Cool Campers (12 page)

When we got to the lodge, I saw that my mom was already there with a bunch of other parents. We introduced each other to our parents and showed them our Spirit Award bear claws. Just as Graham and I were about to leave, Tiny said, “Wait, guys! I've got something for you.” He reached into his bag and handed each of us a piece of paper. It was three copies of a picture he had drawn of all four of us—me, BB, Tiny, and Graham. In his picture we were all sitting on the bench in front of the cabin. Our fingers were all shaped like claws, and on each of our heads was, you guessed it, a pair of underpants.

“You drew a picture for your friends? How sweet!” Mom said. She squinted her eyes and looked closer. “Are those
underpants
on your heads?” she asked.

We all cracked up at that.

“I have something for you guys too,” BB said. He handed a little folded piece of paper to Graham and then one to me.

“You can open them later,” he said. He seemed kind of shy all of a sudden.

“Come on, boys. It's time to go,” Mom reminded us. We did our Toad Claw cheer one last time and said our good-byes.

As soon as we got into the car, Graham and I unfolded our pieces of paper from BB. Mine simply said WORM MAN. I showed it to Graham.

“What's yours say?” I asked him.

“THE TP KING,” he said, showing it to me. “I guess we finally got some nicknames.”

I tried it out. “Hmm, Worm Man.” I wasn't sure if I really wanted to replace Raymond with Worm Man, but it still felt pretty cool to have my own nickname.

On the ride home Graham and I told my mom about everything we'd done that week: the hiking, the swimming, and almost everything else. We didn't tell her about stealing David's underpants.

“Speaking of swimming,” Mom said. “I was talking to Brad's mother this morning, and when I told her I was picking you up today, she invited you to their pool party later. She said she would have invited you earlier, but she thought you weren't getting back from camp until tomorrow.”

“Really?” I asked. I thought about how much fun it would be to see everybody and tell them all about BB's bugs, Tiny's amazing toilet paper throw, and how we'd paraded around with underpants on our heads. Somehow, though, I just didn't think they would understand.

“So do you want to go to the party together?” Graham asked.

“Nah, I'm not really in the mood,” I said. “But it's nice to be invited.”