Sam and Joey’s moms were going out of town. Since Joey was 20 years old, he was in charge.
“Let’s go camping!” said Sam. “We could bake a huge cake for our trip.”
“Sure,” said Joey. “If we made a big enough cake we wouldn’t have to worry about cooking or packing all those pans.”
So they went to the grocery store and bought the biggest pan they could find, two dozen eggs, three bags of sugar and a bag of flour that only Joey could carry. Then they went to the kitchen at Joey’s dorm and they made the biggest cake ever. They boxed up the cake and put the box in the trunk of Joey’s car. It was so big that the sleeping bags and the lumpy green bag with the tent in it had to go in the backseat with Sam.
When they got to the campground, Joey put up the tent. Sam helped hold the poles. They spread out their sleeping bags.
“Let’s eat,” Sam said.
“Okay,” said Joey. The box covered half of the picnic table. They opened it and there was that huge chocolate cake, looking kind of slanted, and two forks. They ate and ate and ate until there was a round hole the size of Sam’s head in the middle of the cake. Then they put the cover on the box and went for a walk in the woods. The walk ended at a lake, so they went swimming in their shorts. When they came back, they were very hungry and a bit drippy.
“I’m ready for some cake,” Sam said. But when they got to the picnic table the lid was off the box and there were two squirrels in the hole in the middle of the cake, all curled up, chomping away at the chocolate all around them.
“Hey,” said Joey. “Get out of our cake!”
“Hey,” said Sam. “Get out of our cake!”
Sam was so mad, he felt like his head was going to explode. He climbed up on the bench and grabbed the box. He and Joey shook it upside down over the picnic table.
The first squirrel fell out of the cake, pat-a-pat-scritch, and ran away up a tree. The second squirrel fell out of the cake, pat-a-pat-scritch, and ran away up a different tree. The cake fell out of the box, thump, and landed upside down on the picnic table.
“Noooo!” Sam cried.
“At least the bottom is the part that the squirrels didn’t eat,” Joey said. He handed Sam a fork. They ate and ate until there were two round holes in the cake, each as big as Sam’s head. Then they put the cake back in the box upside down, and Sam found a giant rock to put on the lid.
Next, they went on a trail that went up a bluff. They found a cave and shouted to make echoes. When they got back they were very hungry and a bit sweaty.
“I’m ready for some cake,” Sam said. But when they got to the picnic table there was a hole gnawed in the top of the box. Joey pushed the rock off and opened the box with a stick. Four squirrels were in the cake, two curled up in each of the holes.
“Get out of our cake!” said Sam, stomping his feet.
“Get out of our cake!” said Joey.
They shook the box over the picnic table. One of the squirrels fell out, pat-a-pat-scritch, and ran up a tree, and another squirrel fell out, pat-a-pat-scritch, and ran up another tree. Then the cake fell out, thump, and landed on the picnic table.
“You get out of our cake too!” Sam shouted at the other two squirrels.
“Help me, Sam,” Joey said. Together they lifted up the end of the picnic table. The cake slid off the table and landed on the ground. Thump.
When the cake hit the ground the other two squirrels burst out of it. They had mounds of chocolate cake on their heads like hats, and mounds of chocolate cake on their backs like hills, and cake from one end of their tails to the other. They ran up a tree. Bits of cake fell off the squirrels and all around Sam and Joey.
“It’s raining cake!” said Sam.
When it stopped raining cake, he and Joey looked at the crumbs of cake all around them and at the pile of crumbs next to the picnic table.
“Sam,” Joey said. “I think we need to have a different kind of dinner tonight. Not cake.”
“But I want cake,” Sam said.
“Tell you what,” said Joey. “I think there’s a vending machine by the ranger station. We could have chocolate bars and chips for dinner!” And so they did.
