Chapter 3 Saturday

I'm the Denner of my Cub Scout pack. That means I'm the chief kid. I get to wear a special cord on my uniform and if a kid wants to know something about how the pack is run, he's supposed to ask me. It's a very important position but Tea Biscuit says he knows I can do it. Biscuit's our Cubmaster. His name's really Thomas Bisclavret, but everyone calls him Tea Biscuit. I don't think he likes being called that, but it's hard to tell. He's French and I think that means there aren't many things he does like.

Before our Den meeting, I spent all afternoon packing for the trip. It was exciting. Not the packing, I mean the trip. Our Cub Pack's going to New York City. We're going to stay in a motel, and then go to the Bronx Zoo. I've never been on a sleep away trip before, without my parents being there.

We were all pretty hyper when we got to the scout meeting that night. Tea Biscuit wasn't there, but Rom, our Assistant Cubmaster was.

"OK guys, settle down," said Rom. "Biscuit's not here because he's been called home to France. He'll be away for the rest of the year. So Chaba's appointed me Cubmaster."

We all cheered. We liked Rom a lot. He's nice, a college sophomore, and he lets us get away with murder. Rom blushed, and we laughed. Then Rom held up the scout sign which meant we were supposed to be quiet. He said there were only a few details to take care of and then we could spend the whole meeting playing games. 

He said that tomorrow at 10AM, we should assemble at the chapter house, toss our packs into the van, and we'd be off to New York City. Rom said we had reservations at an unsuspecting motel just outside the city. That was a funny thing to say.

"Any questions, guys?" Rom asked.

"Will we see wolves?" I asked.

"I think so."

"Will they know us?"

"Yeah. It'll be fun playing with the wolves, invariant."

"Can we actually play with them?"

"I wish," said Rom, "but I'm afraid we'll have to stay on the outside of their zoo habitat."

"Aw. That's not fair."

"Do we bring our uniforms?" asked Paul. He's the newest kid in the pack.

"Yes. Definitely. Wear them at the zoo. We'll get a reduced admission and I've noticed you guys get into far less trouble when you're wearing your scout uniforms."

Then Rom pulled me out and stood me in front of him, facing the pack. "If you have any more questions, ask Cat." 

My name's Kit but everybody except my parents and my teacher calls me Cat. It's my nickname, and I like it. Nobody had any questions so we played ultimate Frisbee until our parents came to take us home. This time, Paul's parents were going to drop me off at home so my parents would have more time to prepare for dad's trip. I was just about to leave with Paul when Rom stopped me. He gave me a tiny package.

"Cat, give this to your dad. He accidentally left it at the lab."

"Sure." I slipped it into my pants pocket.

"Remember to give it to him. It's important."

"Yeah, sure," I said. "I'll remember."