The next morning Mr. Sir marched the boys to another section of the lake, and each boy dug his own hole, five feet deep and five feet wide. Stanley was glad to be away from the big hole. At least now he knew just how much he had to dig for the day. And it was a relief not to have other shovels swinging past his face, or the Warden hanging around.
He dug his shovel into the dirt, then slowly turned to dump it into a pile. He had to make his turns smooth and slow. If he jerked too quickly, he felt a throbbing pain just above his neck where Zigzag’s shovel had hit him.
That part of his head, between his neck and ear, was considerably swollen. There were no mirrors in camp, but he imagined he looked like he had a hard-boiled egg sticking out of him.
The remainder of his body hardly hurt at all. His muscles had strengthened, and his hands were tough and callused.
He was still the slowest digger, but not all that much slower than Magnet. Less than thirty minutes after Magnet returned to camp, Stanley spat into his hole.
After his shower, he put his dirty clothes in his crate and got out his box of stationery. He stayed in the tent to write the letter so Squid and the other boys wouldn’t make fun of him for writing to his mother.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Camp is hard, but challenging. We’ve been running obstacle courses, and have to swim long distances on the lake. Tomorrow we learn
He stopped writing as Zero walked into the tent, then returned to his letter. He didn’t care what Zero thought. Zero was nobody.
to rock climb. I know that sounds scary, but don’t worry,
Zero was standing beside him now, watching him write. Stanley turned, and felt his neck throb. “I don’t like it when you read over my shoulder, okay?” Zero said nothing.
I’ll be careful. It’s not all fun and games here, but I think I’m getting a lot out of it. It builds character. The other boys
“I don’t know how,” said Zero. “What?”
“Can you teach me?”
Stanley didn’t know what he was talking about. “Teach you what, to rock climb?”
Zero stared at him with penetrating eyes. “What?” said Stanley. He was hot, tired, and sore. “I want to learn to read and write,” said Zero.
Stanley let out a short laugh. He wasn’t laughing at Zero. He was just surprised. All this time he had thought Zero was reading over his shoulder. “Sorry,” he said. “I don’t know how to teach.”
After digging all day, he didn’t have the strength to try to teach Zero to read and write. He needed to save his energy for the people who counted.
“You don’t have to teach me to write,” said Zero. “tust to read. I don’t have anybody to write to.”
“Sorry,” Stanley said again.
His muscles and hands weren’t the only parts of his body that had toughened over the past several weeks. His heart had hardened as well.
He finished his letter. He barely had enough moisture in his mouth to seal and stamp the envelope. It seemed that no matter how much water he drank, he was always thirsty.
