After the first hole was dug, and I had taken my shower, it was time for dinner. Jose walked with me.

"Like we've all warned you," he told me, "The first hole IS the hardest."

"No way," said ZigZag (paranoid guy), "the second hole is the hardest."

"Thanks for THAT load of confidence, Zigg," I answered half-heartedly.

We were all in the D-tent, and walking to dinner.

"Man, I don't think my legs can hold me," I said. I was REALLY tired and my legs felt like Jell-O.

"I'll carry you," Magnet offered.

"Thanks," I replied.

I jumped on his back and yelled, "PIGGYBACK!"

He ran with me on his back to the mess hall, and dropped me once we got in the door.

"That was fun!" I squealed. Armpit handed me a tray and we (meaning me Armpit and Magnet) got in line to get our food. "Mmm, yummy,"

I heard Tink comment, " corned beef, mashed potatoes and this.err.stuff."

"Couldn't have said it better myself," X-ray added.

Tink got her food and ran to ZigZag shouting," Hey,.ZIGGERS! WAIT FOR ME!"
"Wow," magnet whispered to me, "the happy couple is so much in love. Sit next to me."

"Sure, " I said, got handed a carton of orange juice and took my seat next to Magnet. I held it at an angle in my hand, as the other balanced a tray. "Hey, what's with the sudden nutrition reform?" I asked.

"Oh, I overheard the police (that's what he called the wardens at times) talking. New policy. The budget or something like. Granted, they don't follow through with anything the state gives them, but with food, they're basically on a food stamp like system."

"So, what does that mean?" I asked, taking a seat.

"It means, they have no chance of a refund to squander the money anywheres else. Ie, we get decent food three times a week, courtesy of the state. So that's it Monday, Wednesday, Friday."

"I can live with that."

"Of course, girl, we all can."

I was kind of squished between him and Armpit, but it was all good. Dinner was delicious, mmm mmm good. Like Progresso chicken soup good. And believe me, if you lived like I did sometimes, canned soup was the caviar of all dinner. It was hard to use a spoon though, because it caused all my blisters to pop. X-ray pulled something out of his pocket. Two halves of a brown bandana.

"Here, wrap this around your palms," he said, handing them over.

"Thanks man. I'll give these back soon."

"No need."

"Aww, naw dude. Like you said, first hole's the hardest."

"Ha ha, yeah, you keep telling yourself that, Tolkien."

After we were done eating, talking, exploding boxes of juice, and getting yelled at, we went to the wreck room. I suppose it was originally called the Rec room, as in recreation, but twoproblems:

A: A lot of the kids were more interested in PROcreation, or at least the process of it

and B: One glance at the room and the state of its contents showed that "wreck" was fairly accurate a word to describe it.

I wanted to describe it, it had character even though I had no choice but to admit it had character. I had no camera, and if I was going to demonstrate to my folks, I'd have to write a letter, or a verbal sketch. But oh well.I was too tired to even take my notebook with me, so I stretched out on a couch, and watched as Magnet, Armpit and X- ray play pool.

"Hey, Tolkien," Armpit cried, "come play with us."

"Yeah, come on, Tolkien." Magnet added, which more than convinced me to go play pool. Magnet handed me a stick, which I certainly had no idea what to do with.

"Err." I said, "what do we do with this? Do we get to fight the Dark Lord of some evil force?" I whipped it about me a few times.

"No, Tolkien," Magnet rolled his eyes, " you use the thing like this."

He got behind me and showed me where to place my hands and how to hit the ball. He had done this when he had taught me to dig. Was I sensing a pattern or was I being as paranoid as Ziggers?

And did I even like Magnet like THAT! I'd known him for a while. But then again, he wasn't always THIS cute. Or muscled for THAT matter. ACK! Stop thinking about that, I reminded myself, quite pissed off at how annoying I could be to myself. In the end, after endeavoring to play pool for a while, I gave up, and went back to D-tent. On the way, someone poked me. Or something. I jumped, (stupidly) thinking it could have been one of those lizards Mr. Sir was always talking about. Maybe I was turning into Zigzag. But It was Magnet.

"PHEW!" I breathed, "it's only YOU!"

"ONLY me?" He demanded. "ONLY the almighty magnet?"

"You-you-nevermind," I said, very put out. "That was a great pool game we had back there."

" I guess, I'm not much good though."

"Yeah, you suck."

"SHUT UP."

"Hey, Tolkien," He asked.

"YAH?"

"Can you show me your stories?"

"No."

"WHY?"

" I don't show people what I write."

"Why?" he asked again, walking in front of me.

"Because,..umm..PIGGYBACK!" I yelled, jumping on Magnet's back. He ran me back to D-tent, where MR. Pen-dance-key was waiting for us. This didn't look too good to me, as I slid off the back of my little Spanish cow and tried to avoid Frodo's suspicions.

"We need to have a meeting," he said. "Let's wait for the rest of D-Tent."

At this little guidance counseling thingy.

Everyobody sat in a circle. It reminded me of Alcoholic Anonymous, the way you see it in films.

I tried to picture my own variation. "HI, I"m Veri." "HI Veri." "And I did holes." Everyone claps. I suppress tears. Success.

I dropped out of my day dream as Mr. Pen-dance-key began his speech.

"Now, our three new members have just dug their first holes," Mr. Pen-dance- key said. brightly. Maybe I wasn't introuble after all. "Congratulations Veronica, Christy, and Leena."

Apparently not.

"Hey, man!" Magnet called. "It's Tolkien. Her name is Tolkien."

I smiled, blushing, and shaking my head. But it felt good to be a member of the group. We all had names and defended eachother's. Next thing you know, Imused, we'd be doing jail hosue tattoos like in Russian prison camps. I amused myself with this idea as Frodo talked, and I decided on what tattoos I would get if I were in a Russian prison camp. Except I was in America, sadly.After half an hour of "listening" to Mr. Pen-dance-key, we all went to bed. No sleeping. I found myself talking to Magnet a while, and Tink to ZigZag. We only went to sleep when Armpit threatened to fart on us. shudders .

The next day.
We all got up before dawn. Magnet shook me awake.

"Hole time," he said.

"YAY!" I croaked, completely enthusiastic at the prospect.

"Second hole is the hardest," X-ray reminded me as we all got out of bed slowly, stretching lazily.

"Bugger off," I muttered in a way that suggested if I were more awake I'd say something censorable. But I didn't and the morning began peacefully. Relatively so anyway.

We all quickly dressed, ate, and got our shovels. It felt like routine already. I wondered if this was an omen, since I was supposed to spend a year at this place. But I looked at mygroup as they finishedtheir meager musch meals and we went tothe shovel closet. We arrived as Mr. Sir unlocked it.X-ray took dibs on "his" shovel that he claimedwas a quarter inch shorter. Didn't bother me, I don't measure things in relation. i exchanged sniggers withTinkerbell and Zigzag and then we all set to digging.

Mid way through the morning, Squid asked, " so, what do you think they're having us look for, I mean, Kate Barlow's treasure's been found."

"Maybe Stanley Yelnat's Treasure wasn't the only fortune Barlow had, "Zigzag said, in a paranoid way, his eyes darting around. He reminded me of a yellow spotted lizard, if I ever saw one.

"He's right," Armpit added.

"Yeah, " said Leena. "She has to have some motive, doesn't she?"

"And WHY exactly is Green Lake still open and everybody's back to where life began?" X-ray asked.

" Because," I said, "there's lots of illegal stuff going on here."

"WHAT!" everyone looked at me. Confused. We all got in a huddle, so I could explain what I meant to them.

"Guys," I said, "Mr. Pen-dance-key was never arrested for fraud and claiming he was a doctor. So, he bailed the Warden and Mr. Sir out of jail. ON bail, they were free and were able to open Green Lake again, after doing stuff with the government and some legal papers. And the worst part is, the Warden still thinks there's something out here. She's mean, but she ain't stupid."

"How do you know this, girl?" Magnet asked.

"I can't tell, but I-"

"Guys, the water trucks here," ZigZag announced. The boy was good as a look-out. I think we were the only tent to ever get away with all the stuff we managed to pull, thanks to his fanatical talents. We all filed in line for some water.