After the Flag Ceremony, Henry and Jessie fetched their trunks. They quickly dropped them off at their cabins. In no time, they caught up to everyone heading to Evergreen Lodge for breakfast. It was Blueberry Pancake Day. Nobody wanted to miss that!
Jessie’s and Henry’s tables were next to each other. Luckily for Violet, Kim’s table was nearby as well. The Aldens liked meeting new campers. But they also liked seeing one another at camp.
Jessie turned around to see how Benny was doing. “Are you going to eat that whole stack of blueberry pancakes?” she asked.
Benny wiped some sticky maple syrup from the corners of his mouth. “Grandfather said I should only have a tiny piece of toast in case my stomach did flip-flops on the ferry. I saved being hungry for breakfast at camp.”
“I guess you did, by the look of your plate,” Henry said. “Now the Dolphins don’t have to worry about losing points for the No Food on the Floor Award.”
A loud drumming sound boomed over the noisy dining hall. Ginny was onstage banging a metal serving spoon against a metal soup pot from the camp kitchen.
“I think Ginny and Rich are about to announce who won the Big Idea,” Jessie said. “I hope the Dolphins have a good chance.”
Daisy squeezed Jessie’s hand. “I can’t wait. Maybe our cabin will win. Do you want to know what our idea is?” Daisy asked a boy Dolphin at Henry’s table.
“Shhhh, no telling,” Jessie told Daisy just in time.
After everyone finally quieted down, Ginny tapped the microphone. “I know you’re all eager to find out who the Big Idea winner is. We won’t keep you waiting any longer. As your counselors told you, for our new Olympics we asked all the cabins to think up ways to make Camp Seagull the best ever. The Big Idea Medal is for the best of the bunch — the idea that pulls the whole camp together.”
Ginny stepped away from the microphone so Rich could speak. “We were up half the night trying to decide on the winner. There were so many great entries, we’d have to run Camp Seagull all year ’round to try them all out. Now, after I announce the idea we chose, I’d like the winning counselor to come up. Drumroll, please.”
Ginny banged on the soup pot again. The campers banged on their tables with their silverware. Evergreen Lodge was jumping!
“And the winner is . . . Me and My Buddy!” Rich yelled into the microphone.
“We won! We won!” the Dolphins at Jessie’s table yelled.
“We won! We won!” the Seals at Kim’s table yelled.
Ginny banged the soup pot again to get everyone’s attention. “For the first time this summer, we have two identical outstanding ideas,” Ginny announced when everyone quieted down. “Because Me and My Buddy is so special, I’d like to recognize Jessie’s Dolphins. Come up here and take a bow, Jessie.”
Jessie stepped onstage, confused. The audience was confused, too. Only a few campers clapped.
“Now let’s hear it for the Seals, who submitted their idea first,” Ginny cried. “Come on up for your group, Kim.”
“What? No fair,” one Dolphin after another muttered.
Jessie tried to say something to make her campers feel better, but her lips wouldn’t move.
Ginny tapped the microphone with her pencil. “Now, now. Let’s all be good sports. It’s only fair to give the medal to the group that came up with the idea first.”
Rich took the microphone. “I hereby award one hundred points to the Seals, along with a special banner to the girls of Birch Cabin.” Rich shook Kim’s hand, then gave her the Cabin of the Week banner. “The Seals move to the front in the Olympics. Let’s hear it for the Seals and for Birch!”
The Birch Cabin Seals ran to the stage. They helped Kim hold up the banner.
“Go, Seals!” the Seals roared.
When the cheering died down, Rich explained the winning idea and then made the morning announcements. “Now it’s time to clean your tables and bring your plates to the kitchen. Then you’ll return to your cabins for morning cabin inspection. After that, everyone goes to activities. Meanwhile, we hope you will find Buddies and Buddies will find you to help each other the rest of the week.”
The Dolphins were quiet as they cleared their tables.
Jessie wiped up every drip and speck. She didn’t want the Dolphins to fall further behind. “I’m so sorry I somehow let you down,” Jessie said to the girls as they were cleaning up. “I never thought someone else would come up with our same idea and that I should have gotten it to Ginny before the Seals did.”
Jessie’s Dolphins were too disappointed to say anything.
“Dolphins,” Henry said to make everyone feel better, “the Seals are ahead now, but this is only the beginning of camp.”
“I’ll be your Buddy, Jessie,” Daisy said as the group walked back to the cabins for inspection.
This made Jessie smile. “If there’s a Big Heart Award, you’ll win it, Daisy.” She turned to the other Dolphins. “Here are your schedules for today’s activities. Start walking to the first activity. Henry and I will meet you there in a few minutes.”
“Can I stay with you?” Benny asked his brother and sister. “Henry gave me my schedule already. Look, here comes Violet.”
The four Aldens stood on the porch without speaking. They looked at the campers below, who were excited to start the day. Were they ever going to feel that way about Camp Seagull?
“We just arrived at camp,” Jessie began, “and too many things keep happening that don’t make sense. First our trunks are left behind. Next you can’t find the flags, Henry. Then Kim’s group somehow comes up with the same idea as the Dolphins.”
“And Lizzie doesn’t obey and keeps on disappearing,” Henry said. “Don’t forget that.”
“Right,” Jessie went on. “I have a feeling she and Kim tried to scare the Dolphins with the monster footprints so we’d lose points for screaming. But the big thing is what just happened. I have a feeling Kim somehow got Me and My Buddy from our group. But how?”
Henry looked at Violet. “I know you can’t really talk about how your cabin decided on its Big Idea. But did anything happen that seemed suspicious?”
Jessie stopped her sister before she could answer. “Violet, you really shouldn’t say anything about this.”
Violet wanted to help, but she stopped herself. She knew Jessie was right.
Henry shook his head and said, “There’s got to be a way to find out if Kim copied you.”
Jessie turned to Violet. “It’s time to send you on your way,” she said. “It wouldn’t be fair for you to hear our plans for solving this mystery.”
Violet walked slowly back to her cabin.
Benny looked over at Henry. Henry’s eyebrows were scrunched together. Benny knew what that meant. Henry was cooking up a plan.
Henry began, “On Costume Night, we’ll let the Dolphins think we’re going to dress up one way, but we’ll really have secret costumes!”
“You mean, we’ll tell everybody we’re going to be ghosts, but then we’ll be pirates?” Benny asked.
“Exactly!” Henry said. “The only problem is figuring out how to let Ginny and Rich know what our real costumes are ahead of time.”
“We could give them a letter in an envelope beforehand,” Jessie suggested, “and tell them not to open it until after the costume contest. If somebody shows up with the same costumes, then they’ll know who the copycats are.”
“Not the Aldens,” Benny said. “We’re not copycats.”
“Let’s do it,” Henry said.
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