Well, the big morning came and it was a really beautiful-looking day, out the window. Everything was packed the night before, and Mom made me take with all kinds of things I know I won’t even need. And I’ve got to take with a real heavy jacket; she thinks we’ll all freeze, there.
Brian helped me take my things down. He carried the sleeping bag, and I took my stuffed backpack. It’s a good thing I didn’t have to carry the food bag too, but we took that to school yesterday evening.
All the kids were milling around, when we got there, and we left our stuff in the front vestibule, and then went to home room. Kerry was more excited than anyone, and he kept whooping, and Mr. Bryant whipped in from across the hall to keep telling him to shut up. I guess Mr. Henderson was busy out front, helping to get stuff on the bus.
Were we ever surprised, when Mr. Henderson came in. It was the first time we had ever seen him out of a suit. He was wearing jeans, just like us, and an open-neck shirt, and he had the cutest leather cowboy hat on that made him look so young…kind of. I guess he isn’t so old, like old-old, after all. He got us all out to the bus, and we had to squish on, three to a seat, because our luggage took up so much room.
Those rattly old school buses sure don’t give you the smoothest ride. We sang “There’s a bump on a log”, and “Old Susannah”, and “Frere Jacques”, and some other songs. It was kind of loud, and a couple of times the bus driver shouted at us to tone it down.
Mr. Henderson and Mr. Farraday weren’t on the bus, they were driving over in Mr. Henderson’s car. Mr. Henderson took Kerry with them in the car, because he thought Kerry was too rambunctious to go in the bus, like he’d cause an accident, or something. Maybe hang out the window and grab some passing car’s radio antenna, or something. I wouldn’t put anything past that kid.
We all had our lunches with us, because we were told to bring them because the cook wouldn’t have enough time to get too much prepared for us right off. So everybody kept digging into their bags and getting out stuff to eat, and throwing stuff around, and the bus turned out a real mess. It took a long time to get to the camp, even though it was only forty miles away, because the bus driver got kind of lost.
He said the directions weren’t clear enough, and we were driving him crazy. I don’t blame him. Anyway, he went for at least an hour in the wrong direction before he caught on it was wrong, and then turned around and went right. Some of the boys gave him a raspberry buzz, because they wanted him to keep going in the wrong direction.
Finally, when we did get to the camp site, we got off the bus all cramped, because it was a really tight fit. No one had any lunch left, and it was only just after eleven o’clock. The bus was a mess, and Mr. Henderson made us go through it to clean it up before it left. Then he let us have a look around the place.
It was really beautiful, and the day was so warm, we all took off our jackets. The mess hall was really huge. It ended up we only used two long tables, though, even though there’re all kinds of them there. And what was really neat was the little chipmunks running around in there, popping in and out of places, looking for food leftovers, I guess. They’re the cutest little critters, for sure. Cuter even than guinea pigs.
The cabins were all built of cement blocks and there were real rough bunk beds inside. On the bunk beds there were old mattresses and pillows, and they kind of smelled. Like awful. As in disgusting. We took them outside and banged them around, and you should’ve seen all the dust and sand come flying out of them!
We took them back in, a little lighter from the sand knocked out of them, but they still smelled. Awful in fact. Just as well Mom wasn't around, she'd refuse to let me sleep on one of them, saying they were harbouring all kinds of dangerous germs, or something.
Every cabin had a broom and a shovel, and a long roll of fly-paper hanging from the ceiling. Full of flies. Yuck! And double-yuck!
We were high up above the water, like on a gradual cliff almost, that looked over the water. And was it ever blue! The water, I mean. There was a path that went through the camp with the cabins placed here and there on the trail, and at the end of the trail you could go down to the water, over big rocks.
Down below was where the boathouse was located, of course, next to the lake. That's where the canoes and life jackets and paddles were stored. Up above the cabins, on flatter ground, there were tennis courts and a baseball diamond, and it looked like we’d have plenty to do.
We were all hungry, like ravenous, and complaining about it, and Mr. Henderson told us we’d hear a gong to call us in for meals. At suppertime, he said. We all groaned. We were starving and he didn't even care! He laughed at our moaning faces. And then we heard a great big gong. We all ran like crazy, for the mess hall.
The cook had prepared cream of tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches for us. I absolutely HATE cream of tomato soup, and grilled cheese sandwiches not so much. But these were different. They were delicious. That was some cook!
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