When we got back to the Muskrat Hut that day, we had another surprise waiting. Not the good kind of surprise, of course. More like the smelly tuna-and-sardine kind.
“What is that?” Bombardier said, before we even got up the steps. He had the best sniffer of anyone, which is funny when you think about it.
But there was nothing funny about the inside of the cabin. It smelled like one giant fish market, with extra fish.
“Oh, man! I’ve got tuna under my bunk!” Cav yelled out.
“Sardines over here,” Smurf said.
When I looked under mine, there were sardines and tuna. Lots of it.
The “Cool Cabin” had struck again. Shaving cream, old fish… what was next?
“I don’t get it,” I said. “What do those guys have against us?”
“Everything,” Tunz said.
“We tried talking to Major Sherwood once,” Cav said.
“But he thinks it’s all ‘good clean fun,’ ” Smurf said. “You know how he’s always saying Camp Wannamorra men work things out for themselves? Well, this is what he’s talking about.”
It was weird. I felt like they were all saying the same stuff Norman had said about his nickname—how it’s always been that way, and there was nothing we could do about it, and blah-blah-blah.
But I wasn’t ready to just roll over, play dead, and go home at the end of the summer smelling like tuna, sardines, and defeat. It was time for us losers to start sticking together.
This was it. They weren’t going to push us around anymore. It was time to push back. Hold our ground! Get revenge…
… just as soon as we cleaned up all that fish.
“Listen, guys,” I said. “We have to do something about this.”
“What do you mean, like air freshener?” Bombardier asked.
“No. I mean—well, maybe that too,” I said. “But we’re not going to let Doolin and the Bobcats walk all over us anymore.”
“What are you saying?” Dweebs asked. “You mean they’re going to run all over us?”
All of a sudden, everyone was looking at me. Even Legend, I think, but I didn’t have the nerve to look back, especially since I didn’t have a plan yet.
But I did know where to start. First things first. (And I don’t mean the fish.)
“Who’s up for a little reconnaissance?”