Page 22 of Let's Go To Camp!

“And how to pull them off with expert skill.”

***

It was twenty minutes after the presentation ended when the last Littles, besides Maisie, Naomi, and Sophia, cleared out.

Everyone had stayed to get selfies or autographs with Eli. He didn’t seem to mind one bit, either, never appearing to be in a rush.

Maisie and the others approached him as he was gathering his things and sliding them into the backpack he’d brought.

“Eli?” she said.

He looked up and smiled. “Hi.”

There was a genuine warmth in his big, brown eyes.

“Hello. We were wondering if we could talk to you about something.”

He shoved the last of his papers into the bag, nodded, and then walked toward the front row of chairs. He grabbed some, arranged them in a semi-circle, and sat.

The women sat, too.

“We don’t want to take up too much of your time,” Maisie said.

Eli shook his head. “Don’t worry about that. I’m not in a hurry. And I can tell this is important. What’s up?”

The Littles introduced themselves and then launched into the story recounting last night’s events, along with who they suspected was behind it, with each of them rather animated as they told the tale.

“That’s a lot,” Eli said with a sympathetic nod. “I, obviously, appreciate a good prank—and a prank war—but it sounds like this was completely unprovoked.”

“It was!” Maisie said. “And I’m certain Derek was behind it. I feel bad that my friends are caught in the middle of our rivalry.”

“Don’t worry about that,” Naomi said. “I’m with you all the way.”

“Me, too!” Sophia said. “A hundred percent.”

“Thank you both,” Maisie said.

Eli was smiling thoughtfully as he watched the display. “Good friends are a treasure,” he noted. “The ones I have back in Mountainville have become family to me.”

Maisie turned her attention back to him. “What would you do in this situation?”

“Well, if I were a mature, responsible person, I would just let the camp authorities handle this.”

Everyone laughed.

“But since I’m Eli…I’d get some proof. You don’t want to retaliate against an innocent person, so it’s important to make sure you have the right people.”

“Gotcha!” Maisie said with an emphatic nod.

“Then, I’d hit back. Hard. Hard enough to put an end to this before it escalated anymore,” Eli explained. “The camp shops don’t sell water guns or silly string since both are against the rules. That means Derek and his friends brought these. Now, they didn’t know you were going to be here, but they were obviously planning to pick onsomeone.”

“Hey, I didn’t think of that!” Maisie said.

“Malice aforethought,” Eli said. “Or some kind of legal term like that.” He shrugged. “All I know is they sound like bullies. And it seems like they have some payback coming.” He grinned devilishly. “I’m leaving this afternoon. I just came in to do this presentation. But…I can send some stuff to help out. Can you hold on another day?”

“You bet!” Maisie said.

“We’ll take all the help we can get,” Naomi added. “And that will give us time to try and prove it’s Derek and whoever his friends are.”

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