Table of Contents
A hit and a missing glove
Eric swung. He hit the ball high over the third basemans head.
Everyone still sitting on the bench ran to the fence right behind home plate. Those in Ms. Bensons class hoped the ball would go over the left fielders head. Mr. Danes class hoped the ball would be caught.
Cam ran home. She crossed home plate. Then she turned to see what would happen. Beth and Danny were running toward home, too.
Felix, the left fielder, held up his glove. The ball was over his head. He chased after it.
Go! Go! Ms. Benson called out.
Eric touched first base. He ran toward second. Felix chased after the ball.
Go! Go! Ms. Benson called again.
Eric ran from second to third. Felix grabbed the ball.
Eric touched third base and ran toward
home. Felix threw the ball to Sarah who was standing in front of home plate. The ball reached Sarah before Eric did. Sarah tagged Eric.
Youre out, Eric! Mr. Day shouted.
Thats okay, Danny said. Three runs scored. Were winning, 3-1.
The players on Mr. Danes team walked off the field. The players on Ms. Bensons team turned from the fence. They went back to the bench.
Hey, Hector said. Wheres my glove?
Wheres mine? Danny asked.
All our gloves are gone, Eric said. Someone stole them.
For Dr. Rene M. Hamada
Happy 36th!
D.A.
To Jeff and Isaac, my baseball boys!
J.A.
Cam Jansen
The Backward Race Mystery
CHAPTER ONE
Look at my face, Danny said. Youll really want to remember it. One day youll say you went to school with the great Danny Pace.
Beth shook her head. Thats not what Ill say, she told him. Ill say I went to school with corny Danny Pace.
Im great at sports, Danny said. I might win an Olympic gold medal.
Maybe youll win a medal, but it will be for bad jokes, Beth said.
Danny pretended to swing a baseball bat. Bam! he said. Just wait until I come to bat in the baseball game. Ill hit the ball a mile.
Danny was holding a baseball glove. He pretended it was a bat and swung it right into Cam Jansen.
Ow! Cam said. Put that away.
Im sorry, Danny said.
He put his glove on his head.
Today was Sports and Good Nutrition Day for the fifth grade. Fifth graders would go to Franklin Park. They would run races, play soccer and baseball, and have a picnic lunch.
Franklin Park is much bigger than our schoolyard, Cam Jansens teacher, Ms. Benson, had told the class. Thats why were going there instead of having Sports Day at school.
Cam Jansen and her class were walking to the park. The other fifth-grade class, Mr. Danes class, was ahead of them.
Ms. Benson turned and held up her hands. The children stopped. Please, she said. Lets stay together.
Stay together, Dannys father said as he walked toward the back of the line.
Mr. Pace and several other parents had come along to help. Mrs. Wayne had come along, too. She was the principals secretary.
Hey, Mr. Pace whispered when he came to Danny. When I was in fifth grade I was really great at sports. Do you know how high I could jump? I could jump higher than a house.
Wow, Danny said. Thats really high!
Sure, his father told him. He laughed. A house cant jump.
Listen to this, Danny told his father. Yesterday in school I saw an egg in the hall. Do you know where it came from?
Did it come from the cafeteria? Mr. Pace asked.
No, Danny said and shook his head. It came from a hen.
Those jokes are terrible, Beth said. Lets get to the park.
Well play baseball when we get there, Danny said. Were playing against Mr. Danes class.
Danny stepped back, took his hands from his pockets, and swung his pretend bat again.
I think the races are first, Mr. Pace told his son. Then you play soccer.
Cam can tell us, Eric Shelton said. He was Cams best friend. The schedule was on the board in our room. Cam just has to look at the pictures she has in her head.
Cam has what people call a photographic memory. Its as if she has lots of photographs in her head, pictures of everything shes seen. To remember something, she just looks at the pictures.
Cam closed her eyes. She said, Click!
Click is the sound a camera makes when it takes a picture. Its also the sound Cam makes when she looks at the pictures she has in her head.
The races are first, Cam said with her eyes still closed. Theres an egg-balancing race, a potato-sack race, and a backward race. We rest. Then we play soccer, eat lunch, rest some more, and then play baseball.
Cams real name is Jennifer, but when people found out about her amazing photographic memory, they called her The Camera. Soon The Camera became just Cam.
Danny said, The races and games are all against Mr. Danes class. Weve got to beat them!
Ms. Benson and her class walked past a bookstore, a fruit store, and a bank.
Thats Zeldas Bakery, Beth said, and pointed to a store near the end of the block. They make a chocolate cupcake with rainbow sprinkles. Its great.
Cupcakes have lots of sugar, Mr. Pace told Beth. I dont think anyone should eat lots of rainbow-sprinkle cupcakes.
My dad buys the oat bran muffins, Eric said. He says they are good for him.
Just then two old women hurried out of Zeldas.
Theyre coming this way, Danny said.
Four other people hurried out of Zeldas. They went the other way.
Eric said, There must be trouble at Zeldas.
Maybe the sprinkles are fighting, Danny said. Maybe theyre jumping off the cupcakes.
This isnt funny, Beth told him. Those women look scared.
CHAPTER TWO
Eric said, Maybe theres a fire at Zeldas. Fires are scary.
Cam watched the front of Zeldas. She wondered if anyone else would leave the store.
The two women are coming this way, Beth said. Lets ask them what happened.
They were walking slower now. One was tall and thin. The other was short and heavy. They walked past Ms. Benson and the children at the front of the line.
The larger woman stopped by the bank. She leaned against the wall. She put her hand to her heart.
I have to rest, she said.
The thin woman stopped, too.
