“Did I miss anything?” Nico Guerraro, a boy from Jessie’s class, came rushing up to the group. He was panting hard.
“We’re just starting,” Jessie told Nico. She explained about the cameras and the contest. “You should get a camera now if you want to enter.”
Nico patted his pants pockets. “Can’t,” he said. “No money. I was running so late, I even forgot my lunch.” He rubbed his belly. “I know I’m going to be hungry later.”
“Don’t worry,” Benny said. He pointed at his full backpack. “I have loads of snacks with me. You can have some.”
At that, Nico smiled. “Great. I’ll help carry it if it gets too heavy.” Then Nico frowned. “Now if only I had a camera,” he said. He pushed his shaggy black hair off his face.
“Don’t ask Blake for one,” Sophie said. “He’s got two, but he won’t share.”
“And it’s not fair,” Annika added, stepping up next to Sophie. She was much shorter than Sophie, so Annika looked up and said firmly, “He’s a contest-cheating camera hog.”
“Am not!” Blake’s face was as red as his hair when he turned toward Annika. “Mr. Newton told me that I could have two. You heard him. I’m not breaking any rules.”
It looked like a fight was about to begin. But at that moment, Mr. Newton made an announcement. “The baby penguins are right over here. Everyone follow me and Benny, please.”
With a toss of her short brown hair, Annika hurried ahead to walk with Benny. Sophie moved to the back of the group. Nico and Blake and the rest of the children walked together.
At the penguin habitat, all the tension about cameras and contests disappeared when the children saw how cute the babies were.
“Oooh,” Violet gushed. She waited until Benny had taken the first picture before asking if she could take one, too. He handed her the camera.
Jessie pulled out her notebook. She jotted down a few of the facts Mr. Newton was telling them about the babies.
“Penguins babies live in rookeries, or groups, where they all huddle together to stay warm,” Mr. Newton told the group. He pointed to a baby huddled next to some adults. “They also have soft feathers called down to help protect them from the cold.”
Blake snapped a picture of the baby penguins.
While Mr. Newton talked, Jessie noticed that Sophie was growing more and more sad and quiet.
“Are you okay?” Jessie asked Sophie.
Sophie bit her bottom lip. “I guess so,” she replied. “The baby penguins are just so adorable. I’m not sure I’ll be able to remember how great they are once we leave here. Sometimes I wish my parents had a little extra money for things other than swimming. Like cameras.”
Jessie put her arm around Sophie. “But just think, you’re the only one here who has a chance at making it to the Olympics. That’s a once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
Jessie’s words seemed to make Sophie feel a little better. “I guess there will always be baby animals to take pictures of, right?”
“Exactly,” Jessie told her. “New babies are born at the zoo every year!”
At that, Sophie smiled and headed off after Benny and Mr. Newton toward the giraffe habitat.
Once they all got there, Henry and Violet stood at the fence looking at the newest little giraffe.
“The baby’s so wobbly on those toothpick legs,” Henry said to Violet. “It’s amazing that he can stand up at all.”
Blake squeezed in between Violet and Henry, shoving his way toward the fence. “Excuse me,” he said. “This is the best spot for a contest-winning picture.” Violet took a step back.
Henry tried to move to let Blake get right up next to the fence, but Annika was shoving her way in on his other side. Henry was sandwiched between the two photographers.
“I saw this spot first!” Annika said, putting the camera to her eye to frame the picture.
“It doesn’t matter.” Blake put his camera up to his eye, too. “I have the better angle.”
“Looks to me like they are taking the same shot,” Violet commented to Jessie.
“Sure does. It’s the same view. Same position. Same baby giraffe,” Jessie said.
Blake and Annika clicked their camera buttons at the exact same time.
“Done!” Blake said, stepping back from the fence.
“Whew,” Henry said, finally able to breathe. “I’m surprised you don’t want to take a few more pictures to make sure you got it just right.”
“When you have a winning photo, all it takes is one shot,” Blake said with certainty. He glanced over at Annika, who was busy taking multiple shots of the same view. “I think I’ll use this camera, with the winning picture, for the rest of today. Then I’ll have a completely new one to use tomorrow.” Blake patted his over-the-shoulder bag.
Annika leaned over to the fence and clicked her tongue. “Come here, little giraffe,” she said. She fired off another couple of pictures.
“Henry,” Benny said, rushing up to the others. “Have you seen Sophie?”
Henry looked around the group. “No. Why?”
“I don’t see her,” said Benny. “Being an assistant zoologist is hard work. It’s my first day, and I already lost a tourist.”
“Sophie’s not lost,” Violet said. She pointed to the tall blond girl sitting alone by the nearby picnic area. “There she is.”
Sophie was far off from the group. She was sitting in the grass. Instead of looking at the giraffes, she watched some peacocks.
“I’ll go get her,” Benny said.
Benny scampered off and came back a minute later without Sophie. “She says giraffes are boring,” he told the others. “She’s waiting for us to get done with the giraffes so we can eat lunch.”
“Let’s go, then,” Blake said, holding his bag tightly against his chest. “I’m hungry.”
Benny rubbed his tummy. “I’ve been so busy today, I forgot to eat my snacks. I’m starving!”
Everyone went over to the picnic tables, where Sophie joined them.
The lunch cooler was there, waiting for them. The students set their cameras and backpacks on a table and went to get their lunch sacks.
For a few minutes, Nico was alone at the table. Then Benny came rushing over. “Here. These are for you.” Benny gave Nico an orange, a bottle of water, and some chips from his pack.
Sophie, Blake, Annika, and the twins sat on one side of the table, with Nico and the Aldens on the other. The rest of the tour group sat with Mr. Newton at another table.
“I’m not very hungry,” Henry said. He gave Nico half of his turkey sandwich, too.
“You Aldens are lifesavers!” Nico said, perking up after taking a bite of Henry’s sandwich. “Thanks a million!”
A few bites into lunch, a fight broke out at the far end of the picnic table.
“I want to take a picture of that bird,” said Griffin. He was pointing at a peacock pen near the lunch tables.
“You can’t,” his twin Matthew said. “You took the last three pictures. It’s my turn. And I don’t like peacocks.”
“But he’s a pretty bird,” Griffin said. “And his feathers are all spread out. Quick. Give me the camera.”
Matthew hid it behind his back. “No way,” he said.
Griffin reached over and pushed his twin, so Matthew shoved back. “If you want to take so many pictures, get your own camera,” Matthew said.
“Fine! I will get my own camera.” Griffin stood up and grabbed his lunch bag. Then he went and sat with the rest of the group at the other table.
“Tour group!” Mr. Newton called. He rushed up to the tables. “Some new butterflies are hatching from their cocoons!” Mr. Newton excitedly announced. “Let’s head over to the butterfly pavilion right now. The ones that hatched a few days ago are taking flight for the first time!”
The children from the tour quickly started to clean up.
Annika grabbed her camera off the table, stuffed her half-eaten food back into its sack, then walked over and dumped it in the cooler.
Blake was about to head over to the cooler, but he picked up his camera first. “I’d better put this away before anything bad happens to it,” he said. He shoved the camera into his over-the-shoulder bag and laid the bag on the table. Then Blake went over to the cooler with his leftover lunch.
The rest of the spring break tour group rushed about, gathering their cameras and lunches. They were in a hurry to see the butterflies.
On their way, a zookeeper and a woman wearing a security badge walked by. They were carrying a small monkey in a metal cage. It jumped about and made hooting sounds.
“I can’t wait to get to the monkey area,” Violet said.
“I think we’re seeing them at the end of the day,” Henry told her.
They finally entered the butterfly pavilion. “This is incredible,” Jessie said.
There were butterflies all around, on branches and bushes. One even landed for an instant on Benny’s head. Violet quickly took a picture before it few away.
Mr. Newton told the children that once the butterflies come out of their cocoons, they need to hang upside-down for a while so their wings can expand and dry before they fly. Some of the butterflies were just coming out. Others, like the one that landed on Benny’s head, had emerged a few days earlier.
When the tour group left the butterfly pavilion, the students went on to see some newly hatched hummingbirds. They were resting in their cup-shaped nest, waiting for their mother to return and feed them. After that, the group followed Mr. Newton and Benny to the baby alligators’ habitat. When they arrived, the small alligators were sunning themselves on rocks to keep warm. Henry took a few pictures.
At the jaguar exhibit, it was Jessie’s turn with the Alden camera. She focused on a baby jaguar, climbing up a tree. But she was suddenly interrupted by Blake shouting. “My camera! It’s gone! Someone stole my camera!” he said.
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