Cool Campers Read Free Page A

“me too”? I mean, she’s my mom. Of course I love her. It’s like the law.
    â€œI love you too,” I said. She grinned and walked away. Finally, Graham and I lugged our bags to cabin five. There was camp staff all along the path to show us where to go. The last person pointed to our cabin. It was made of big logs. Three wooden steps led to a small porch and an old, scratched-up wooden door with a number five nailed to it.
    â€œNow remember, we need to be funny,” Graham said.
    â€œRight, I’ll try.”
    Graham pushed the door open. “Ah, home sweet home.”
    â€œDon’t you mean ‘cabin sweet cabin’?” I said, practicing at being funny.
    Inside, we were met by a loud, “Shhh.” It came from a small kid by the window. He was even smaller than Graham, and he was hovering over a jar. There was another jar nearby.
    We dropped our bags and went over.
    â€œHey, what’s in the jars?” Graham said, reaching for one of them.
    The kid shielded the jars from Graham with his body. “Shhh,” he repeated.
    â€œSorry,” Graham whispered. I stretched my neck around the kid to get a glimpse.
    â€œI think he’s about to make a cocoon,” the kid said.
    I stretched my neck more but still couldn’t see. “Who’s making a cocoon?”
    The kid huddled around his jars until he finally decided we were no longer threats. Then he slowly stepped back to let us see. “Jeremiah,” he said.
    â€œWho’s Jeremiah?” Graham asked. He slowly stuck his face up to the jar. “Hey, it’s a caterpillar.”
    I put my face up next to Graham’s. “Jeremiah’s a caterpillar?” Graham and I looked at each other. “That’s a pretty big name for a bug.” I chuckled, trying to be funny.
    The kid looked a little offended. “Hey, caterpillars are people too. Everyone deserves a name.”
    â€œSorry,” I said. “I didn’t mean that he didn’t deserve a . . . hey, did you say that caterpillars are people?”
    â€œOf course. He’s alive, isn’t he?” he shot back. He was pretty feisty for a little guy. As I stood there trying to figure out how bugs are people, Graham piped in.
    â€œBy the way, I’m Graham,” he said, pointing to his name tag.
    The kid reached out to shake Graham’s hand. His name tag said ANDY. “I’m Andy, but everyone calls me BB, for Bug Boy. In case you haven’t noticed, I like bugs.” I introduced myself too. BB told us that he liked to find and keep bugs in his room at home. His mom had made him let them all go before he came to camp so she wouldn’t have to take care of them. So he brought some of his empty jars to find bugs here. He’d found the caterpillar on a leaf right outside of our cabin.
    I looked around the room. There was a set of bunk beds on the wall by the window and another against the opposite wall. I could see that BB had already claimed the lower bunk bed by the window.
    â€œDo you want the top bunk or the bottom?” Graham asked. Since I got stuck with the bottom last year, I thought I’d take the top. Unfortunately, without waiting for my answer, Graham climbed up to the top and made himself at home.
    â€œI guess I’ll take the bottom,” I sighed. I could have probably taken the other top bunk, but I still didn’t know BB very well, and I thought I’d better stay on Graham’s side of the room.
    Just then the door opened and a huge figure walked in. The light from outside made it hard to see his face. I thought he must have been one of the camp directors or some other adult.
    â€œHello, fellow cabinmates,” said the large shadow in a jolly voice. As the door closed and the outside light dimmed, his face came into full view. He wasn’t a man at all. He was just the biggest kid I had ever seen. Not only was he tall but he was big all over. His legs