Four days after the volleyball game and I’m in charge of bunk five.
Corrine got poison ivy.
Bad.
Her face’s swollen to twice its normal size. There’s a rash all over her body. She’s got to wear mittens so she won’t scratch.
At the infirmary right now Corrine’s getting Calamine lotion poured all over her body.
I’m watching the final dress rehearsal of the skit before the talent show.
Ginger walks by.
“Hi,” I say.
She ignores me.
“What’s the matter?”
“Do you care? You won’t do anything about it anyway.” She looks at me.
I never did talk to Corrine. With everything else that’s happened, I’ve been so busy, I forgot.
“Ginger. I’m sorry. How’s everything going? Really. I promise we’ll have a talk as soon as carnival and the talent show are over. I thought everything was going better.”
She shrugs. “Don’t bother. It’s not worth it. Who cares?” and she walks away.
The girls finish up the skit and hang out in front of the cabin.
Ginger sits by herself under a tree and draws. Risa and Linda go into the cabin.
A few minutes later they start to scream.
There’s a bat in bunk five.
Oh no, not again.
Corrine’s in the infirmary.
No one else is around but me.
I’ve got to deal with it even though I’m scared.
I can do it. At least I think I can. I’m learning that things happen that aren’t always wonderful, but I can handle it. It’s not punishment for being good or bad, a success or a failure—it’s just life. Scary, but I’ll survive . . . That’s what I’m learning this summer, not to take everything so personally. The bat didn’t wake up this morning and say, “Oh goody, I’m going to get Marcy Lewis today.”
I can survive—and more than that, I can live my life. I’ve always been so afraid that I couldn’t do anything on my own. Now I can do lots of things. And what I can’t do, I can try to get help with.
This bat, however, is not going to help me out. It’s up to me.
I thought bats only came out at night.
A bat. An ugly, vicious bat. It’s probably dripping with rabies.
Linda taps me on the shoulder. “Marcy, you’ve got to do something. It’s flying all over the place. Our clothes are probably covered with bat turds.”
I grab a broom that someone’s left on the front porch.
“Don’t go,” Kitty yells.
“Don’t kill it.” That’s Stacey.
Everyone’s upset except for Risa and Linda, who look like they’re trying to keep from laughing.
It seems fishy to me.
Opening the door slowly, I look inside.
“It’s in your room,” Risa yells.
Linda’s rolling on the ground laughing.
I’m going to be brave.
I open the door.
On the floor of my room is a baseball bat with a sign on it: “AUGUST FOOL!”
That’s it. That’s the bat in bunk five.
I pick up the bat and pretend that I’m going to clobber Linda and Risa.
I put down the bat when I realize that I really do want to clobber Risa and Linda.
Someday this is going to be very funny, but right now I’m just trying to get my heart to stop pounding so fast.
Everyone starts laughing.
Even I begin to see the humor in the situation.
There’s a knock on the cabin door.
It’s Carl. “Marcy, the magazine’s ready, all put together. How about you and the girls coming down to the office to put the finishing touches on it?”
“There’s a bat in bunk five,” yells Risa.
Carl looks at me.
I grin. “In my room, take a look.”
He does and comes out laughing.
I can’t believe I used to be afraid of him.
We all go to the office to work on the magazine. It looks great. I’m really proud of it.
Corrine walks in and calls me over to the side. “Marcy, I’m going to stay in the infirmary for a day or two until this clears up. I feel terrible. I can’t believe it. Would you be in charge of the cotton-candy machine tomorrow for the carnival? Barbara says it’s all right, that someone will show you how to work it. I can’t. It’s hard to twirl paper cones with mittens on my hands. Also I think the Board of Health would view it as a health hazard to ooze poison ivy onto cotton candy.”
“Sure,” I say, seeing how bad she looks. “Do you want me to do anything else?”
She hands me an envelope. “Here, Katherine wrote this list for me of the stuff I need from the bunk. Would you please have one of the kids pack a suitcase for me and deliver it to the infirmary?”
I nod. “Want me to walk you back?”
“No thanks. I just had to get out for a minute before I went stir crazy.”
She leaves, and I give Betsy the list so she can get Corrine’s stuff.
Lunchtime.
It starts to rain. Oh no, the dreaded downpour. That’s one of the worse things that can happen at camp, having everyone closed in for a long period of time.
Everyone remains in the main house after lunch.
One of the upstairs rooms is set up with arts and crafts supplies.
Another is turned into a rehearsal room for skits practice.
Most of the kids stay on the ground floor, running, yelling, and joking around.
Someone lets the goats in.
The campers have a great time rounding them up, pretending it’s a rodeo.
Once the goats are outside again, we push aside the tables and chairs and set up a kickball game. Ted heads up one team and Sally heads up the other.
I referee.
The noise level’s high. It sounds like a rock concert.
Heidi comes over. She’s wearing an orange hooded rain poncho with the baseball cap on top of it. “I hope this clears up and the sun dries everything out. It’d be awful if carnival had to be postponed. The kids are really looking forward to it.”
Ted’s team is up to kick and it’s his turn.
I watch as he kicks and rounds the bases.
“I’m glad you two got everything straightened out,” Heidi says. Then, “I kind of wish I’d met someone here. Oh well, I suppose I could always take Jimmy up on his offer and go look at his newspaper clippings.”
“You’re kidding,” I say.
She grins. “I’m kidding. I’d rather be alone than with someone just to be with someone. If they learn how to clone people, I’d like to have one made from Ted.”
I tell her the Bozo the Clone joke.
We laugh.
It’s good to have a friend who isn’t jealous because you’re doing something she’s not. I really like Heidi.
Finally the rain stops and we can go outside.
Back to our regular activities.
Then on to dinner. A lot of camp seems to center around the dining room. I hope I’m not gaining weight. But I don’t think so. My clothes still fit, and I’m getting lots of exercise.
Then we have a campfire, only we have to hold it inside, using the dining room fireplace because the ground’s still wet from the rain.
A special treat. Hot chocolate with marshmallows. And Somemores, graham cracker sandwiches with melted marshmallows and a piece of chocolate inside. For the kids who don’t want sugar, there is a special package of nuts and raisins.
Then it’s off to bed.
I’m in charge and nothing’s gone wrong. What a relief. I’ll be glad when Corrine feels better and comes back. I miss her.
Sleep, then reveille. There’s definitely a pattern to camp.
Carnival’s to begin just before lunch, a break in the pattern.