“Interesting: that’s different. Why do you say interesting?” Danny asks.
“Interesting in how you guys live. Both villages try as much as you can to live off the grid and where I live we have everything and we do not live off the grid whatsoever. We have TVs, computers, cellphones and more. We are very technical and we love new technology. So it’s different for me to see you guys trying to live every day off the grid. I am used to grabbing my laptop and working on it. Also different in having these wereboon creature things. We do not have anything like these where I am from. They are fast and they can climb trees and jump through the trees. I know this first hand since they have chased me already when I was coming to the village and got lost in the woods,” I reply.
“Oh, so that was you they were chasing and they didn’t get you. Yes they are very protective of our village and you were getting close and they did not know you. Especially since you were in the woods. No one comes to the villages through the woods: they all stick to the roads. They were trying to tell me there was a wereboon protecting you. I told them they were crazy and seeing things. I know that Stella and they saved you by pulling you out of there. At least that’s what I have been told. They also said you hit your head and were knocked out for a little while. Well, that’s good, then, you are safe. Sorry about that,” Danny says.
“Wow, you know a lot. Yes, I did hit my head and then I blacked out. I wished I would have had a wereboon protecting me. No such luck. Maybe it was a reflection off the cave walls. The sun was shining in at times kind of weird. I am very grateful that Stella and they got to me before the wereboons mauled me. They were going to kill me without even finding out who I was,” I say.
“Actually they would not have killed you at first, they would have brought you here for me to question you and if we hadn’t liked your answers, then yes, they would have mauled you. Sorry, I have to protect our people at all costs. So enough about the wereboons. They are not going to try and maul you now, unless you try to hurt me, or anyone from our village. I don’t see you doing that. They will be watching, though, since you are new to the village. You do not see them bothering the others. Heck, they are protective of Sandy’s friends also,” Danny says.
“I will make sure, though, I stay out of their way until they get comfortable with seeing me around here,” I say. In my mind I am thinking I can’t wait to rip their heads off. They are mean, they are vicious, and they kill people. The sad part is that the Wasioux know this but they do not even care. They want them to kill people if they have to, or better yet, if they are ordered to. That’s just wrong and this whole situation is wrong and crazy. Yes, I am nervous and scared. The other day I was in 8th Grade and today I am out trying to outwit a person who is the head of an Indian tribe and who is the head of a village full of vampires and wereboons that are like guards of the devil.
“You sure are in deep thought, Hollis. What gives?” Danny says.
“Nothing, just thinking that stuff we smoked is making me see people in twos sometimes. I am tripping,” I reply.
Not really, because I didn’t even inhale any of that stuff. So that means me fake smoking: I must have sold them all on me inhaling it. Now I can hear Stella saying, “Enough talking: it’s time that we get access to Danny’s room so that we can find out how to get to Cody.”
“So, Danny, is this all you guys do? Sit here and talk and hang out? It could get boring, couldn’t it? I have seen what it’s like in Stella and their village, but I heard you guys were fun,” I say.
“We are fun, Hollis, we will play cards soon, and then we will see how good you are and take what little money you have,” Kris says.
“Oh, okay then, we will see. I am sure we will have fun doing that,” I reply.
“Let’s see how you do and if you guys do good we will move the card games to my room and we can play pool and play some video games. You must win some games first,” Danny says. I am trying to scope the place out while we sit here. From what I can see there are about 10 guys in this room that are all part of the Wasioux, and that is including Danny and Kris. They all look to be in their early twenties. Strange thing is that they don’t allow the females to be in here; they have their own room they are hanging out in. Not sure what that’s all about. Maybe they want to be in separate spaces. These guys seem like rowdy dudes anyway. I am thinking if we had to break into a fight now we would be in trouble because we really do not have any weapons. I do have a couple of pocket knives and so does Trevor, but man, they are so close to us I am not even sure we would have time to get them out of our pockets. This Kris dude has to be right by you. They did warn me about this. The dude wants to make sure on a full moon that he has my blood supply; the only thing is he will not actually be getting my blood supply. I know Stella is getting a supply for me and putting my name on it. So far, these Wasioux seem harmless, but I know once the full moon starts that will not be the case - well, that is according to Anita Kay, Stella and Trevor. I will soon be finding out since the full moon is very soon. Speaking of Anita Kay, she is sitting there being very quiet, I can see that she is soaking it all in. I can see her looking over at everyone and trying to read the room. There is no fear in her eyes at all. Danny is sitting very close to her and he continues to stare at her and every once in a while she will smile at him and flip her hair, and then she will twist her hair in her fingers. I can see that she is playing him and he has no clue. I know she is working her angle to getting into Danny’s room along with the rest of us. She is really good. Plus she can see that Danny has an interest in her, so she is going to play that up as much as she can. The door opens and in walks Sandy and Stella.
“Hey, did you guys eat lunch yet? What are you doing just sitting around? Have you even played a hand of cards yet?” Sandy asks.
“Wow, you sure do ask a lot of questions, my little sister. We have not had lunch, but we are hungry. We have been passing around the smoke pipe and getting to know each other. We will play cards after lunch,” Danny replies.
“Okay then. Hey, Anita Kay, do you want to come in here and help us make some lunch?” Sandy asks.
“Hey, they are our guests: they shouldn’t be helping fix food,” Danny says.
“Sure, I would love to help. I need to get up and stretch anyway. Plus Danny, guest? We are over here often: the only guest you have is Hollis,” Anita Kay replies.
“You are right: you ladies and Trevor are over here and you have been coming over for a while, so yes, Hollis is our only guest,” Danny says.
I look over at Stella and I can see that she is also casing the room. I am sure she already knows all the strength and weakness of everyone in this room. Wow, and I am not sure what is happening to me, maybe I did inhale some of that smoke, but right now, as I look over at Stella, I see a very beautiful girl. I can’t let anyone know that I want to go out with her. I especially can’t let the Wasioux know since they think she is my cousin. That would not be good. We do need to talk with her about what she and Sandy discovered in their village area. How far did the wall of the cave go? Does it connect to the Wasioux caves? It would help us if it does. Then we could possibly break out Cody and get him through those caves. We would also need to be able to block the wall back up, or what we have opened, so that we get Cody out. If we don’t block it back they will come right after us. The girls all walk into the kitchen area and I see Stella look over at Trevor. I know she is dying to tell, but she is waiting for the right moment.
“So, Hollis, what’s going on between you and Stella? You told me you were cousins?” Danny asks.
“What?” I reply.
“I just saw how you looked at her and you were staring,” Danny says.
“You are right, I was staring. I do stare at her sometimes. It’s because I haven’t seen her in years and she used to be this little brat of a girl and was a big tomboy. So seeing her now keeps making me think: is this the same girl that used to be such a brat that has now become a tough, attractive girl? I am thinking all th
e boys back at my school would want to be friends with me so they could hang out with her. They would be like, ‘Dude is that your cousin?’ I would be one of the cool kids then, even though I don’t even like most of the kids at my school,” I reply.
“I could see that. The guys here are always asking me about her, but I tell them to stay away from Sandy’s friends. I tell them to stick with the Wasioux tribe. We have plenty of girls in our tribe. I know you are thinking, but you like Anita Kay, and yes, you are right, but I am the head of the Wasioux tribe and I can like someone outside of the tribe,” Danny says.
“Oh yes, the guys here are always asking me about Stella. They are always telling me how pretty she is. They would love her to be part of the Wasioux tribe. I hear this every time I come over here,” Trevor says. At about that time, the girls walk back in with sandwiches and drinks and snacks. I am hungry and for some reason extra-hungry. Like I was the last time I smoked that pipe.
“Okay, we made different sandwiches so you guys can get whatever kind you like, and here are some drinks that you can have also,” Sandy says.
“Thanks, my sister,” Danny says.
I grab a couple of those small sandwiches and so does everyone else. We all start eating and it is silent for a little bit because we all have our mouths full of food. We finish eating and again there is little conversation.
“Hey, I need to go to my room for a few minutes and I will be back and then we are playing some cards,” Danny says.
A few of the guys leave with Danny and then just a few stay back but they congregate together. It is a perfect time for Stella to tell us what she found out. Luckily, Kris has left the room also, so we have time to talk really fast.
“What did you find out?” Trevor asks while looking at Stella.
“I found out that our caves go really deep and they do come around pretty far. There is eventually a dead end, but we could hear people talk really close by. We know now that the two caves meet: we just can’t determine how deep the wall is. We could hear someone say, ‘It’s time for him to eat, so we need to bring him his food. We don’t want Danny getting mad at us if he doesn’t eat. He wants to make sure he stays healthy and alive.’ We are not sure who that was, but we know there were at least two people there and we also heard a couple of grunts, or maybe growling. I am sure the wereboons could sense that we were close by. We could not let them know we were there, or they would have sure told Danny that someone was on the other side of the wall. That’s a chance we cannot take. So far we are doing well and we need to continue doing the same thing. Have we noticed any weakness we could use from anyone?” Stella asks.
“Yes, Danny has two weak times. One when he is around Anita Kay, and the other when he is smoking that pipe. He really likes Anita Kay and is weak towards her, and then when he is smoking that pipe he seems to be more loose and lets his guard down a little. He seems to talk a lot at that time also. Actually, everyone besides us who smokes that pipe seems to have been very relaxed and they all let their guard down,” I say.
“I saw that also,” Trevor says.
“I was a little busy trying to keep Danny’s hands off of me to notice the others,” Anita Kay says.
“Very good, Hollis, we will need to use both of those weaknesses against them. Anita Kay, are you good with this?” Stella asks.
“Yes, of course I am. Do I like fighting off a guy and trying to make them stop putting their hands all over me? No, but I will do what we need to do to find Cody,” Anita Kay says.
“Cody, what about Cody? Is Sandy still talking about her boyfriend who took off and dumped her? I told her to get over him and move on,” Danny says.
“Yes, that’s what I was just telling her, to let him go. That if he cared about her he would still be here with her and he wouldn’t have left her,” Anita Kay says.
“We have all been telling her to let him go, but she hasn’t listened so far. They say time heals all wounds,” Stella says.
“It’s for the best. I didn’t want my little sister dating or liking no boys anyway,” Danny says.
“I know all of you have told me to let go. I am trying and it will take a little time, so everyone can get off my back,” Sandy says.
“She is trying, and has cut down on the times that she mentions his name daily,” Stella says.
“She will be fine: we just need to give her time,” Anita Kay says.
“Thank you, guys, for caring. I will be okay with time,” Sandy says.
“Okay, who is up for a round of cards?” Danny asks.
“Why don’t you guys play first and us girls will watch you play,” Stella says.
“Sounds good to me,” Danny says. He then puts the deck of cards on the table and then us guys move to the table and sit down. There will be me, Trevor, Danny and four other dudes playing. I figure the guys playing are the best and the guys sitting back not playing are not as good.
“Okay, let’s start with some poker. Do we all know how to play poker?” Danny asks.
“I haven’t played cards in a while, but poker sounds good. I am sure you guys can teach me, or help me remember the rules of the game,” I say.
“Well, we will only go through it once for you to remind you how it works, and then after that you are on your own. Plus, we don’t want you to get good because then you will beat us and we don’t want that happening. Kris, can you show him, or I should say remind him of, the rules and how to play poker?” Danny says.
“Yes, I can show him real quick before we get started,” Kris says. Then he gives me a crash course in how to play poker again, even though I already know how to play, but I need them to think that I don’t know so I can beat them a few times and catch them off guard.
“Okay, I am ready to play the first hand now. Let’s see how bad I am,” I say.
Danny deals out the first hand and we play and it takes a little while to play the first hand because I keep stopping them and asking questions. Trevor would look at me like I am crazy. I am doing this to try and play dumb. I lost the first couple hands. Danny wins one and Trevor wins two. Then Danny wins the fourth game. I then win the next three hands in a row.
“Wow, someone has finally caught on. And when you caught on, you really caught on. Since you won the most cards and Trevor and I tied for the day, you guys earned your spot. We will go in my room, or I should say my game room, tomorrow. I have cool games in there. We have been playing for hours this afternoon and now it’s dark. You guys should head back now to your village. You never know what kinds of creatures are out there lurking in the dark. Plus I need Anita Kay to be safe,” Danny says with a smile on his face as he looks over at Anita Kay.
She then turns to him and blows him a little kiss. His face really lights up. Wow, he is happy about that. He is gleaming with a smile from ear to ear.
“Sounds good, we will see you tomorrow and then we will have to beat you again. Maybe you better start practicing tonight,” Trevor says.
“Ha, ha, now that was funny,” Danny says. “Hey, I can walk you guys back, just so the creatures of the night do not get you,” Kris says.
“Hey, that’s a great idea, Kris, why don’t you come with us. We might be protecting you, but you can pretend you are protecting us,” Stella replies. I give her a look that I was thinking I could kill you.
“Cool, then let’s go. I have my lantern and it puts out pretty good light.”
Danny gives Anita Kay a big hug and a kiss on her cheek. Sandy waves bye to us and we leave then. Everyone walks ahead of us and Kris and I are a few steps behind.
“So, Hollis, what did you think of the first day in our village? Have you ever met an Indian before?” Kris asks.
“Well, like I said before, this is all new to me. I have not met any Indians before. I have read about Indians in school before, but I have never met any. I honestly did not know any still existed. When these guys told me that there was a village full of Indians, I told them that they were crazy saying that. They kept saying you w
ill see and we are not kidding. Even when I met Sandy she was not dressed like an Indian. I did not see that until we went to your village. How does that work? Who determines what you are to wear? I have seen some in Indian clothes and then some not in Indian attire,” I ask.
“Well, the younger ones under eighteen do not have to wear the Indian attire: all the rest of us do because we are older. By the way, Sandy hates that style of clothes. She does not want to turn eighteen and then have to wear that stuff,” Kris says.
“So what about those wereboons? You know they tried to kill me and Max, right?” I say.
“Well, I see Max is very protective of you. She does not leave your side. Like right now, I almost fell over her twice, because she walks right under your feet. The wereboons are on the scary side even for me. They have been with us for years now. What scares me about them is how dedicated they are to Danny. They will do anything he says. They would even attack me if he told them to. Even though I am the one who feeds them all the time. He has been mad before and I saw Danny make one of them bite one of us. I was really scared. He told us he doesn’t like it when people do not listen to him. So we all listen to him and do what he wants,” Kris says.
“Hey, so tell me about this Cody dude - sorry, I think that’s his name. How did he get hooked up with Sandy?” I ask.
“Oh, Cody was cool. We all loved him in the village. He was funny and always had us laughing. Actually Sandy met him from your village. He was related to someone here. They just hit it off and then they were always together. Danny liked him a lot also. Kept saying he was like a little brother to him. Trevor can tell you about him: he came over all the time also and hung out with us. The only thing I thought was strange was Danny started getting weird around him. He started having a little attitude around him. But then they would joke around and be fine. Then one day he disappeared. Danny told us he took off- well, he told
Sandy that. She cried for a few days straight. I tried to help her and tell her it would get better, but she would cry even more,” Kris says.
HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP Page 22
