Chapter One
“I’m so proud of Ben,” Mrs. Shelton said.
“Me, too,” Eric Shelton told his mother. “I’m very proud of Dad.”
Grandpa Shelton, Mrs. Shelton, Eric and his twin sisters Donna and Diane, and Cam Jansen were sitting on folding chairs. Eric’s baby brother Howie was there, too. He was sleeping on his mother’s lap. They were in a large open area in the middle of a college campus. A few thousand other people were there, too.
“Are you sure Dad’s here?” Donna asked. “I don’t see him.”
“I know he’s here,” Grandpa Shelton said. “I drove him here early this morning.”
“He wouldn’t miss his own graduation,” Mrs. Shelton said.
“And he wouldn’t want to miss going to a restaurant to celebrate with us afterward,” Grandpa Shelton said.
“Hey, what’s taking so long?” a small boy sitting behind the Sheltons asked. “I’m hungry. I want something fun to do.”
“Oh, Harry,” his mother said. “Eat some animal crackers. Play with your toys.”
The boy took some crackers and a toy train from a small shopping bag. He sat on the ground.
“Choo! Choo!” he said as he pulled the train through the grass.
“Eric’s father has dreamed of this day for a long time,” Grandpa Shelton told Cam.
He spoke softly. He didn’t want to wake Howie.
“Right after he graduated from high school, he joined the army.”
“That’s where we met,” Mrs. Shelton said. “I was also in the army.”
She closed her eyes and smiled. “Ben looked so handsome in his uniform. We got married as soon as we were discharged from the army. Then Ben got a job. He never had time for college.”
“Me, too,” Eric’s sister Diane said. “I don’t have time for college. I don’t even have time for third grade. After second grade I’m getting a job. I’ll bake cookies and sell them.”
“Oh, no, you won’t,” her mother told her. “You’re staying in school.”
Harry pulled his train through the grass and said, “Choo! Choo!” Then he stopped his train and called out, “All aboard!”
“Your father had to make time for college,” Grandpa Shelton whispered to Diane. “He went at night, after work.”
“I don’t see him anywhere,” Donna said. “I think we’re at the wrong graduation.”
“He’s sitting in front,” Mrs. Shelton told Donna. “He’s wearing a black cap and gown.”
“Mom!” Donna said, and pointed ahead. “Millions of people up there are wearing black caps and gowns!”
“Millions?” asked Mrs. Shelton, smiling.
“Well, a lot. I’m going up front to look for Dad.”
“Me, too,” Diane said.
“I’ll go with you,” Grandpa Shelton told the twins. “I want to take Ben’s picture.”
Grandpa Shelton took his camera from the small shopping bag he had brought to the graduation. Then he hurried down the aisle with Donna and Diane.
Eric looked in the bag.
“Grandpa has something wrapped in silver paper.”
Mrs. Shelton said, “That’s a gift for Dad.”
“Do you know what it is?”
Mrs. Shelton shook her head. She didn’t know.
“Do you know how many graduates there are?” Eric asked.
Mrs. Shelton shook her head again.
“I don’t know how many there are,” Cam said, “but I know how to find out. We just have to count the number of names in the printed program.”
Eric opened the graduation program and started to count.
Then he stopped.
“Did you already look at the program?” he asked Cam.
“Yes.”
Eric laughed.
“Close your eyes and say, ‘Click!’ Look at the pictures you have in your head of all the names on the program. Then tell me how many graduates there are.”
Cam closed her eyes. She said, “Click!” Then, with her eyes still closed, she said, “There are six pages of names. Each page has four columns.”
With her eyes still closed Cam counted the names in the first column.
“One, two, three . . . eighteen, nineteen, twenty.”
Cam Jansen has a photographic memory. After she takes just one look at something, she remembers it perfectly. It’s as if she has a mental camera and pictures in her head of everything she’s seen.
Cam says, “Click!” whenever she wants to remember something. She says it’s the sound her mental camera makes.
“Six pages of names with four columns on each page,” Cam said. “That’s twenty-four columns. There are twenty names in each column.”
Cam opened her eyes.
“We just have to multiply twenty-four by twenty.”
“I’ll do that,” Eric said. “I’m good at math.”
Eric borrowed his mother’s pen. He wrote the problem on the back of his program.
“Cam,” Eric said. “There are four hundred and eighty graduates.”
Cam’s real name is Jennifer. But when people found out about her amazing memory they started calling her “The Camera.” Soon “The Camera” was shortened to “Cam.”
Meow!
“Hey, Mom,” Harry said. “There’s a cat at the graduation.”
Harry held out a few animal crackers.
“Here, kitty. Have a giraffe. Have a monkey.”
Meow!
“Hey, Mom,” Harry said. “The cat ate the cookies.”
A woman in a black cap and gown stood on the platform. She tapped on the microphone.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
“Please be seated,” she said. “We are about to begin.”
