Their opponents from Cabin 1 had green headbands and some big players. “They’re from Brooklyn,” Barry remarked. “They think they’re pretty tough.”
“We’ll see about that,” said Vinnie. “Let’s go!”
The Cabin 3 Threshers went on the attack immediately, with Vinnie and Hernando both taking hard close-range shots in the opening minutes that were blocked by the goalie. The Brooklyn team had some less disciplined players who fired shots at Tony from well back. Tony easily caught them and tossed the ball to Barry near the center.
So Riley calmly treaded water for several minutes as he and Eldon hung back on defense, not getting any action. Finally a Cabin 1 player came racing toward the goal on a breakaway, churning through the water with the ball skimming between his arms.
The guy was big. He already had the faint beginnings of a mustache.
“Need help!” Riley called.
He darted forward, but his arms were much shorter than his opponent’s, so the other player managed to dunk Riley with one hand and continue stroking with the other. Riley flapped his arms to drop lower in the water, getting free from the guy’s hand and popping up a few feet away.
He spit out a mouthful and took another stroke toward the ball carrier.
Eldon had come over, too, and between the two defenders they managed to stop the attack. With Vinnie and Barry converging, the Cabin 1 player threw an off-balance shot that went wide of the goal. Tony grabbed the ball and looked around.
Riley backstroked a bit and caught Eldon’s eye. He motioned with his head, and Eldon swam back to his side of the defensive zone. Two Brooklyn players had moved into that area. If their teammate had passed instead of shooting, they would have had an unguarded path to the goal.
“Nice work!” Tony said. “Good
D.
” He threw the ball ahead to Vinnie, who immediately turned and shot.
“Too far out!” Tony yelled as the ball was caught. “Do some passing, boys.”
The scoreless battle continued for several more minutes. Another long, easily blocked shot came flying to Tony from the Cabin 1 end, and Tony quickly tossed the ball to Riley.
It was his first touch of the game, and there were several
yards of open water ahead of him. He stroked toward the middle, keeping his head up as a mob of opponents swam toward him.
Riley treaded his legs hard, lifting the ball with one hand and rising up as if to shoot. Just as two opponents were almost upon him, he tossed the ball to Barry, halfway to the goal and wide open.
Barry feigned a shot and flipped the ball to Vinnie, who had a dead-on angle at the goal. He threw it high and hard, past the reaching arm of the goaltender and into the net.
“Yes!” shouted Barry, smacking the water.
The Cabin 3 players swam back to their end.
“Great pass, fat boy!” said Vinnie, punching Barry on the shoulder.
“Two
great passes!” said Tony. “Smart work!”
By halftime, they were exhausted. Riley climbed onto the dock with the others and sprawled flat on his back.
“You’ll be out for now, but stay ready,” Shawn told him. “You did a great job.”
Cabin 1 started to dominate in the second half. Patrick Monahan had taken over Riley’s spot on the defensive end, and he was not a strong swimmer. Vinnie had moved into the goalie position, and he got bombarded with shots. The score was soon tied.
Midway through the half, Shawn sent Riley back into
the water. “Sub for Eldon,” he said. “Keep up the strong defense, but don’t be afraid to attack. We need another goal!”
So Riley watched for an opportunity. Hernando took a long shot that was deflected and spun to an open side of the Cabin 1 defensive zone. Riley reacted quickly and raced toward the ball. Barry, Hernando, and two defenders were in pursuit as well.
Straining with every stroke, Riley reached the ball first, but he knew he’d be going under. He hugged the ball tight as a strong pair of hands pushed his shoulders down. Riley kicked to try to get free, but the buoyancy of the ball prevented him from going deeper.
Suddenly the defender let Riley go, and he scrambled up to see that Hernando had dunked the guy. Riley stroked toward the center as two more opponents swam toward him. Tony, now on offense, was open to the right of the goal, waving his arms.
Riley faked left, then threw the ball to Tony. His shot bonked off the side of the goal and fell to the water several feet in front. As the goalie lunged toward it, Barry swooped in and flicked the ball over his head and into the net. Cabin 3 had taken the lead!
“How much time?” Riley called to Shawn as he swam back.
“About three minutes,” Shawn called. “Defense!”
With a big surge of energy, Riley moved toward the Cabin 1 player who was bringing up the ball. Barry got there first, putting the guy under and taking control of the ball.
On the attack again, Cabin 3 finally got some teamwork going and passed the ball effectively. The ball came to Riley, then back to Hernando, then over to Tony.
Clearly frustrated, the Cabin 1 players chased after the ball. They seemed more tired than Riley’s team, and time was running out. Tony fired a high, hard shot toward the corner of the goal, and the ball landed solidly in the back of the net.
Fist up, Riley let out a deep breath. This game was theirs now, and he’d played a big role. The whistle blew, and they climbed out of the water with a victory.
The sun was overhead, and there was barely a cloud. Dinner was several hours away.
“Into the boats!” shouted Barry. “Time to catch some bass.”
Several of them had brought fishing gear. They hurried to the other side of the dock and signed up for boats. A lot of rowboats and canoes were already out on the lake, with pairs or trios in orange life vests.
Riley stood aside as the Monahans and Vinnie climbed into one boat; Hernando, Kirby, and Eldon into another; and Tony, Colin, and Diego into the third.
The boats shoved off, with the campers whooping and laughing about their big win. Barry slapped the lake with an oar and sent a splash of water into Tony’s boat, but nobody cared. They were already wet from the game.
Riley sat on the dock to watch them go, hanging his feet in the water and feeling the warm sun on his shoulders.
He’d played well. He knew that much.
THRESHERS SPLASH TO WATER-POLO WIN
Cabin 3 Snares a Softball Victory, Too
The Cabin 3 Threshers racked up a pair of wins Sunday, dunking Cabin 1 in water polo and edging Cabin 6 in softball. The Threshers were the only cabin to win games in both sports.
Tony Maniglia smashed a home run and a double in the Threshers 9–6 softball win. He also had a goal in the 3–1 water-polo victory.
Other softball scores were Cabin 4 Fortunes 8, Cabin 2 Tubers 5, and Cabin 5 Fighters 11, Cabin 1 Wonders 4. Danny Avila—the star of the camp so far—had two home runs for the Fighters.
In water polo, it was Sixers 5, Fortunes 3, and Tubers 7, Fighters 5.
Tuber Talent Forges Early Lead in Points Race
A rousing rendition of “My Sharona” by Cabin 2’s Phillip Lopez and Ryan McDonald capped an energetic and wildly entertaining karaoke competition Sunday night. The duo rang up a perfect 30, getting scores of 10 from each of the three judges. That result put the Tubers in the lead for the Big Joe Trophy with 6 points.
Burrrrrrrrrp alert:
Hot-Dog-Eating Contest Is Tuesday night!
More Rules to Live By
—No food in the cabins. (Let’s not feed the mice.)
—Three people in a rowboat is the max. Two is the minimum.
—Do not carve your name into your bunk or the walls.
—Obey all rules!
R
iley froze in his tracks, gazing skyward as the softball sailed high into the outfield. The arc would take it beyond where he was standing, so Riley started running, trying to keep his eye on the ball.
This could be bad. The Cabin 3 Threshers were protecting a one-run lead in the bottom of the final inning, but Cabin 5 had two men on base and that ball was heading for the fence.
Riley pushed harder, opening his stride and lifting his glove. Suddenly Vinnie’s voice stopped him cold.
“I got it!” Vinnie yelled. He’d run over from center field to make the catch for the third out, securing the victory. Riley ducked out of his way and went sprawling onto the grass.
Vinnie leaped into the air and threw the ball wildly
toward the infield. The rest of the Threshers met him behind second base and mobbed him. Riley caught up and smacked gloves with Diego and Kirby.
“We’re number one!” shouted Hernando. His teammates picked up the chant.
“We’re number one! We’re number one!”
“Get a grip,” Shawn said with a laugh as they reached the bench. “There’s a long way to go before anyone gives us a trophy.”
“They might as well start engraving our names on it,” Barry said. “We’re the best team in camp.”
Riley nodded. He’d had a good day—no errors again (he’d fielded several grounders and caught one pop fly) and he’d hit the ball twice (for outs) and struck out once.
“Looks like you guys got lucky,” one of the players from Cabin 4 said to Barry. Cabin 4 was warming up for the next game. That was the team that had beaten the Threshers in the opening-night basketball game.
“Not as lucky as you guys were,” Barry said. “We’ll see you in a few days for water polo. Hope you like the taste of lake water.”
“I’m scared,” the guy said. “Look at me; I’m shaking.”
Barry just turned and started walking toward the cabin. Most of his teammates followed.
Riley noticed that Eldon was sitting on the bench with his shoe off.
“Had a pebble in there since about the fourth inning,” Eldon said. He shook out his shoe and put it back on.
Since everyone else was gone, Riley finally had somebody to walk with.
Eldon was a few inches taller than Riley and almost a year older, but he didn’t quite seem to fit in with the guys his own age. He tried to join them when they bragged about girls or joked around about how tough they all were, but he spent of lot of time lying on his bunk reading comic books or sports novels, and Riley’d noticed that he always made a point of eating his vegetables and drinking all his milk.
“That was close,” Eldon said. “I thought that last ball was gone.”
“Me too, and I was right there.” Riley shook his head. “I almost collided with Vinnie.”
Eldon let out his breath in a huff. “Vinnie,” he said with a bit of disgust. “These guys are
so
full of themselves. Vinnie, Barry, Hernando—they act like they own the camp or something.”
Riley just shrugged. He could see that for himself, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to bring it up.
Eldon stopped walking and grabbed Riley’s arm. “Don’t tell them I said nothing.”
“I wouldn’t.”
“I mean, they aren’t
so
bad. Just, you know … Believe me, Barry doesn’t have a girlfriend. No way.”
“I didn’t figure he did,” Riley said. “But I didn’t feel like getting beat up the other night if I said anything.”
“That
he could do.” Eldon picked up a small stone. “Think I could hit the lake from here?”
Riley looked down the hill. They were about eighty yards above the path that he’d taken on Saturday night when he walked around the lake alone. “Doubt it.”
“I’ll give it a shot anyway.” Eldon ran a couple of steps forward and flung the stone as far as he could. It reached the line of trees but fell quite a bit short of the water.
“Not bad,” Riley said.
“Maybe if I used a heavier rock.” But Eldon didn’t look for another. He rubbed his shoulder instead. “Maybe not … So what are we doing?”
“Now?”
“Yeah,” Eldon said. “We got at least an hour to kill before dinner.”
“I don’t know. Could check out the Trading Post again.”
“I been there ten times. You buy me a candy bar?”
“Okay.” Riley reached into his pocket and felt for the dollar bill he kept there. That would get two candy bars. He could spare it.
But then they saw Barry walking toward them, waving his arms. “Get over here!” he called.
“What’s up?” Eldon yelled back.
“We’ve been sabotaged! Get your butts to the cabin.”
Eldon broke into a run and Riley followed.
The inside of the cabin looked like something out of a horror movie. Green slime was dripping down the walls, and socks and T-shirts had been pulled from some of the lockers and thrown around the cabin. A pile of garbage—greasy napkins, corncobs, banana peels—was sitting on top of Barry’s sleeping bag. And on the wall above Vinnie’s bunk were the words
GET OUT
in black writing.
“Ghosts?” Eldon asked.
“Idiots,” Barry said. “It had to be those jerks from Cabin Four.”
“What about that slime?” Patrick asked, pointing to the wall. “It looks like ectoplasm!”
Barry stepped over and rubbed the green stuff with a finger. He sniffed it and gave out a humorless laugh. “Shampoo,” he said. “Apple or lime, I believe. And that”—he pointed to the
GET OUT
notation—“was written with a burnt stick. There’s ghosts in this cabin—I’m not denying that—but this is plain old bad blood.”
“So what are we gonna do about it?” Hernando said, pounding his fist into his hand.
Barry gave Hernando a sinister look, then smiled thoughtfully. “Bide our time. Act like we have no idea how this could have happened. We’ll get even and then some. Just let me think it over for a few days.”
Barry looked around at the walls, then pointed to Riley
and Eldon. “You two twerps!” he said. “Hit the Larry and bring back some wet paper towels. Some dry ones, too.”
They started straightening up the cabin. It didn’t take long. Barry hung his sleeping bag over a fence railing in the sunlight to rid it of the trash smell, and Eldon wiped the sooty message off the wall.
“Not a word to anybody,” Barry said. “Not even the counselors. We’ll handle this in our own way, and it
will
be sweet.”