Lake Rescue (14 page)

E
arly the next morning, Charlotte was awakened to a “Pssst, pssst,” outside her cabin. What time was it? Early. Too early. It seemed like they had just gone to bed.

“What? Who is it?” She slid out of her sleeping bag and bunk and staggered to the door. The hinges creaked something awful. The counselors probably left them rusty so they could hear people escaping.

Nick’s grinning face greeted her. “Get up and get dressed. We’re going to see the loons. You don’t want to miss seeing them.”

Yes she did. Right now, at least. “Give me five minutes.”

“Okay, but hurry. And see if Isabel wants to come.”

Charlotte bit her lip. Nick’s inclusion of Isabel immediately took away the magic. But as soon as she had that thought, she pushed it aside. She felt selfish. Of course, Isabel should go.

“Isabel, Isabel, wake up. Shhhh. Get dressed fast. We’re going to see the loons.”

Isabel sat up, rubbed her eyes, then came to life. “Oh, I’ve been dying to see them. Who—”

“Nick is outside the cabin. Hurry up!”

As it turned out, a whole group of seventh graders were waiting outside in the early morning light and fine mist, which gave Charlotte shivers but seemed perfect for their trip. Could this be their odyssey? No, there was no hardship involved, she thought, and the loons had already been discovered.

Just as that thought raced through her mind, one called.

Oooo, ooo, oooo, ooo, oooo, ooo.

Was there a stranger sound in nature? Maeve looked over at Charlotte, scrunched her shoulders, and grinned.

Near the lake, the group hunched down and flattened themselves in the grass. They were going to get wet, but thank goodness, not muddy.

Oooo, ooo, oooo, ooo, oooo, ooo.

The call came from a different direction.

“That’s another loon calling back. They talk to each other,” Nick whispered.

Avery quickly turned around. “Spooky, just too spooky.” She ducked the fake punch coming from Billy Trentini.

“Think we can get closer?” Dillon asked.

“I don’t think so. They probably know we’re here. And I read that they are very shy. But maybe they’re used to people from the camp.” Nick slid forward about a foot. “We can try.”

Charlotte took the binoculars that Dillon passed her. As she focused, the black and white bird with the checkered back leapt close, making her catch her breath at its beauty. His head was black, his eye red, and he wore a collar of black and white.

Nick whispered. “He’ll lose the checkered back in winter. Then he’ll be mostly black. Of course, he’ll fly south soon.”

Billy inched too close. Both birds rose with a flapping of wings and a splash of the lake water.

“Ahhh!” Billy yelped as something moved in front of him. “What? Geesh, Chels, I thought you were a
—
a rock, a gray rock.”

Chelsea, clad all in gray sweatpants, a gray sweatshirt, and a gray rain slicker, stood up. “Scared yah?” She buckled her camera into its case.

Even in the dim light, Charlotte could see Billy’s face turn red. “Well, not really. I was just surprised, you know. It’s dark out here still.”

To everyone’s relief, Chelsea laughed. “Is everyone out here? Good thing I got here before you spooked them.”

“Sorry ‘bout that,” Billy said. “Did you get some good photos? Does that camera take close-ups?”

“It has a zoom and I got some really good shots. Want to
see them?” Chelsea turned on her camera and backed up the photos until she got to where she had started photographing the loons.

Everyone gathered round and looked at them. “Wow, Chelsea,” Charlotte said. “Those are awesome. How can I get one?”

“I can e-mail them to any of you once I get home and put them on my computer. Just give me your addresses.”

“That’s really cool,” Nick said. “It’s getting late. We’d better get back before we get caught.”

They didn’t get caught, but they did get ratted out at breakfast.

“They sneaked out early this morning, Jody. I watched them. I didn’t go, of course,” Kiki announced.

“Did they invite you?” Jody surprised Kiki with her question.

“Well, no, but I never would have gone.” Kiki quickly turned and walked away.

“Chelsea, you went on this field trip?” Jody said ‘field trip’ with a question in her voice about this early excursion being all about appreciating nature.

“Yes. I was taking photos.” Chelsea looked at the BSG, minus Katani, and smiled. “We all just wanted to see the loons up close. They are so beautiful and Nick read up about them.” Chelsea was going on and on like she was trying to keep everyone from getting in trouble.

“No more early morning trips without a counselor…got that, campers?” Jody’s hands gripped her hips.

“I swear on…on…on,” Chelsea couldn’t think of anything and then it just popped out, “my mother’s real estate
license.” The corners of Jody’s mouth twitched, but she kept a straight face.

Chelsea couldn’t believe she had said such a dumb thing.

“Okay, breakfast, and you’d better have some good pictures to e-mail me when you get home.”

“She does, Jody,” Billy Trentini said. “She has some awesome ones. I’ll bet she could sell them to some nature magazine.”

Chelsea’s cheeks flushed with pleasure at Billy’s compliment.

“I wish I had come with you guys,” Katani said. “I just couldn’t get out of bed. Chelsea, you really
should
sell your pictures. You could make some good money.”

Chelsea looked at her funny.

Katani looked suddenly embarrassed. “I know I must sound like a nerd, but I really want to start my own business someday. I could help you if you want.”

This was the second time Katani had offered to help her. Maybe, thought Chelsea, I’ll take her up on it when we get back. You never know, she figured, I might really sell my photos someplace really cool. Chelsea walked quickly to the dining hall. She wanted to get photos of kids eating…and making faces. Everyone loved those kinds of goofy pictures.

Katani invited Chelsea to sit with the BSG at breakfast after she finished shooting.

“Katani will put us all to work before we’re fifteen,” Isabel said. “She keeps telling me I could sell my crafts. And I keep telling her that I’d rather spend my time making more crafts instead of worrying about selling them.”

“Well, it’s good that we’re all different. It’d be pretty boring if we were all clones who liked the exact same things!” Charlotte remarked.

When breakfast was over and the dishes had been washed, Jody blew her whistle and gathered teams together. “Campers, we’re going canoeing.”

“On the water?” Betsy asked.

Everyone stared at Betsy for a few seconds. Jody was the first to recover. “Yes, we’ll take the canoes to the lake for this experience, Betsy.”

Avery rolled her eyes at the other BSG and grinned. “Where are they stored? Let’s go right now. I love canoeing.”

The canoe parade looked like five aluminum caterpillars with six legs each. Even funnier was that they were all wearing orange life preservers…caterpillars with life preservers. Nick peeked out from the lead canoe to follow Jody, Nash, and John. Mia went off to help another group with more trust exercises.

The fog had lifted and the sun came out on one of the most beautiful Indian summer days that any of the kids could remember. A few trees had colored leaves holding tight, while the ground around the lake was a patchwork of fallen leaves.

Chelsea photographed people dividing up and taking off. Then she stowed her camera in her bag and left it under some bushes beside the shoreline. A pile of coats and excess gear also awaited their return.

John led the regatta, telling them if they eased through a narrow passageway, they’d come out on a much bigger lake. And if they stayed quiet and let only the swish of paddles fill
the air, they might see other birds or animals along the shore.

Once Charlotte, Nick, and Isabel learned to work together and get a rhythm going with their paddling, they skimmed the water silently and were the first to enter the narrow waterway that John pointed out.

At times, they actually pushed against the shore to slide through, but gliding out into the larger lake made Isabel gasp.

“Look,” Isabel whispered. “There’s a moose. A real moose!”

Sure enough, near the bank to their left, an enormous moose with a huge rack of paddle-like horns stood ankle deep, if moose have ankles, in the water and grazed on plants. He grabbed a mouthful, lifted his head, water streaming from the greens, and looked at the campers.

“Don’t even think of getting close,” Nick whispered. “John told me they’re very dangerous. But if we don’t threaten him
—
”

“We get the idea,” Charlotte said. “Don’t moose around with the wildlife.” It was a terrible pun, and she and Isabel giggled, while Nick shook his head. “Bad. Very bad.”

Everyone knew to give the moose a wide berth, and soon they were past him on the other side of the lake. As all the canoes caught up, Charlotte noticed that Chelsea had ended up in a canoe with Kiki and Joline. It was like Chelsea was doomed to walk under the black cloud of Kiki Underwood forever.

All of a sudden Chelsea accidentally dropped her paddle. “Oh, darn,” she said, reaching into the water for it. “I’ll get it.” Her foot on the side of the canoe and Chelsea’s shifting
weight was all it took to tip the balance. Over they all went. Chelsea came up laughing, and didn’t care one bit that she was soaking wet.

But Kiki. That was another story. There was a whole lot of screaming going on.

“You fat idiot, Chelsea. You did that on purpose. I know you did. I saw you.”

“Be quiet,” yelled Joline. “We’ll both get kicked out of camp if you keep insulting her.”

Chelsea swam over to the canoe, hefted it upright, balanced on the edge, and swung herself over into the shell. The move was as graceful as any Charlotte had ever seen her make. What made Chelsea think she couldn’t do anything in gym class? It took skill to right a canoe and get back into it.

“Want a hand?” Chelsea offered to pull either Kiki or Joline into the boat. Clearly the answer was no.

Both wet campers ignored her and floundered onto shore, which wasn’t so far away.

“What happened, Chelsea?” Jody tied up her canoe to a buoy near the shore and waded in to check on Kiki and Joline.

“I…I…it all happened so fast. I dropped my paddle and it started to drift away. When I reached out to grab it, I guess I tipped the canoe. Then we all fell out.”

“Did anyone else see the accident?” Nash questioned the kids nearby.

No one really had. Anna sat, wide-eyed, staring at her two very wet friends, whose hair was a mass of tangles. She could hardly contain her pleasure at the sight of Kiki sopping wet and mad…so mad. It just about made Anna’s day,
especially since Kiki was always trying to butt her way into her friendship with Joline.

“Well, no harm done, I guess,” Jody said. “There are a few towels in the plastic bag in my canoe. Someone get out a couple for Kiki and Joline. It’s good thing it’s so warm today.”

Nick jumped into Jody’s canoe and got the towels. He threw one to Chelsea. “You okay, Chelsea? You didn’t have your camera, did you?”

Chelsea put the towel around her hair turban style, squeezed, then toweled off her arms and legs. “No, I left it where we started off. I’m okay. It’s getting warm. I’ll dry off.”

“I really messed up, huh,” Chelsea confided sheepishly to Charlotte, who had paddled to the shore.

“I know how you feel,” Charlotte said. “I’m always so embarrassed when other people pay for my disasters.”

Chelsea hoped Charlotte didn’t think she had tipped the boat on purpose. Chelsea thought Kiki had been beyond mean to her on this trip. And honestly, how much could one person take? But Chelsea didn’t want anyone to think that she was the kind of person that used revenge to get even. She was better than that. And she would never risk someone drowning.

“I wish the water was warm enough for all of us to swim,” Avery said, paddling her canoe closer to Chelsea and Charlotte. “But when I put my hand in, out there where it’s deep, it’s pretty cold. I guess I’ll just stick my feet in.”

Jody, Nash, and John gathered the canoes into three smaller groups. After trying to coax them back into a boat, the counselors let Kiki and Joline sit on the grass to dry off. Chelsea decided to stick it out, especially to prove she was tougher than Kiki
and Joline. Some of the groups studied the plant life around the lake’s edge. Some hiked a little way into the woods, exploring. Nash organized canoe racing, the most popular activity, especially with Avery and the Trentini brothers. Because they had brought lunches, every group took part in every activity. There was even time for a short nap after lunch.

The day was lazy and much less threatening than the one before. No one had to trust anyone. The competition was not serious, and everyone had a notebook full of leaves, flowers, sketches, and journal entries. Isabel showed some of the girls how to press flowers tightly between the pages of their notebooks so they would dry and stay pretty for a long time. Nick Montoya suffered through some serious teasing just so he could bring a pressed flower back to his mother.