Camp Life

by Lucinda Maison

  Drew’s fingers were laced with Dara’s under the table. She had barely touched her food or said more than a few words. He gave her what comfort he could with the reassuring touch of his hand.

  “Hey, Caroline, would you pass me the eggs?” Jake’s appetite was unimpaired.

  Caroline picked up the bowl and stared at him without handing it over.

  “What?”

  She continued to hold the bowl out of reach, waiting.

  “Please?” he ventured.

  She passed the bowl with a smile.

  “I thought you just wanted to eat it all yourself,” he said, spooning a large helping onto his plate.

  The smile disappeared, “Jake, you…you…”

  “I know,” he sympathized. “Want some strawberries?” He held the basket out as a peace offering, and she accepted it, but couldn’t resist throwing a small strawberry at him.

  It bounced off his shirt with a splat, but since he had chosen to wear a t-shirt with swirls of color instead of his usual black, the red mark blended right in. Jake didn’t retaliate other than to comment “So juvenile!”, making a tsk tsk sound.

  Caroline threatened him with another strawberry, but decided the wiser course would be to ignore him.

  “You know, you two act more like brother and sister than you and Drew,” Corinne told Caroline.

  Drew laughed. “Hey, I think she’s right. Jake, if you want to know how to really piss her off, I’ve got lots of ideas.”

  Jake nodded, a spark of interest in his eyes, and continued eating, while Caroline gave her brother the puke eye.

  “When are your dad and sister getting here?” Jim asked Corinne.

  “My dad sent me a text last night. They should be here right after breakfast.”

  He noticed she left it at that, no babbling, no racing speech. And she wore what, for her, was a relatively tame outfit of brown flip-flops, orange plaid shorts, and a turquoise t-shirt printed with neon–colored frogs, a skinny purple headband holding back her curls. His heart swelled with pride and affection.

  People began standing up and hauling their empty plates and bowls to the passthrough. Dara dawdled, and Jake offered to take her plate in with his. She thanked him with a smile that disappeared almost before it began, too nervous to speak. Drew pulled her out the door, intending to take her on a short hike to burn off some nervous energy. As soon as they cleared the arbor, they saw a dark blue Honda CRV pull up to the lodge. They didn’t recognize the man who got out of the driver’s seat, but the slender girl with the wild blonde curls was a small clone of Corinne. Seeing her made Dara smile for a moment, before she turned toward the sun, following Drew along the path to the ball field.

  Ron had been watching through the lodge office window for the first arrivals, and had seen the Honda pull up. He strode out of the building and greeted Corinne’s dad and little sister.

  “Good to see you again, Mr. Pavlicek.”

  “It’s Tom, please.”

  “Tom, then.” Ron shook his hand and turned to the girl. “You can’t be Corinne’s sister. There’s no family resemblance at all. Are you a friend of the family?”

  Allison grinned, shaking her head. She was all too used to people telling her she was a “carbon copy” of her big sister.

  “I’m Ron.” He shook her hand, too. “ You’ll be sharing a cabin with the Taylor’s. I’ll help you with your bags.”

  They were unloading the back of the car when Corinne and Jim came out of the lodge and saw her family. “Allison!” She ran up to her sister, lifted her off the ground and spun her around before setting her back down on her purple high-tops.

  “Rinny!” Small arms tightly clasped her neck and Corinne felt tears, warm and wet, her own and her sister’s. She gave her a tight squeeze and straightened, turning to her dad.

  He was watching her with a smile of such tenderness that her tears overflowed as she walked into his arms. “Don’t ever go away again for so long, OK, not until you’re at least thirty,” he said wryly, holding her tight against him. He kissed the top of her curls and released her. It really wasn’t that long since he’d seen her, but she looked different somehow. It reminded him of when she was a baby and he’d taken a 10-day trip to Mexico. When he came back, he stood over her crib and stared down at an 11-month-old Corinne, sleeping peacefully in her pink Cindy Lou Who pajamas with attached footies. Fine strawberry blonde curls brushed her collar and the sound of her soft breathing was balm to his soul. He remembered thinking, “Is she really mine? She looks so different…That’s my baby girl.” The same sense of wonder and gratitude rushed through him again as he looked down at a more grown up Corinne.

  Corinne dashed the tears from her cheeks. “Oh, Dad, this is Jim, my friend Jim.”

  Her dad saw a tall boy with streaky brown hair, whose eyes met his directly and who called him “Sir.”

  They shook hands and Mr. Pavlicek smiled. “This is Corinne’s sister, Allison,” he said, grasping her small hand and pulling her forward.

  “I’d never have guessed,” Jim responded, smiling down at Allison.

  Mr. Pavlicek cocked his head as he heard Jim speak. “Australia?”

  “Yes, sir. Brisbane.”

  “A great city. I spent some time in Australia years ago. Loved it.”

  Corinne looked up at her dad, shocked. He’d been to Australia? When had that happened? “When did you go to Australia? Why don’t I know this?” she demanded.

  “It was before your mother and I got married. I was only 20 and was traveling around in between junior college and going to the university.”

  “What did you do?” She couldn’t imagine her dad just wandering around the world, couldn’t imagine her dad at age 20.

  “Oh, met new people, saw new things, surfed, ate different food…”

  “Surfed?” Jim’s ears perked up. “I thought you lived in north Texas.”

  “Now I don’t get the chance much, but I grew up in Southern California.”

  Before Jim could pursue this interesting line of conversation, Corinne’s dad pointed out that they were keeping Ron waiting. Jim grabbed one bag and Mr. Pavlicek picked up the other, and they followed Ron to a cabin on the other side of the lodge.

  Toby was sitting on the stone wall that topped the hill and edged the parking lot. His parents said they’d arrive around 9:30a.m. and it was twenty after nine. As much fun as he’d had, he missed them like crazy. He swung his feet impatiently, willing the time to move faster, but no dust trail appeared to announce another arrival.

  “Soon, huh?” Shelley boosted herself up onto the wall next to him. The rat-a-tat-tat of a woodpecker broke the silence and both of them searched the trees for the source.

  “There.” Toby pointed at the pine tree that towered above Drew and Jim’s cabin.

  Shelley focused on the trunk and finally saw a black and white shape with speckled wings, a small red patch visible on the back of his head. He rapped the trunk sharply, flitted up a couple of inches and rapped again.

  Toby turned back to the road, saw dust swirling up, and finally heard gravel crunching under tires. It could be anyone, but…yes, it was his dad’s car! He started to jump off the wall, then settled back, waiting until the car pulled up and his parents got out. He barely got off the wall in time to prevent being tipped over it backwards when his mom grabbed him into a hug. His dad hugged them both at the same time, and Toby didn’t think he could smile any bigger.

  “Are you past my chin now? How did you get taller in three weeks?” his mom exclaimed. Toby sucked in his breath and went up on his toes, bringing the top of his head up to her eye level. She laughed, pushing down on his shoulders. “It’s going to be so strange when you’re taller than me.”

  Toby was looking forward to it. Shelley, who was even shorter than Mrs. Parker, came up to stand beside Toby, measuring herself against him. “I’ve still got you beat.”

  “Not for long,” Toby retorted.

  ‘You got th
at right. Practically everybody’s taller than me.”

  She shook her head in mock regret and turned to Toby’s parents. “Good to see you again, Mark, Patty,” she said, nodding to each in turn. “You’ll be staying with me. We can take your bags over there now, give you a chance to get settled in.”

  Mr. Curran collected a suitcase from the trunk and they all followed after Shelley.

  Dara walked slowly beside Drew, retracing their route along the outskirts of the baseball field. She felt better, not quite so wound up, but still really nervous about her dad. What would he say? Would he be mean to her friends and would they hate her for it? They made their way up the hill and as the path curved, bringing the lodge into view, Dara spotted her parents standing by the arbor with Noreen. Her stomach plummeted to her shoes and her grip on Drew’s hand tightened convulsively.

  Drew followed her gaze and saw the people standing with Noreen. Dara obviously got her pale blonde hair from her mother and her height from her father. Instead of her easy grace, however, Drew noticed that her father’s stance was rigid, like he had a ruler up his…Well, let’s do this, he thought. He let go of Dara’s hand in case her dad would give her grief about it, but stuck by her side.

  “Mom. Dad.” She stopped before her mother and was folded into a soft embrace. She pulled back before her mother was ready to let go, and turned to her father.

  He put a hand on her shoulder and nodded to her. “Have you been practicing every day?”

  Drew inhaled quickly, but managed not to say any of the things that ran through his mind.

  “Yes, every day. It’s going good,” she answered. “Um, this is my friend, Drew. He and his sister are here from Idaho.”

  Mr. Sorensen turned his hard gaze on Drew. “Drew. You have a last name, Drew?”

  “Parker, sir,” Drew replied neutrally.

  “It’s so good to meet one of Dara’s new friends,” Mrs. Sorensen told him in her soft voice. “She’s told us about you and your sister. It sounds like you’ve had lots of fun here.”

  “Jean, let’s get back to the hotel,” Dara’s father broke in. “I want to set up my laptop and check in with Keebler.”

  Mrs. Sorensen smiled hesitantly. “I wanted to see you right away and let you know we’re here. We’ll be back in a bit, dear,” she said to Dara. “We’re having lunch with you and all the others.”

  Noreen stepped forward. “Yes, I think you’ll enjoy the lunch. The cooks went all out today, and then afterwards we have some activities planned that will give you an idea of what Dara’s been doing at camp.”

  The words chilled Dara, but her mother said she was looking forward to it. Her dad gave Noreen a perfunctory smile, nodded at Drew, patted Dara twice on the back, and got back into his rental car without another word.

  Dara watched them drive off, afraid to turn back and meet Noreen’s or Drew’s gaze. When the car had disappeared and she couldn’t put it off any longer, she turned around.

  “What have you been talking about, Dara?” Drew asked, his voice puzzled. “I got the warm fuzzies just being around your dad,” he claimed.

  Noreen gave a bark of laughter, throwing an arm around Dara’s shoulder and squeezing tight. “What did you notice about what just happened?” She looked at Dara’s profile.

  Dara leaned into the hug. Instead of clamming up, she gave it some thought. “Let’s see…he didn’t hug me, nothing different about that…he asked me about swimming, and didn’t say he missed me or hoped I’d had fun or anything like that…he was rude to Drew…he was rude to my mom…and she let him…and he was rude to you…I guess that about covers it. And my mom was sweet to me. She always is.” Dara shook her head slowly.

  “That’s pretty much what I noticed, too,” Noreen said. “Do you think there’s anything you can do to change your dad’s behavior?”

  Dara shook her head again. “No. I wish I could think of the right thing to say or do, but then I think there isn’t anything. He’s going to do what he’s going to do.”

  “I agree. I think your dad can change if he wants to and I don’t think you can change him. Let’s try a little experiment. You be your dad and I’ll be you, OK? Say something like your dad would say.”

  Dara pondered, and in a gruff voice, barked, “You’ll never make it to the Olympics with that kind of sloppy work!”

  Her imitation was so good it made Drew snort with laughter.

  Noreen’s brow puckered in worry. “I was trying really hard. I’m just tired from running track at school today, on top of swim practice.”

  “That’s no excuse. You think Olympic champions get that way by whining about how tired they are?” she scoffed, and at odds with the words she used, she felt a smile begin.

  “OK, I’ll try to do better, really I will,” Noreen said in a very small voice.

  “Just see that you do!” ordered Dara, frowning, before she broke into a grin. “Wow, I see what he’s doing!” she said excitedly.

  “Great. Now, let’s do it again, a little differently.” She lifted her chin at Dara cueing her to begin.

  “Oh…um, you’ll never make it to the Olympics with that kind of sloppy work!”

  “Yes, I’ll have to work really hard to make it to the Olympics.”

  “Oh, well…see that you do!”

  Noreen didn’t respond for a moment, then asked Dara, “Do you see the difference? You can get sucked into his game or you can play your own. You can let him ping-pong you around, or you can be your own paddle, and choose where you want to go with it.”

  Dara was thinking hard. “This is going to take some practice.”

  “Undoubtedly,” Noreen agreed. “Not getting sucked in to someone else’s “stuff” is a fantastic skill to perfect. And I know you can do it.”

  “Of course she can do it!” Drew stated emphatically.

  Dara felt a bubble of laughter inside and something akin to relief.

  It was just before lunchtime when Shelley called out to Ron. “The van’s here!”

  He came around the desk and peered out the window. “Is this the second group from the airport?”

  “Uh huh. Should be the twin’s parents, the Parker’s, and Jake’s mom.”

  Ron was eager to meet all of the parents, but especially Jake’s mother. He strode quickly out the door with Shelley, and they welcomed the new arrivals. The McConnells and the Parkers were bunking together in one of the empty cabins, and Shelley led them away to get situated before lunch. Mrs. Bridger, Jake’s mom, would be staying with Noreen.

  “How has Jake been?” she asked Ron anxiously. “He’s not very communicative over the phone, but it didn’t sound as if he’s been unhappy here.”

  “No. No, I don’t think he’s been unhappy, but you’ll have to see for yourself.” He grinned at her. “I enjoy your son very much. He’s bright and he has a great sense of humor.”

  She stared at him, wide-eyed, silent for a few moments. “I know that, but…well, lately, he hasn’t shown that side of himself to many people. If you got him to feel comfortable enough to do that…” she trailed off.

  “Oh, I don’t think we made it at all comfortable for him. But he’s faced down some things that were eating at him, in spite of not liking it one bit.” He looked at her straightly. “It takes courage to do that, especially for a thirteen-year old boy who was in a lot of pain when he arrived.”

  Jake’s mom sighed heavily. “I haven’t known what to do for him. I tried talking to him, loving him, tough love, nothing I did seemed to get through…and I know he was hurting.” She looked off down the hill briefly and turned back to face Ron. “His dad…” She folded her lips, searching for words.

  “Jake told me.”

  “He did?” she exclaimed, shocked.

  Ron nodded. “Wait until you read what he wrote in our Real World Magic class. He’s a special kid, a special person.”

  Her eyes filled with tears and she blinked them back, nodding her agreement, unable to reply.

/>   Ron touched her arm briefly and picked up her suitcase. “I’ll show you to Noreen’s cabin, Mrs. Bridger. She’ll be happy to have some company for a couple of days.”

  “Please, call me Lacy. And I appreciate Noreen’s willingness to share her cabin with me.”

  “Lacy Bridger,” Ron said, testing the sound of it. “Great name. And Jake Bridger sounds like the name of one of those guys in a romance novel.”

  She laughed. “Not intentionally. And how would you know that, anyway?” she teased as they walked across the lawn. “Unless your taste in books runs to romance novels?”

  Ron snorted. “My taste in literature is broad, but not that broad. No, I used to have a girlfriend who liked them and whenever I looked at a back cover, the guys all had names like “Colt” or “Raul”.

  “Raul?”

  “Raul.”

  She laughed again, trying to remember if she had ever read a romance book in which the hero’s name was Raul. She didn’t think so.

  They talked about books as they made their way to Noreen’s cabin, finding some shared tastes despite differing on romance novels. She was much less anxious by the time she got to the cabin, and very eager to see Jake and give him the biggest hug ever.

  Chapter 26

  Lunch and Beyond

  Jake was sandwiched between his mom and Jim. Nicky was on the other side of Jim, and across from them sat Corinne, her dad and little sister, and Toby and his parents. Jake slid a glance at his mom. She was talking with Toby’s parents about the tour of the camp the kids had given them. He had seen her unhappy so much of the time that he hardly recognized her beaming face. Every once in awhile, she’d touch him on the arm or shoulder and smile.