Ginger’s gone.
I read her note over several times. Each time my stomach hurts more.
Dear (ha!) Bunk Five,
I’m gone. Who are you going to pick on now?
Nobody pays any attention to me anyway.
It’ll probably be the last day of camp before you even notice I’m gone. I was in your dumb skit even though no one hung out with me at the carnival or sat with me at the campfire.
I hate you all.
Ginger Simon
“Did anyone hear or see her leave?” I ask, feeling like my insides are going to erupt out of my body.
The girls crowd into my room.
No one did.
Betsy says, “Marcy, what are we going to do?”
“I don’t know. I wish Corrine was here.” I’m beginning to feel numb. “I feel so guilty.”
“It’s not your fault,” Helene says.
“It’s all our faults,” Risa says.
I try to figure out what’s best, even though it’s hard to think. “Someone get dressed fast and take this note to Barbara and Carl.”
“I’ll do it,” Robin says, taking the note and rushing out.
I jump out of bed. “Everyone get ready. Check out the bathroom and around the cabins. Then meet me in the dining room.”
I throw on clothes and rush to the dining room, remembering how I said I was going to help her and then pretty much ignored her.
By the time I get there, Barbara and Carl are waiting by the bell.
“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t know she was this upset. It’s all my fault. I should have listened to her.”
“Let’s worry about whose fault this is after we find her. When did she leave? Did she take her clothes or anything with her? Does anyone have an idea of what she could be wearing?” Carl is holding the note.
“I don’t know.” I look down at the ground.
Robin offers to go back to the bunk to check out Ginger’s clothes. She runs back up to the bunk.
A lot of people are arriving for breakfast.
Soon everyone knows what’s happening.
Jimmy walks up. “The other day Arnie was taking Polaroid pictures by the pool. I think he’s got one or two with Ginger. Maybe that’ll help if we have to call the police.”
The police. Oh no. This is really serious. What if something terrible happens to her? What if she falls down and gets killed? I’d never be able to look at myself in the mirror again.
“Let’s stay calm,” Barbara says. “It won’t help if we look upset. That’ll only make the rest of the kids more upset.”
“I’ll help search,” Jimmy says.
Maybe he’s not so bad after all.
Ted comes over. “What can I do?” He puts his arm around my waist.
I stand there thinking about all of the time I spend with Ted. I should have spent some of it with Ginger.
“We can all go inside,” Carl says.
Robin reports. Some of Ginger’s clothing is gone.
Once everybody goes inside, breakfast is quickly served and the meeting begins.
“Attention,” Carl says. “We’ve got to have silence in order to discuss this.”
It quiets down immediately, and Carl asks if Ginger had confided to anyone about running away.
She hadn’t.
He explains that running away never solves anything because you take your problems with you.
Barbara tells everyone that the camp activities for the day will revolve around the pool and sports areas. That’ll free a lot of staff members to look for Ginger. She calls out the names of the staff who will search.
My name’s not on the list.
After everyone goes outside, except for the searchers who are awaiting instructions, I go up to Barbara.
“Please let me look,” I say. “It’ll make me feel better.”
She shakes her head. “It may make you feel better, but I don’t think it’s what’s best for the rest of the kids in the bunk, Marcy. You’ll be more useful here being with them.”
I go outside, feeling awful.
Sandy, the counselor who refused to have Ginger in her bunk, comes up to me. “Marcy, I’m sorry this had to happen. I warned Barbara. Ginger needs more than we can give her.”
“But I thought maybe I could reach her.” I shake my head. “But I didn’t do enough, actually hardly anything. She was nasty whenever I attempted to talk to her.”
“Look, you tried. She’s really manipulative. She’s done just about everything to get attention. This is her latest. I only hope she gets some help before she really hurts herself.”
I stare at the ground. “Thanks, that makes me feel a little better. I just hope they find her and she’s all right.”
I look up to check on the rest of the girls in bunk five. They’re all sitting together, under a tree.
Saying good-bye to Sandy, I walk over and join them.
Kitty says, “We should have been nicer to Ginger.”
I think about what Sandy just said. “Maybe. But I think none of us could’ve given her all that she wants or needs. Don’t blame yourselves.”
“She was getting a little better. She only called me a moron once in a while instead of every few minutes.” Ellen arranges rocks in a pile.
“She taught me to swim,” Janie cries.
That makes me wonder more about Ginger. She’s so hard to figure out.
Alicia shakes her head. “I hope Ginger’s okay, but we’ve got to remember that she’s done lots of bad things to us. She started it. How long do we have to turn the other cheek?”
They all start to talk at once.
“She used a lanyard stitch on the laces of my ballet slippers,” says Betsy.
“And she licked all of my stamps so the glue’s gone and they’re hard to use,” Ellen says.
“What about the time she told one of the little kids that eating the bark of the tree would help him fly? That kid could’ve died if the counselor hadn’t pulled him out of the tree.”
“I should have listened to her when she wanted to talk,” I say.
“One of the goats should’ve eaten her,” Helene says.
“Look, everything will work out,” I say to reassure them. “Now, I think it would be a good idea for all of you to take part in some activity. Okay?”
They get up and go over to the basketball court, to play “horse.” That’s the game where you’ve got to make the basket the way the person in front does, if the basket’s made. Missing means getting a letter. If you keep missing and get all five letters, you’re a “horse” and you’re out.
I sit on the sidelines, watch the game, and keep hoping Ginger will turn up.
Linda comes over and sits down.
“You out already?” I ask.
“I’m just HO, but I thought I should tell you something. Ginger once bragged she had some extra money hidden—about twenty dollars—that she didn’t turn in at the canteen like she was supposed to do.”
Linda nods. “Yeah. She showed it to me and bragged that her father sent it to her. She kept it in her baseball mitt.”
“Please, Linda, go up and see if it’s gone.”
“Okay, but you’ve got to take my turn at basketball.”
I nod and go over to play.
Linda rushes back in a few minutes, out of breath. “It’s gone. So’s the mitt.”
“Please go tell Barbara.”
“First tell me how many letters I’ve got now that you took over.”
“HORS.”
As she runs off, she yells, “Change the game to ‘horsie.’ I’ll be back in a minute.”
When she returns, I gladly get out of the game.
Barbara and Corrine come over.
“I know it’s too late to apologize, but I want you to know Ginger did try to talk to me a while ago, but I was too involved with other stuff. And then, last morning, she was mad at me, and I don’t think I handled it right.” I have to confess.
Barbara frowns. “Marcy, I know I told you you didn’t have to be perfect, but this time I wish you were. But I’m not sure that anyone could have known what the best way to handle the situation is.”
Corrine starts to scratch. “Dumb poison ivy. I could be out there looking for her right now if . . .”
Barbara says, “Half the camp’s looking. So are the police. It’s okay that you can’t search.”
“Have you heard any news?” I want to know.
“Carl and Ted just called in. I told them about Ginger’s twenty dollars. They’re going to check out the bus stops in Woodstock and Kingston.”
“If she left here in the middle of the night, she could be long gone to anywhere,” Corrine says.
“Well, we’ve contacted both of her parents. Since they’re divorced, she may go to either one of them. They’re awaiting further word from us, and they’ll let us know if she runs to them. Somehow I doubt it though. I don’t think she likes either of them very much.” Barbara shakes her head. “I don’t think Ginger’s had an easy home life.”
I’m so nervous. I feel as if my head’s going to explode, and my stomach hurts all the way to my legs. The only other time I ever felt this bad or felt so helpless was the night my father had the heart attack and the ambulance took him away.
Finally it’s lunchtime. Everyone comes in for a quick meal and goes out again.
Still no word.
The crafts teachers bring down rolls of lanyard materials and hooks.
Soon a lot of the kids have put the hooks on trees and are working on the lanyards. It looks like the kids are attached to the trees. I wonder what the kids do with all the lanyards when they get home. Probably they give them to their parents as presents. I can just see an executive going to work with a lanyard and a briefcase. Maybe it’ll become a new fashion fad.
Some of the searchers return to say they’ve had no luck.
We’re in the middle of the woods. I don’t know where she could have gone.
More searchers return.
The police check in.
No luck.
It’s enough to drive someone crazy.
It’s almost dinnertime, and they still haven’t found her.
One of the goats comes up and sniffs at my sneaker. Maybe the goats can be trained as police goats, sniff an article of clothing, and find a missing person.
Finally Katherine, who’s on phone duty, sends a messenger out to us.
Carl and Ted have called in.
They’ve found Ginger on the village green at Woodstock.
They’re on their way back to camp.
Relief.
Barbara rings the bell to let everyone know.
I start to cry.
So do a few other people.
Now I know how my parents felt the time I was five and got lost at Disney World. I want to hug Ginger. I want to kill her.
But most of all I want to understand why she did it.