Diary Entry

I knew that one hour of O-Mok-See wasn’t going to be enough. There were just so many amazing things that we could do, like riding and games and snacks.… It was frustrating to try to fit in everything we’d planned. We had narrowed the activities down to thirteen great ideas, but had to focus on just a few, because the campers lost time making new warrior designs on the horses. Pru and Abigail and I decided we’d ride along, but wouldn’t be timed. This event was for the campers.

First up, there was an individual time trial in barrel racing. While I helped the campers saddle up, Pru and Abigail rushed to roll out three barrels in this pattern:

The horses had to gallop around the empty wooden rain barrels in a cloverleaf pattern.

Everyone loved it. Especially Lester, who was surprisingly fast on a gentle little horse named Malu. He flew around those barrels and beat even Turo, who’d had the fastest barrel time in town until then.

Next up, we moved those light barrels into a straight row, and everyone got an egg in a spoon. They rode the horses as fast as they could, weaving between the barrels. There’d be prizes for the quickest and then prizes for bravely trying, in case someone (like Stella) wanted to go real slow.

Lilly had a good start until her egg fell and shattered in the dirt. Snips won the timed event. That was, right up until Abigail discovered that he had cheated. Snips had put a drop of honey in the spoon to “glue” down the egg. We never would’ve known, except the blue ribbon for the event stuck to his hand! Stella, to our surprise, had the second-best time, so she won the spoon game. She isn’t so scared anymore… and that girl has such a brave streak, I never would have guessed!

As we set up for the boot relay, Oliver declared that he wasn’t participating. There was nothing I could do. Not as if I could throw him on a horse.

He announced that he was interested in riding only Spirit and no other horse. But that isn’t how Spirit works. I tried to explain that to him. Spirit does what Spirit wants. And I’m the only one who rides him. I told Oliver that he could pick another horse, but he refused and sat back down under that tree, where he’d been sitting every day since the beginning of camp.

Still, for a guy who was protesting everything, I did catch him glancing up to see what was going on. That was encouraging.

“Okay, everyone.” Pru began explaining the boot relay. “Stay on your horse, but slip off your boots and give them to a counselor. We’ll put them all in this wheelbarrow.” She pointed at the red wagon. “Abigail will take them to the end of the arena and dump them in a big pile.”

The kids quickly shed their shoes as we divided them into teams.

“You sure you don’t want to be on a team?” I asked Oliver as a last try before the O-Mok-See had to end.

He looked up at me sitting on Spirit, and shrugged.

So much for my thinking he might be softening.

“That’s not happening,” I said, and Spirit whinnied.

“Fine, then!” Oliver said in a big dramatic huff. “I’ll go make my own fun. I don’t need you.”

The frustration I had with him bubbled up. “Fine,” I countered. “Just sit here, and soon you can go with Julian to do some dangerous thing.” I said, sneering “Try not to get hurt.” He was so stubborn and I’d lost my patience. If he wanted to grow up to be just like his con man brother, then he should do that! I wouldn’t try to stop him.

I turned Spirit around, and we went back to the group.

“Ride on down to the far end of the arena. One at a time, riders from each team will gallop to the boots.” Abigail had spilled their boots and mixed them up in a pile. She was reading off the final rules now. “Jump off your horse, find your own boots, put them on, get back on the horse, and hurry back to your group.”

With a disappointed look at Oliver, I finished it up: “When you reach the group, the next rider goes. The first team to get boots on all the riders wins the day.”

“We’re riding horses without shoes?” Stella glanced down at her fancy riding boots, which she had so far refused to take off. They looked as if they were polished each night after camp. “I’m not wearing socks.”

I shrugged. “You can skip this one.” I didn’t like how I talked to Stella. I was just so frustrated with Oliver!

“I want to ride twice. I’ll go once for me and once for Stella,” Snips offered. “I can take my boots back to the other end of the ring and go again.”

“I guess,” Stella said. She seemed uncomfortable with sitting out, but she didn’t want to be barefoot in the horse ring, either.

“Okay, Snips goes twice,” Abigail said, leading Boomerang to the spot where the boots would go. “Let’s start this Boot Scoot Relay!”

“That’s so cute,” Pru said. “Who called it a ‘Boot Scoot’?”

Abigail smiled. “I just made that up.”

When Pru and I went to help the campers pile their boots, she told me, “You gotta stop worrying about Oliver.”

“I’m trying,” I replied. “It’s hard not to worry.” My anger at him for not even trying was mixed with disappointment that I couldn’t convince him to give the O-Mok-See a go.

Pru nodded.

Abigail called everyone to the side of the ring. She was helping Snips pull off his boots, when she yanked so hard she tumbled backward.

“Hey! If Stella wants some socks so she can ride,” Abigail reported, looking at Snips’s feet, “I think Snips is wearing at least five pairs.”

“I like them stacked for warmth,” Snips replied, even though it was a hot day.

“I’m not wearing his socks.” Stella plugged her nose.

“I will!” Bianca cried.

“Eww!” Snips was horrified at the thought of giving up one of his many socks.

The shoes were in the pile.

At the last minute, Stella decided to ride. She announced that she’d wash her feet twice later.

The groups were divided into boys versus girls:

Turo, Snips, and Lester versus Bianca, Mary Pat, Stella, and Lilly.

Since Oliver was out, the teams were uneven, but at least Snips got to go twice.

I approached Oliver. “Are you sure you don’t want to join the boys’ team?” I felt as if I’d make one last try to get him to play. I was even close to seeing whether he could ride Spirit, but when I reached toward Spirit, he reminded me with a huff that he called the shots.

Oliver huffed, too, and turned away.

The horses and their riders were ready at one side of the ring. The boots were waiting at the other.

“Riders, take your mark,” Pru called out. “GO!”

It was Snips versus Mary Pat. She grabbed her boots and slipped them on easily while Snips was struggling to pull his over all his socks. By the time he got back on Señor Carrots, Mary Pat had already tagged her sister.

“Like the wind,” Snips told Señor Carrots, who is surprisingly fast for a donkey.

Turo picked up speed against Bianca, and the two of them were neck and neck, when…

“Time’s up! It’s noon!” Julian was hanging by the gate to the riding ring. He leaned a shovel against the fence and dropped his canvas pack.

Turo yanked so hard on the reins of his horse, Junipero, that the stallion nearly threw him off. Bianca took advantage of the confusion by jumping off her horse and running for the boots.

Julian stopped her. “Hey, little lady, it’s time to go on a real adventure,” he said. “Enough of this boring horse stuff.”

I was surprised at the campers’ reactions.

“It’s not boring!” Bianca said.

Mary Pat echoed her. “We’re having fun.”

Snips told Julian that he was messing up the competition, and that he’d better get out of the way.

I will admit: I was proud of the campers. They were holding their ground.

“There are other team competitions we can do,” I told them, giving a side-eye to Julian. The mood had shifted, and I was feeling pretty good.

I rattled off a few more games, like flag tipping, and a game in which teams have to ride fast while tossing balls in a bucket.

“Ooohh,” Snips said. “Bucket ball…”

Julian raised his shovel. “But I’m taking everyone to Dusty Dan’s grave. Let’s eat lunch fast now, because we’re going to dig for treasure. Everyone loves searching for treasure, right?” He looked around. No one argued.

“Especially when Julian gets the rewards,” I muttered. Then, as Pru and Abigail came to stand with me, I said out loud, “Let’s make this fair. You should go on the treasure hunt if you want, but don’t forget what happened last time.”

When they got back, we’d have our vote.

I could see the campers struggling with the decision to leave the barn.

Finally, I encouraged them to stay, asking, “Who wants to find out who wins the Boot Scoot?”

A cheer went up from every single camper.

Stella wiggled her toes in the dirt. “I’d like to get my boots,” she said. “And win for my team!”

“Now, who wants to go on a real adventure?” Julian asked.

No one replied to Julian’s question, so he asked it again.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me: Who wants to go on an adventure?”

Julian’s booming question was met by uncomfortable silence.

There wasn’t even a peep from the one kid I expected to eagerly whoop and holler.

I turned around. There was no one under the tree.

I asked Julian what happened to Oliver.

He answered slowly, scanning the horizon. “I don’t know.”

Julian’s pack and shovel were still sitting by the fence.

Oliver was missing.