The first hole was the hardest. Except for the second hole, that was.

James wasn't one to cry often, but he had, off and on working on his second hole. Last summer, he began running with his father, and lifting weights to build muscle. He remembered waking up one morning so sore and hunched over, he could barely walk. When Zigzag shook him awake in the morning, he nearly cried again. Not only did his arms and legs feel like blocks of lead, and his muscles ache severely, he could feel a sinus headache coming on from the cold at night.

He wasn't sure how, but he made it on time for a brief visual headcount, scarfed down that horrible sugary, slimy tortilla shell, and hobbled off to find a hole to dig and maybe even bury himself in.

This time, it was Mr. Pendanski driving the water truck. This time, Zigzag's canteen was filled without hesitation. Things seemed calmer than yesterday, and no one appeared to be giving him the evil eye anymore. His headache was abating, too. Now, if only he could finish his hole on time. He hadn't even laid eyes on the rec room.

He missed his parents, and his little sister. He wondered what his mother was telling friends and family about him. It was sort of a silly thing to be thinking about, but he missed his friends online, and their group video chats. He was getting tired of doing all the work to make communication work; his jaw was sore from all the talking. On one hand, he knew he wasn't sent here to be treated like royalty, but on the other, he was seriously surprised they didn't have an interpreter on hand. He'd have to speak to the warden about that.

Several times, he nearly quit and climbed out of his hole. Too bad, he thought. They couldn't expect him to come in off the streets and dig such a giant hole like it was nothing. He never went through with it, though, for in the back of his mind he, feared they would make him dig two holes next time.

About an hour after the water truck left, Zero climbed out his hole, spit in it, then dragged his shovel back to camp. One by one, the others followed, until James was alone.

It was dark when he was finally through. He walked back to camp carefully, afraid of falling into someone else's hole, and even more afraid that the hole would be filled with rattlesnakes. Yellow spotted lizards? He still wasn't too sure about them, since he hadn't actually seen one.

Unfortunately for him, the kitchen closed twenty minutes before he limped in. He thought about checking out the rec. room, but didn't think he could make it up the stairs. Instead, he decided to have a shower. Maybe the water would help with the excruciating pain throughout his whole body.

He popped his hearing aids off and hopped in.

From afar, the stalls hasn't looked so bad. Up close, they looked like they'd been sitting there for a hundred years. The wood was dry and cracked from the sun, and the "privacy fence" only went up to his navel. Even in real summer camp, they'd had real showers, indoors. He wondered if Mr. Sir and Dr. Pendanski used these showers. Probably not, considering the water didn't even go above 'Arctic,' and he didn't even have a chance to become hypothermic, because the water shut off before he was even finished!

Irritated and freezing, he toweled off, ran back to tent and crawled into bed. No sooner had he put his hearing aids away and pulled the sheet up to his chin, the tent flap opened.

"I don't care, man. The kid is weird. Who puts mustard on beans?" Squid

was saying.

"How do you know those were beans?" inquired Magnet. "That could be just about anything."

Armpit lit the lamp above his bed and shrugged, pulling the covers back on his cot. "Well, they sure give me gas like beans."

"Hey, guys!" X-Ray pointed at James, who pretended to be asleep. "Look, it's that kid."

"You know," Squid began thoughtfully, "pretending to be deaf, that's pretty smart."

"How?" Magnet asked.

"Well, you could sit around people when they were having a private conversation."

Magnet looked shocked. "Or listen to them talk about you while you pretend to sleep. Dude! He could've been eavesdropping the entire time! What do we do?"

"He's not eavesdropping," announced Zero, who seemed to appear out of nowhere. "He's really deaf."

"Prove it," said Zigzag.

"How?"

"Go yell in his face or something," said Squid.

"What? No!"

"Fine, I'll do it."

Zigzag nudged Zero out of the way and approached James' cot cautiously. Behind him, the others watched tensely. He looked over his shoulder, as if checking to see if they were all still on board, and then snapped his fingers next to James' head.

"Nothing," he reported, astonished.

"Do it louder."

He snapped again, closer, and louder. Still nothing.

"Clap," Magnet suggested. "They'll freak 'em out, if he is pretending."

"I don't know..."

"Just do it!"

Suppressing an irritated huff, Zigzag hesitated briefly, preparing himself. When James' eyes didn't fly open, and he didn't jump out of the bed and punch him in the nose, he was surprised. He bent down a little more carelessly than before and shouted at him. "I think he really is deaf," he reported. "Man. No wonder he overslept."

"I told you!" exclaimed Zero.

"Man, shut up," grumbled Armpit.

Magnet shrugged, and then crawled into his own cot, on his back, fingers laced behind his head. "No me lo puedo creer."

"Yeah, yo me no pueblo creer you too," X-Ray mumbled, throwing a towel at him.

Just then, Dr. Pendanski appeared. "Lights out, campers!"

Everybody groaned and went to their own cot.

"How did James do today?" he asked casually.

"Uh, he did ok," replied Magnet.

"Good to hear. You all get some rest, now, tomorrow's a busy day."

"Right, tomorrows Saturday. We get to sleep in and play video games, right?"

Dr. Pendanski smiled minutely, and then reached for the lamp. "You can do all that in your dreams, Ricky. Goodnight."

A chorus of "night, Mom," followed him as he exited D-ten for the night.

I'm not the best at getting my ideas down on paper, so I'm going to look for a beta reader tonight. Not so much the technical part of my writing, but more of the overall plot and what would look better where. If you want to give it a try just message me.