that they might be getting in over their heads never even occurred to them.
    * * * *
    The next morning, Susan awoke with a feeling of dread—mingled with gleeful anticipation. Then she remembered. Today she was going to pretend to be Chris. But only for an hour. She would have to switch gears quickly, becoming Susan again without missing a beat.
    Over breakfast, she and Chris were quiet. They had dressed the same, wanting everyone at camp to see that for a change they looked identical. In fact, several campers and counselors commented on how unusual it was for them to be wearing the same clothes.
    “Just a coincidence,” they replied with a smile, glad they had chosen such simple outfits, something that they both might wear and feel