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Chapter 7: NEVER ONCE, BEFORE TODAY

• Surprising vigils on two fronts: Mike is awake and ready to go when Rudy initiates the early-morning escape effort, and Chip is awake and suffering from existential dread (or maybe just self-pity).
• Mr. Warden has zero clue. I love that guy.
• “Old Elias must be spinning in his grave.”
• I’ve heard that before, Mike thought (to Rudy’s claim that “We’re not going to be here after tomorrow.”). Okay, so Mike thinks Rudy is unbeatable at any game but he does not think his friend is completely infallible.
• Chip is amazing. Even after the unexpected dip in the lake, even after Mr. Warden’s rebuke during the “sentencing” of Rudy and Mike, Chip defends the boys’ right to sit out of camp sports.
• Camp Algonkian’s intercamp rivals have the most generic names imaginable—Spruce Valley and Cedar Ridge—but are still funny. Spruces are known for growing on ridges, and cedars tend to be found in valleys.