When the tuck shop opened we all ran to get our money, but when I went into my bag to get mine, it was gone. Was I ever mad! Jennifer offered to lend me some money so we both got milk chocolate bars and a box of chocolate-covered raisins apiece to eat in bed tonight. I wonder why only my money is gone and no one else’s?”
I got a chance to tell Mr. Henderson later, and he looked angry. He told me that several other people had told him they were missing money. He asked me how much money I had had, and I told him a dollar-fifty, and he wanted to give me his money, and I was surprised. But I said no thanks. One of the guys had a camera taken, too.
After another two-gong call later, when Mr. Henderson told everyone about the camera gone missing and the money too, he gave everyone a pep talk about how wrong it is to take things that don’t belong to you. And he would welcome the return of the things taken, and ask no questions.
Then we all went down to the water beside the boathouse, because Mr. Farraday was going to give us some basic lessons in rowing boats and paddling canoes.
Mr. Farraday showed us how to sit properly in boats, never to walk about clumsily, not to get up unless we had to and that we always had to wear lifejackets. We were given the choice of trying a rowboat first or a canoe and funny, most of the girls chose rowboats and the boys canoes. But anyway, we’re all supposed to get a chance to try both, before the trip’s over.
He told us we’re supposed to stay close to the edge of the lake, and not go near the centre because if we did, that would be the end of our lessons on the lake.
It was really nice out now, and we didn’t have to wear our heavy jackets, just light ones instead. I’m glad now that Mom made me take all that stuff to wear. Donna had put on two pairs of jeans in the morning, because she was so cold, and now she complained how uncomfortable she was with them both on. But she didn’t want to go all the way back up to the cabin to change, because she was afraid she’d miss out on something. I don’t blame her.
The four of us got in a rowboat and we took turns in pairs, rowing, and it was really fun getting our timing right and sliding through the water. Whoever wasn’t rowing could let their hands go through the water, and was it ever cold! Later your fingers smelled fishy.
There were boats and canoes all over the place and Mr. Farraday and Mr. Henderson were out in canoes. Even the guy who runs the place was down at the water watching for a while. The cook too, and some other guys who do stuff around the place.
We heard some yelling and saw Mr. Farraday giving Kerry hell, and telling him to take his boat in. He wasn’t even in a canoe and he was with some other guys and they said he wouldn’t let them row. He was just hogging the whole boat to himself. Well, they took the boat back to shore, and Kerry got out. He was mad and the other guys went back out again, without him.
A little while later we noticed there was a canoe ‘way over on the other side of the lake, past the middle. And we saw Mr. Farraday in his canoe paddling like crazy over to the other canoe and who was in it, but Kerry!
Mr. Farraday must have been telling Kerry to go back to the other side, but Kerry wasn’t listening. He was doing just great in his canoe. Finally though, both of them came back together in their canoes to our side, and Mr. Farraday said Kerry wasn’t to take any boats out again.
Kerry didn’t seem to mind. He had paddled that canoe really well, and gone all over to the other side and that made him happy, I guess. He wasn’t even wearing his lifejacket and I guess that kind of made Mr. Farraday verrry nervous.
Two guys in a canoe turned over, and then hung onto the canoe sides and Mr. Henderson got some guys in a rowboat to pull them out and he got the canoe in to shore. You wouldn’t see me dumping into that cold water, not for anything!
After, we all pulled the boats up and bailed water out of them and put away the lifejackets and Mr. Farraday said maybe, just maybe, we’d be able to take them out again tomorrow. We were all told we did just fine, and we could go and do anything we felt like doing before supper.
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