Somebody’s father in the crowd started asking questions when the guy said he’d answer any questions. “I’m with the Boy Scouts”, this guy said. “I know what it’s like when you get kids into that kind of atmosphere. They play around and in the cabins they’ll be throwing pillows around, that kind of thing. I happen to know that there’s no electricity in those cabins. If the kids are going to be using kerosene lamps, I think you should be aware that there’s a danger there, a potential fire hazard.”
Whoopee! Just what we needed. I took a sideways look at Mom and here she was, nudging Dad, and the way they looked at each other, I kind of thought I was going to be in trouble about going.
“Yes, we’ve thought of all that”, the guy said. “Mr. Henderson and I will make certain that all the lamps are out at a certain hour, and we’ll actually remove them from the cabins overnight. No need to fear about that. It can be a problem, but we’re attuned to it.”
“You’ll be having a large group of lively boys and girls together at this camp”, a lady spoke up. “How will you be able to maintain any discipline and decorum?”
“I beg your pardon, Madam?” the camp operator said.
“I mean”, the lady stopped and got red. “What I mean is, how do you know the boys - you know how they behave sometimes - how do you know they won’t go off into any of the girls’ cabins at night?”
Everybody - well, almost everybody - laughed. I noticed Mom didn’t. Crap!
“I assure you, Madam”, the guy said, after everyone stopped laughing. “The group will be well chaperoned. And please remember, these are decent young people. It’s to be expected that they’ll be high-spirited, and want to have a little fun. I’ve had a great deal of experience with this kind of thing. I’ve been involved in one way or another for over twenty years with this camp, and believe me, when I say the hi-jinks are all done in good clean fun, this is true. There is nothing, I repeat, nothing for you to worry about, regarding your daughter’s uh, safety.”
“Thank you for that reassurance”, she said, looking awfully embarrassed. “But I don’t have a girl going. It’s my son who’s going.”
And this time everyone laughed. Even Mom.
“Would it be all right if some of the kids took with things like cameras?” another man asked. “I mean, is there any danger of theft?”
“Well, you must understand”, the camp operator told him, “we cannot be held responsible for the theft of valuable objects. Regardless of how well we attempt to keep an eye on things, these things will happen. You will appreciate, I’m certain, there is no way of checking everything. The cabins can’t be locked, and anything left in them may be susceptible to theft. Therefore, I would emphasize that we tend to discourage children from taking with them any valuables.”
He answered some more questions, and then they gave out a list of the stuff we’d need to take with. It was called our camp kit. And there was a small map that showed the way to the camp too, and he said any parents who wanted to, could come out for a visit. Ugh!
Here we are, trying to get always from it all, and here this guy comes along and says come on over!
Most of the kids’ parents were there, and it was funny to match the kids up with their parents. Like, some of the kids look like their parents, and some of them don’t. It turned out that Mom and Dad knew some of the parents, and Dad even worked with two of the fathers. Sally’s mother didn’t even look at me, although she had met me before, when we used to go around there, sometimes. I introduced Mom and Dad to Jennifer T’s parents, and they had a nice little conversation.
Wouldn’t you know it, Mom said how nice Jennifer is, to her mother, and Mrs. Thackeray said how nice I am, to my mother. She even said I’m such a pretty girl. I didn’t know who she was talking about at first. Laura’s parents couldn’t make it, so me and Jennifer took copies of the list and map for her, like we promised we would.
When we got home, Brian was all mad, because the grade sevens weren’t going, and he wants to go camping, too. Boy, is he ever a brat! He gets to see all kinds of great movies and stuff like that, and his home room teacher gets in pizzas and stuff for the kids at lunch time sometimes, and we never get stuff like that.
Crap! If we ever get to see a movie, it’s about health, or geography, or something like that, and then we’ve got to do an assignment, or a test on it. He gets to see Laurel and Hardy movies, and he even saw the original Frankenstein movie. What’s he got to complain about, anyway?
Larry said wouldn’t it be a pity if a skunk kidnapped me, or something. He thought it would be a good idea, if I made out a will before the trip, and left my flute to him. Is he ever a greedy pig. They’re both jealous because I’m going to have fun, and they’re not. (Even though Larry said he wouldn’t be caught dead camping, I know better.)
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