TO PATRICIA LEE GAUCH MENTOR FRIEND AND DAEMON -SONDRA
CHAPTER ONE ALL WE GOT TO DO NIRAJ SAYS IS CATCH THREE RACCOONS Breanna laughs loud Head thrown back peeling pink elbows resting on the splintery bleachers of Sugar Maple Park she's loving this Niraj one bleacher step down has cooked up his wildest camp prank yet He rests a finger on his chin thinking Babies probably They'll be friendlier Pascale stands on the ground in front of them throwing a softball softball straight up and catching it thwump thwump over and over It's nearly dark but the yellow ball glows in her fingers gathering light from the tall buzzy lamps along the park walkway Raccoons bite she says If you catch a raccoon it'll bite you You'll spend the rest of camp in an emergency room getting rabies shots Her ball thwumps You'd hate that Niraj
SKY ROPES And she's right He would hate that But Pascale is nothing but a sweet pea trying to reason with Niraj when he's being ridiculous Not Breanna She loves listening to this crap It'll never work but it's funny Let me finish Niraj says I've got it this time He's been trying to think of an epic camp prank his words for the past two and a half months ever since school got out and the pamphlets about sixth grade team building camp started coming in the mail Camp starts tomorrow so he's in panic mode I'll make three signs 1 2 4 and run string through them like necklaces His hands fly as he talks Tonight I'll make them tonight and that's all we'll need He looks at Breanna We means her Her and him She shakes her head and laughs No way she says Camp is for chumps She's not going But then what Niraj she asks egging him on It just feels good listening to Niraj Everything about tonight feels good She's at home here at the park with her friends Pascale and Niraj Scott and Mitchell who left twenty minutes ago The five of them have played ball almost every afternoon and hung out in the evenings as often as they could Like real friends It's been the best summer The best summer since before Breanna moved to Beecham when she was barely six Picture this Niraj says squaring his hands like he's framing the perfect shot There's a big building at camp I saw it in the pamphlets a cafeteria right Breanna nods her head Thwump thwump goes Pascale's softball We catch the baby raccoons we put the signs around their necks and we turn them loose in that big building He stops to 3
