Summary

Dengue Boy did his best to tolerate “school and home” (214). However, when summer vacation started, he was filled with dread. Because his mother was working, he had to attend “a summer camp for boys along with the children of other working-class families” (214). Summer camp was worse than school. At school, Dengue knew what to expect. He knew who the bullies were and how they would tease him. At camp, there was a higher risk of kids being “more aggressive and spiteful” (214).

The camp was located on a dirty beach in Victorica. In 2197, the southern South American region changed following “the massive Antarctic ice melt” (215). Patagonia turned into a cluster of small islands and La Pampa gained “a new outlet to the sea” because of these environmental changes (215). The province now had control of “the continent’s sole alternative to the Panama Canal for...