Chapter One
âHey,â Danny said. âWhat color is a hiccup?â
âThat riddle is just silly,â Beth told him. âI hope you wonât tell it at the talent show. And you always talk too fast when you tell your jokes.â
âFast talking makes my jokes even funnier.â
Eric said, âBeth and I will juggle. Thatâs not silly.â
âAnd Iâll do memory tricks,â Cam Jansen said.
Mr. Jansen was driving everyone to the senior center. Cam was in the front seat of the car, next to her father. Her friends Eric, Danny, and Beth were in the backseat.
Cam and her father help out at the senior center. This year they helped plan the Fall party and talent show. Cam asked her friends to be in the show. This was Eric, Danny, and Bethâs first visit to the senior center.
âSo, what color is a hiccup?â Danny asked again.
Mr. Jansen stopped the car. He waited for the traffic light to change to green.
âHow could we know the answer to that?â Mr. Jansen asked Danny. âWeâve heard hiccups, but weâve never seen one.â
âItâs burple,â Danny said, and laughed. âA hiccup is burple.â
The light changed to green. Mr. Jansen turned onto a quiet street with large old houses and big front lawns.
âItâs funny,â Danny said. âA hiccup is like a burp and âburpleâ sounds like âpurple.â So a hiccup is burple.â
âItâs silly,â Beth told him.
Mr. Jansen parked his car in front of the senior center. He parked between a blue truck and a yellow truck. Kenâs Bake Shop was printed on the side of the blue truck parked in front. Mr. Fancy Fix-It was printed on the side of the yellow truck.
âLook,â Cam said, and pointed. âLucy Lane is taking pictures.â
âLucy Lane is a photographer,â Mr. Jansen told Camâs friends. âShe will make lots of copies of the pictures. Then Cam and I will help the seniors send them with holiday cards to their friends and family.â
Cam and the others got out of the car. They hurried up the front walk.
âTake my picture,â Danny said to Lucy Lane.
Lucy Lane was standing just a few feet from an old man with a white mustache.
âI will,â she told him. âBut first Iâm taking Bobâs picture.â
âEverybody calls me âOld Bob,â the old man said. âI own a bookshop. I was on my way into the center when this nice woman said sheâd take my picture.â
âSmile,â Lucy Lane told Old Bob.
He smiled and she took his picture.
Then she turned to Cam and the others.
âSmile, everyone.â
Mr. Jansen, Cam, Eric, and Beth smiled. Danny stuck out his tongue. Lucy Lane took their picture.
Cam looked at Lucy Lane and said, âSmile, please.â
Lucy Lane put her digital camera down. She pushed her hair back and smiled.
Cam blinked her eyes and said, âClick!â
âCam, take my picture, too,â Danny said.
Danny stuck his tongue out.
Cam looked at Danny, blinked her eyes and said, âClick!â
Lucy Lane held up her camera. âHere, take a look,â she said. Danny and the others looked at the picture on the small screen on the back of her camera.
âIâm sorry,â Cam said. âYou canât look at the pictures I took. Only I can see them. Theyâre all up here,â she said, and pointed to her head.
Cam has an amazing memory. Itâs as if she has a camera in her head and pictures there of everything sheâs seen. When she wants to remember something, Cam just looks at the pictures she has in her head. Cam says âClick!â is the sound her mental camera makes when it takes a picture.
âLetâs go inside,â Mr. Jansen said. âItâs almost time for the talent show to begin.â
Mr. Jansen, Cam and her friends, Lucy Lane, and Old Bob all went into the
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