Camp Jonahs Camp Jonahs By: Coralie Watts Hi! My name is Christina Williams. I have long brown hair that is usually pulled back in a ponytail. This summer I am going to camp for the first time. I’m so excited!!! My best friend is going to come with me as a buddy. Her name is Jade Michaels. She has short red hair. “Class! Class! I know it’s the last day of school, but really this is outrageous,” the teacher exclaimed. “Can you believe it’s almost summer,” Jade told me. “I know. I’ve already started packing for Camp Jonahs. Have you,” I asked.” Not yet. Hey, can you ask your mom if you can come over tonight to help me pack,” Jade asked. “Sure,” I answered. “Mom, can I go over to Jade’s house tonight to help her pack?” “Yeah. Sure, whatever,” Mom said preoccupied. I went to my room and called Jade. “I can come over.” Then I started to pack my overnight bag. “Christina, please be good for Jade’s mom. She’s been under a lot of pressure lately.” I said alarmed, “Why, what’s wrong?” Mom answered, “Don’t tell Jade, but her mother is having a baby. Her parents want to tell her in their own way. Do you promise not to tell her?” Yeah. I promise,” I said ecstatically. “Hey Jade. Whattcha doin’?” “Mom said to get a head start on packing,” Jade said. “Did you hear about that premiere of that show on Fox?” Jade asked. “Yeah. Mom said that she wouldn’t let me watch it unless she was there,” I answered. Jade said, “Too bad we’ll be at camp when it premieres, huh.” I didn’t answer, deep in my own thoughts. We were going to camp in less than a week. I was excited! We were going in Jade’s mom’s car, and my mom was riding in the passenger seat. Today’s the day. We started out 10:00 A.M. It is a 4-hour drive. Registration is at 2 P.M. this afternoon. Jade and I talked about what we thought it would be like, the food, the cabins and the activities. Later on we started to play magnetic checkers, Truth or Dare, and the alphabet game. Eventually, we just fell asleep. Our parents woke us up, saying, “We’re here!” I immediately woke up, shaking Jade to wake up and see the sign that said, “Camp Jonahs: A Place for You and Me.” Once we had parked the car. After our parents signed us in we went to the Art Barn, which is run by Jessie to sign up for “camptivities”. I signed up for horse back riding, double dutch and a lot of other cool stuff. For the swimming test I got a green cap, but Annabell said, “That’s okay. That’s what most new people get.” Jade got a blue cap. After the swimming test our Moms left and we started heading towards our cabins. Our counselor’s names are Emma, Emily and Michelle. The two other girls in cabin 2 are Tracy and Brooke. We spent most of the afternoon getting to know them. I found out that Tracy was from Michigan and that Brooke was from Florida. Camp Jonahs is in Arkansas. I told them, “We live in Little Rock, AR.” Jade observed, “You guys had a long way to go.” Tracy said, “I flew and Brooke went on a train.” “We met each other at camp last year, and have been friends ever since,” Brooke explained. I asked Tracy what her e-mail is and she said [email protected]. Brooke’s e-mail is [email protected]. Emily came in saying, “Girls, it time for dinner in the Mess Hall. We are having chicken sandwiches.” “The food here tastes as good as my Mom’s,” I exclaimed. “Not mine,” Jade said sadly. “I bet my Mom is making pork chops.” “Are you homesick already?” I asked. “Yeah. So what,” Jade said, wiping a tear from her face. Tracy gave Jade a hug and said, “As soon as we get to the cabins, I’ll ask Emily to help you. She helped me last year.” When we got to the cabins Michelle called a meeting. She started explaining how the camp worked. “When I blow the whistle once it means you all have 5 minutes to get out here. Don’t forget anything. We can’t come back. Two whistles means emergency meeting.” It went on like that for about twenty minutes. After the meeting, Tracy said, “Emily, Jade wants to talk to you.” Okay, be right there,” Emily answered. When Emily walked into our cabin Tracy, Brooke and I walked out to take a shower. “Hey, Jade. What’s up,” Emily said sympathetically. “I just- I really miss my Mom,” Jade answered, starting to sob softly. Emily interrupted saying, “Hey, you know what you need to do? Every time you get homesick think about the last time you got mad at her.” Emily ended the conversation saying, “You better go get your shower, so you’ll have time to send a letter to your family.” Jade got her pjs and towel and set out for the shower house. She had already moved her shampoo and soap. I waited on Jade to get out of the shower. She said to me, “Thanks for waiting, Chris.” (That is what my friends call me for short.) When we got back to the cabin, I searched in my bag for a flashlight and my stationary. My stationary said Christina Ann Williams. I took out my favorite pen and started writing. “Dear Mom, How are you doing? I have had a blast today at camp!! The other girls in my cabin are Tracy and Brooke. They are really nice. I miss you! Love, Chris” Then, Emily called lights out. I went to bed and it took me a while to get used to all of the sounds, such as cicadas, grasshoppers and a lot of other sounds I couldn’t identify. The next morning, Michelle came into the cabin saying, “Girls! Wake up!!” I rolled over on my back mumbling, “What time is it, anyway?” Michelle answered, “7: 30. Get used to it. That’s when you are getting up all week. As we got dressed, I heard Jade sniffling. A couple of minutes later, after Tracy and Brooke had left to fill their water bottles, Jade said, “At my house, my Mom would come in my room and turn off my alarm. I miss her.” Then, we lined up to go to breakfast. Breakfast this beautiful Monday morning was french toast sticks, orange juice and apples. Once we finished breakfast, the group got back together. Michelle called us, saying, “Okay. Here’s your schedule for the day. Next, we are going to the Art Barn. Then, you girls will have a swimming lesson. After that, you will go to your camptivities.” After she finished, we headed for the Art Barn. Jessie said, “Hey girls. How has camp been? I hope you all feel at home. Today we are going to make a collage. We have magazines for you girls to pick pictures from. The construction paper is right here,” she said gesturing at a table. “If you need any help, come see me.” Jade and I went to a table and met Kate. Kate said to us, “My name’s Kate. Do you want to know my e-mail?” “Sure,” I answered. “Okay. My email is [email protected]. I live in Little Rock.” I said, “So do we.” We worked silently until Jessie said, “Girls, it’s time to go.” We set out for the swimming pool. We went into the locker room and I went to my locker and grabbed my swimsuit. I got dressed quickly. I went outside to the pails and found my swimming cap. I flipped over my number on the board, and sat by the pool and dipped my toes into the refreshing water. Once everyone was outside, Annabell told us to get in. Unfortunately, we had to wear our caps the entire time. Annabell taught us how to blow bubbles out of our noses and how to do the front crawl. On the other side of the pool, Jackie (her assistant) was teaching the blue caps how to do some strokes. Once we got out of the pool and got dressed we headed for Karnegie Field to leave for our camptivities. My camptivities for today are double dutch and survival skills. Jane took us (the girls in the camp who signed up for it) to survival skills on the other side of the lake. Jade signed up for double dutch and stage props. At survival skills they taught us how to build a fire and a lot of other things for survival in the wilderness. Finally, they took us back to the field for our next camptivitie. Jade, for the first time had nothing to complain about. “It was awesome! We got to make stage props for a play we are doing on Thursday.” All the way to the grass by the Art Barn, Jade was telling me about stage props. She had fun. Double dutch was pretty cool. But, we both agreed that our other activities were cooler. We went to lunch. I was starving! We had hot dogs, chips and fruit. We also had tea. Jade and I went to the kitchen to get tap water. After lunch was over, we went to the cabins for rest hour. I wrote a letter to Mawmaw and Pawpaw (my grandparents). “Dear Mawmaw and Pawpaw, Camp is totally awesome! Today we got to do double dutch and survival skills. I even learned how to build a fire!! I can’t wait to tell you about it when I get home! Love, Chris” I also sent a letter to my brother, Joe. Then I wrote in my journal. After that, I got ready and took a ten-minute nap. I was rudely awakened by 1 sharp, shrill whistle. “Come on, girls,” Michelle yelled angrily. “We’re already late.” It turned out that we had missed 5 minutes of our ten-minute chance to go shopping at Ducky’s Trading Post. I quickly got in line. By the time I got to go in, I only had 3 minutes to shop. I got some cool jewelry and a teddy bear. When Jennifer (a girl in cabin 5) got out, Michelle yelled, “Hop to, girls! Come on!” “If you ask me, I think Michelle is kind of bossy,” Jennifer whispered in my ear. “Tell me about it,” I answered. We set out at a brisk pace to the archery range. The archery instructor is Tammy. Tammy said, “Listen up girls. It is really important that you listen so you don’t get hurt.” Finally we started to shoot the arrows. Jade and I (and almost everybody else) kept on shooting and missing until everyone was out of arrows. “Supper’s next,” Michelle called out. Jade said to me, “I think Michelle’s in a really bad mood.” I said nothing. We finally got to the Mess Hall. They immediately brought out the food bowls. They had made corn dogs, fries, veggies and Kool-Aid. It was excellent. Then Jessie called out loudly, “Mail time! Normally the mail comes at lunch, but today it came a little late. If I call your name, come up.” She started rambling off names, “Jade, Christina, Abby, Audra, Claire, Madeline and Chris.” We were all lined up in an orderly line at the front of the Mess Hall. Then Jessie said, “You guys need to sing “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” to get your mail. So we sang. All of us. Jade and I were giggling the entire time. I got 2 letters and Jade got 1 long letter from her parents. We didn’t read our letters until we got back to our cabin. Let me skip to Jade’s letter. May 17, 2004 “Dear Jade, It is hard for me to tell you this, so I’ll tell you as simply as I can. When you get home, there is a good chance that you will have a baby brother or sister in about a month’s time. I love you so much, sweetie. I think you will like the experience of having a baby to look after and love! When he or she gets older, it will think you hung the moon. I had this experience as a girl, and loved it. You won’t believe how little it’s hands and feet are. I hope you take this the right way. Love, Mommy” P.S. It’s a girl!! Jade read it to me, about to cry at some parts. “I can’t believe it. I can’t believe it,” she said sobbing uncontrollably. “How could they? How could they,” she said rambling on like an idiot. Finally, Tracy left to get Emily. Emily said to us, “Girls, why don’t you go to the shower house to take a shower.” We got what she was saying. We left. Emily said to Jade, “What’s wrong, honey?” “M- my mo- mom is (hiccup) ha- ha- having a baby (hiccup),” Jade said, calming down a bit. “That’s not bad, that’s great! When I was a little girl that’s all I ever wished for. A baby sister to love and cuddle. So, what’s wrong?” Emily asked. “She could’ve (hiccup) told me so- sooner (hiccup) be- before I we- went (hiccup) to camp. Here’s the le- letter,” Jade said thrusting it towards Emily. Emily read it silently to herself. “Your mom just wanted you to have something to look forward to. She knew you wouldn’t go to camp if you knew she was pregnant.” Jade said, “I do- don’t (hic) agree wi- with (hic) her. I th- think she (hic) should have (hic) to- told me.” Jade said, “Whatever. I gotta go take my shower,” her attitude changing completely. As Emily walked out of the cabin, she muttered, “Poor kid. Must be having a rough time.” We went to bed and woke up to a gorgeous Tuesday morning. Actually, we were woken up by 2 whistles (emergency meeting) at 7:00 A.M. As we gathered around groggily, Michelle said gravely, “Girls, there’s something I have to tell you. A snake injured a girl in Tipi unit last night. There is an epidemic of the snake venom spreading, and for most of today, everything will be canceled. A counselor will come to the cabins to tell you more about it.” Everybody was awake now. As soon as we got to the cabin, everybody started talking at once. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh,” Brooke kept saying over and over. For the first time I got a pang of homesickness. I couldn’t believe what had happened to that girl. So many thoughts were rushing through my head. I was scared, angry, worried and horrified all at the same time. I started crying. I don’t know why. I just did. Emily came in saying, “Is there anything you girls need?” Jade spoke up, “What happened?” Emily answered, “The girl got bit in the night. She was going to the bathroom without a buddy. It was a baby copperhead. She stayed there all night, too weak to get up. The venom spread through her body. If it was an adult snake, she would’ve been dead by morning.” I asked, “Why are we not going anywhere today?” Emily said, “It’s just a precaution.” Emily left. I wrote a letter to my parents. “Dear Mom and Dad, I’m really scared! Somebody in the camp got hurt from snakebite. We are not going anywhere today. She is in the hospital. I love you and miss you! I want to go home. Love, Chris” For breakfast Emily brought us pop-tarts. Most of the day we just sat talking and wondering about the girl. Michelle blew the whistle saying, “Girls, we get to go to the Mess Hall for lunch. It was quiet, nothing like meals before. Now, the only things that were said were things like, “Can you pass the bread,” or “May I go get some water?” Everybody was amazed at what had happened. Normally, we would go to the cabins, but today we just sat in the Mess Hall until rest hour was over. After that we went to the Art Barn. Jessie said, “Girls, you can draw get well for Christie.” So we got out the markers and colored pencils. Then we got to work. Then we had dinner early. Dinner was a chicken taco with some more veggies. It was great! We went to our cabin and I decided to skip a shower for tonight. I immediately went to sleep. Wednesday was on a much happier note. Christie was home with her family. I got up, and started to get dressed. My water bottle was filled and I was ready when she blew the whistle. We set out for the Mess Hall at 7:45 A.M. My feet are starting to hurt from all of this walking. Breakfast today is toast, cereal, and orange juice. It was just as good as any of the other meals. Jade was wondering, “Do you know what we are doing in Art Barn?” I said, “I don’t know. What are you asking me for?” We went to the Art Barn and found out what we are doing. “We are going to make a kite. Listen carefully so you don’t mess it up.” On my kite I put a picture of my family. I also put some glitter and sequins to make it shiny and sparkly. Then we got to go to our swimming lesson. They started teaching us how to dive. I am getting better. (They are teaching the blue caps how to do the swan dive.) Finally, we left for today’s activities. I looked at the list and saw that today I have horseback riding and create-a-costume. Jade has another stage props and Art Barn. The first thing I had was create-a-costume. We got to sew stuff and make an outfit. It was really awesome. It was also kind of hard. Jade had stage props at Karnegie Hall and made some more stage props for the play tomorrow. They also had try-outs. She explained to me, “Only the people who signed up for stage props are in the play. But everybody gets to see it.” Then, I went to horseback riding. I met a girl in Tipi whose name was Cici Brown. She said, “I have a horse at home. Her name is Sugar.” First, Kayla (our instructor) told us all about horse safety and how to saddle your horse. Then we got to go on a ride. It wasn’t like the kiddy rides at the carnival either. Jade told me all about Art Barn. “It was so cool. We got to paint these pots with paint pens. I made mine for my new baby sister.” Before we went to lunch, Jade mailed a letter. It said: “Dear Mom, I think I’m okay with having a baby sister. Today in Art Barn I painted a pot for her. What are you thinking of naming her? I like Diane or Clarisse. I can’t wait until Friday! Love, Jade” Then we went to lunch. It was spaghetti. I love spaghetti! For a drink we had tea. Once again, Jade and I got water. Today I got one letter from Joe. We had rest hour on the parachute. It was fun! Mostly we just talked. I read my letter. “Dear Sis, Life here at home is boring as usual. Nothing going on. Bored… Glad you like camp!!! Later, Joe (Or loser boy as you like to call me, ha ha ha.) We got to go to archery and a free swim. In archery I even hit a couple targets. Then we got to go to free swim. Jade attempted to teach me how to dive. It was still fun. Tonight, we are going to have a cookout at the fire ring on the other side of the lake. The outpost unit made the main course, tipi unit made dessert and cabin unit made the entrée. We made deviled eggs. For dinner we had cheeseburgers or hot dogs. Dessert was strawberries or bananas with fondue. After dinner we had a ceremony. We sang songs and everyone got an Indian headband. You get 1 feather for each year you’ve been here. Everybody who had been here for 5 years of more got to go to this ceremony in the middle of the night. I even got the award for “Camper of the Week.” It was at least 9:00 or 10:00 P.M. before we got back to the cabins. We still have to take a shower. I probably won’t get a chance to write a letter. After I got my pjs on we all went to our cabin and I immediately fell asleep. On Thursday morning we had bacon and eggs. I had apple juice. That bacon was really, really good. Then we walked over to Art Barn. Jessie said, “Those who were in stage props are leaving early to get ready for the play.” We ended up doing this poem for our parents. We got to paint the poem on a black piece of construction paper. Mine was a cinquain. “Mom Helpful, loving Helping, caring, playing Loves us a ton Worker.” Michelle took Jade and some of the other girls to Karnegie Hall for the play. Karnegie Hall is basically a huge hall with a lot of empty space for chairs, tables and anything you want to put in there. We got to go to the play during our swimming lesson. The play was a couple of the scenes from The Wizard of Oz. Jade got to be the tin man. Then we went to Karnegie Field for camptivities. Today’s camptivities for me are Game Day and Field Day. Jade and I had Field Day first. We played soccer, pillow polo and tons of other awesome games. I had game day in Karnegie Hall. They had a lot of games for us to play. They had board games, card games and charades. Karnegie Hall was completely emptied out. After 20 minutes of Game Day, we went to lunch. It was macaroni and cheese with pretzels or potato chips. We to go on the canoes during rest hour. It was kind of hard. My arms started to hurt after a while. We got to have another Art Barn today. We made these really neat picture frames for us to put a picture in. (I made mine for Jade’s new little baby sister.) Jade got a letter from her parents. “Dear Jade, We like the names you are thinking of. What about Diane Marie Michaels? That’s what we’ve been thinking of. Or Clarisse Marie Michaels. We definitely want Marie to be her middle name. Think of some more names for her. We love you! Love, Mom and Dad” We went to free swim today. Since Jackie didn’t have to be a lifeguard, she taught me how to dive. In the end, I learned how to dive. I was so excited! After free swim, everybody got ready to go to dinner. Dinner tonight was just leftovers. They had everything. Spaghetti, chicken sandwiches, chicken tacos and tons of other great foods. We went back to the cabins, and I took a quick shower and changed into my snoopy pjs. Then I wrote a letter to my parents. “Dear Mom and Dad, I am so excited to be coming home! This week has gone by so fast! I’ll see you tomorrow! P.S. This will probably get to you when I get home.” I got a letter from Mawmaw and Pawpaw. “Dear Christina, We got your letter a couple days a go. We are glad you like camp! We need to go and walk the dogs. They are getting antsy. Love, Mawmaw and Pawpaw” I went to bed, dreaming about going home and seeing my family tomorrow. I’m so excited about sleeping in my own bed. We woke up the next morning to a brightly shining sun. Breakfast was french toast sticks with warm maple syrup. Then we went to our last Art Barn after breakfast. All we really did was get all of our stuff ready to take home with us. During our swimming lesson, we were at the cabin packing our bags. I double-checked and triple-checked to make sure I had everything. Then the custodian, Jay came by in his Ford pick-up to pick up our luggage. Then we got to go to lunch. It was also leftovers. I got spaghetti. Dessert was these tasty chocolate chip cookies. Next, we got to go to free swim until our family came to get us. Our families were coming separately. Or so I thought. Mrs. Michaels came to the pool and yelled, “Jade, Chris, come on! I’m going to take you home, Chris.” As an explanation, she said, “Your Mom needed some extra time to get some stuff done.” I said to her, “Congratulations on the baby!” She said, “Thank you, sweetie.” After that Jade pretty much took over the conversation. I settled back in my seat and took a short nap. When we got to my house, I got out and started heading to the back of the car to get my bags, but Jade’s Mom said, “Don’t worry about that right now.” As we walked into the living room, our families popped out from hiding places and yelled, “SURPRISE!!” Our families had even bought us gifts. I said, “Wow! Thank you so much, you guys!” I got a lot of cool things that I’ve been wanting for a long time. It was a couple months later, and everything was back to normal. We were back in school and having a blast! Well, almost everything…. Jade’s mom had the long awaited baby. Her name is Jean Marie Michaels. She is about 2 months old. She is so cute! I will definitely be going to camp next year. But, I don’t really think that Jade will. She’ll be too busy with her new baby sister.
Copyright © 2004 Coralie R Watts |