Dunc and Amos and the Red Tattoos (2 page)

“Nothing comes to mind, Amos.” Dunc looked out the window. “I did tell you it was strict here, remember?”

“Strict is one thing. Prison camp is another.”

“Things will look up after you eat,” Dunc said. “By the way, did I tell you that we eat at the same time the girls do?”

He knew it would work.

Amos smoothed down his hair and headed for the door. “Well, come on. What are you waiting for?”

•
3

Amos was excited. “I think I see her. At least, I think it’s her. See the one with her back to us in the third row from the left?”

Dunc started to answer when a man at the head table stood up and blew his whistle.

“These guys have a thing about whistles, don’t they?” Amos said.

The man was short and about as wide as he was tall. He had white hair, chubby cheeks, and could have passed for Santa Claus. Except for the shorts.

“Attention, campers!” He tapped his knife on the table until everyone quieted down. “Attention! I am your camp director, Mr. Wiggleston. I
would like to take this time to personally welcome each and every one of you to Camp Gitchee Goomee. Before you are dismissed this evening, I have a few short announcements.”

Mr. Wiggleston took a deep breath, and the middle button popped off his shirt.

“First, we must all take note of the posted schedules. This is how we know we are in the right place at the right time. If you have kitchen duty, be sure to show up five minutes early for your assignment. Remember our camp motto—A busy camper is a happy camper.”

Amos put his head down on the table. “We have KP? You didn’t tell me we had to wash dishes!”

Dunc put his finger to his lips. “Shh. The man is trying to talk.”

“Some of you new campers may not have heard about our end-of-camp party.”

A loud squeal came from the girls’ side.

Mr. Wiggleston cleared his throat. “It is a camp tradition to use the money made at the concession stand from the previous year’s camp, to host the next camp’s farewell party.”

Another loud squeal.

“However, a word of warning. In order to attend the party, you can have no more than ten demerits …”

“As fast as they hand out demerits around here, they won’t have to worry about having a party,” Amos whispered.

“… so work hard, play hard, and enjoy your stay here at Camp Gitchee Goomee. Now, except for those of you with kitchen duty, you are dismissed.”

“I feel sorry for the poor guys who have kitchen duty tonight,” Amos said. “Look at this mess.”

Dunc looked down at the floor. “I don’t know how to tell you this.…”

Amos stared at him. “Oh, man! Are you serious? You mean we have KP the
first
night?”

“Look at it this way, Amos. After tonight, we’ve got a full week until it’s our turn again.”

“I can’t wait.”

The kitchen was full of boys from cabin seven. The leader seemed to be a short, chunky kid who had been to camp before.

“Hiya. I’m Toby Gillis. Your job assignment
is on that wall over there. When you find it, I can tell you the fastest way to get it over with.”

Amos read the assignment. “Garbage. We’re garbage.”

Toby laughed. “Everyone has their problems.”

He showed them how to tie off the sacks and where to take them. “Be sure you put the lids on tight, so the animals can’t get to it.”

There were ten sacks in all. The garbage cans were located down a little hill inside a fence. The sacks were stuffed as full as possible, and they were heavy. Between them, Dunc and Amos could carry only one at a time.

“At least we didn’t have to wash dishes,” Dunc said.

Amos tried to get a better grip on his end of the sack. “No. We got the much classier job of hauling everyone’s gross, smelly leftovers a half-mile to the garbage cans. We can hardly see where we’re going.”

“It could be worse.”

Suddenly the end Amos was holding burst under the pressure. Food and trash exploded all over him.

Green stuff dripped down his face. Pieces of tomato and other, unidentifiable, vegetables clung to his ears, nose, and clothing.

Amos wiped some of the slime off with his sleeve. “Would this qualify as worse?”

Dunc just shook his head.

It took longer to pick up the loose garbage than it did to carry all the rest of the sacks down the hill.

Amos fell to his knees. “I’m tired. This is the last one. Let’s sit down a minute.”

“We can’t. It’s getting late.” Dunc tried to pull him up. “Somebody might wonder what’s taking so long. We better get back—wait, someone’s coming. Duck behind the cans.”

Footsteps walked up to the trash cans. There was the sound of a lid opening and something being dropped in.

“Too dangerous to try it tonight,” a deep voice whispered. “We’ll have to wait for the right time. Don’t worry. When it does happen, it’ll be the end of Wiggleston this time.”

The footsteps walked off into the dark.

“Did you hear that, Amos? Something’s going on here. Those guys want to get rid of Wiggleston.
Too bad we didn’t get a look at them. Hmmm.”

“Stop it,” Amos said.

“What?”

“You know, that
hmmm
sound and that la-la-land stare. Every time you get that look, I wind up doing things I’m sorry for. Like that time I wore your sister’s clothes.”

“Amos, aren’t you curious? Don’t you want to know what those guys are up to?”

“I don’t care. And you shouldn’t, either. The only thing we should be worried about is trying to survive the next two weeks.”

Dunc lifted one of the trash-can lids. “Look at this. Our suspect left a gum wrapper.”

“Will you stop it? We don’t have a suspect. Unless gum chewing is illegal.”

Dunc walked back toward the kitchen, mumbling to himself, and Amos followed, his shoulders drooping. “Something tells me I’m in for it.”

•
4

Amos was dreaming. A large sack of garbage was chasing him all over the dining hall, blowing a silver whistle.

“Get up, Amos! We’re going to be late for the flag ceremony.”

Amos opened one eye and then the other. “What time is it?”

Dunc looked at his watch. “It’s five-fifteen. Adolf blew the wake-up whistle at five o’clock. Everybody else is already outside. Hurry.”

“Hurry? At five o’clock in the morning? Are you kidding? It’s still dark outside.” Amos turned over. “Wake me when it’s time for breakfast.”

“Come on, Amos.” Dunc shook him. “Breakfast is right after the flag ceremony.”

Amos covered his head with a pillow. “Then call me in time for lunch.”

Dunc looked out the window. “Oh, no! Adolf is coming this way. It’s going to be demerit city. Get
up
!”

Amos crawled out of his sleeping bag. He was completely dressed, including shoes and socks.

Dunc stared at him. “Weren’t you a little uncomfortable?”

“I thought it might save time. And I was right.”

They hustled out the back door before Adolf came in the front and made their way to the mess hall.

Breakfast was blue powdered eggs, raw hash browns, and watery orange juice.

“Yum,” Amos said. “No wonder this place has its own doctor. I bet most of his patients are food-poisoning victims.”

Dunc was pushing the blue eggs around the plate with his fork. “What do you suppose those guys last night have against Wiggleston?”

“Probably nothing. You know how it is. Sometimes you say things. You don’t exactly expect people to hide behind garbage cans and listen.”

“This is different. I can feel it. I’ve been checking around. All the counselors here are new, except Adolf and a guy named Chuck. The only other men in camp are Mr. Phillips, who has been the caretaker here for years, Dr. Stevens, and Mr. Wiggleston.”

“So?” Amos shrugged.

“So the guy we heard last night is someone with something against Wiggleston. It would have to be someone who’s been here awhile.”

“Why don’t you wait until you have a crime before you try to solve it? That’s the way it usually works,” Amos said.

Mr. Wiggleston blew his whistle and stood up to make an announcement. His face was red, and he was obviously upset.

“Campers, I have some most distressing news. It has just been reported to me that the money—the concession stand money and the equipment fund, several hundred dollars—is missing from the vault. If anyone has any information
about this, please report to my cabin at once.”

“Bingo!” Dunc said. “The crime. Now all we have to do is put it together.”

“What’s with this ‘we’ stuff? Wiggleston said to report any clues to him. Let’s not get involved in this one. Okay?”

“But I have a plan.”

“How did I know you were going to say that?” Amos sighed. “You always have a plan. But listen to me just this once. We aren’t—”

“We already know which of the men are possible suspects. We need to find out if any of the women could be in on it,” Dunc said.

“If this plan involves me and girls’ clothes, I’m out of here.” Amos turned to leave.

“I think Melissa would be our best bet, don’t you?”

Amos spun around. “You know, that Mr. Wiggleston seems like a pretty nice guy. I’d hate to stand by and see him get in trouble or maybe fired when we could have done something about it.”

•
5

“Melissa didn’t recognize me. She never even got a good look at my face.”

Amos was standing in front of the mirror in the bathroom examining his bruised chin.

“She didn’t recognize you because you spent the whole time lying facedown on the porch in front of her cabin,” Dunc said.

“Can I help it if that board was loose? I only missed that next step by a fraction of an inch.”

“You didn’t miss it, Amos. You caught it. With your chin.”

Amos rubbed his chin. “At least you got your information. None of the women are involved.
They’re all new this year. All I got was a bruised chin. I didn’t even get to talk to her.”

“Cheer up, Amos. I know for a fact you had her attention. She’ll probably ask around about you now.”

Amos started out the door. “Do you think so? We could walk back by her cabin so she could get a good look at my face this time.”

Dunc grabbed his sleeve. “Maybe later. We’ve got work to do. Besides, you’ve got two whole weeks left to impress her.”

“Don’t remind me. Two weeks of this place. I don’t know if I can take it. Mosquitoes the size of F-15s. Food I’d be embarrassed to feed to my dog Scruff. Exercising. Marching. Whistles in your ear. And those are the good points.”

Dunc was studying a list of names. “Okay, these are our suspects. Two counselors, Adolf and Chuck. The doctor and the caretaker. We’re looking for two of them with something against Mr. Wiggleston.”

Amos looked at his watch. “I’d love to stay and help you out, but it’s time for our bird-watching class.” He made a circle in the air
with his finger. “Yippee. Today we are looking for the ruby-throated hummingbird.”

“This is great, Amos! Just the break we needed.” Dunc nearly ran over him, heading for the door.

Amos watched him leave. “I never knew you liked bird-watching.”

Mr. Ramos, the bird-watching instructor, spent forty-five minutes describing the bird’s personality. Then he assigned each team a pair of binoculars and an area to watch.