Bad News Buds

Everyone circle up, shut up, and listen up,” Fish said after breakfast. “It’s time to think about hitting the mighty Arkansas River.”

“Yes!” I said. I only kind of regretted it when I looked around and everyone was staring at me.

This was the one thing I was kind of looking forward to. White-water rafting sounded awesome to me. And I needed to show everyone that I could be something besides Weak Link.

There was only one thing missing for my grand plan.

“Where are the rafts?” I said.

Fish reached out with his pointer finger and toink-toinked me on the forehead. “Right in there,” he said.

“Huh?”

“Welcome to obstacle number two, cockroaches. You’re going to be figuring these rafts out and building them for yourselves.”

“With some instruction,” Pittman said. She was already drawing something in the dirt with a stick.

“We’re going to need a donkey load of wood for this,” Fish said. Which I guess made us the donkeys. “Me and Sergeant Pittman have already scoped out the area, and there should be enough usable wood here for two rafts. So pair up with your same buddy from yesterday and start working.”

That meant me and Carmen. Again. She was already looking at me like I was some kind of after-breakfast snack.

So while everyone started getting ready, I went over to where Sergeant Pittman was packing up her gear.

“Sergeant Pittman, can I ask you something?” I said.

“I don’t know—can you?” she said.

“I was just wondering, how long are we sticking with our buddies?” I said. “For the whole week, or—”

“Why? Is there a problem?” she said.

“Well…” I said.

“Yeah, Rafe, is there a problem?” someone else said behind me.

Gulp.

I turned around, and Carmen was standing right there with her arms crossed. She didn’t say any more, but I could still hear her (and her snake friend) loud and clear: KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT OR I’M GOING TO PUT YOU IN THE CHOPPED MEAT SECTION.

And I was pretty sure she could too.

“No,” I said. “No problem. Why would there be a problem? I was just, you know… curious.”

“We done here?” Sergeant Pittman said, and I could feel the two of them looking at me from either side, like some kind of double whammy.

“I guess so,” I said.

“Come on, Rafe,” Carmen said. When she put an arm around my shoulder, I flinched. “We’ve got work to do,” she said.

But you and I both know what she meant.

She meant I had work to do. Enough work for two.