by Joey Comeau
“I look forward to summer all year, and this year is going to be the best yet. We have swimming and archery and orienteering and arts and crafts and we have capture the flag and we have a bonfire every week where we sing and play guitar and I don’t know one camper who hasn’t had the time of his life”—he caught himself—“his or her life. Do you like baseball? We have baseball. We have badminton and volleyball. And I think we even have croquet if you go in for that sort of thing. We have everything.
“Last year we had a girl who got stung by six jellyfish when she was out swimming. She was stung pretty badly, with red welts all over her, and we had to call her parents and arrange to take her to the hospital. When she was getting into the car, she wouldn’t stop crying, and I told her that she was going to be okay. They were taking her to the hospital and the doctors there would fix her right up. She was going to be fine. And do you know what she said to me? She said, I’m not going to be fine, I’m going to miss the bonfire tonight!” He laughed.
“There I was, trying to console her because she had been stung so badly, and that wasn’t why she was upset at all! She just wanted to stay and have more fun!”
The other counsellors all laughed along with Tony. The campers did, too. Martin just sat quietly. Two rows ahead of him, a girl caught his eye. She had short red hair and a single feather earring hanging down from her right ear. She wasn’t laughing, either. He could only see part of her face from where he was sitting, but she looked bored. That was understandable, Martin thought.
She leaned over to one of her friends and whispered something, and the two girls laughed. He should have sat closer to them. They seemed more interesting than anyone else here.
“But I’ll stop talking about how fun it is,” Father Tony said, “and I’ll let you go and figure it out for yourself.” He paused and cleared his throat again. “Just let me ask one question, and when you’ve answered it, please get up and head into the next room where we’ve got cake and juice and milk and plenty of other great stuff. They probably didn’t tell me about half the snacks they have in there, because they were afraid I’d eat it all before you got here!”
Another round of laughter. The girl with the earring was quiet. Martin didn’t laugh either. He wondered what she was thinking about.
“Have you accepted Jesus into your heart?” Tony said. He was serious now. “That sounds like a simple question, and maybe it is, but give it some thought. Have you accepted Jesus Christ into your heart? Don’t answer right away. Give it a minute. Look inside your heart and when you find Jesus there, just stand quietly and head into the next room. If you can’t find him, I just want to sit down and talk with you for a few minutes. Nobody’s in trouble here, so let’s be honest.”
Two rows ahead, the girl and her two friends jumped to their feet and headed to the next room. There was no hesitation, no soul searching, no deep reflection on what it meant to accept Jesus into your heart. Martin followed them.
The girl with the single earring sat down at one of the long dinner tables in the next room. She had a piece of cake and a small pile of cookies. Her friends had snacks, too, and one sat on each side of her. They sat close, like they were huddling for warmth. Martin sat down across from them just as one of the counsellors came over.
“Hi girls,” she said. “My name’s Cindy! How are you liking our hospitality so far?”
“We haven’t had a chance to enjoy it yet,” the earring girl said.
Cindy held her hand out to shake. “Well, I won’t keep you for long then,” she said. “Never stand between a lady and her snacks, I always say! What’s your name?”
The earring girl took a moment before she answered, and Martin could see that she was trying to decide whether to answer or not. She clearly didn’t want to be talking to the counsellor. In the end she must have decided that answering would get rid of Cindy quicker.
“Melissa,” she said. “And this is Courtney,” she nodded her head at the girl on her right, who had her blonde hair mostly hidden underneath a baseball cap. “And Joan.” Joan wore glasses and had big dark freckles all across her nose and cheeks.
Courtney smiled and reached out her hand to shake, but Joan only nodded at the counsellor.
“So what do you girls like to do for fun?” Cindy said. “There’s no TV or Internet out here, but we’ve got girls’ softball and soccer!”
“Yeah, we remember,” said Melissa. “From the speech two minutes ago.”
But beside her, Courtney was smiling even wider now. “You name the sport, we love it,” Courtney said. “Soccer, football, lacrosse, rugby!”
“Rugby!” Cindy laughed. “Well, that’s a bit intense for me. I’m more of a volleyball girl.”
“Oh, we’re sports nuts,” Courtney said. “We love intense! Intense is right up our alley. Have you ever played rugby? It’s just so satisfying, being out there in the mud, feeling the bones breaking, hearing the crowd scream for blood! It’s wonderful. It’s what heaven must be like. I bet heaven is one big rugby game that lasts forever.”
“What about you?” Cindy said, turning away from Courtney to focus on Joan.
Joan just looked down at her hands.
“She likes rugby, too,” Melissa said.
“She can’t answer for herself?” Cindy laughed and looked back at Joan. “What sports do you like?” she asked, and Joan kept her eyes on her own feet. Her face was completely expressionless, and Melissa let out a loud sigh.
“We all like rugby,” Melissa said. “I told you that. We’re all on the same rugby team at school.”
“And we never lose,” Courtney said.
“Well that’s the spirit I like to hear, anyway!” Cindy said. “Maybe you’ll be in my cabin. If you are, we’ll have a great time. And we’ll turn this whole camp upside down until we find your other earring, Melissa.”
“And you can tell us everything you know about that counsellor, Chip!” Courtney said. “We saw you talking to him!” She made a squealing sound and pointed her finger at Cindy.
“Well, I don’t know if it’d be right to tell you girls everything,” Cindy laughed and then she was off, introducing herself to another table.
“God, I thought she was going to bother us all night,” Courtney said.
“‘Tell us everything you know about Chip!’” Melissa said, holding her hands together up by her head and squealing. She batted her eyelashes. “Oh, he’s so dreamy.” She made a horking sound. “What did she mean about my other earring?”
“What do you mean, what did she mean?” Courtney said. “You’re only wearing one.”
“So? I only have one.”
“Well, usually people wear two earrings, one in each ear, Melissa.”
“Are you taking her side now? Maybe tonight you can curl up in bed beside her, talking about boys while Joan and I go watch for the comet alone. You don’t mind if I borrow your telescope?”
“You wouldn’t know what to do with it,” Courtney said. “You’d just get all confused by a piece of equipment that powerful. You’re better off staying with that kid’s toy of yours.”
Melissa wasn’t listening. She was looking at Martin.
Courtney just kept talking. “It’s always something, isn’t it? In the city there’s too much ambient light to get a clear look at the sky. And out here in the woods there are idiots. I guess there are idiots in the city, too, but we don’t have to share a cabin with them.” Then she noticed Martin, too. She stopped talking, and the three girls sat staring, waiting for Martin to say something. He didn’t.
“What’s your name?” Melissa said.
“Martin.”
“Well, Martin, can we help you? Is there some reason you’re eavesdropping on our conversation?”
Martin thought about it for a second before answering. “Will you show me your telescope?” he said. “I’ve never seen one.” He smiled at Joan, who was looking up now.
“Maybe,” said Melissa. “What’s in it for us?”
“Yeah,” Courtney said. “What exactly are you bringing to the table here?”
Martin thought about it. He tried to imagine what he had to offer them. What were they interested in? Telescopes, yes, but he didn’t know anything about telescopes. Or stars. The only thing he really knew about was makeup, and none of them were even wearing makeup. But maybe they liked horror movies?
“My mom does special effects for horror movies,” Martin said. “She’s very good at it, and sometimes she lets me help. Like, picture that girl with jellyfishes all over her. The one Father Tony was talking about. Picture the long tendrils cutting into her skin and burning her. There’s a couple ways my mom could do that. She could just draw them on with a bright red, and then make the skin around the lines all flush like it was inflamed.”
The three girls were watching him and listening in silence. Courtney was the only one who moved, putting cookie after cookie into her mouth while Martin talked.
“Or she might use a bit of latex,” Martin said. “With the latex she could make thin lines of raised skin on her back, like long welts? And then she could make them red, with bits of blue and purple to make it look angrier. Blue and purple always made the wound look angrier. More infected. And maybe, if the scene needed it, she could even use a clear thick corn syrup, so that when the jellyfish peels off, it clings to the wound with slime, like flesh slime dripping off.”
He wished he had something to write this all down with. He would have to remember, so he could tell his mother later. Maybe she could use it in a movie.
“This is how you make friends with people?” Courtney said. “That is so gross!”
“‘Flesh slime dripping off!’” Melissa said. “How did you even get accepted to a Bible camp with a brain like that?”
“Well, he probably didn’t mention it on the application,” Courtney said.
Martin looked down at his own cookies. He shouldn’t have said anything. Not everyone understood that what his mother did was awesome. Some people just thought it was gross. And some people thought it was weird and stupid. He should have just been quiet. The only one of the girls who wasn’t talking was Joan. She was looking at him again, and this time she didn’t look away when he met her eyes. She pushed her glasses further up her nose and smiled.
“I like him,” Joan said. “I vote we keep him.”
CHAPTER FIVE
The counsellor with the big muscled arms was standing on a chair in the middle of the cafeteria. He held up a tiny plastic orange juice glass and tapped a fork against it until everyone had quieted down and was looking at him. It was hard to dislike him. His smile was wide and genuine. Beside Martin, Melissa rolled her eyes.
“Here we go,” she said.
“Now don’t be like that,” Courtney said. “You’re always so negative. I’m sure this is a very important announcement.” She patted Melissa on the arm and grinned at Martin.
“Everyone,” the muscled counsellor said. “Everyone, I just need a minute here.” He looked around and smiled even wider. “I’ve met some of you already, but for those who I haven’t had a chance to say hello to, let me say: Hello! I’m Chip.”
“His name is Chip,” Courtney informed Martin in a whisper.
“Shhh,” Melissa said.
“I’m supposed to assign you to your cabins,” Chip said. “And I don’t want to take all day. We have a whole night of fun and games ahead of us. So I’m gonna read off your names, and when I do, I want you to go sit at the table I point at, okay?”
“Chip is going to assign us to our cabins,” Courtney said. “He’ll probably start by reading off our names, and telling us which table to go sit at. I have no idea what will happen next, though. I hope he tells us.”
“Well I hope he doesn’t take all day about it,” Martin whispered back. “We have a whole night of fun and games ahead of us.” Courtney laughed at that, and even Joan was smiling now.
Martin and Courtney must have laughed too loudly, because over at the next table Cindy gave them a warning look. She held a finger to her lips, and Martin blushed and turned to look attentively at Chip, but Courtney just waved at the scowling counsellor.
“She wants us to be quiet,” Courtney whispered to Martin. “Otherwise we might have trouble understanding the subtle nuances of Chip’s instructions.”
Joan was the first to have her name called, and she shrugged. She stood and Martin gave her a little wave. She didn’t wave back, but she half-smiled again. Martin wondered what she was thinking. She was quiet, and he liked people who were quiet. It was weird, and Martin liked weird.
“Good luck,” Courtney said as Joan walked away. “I think he wants you to go to that table over there. The one that he pointed at!”
Chip went on calling names, and Melissa was next. She was assigned to the same table as Joan, and she stood up slowly.
“We’ll figure it out,” she said to Courtney. “If they put you in a different cabin, we’ll figure something out.” She nodded at Martin. “Nice to meet you, Martin.” She turned and walked over to where Joan was sitting with a few other girls and Sherri-Lynn, the counsellor Martin had met earlier. Beside Martin, Courtney was quiet.
“I’m sure they’ll put you at the same table,” Martin said.
“Shhh,” Courtney said. She was looking at Chip now, waiting for him to announce the next cabin assignment. “What did he say?”
“Mitchell, I think,” Martin said.
Chip repeated the name again. “Has anyone seen Mitchell? We didn’t lose someone already, did we?”
“I think Father Tony’s talking to him,” Sherri-Lynn said from her table. “Just keep going.”
And then Chip called Martin’s name, and pointed to a table over by the door. Martin stood up, but didn’t move. He didn’t want to leave Courtney by herself any more than he wanted to go sit with a table full of strange boys.
“What do you think he wants me to do?” he said, and Courtney smiled. She touched his hand.
“It’s okay,” she said. “We’ll see you outside in a bit. We’ll come find you.” Then she turned back to the front of the room.
The room was louder now, with everyone talking to their new cabin mates. It was getting harder to hear Chip calling out names.
There were already a few boys sitting at the table Chip had pointed at for Martin. They all seemed tanned and loud, laughing and slapping one another on the back already. Joan and Melissa were sitting side by side, watching Chip as intently as Courtney was, and Martin was stuck with strangers. It was stupid that boys and girls had to be in different cabins. It wasn’t like people were going to be walking around their cabins naked.
Martin was in Cabin Seven. Chip was their counsellor, and he showed them the way. The cabins were back against the tree line, half hidden in the woods, with their roofs peeking out from under the overhanging branches into the sunshine. Chip walked ahead of the Cabin Seven boys, but he kept turning around and walking backwards to talk to them.
“We’re going to be in one of the old cabins,” Chip said. “The girls all live in the new ones.” He pointed to the cabins closest to the main building. They didn’t look like cabins at all. They weren’t even a bit rustic, all made out of cement, bright lights inside.
“Air conditioning, plumbing, the works,” Chip said, still pointing to the girl’s cabins. “We just built them this year. There are plans to build more after the season’s over, but for now the boys have got the same cabins as always.” He winked at Martin and said, “That’s what camp is all about, if you ask me. Haunted cabins and having to run through the woods in the middle of the night to pee. You aren’t afraid of ghosts, are you?” Chip said, winking again.
Martin gritted his teeth. People look so stupid
when they wink.
But Martin did like the old cabins better, wooden and broken-down-looking, set back in the woods. They blended in with the trees around them and looked like they really could be haunted. They were exactly the kind of cabins where a ghost would feel at home. Or a serial killer. They had big windows, the perfect size for a killer to throw a body through. Cabin Seven was the second-to-last cabin.
“Pick your bunks, guys,” Chip said, and Martin turned to the boy nearest to him.
“I think he wants us to each select a bunk,” Martin told him.
The guy nodded at Martin. “Yeah,” he said. “He just said that.”
He wasn’t off laughing or slapping the other boys on the back, either. Maybe he was okay. Martin gave him a closer look. The other boy had brown hair that hung down over his ears. He was skinny, too. And he had weird teeth.
“I’m Martin,” Martin said, offering his hand to shake.
“Hey,” he said. “I’m Ricky.”
The two boys shook hands and Chip grinned at them from the door. He gave them a thumbs up, and Martin could practically hear Chip’s thoughts. Camp was all about making friends.
“You can have any bunk you want,” Ricky said. “Except this one’s Adrian’s, and that one in the corner on the bottom is mine. You should take that other corner bunk so I don’t have to sleep near a weirdo. You get some weirdo kids at summer camp. They let anyone in.”
Martin walked to the other corner bunk and set his suitcase on the bed.
There was nowhere for him to unpack his clothes. His shirts were going to have to stay folded in the suitcase, which was unacceptable. There were no closets here, no drawers. Nowhere to hang a hanger. The glass in the window wasn’t just smudged, it was broken. There was a long crack down from the top to the bottom corner. Martin took a deep breath and let it out. This was where he was now. A cabin in the woods.
There weren’t supposed to be drawers in a cabin. The windows were meant to be broken and ragged. Get in the spirit, Martin told himself. Think of it like a horror movie. A haunted cabin, like Chip said. Don’t worry about your clothes. Worry about who’s going to die first. Who will find the body? Will it have all its limbs? Think about an axe cutting through the air.