Chapter 2

Chester barely slept that night. He had gotten used to only sleeping when he knew his mother was passed out drunk. All night he lay still, listening for any noise. Other than the occasional snore of the other boys, he heard nothing. It didn't make him any less nervous though. Late in the night exhaustion finally took hold and he fell asleep.

The trumpets sounded at 4:30 the next morning, jerking Chester out of a restless sleep. The other boys groaned as they got up and pulled on their orange jumpsuits. Chester slowly climbed out of his cot and pulled on his own.

One of the boys, X-Ray, came over to Chester.

"Hey, first-timer. Ready to dig your first hole?"

Chester stared at him blankly. X-Ray just laughed.

"Still asleep, right? Come on, let's go."

They followed the rest of D-Tent out onto the lake. On the way they were all given a shovel and some kind of food that looked bad and tasted worse. Chester could barely get it down, but he figured he'd need the energy later and forced himself to finish it.

Once on the lake, Mr. Sir showed all the boys where to dig. He came to Chester last.

He made a indentation in the dirt with the front of his boot. "Dig here. If you find anything interesting, show it to me or Mr. Pendanski."

"Yes, Mr. Sir."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Dig!"

Chester slammed his shovel into the dirt. It reverberated off the hard ground, leaving only a slight indentation. Behind him, Mr. Sir laughed.

"This ain't no girl scout camp!" he yelled over his shoulder as he walked off.

Chester tried again and again to break through the dirt, making little progress. He wasn't strong enough. He tried jumping on the back of the shovel. His frail body didn't weigh near enough to do any good.

Chester looked around at the other boys and watched what they were doing. Finally he turned back to his own 'hole' and copied the technique: sticking his shovel in the dirt, he used all of his strength to push it farther in with his foot. Finally, dirt broke loose into his shovel.

Under the hard crust at the top, the dirt was fairly easy to dig. As the day wore on, Chester got more and more tired and weak. By the time the water truck came around for the second time, he was way behind the others.

He stood in his place in line, at the very back behind Zero. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and shielded his eyes from the sun. He realized that the longer it took him to finish his hole the hotter it would get. The heat was unbearable even now, during the morning. What would it be like around midday?

After getting his canteen filled, Chester went back to his hole and started digging again. The rest of the boys, except for Zero, were taking a break. Chester couldn't afford to lose any time. He was already well behind the others.

His whole body ached every time he lifted the shovel. He was beginning to get blisters on his hands and his back ached. It was almost unbearable to lift the shovel up over his shoulder to throw the dirt far enough away from his hole.

"Having fun?" one of the boys asked from behind Chester. He turned around to see Squid standing there smiling. He looked back down at his hole.

"Not really. I can barely lift the shovel."

Chester leaned his shovel against the side of his hole and sat down for a minute.

"Everyone's like that when they first get here. First hole's the hardest, right? Just take it one shovelful at a time."

Chester closed his eyes and groaned.

----

The other boys finished long before Chester did. He was out under the sun for the better part of the day.

He finally finished about an hour after the last boy had headed back to camp. He sat down in his hole for a second, feeling dizzy from all the heat. He drank the last little bit of water from his canteen and sighed.

Eighteen more months of this. How many holes is that? Chester wondered. He didn't know exactly how many days were in a month, and even if he did he had no idea how to multiply. Even when he did go to school he was never any good at math, and it had been years since the last time he was at school.

Chester climbed out of his hole, every muscle in his body straining with the effort. When he got back to the camp, he grabbed his 'relaxation suit' and went to the showers. Mr. Sir had explained the day before that the showers only lasted four minutes.

Chester spent the whole four minutes just letting the water run over him. He was too sore to worry about how clean he was. Besides, none of the other boys looked any better than him.

After he finished the shower, he headed to the wreck room, where all the other boys at camp were.

It was loud and noisy in the room. Boys from other tents were arguing and yelling, and every once in a while a fight would break out. Most of the furniture was broken.

Chester chose an empty seat in the corner. The covering on the chair was ripped, and stuffing could be seen through it. He sat down in the chair and closed his eyes, tuning out all the noise. All he wanted was sleep… rest…

Chester collapsed to the ground. His mother kicked him over and over. He desperately shielded his face and curled up into a ball to protect himself.
"I HATE YOU! YOU WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!"
She grabbed his shirt collar and raised him up off the floor a bit.
"You're not going to cry, are you?" she asked menacingly. Chester shook his head vigorously.
"Good!" she spat, and threw him to the ground. She lit a cigarette and walked off, leaving Chester on the floor. He bit his lip to keep from crying… his mother hated crying.

"Chester! Wake up, man!" somebody yelled, shaking him. Chester opened his eyes to see all of D Tent staring at him, as well as a few other boys who had stopped what they were doing to stare curiously.

"You're almost like Squid over here, screaming like hell when you sleep," X-Ray said. Chester glanced at Squid, who was staring at X-Ray with a scowl on his face.

"Yea, a Squid, Jr.," Magnet said, smiling.

"Just do me a favor and keep the screaming to a minimum," X-Ray said. He smiled slightly and then walked off. Everyone else followed him, except Squid, who sat down next to Chester.

"What was that about?" he asked curiously.

Chester picked at the stuffing in the chair and stared straight ahead.

"It's… nothing," he said.

"C'mon, you can trust me," Squid said.

Chester glanced over at him. The boys here were so different than anyone Chester had ever known. They were different somehow. And he wasn't sure if he could trust them.

"Sorry."

They sat there in uncomfortable silence for a minute, before Squid asked, "So- what'd you do to get here?"

Chester hesitated a moment before saying, "I ran away from home. And I stole a lot of stuff…"

"Oh yea, me too. I didn't run away from home but I got caught for stealing. I just took stuff that wasn't worth much. Not like Magnet," Squid stopped a second and laughed. "Oh, man. Magnet definitely took the best stuff."

"I just took food and stuff. From houses, not stores. It's easier that way."

"Yea."

Magnet walked up to them then. "Come on, you guys. Time to eat!"

Chester and Squid got up and followed Magnet. Chester was glad for food; he was starving.

At dinner, the other boys asked Chester what he had done to get sent to Camp Green Lake. He just told them he stole. It was harder to talk to the big group. It was a lot easier to talk to just one person at a time.

"What'd you steal?" Magnet asked, not satisfied.

"Just… invaluable things. Food."

"Really? I went for the big stuff. I walked out of Wal-Mart once with a stolen DVD player, and the greeter held the door open for me! It's all about your style."

Squid laughed. "Then how come you got caught?"

"Stupid puppy wouldn't quit barking. It wasn't my fault. I still have the magic fingers," Magnet said, holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers to prove it.

After dinner everyone went back to their tents. They all stayed up a little longer talking before finally drifting off one by one. Chester didn't talk much the whole time, but he loved listening to the others talk. The way they just said everything effortlessly, without getting nervous or scared and stuttering, or anything like that amazed him.

It didn't take Chester very long at all to fall asleep this time. His muscles and were exhausted.

It seemed as if Chester had just gotten to sleep when the trumpet went off to wake them all up at 4:30 A.M. It was harder to get up out of bed this time. Chester's whole body hurt even worse than it had the night before. Even getting dressed took effort. He knew that there was no way he'd ever be able to dig another hole that day.