Karen's Campout

by Ann M. Martin

  Bor-ing!

  It was Tuesday. Sports Day. Yawn.

  My cabin was on the red team. Hannie and Nancy’s cabin was on the blue. Our first event was a swimming relay race. We had a relay race yesterday. Bor-ing!

  Nancy had the right idea. She told the counselor she did not feel good.

  “Do I have to be in the relay race? I am so, so tired. And realy races are so, so boring,” I said to Hank, our swimming instructor.

  “Put on your cap, Karen Brewer,” said Hank. “The race is about to start and we need you.”

  I stood at the edge of the dock. The whistle blew. Hannie flew into the water. I put my big toe in to see how cold it was. It was pretty cold, but everyone was yelling at me to jump. So finally I did.

  Hannie was on her second lap, and I was starting my first.

  “Hurry, Karen, hurry!” called my bunkies.

  I wanted to tell them I was moving as fast as I could. But if I opened my mouth I would get a mouthful of Lake … Whatever … water.

  Can you believe it? Everyone blamed me when we lost.

  Boring-ball, I mean softball, was next. My counselor, Nora, made me the catcher. She thought that would keep me awake. It did. Most of the game.

  I dozed off once or twice. Nancy was dozing in the outfield. She missed a really important play. Thanks to her, my team won.

  After the game, I headed up to the mess hall with my bunkies. All of a sudden, I heard someone shout, “Just leave me alone already!” It was Hannie. She was fighting with Nancy. She stomped away, leaving Nancy behind.

  “What is going on?” I asked. “Are you mad at Nancy for missing the ball?”

  “No. Everyone makes mistakes. I am mad at Nancy because she is hanging all over me. She does not want me to swim. She does not want me to be with my new friends. She does not want me to do anything without her.”

  “Come on, Karen!” called Maggie. “We’re waiting.”

  I wanted to talk to Hannie and Nancy. I wanted to help. But I could not desert my bunkies.

  “See you later. I hope you and Hannie make up soon,” I said.

  I went into the mess hall.

  “What’s for lunch?” I asked Sasha.

  “Tuna salad sandwiches. Jell-O for desert,” she replied.

  “Bor-ing!” I shouted. “Capital B-O-R-I-N-G, boring!”

  “That is enough, K-A-R-E-N,” said Nora.

  I was b-o-r-e-d the rest of the day. Only I did not say so out loud. At lights out, Nora came to visit me in my bunk. She wanted us to have a talk.

  “Karen, if you don’t mind my saying so, I think you have a little bit of an attitude problem,” she said.

  “Maybe I do. You see, I have done all this before,” I said. “When my sister was here.”

  “Well, we have something special planned for Thursday,” said Nora. “Our cabin and Cabin 7-A will be leaving the campgrounds to go to a state fair.”

  “Really?” I said. “That is not boring at all!”

  “And Thursday night is our campout,” added Nora.

  I was about to say bor-ing when Nora said, “I have decided that you should have the honor of planning some special features for the campout. That should keep you from getting too bored. Don’t you think so?”

  “I know so,” I replied. Hmm. What could I plan for the campout that would be really special and not one bit boring?

  I did not know the answer right away. But I knew I would think of something. I always do.

  Boo!

  “It’s your turn, David Michael,” said my counselor, Rick.

  We were practicing telling a ghost story. It was Wednesday. After supper the whole camp was going to gather around a campfire. The kids in my cabin and Cabin 7-B were going to take turns telling the story.

  I stood up and said my lines, “There once lived a teeny tiny man. One day the teeny tiny man put on a teeny tiny hat and went out of his teeny tiny house to take a teeny tiny walk.”

  The next thing that happens is that the teeny tiny man goes to a teeny tiny graveyard and finds a teeny tiny bone. When he takes the bone home, it starts talking to him.

  That story did not scare me. And I did not think it would scare anyone else either. Except maybe for little kids who did not know it already. I was afraid my bunkies and I would look like dweebs at the campfire.

  “Time for supper, kids,” said Rick, when we finished practicing.

  We headed for the mess hall. As soon as we got inside, my little brother, Wilson, spotted me. He was smiling like crazy. And waving. (At least he was not sneezing. I think he got allergy pills at the infirmary.)

  After supper, the sevens had to walk with their little brothers, the sixes, to Mohawk Meadow. That was where the campfire was going to be.

  Wilson was all excited about it. But I was not.

  “What’s the matter?” asked Wilson.

  “Nothing,” I said. “Nothing a little six-year-old could help with.”

  “Tell me anyway,” said Wilson.

  I knew I shouldn’t, but I did. I told Wilson what was bothering me.

  “The sevens are telling a ghost story and it’s hardly even scary,” I said.

  “I can help you with that,” replied Wilson, smiling.

  Yeah, right, I thought.

  When we reached Mohawk Meadow, my stepsister, Karen, called, “Hi, David Michael! I am going to sing a spooky song with my bunkies. What are you going to do?”

  “We’re telling a story,” I mumbled. “See you later.”

  I sat down by the campfire with the rest of the kids. I hoped Mr. and Mrs. Means would forget about us. Or maybe they would run out of time.

  No such luck.

  “And now we will hear a scary story told by the boys in Cabins 7-A and 7-B,” said Mr. Means.

  “Okay, David Michael,” whispered Rick. “You’re on.”

  “Once there was a teeny tiny man. One day the teeny tiny man …”

  Suddenly, a girl screamed, “Eeek!”

  I could not understand it. The story was not scary. Especially not the first line. I kept going.

  “The teeny tiny man put on a teeny tiny hat …”

  “Ahhh!” yelled a couple of boys behind me. I stopped until it was quiet again. Then I continued.

  “He went out of his teeny tiny house …”

  “Yeow!!” More and more kids were screaming. I must have been doing a really good job of sounding scary. I finished saying my part in a loud and shivery voice.

  “To take a teeny tiny walk!” I said.

  “Ooooh!” screamed the Three Musketeers.

  When I sat down, kids were still screaming. Boy, was I proud. They screamed through the whole story. At the end, someone yelled “BOO!” The kids went wild.

  I wondered who yelled “Boo!” Then I found out. It was my little brother, Wilson. He was the one who was scaring everyone during the story. While we were telling our story, he was poking kids from behind with a long stick.

  Hmm. Maybe I had not been fair to my little brother. I decided Wilson was not such a wimp after all.

  Help!

  “Step right up! Toss a penny in the bowl and win a prize!” called a lady in a big straw hat.

  It was Thursday. Cabins 7-A and 7-B had just piled off the camp bus. We were at the state fair.

  “Hey, Hannie, this is cool!” said Karen. She did not seem bored at all. She seemed more like herself again.

  Nancy looked lost as usual. But I did not care. I was still not talking to Nancy.

  “Mmm, I smell doughnuts,” said my bunkie, Jill. “Maybe I will get one later. And some lemonade, too.”

  “Okay, girls,” said Rikki. “Here’s the plan. You may look at the exhibits and animals first. Then we will take a break to buy lunch. After lunch, you can use your spending money on games and rides.”

  We split up into groups. Thank goodness I was not with Nancy. My group was Jill, Amy, and our CIT, Jody.

  “Where should we go first?” asked Amy.

  “
Let’s look at the animals,” I suggested.

  We started with the cows. I never knew there were so many different kinds — we counted seven kinds at the fair. I liked the Jersey cows best. That is because I have been to New Jersey.

  There were lots of goats and sheep, too. We watched one sheep get shaved. I felt sorry for him. He looked sad without his coat.

  “Look!” exclaimed Amy. “Those pigs are acting like … like pigs!”

  The pigs were rolling in the mud.

  “They do that to stay cool,” explained Jody.

  We left the farm animal tent and walked along the midway.

  “Oh, wow, these vegetables are wild,” I exclaimed. “This tomato looks just like a pear. And here’s a pepper that is shaped like the state of Florida.”

  I wanted to see all the funny vegetables. I walked a little farther into the tent. I wondered if I would find a pumpkin like the one Karen and I entered in the Halloween contest last year. It was shaped just like a cat.

  I did not find any pumpkins. But I saw a tomato that was almost the size of a pumpkin.

  “Hey, you guys! Look at this!” I cried.

  I turned around to look for my friends. They were not behind me. I turned around and around looking for anyone I knew. I did not see a single familiar face.

  Uh-oh, I thought. I am lost.

  New Friends, Old Friends

  Hannie and I had a bad fight on Tuesday. Well, really, Hannie had the fight by herself. All I did was stand there.

  I do not know why she got so mad at me. She yelled, “Leave me alone!” But the Three Musketeers hardly ever leave each other alone. We stick together. At least we used to. Before we came to camp and Karen got put in another cabin and Hannie made so many new friends.

  It is Thursday now. I have been at camp for five whole days. I still feel homesick. But not so much as before. And I am trying harder to be more independent.

  “Hey look, Nancy. I can see a Ferris wheel from here. And a roller coaster ride, too,” said Christine.

  We were sitting together on the bus going to the state fair. Christine was my new camp friend.

  “I hope we are in the same group,” I said, when Rikki, our counselor, started reading off the names.

  I did not want to be in a group with Hannie. Hannie was still not talking to me.

  “Nancy, Sophie, and Christine, you will be in Megan’s group. Hannie, Amy, and Jill, you will be in Jody’s group,” said Rikki.

  Hurray! Christine was in my group. Sophie was nice. And I was not with Hannie. Today was going to be fun.

  “Let’s go to the crafts booth, okay?” I suggested.

  “Okay,” agreed Christine and Sophie.

  “And let’s be sure to stick together,” said Megan. “I don’t want anyone getting lost at the fair.”

  We held hands as we walked through the crafts tent. We saw a lot of great things. We saw handmade rag dolls, piggy banks, and pretty blankets. I wanted to buy everything I saw.

  Christine wanted to see the farm animals next.

  “Can you believe how gigantic that hog is!” said Christine.

  “I would not like to go grocery shopping for him. It would take a hundred years!” I said.

  “And you could not invite him to your house. He would break all the chairs,” said Sophie.

  We were laughing so hard, we were getting bellyaches.

  “Come on, girls,” said Megan suddenly. “One of the campers is lost. We have to help find her.”

  “Who is it?” I asked.

  “It’s Hannie,” replied Megan.

  Oh, no. Hannie had yelled at me and she was mad at me. But she was still a Musketeer. I had to help find her.

  We walked through the midway. That is when I saw the vegetable tent. I remembered how much Hannie liked that cat-shaped pumpkin she and Karen entered in the Halloween contest.

  “Megan, we have to go this way. I think Hannie might be in here,” I said.

  We ran into the tent. It did not take us long to find her. We spotted Hannie all the way at the other end. She was turning around and around. She looked scared.

  “Hannie! Hannie! Over here!” I called.

  As soon as Hannie heard me calling her, she raced over and gave me the biggest hug ever.

  “I knew you would be here. I just knew it. I bet you were looking for a cat pumpkin, right?” I asked.

  “How did you know?” said Hannie.

  “Because I am a Musketeer. Musketeers know these things about each other.”

  “Oh, Nancy, I am so sorry I yelled at you,” said Hannie. “It is good to have new friends. But there is nothing like old friends.”

  She hugged me again.

  “You found her! You found her!” cried Karen, running into the tent. She started hugging us, too. Soon, everyone in Cabins 7-A and 7-B was in one giant circle hug. We were jumping up and down, giggling. All of us — new friends and old.

  Nature Boy’s Campout

  I was finally going to camp out. It probably would not be a real campout. But at least I would get to sleep in a tent in a sleeping bag.

  It was late in the afternoon on Thursday. Everyone in camp was going on an overnight. Of course the little kids were not going too far from their cabins. But us older kids were going way into the woods.

  “Grab your backpacks, guys,” said Rob. “We’re heading out.”

  “Are you happy now, Nature Boy?” asked Jimmy.

  “Well, it’s better than sleeping in the cabin. But it probably won’t be a real campout anyway,” I said.

  “It may be more real than you think,” said Rob. For some reason, he had a funny grin on his face.

  Cabins 9-A and 9-B hiked into the woods. We hiked pretty far. That was a good sign. When we finally stopped, Pete, the counselor in 9-B, made an announcement.

  “We decided to make this campout a challenge since you kids are not babies. We brought exactly three matches. That means you better start a fire the old-fashioned way. Save the matches for an emergency. And we won’t be having any mess hall sandwiches. We will cook real food. We have fish and rice and a couple of sticks of butter. How’s that for a real campout, Nature Boy?” said Pete.

  “Great!” I said. I dropped my backpack and got busy.

  I had wanted us to eat only food you could find in the woods. We could have caught the fish in Lake … Lake … oh, who cares. So fish was okay. But not rice.

  I knew we could find better food in the woods if we tried.

  “Hey, you guys, let’s go see what there is to eat around here,” I said.

  We went on a food hunt. I was the leader. We found a raspberry bush. Everyone picked a hatful of ripe berries. Growing by the lake we found watercress.

  “Yuck!” said Mike, one of the kids in 9-B. “This stuff tastes terrible.”

  “It will be better when we cook it. Anyway, we’re roughing it. We are all going to eat it,” I said.

  I took charge of making the fire. I started by rubbing two rocks together. I made some sparks but they didn’t catch fire.

  “Don’t worry. Remember, we do have those three matches,” said Pete.

  “I will not need them,” I said confidently. I kept on rubbing till I made a fire.

  “Way to go, Nature Boy!” said Jimmy.

  I thought dinner was great. Most of the kids hated the watercress. And they complained that there were bones in the fish. But I did not mind one bit. (But I did eat some rice. I was pretty hungry from all that hunting and cooking.)

  Everyone had fun that night. After we ate, we pitched our tents. Then we sat around the fire telling stories and singing.

  Finally, Rob called, “Lights out.”

  “You mean lights on!” I said. I pointed up to the sky. We could see a bright full moon—and stars everywhere.

  I crawled into the tent with Jimmy. Then I said, “See you later.”

  I took my sleeping bag outside to sleep under the stars. This time, no one made me go back inside.

  The Three Musk
eteers

  Hannie got lost at the fair and I found her. Now she is not mad at me anymore. She even apologized for yelling at me.

  The Three Musketeers were very happy to be back together again. The counselors let us stick together for the rest of the fair.

  When we returned to camp, though, Karen had to go to her cabin. We had to get ready for our campout.

  “Sweat shirt!” called Hannie.

  “Sweat shirt,” the rest of us called back.

  It was my turn. We were playing a packing game. One of us called out something to put in the packs and the rest of us repeated it.

  “Two pairs of socks!” I said.

  “Two pairs of socks,” everyone called back.

  The game was Rikki’s idea. She said no one would forget anything that way.

  When we finished, we met Karen and her bunkies outside.

  “Usually the sevens camp right over there,” said Nora, pointing to a clearing behind the cabins. “But Karen helped us plan this campout, so we’re going a little farther into the woods.”

  “That’s right,” said Karen. “Staying behind the cabins would have been boring and babyish. Our campout is going to be exciting and fun!”

  “All right, everyone, let’s go,” said Rikki, leading the way.

  Some of the kids started singing a marching song. But not Karen. She was yawning and dragging her feet. “Marching songs are boring,” she announced.

  After losing Hannie at the fair, the Three Musketeers had made a pact to stick together. So Hannie and I had to drag along behind everyone else just to be with Karen.

  After we had been walking a long, long time, Karen hurried ahead of us to catch up with her counselor, Nora. She looked a little nervous. “Are we almost there yet?” she asked. “How far away are we?”

  That Karen. There is just no pleasing her sometimes. She did not want to camp behind the cabins because that was too close. Now she did not want to go into the woods because it was too far.

  I felt like saying something. But I did not. I did not want the Three Musketeers to have another fight. I did want Karen to stop yawning and acting bored, though.

  “Psst! Hey, Hannie. Hey, Christine. I have an idea,” I whispered. “Let’s scare Karen.”