Garbage Juice for Breakfast
Patricia Reilly Giff
Illustrated by Blanche Sims
To my dear old Kevin Rooney
of St. Albans,
who taught me basketball
and science.
Love wherever you are.
Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
A Biography of Patricia Reilly Giff
CHAPTER ONE
DAWN BOSCO PUT ON her ladybug earrings.
She reached for her shirt with the lace collar.
Today was a special day in Camp Wild-In-The-Woods.
“Horseback-riding day,” Miss Perry called. “Hurry.”
Dawn rushed out of Cobra Cabin.
She had to get the best horse.
Jill Simon and Lizzie Lee rushed out too. So did the rest of the campers.
They didn’t go straight to the barn, though.
Miss Perry pointed. “Sit here under the flagpole,” she said. “I have some important news.”
“What about the horses?” asked Glenda with the gold fingernails.
“First things first,” said Miss Perry.
Dawn sat down.
She wished she had a huge Western hat like Jill Simon’s.
She wished she had a cowboy string tie like Lizzie Lee’s.
She wished she had a mystery to solve.
“Giddyap,” said Lizzie Lee. “Let’s get going here.”
Everybody laughed. Even Miss Perry.
Miss Perry had a pile of papers in her hand. She waved them around. “Just to give you something to think about . . . I’ve set up a mystery.”
Dawn sat up straight.
Wonderful.
She’d solve it in no time. She was the Polka Dot Private Eye. Miss Perry was passing out the papers. Dawn looked at the top of hers:
HELP US FIND TREASURE
She stared at it.
Treasure!
This might be her best case yet.
Lizzie Lee’s hand was up in the air. “Do we get to keep the treasure?”
“Good question,” said Gina and Jill Simon at once.
“Very good question,” said Dawn.
“No,” said Miss Perry. “It’s just for fun.” She smiled. “Why don’t you read the paper?”
Dawn took a peek at Jill.
Jill’s Western hat was down over her eyes. Her mouth was open. She was sounding out the words. “Re-re-wwwwwww . . .”
Jill wasn’t such a hot reader. She’d never solve the mystery anyway. She was a terrible detective. Dawn looked at Lizzie Lee out of the corner of her eye. Lizzie was sounding out the words too. Great!
She’d never get the mystery solved either. Dawn started to read:
Start at the barn.
Ride a hard horse.
Look up in the air
for the first clue, of course.
Take the right trail,
Turn at the tree.
Be sure it’s the one
for Donald and me.
She turned the page over.
There were more clues. At the bottom it was signed D. Perry.
Dawn looked up at the sky.
This wasn’t going to be easy.
She began to read again.
Fast.
Then she raced back into Cobra Cabin.
She pulled out her Polka Dot detective box.
She slapped her Polka Dot Private Eye hat on her head.
She was ready to begin.
CHAPTER TWO
MISS PERRY BLEW HER whistle. “Come back,” she told everyone. “You forgot something.”
What could it be? Dawn wondered.
“Breakfast,” said Jill Simon. “I didn’t forget. Not for one second.”
Everybody laughed.
Everyone except Dawn.
She didn’t want to waste time eating.
She wanted to get right to the mystery.
Everyone marched toward the Devil’s Den Dining Room.
Nellie with the thousand freckles walked next to Dawn. “Shredded wheat for breakfast,” she said.
“Are you sure?” Dawn asked. She knew Nellie was right, though. Nellie knew all about camp. She went every single year.
“Yep,” said Nellie.
“Yuck-o,” said Dawn.
“Hey.” Nellie pointed. “Who’s that going up the hill?”
Dawn shaded her eyes.
It was Lizzie Lee.
She was climbing as fast as she could.
She was wearing something on her head.
It looked like fur.
A black tail hung down over her ear.
Then Dawn remembered.
Lizzie was the Cool Cat Detective.
Dawn clicked her teeth. That Lizzie. She was trying to solve the mystery first.
“Hey, Lizzie. Where are you going?” Nellie yelled.
Miss Perry blew her whistle. “Come back,” she called. “It’s time for . . .”
Lizzie stopped, one foot in the air. “I’m trying to solve the mystery.”
“Shredded wheat,” called Nellie, “and garbage juice for breakfast.”
Lizzie took another step. “I hate that garbage juice. It has prunes and stuff in it.”
Miss Perry laughed. “Me too.” She opened the door to the dining room. “It helps your brains grow, I guess.”
A minute later Lizzie banged into a seat next to Dawn.
She took a gulp of juice. Then she sucked in her cheeks and squinched her eyes shut.
Dawn shivered. Horrible. She began her cereal.
She’d save the juice for last.
Next to her, Glenda wiggled her gold fingernails. “Who do you think will solve the mystery?”
Dawn wiped her juice mustache. “Me.”
Lizzie shook her head. “No, me.”
Jill pushed her hat out of her eyes. “Dawn’s the greatest.”
“I think Lizzie,” Nellie said.
“Contest,” said someone else.
Dawn and Lizzie looked at each other. “This is it,” said Lizzie.
“Right,” said Dawn. “We’ll find out who’s the greatest detective.”
“Cool Cat,” said Nellie.
“Polka Dot,” said Jill.
Dawn pulled her treasure paper out of her pocket.
She took a quick look.
Ride a hard horse.
Something with horses, she thought. Something at the barn.
It was a good thing they were going to ride this morning.
She had to solve the mystery before Lizzie Lee.
She closed her eyes and drank her garbage juice.
She stuck a huge spoonful of shredded wheat in her mouth and chewed.
Then she stood up and headed for the barn.
CHAPTER THREE
EVERYONE ELSE WAS rushing for the barn too.
Dawn slid in first.
Right behind her came Lizzie Lee. Then Jill, and Nellie, and the others.
Inside it smelled like hay.
It smelled like horses too.
“Easy now,” Tex told them. He was wearing a Western hat like Jill’s.
It didn’t fall down over his eyes as hers did, though.
Dawn looked at the horses. She read their names over their stalls.
Star. Trixie. Raider. Flash.
Flash’s eyes were closed. He was falling asleep.
Dawn spotted a big black horse.
He flicked one ear at her.
/>
Dawn swallowed. He was a lot bigger up close than she had thought.
So were the rest of the horses.
Too big.
“You can pat Blackie’s nose,” said Tex.
Dawn reached up slowly.
The horse opened its mouth.
It showed about a hundred huge yellow teeth.
It made a sound in back of its throat.
Dawn pulled her hand away.
Everybody laughed.
Lizzie hooked her fingers in her jeans belt. “I’ll take that one,” she said.
Tex shook his head. “Everyone gets Woodie today.”
“I don’t see Woodie,” said Dawn.
Nellie started to laugh. “Woodie isn’t a horse.”
Tex pointed. A saddle was tied onto a railing. “That’s old Woodie.”
Dawn nodded. She was glad she didn’t have to ride a real horse today.
“Time to try it out,” said Tex. “Get up on the left side. A horse may kick if you get up on the right.”
Dawn swallowed. She looked at Blackie’s hooves.
They looked strong.
The horse looked back at her.
Its eyes were big . . . and not too friendly.
“Let me up first,” Nellie said. “I’ve been here before. I know how to do it.”
“Me second,” said Lizzie and Jill at the same time.
“I’ll be last,” said Dawn.
Nellie began to ride. She held the reins.
She bounced up and down on the saddle. “Ride ’em, cowboy,” she yelled.
“That’s it,” said Tex. “Nice and easy.”
Then it was Jill’s turn.
Jill’s hat was down over her eyes.
Her cheeks were red.
Her braids bounced up and down.
“I’m not afraid,” she said. She sounded surprised.
“Next,” said Tex. He pointed to Dawn.
“Go ahead,” Lizzie said.
Dawn climbed up. The railing was high. Much higher than it looked.
She closed her eyes for a second.
She held on to the knob in front of the saddle.
“That’s the pommel,” Tex said. “It’s also called the horn.”
“Giddyap,” Dawn said. Her mouth felt dry.
She tried to bounce a little.
She was up too high, though.
At last Tex said, “Time’s up.”
It was Lizzie’s turn.
Dawn took a deep breath. She was glad to be down on the ground.
She hoped no one knew she was afraid.
She pulled her treasure paper out of her pocket.
Take the right trail,
Maybe she should find the right trail now. Skip the hard horse for a while.
Do it now while Lizzie was up on Woodie.
She looked around.
Everyone was watching Lizzie.
Even the horses.
Dawn backed out of the barn.
Miss Perry was sitting under the flagpole. She was drinking her coffee.
Dawn ducked around the other side of the barn.
Where to begin?
There were a couple of trails.
Too bad she didn’t know her right from her left.
She tried to think of the hand she wrote with.
That was her right hand.
She wrote her name in the air, first with one hand. Then with the other.
It didn’t seem to work. She still couldn’t remember.
She took a breath.
One trail went up the hill. It said East Way.
The other went down. That one said Rolling On.
The down one looked easier.
That was the one she picked.
CHAPTER FOUR
DAWN STARTED DOWN the path.
It was cool under the trees. Green.
She could hear birds chirping.
Crickets too.
In the barn Lizzie was yelling, “Ride ’em, cowboy.”
Dawn could hear everyone laughing.
She began to run.
After a few minutes she couldn’t hear the campers.
A bird was singing over her head, though. And crickets were chirping all over the place.
She saw evergreen trees now, and huge dark bushes.
The path twisted and turned.
Suddenly it stopped.
In front of her was a tall tree.
A butterfly rested on the trunk.
Dawn leaned forward. She stared at its powdery orange wings.
She could hear something else now.
Mosquitoes.
Yucks.
She’d better get out of here.
She looked around. There was nothing much here anyway.
Yes, a path on the other side of the tree. Mosquito Heaven, said the sign.
She wondered what time it was. Maybe she should go back now.
She frowned. A good detective always searches out the clues.
She had to search the path.
Slap. Another mosquito.
She inched her way around the tree.
She walked a little farther.
Then there were more paths.
One, two, three, four. There were names on all of them.
Dawn scratched her knee.
She could take one of the paths. Take it quickly.
She tried to choose.
Mouse House.
Duck Pond Trail.
Meadow Walk.
Stone Trail.
Then she stopped. It was getting late.
She’d have to wait until there was more time.
She turned and started back.
It was a good thing the butterfly tree was in front of her.
Everything else looked strange. Different.
She reached the tree.
She walked around it.
The butterfly had flown away.
She stepped back. Maybe it wasn’t even the same tree. How could she tell?
She might be lost.
She started to run.
A moment later she was back to the four paths.
She was getting hot now, and tired.
Mosquitoes were buzzing all over the place.
She heard something.
It was a soft sound—so soft she almost missed it.
Something rustled in the trees.
She could see the leaves moving.
Everything else was quiet—even the mosquitoes.
She moved away from the sound as fast as she could.
In front of her again was a tall tree.
She raced around it.
Something rammed into her.
“Oooff.”
For a moment she couldn’t catch her breath.
Then she started to scream.
Someone else was screaming too.
Dawn brushed her hair out of her eyes. “Lizzie Lee,” she said.
Lizzie looked scared. She looked as if she were crying.
“Are you afraid?” Dawn asked.
“I’m not afraid of anything,” said Lizzie. “I’m a detective.” She took a breath. “And stop following me.”
“I certainly am not following you . . .” Dawn began. Then she stopped. She had just thought of something. Something important. It had to do with a horse. A hard horse. She raced for the barn.
CHAPTER FIVE
IT WAS ALMOST BEDTIME. Lizzie Lee wiped the window with her hand. “It’s raining out,” she said.
“It’s pouring,” said Jill Simon.
Dawn sank down on her bed.
She was glad it was raining.
If it rained tomorrow, she wouldn’t have to get up on one of those horses.
She thought about their big teeth . . . their sharp hooves.
She thought about how high up they were.
She sighed. It was cozy in Cobra Cabin.
She thought back to her first day at camp.
She had hated it.
The walls were plain wood. Nai
ls stuck out all over. The bunks took up most of the space. And there was only an old skinny-minny black and white TV.
Dawn loved it now, though.
Posters were tacked up on the walls. So were stickers—hearts, and butterflies, and rainbows.
A big rocking chair sat at one end. It was covered with a Mickey Mouse blanket.
“It’s my place to think,” Miss Perry always said.
Dawn’s bunk was her place to think.
She was going to think about the treasure.
She had solved the first clue.
At least she thought she had.
If only she had been able to get back into the barn today. Then she would have known for sure.
But Miss Perry had called everyone. “Time for a swim,” she had said.
Now Dawn sat back in her bunk. She looked at her treasure paper.
Start at the barn.
Ride a hard horse.
Look up in the air
for the first clue, of course.
It was easy. “Simple,” she said aloud.
Jill leaned over the bunk. “What’s easy?”
“Lights out in ten minutes,” Miss Perry called. “Something special first.”
Dawn looked up. Something special. She wondered what it was.
Miss Perry was walking from bed to bed.
She was wearing gray sweats.
On front there was a picture of Donald Duck. Underneath it said:
I QUACK
FOR YOU
Miss Perry stopped at Dawn’s bunk.
She held out a box. “Something for the Polka Dot Private Eye,” she said.
The box was filled with cookies.
They looked like chocolate pretzels.
They made Dawn’s mouth water.
“How’s the mystery going?” Miss Perry asked. She helped herself to a cookie.
Jill stuck her head over the top bunk. She was still wearing her Western hat. “Terrible. I can’t even read the whole thing.”
“Keep working on it,” said Miss Perry.
Lizzie Lee poked her head out of the next bunk. “What’s the reward, anyway?”
Miss Perry grinned at them. “I wondered when someone would ask. It’s a party in honor of the winner. And the winner gets to—” She clapped her hand over her mouth. “Can’t tell. It has to do with the treasure.”
She winked. “You may even get extra garbage juice for breakfast.” She waved and turned out the lights.
“Dawn?” Jill leaned over the side of the bed.
Dawn could just about see her head in the dark.