Pack Trip by Bonnie Bryant

sun was dipping toward the mountains, they had nine of the ten items on their list. The only thing they hadn’t been able to get was an animal tooth.
    “I was sure we’d see something,” John said. “I’ve been looking out for a rodent skeleton. They’re usually not hard to find, but there hasn’t been anything.”
    Carole had an idea, but it might not be easy. “What kind of animal do you think Eli had in mind?” she asked.
    “Any kind of animal,” Kate said. “But I think John’s right that it’s got to be a dead one, because you can’t exactly go up to your friendly neighborhood fox and ask him to open wide, can you?” Kate said.
    “Fox, no, but an animal’s an animal, right?” Carole asked.
    “What are you getting at?” John said, sensing that there was an idea lurking behind the questions.
    “It’s about this tooth,” Carole said. She stuck her tongue back to a wobbly bicuspid in her mouth and wiggled. “It’sh prrrry woooofe now,” she announced.
    “Huh?” John asked.
    Kate’s face brightened as she understood. “Outstanding!” she said.
    John still looked confused. He looked to Kate for a translation.
    “She’s got a loose tooth,” Kate explained. “The only question is
how
loose?”
    Carole tested it some more. “I fink it’f abouw rehhy,” she said. “Oou wook, okay?”
    She opened wide. One by one Kate, Christine, and John checked it out. They agreed that it was about ready. When Carole wiggled it with her tongue, the tooth came completely out on one side.
    “Look, you can already see the new one there. It’s ready. Definitely.”
    John’s eyes lit up. “Eli’s never going to believe this,” he said.
    “Oh, sure he will,” Carole disagreed. “Eli’s not going to be the problem. I mean, what am I going to tell the Tooth Fairy?”
    Kate, Christine, and John all howled with laughter. When Carole had their promise to pay her the money if her father doubted the story, she sat down on a rock and went to work on her tooth.
    First, she wiggled it more with her tongue.
    “These big ones are tough,” she said. “It was easier with the front teeth.”
    “You can do it!” Christine said, cheering her on.
    Carole switched from her tongue-wiggling technique to the single-digit finger wiggle.
    “Ish woohking!” she announced, feeling the tooth loosen even more.
    Kate, Christine, and John made a circle around her and continued cheering her on.
    “Think of it—breakfast in bed, served by spoiled brat Amy!” Kate said.
    That did it. The moment that thought crossed Carole’s mind, the tooth was released.
    “Ta da!” Carole announced. “One animal tooth for Eli!”
    They added Carole’s tooth to their collection and hurried back to the campsite.
    Eli and Jeannie were waiting for them. There was no sign of the other team.
    “We won!” they shouted triumphantly as they handed their booty over to Eli and Jeannie.
    Each item had a story, and they loved telling them all to Eli and Jeannie. Eli and Jeannie laughed especially hard when they heard about Carole’s tooth.
    “I can just see you three bloodthirsty scavenger huntersstanding around poor Carole, trying to get her to yank the tooth out of her head!” Jeannie said.
    “It wasn’t them that made me do it,” Carole confessed. “It was the idea of Amy serving me breakfast tomorrow morning. I’d undergo all kinds of pain just for that!”
    “Uh, speaking of Amy,” Eli said. “We haven’t heard a peep out of that group, and it’s getting dark. Did you see them on your hunt?”
    Carole shook her head. “The last I saw of them, they were arguing over who was going to hold the list.”
    “And then they went off to the west,” Jeannie said. A worried look crossed her face as she glanced off in the direction the team had taken.
    “Take it easy,” Carole cautioned. “Seth may be a flake and Amy may be hopeless, but Stevie and Lisa are with them. Those two are levelheaded.”
    “And creative,” Kate said. “If