Camp Life

by Lucinda Maison

  “I would describe that trait as having a high level of friendliness. Does that make sense to you?” he asked the room in general.

  Once again, heads nodded. “If you want to make friends and you know someone like Great Aunt Susie or Dara’s friend, what could you do?”

  “See what they do and then try it yourself?” someone offered.

  “Ask them, so you could learn what to do,” someone else called out.

  “Good” said Ron. “What else could you do to get this skill of making friends wherever you go?”

  No one responded. “How do people make friends with you?”

  “Talk to me. Ask me to go do stuff with them. Act like they want to be with me,” Jim offered.

  “Yes. In other words, they are friendly with you. So you come up with some specific ideas of things you can do to get what you want. And you do those things. But while you are doing those things, something else is happening. It’s what I was talking about before. Seemingly magical things happen that support you in your goal. The new kid sits next to you at lunch, and you ask him if he plays any sports. He says he was on the lacrosse team at his last school and he hopes your school has a lacrosse team, too. You are one of the best middies on the team, and you invite him to come to practice…or, you go to the movies with friends and there’s an empty seat next to you. Someone needs the extra seat farther down the row, so you and your friends get up and everybody moves down one seat. This puts you right next to a girl, who smiles at you as you sit down. You offer her some popcorn and start up a conversation…When you decide on a course, make plans on how to achieve it, and open yourself up to it, things start happening to help out.”

  “I’d like you to think about something you want or something you’d like to see happen, and write it down,” Ron instructed. “Then think about what needs to be done, what needs to happen in order to get it. One caveat…you can’t make another person feel a certain way or do something they don’t want to do. People are responsible for themselves and they make choices for themselves. You can only make choices for you…Also, if what you want is to be 6’4” and your parents are both jockey-size, well, let’s just say it’s unlikely you’ll be able to get what you want.”

  There was laughter around the room. Kids began reaching for paper and passing around the pencil cups.

  Jake stared down at his blank page, unmoving. Jim was scribbling beside him, apparently having no trouble thinking up what he wanted. Jake didn’t hear Ron come up behind him until a large hand closed on his shoulder. He jumped and turned quickly to find Ron smiling down at him.

  “What’s the first thing you thought of, Jake?” he asked.

  Jake grimaced. “Nothing, really,” he answered.

  “Nothing at all, or nothing you really want?” Ron prompted.

  Jake was silent for a minute. “OK, not nothing, but something you said won’t work…like getting someone to do something,” he said gloomily.

  “Well, if you can’t control someone else, you can still control yourself. Can you approach whatever it is from that angle? From how you’d like to feel about it?” Ron asked.

  Frowning, Jake continued to stare at his paper, then finally looked at Ron again. “It’s…I guess I told you about my dad already…”

  Ron nodded. “I remember.”

  “I’d like it if he’d be a real dad, you know, want to do things with me, show he even cares about me...I guess I’m never going to get that from him. But I can’t stop wanting it.” A large sigh escaped him. “Why couldn’t he be a normal dad?”

  “I don’t know. That’s up to him, “ Ron replied. “People handle things differently, in ways that make sense or not, that make life easier or harder…all kinds of ways. The choices your dad has made likely have nothing to do with you; it sounds like he’s dealing, or not dealing, with his own stuff. I mean that his problems are not yours. You can’t make him act like a loving father. So, what can you do?”

  Jake shrugged fatalistically.

  “No, really, what can you do about it? Think about something that is in your power to do,” Ron encouraged. “Write down anything that comes to mind, and I’ll be back in a bit.”

  Ron moved a step or two over to Jim, asking “What did you come up with?” Jake tuned them both out, continuing to stare at his paper.

  Toby huffed audibly, an uncharacteristic frown wrinkling his brow.

  Dara peered at him with her head tilted to one side, one elfin eyebrow soaring upward in mute question.

  He finally unclamped his lips. “This,” he hissed emphatically, “is not magic!”

  On the other side of Dara, Caroline leaned forward and hissed back.

  “Just because it doesn’t involve wand-waving, doesn’t mean it can’t work. I know you guys like fantasy,…” she pointed her chin at Dara to include her, too, “but, let’s face it, there is no Hogwarts, no hobbits or elves, and no Easter Bunny, either.”

  A dull red flushed Toby’s face. “You call this scientific?” he demanded, jabbing his pencil at the blank sheet in front of him.

  Caroline shook her head. “Of course not, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t something to it. If it works, would you call it magic? Or maybe it would just seem like magic. Maybe that’s all magic is anyway, stuff that seems like magic, but it’s just the way things work.”

  Toby opened his mouth to respond, then snapped it shut.

  He stared at Caroline, unblinking, until Dara waved fingers in front of his face.

  “Earth to Toby,” she called softly, a bemused smile tugging her lips.

  Toby transferred his gaze to her, blinked, nodded once, then immediately started writing. Dara looked at Caroline, who only shrugged. Both girls turned their attention to their papers.

  Jake didn’t understand it, didn’t believe it, but he felt great looking at the five things he’d written on his paper. They were all so exactly right. I am totally pumped about this! he thought to himself, with some unfamiliar emotion that might be joy. Jim had slapped him on the back after reading it, a wide grin splitting his face. Ron came over and Jake nearly shoved the paper up his nose, so eager was he for Ron to see.

  Ron read each sentence carefully and in silence. When he was done, he looked up straight into Jake’s eyes, seeing no trace of surliness or wariness, only a beaming sense of satisfaction. Ron didn’t say a word, just nodded his head once, and pulled Jake into a tight bear hug. Jake didn’t resist.

  Chapter 18

  Treasure

  If Jim had given her bogus information, she was going to make him pay. She’d wait until he was in the mud pit tomorrow and make sure more than his legs got muddied, Corinne vowed to herself. He promised her that this Dream Working class would have nothing to do with staring at each other or any other stupid form of torture they could think up. The counselor named Shelley was explaining what they were going to do, and Corinne reluctantly tuned in again.

  Treasure map, huh? Corinne thought. Could be worse. She didn’t see what good it would do, but she was willing to give it a shot. At first, she thought of having so much money she could go shopping whenever she wanted, buy all the funky clothes she wanted. Then it was having a room to herself, one she didn’t have to share with her little sister. She loved the little creep, but still…That would be awesome! Her mind flicked from one image to the next to the next, and she couldn’t decide.

  Suddenly, the film in her head seemed to roll to a stop, landing on an unwelcome picture. She saw herself staring down at her phone, the text message from her “friend”, Brandy, clearly visible on the screen.

  “U R such a btch! Miranda told me wat U said about Cole & me. Im going to tell everyone about yr slutty mom!”

  Corinne felt sick all over again. She had said nothing to Miranda. Miranda was evil and got some sort of twisted fun out of making people mad at each other. Brandy knew this, but still believed her. Corinne had been so careful to hide the truth about her mother leaving them, and then Brandy spread it all o
ver the school, with Miranda’s help, she was sure. God, she couldn’t stand the drama anymore! Everyone whispering, spreading rumors and half-truths, texts flying, nasty MySpace postings…she hated school!

  “What are you thinking, Corinne?” Shelley broke in on her thoughts. Corinne started and glanced down before quickly summoning up a cheeky grin. She looked up at Shelley. “Oh, you know, the usual, mansion in Beverly Hills, red carpet interviews, my Oscar acceptance speech…”

  Shelley smiled and raised both eyebrows. “Really? I didn’t figure you for a fame and fortune kinda girl.”

  Corinne’s grin faded. “What kind of girl did you figure me for?” she asked with unusual seriousness, the answer suddenly very important to her.

  Shelley considered carefully. “Someone who makes her own path without worrying too much about what other people think. Someone who cares more deeply than she lets on about the important things in life.”

  Without warning, Corinne’s eyes began to water. She turned her head away hastily and looked everywhere she could except at Shelley.

  “If what you want is the red carpet and being a great actress, you go for it!” Shelley told her. “If it’s something else, I’m behind you on that, too.” She rubbed Corinne’s back briefly, and moved to the next table, leaving Corinne alone with her thoughts.

  “Wait up!” Caroline panted, grunting as she pulled herself up to the base of the giant boulder.

  “Here,” she heard a voice above her and looked up to see Drew holding his hand down to her. Out of breath, she nodded her thanks and grabbed his hand.

  Drew pulled her up easily, then reached down again to help Dara. As tall as she was, it would have been simple for her to scramble up. Dara’s Rules: if a cute guy wants to help you and it involves holding his hand, go ahead and let him. She smiled when she was standing next to Drew on top of the boulder, then noticed that Caroline had disappeared.

  “Where’d she go?” she asked, looking all around.

  “I’m right here,” she heard Caroline’s voice.

  Drew started to point in the direction of Caroline’s voice and noticed that he hadn’t let go of Dara’s hand. She seemed to notice at the same time, but instead of drawing her hand away, she smiled shyly at him.

  Drew grinned, gave her hand a quick squeeze, and pulled her over to a cleft in the rock that was partially screened by thick brush. They peered down and saw Caroline crouched in a flat, sandy area that ran between the split rock and disappeared into a thicket.

  “This is so cool! Look at him!” she exclaimed excitedly.

  Drew’s eyes widened as he followed her pointing finger, and he let out a little whoop and stepped carefully beside her. “Dara, come look!” he invited eagerly. “Sarah’s going to love this!”

  “Who’s Sarah?” Dara and Caroline demanded at the same time.

  Drew didn’t answer, intent on the sand at his feet.

  “Drew?” Caroline prompted, without much patience.

  “What?”

  “Sarah?”

  He looked puzzled for a moment. “Oh. She’s a girl I met on a horseback ride. She likes lizards.”

  Caroline looked up at Dara and shrugged. Boys.

  Dara stepped down into the cleft and bent over to see what had caught their attention. “Oh, it’s a lizard”, she said, not understanding why this discovery was such a big deal.

  “Not just any lizard,” Drew explained. “It’s a horny toad. I didn’t know they even lived in Texas.” He reached out a finger toward the spiny tail, and the lizard shuffled a few inches away with surprising speed.

  “He looks kind of like a baby bearded dragon,” Caroline mused. “You know, Drew…that lizard Taylor has.”

  Drew nodded, not taking his eyes off the horny toad.

  “He’s so cute!” Caroline squealed.

  Dara looked again, but failed to see the cuteness factor. The lizard had a broad head with short spines fringing the back, a roundish body, and skinny little claws on his little lizard feet.

  “I want to hold him!” Caroline said, moving to block the lizard’s path. At the same time, Drew reached out and grabbed the lizard gently, but swiftly behind the neck, lifting him onto his palm. He stroked the rough back and the horny toad tilted his head, fixing Drew with a curious black eye.

  Caroline held out her hand and Drew carefully slid the lizard off onto her palm. She flipped him on his back and immediately began stroking his tummy. The horny toad lay still, either playing dead in terror or enjoying having his belly rubbed.

  Caroline smiled delightedly. “Do you want to hold him, Dara?”

  “Uh, that’s OK…I’m good.”

  Caroline set him down on the sand on all fours. The horny toad didn’t move for a second or two, then scurried off into the thicket and was gone.

  Drew stood up, brushing his hands together. “Come on. I don’t think it’s much farther.”

  He was taking them to the meadow with the big rock. His sketchpad was in his backpack and he planned to draw while the girls explored the creek.

  They walked for another 15 minutes, climbing over rocks and winding through brush, and then they were among trees. The air was refreshingly cool as they passed from sunlight into shade, and they stopped for another water break before continuing.

  Drew led them on, and Caroline was just about to ask how much farther when there was a break in the trees and she glimpsed the meadow ahead. She and Dara walked quickly forward.

  “Oh, it’s beautiful!” Dara breathed. “Look at the flowers!”

  There were even more wild flowers than when Drew had been there before. Blues, yellows, and reds dotted the meadow and contrasted with the green of the grass and trees. A large flat rock lay roughly in the middle of the meadow, and it was this that seemed to pull Drew forward. He walked halfway around it, stopped and paced back the way he had come. Setting his backpack down in the grass, he reached in and grabbed his sketchbook and pencils.

  Caroline and Dara watched him, then Caroline said “Let’s go explore. Once he starts drawing, he won’t even notice we’re gone.” They saw what appeared to be a faint path off to one side, and started down it, chatting happily about picking some flowers on the way home.

  When they came back from the creek sometime later, they both looked hot and Caroline was carrying a bois d’arc seedpod. They found their backpacks in the shade, grabbed their water bottles, and drank thirstily.

  Drew was seated under a nearby tree, his pad in his lap, but he wasn’t drawing. The girls approached him, and Caroline held her hand out for his sketchpad. She opened the cover and held it so Dara could see, too. Flipping over sketches she had seen before, Caroline stopped on the first one of the meadow. It was just the rock, without any of the surrounding trees or view. There were clumps of cerulean blue flowers scattered around the base. You could almost see them bending slightly in a light breeze. The next page showed the trees and a glimpse of rolling hills, and the page after that, a full view of the hills leading down and away from the meadow. None of the sketches was complete, but together they gave a panoramic view of the meadow, and when the lines had been filled in and the colors completed, they would make a lovely series.

  Dara, looking over Caroline’s shoulder, shook her head. “It’s beautiful. And so real! I don’t understand how you make it look so real.”

  “I’ve been drawing ever since I can remember,” Drew mused. “I know I was pretty bad at first, because my parents saved a bunch of my artwork from when I was little. They…”

  “You were never bad,” interrupted Caroline. “Even your crayon scribbles were impressive,” she commented disgustedly.

  “Yeah, but that’s only compared to…” he broke off, realizing that what he’d been about to say was hardly complimentary.

  It didn’t matter. Caroline got it anyway.

  “Ow!” Drew said indignantly when the seedpod bounced off his head.

  “Jerk!” Caroline snorted, but she was laughing, too
, so he figured he was forgiven. “At least I can run an experiment without setting anything on fire!”

  “Hey, that wasn’t my fault!”

  Caroline turned to Dara. “These creative types don’t like to follow instructions. He got “creative” with some chemicals, caused a small explosion, melted through some wires, and shorted out a lamp. If the girl next to him hadn’t grabbed the fire extinguisher, he probably would have destroyed the science lab.”

  Dara laughed as Drew sputtered.

  “When you told dad what you’d done, he laughed so hard he didn’t even care when you told him how much the damage would cost. Do you remember?”

  “Are you kidding? He said if I didn’t want to follow in his footsteps…He’s a scientist like brainiac here,” he interjected for Dara’s benefit. “…I could have just told him, I didn’t need to burn down the school to get out of science lab,” Drew said darkly.

  “Your dad…laughed?” Dara asked incredulously.

  “Yeah. He’s got a good sense of humor. A little twisted, but good,” Drew admitted sheepishly.

  Dara swallowed. “If that had happened to me my dad would have…well, I don’t even want to think about how mad he’d have been.”

  “Why?” Caroline asked, puzzled. “It was an accident. Besides, it was pretty funny,” she glanced at Drew with laughing eyes. “He burned off this fringe of hair above his ear on one side,” she reminisced, reaching over as if to fluff up his hair, but Drew pulled away quickly. “Mom wanted him to let her shave the other side so he could have a fauxhawk, but he wouldn’t go for it.”

  Drew gave her the puke eye.

  Dara stared at them as if they were alien beings.

  “What? What’d we say?” Drew asked, puzzled

  “Well, it’s hard to explain. My parents…my parents don’t joke around like that. I mean, I haven’t heard my mom laugh in I don’t know how long. My dad laughs, but he…well, it’s usually not funny. It’s more…mean. Scary sometimes, too.”