7 Tappettytaptap!

TAPPETTYTAPTAP! That night, Nancy talked about her routine. A lot. "But what is it?" Bean asked. "You know. A dance. To a song. Like a music video," said Nancy. "Hello? I'm not allowed to watch music videos," said Bean. Nancy rolled her eyes. "Okay," she said. "I'll show you." She hopped up from her chair and twirled around. "And then we go like this." She walked sideways, to the right, to the left. "Then, watch this." She swung her hands up in the air and looked at them. "That's the best part," she said.

Bean wondered how that could be the best part. "Is that it?" she asked. "Yeah," said Nancy. It was the most boring dance Bean had ever seen, but she didn't say that. "Great," she said.

"That was really great." "Thanks!" said Nancy. "Isn't the arm part good?" "Yeah," said Bean, trying to sound enthusiastic. "Really good arm part. So—did you do anything else in camp today, anything besides the routine?" "First we had to decide what to wear for the routine…" Bean stopped listening. Dance. She could do a dance, and her dance wouldn't be boring. Her dance would be good. She had everything she needed for a good dance, right in her basement. There were many interesting things in Bean's basement, and one of them was a metal washtub. Bean's mom had bobbed for apples in it when she was a kid. It was big, but it wasn't so big that Bean couldn't carry it. And that was good, because the next morning, she carried it all the way to Monkey Park. Harlan and Franny were already there.

"What's that?" Harlan yelled. Bean plunked down the tub. "What are you doing here this early?" "Aunt Eartha kicked us out," said Harlan. "Harlan told her about Komodo dragons, and she got all mad," said Franny. "I think it was the poop," explained Harlan.

Juanito poked his head out of the tent. "Hi." "Hey, what are you doing here?" asked Bean. "Hiding from Coach," said Juanito. "Are we going to do that dragon thing again?" "No," said Bean. "Today is something different. We'll start as soon as Ivy gets here." Ivy came, and Leo, too. "Today, campers," said Bean, "we will be learning to dance." "Ew," said Leo. "No way." "I'm outta here," said Juanito. He started walking away. Bean held out her hand. "Thumbtacks, please, Counselor Ivy." Leo and Juanito stopped walking. Thumbtacks? "Now. First, you have to have really thick- bottomed shoes." Bean checked her campers' shoes. "Excellent. Second, you stick six thumbtacks in the bottom of each shoe. I will demonstrate." Bean felt just like her teacher, Ms. Aruba-Tate, as she bent down and stuck six thumbtacks into the bottom of each shoe. "And

now, we dance," she said. Harlan and Franny clapped. Leo and Juanito moved a little closer. Bean bowed and stepped onto the top of the tub. She tapped one foot. Then the other. Good noise. She tappety-tapped. Tappety-tap, tap, tap, ataptaptaptaptapTAPTAPTAPTAP! The noise was nice and loud. TAPPETYTAPPETYTAPPETYARAPTAPTAP! The noise was astounding. Leo and Juanito came back. "Isn't this great?" yelled Bean over her tapping.