The sun was high in the sky as Maya and I led our campers through the woods on the southwest edge of camp property. “What other leaves can we find?” I asked. I already held a fistful of different-shaped leaves that we’d matched to a chart Deborah had given us. So far on our nature hike, we’d seen six kinds of bugs and seven different species of birds, and we’d found poop—we called it “scat” at camp—from a raccoon and a rabbit.
“Here’s a funny one!” Cece knelt down and picked up a leaf from the ground that had rounded edges. “It looks like it has polka dots.”
Maya ran over. “Oh, cool!” she said. “I think that might be from a sassafras tree. Smell it—does it smell like root beer?”
“It does!” Cece said excitedly.
Maya turned to me. “Nancy, can you hand me the chart?”
“Sure.” I took out the folded paper and handed it to my CIT with a smile. It was great to see the girls get so excited about finding new things in nature!
But as most of the girls surrounded Maya and Cece with curious expressions, someone tugged on my wrist. “Hey, Nancy?”
I turned around. Winnie and Katie stood before me, both wearing troubled expressions. “What’s up, guys?”
Winnie bit her lip as Katie whispered, “Can we talk to you in private?”
“Sure.” I turned back and called to Maya, “Comfort stop!” That’s what we said when someone had to use the bathroom on a hike. It was the only reason I could think of for the three of us to separate from the others without questions. Maya nodded that she’d heard me, but kept chatting with the group.
“Come on.” I led Winnie and Katie up over a little hill and down the other side, where we wouldn’t be seen or heard by the others. “What’s going on, guys? From your expressions, it looks kind of important.”
Winnie and Katie looked at each other, then back at me. “We have something to tell you,” Winnie said.
“What is it?” I asked. I assumed it was going to be something about a disagreement between two of the girls, or some other piece of gossip that Winnie and Katie felt I should know. My bunk got along well, but it seemed like there were always little undercurrents of tension in a group this size. And as BFFs, Winnie and Katie seemed to think of themselves as Friendship Experts.
“Last night?” Katie began nervously. “Before the flood?”
Immediately I became more serious. “You have information about the flood?” I asked. “Did you see anyone?”
Katie looked nervously at Winnie.
“Kind of?” Winnie asked, twirling a lock of hair around her finger. “I mean, it may be nothing. But before the flood . . . like, just a few minutes before . . .” She looked at Katie.
“Something woke me up,” Katie filled in. “It was like a thud, probably someone’s feet hitting the floor. And I looked around and saw Harper getting up and heading for the bathroom.”
I felt a sudden rush of adrenaline. Harper? “How soon was this before the flood?” I asked.
Katie shrugged. “I’m not sure, but it couldn’t have been long, because I rolled over to go back to sleep, and the next thing I knew I heard Kiki yelling.”
I took in a breath, trying to calm my fluttering heart. Could Harper be behind the flood? But maybe she just had to go to the bathroom. It was possible. We all got up during the night sometimes. But then I thought, It actually makes sense that someone from our bunk would have turned on the faucets and showers. It meant that nobody would have had to sneak in, which would have been difficult. The only entrance to the cabin opened right into the main room with the bunk beds, and the culprit would have had to walk by all the sleeping campers, plus me and Maya, to get to the bathroom. Then that person would have had to hope no one woke up from the noise, and sneak past all of us again to get back out.
I sighed, and suddenly became aware that Katie and Winnie had been staring at me for a few seconds, waiting for a response. “Thank you for telling me,” I said finally, looking at them with sincere gratitude. “I’m sure it wasn’t easy. And I’m not sure this means Harper had anything to do with the flood, but I’ll look into it. Okay?”
“Okay,” said Katie, at the same time Winnie said, “We didn’t want to get her in trouble!”
“You haven’t,” I said, putting my hands on each of their shoulders. “You’ve just given me some questions to ask. Okay?”