When the cabin can’t get any cleaner, we go outside and Margie sweeps the path.

Near the gangway an oak seedling has sprouted. I count eight leaves. Each leaf spreads as flat as an open hand; the thick, round fingers mirror one another on two sides of the center vein. On a sturdy old bough, those leaves would look right, but instead they are attached to a slender young twig: adult leaves, baby tree. So far as I can tell, this infant oak is alone in the world, no parent in sight. I can’t recall seeing any oaks since I’ve been here. How did one acorn come to fall in this spot?

I imagine the oak growing strong, branching out, reaching for the sky. No. It won’t make it. There’s no room. It sprouted right on the edge of the asphalt. On the other side, the hillside drops straight down. The next hard rain will wash away the sliver of loose sand and the seedling with it.

I could get Margie to dig it up and plant it in a better spot. But I think not. If I transplant the seedling, I might kill it. Left alone, it will die in due course, by the same accident that caused it to spring where it is.

That will be better.

“You see anything else needs cleaning?” Margie asks.

I shake my head, and we go inside.

*   *   *

We hear the familiar rattle on the gangway. Through the screen door comes Sue’s rear end and then Sara’s back wheels. They turn into the cabin, and behind them the screen door groans closed.

Sue looks grim. “Sara, you better report to your cabinmates.”

“Gladly, Sue.” She has the manner of someone who has just stood up at a banquet to make a toast. “Cabinmates: According to Fearless Leader Bob, we performed the Most Inappropriate Skit in Camp Courage History. And from eight years’ experience in this place, I can tell you that is no small distinction.”

“Sara, don’t be so smart,” Sue snaps.

“Sorry, I was born that way.”

I look down.

“At any rate, I took full responsibility. I told Bob I organized the whole thing. I told him Sue and Carole knew nothing, nothing, nothing. Bob wanted to send me home, but my mother is in Spain, and my grandmother can’t take me till tomorrow. So he’s stuck with me.”

Openly, Margie claps. The others keep silent, but they can’t hide the pleasure on their faces.