A swim in Lake Hither

* Where serpo lives *

Carefully, I lowered my thumb and forefinger to

Roddy's ear- and pinched them around the

wriggling green thing. Gently, I tugged it out.

" Sid cried. "Oh, gross! Kelly let out a low moan.

I stared at the fuzzy caterpillar between my

fingers. "How did this get in your ear?"

Roddy was still shaking. Tears rolled down his

face. "It .. it must have crawled in while I was

..thought it was a snake" asleep.

Just a caterpillar " I said. I tossed it out the

cabin window.

"Sick," Kelly said, s scratching his ears. That

"I don't want to think about it ever again."

"Hey, Boone -what if it laid eggs in there

was way sick."

"0oh, my ear still itches," Roddy moaned.

Sid said.

What if, in a few weeks, a million caterpillars

hatch inside my head?"

"I don't think caterpillars lay eggs," I said.

A few minutes later, Nathan came to make

sure we were awake. He was surprised to find

us already getting dressed. He made us spray

ourselves with Sun-Glo before we could go to

breakfast.

We had egg sandwiches on English muffins in

the mess hall. Not too shabby.

I saw Heather at a table across the long

room. I walked over to her. "Did you sleep?"

I asked her.

"Diggety diggety," she said.

The other girls at the table laughed.

Did you hear the hissing?" I asked.

"Diggety diggety," Heather repeated.

Did you hear there's a two-mile hike this

morniıng

"Diggety diggety."

I could see I wasn't going to get anywhere

with her. She does this to me all the time. She

thinks she's a riot.

Diggety diggety to you, too," I muttered. I

went back to my table and had another egg

sandwich.

Dr. Crawler had promised us we'd hike, and

that's what we did. The counselors led the whole

camp along a dirt trail that twisted through the trees and bushes.

It was pretty awesome. I walked with Nathan

Sid, and Kelly. I made sure I kept ahead of Roddy.

I wanted to enjoy the snakes. but we didn't see a single snake.

some amazing birds right above our heads

as if daring us to see them.

We saw a lot of chipmunks, some fasta

field mice, and brown rabbits. T

on two legs and stood as still as closer.

The rabbits froze like statues, Sid kept snapping pictures with his phone . He stopped suddenly when we skunk cross the path up ahead.

for us to pass. when we saw far We all stopped. There were five skunks in a single line. The mother walked in first and four little ones followed.

"Keep downwind," Nathan whispered, waving

us back. "Keep downwind."

ss he meant, "don't let the skunks smell you

no one moved .

I froze like everyone else. and only

talked till the skunk family went away.

Then we all started talking and laughing

sight.

once. And everyone kept repeating, "

wind, keep downwind" It was the joke

By the time we got back to camp, the s

morning.

high in the sky. And beating down on us. I

hot and sweaty, almost as smelly as a shunk

Nathan gathered Sid, Kelly, Roddy, and me

utside our cabin. "Swim trunks" he said. "Get

moving, guys. Swim trunks. We need a nice

wim in the lake."

I saw the flash of fear in Roddy's eyes. But I

didn't care. A cool swim in the lake was just what

I needed.

Swim trunks!" Nathan ordered.

"And keep downwind," I added.

A few minutes later, the four of us were stand-

ing on the shore of Lake Hither. Tall grass ended

a few feet from the water, leaving a muddy

beach.

The lake was shaped like a perfect circle.

The water shimmered so brightly in the sun-

light, I could barely see the land( on the

other side.

A short dock made of wood planks stretched

out into the lake. The dock had two rowboats and

a Sunfish tethered to it. They bobbed against

each other in the gently lapping water.

Two tall stacks of black inner tubes were piled

at one side of the dock. I took a step into the

water. Warmer than I expected. The cool mud

0ozed between my toes.

I took another step- -and a hand grabbed

my shoulder, pulling me back. "Boone

check it out...

It was Roddy. He pointed to a deep rut in the

made that track," he said. "Look. He came out of

I rolled my eyes. "Roddy, Nathan wouldn't let

Roddy kept staring at the rut in the mud and

muddy shore. "Ill bet the giant snake

us swim here if there was a giant snake."

shaking his head.

Nathan stepped beside us. He hitched up his

long gray swim trunks. He pushed his stringy

hair out of his eyes and gazed at Roddy. "T'm

worried about you, dude," he said.

Roddy blinked. "Huh? Me?"

"I heard what you said," Nathan replied.

"About the giant snake and everything" He

kicked at the rut until he filled it with mud.

"T'm gonna prove to you how safe this lake is,"

Nathan told Roddy. "Tm going in first. Watch."

Nathan spun around. He took off, running past

us. His feet kicked up mud and then splashed

water as he ran.

He stretched his arms in front of him and did

a surface dive into the lake. We could see himn

swimming underwater smoothly, going deeper,

then rising back up.

He surfaced, maybe ten or twenty feet from

us. Not far from the shore. He motioned for us to

join him. "Water's fine!" he called.

Then suddenly there was a big splash. Nathan's

arms shot straight up in the air. He opened his

mouth in a terrifying, shrill cry.

"Ohhh... help! It's GOT me!"

Water flew up all around him and Nathan

shot straight down. His chest slid under. Then

His hands moved over the surface for a sec-

ond, as if trying to grab on. Then they

his head ...disappeared, pulled down under the tossing water.

The four of us stood frozen on the muddy shore,

not moving, not breathing Waiting...

But Nathan didn't come back up....

*End of Chapter*

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