Cool Campers by Mike Knudson Page B

big smile on his face. As he caught up with us, I realized he was carrying two pairs of underpants. We hurried away from the cabin and back to the main trail.
    â€œNo way.” I laughed. “Are those what I think they are?”
    â€œDavid’s underpants. At least, I think they’re his—they were under his bunk. Can you believe he only brought two pairs?”

    â€œNice work, BB.” Graham high-fived him. “I didn’t know you were so sneaky.”
    â€œWell, when you catch bugs you have to be very quiet and extremely quick,” BB replied proudly.
    â€œWhat should we do with them?” Tiny asked. We thought for a moment, then snuck over to the big statue of a bear standing upright by the lodge. We put one pair on his head like a winter hat and stuck the second on the front of the bear so it looked like he was wearing the underpants. We stood back and covered our mouths to muffle our laughter. Then we hurried back to our cabin.
    We tried to fall asleep, but every time one of us drifted off, someone else would start giggling. Then we would recount the whole evening again. It was one of the best nights of my life.

9
    A Grizzly Hike
    I FINALLY CLOSED my eyes for what seemed like only a few minutes before I heard the morning gong. Toad was outside singing some song about getting out of bed. I think he was making it up as he went along. Tiny came bounding down from his bunk, and BB was already putting on his shoes and socks.
    I stood on my bed to wake Graham up. He was snoring like crazy.
    â€œWake up!” I shouted.
    â€œI didn’t do it!” he mumbled, with his eyes still closed. “That bear already had underwear on his head.” Finally, he woke up. “What’s going on? What time is it?”
    â€œIt’s morning. Time to go see if anyone has noticed the new wardrobe on the grizzly statue.”
    Graham immediately jumped up. We all got dressed as quickly as we could and ran outside.
    â€œGood morning, Toad Claws!” Toad called out.
    â€œGood morning, Toad!” we answered back.
    â€œDid everyone sleep well?” Toad looked straight at us and smiled. Once the whole patrol was standing outside, Toad announced the day’s activities: eating breakfast and then hiking up Mount Grizzly. That evening, the girls’ camp would be joining us for a marshmallow roast at the big fire pit halfway between the cabins and the lodge.
    â€œSo let’s go get some breakfast, Toad Claws.” Toad led the way, hopping down the trail. I don’t know how he always had the energy to hop around all the time. We all followed, but we got tired of hopping about halfway there and walked the rest of the way.
    As we got closer to the lodge we saw a bunch of kids gathering around the statue and laughing their heads off. We didn’t see David anywhere.
    Fuzzy made his way through the crowd and pulled the underpants off the bear. He turned and held one hand up to quiet the group.
    â€œOkay, the show’s over.” I couldn’t tell if he was angry or not. It kind of looked like he was holding back laughter.
    â€œDoes anyone know who these belong to?” He looked at the tag, but there was no name. Everyone looked around, but no one answered. I noticed Zach and a couple of the other Muscular Monsters giving each other looks. Fuzzy gave us a lecture on respect for others and about Grizzly pride.
    â€œWell,” he added at the end, “if any of you finds out you’re missing your underwear, you can pick them up from the lost and found.”
    Aside from the brief lecture, I was relieved he didn’t seem too mad. Toad walked up to us and said quietly, “You guys wouldn’t know anything about this, would you?”
    Graham and I looked at each other. “Well, let’s just say the toilet paper didn’t work out so well,” Graham said.
    â€œWe’re not in trouble, are we?” I asked.
    Toad held up his claw finger,