Diary Entry

I love when Aunt Cora comes over and cooks up a family dinner for us. The food is always amazing. Tonight, Cora made a new chicken pot pie recipe, and I would have enjoyed it even more if things hadn’t been so strange.

Oliver was super quiet, which was weird, but not the weirdest part.

It was Julian. He kept casting me strange looks across the table.

Aunt Cora, my dad, and his new girlfriend, Kate (aka my teacher, Miss Flores), were all there, and no one said anything about his odd expressions!

First, he’d peek over at Oliver, who was sitting in silence, picking at his food, but not eating much. Then he’d tip his head toward the door, as if that were some kind of signal. Then back at Oliver. Then Julian would tip his head to Cora. I swear, I thought his head would fall off his shoulders, if he kept going like that.

Finally, Aunt Cora noticed!

“Is everything okay, Julian?” Aunt Cora asked him. “Do you have a neck ache?” She rose from the table. “I have this lovely new salve I bought at the store.”

I’d seen the salve on the counter. The label had said it could cure everything from aches and pains to the pox.

“No, no,” Julian said, rising from his own seat. “Don’t get up, Aunt Cora.” He put a hand on his neck, indicating that it really was the problem, and told her, “Lucky can help me.”

I tried to protest. I wasn’t done eating, and the last thing I wanted was to be alone with Julian in the kitchen.

“Thanks, Cora,” my dad chimed in. “Lucky, be sure to smear the salve all over his neck.”

Kate said, “That’s sure to help.”

“And give him a nice massage,” Aunt Cora added.

Ugh! Yuck. The worst part was I had no choice, because Con Boy Cousin was now holding his head in both hands and groaning, as if he were in pain.

“I’ll show you pain,” I whispered, and followed him into the kitchen.

“Ha!” Julian said once we were inside, letting go of his neck and rotating it freely. He popped up to sit on the counter. Aunt Cora would kill me if I did that. She probably wouldn’t care if it was Julian, because he’d tell her some story about how his knees hurt and he couldn’t stand. Or how he was helping me reach something high.

“I wanted to warn you about Oliver,” Julian said. “He’s not talking.”

“I noticed that,” I said. In fact, I hadn’t heard him speak. Not on the street when we met and not yet at dinner.

“Well, I recommended he not speak to anyone but me until this camp thing is sorted out,” Julian said. “I’ve given him a little daily incentive to hold him to it, too… a nickel a day.” He zipped his lips. “He’s not supposed to say a single word.”

Huh? What? I had no idea what was going on.

“It’s all part of making sure you keep the PALs’ fun camp promise.” He clicked his tongue. “See, Oliver is a nice kid. He’d probably tell you he was having a great time all summer, just to spare your feelings, and then we’d never really know if he was having any fun! If he’s just quiet, then we’ll know for sure. Now, I know it’ll be a bit of a challenge… but aren’t you up for that, RF?”

I’m always up for a challenge, but this seemed unfair. “How am I supposed to get him to have fun at camp if he won’t talk?” Not talking? Not even grunting? Total silence? Uh, yeah, this is a problem. I can’t ever trust Julian! He not only set me up to watch his brother all summer, but now he tells me he’s paying Oliver not to talk!

“What are you up to?” I asked him.

He didn’t reply. Instead, he said, “It’s all about having fun, right? This will make you work a little harder to make sure everyone has fun.” He smiled. “I’m helping.”

That didn’t seem like helping to me. “What are you going to do while I’m working extra hard to make sure Oliver has fun?”

“I have ideas…” Julian told me. Then he said, “Don’t forget, I’m only paying you if Oliver has a good time. If he talks, you’ll know he’s having fun. This way you might even know before I do.” He made that sound like a bonus.

That makes me wonder how he can afford to pay us at all, knowing he needs money for himself. I’ll ask Pru and Abigail later, but what will we do if he never pays us? Knowing Julian, it’s possible.

“So what do you have scheduled for the first day?” he asked me. There was a light in his eyes, and I swear he was taking mental notes.

Abigail, Pru, and I already have a list of activities and games ready. Because we love horses, we are using a lot of horse ideas.

“Prancing Ponies and a rodeo race. We’ve got a piñata that looks like a wild stallion, and we’re planning a blindfolded trust walk around bales of hay.” When I told him all that, Julian grinned. He said the camp sounds “Western Wonderful,” which makes me wonder if it isn’t. Oh, he has snuck into my head and is confusing me! Did he mean it or not? What is he up to?

I’m working hard to shake my doubts away. No matter what Julian does, PALs Camp is going to be so much fun that Oliver will forget his deal with Julian and start chatting—maybe he’ll talk even more than Snips!

I’m determined to get Oliver to speak right away. I just have to show him that taking money from his brother is a bad idea. Being like Julian is another bad idea. I’m going to have to reverse that, and fast.

Julian jumped down from the counter and found Aunt Cora’s salve. “Glad we had this little talk,” he said, unscrewing the lid. “Eww. Stinky.” He took a big dollop and smeared it on his neck. Then he smeared some on my arm, so we smelled the same way: bad.

Before I could complain, he tossed the salve into my hands and said it was all part of the illusion, then dashed into the dining room.

He told Aunt Cora that I “give a lovely massage” and have “magic fingers.” But all I cared about was that I smelled awful and my dinner was cold.

Until Julian suggested I use the salve on Aunt Cora after dinner.

Julian! He’d conned everyone, and now I couldn’t refuse rubbing Cora’s neck. “Sure,” I said, giving him a side-eyed glance. He winked.

I knew that Oliver sat watching all this, and I could see he was soaking it in. If I don’t show him a good time at camp, he’ll turn out exactly like Julian. I have to stop that!

Project Save Oliver begins first thing in the morning.