M arty was the quietest kid in my cabin at icamp. During the late-night discussions after lights-out, he was usually content to just sit in his bunk, underneath his covers, and listen. Every once in a while he would say something which would crack us all up. Our laughter never failed to catch the attention of the counselor on duty, and we would end up being yelled at and threatened. When the counselor left, we would talk quietly until Marty put us all into hysterics once again with his incredible impressions of people and his imaginative sense of humor. Being the smallest fourteen-year-old I had ever seen, he had to rely on his humor to win people over. I never saw it fail to work. He was the friendliest kid in the cabin, and since he was in my drama class, I also knew what a good actor he was.

One morning during siesta, Marty was called out of the cabin for a phone call. We all thought nothing of it when he left. Close to half an hour later, he staggered through the cabin door with a dazed look on his small face. We could tell that something major had happened. Being the nosy thirteen-year-olds we were, we erupted in unison.

"What happened, Marty? Huh, what happened?" The cabin echoed with questions.

He sat down on the bed and we all became silent. He looked up at us with his big eyes and spoke.

"Last fall, a group of movie guys went to tons of schools around the country looking for kids to be in a movie. They were only taking about fifteen kids. They picked me. I'm gonna be in a movie."

Then Marty did something I will never forget. He started to cry. We all slapped him on the back and congratulated him, but he just kept crying.

"I can't believe it. I can't believe it," he kept repeating.

When "Lord of the Flies" came out last spring, camp had long since ended. I went to the theater with my friend, who had also been in Marty's cabin. Though Marty played one of the shipwrecked boys throughout the movie, he had only two lines.

"What time is it?" he asked.

"Why do you want to know?" another boy answered.

"Well, I just wanted to know what shows would be on if I were at home watching TV," Marty replied.

My friend and I stood up in the middle of the movie theater and started cheering when he said those lines. Marty wasn't back at camp last summer. I heard that he went to a tennis camp instead. If you are reading this now, Marty, congratulations and good luck. Nice job in the movie. n