9 The Queen’s Garbage

THE QUEEN'S GARBAGE The last day of Camp Flaming Arrow started out quietly. In front of the tent, Harlan and Franny and Dino and Sophie W. gathered around Ivy and Bean. Juanito and Leo were hiding inside the tent. The Puppet Fun! counselor had given up on Ella and the three zombies as long as they promised to stay in Monkey Park, so they were there, too. Everyone was listening to Ivy. Ivy was going to read from a book called Daredevils in Dresses: Heroines of History. "Boudicca, Queen of the Britons," Ivy read. She looked up. "Boudicca had red hair, like me."

Boudicca, it turned out, was a tough patootie who had lived a long time ago. When her husband died, she was supposed to get his kingdom, but the rotten Roman governor said ha, ha, I'm the governor and I get what I want.

He took her kingdom and he even threw her in jail. But then he made a big mistake. He went on vacation. Boudicca escaped from jail and told all the men in her kingdom to get off their duffs and fight for her. But they said no. They were wimps. Boudicca said fine, I'll do it myself, and she led an army from her chariot. A chariot is a bitty carriage pulled by horses. Boudicca swung her sword left and right and mowed down all the Romans in sight. There was a very interesting picture of that in the book. "And when the

governor heard that Boudicca was coming in her chariot, he and his army ran away," read Ivy. "With their knees quaking in terror." "Quaking in terror," Bean repeated. Boudicca was brave. Boudicca was cool. There was a silence while they all thought about Boudicca. "Now," said Ivy, putting the book down, "it's time for hands-on learning." Bean nodded like she knew what that was. Maybe someone else would ask. "Hands-on what?" said Dino. "Hands-on learning means I get to be Boudicca first, because I have red hair," said Ivy. "Bean's my sister. You guys," she pointed at Sophie W., Dino, Ella, and the zombies, "you're the Roman Army. The rest of you," she waved her hand, "are the Briton warriors."

The Roman Army slept peacefully on the grass. Little did they know that Queen Boudicca, her sister Bean, and the Briton warriors were creeping up on them. They didn't know it until Bean leaped out from behind a bush, screeching "Surrender, Roman dogs!"

Two of the zombies caved at once, but Dino, Sophie W., and Ella put up a good fight. In fact, they chased Harlan around until he surrendered, which was not what was supposed to happen. They put him in jail, but he was bravely rescued by Queen Boudicca and her sister, who duked it out, stick to stick, with Dino and Ella. Juanito double-crossed the queen by switching sides halfway through, but then Leo caught him and put him in chains, which was okay because the chains were really jackets. The two zombies decided they wanted to be Briton warriors instead of Roman soldiers. Bean