“Cool,” Cooper said. “We’ll check him out before we leave. Okay, please keep looking, and I’ll talk to you later.”
Cooper called Jamal and Simon next.
“Did you really just call us ‘Team Jamon’?” Jamal said.
“Yeah, it’s a combination of…oh, never mind. Did you find anything?”
“Nothing,” Jamal said disappointedly. “No Devil hoof prints or anything like that. Just a lot of sand and trees.”
“Actually,” Jamal said “Simon and I are walking through one of the last remaining maritime forests in the state, which is pretty cool if you think about it. I studied all about coastal habitats in my New Jersey Shore Birds book.”
“That is pretty cool,” Cooper agreed, “but no sign of the Imagination Tree seeds?”
“None,” Jamal and Simon said at the same time.
Cooper took a deep breath and let it out again. “Okay, please keep looking.”
“We will.”
“General Cooper, over and out.”
“Dude,” Jamal said, “that ‘General Cooper’ thing is—”
“Lame?”
“Quite lame,” Simon said in the background.
“Yeah, I seem to be reaching new heights of lameness today. Okay, I’ll talk to you guys later.”
Jamal chuckled. “Later.”
