by I. T. Eren
In truth, however, Brit had no interest in music. She had forced herself to learn to play her instrument—well, as much as she could. When her mother’s efforts to have her excel at sports or mind games proved to be futile, she and Brit’s father had decided to try their luck at music. For Brit’s mother, who didn’t have a job, her daughter was a “project” that gave her the chance to compete with other mothers to prove she had what it took to be successful. Brit’s mother felt obliged to channel her analytic skills and energy somewhere, and Brit was the perfect “play dough.” After trying several instruments when starting the music academy, the guidance counselor had suggested that Brit should play the violoncello. Since few kids were interested in this instrument, he stressed that it would give Brit an advantage over the others.
Hank, on the other hand, played the violin, and he was pretty good at it. One time, when he brought his violin to school, his friends tried playing archery with his bow and broke a string. Consequently, Hank’s mother had raided the school the next day and poured out her complaints to the guidance counselor.
At the beginning of the concert, Hank and Brit had already started sweating—not because they had performance anxiety but because they knew kids would make fun of them. Then, just as expected, during the fifteenth minute of the concert, someone in the back row began to make snoring sounds. Others started giggling.
Ms. Rottenmeier was not a harsh teacher. She was a softhearted, interesting, yet slightly odd woman in her fifties. She looked as if she didn’t belong to the real world and lived instead in a world coated with cotton. She believed life was made up of goodness and beauty only and pretended not to perceive negative behavior. She even put her students on a pedestal that was, perhaps, a little too high. That day, despite the giggles and laughter, Ms. Rottenmeier kept time by moving her head, and eventually, she brought herself to say, “Shhhh!” in an attempt to restore silence to the classroom.
It was at this moment that Hank and Brit’s experience in stage performance and the fact that they had rehearsed well enough beforehand paid off. Normally, it took five more minutes for the piece they had chosen for today’s performance to end. However, they had prepared an “emergency conclusion plan” for each piece they played. When the two of them exchanged glances, Hank first turned his gaze toward the ceiling, as he was totally sure the class was out of control. Brit responded by turning her eyes to the ceiling as well, confirming that it was time for their emergency plan. Soon after, they successfully concluded the concert without anyone noticing the abrupt ending. The students clapped excitedly with the joy of having come to the end of this torture. Wanting to believe they were genuinely appreciated, Hank and Brit happily bowed to their audience.
After that, Ms. Rottenmeier gave some information about summer camp. The summer camp would take place in the student camp that was located in the valley around sixty kilometers outside the city. Attending this week-long camp was not obligatory. However, the kids had heard from upper-grade students that these camps were really fun. So they had started campaigning as early as winter, to convince their parents to send them. Most of the kids would be staying away from their families for the first time and would learn to survive without advanced tools or equipment. Ms. Rottenmeier told the students that they had to get written consent from their parents to be able to join the camp. She also told them that, as homework over summer break, camp participants had to write a story about their adventures in the camp. Although some of the kids made sounds like “hmffff” and “booo,” Ms. Rottenmeier continued to talk about the details without paying attention to their complaints.
During the break, the students talked about whether they’d attend the camp or not. Many of Mark’s friends said they wanted to go this year. Also a girl who had recently moved there this year wanted to go, and this was of utmost importance to Mark. Even exchanging good-morning wishes with Ally every day was enough to make him blush. He constantly invented excuses that enabled him to be in the vicinity of this new girl.
After they returned from school in the evening, Mark did not have to pressure his parents about the summer camp. Mark’s father had also gone to camp like this one when he was a kid. And for years, he had been talking about his camp memories, as if he were telling stories from his days in the military. So he already wanted his son to go. This would give his father the chance, once again, to start talking about his own experiences as a twelve-year-old kid. Mark didn’t care how many stories his dad told; he was really looking forward to going to camp that summer.
CHAPTER 3
“Wake up, lazy pants! A camper must be up and alert at dawn,” Mark’s father said, standing by side of his son’s bed.
Mark had prepared his stuff the previous night and had gone bed a little late. What’s more, he had woken up a couple times to go to the bathroom because he was too excited about the next day.
“I’ve just had half of my sleep!” he moaned, as he opened his eyes.
After a short breakfast, father and son set off for the school in his father’s car. Mark didn’t even wash his face, saying that he would keep sleeping on the road anyway.
The bus that would take the students to the campground was waiting in the parking lot. Some of the parents had kept the drama to a minimum and left as soon as they dropped off their kids. Some parents, on the other hand, had come there with the entire family, including the family dog. Those parents started an overblown farewell ceremony, as if they were sending their child to a far away place for four long years.
Once on the bus, Mark sat next to his favorite pal Pierce. After what seemed like forever, everyone finally got on the bus, and it hit the road, accompanied by songs the teachers on duty had initiated.
Mark and Pierce had first met each other when they were seated next to each other in the first grade, and since then, they were rarely apart. Pierce was an interesting kid. Mark’s mother had found out that Pierce had stayed in the hospital for six months right after his birth because of some sort of a genetic problem. Because of this or some other reason, Mark always thought Pierce was different from the other kids. He couldn’t put his finger on the cause, and yet he was really happy about being friends with Pierce, who was a tall and quite likable kid with freckles and round-rimmed, metal glasses. When Pierce wore short pants, his thin legs that stood above his huge shoes made him look like a clown. That’s why Pierce often had to deal with other kids teasing him by asking, “Where have you left your red nose?” But they didn’t tease him for long. He always chased those kids in the corridor and caught them, right before teaching them a good lesson.
Mark had not been able to find the right position for snoozing. There was no way he could sleep with all this noise. So he decided to spend some time making fun of Pierce’s odd-looking lunchbox. “Hey Pierce, will the food in that be enough for a week? If not, you know that you’ll have to eat bugs, right? There’s no fast food in nature!”
With a brazen look on his face, Pierce grinned and said, “Ha! I’ve already done my research. There’s a nice burger place named Valleyburger ten minutes from our campground. If they deliver, then we’ll be doing well!”
Mark objected, “They might have a delivery service for homes, but I doubt they deliver to tree hollows! You know, we won’t even have tents to sleep in, just tree hollows and caves.” Pierce wasn’t a kid one could bait easily, so he paid no attention to Mark.
Mark thought, “If we really slept in caves, we could scare the hell out of everyone and have some serious fun!”
Pierce’s lunchbox was huge. Apparently, Pierce’s mother didn’t want her son to go hungry, and by giving him this humongous bag, she had guaranteed her son could eat as much as he wanted for at least two days. In fact, this lunchbox could be used to knock out any wild beast that might attack them in the forest. As for Mark, he didn’t have a lunchbox. Actually, he probably didn’t even have enough clean underwear. The evening before, he had organized his backpack with his mom. However, he later took out some items wit
hout telling his mother so that he could put in some of his most important belongings—his GPS receiver, pocketknife, and compass.
The bus left the highway and took the road to the forest. They started driving through the green trees that lined both sides of the road. As time went by, fewer cars were passing them, and when they took another turn, there wasn’t a single other vehicle or a human being in sight. After a one-hour drive on the deserted road, they finally arrived at the campground.
Before anyone got off the bus, a teacher said, “Don’t forget anything on the bus! Keep in mind that it will be leaving for the city soon.”
But even this warning was not enough to prevent Whiny Harry to scream, only fifteen minutes after they got off, “Oh, my God! I left my bag on the bus!”
The camp area consisted of small bungalows and a slightly bigger administrative building. The green, grassy area was enclosed with a fence and included various sports equipment, such as bars made of natural material and even a fastball field. The teachers explained that there was a big river near the campground, a mountain they would climb in the coming days, and a valley that gave the area its name and that could be traversed during a four-hour hike. They also told the kids they would be exploring the entire area in the coming week. Campers would also prepare their own lunches in the camp center and would even have to carry their own water in the case they could find no water during their excursions.
Mark had heard that some kids who attended in pervious years had left without completing some of the excursions. He didn’t think it would happen to him, but he had doubts about a few overweight kids in the group.
“Hey, Pierce,” he asked, “who do you think will give up first when we’re climbing the mountain. Let’s bet on it!”
Pierce shrugged his shoulders and said, “Only if you give me something if you lose.”
Mark said, “I can give you my blowpipe after we return home.”
When Pierce agreed, they shook hands. Mark said, “I’m betting on Chubby Chris.”
And Pierce said, “ I’m betting on Mary. I saw her sniffling this morning. I swear she’s going to be sick before two days have passed. Hey, I’ll win, even if she doesn’t even start the climb, right?” Mark agreed without dwelling on what his friend said.
As the kids waited in line in the open air, the teachers read everyone’s bungalow number out loud from a list. When Mark began to look for bungalow number seven after they read his name, he realized that he would be staying in the cabin that was nearest to the river.
Once they learned which bungalow they were in, the students immediately went there to get settled, with the hope that they would grab the best bunk bed. Mark hurried to his bungalow. He shoved his stuff in the closet next to the top bed that was nearest to the window. He liked the atmosphere. He lay on his bed thinking that he would really love this place.
The first day’s programming included a short morning session where they learned practical topics, such as checking out the map of the area, finding one’s direction in nature, protecting themselves against natural disasters, and preventing fires. Luckily, they got some down time and played various games as well. Mark started a quick fastball organization, even before the activities began, and convinced a few good players to join his team. They gave their team the name “Forest Camp” and pinned a list of their members onto the bulletin board.
The morning session, which felt no different from a session in the city, was utterly boring except for an exciting show performed by the chief of the fire brigade. Two fire trucks from the city drove all the way to the center of the campground, hooting their sirens and turning on their lights. The firemen in the back of the trucks looked cool in their uniforms. They jumped down, unrolled their hoses, and put up their ladders. This sight thrilled the kids. After the performance, a few of the campers probably decided to become firemen when they grew up.
The chief of the fire brigade was a big, burly guy who looked like an actor. He took his loudspeaker and started yelling at the crowd, as if he were making an important public speech, “Dear children, today we’ll learn how to put out and how to protect ourselves from fires. Please watch our demonstration carefully. And also please do not repeat these things on your own.”
After he finished his words, the firemen started a fire and then gave a few kids fire-extinguishing balls.
With his loudspeaker in hand, the chief said, “Notice how effective these balls are when you throw them into the fire. Now, I want you to throw your extinguishing balls into the fire, one by one.”
The training had been well scripted. However, because some of the kids threw the balls into totally stupid spots, the fire wasn’t extinguished completely. Once again, the chief had to use his loudspeaker to make an announcement, “I’m asking for the help of the fire brigade please!”
With their advanced equipment, the firemen put out the fire in no time. Once the fire was out, the chief jokingly advised the children to play some fastball to get a little better at throwing balls.
The boys protested loudly, but the teacher in charge liked this idea. She took the loudspeaker from the chief and said, “Kids, Mr. Hank is right. As you know, we’ll have a fastball tournament this afternoon. I hadn’t thought about this before, but it’s a good idea to have also two girls play on each team. You need to take this into consideration when forming our teams.” Although this announcement bothered the boys, it was beyond their control.
Students started stirring. Without losing time, Mark approached Patricia, one of the more athletic girls in the group.
“Patricia, would you like to be a part of our team in the fastball tournament?” he asked.
Being a tomboy, Patricia had already played this game twice before. She said, “All right, I will. But you have to promise to pass the ball to me in the game, even though I know you’re including me just because you have to”
Mark comforted Patricia, “Don’t worry! There aren’t a lot of us on the team anyway. If you don’t participate, we boys will be tired as hell!”
After convincing Patricia, Mark looked for a second good candidate. And it was then that he saw Ally, sitting alone under the trees. Ally’s family had moved to the city at the beginning of the year, and consequently, Ally had started school a little later than the other kids. Throughout the year, she had remained a bit secluded, but soon that would change. She was a smart girl who got great grades. And with her auburn hair, sweet face, and green eyes, she definitely had the potential to make boys run after her in future years. Mark decided to offer Ally to join his fastball team. He knew it didn’t really make sense to offer this tiny girl to play fastball with them, but Mark felt his heart skip a beat whenever Ally was around. He even felt embarrassed, wondering if the beating of his heart was audible by others.
He gathered his courage, walked toward Ally, and said, “Hi! We had Patricia join our fastball team. Would you also like to play with us?”
Ally was surprised. She said, “I’m not very good at fastball. I would be more trouble than help. Maybe I’d better just cheer you on as a fan.”
Mark insisted in a way that even surprised himself—maybe because he thought he’d look stupid if he backed off after being bold like that. “Well, this would be a great opportunity for you to learn how to play! I’ll teach you the rules. Besides, we need a few more girls on the team, and I bet no other girl would be better at it than you.”
Ally thought that giving this game a try would be better than spending the entire afternoon doing nothing. She also wasn’t someone who could say no easily after that much insistence, so she accepted Mark’s offer. And the boy quickly told her about the rules of the game.
Meanwhile, Pierce, who had gone to his bungalow to change his shoes, had returned. When he was studying the lists on the bulletin board, he realized that Ally had joined their team. Since Mark had already (and unfortunately) told him how much he liked Ally, Pierce laughed when he saw her name, “You! What the hell is going on with these changes to our t
eam?!” Afraid that Ally could hear Pierce, Mark harshly elbowed his friend to shut him up.
After lunch, all teams hurried to get their uniforms on and then ran to the field. The first match was going to take place between Team Too Fast and Team Forest Camp.
Fastball was the combination of many popular games that used to be played in the past. In the game, players aimed to get the ball to the opposing team’s end zone, located at the other end of a field. However, they made points only if they crossed the point line while holding the ball You were free to touch the ball with your hands or your feet. However, you had to pass the ball after taking three steps or less. Otherwise, the ball passed to the rival team.. An attacking player who did not have the ball could stand for only five seconds in the end zone, which was restricted through a second line located toward the center from the opposing team’s end zone. Therefore, an attacking player usually moved in and out of the zone while a player on the rival team guarded him.
The match began when the referee tossed the ball. The Too Fast team jumped and caught it. One of their players, Terry, drove the ball from the right-hand side and then passed it to a girl named Florine.
Florine shouted absentmindedly, “Who is on our team?”
Although he belonged to the rival team, Mark approached her confidently and said, “Take it easy. I’m there now. You can pass the ball!”
