In all, there were probably ten canoes: enough for three students and one grown-up in each.
Of course, that meant my friends and I had to split up, at least a little. To make sure none of us were on our own, we split up in pairs.
I went with Egg in one canoe, and Cat and Sam got into another one. That meant we’d each get assigned one more kid, and a grown-up chaperone.
I sat in the middle of our canoe, and Egg sat in the front. We each put on a bright-orange life vest.
I watched Sam and Cat climb aboard their canoe. They ended up with Henry Halper. He’s a nice guy. And their grown-up was Henry’s mom, the parent chaperone for the trip. So that wasn’t too bad.
They were lucky.
Ranger Chavez climbed aboard our canoe. She sat in the back, and she put something on the floor of the canoe in front of her. It was covered with a heavy cloth, so I couldn’t see what it was.
“I’ll be watching you, gum chewer!” she called out.
I quickly faced forward.
And then it got worse.
When the canoe shook a moment later, I turned to see who was coming aboard.
Our third kid got on and pulled on his life vest. Then he turned to Ranger Chavez and said, in a sweet and sickening voice, “You’re sure good at your job, Ranger Chavez. Gum here is the biggest troublemaker in our class.” He was lying, obviously.
“Is that so?” Ranger Chavez asked, staring at me.
The boy nodded. “Yup,” he said. “That’s why Mr. Spade put me in this boat. He knew I’d keep an eye on him.”
“In that case, I officially name you a temporary deputy ranger for this canoe trip,” Ranger Chavez said. “What’s your name?”
“Gutman,” the boy said. He looked at me and smirked, so the ranger couldn’t see him.
“Deputy Anton Gutman.”