Chapter 9

Chapter nine, A few seconds later, we heard a door slam, then footsteps sloshing through the mud. They were coming toward our tepee. I gulped. Cheerio buried his head in my lap, and Emily buried her head in my mom's lap. "It's probably just the groundskeeper, Elvis What's-his-name," Frankie said. "It's Jed What's-his-name," I answered. The footsteps grew closer and closer. "Where is everyone?" a voice called out. Wait a minute. I knew that voice. "We're in here, Dad!" I shouted. "In where? I don't see the tent." "It's a tepee now. Come in!"

I lifted a side and stuck my head out. My dad got down on his knees and crawled in. "I was so worried," he said. "I should never have left you guys." "Hank took very good care of us," my mom told him. "The tent blew totally away," Emily chimed in, "and Hank went out in the dark and found it." "I lost our flashlight, though, Dad. I'm sorry." My dad reached out and put his arm around my shoulder. "Don't you even think about that," he said. "You did a great job looking after everyone. I was the one who got scared, but you—you were the brave one. You showed a lot of courage. And you took responsibility. I'm so proud of you, son." My ears nearly flew off my head. Usually my dad tells me that I need to take more responsibility. But here he was telling me how

proud he was of me. Wow, that made me so happy. "Thanks, Dad," I said. "But I have to tell you that Frankie helped me a lot." "I bet he did." My dad reached out and put his other arm around Frankie. "You boys are good friends." "And the important thing is that we're all safe and dry and together," my mom said. Just then, some rainwater dribbled in through the crack where the pole was attached to the tent. "Well, pretty dry," I said. "A little water never hurt anyone," my dad said. "We're not going to melt, are we, kids?" "We could go back to the car for shelter," my mom said. "We like it in here," Frankie and I said. "Okay," my dad said. "Let's settle in until the rain stops. I'm not leaving you guys ever

again." We snuggled together in our tepee and listened to the rain. In the green glow of the light stick, it seemed very peaceful in there. Even my dad was calm. "I have a great idea," my mom said after a while. "How about a little snack to take our minds off the rain." She looked around the tepee. "I don't see the red-and-white food cooler." "We used it to hold down the tepee," Frankie said. "Do you want me to go out and get stuff from it?" I asked. "Thanks, Hank, but it's my turn," Dad said.

He crawled under the tepee flap, and I heard him rustling around in the cooler. When he returned, he was carrying plastic baggies filled with graham crackers, marshmallows, and chocolate squares. "S'mores!" we cheered. "Except we don't have a fire," Emily pointed out. "How are we going to melt everything?" "Don't tell me you've never heard of Zipzer's Famous Cold S'mores?" my dad said. "They're a treat known around the world." "And we're going to make them now," my mom said. For the first time that night, she was actually laughing. She gave each of us two graham crackers, two marshmallows, and two squares of chocolate. "Now make a sandwich," she said. We all did. "And now comes the best part," she said. "Take a bite." To be very honest, I like my s'mores better with a toasted marshmallow and the chocolate

all melty and smooth. But this s'more was pretty special. As we listened to the rain drip-dropping on our tepee, I thought it was the best midnight snack I'd ever had. Suddenly, inspiration struck me. I opened my mouth and this is what came out: "Oh little s'more That I eat on the floor, You make me so warm and happy. You give me joy Even more than a toy Because you're delicious and snappy." Everyone stopped chewing and looked at me. "Listen to you, Zip," Frankie said. "That's an actual poem." "You see, Hank. I told you that you could do it." My mom smiled. "It's just a little poem," I said. "And it's not even about nature." "But it's funny," Emily said. "And it rhymes."