HOLLIS MCCALISTER SUMMER CAMP

by Keith McCloud

  “I am exhausted now that I think about it. I could eat also. I am still not happy about this pig shit bath. I just want to throw up now before I even smell it,” I say.

  “I don’t want you to be worried about that. We want you to relax and just hang out with us this evening before we all go to bed. Anita Kay is going to stay at the house with us along with Trevor. You and Trevor can share a room together, and Anita Kay will stay with me. We need you to be around us so you can get to know our habits also and we get to know yours. The more we know of each other, the more we can help each other. We will start doing some training together so we are prepared in case we do have to get into a fight with the Wasioux. When we are possibly in battle with them, we will know each one of our moves. Even Anita Kay knows how to fight in battle and you need to know her fitting style also. She learned like the rest us of, from fighting with the vampires when they used to bite us. We had to learn to fight them off us, or else they would have killed us like they did my dad. Thankfully we came up with donating our blood and the biting stopped. I hated those bite marks, and since we are not eighteen we were not in jeopardy of becoming a vampire. We have had to learn all this while we were trying to survive. Now they have changed and want us to be their friends. Basically, they love us for our blood. You might think this is a terrible life, but it is so much better than the way we’re living. You just do not know that fear we had to live with. It gave us daily stress. I mean all of us had daily stress,” Stella says.

  “I can’t wait to watch Anita Kay do some fighting. I can’t wait to see her throw the knives or shoot the crossbow. It’s all going to be very, very interesting,” I say.

  “Well, let’s go into the house and get ready to eat and then we will hang out for just a little while and then it’s time we go to bed. We will have another day tomorrow of training,” Stella says.

  Whoever has stuff in the training room picks it up and then I go over to Max and then we all go out of the door and into the main house. The house is attached to the training room. It might have been something else at one time, but it is a pretty cool training room. I can’t wait to see the outdoor training room tomorrow. If it’s anything like the training room inside, it’s going to be pretty good. We walk into the kitchen area.

  “Hey, you guys look tired. Training does take a lot out of you mentally and physically. That means you guys should be starved. I have made a very good dinner today. Go wash up and then let’s eat,” Stella’s mom says.

  “Thank you, Mom, for cooking us dinner tonight. We will all go and wash up and then come back and join you at the dinner table,” Stella says.

  “Okay, but please don’t be long: we don’t want the food getting cold,” Stella’s mom says.

  We all walk towards the bedrooms and the bathrooms. I walk into the bedroom first because I want to put on a different shirt. I feel that I sweat a little in my shirt. I am glad Trevor is letting me wear some of his clothes since I really didn’t pack any clothes in my backpack. I only picked up a couple shirts and shoved them in there. I pull them out and they are very wrinkled. So I will wear one of Trevor’s blue tee shirts. Trevor then walks in and decides he needs to change shirts also. I then leave the room and go into the bathroom. I decide to use the bathroom first and then I get the soap and wash my hands along with my face. Then I return to the kitchen. The rest soon come into the kitchen and then we all sit down to eat.

  Wow, there is again a lot of food. It smells so good. There is fried chicken, rice, corn, cornbread, mash potatoes and so much more. My, it’s like a Thanksgiving dinner feast. The only thing missing is the turkey and stuffing. I am looking around at everyone else and they seem like they see this big of a dinner all the time. I am just surprised by all this food. Just seems strange to have all this food all the time in this village. At home we don’t have all this food at dinner. I am not complaining because I think I could eat all of this food by myself. There is silence at the table at first while we start eating. I finally break the silence and start to talk. “The food is most excellent and very appreciative. Thank you for this food and all your time in making it,” I say to Stella’s mom. “You’re very welcome, Hollis,” she says.

  “Also, I do appreciate you guys taking me in and letting me stay here and making me feel part of the family. Also I can’t thank you guys enough for saving Max and me from the wereboons. If you hadn’t saved us we wouldn’t be here right now, and if you hadn’t taken us in we would be probably captured right now with Cody. Then they would have two of us with the rarest blood and that would mean more vampires would become immortal,” I say.

  “That’s why we are not going to let that happen. They will not capture you. Also we need you. You have to help us get Cody out of there alive and with no bite marks on him. With your smarts and our knowledge of the Wasioux we can do this,” Stella says.

  “Yes, she is right, Hollis, we need you as much as you need us. I am a person who always says things are meant to be, and it was meant to be that you were in that cave and that we heard all the wereboons making all that noise and we found you. We need each other and now you are part of our family,” Trevor says.

  “I agree, Hollis. After spending the afternoon talking with you and getting to know you, you are a perfect fit for our family. I know that you say people call you a nerd, but you are far from that, you are very smart and you’re a person who likes to read everyone’s behavior before you make your move. Meaning you are not one who just speaks first or does something first, because you want to study all the situations first along with studying the behaviors of the people you are with. It is a great trait to have and a great trait for us. When you get into the Wasioux village you are going to be able to read them and watch their behaviors and then let us know who is lying to us. We are around them a lot and we might have missed things because of the fact that we are around them all the time. When you are with people all the time you get so used to them and then you start not being able to see their behaviors because they become common to you. We need you for that and of course for more things, but reading behaviors is rated really high on our list,” Anita Kay says.

  “Wow, you guys are saying such nice things to me and I am not used to it. I am the person who sits in a corner and nobody sees, or should I say they do not come over and speak to me. I am unnoticed. Thank you so much for making me feel noticed,” I say.

  “Mom, why don’t we do the dishes and you go sit and relax. We can take care of it. You cooked it all for us, so now it’s your time to rest,” Stella says.

  We all agree and Stella’s mom leaves the room and we get up and then wash all the dishes and clean up the kitchen. We all go in the living room for a moment. “We should probably all get ready and go to bed now: we have another full day tomorrow of training and planning,” Stella says.

  “Goodnight to everyone,” I say.

  “Let’s hope I can get some sleep tonight: I hear Hollis snores pretty loud. So I guess I am getting ready to find out,” Trevor says.

  “Ha, who said that? That’s not true,” I reply.

  “Not sure where you would have heard that from,” Stella says.

  Then we all go to our rooms: Stella and Anita Kay, and then Trevor and myself. Luckily the rooms have two beds in them. They have them like that since they always have family stay over.

  “Hey, you can go into the bathroom first and wash up and then I will go after you,” Trevor says.

  “Okay, sounds good to me,” I say.

  I then head to the bathroom. Just like the bedrooms being big, they also have a few bathrooms in the house. Back to the room I go.

  “Okay, it’s your time. Max, you sleep in the bed ith me,” I say.

  Then Trevor leaves for the bathroom and Max jumps up into the bed. She wants me to pet her, so of course I do. Then Trevor comes back into the room and turns the lights off in the room.

  “Goodnight, Hollis, you did great today. Even throwing the knives you did great,” Trevor says.

 
“Thank you very much. I will keep trying to perfect it. Goodnight to you also,” I say.

  * * *

  CHAPTER 16: STILL TRAINING

  * * *

  I feel something wet on my face and again and again, I open my eyes and there is Max licking me in my face. I pet her on her head and look over at Trevor and he is awake staring at us.

  “Good morning, Trevor and Max. Max, thanks for waking me up. You probably want to go outside, don’t you?” I ask.

  “Good morning. She has already gone outside. Stella walked by and got her and let her out and then she brought her back and then Max jumped back up in the bed with you. She really likes you: she came right back to the bedroom and jumped up in the bed and never even acknowledged I was even here. Now she wants you to get up out of the bed and get the day started. So I guess we better get up. Today is another full day of fun-filled training,” Trevor says.

  “Yes, training, but first we get to eat and they have the best breakfast spread here. I better go to the bathroom first and get ready for the day, unless you would like to go to the bathroom first. I can wait. Do you want to use it first?” I ask.

  “No, you can go ahead and get into the bathroom first and then I will go to the bathroom after you. You don’t need to take a shower yet because you will want to take a shower after you get to bathe in the pig shit. You will need a shower for sure. You probably will want to take four or five showers after that,” Trevor says.

  “Oh I haven’t forgotten about the pig shit bath. I worried about it all throughout the night. It’s not a fun thing to think about. It actually makes me want to throw up right now thinking about it. I am not going to lie; I was hoping you guys would have forgotten about it. I can see no such luck on that. For now I am not going to stress about it and go wash up for breakfast and then I am going to go and eat some great food,” I say and I get my clothes and leave for the bathroom. Max follows right behind me and goes into the bathroom with me. I wash up and then take my bedclothes back into the room.

  “Hey, I am done in the bathroom now and you can have it. I will wait for you here and then we can go to the kitchen at the same time if that’s okay with you,” I ask.

  “Of course that is okay with me. I won’t be very long in the bathroom,” Trevor says.

  “Alright then, thanks,” I say. I then sit down on the bed with Max and I pet her while we wait on Trevor to come back.

  “Okay, I am ready. Let’s go get some food.” Trevor says. We then walk down the hall and into the kitchen. I need to wash my hands again since I have been petting Max.

  “Good morning, everyone,” I say. Stella, her mom and Anita Kay say good morning back.

  “Okay, get a plate and the food starts over there on the counter and goes all the way down the counter,” Stella’s mom says. I look over at the counter and wow, once again the counter is full with food. Where do they get all this food? It’s just crazy. I know they said they feed others in the village also. It makes me feel like I am at one of those all-you-can-eat buffet places. It’s just so much food. We all get our plates and go down the food line and fill up our plates. Even Max’s bowl has a lot of food in it. It’s funny: they might not like to have hardly any electricity, but man, they like to have lots of food. Again it’s quiet time. We all have our mouths full.

  “Hey, once we are done eating then we will do the dishes really fast and then we will head to the training room,” Stella says.

  We all finish eating and then we get up and clear the tables and do all the dishes. Then Stella’s mom packs up all the food and goes out the door with it. She takes it over to the village community center and then everyone has breakfast. Some other people in the village bring things also. Very great community here. It’s too bad they always have to live worrying about vampires possibly killing them once a month during the full moon, or becoming immortal and killing them on the double full moon and every day after that.

  “I am ready to go and get started training. What are the training plans for today?” I ask. “We will start with the weapons, and then combat training and then finish with some mental training. So let’s head to the outside training room,” Stella says.

  We then head to the indoor training room and then we go through a door to take us outside. Wow, look at this training area. It is big and has targets everywhere and a big like boxing ring. As I look around the area I am in awe. Wait a minute. I see over in the corner a big tub filled with something that looks very nasty. That must be the tub filled with pig shit. Man, they are not going to forget that. Let’s hope they don’t see it and we can get started with using the weapons.

  “Okay, let’s get started with the weapons training,” I say.

  “We’ll, before we get started with weapons training we need you to take a bath in the pig shit. The tub filled with it is right over there. We need to get this done before you cut yourself and the Wasioux smell that special blood that you have. All you have to do is get into the tub and spread it all over yourself and then we will be all set,” Trevor says.

  “Man, I thought you guys would have forgotten about the pig shit tub,” I say.

  “Now how could we have forgotten about that? We want to make sure you are safe and that we are safe. So the pig shit bath is the way we can make sure that does not happen,” Trevor says.

  “So come on over here, Hollis, so we can get your first bath underway. We have to see what your reaction will be once you get into the tub,” Stella says.

  “I am not dressed to get into that tub right now,” I say.

  “Oh that might help. I have some swim trunks you can put on. Let’s go get them and you can change. We will be right back,” Trevor says. Then Trevor grabs me by the arm and we start walking back into the first training room.

  “Of course you are going to have a bathing suit here at Stella’s house. You are all prepared for this and you are probably loving it. I know you love every minute of this. I bet you also love it when you guys had Cody taking a bath in the pig shit,” I say to Trevor.

  “What? What are you talking about? I am not enjoying this. I don’t want to smell the pig shit, and I especially don’t want to smell the pig shit on you. I am the one who’s going to be hanging out with you all the time, so I am the one who gets to continue to smell it,” Trevor says. Then we walk into the house and then into the bedroom.

  “Here you go, these should fit you pretty good. You’re only bathing in them so they don’t need to look great. I will probably be throwing them out afterwards anyway. I am sure the smell will never come out of them. Heck, I couldn’t tell you where the ones that Cody wore are. Maybe he threw them out, or Stella did after he got captured. Hurry up and change so we can go back,” Trevor says.

  I grab the bathing suit and then I go to the bathroom and change into it. Then I go back into the room and say, “Okay, I am all changed and ready to go and get this over with.”

  “Alright then, let’s go. The bathing suit okay?” Trevor asks.

  “Yes it’s fine. Like you said, I am only taking a pig shit bath in it.”

  “Well, I didn’t say it like that, but you are close,” Trevor says and we both laugh. We then walk back out to the training room and then back to the outside training area.

  “I thought maybe Hollis had run out and taken off back to his camp and said forget it,” Stella says.

  “No, he wouldn’t do that. He wants to save Cody and he likes us so he’s not bailing on us now. He is in it for the long haul,” Trevor says.

  “Okay, Hollis, we have a mask you might want to put on for the smell. Also you are not dunking your head under the water. We do not want to get that into your eyes, or your mouth, or even get that stuff into your ears. That would not be good. We have other stuff for your head. So please do not love it a lot and decide to fully bathe in it. They do say it’s good for your skin,” Anita Kay says. And they all laugh. I look at them like they are all crazy. I then pick up the little mask that goes around your lips and nose. It’s actually
a mask you would use to paint a house or something with. The tub is an old big washtub that you would see in our history books, or from a western movie and maybe John Wayne taking a bath in it, or Clint Eastwood. It is filled up with nasty-looking stuff and it smells horrible. I can see why Cody threw up.

  “Okay, Hollis you ready to get in?” Stella asks.

  “Yes, I am ready for my first pig shit bath,” I reply.

  “Okay then, get in. I think the faster you get in, the better it will be for you. It’s like if you are jumping in cold water and you just jump in and get the shock over with,” Trevor says.

  Right next to me is Max, and she is growling and barking at me. Not sure why. It’s like, though, she is telling me not to get in. Kind of like she is trying to stop me.

  “Max, come over here. You don’t want to get that on you,” Anita Kay says.

  Max and I look over at Anita Kay and I swear it was like Max gave her a dirty look. I then put my first leg into the tub. The tub of water has all kinds of stuff floating in it. It is dark-looking sewer water. It smells horrific. I just cannot describe how bad it smells. I then put my second leg into the tub. I am now standing in the tub full of shit, and now all I need to do is sit down. I swear I think that I can hear Anita Kay, Stella and Trevor snickering, but that could just be me thinking I am hearing things because I am nervous. Come on, I am telling myself, you can do this. You can just sit down, you can do this. I then just sit down. The smell is so bad that I am gagging. The tub is so big the water comes all the way up to my shoulders. It is so nasty. I then reach over the tub and hang my head and start throwing up some. It is so nasty. I hear Trevor say, “Dude, you okay?” Then I hear Anita Kay say, “We should get him out of there” and then while I am gagging I hear Stella say with like a laugh in her voice, “You can get out now, you have been in there long enough.”