6 Monkey Park Gone Wild

MONKEY PARK GONE WILD

Ivy was the counselor in charge of nature study. It was only fair. She knew a lot about nature. She knew about bugs and dinosaurs and tornadoes. But what the heck was nature study? Ivy wasn't sure. So the next morning, she brought every nature-y thing she could think of to Camp Flaming Arrow. "Please be seated," said Ivy to Harlan and Franny. They sat. "These are our nature study materials. Our kit." That was good. A kit sounded like something a counselor would have. "This is a magnifying glass." She held it up. "We know," said Franny. "Shh," said Bean. Ivy held up a pair of goggles. "These are goggles. They protect your eyes during explosions." "Explosions?" said Harlan. Ivy held up binoculars. "For seeing things that are far away." "Like what?" said Franny. "What are we going to see?"

"Shh," said Bean. "Paper bags," said Ivy, waving them. "For specimens." "What specimens?" said Franny. "I don't see any specimens." "Hey," said Bean. "The counselor is always right." "I don't think this is real nature study," grumbled Franny. "Let's do more crafts, like yesterday." Bean was just about to get mad when Ivy spoke. "Fine," she said, like she didn't care. "If you want to go off by yourself and do crafts, that's okay. But you'll be missing a very special event. A very unusual event." She smiled. "Today's nature study is," she paused dramatically, "the Komodo dragon." "A dragon?" squeaked Harlan.

"Komodo dragons are lizards," Ivy explained. "They're longer than two grown-ups put together. Their spit is red and poison-ous. And guess what: They don't ever poop." "What do they look like?" asked Harlan. "How can they not poop?" "They look like giant brown lizards," answered Ivy. "They can't chew. They don't have any taste buds." She didn't know how they

could not poop, so she didn't answer that question. "Do they live here?" asked Harlan, looking around. "How can they not poop?" "They eat goats whole," said Ivy. "And they live here, in Monkey Park?" asked Franny. She didn't sound like she believed it. Ivy looked at Bean. "Komodo dragons are very, very rare in Monkey Park," she said. "But we might get lucky today." This was true. There might be a Komodo dragon that had escaped from the zoo. "It's just possible. In fact, I think I'd better go get my Komodo-catcher, just in case." "Really?" said Harlan. He bounced a little.

"We're going to catch one?" "Maybe," said Ivy. "I'll be right back." While Ivy ran to her house, Bean gave the campers a pep talk. At least, it started out as a pep talk. "Nature study is one of the most important parts of camp," she said. "But it's also the most dangerous." She squinted her eyes like a cowboy. "We've lost a few campers in nature study." "Lost?" asked Harlan. "Where?" Bean shook her head slowly. She was feeling more like a cowboy every minute. "Monkey Park," she drawled. "It's wild land."