It was summertime so Bettie’s family was on vacation. First they went to the library, and Bettie got to get her favorite book, Caddie Woodlawn, by Caroline Ryrie Brink. Then her grandparents met them at the pond with a picnic.

“We wanted to have a barbecue, but it didn’t’ turn out,” said Bettie’s grandpa wiping the perspiration from his forehead. “At least we have this watermelon and lemonade to cool off with. The sunshine is so hot!”

“How about we go swimming?” suggested Bettie’s brother Jack. “I’d also like to try sailing the boat that I finished building last week.”

“That’s a great idea!” exclaimed Bettie. She finished her food, and took off her shoes, and soon she was running barefoot towards the pond. She jumped in with a huge splash, which scared away a family of frogs and a cloud of mosquitoes.

“Oh no! I forgot to take off my sunglasses and when I dived in, I lost them!” cried Bettie. “I’ll dive in and find them for you,” said Jack whipping out a pair of goggles from his back pocket.

“Where did those come from?” asked Bettie in a tone of bewilderment. But Jack was already in the pond.

A few moments later, Jack came up gasping for breath with his arms full. He had Bettie’s sunglasses, a baseball, a gardening tool, and a hat that said “Camping at Camp Snookelwickles” on the front of it!

“It’s a regular field of treasures down there!” exclaimed Jack as he dumped his treasures at the edge of the pond and dived in again.

Bettie grabbed her sunglasses and put them on the table so she wouldn’t lose them again. When she got back to the pond, she saw a little girl her age swimming! They immediately became friends and Bettie told her all about the day --- losing her sunglasses and all! The other girl told Bettie all about her day --- they had gone sightseeing in Paris, caught a plane to Florida and there they were!

“It was barely even daylight when we got on the plane, but now the sun is going down!” said the other girl.

“You’re right! I hadn’t noticed. I’d better get going. I see my family packing up,” said Bettie, climbing out of the pond.

“Bye! Oh wait! I never found out your name! I’m Olivia Brown,” Olivia said.

“Olivia! What a pretty name! My name is Bettie. It was a pleasure meeting you!” called Bettie from over her shoulder. She turned around one last time and waved.

“Wow! There is so much humidity in the air and I can see a thunderstorm coming toward us! What a change from the nice weather we had earlier,” said Bettie’s dad. “Are we all ready to go? Wait, where is Jack?”

“Here I am Dad,” said Jack coming up from behind them with his arms full of things he found at the bottom of the pond.

“Well then, lets go!” said Bettie’s dad.

They all waved good bye to their grandparents and got into the van.

That night when Bettie went into Jack’s bedroom to say goodnight she said, “Thanks for getting my sunglasses Jack. Where did you get those sunglasses anyway?” wondered Bettie, but Jack was already asleep. She lay down on her bed and suddenly a thought popped into her mind: tomorrow was Independence Day! She fell asleep wondering what they would do then.