The bus bumped down the dusty trail to Camp Eagle. Carmen looked out the bus window. She watched as they turned a corner and a shimmering lake came into view. She couldn’t see it completely. Part of the lake was blocked by trees and a half-dozen cabins. Still, the early morning sunlight bounced off the surface of the water. Soon the rest of the camp was visible too: a big green field with a thick forest beyond that.
Carmen looked across the aisle at her brother, Domingo. His body bobbed with the motion of the bus. His eyes were closed, and she could hear the faint sound of music coming from his earbuds.
“Domingo, wake up, we’re here,” Carmen told her brother.
“I am awake,” he said sleepily.
“Well then get moving! I want to take a look around.”
Domingo stretched and yawned. Then, barely opening his eyes, he stood up and grabbed his duffel bag. Carmen grabbed her own bag and set off up the aisle. Her drowsy brother followed along behind her.
Carmen hopped off the bus and into the bright summer day and took a deep breath. Then she heard a thump thump and quickly stepped out of the way as Domingo nearly fell out of the bus. The sunlight reflected off the lake and onto his face. He squinted, holding his arm up to cover his eyes.
Carmen pushed her brother toward the rest of the campers who just got off the bus. “Let’s get a move on, little bro.”
“Five minutes!” Domingo snapped. “You are only five minutes older!”
Carmen smiled. She knew their twin rivalry would be enough to finally start shaking him awake.
Walking side by side, it was pretty obvious they were twins. They both had dark curly hair, although Carmen’s was much longer and ended just above her shoulders. And after spending nearly the entire summer outside, their normally light-brown skin had tanned to a warm copper.
Usually they would stand apart in their personal fashion sense. Carmen typically wore her trademark hoodie, and Domingo sported a different band tee for each day of the month. But since they were both here to race, they wore matching Camp Loon cross-country uniforms: a black sleeveless track shirt with a printed loon and short shorts.
Carmen shivered as a breeze from the field blew past. She had left her hoodie at Camp Loon, and she already regretted it.
“So, this is Camp Eagle,” Carmen said as the two walked from the bus lot to an open-air dining area.
“It doesn’t look much different from Camp Loon,” replied Domingo. He put his headphones away in his duffel.
The twins had spent the last month of the summer at Camp Loon. During the day they trained for crosscountry, and at night they played games, told ghost stories, and hung out with the other campers. But the whole month had led up to today.
Camp Loon was part of a larger program of camps including Hawk, Blue Jay, and Eagle. And on the last Saturday of the summer session, all four camps gathered for the Mega Meet. To Carmen, and probably most of the campers, the Mega Meet was what she had spent all camp thinking about. It was a way to see how much you had improved over the past month.
And of course there were the prizes. The fastest runners during each of the boys’ and girls’ races would win four tickets to the water park. After a summer of running outdoors, nothing sounded better. But there was another big reason Carmen and Domingo wanted to win today.
The siblings had a tradition of recording each other’s races. Afterward, they would watch the footage and talk about how to improve. However, their cell phone cameras were not the best at this. Their parents had made a deal with the twins before camp started: they would buy the kids a better camera if they won their races. It encouraged Carmen and her brother to take camp seriously and train hard.
Carmen was deep in a camera-shopping daydream when she reached the information tables. One of their camp counselors, Larry, outlined the schedule for the day. Larry was a very tall high schooler who wore sunglasses all day—even inside. Larry acted like he was the “cool” counselor, but if you asked the other campers, that title was up for debate.
“Y’all ready to run?” Larry asked.
The crowd of campers mostly groaned. Carmen glanced at them. Like her brother, they all looked pretty tired from staying up late telling ghost stories. Carmen had made a point to go to bed early, in preparation for today.
Larry ignored the campers and continued. “The boys’ race will be starting at nine a.m. That’s a half hour from now. The girls’ race will start at ten-thirty. Afterward there will be a big all-camp barbecue before we hop back on the bus to Camp Loon.”
As Larry talked, Carmen heard the rumble of other buses. She turned to see the buses from Camp Hawk and Camp Blue Jay roll in. Meanwhile the Eagle campers were filing out of their cabins to check out their competition.
“Ugh, they act like they own the place,” Carmen muttered to her brother.
“Why do you say that?” Domingo asked.
Carmen gestured with her head in the direction of an Eagle camper. The girl had her arms crossed and was glaring at Carmen, and now her brother. When Domingo made eye contact, the Eagle camper smirked. Domingo gave a big goofy wave.
“Why would you do that?” Carmen hissed.
Domingo shrugged. “I dunno. To cut the tension,” he said, turning away from the Eagle campers. “Now let’s go take a look at the course.”
“Whatever,” Carmen replied, “Let’s look around.”
“That’s what I just said!” Domingo replied.
They left their duffel bags on the table and headed toward the start of the racecourse.
“I don’t know why you let other people bother you like that,” Domingo said as they walked past the cabins.
“It just seems silly to have an attitude. I mean this Mega Meet is cool and all, but it’s not like it’s the world championship or something,” Carmen answered.
“Whatever,” Domingo said, giving an exaggerated shrug. “I just let that stuff brush right off me.”
Carmen rolled her eyes. He was right, however. It did her no good to get upset ahead of a race. But she also knew her brother. They were twins, after all. Underneath his carefree, playful attitude, he took running as seriously as she did. And while the other campers didn’t seem to intimidate him, they were still his competition. Carmen watched from behind as her brother stepped onto the course and relaxed his body. He was focused.
“All right,” he asked, “what do you see?”
The course was marked with orange cones. Together they began to walk and analyze the course. In some places the course even had boundary lines painted by the camp.
“Take a look at the path here,” Carmen said. She gestured to where it moved closer to the lake. “There’s much less grass, just dry, cracked dirt.” She looked up and down the course. It looked to be the standard width, about six yards wide. Enough room to give runners the chance to pass each other safely.
The two kept walking. After a hundred yards or so, the course curved sharply left and followed the bend of the lake. Domingo and Carmen stood for a moment at the bend.
“This is a really sharp turn,” Carmen said.
“And so early in the race,” added Domingo. “Everyone is going to clump up here for the shortest route.”
“They have to if they want to win,” Carmen said. She thought back to one of their first lessons at Camp Loon. Even though you have lots of room on a course, there is always an ideal lane you should try to be in.
“Remember to hug the corner,” they both said at the same time. They laughed and continued down the path.
For the next few hundred yards, the course followed the lake. It curved, slowly, toward the forest. Carmen and her brother entered the forest and were covered in shade. The course was just as wide in the forest. However, the dense wall of trees made everything feel cramped.
Inside the forest, the course curved slowly to the right. Once you were far enough in, you couldn’t see very far ahead or behind. The ground here was a mix of grass, moss, and—mud! Carmen looked over to see her brother, eyes on the canopy above, inches from a puddle.
“Careful!” Carmen shouted, pulling her brother away from the muddy puddle. “Looks like the rain from last night still hasn’t dried up in here.” Carmen pointed ahead to a few puddles dotting the path.
“Thanks. Wouldn’t want to get my kicks dirty,” Domingo jokingly pointed to his shoes, which were already covered in grass stains and dirt from a summer in nature.
“Sure, you would be fine now, but at least be careful during the race,” she said. “Might get a little slippery.” “Of course,” he said more seriously. “As long as we keep our eyes on the ground in here it shouldn’t cause too much trouble.”
They continued for a few hundred yards more, keeping an eye on the muddy forest floor. After a few minutes of walking, they exited the forest. From here they could see the rest of the course. A simple run across a grassy field heading back to camp.
Suddenly the sound of a whistle cut through the air. “That’s the ten-minute warning,” Domingo stated. “I’d better warm up properly.” Then he jogged away.
While her brother went to get ready, Carmen had other work to do. She looked around the course to decide the best spot to watch, one where she could also record the race. The field was too simple. The forest would have bad lighting.
“The bend,” she said to herself. She headed back toward the lake, her cell phone in hand.