Gabe would have been satisfied with only having the four successes to report to C2. But instead of homework and activities, the whole camp was going to the theater to compete in Color War Jeopardy! And that was when they had their second bit of luck—and a surprise that was just as exciting as when Color War broke.
Following the counselors, the campers marched into the theater and filed into seats. Streamers of different colors were strung between the seats to demarcate where each team was meant to sit. The curtain was drawn across the stage.
Once everyone was seated, the counselors ran up onto the stage in front of the curtain.
“Is everyone ready for Jeopardy!?” one of them shouted.
Everyone nodded. A few people clapped. One kid in the back said, “Yeah!”
The counselor put her hands on her hips. “I can’t hear you!” she yelled. “I said, IS EVERYONE READY FOR JEOPARDY!?”
This time, everyone clapped and whistled and stomped and roared.
“That’s more like it!” she cried. “Here we go!”
The Jeopardy! theme song came blasting over the speakers as the curtain opened. Everyone sang along and then broke into applause again. It was a real Jeopardy! set—podiums, buzzers, a tower of blue screens, and all!
The theme song ended, and the camp director’s voice took its place. “Welcome to SCGE Color War Jeopardy! Here’s your host, Alex Trebek!”
And then the most incredible thing happened. Alex Trebek came walking out onto the stage. The whole theater erupted into cheers.
“That’s Alex Trebek!” Gabe screamed. “The real guy from TV!”
“Maybe it just looks like him,” said Nikhil, but his voice betrayed his excitement.
“No, that’s Alex Trebek!” squealed Wesley. “Do you see him? That’s really him.”
Gabe had heard that once or twice in the past, a celebrity showed up to break Color War. But Color War had already broken. Having the actual host of Jeopardy! for their game was an amazing bonus.
With such large teams, each person only got to stand at the podium and attempt to answer one question per round. Green Nation did well until Double Jeopardy!, when a whole string of Red players knew U.S. presidents the way Gabe and his bunkmates knew digits of Pi.
For Final Jeopardy!, each team was allowed to come up with an answer as a group. The category “Native Species” had Green confident enough to wager more than half of their points. If they got it right and Red got it wrong, they could move up to first place.
The whole theater was silent as Alex read the clue.
“Native to this region but rarely seen at Summer Center, this harmless snake has red blotches and a name that belongs in your breakfast cereal.”
The clue was accompanied by a picture of a long, tan snake with big red blotches. Each blotch was outlined in black, like it came right out of a coloring book. Even though the clue said the snake was harmless, some people couldn’t help but gasp at the sight of the photo.
The Green team, bunched up and anxious, whispered frantically while the Jeopardy! theme song played.
“Is that a garter snake?”
“No, those are brown.”
“I held a boa constrictor once.”
“Don’t you know all about snakes?”
“No, I know all about lizards.”
“Quiet!” said C2. “Does anyone know the answer for sure?”
No one spoke.
“What about that breakfast cereal thing,” said Gabe.
“What does that mean?”
“This harmless snake has a name that belongs in your breakfast cereal,” Wesley read.
“Raisin snake?” guessed one girl. “A lot of cereals have raisins.”
“Lemon juice snake, if it might have bacteria,” mumbled Nikhil.
“Spoon snake!” said someone else. “You eat cereal with a spoon!”
What is it? Gabe thought. What is it?
The song was coming to a close, and the team had to write down an answer. In the last few seconds, another girl said, “Do raisin snake. Those red spots can kind of look like raisins.”
C2 scribbled down “What is Raisin Snake?” just as the music hit its final note. Everyone waited for the correct answer, but only the Blue team looked happy.
The Yellow team wrongly guessed King Cobra, and their score dropped dramatically. Gabe wasn’t too surprised when Raisin Snake was wrong too. Now they had to hope Blue and Red got it wrong and had wagered a lot. Blue’s answer was Red Spotted Snake, which was also wrong—but they were still happy, because they’d wagered nothing. That left them in second place behind Red.
“Red Nation,” said Alex, “let’s see your response.”
They held up their card. It read, what is milk snake?
“Milk snake,” said Alex, “or, native to this region, eastern milk snake, is correct! Let’s see what you wagered.”
It didn’t matter what Red had wagered—it was clear that they’d won.
Disappointed at the outcome but still enthralled by the spectacle of the whole event, all the campers lined up to get Alex Trebek’s autograph.
“Milk snake,” said Wesley. “Why didn’t we think of that?”
“I know,” said Gabe. “Cereal and milk—it’s so obvious.”
Nikhil motioned for the camp director to come over. “Are there really eastern milk snakes in this area?” he asked gravely.
The director shrugged. “They’re native to this region, yes, but no one’s ever seen one in my time here, and that’s going on twenty years. But even if you did, they look scary, but they’re one hundred percent harmless.”
“You’re sure?” Nikhil asked. Just to be safe.
The director patted his shoulder. “Positive.”
“We can’t find our scavenger hunt stuff, and now we lose this,” said Wesley. “I can’t believe they knew the eastern milk snake.”
“Now I’ll know it forever,” said Gabe, looking at the photo of the snake on the big screen.
“We’re not out of luck in the scavenger hunt!” Nikhil realized, forgetting the snake. “Let’s ask David to take a picture of us with Alex Trebek—a photo of teammates with a real celebrity!”
Their high spirits restored, they got the host’s autograph and took a photo. Wesley, beaming, said, “This is even better than meeting Shamu.”
Alex Trebek raised his eyebrows and said, “Thank you.”
Problem: Am I a nerd who only has nerdy adventures?
Hypothesis: No.
Proof:
THINGS I CAN TELL ZACK |
THINGS I CAN’T TELL ZACK |
1. I’m going to sleepaway camp for six weeks! |
1. It is the Summer Center for Gifted Enrichment. |
2. My bunkmates are really cool, and we became friends right away! |
2. They like learning digits of π. |
3. The food is bad, just like at camps in books and movies! |
3. We fixed it with lemon juice to kill the bacteria. |
4. I’m being stalked by an annoying girl! |
4. She is in my Logical Reasoning and Poetry Writing classes. |
5. I creamed Amanda in a sing-off! |
5. We sang all the countries of the world. |
6. We put music and sports pictures on our walls. |
6. They are of Beethoven and the rules of badminton. |
7. Wesley says amazing things in his sleep! |
7. He solves math problems. 7a. and brainteasers. |
8. I tried some cool hairstyles that lots of girls said looked cute. |
8. One is named for Julius Caesar. |
9. Vampire lice are sucking the blood out of people’s heads! |
9. We learned all about the Pediculus humanus capitis and their life cycle. |
10. It was an operation to study the science of lice. |
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11. I hung out with the coolest guy at camp! |
11. His nickname is C2, and he is so smart, he skipped two grades. |
12. Color War broke with aliens landing in the middle of the night! |
12. Our algorithm was off by a few days. |
13. Green won 90 points in field day! |
13. A rocket crashed into the water-balloon toss because the teacher added too much calcium carbide. |
14. We got three five of our scavenger hunt items. |
14. They are include a simile, a metaphor, and a word from the dictionary. |
15. A celebrity came to camp, and I got a picture with him! |
15. He’s the host of a game show for smart people. |