Piper Reed, Campfire Girl

by Kimberly Willis Holt

  “Can I be your pwince?”

  Sam put her finger to her chin. “I’ll have to think about it.”

  “Just tell him yes,” I said. “Yes, he can be your prince.”

  “I told him I’d think about it, didn’t I?” Sam marched into the house.

  I started to follow her, then I turned and told Brady, “You’re going to make a great prince.”

  Inside the house, Sam picked up the container of fish flakes. She stood on her tiptoes as she sprinkled flakes into her goldfish Peaches the Second’s bowl.

  I couldn’t believe how snotty she was about Brady wanting to be her prince for Halloween.

  Sam put the container down with a thump. “I’m thinking about it.”

  Bruna came over and stared up at me with a look that told me she wanted to go outside. I grabbed her leash and took her for a walk.

  We left our street and headed for the base park. Two weeks until Halloween and I still hadn’t figured out my costume. All I knew was that I wanted to be something different. Something no one would think of in a million years. Whenever I thought really hard about something, I entered a dreamlike world. Mom did that, too. Once she forgot and left the car running in the garage for two hours. Chief said we were lucky the house didn’t blow up.

  What could I be for Halloween? A witch? Nah, too ordinary. A Blue Angel pilot? I’d need a real uniform. I kept thinking of the possibilities.

  And that’s how it happened.

  That’s how I walked smack into Stanley Hampshire like he was nothing but air. He fell flat on his back.

  I looked down. “Stanley?”

  He looked up. “That sure is a cute dog you have. I always wanted a dog, but my dad says I can’t have one because I’d forget to feed it, but I’m certain I wouldn’t. Although I did forget to eat breakfast once. But I was starving by the time lunch came around and I’ve never forgotten to eat a—”

  “Stanley, why don’t you shut up—I mean get up?” I held out my hand to him.

  Bruna licked his knobby knees. “Stanley, I have to get home. My mom doesn’t know where I am.” That wasn’t a lie. I’d forgotten to tell her. I dashed away, but Stanley hollered, “Hey, when’s the next Gypsy Club meeting?”

  I could have pretended not to have heard. Instead I hollered, “Saturday at my house.”

  “What’s your address?” he asked.

  And then I told him. Great! Now Stanley Hampshire knew where I lived.

  3

  THE BIG SURPRISE

  Mom was on a health-food kick. That night she fixed tofu stir-fry. Last week we had steamed fish and vegetables and eggplant lasagna with fake cheese.

  It was my turn to set the table. While I tried to remember which side of the plate to place the napkins, I heard Mom on the phone with Chief. Before she hung up, she said, “That’s a wonderful idea, Karl. The girls will love it.”

  What were we going to love? A trip to Disney? Paris? Maybe we were going to get a house with four bedrooms. Then I wouldn’t have to share a room with Sam anymore. Or maybe we were going to a haunted house for Halloween. Before or after trick-or-treating, of course.

  After Chief came home, we sat for dinner. I could hardly eat because I was so excited. I looked down at my plate and stirred the slices of rubbery tofu into the cabbage, celery, and bean sprouts.

  Finally Chief said, “Girls—”

  I dropped my chopsticks. “He’s got something exciting to tell us,” I blurted.

  Chief glanced toward Mom, “Did you already tell them, Edie?”

  “No,” she said, looking confused.

  “We’re going camping,” he announced.

  “Uncle Leo is letting us borrow his Airstream,” Mom added.

  “Get off the bus!” I hollered. I stared down at my plate. “I’m so excited, I can’t eat another bite.”

  Mom’s left eyebrow shot up.

  “But it’s delicious,” I quickly added.

  Tori wrinkled her nose. “Camping? Do you mean, like, in the great outdoors?”

  “Is there any other kind of camping?” I asked. Tori’s idea for camping was sitting by the pool with a bag of chocolate-dipped Oreos.

  “I can’t wait!” Sam said. “I’ve never been camping before.”

  “You can’t wear your crown,” I told her. Sam used to wear her crown everywhere until she got teased at school when we moved to Pensacola.

  Sam lowered her eyebrows, frowning. “I wouldn’t wear my crown camping.”

  I’d never camped either. Sleeping on Grandma and Grandpa Reed’s screened porch was the closest I’d been to camping. I didn’t know I wanted to go so badly until Chief mentioned it.

  “When are we going?” I asked him.

  “In two weeks. Y’all have a three-day break. It will be perfect. There’s a park a few hours away in Alabama. Hopefully it will be a little cooler by then.”

  Two weeks from now? Why did that sound familiar?

  Sam’s eyes grew wide. “But two weeks from now is Halloween.”

  Bingo!

  Tears welled up in Sam’s eyes. “We can’t miss Halloween.”

  “Girls,” Chief said, “there will be other Halloweens. This is a chance to go fishing and sit around a campfire. Breathe some fresh air.”

  “But there’s only one Halloween a year,” I told him. “Can’t we go another time?”

  Tori sighed.

  Chief’s shoulders lowered and he sighed. He reminded me of a balloon losing air. “Girls, if I’d known you’d feel this way I wouldn’t have gone through so much trouble. Now it’s too late to back out.”

  “Why is it too late?” I asked.

  “I’ve already paid a deposit on the campsite. Plus I’ve arranged to meet your uncle halfway for the trailer.”

  “But we can’t miss trick-or-treating,” Sam said. “We’ll miss the candy.”

  “We’ll buy some candy and take it camping,” Mom said.

  “It’s not the same,” I told her. “Plus, we’d have to hide it from Tori.”

  Tori narrowed her eyes at me, and Mom started to speak, but I beat her to it. “Sorry.”

  Mom put down her fork and leaned over her plate. “There are going to be other kids there.”

  “Who?” Tori asked.

  “Nicole and Michael’s family, and Isabel and Abe.”

  “Is Brady getting to stay and go trick-or-treating?” Sam asked.

  “Brady is going camping,” Mom said. “Isabel and Abe wouldn’t leave him behind.”

  Sam sighed. “Brady will cry. He was going to be my prince.”

  I looked at her.

  Sam glared back. “I said I would think about it.”

  “Great,” Tori said. “A bunch of little kids and no one for me.”

  “I’d let you invite a friend, Tori,” Mom said, “but we’ll barely have enough room as it is. Uncle Leo’s Airstream sleeps four comfortably. And there’s five of us.”

  “How about Bruna?” I asked.

  “Well,” Chief said, “we thought about boarding her at the kennel. That way we wouldn’t have to worry about her.”

  “I’ll watch her,” I said. I didn’t want Bruna to go to the kennel.

  “I’ll help,” Tori said. “Since I can’t take any friends.”

  “Do you girls know what a responsibility that will be?” Chief asked. “There’s a leash policy so you can’t let her roam loose.”

  “No problem,” I said. I glanced at Tori.

  “We’ll take shifts,” Tori said.

  Chief nodded. “Okay. If you’re both fine with that, I’ll make a schedule list.”

  “How about Peaches the Second?” Sam asked.

  “Peaches will be fine,” said Mom. “She’s a goldfish. We’ll feed her a little extra before we leave.”

  Sam folded her arms across her chest. “That’s not fair. Bruna can go camping, but not Peaches the Second. Just because she’s a fish?”

  Mom sighed and gazed at Chief across the table. “Who would have
thought camping would be so complicated?” Then she turned her focus to Sam. “How about if I ask Mr. Sanchez at the pet store? He probably wouldn’t mind one more fish.”

  Sam nodded. “Okay, if I have to go camping and miss trick-or-treating.”

  I should’ve been excited, but I wasn’t. Even though part of the Gypsy Club would be there, I didn’t want to miss trick-or-treating. And besides, the way Tori talked, I had only a few Halloweens left. The Gypsy Club had a new mission for the next meeting. We had to figure out a way to change our parents’ mind about ruining Halloween.

  Saturday, Stanley showed up two hours early for the Gypsy Club meeting. Mom and Chief liked to sleep late on Saturdays, so Mom wasn’t so happy when Stanley rang the doorbell at eight o’clock in the morning.

  The doorbell woke me, too. I slipped on my robe and walked into the living room. Leaning against the doorway, Mom listened to Stanley tell his story. “And then we moved to Norfolk, Virginia, where I learned to ride a bike and …”

  When Mom noticed me, she muffled a yawn and motioned me over. “Piper, Stanley is here for the meeting.”

  “Stanley,” I said, “it doesn’t start until ten o’clock.”

  “Simon says it’s better to be early than late.”

  I was really beginning to dislike this Simon and I hadn’t even met him.

  Mom rubbed her eyes. “Stanley, why don’t you wait in the living room while Piper changes her clothes. Have you eaten breakfast?”

  “I had a Pop-Tart, but I could always eat.”

  “Why don’t you stay? Piper’s dad makes the best pancakes.”

  “Well, if you insist …”

  Great! I was stuck with Stanley for two whole hours before the rest of the club arrived. At breakfast I listened to his life story again as he repeated the saga for my family. Tori kept her nose stuck in a poetry book the entire time that he talked. But Sam was fascinated.

  “Did you ever live in England?” she wanted to know.

  “No, but I’ve been to the Heathrow Airport,” Stanley told her. Then he told her how he’d eaten sushi there, the kind that floated on little boats around the sushi bar.

  Sam blinked. “Did you see any of the royal family at the airport?”

  “No,” Stanley said.

  “Oh,” Sam sounded disappointed. “Are you going trick-or-treating?”

  Then Stanley said the worst thing he could have said. “Michael asked me to go on a camping trip.”

  Finally 10:00 arrived. We met in the new club tent in our backyard. We recited the Gypsy Club creed.

  We are the Gypsies of land and sea.

  We move from port to port.

  We make friends everywhere we go.

  And everywhere we go, we let people know

  That we’re the Gypsies of land and sea.

  “Everyone in favor of starting the meeting?” I asked.

  “Aye!”

  “Any nays?”

  Silence.

  Then Stanley spoke. “I just wanted to say I’m very honored to be a part of the Gypsy Club. I prom—”

  “Stanley,” I said, “I’m sorry to cut you off, but we have to start our meeting now.”

  He looked down at the grass and pushed at his glasses.

  “We’re glad to have you, Stanley,” I said. “Now about this camping trip. All in favor of trying to convince our parents that another weekend would be better?” I said, “Aye!”

  Hailey said, “Aye!”

  Nicole said, “Aye!”

  Michael said, “Aye!”

  Stanley didn’t say anything.

  I couldn’t believe what was happening. I slowly asked, “Any nays?”

  Stanley pointed his arm toward the ceiling. “Nay.”

  “What?” we all asked.

  “I want to go camping. I’ve only been once. With the Boy Scouts. And I wasn’t very good at it then. I wanted to earn that campfire badge, but I didn’t.”

  “Stanley,” I told him, “we don’t earn badges in the Gypsy Club.”

  “Maybe you should,” he said. “We could have special shirts and as we earn badges we could have them sewn on the collars. Then when people asked about them we could tell them how we earned them. We could make it challenging to earn them, but not too hard. We could …”

  I stared out the window as he went on and on. My head pounded. My stomach felt queasy. Stanley Hampshire was ruining my life.

  4

  RENDEZVOUS IN YAZOO

  We were going camping. Halloween wouldn’t happen this year. Sam pouted, but it didn’t change Chief’s mind. Yolanda told Mom that Brady cried when he found out he would miss out on his very first trick-or-treating.

  A few nights after Chief’s announcement, Sam and I lay in our beds, wide awake. Sam said, “I wonder what will happen when kids come to our door and no one answers.”

  That wasn’t hard to figure out. I told her, “They’ll turn around, leave, and go to the next house.”

  “But Brady’s family isn’t going to be home either.”

  I sighed. “Then they’ll turn around, leave, and go to the next house.”

  “But—”

  “Sam, I’m trying to sleep.”

  But I couldn’t sleep. My mind was on Halloween, too. One of my friends in San Diego said they’d moved during Halloween. Since they were staying at a hotel, their mom let them dress up in their costumes and go to the mall. The awesome surprise was that all the stores gave out candy. So they trick-or-treated store-to-store. Turned out, Halloween happened after all. That’s when it came to me—my big idea.

  The next day I called for an emergency Gypsy Club meeting at recess. After we gathered, Stanley opened his mouth as if a ton of words were going to tumble out. I held up my hand to stop his words.

  Stanley shut his mouth.

  I felt like Superman stopping bullets.

  “I have an idea,” I told them. “If we can’t stay home and trick-or-treat, who says that we can’t celebrate Halloween while we camp?”

  Silence.

  The entire Gypsy Club stared at me as if I’d said something stupid. Then all together they yelled, “Get off the bus!”

  At home, everyone made lists. Well, everyone but Mom. She hated lists, especially since Chief tried to make lists for her.

  Chief’s List

  1. Lanterns

  2. Bug repellent

  3. Tackle box

  4. Rods and reels

  5. Bait

  6. Pop-up chairs

  7. Charcoal

  8. Lighter fluid and matches

  Tori’s List

  1. Journal

  2. Notebooks

  3. Book of poems by Ted Kooser

  4. Sunglasses

  Sam’s List

  1. Crown

  2. Costume

  3. Magic wand

  My List

  1. Candy

  2. Sheets for ghosts

  3. Pumpkins

  4. Apples

  5. Masks

  I still wasn’t sure what I was going to be for Halloween, but I decided I’d make it when I got to the campgrounds. So I added to my list:

  6. Scissors

  7. Paints

  8. Muslin

  9. Needle

  10. Thread

  Then I thought about Bruna. She needed treats. Not just any treats—her favorite treats.

  11. Liver Lumps

  The plan was to drive in our van and meet Uncle Leo at the halfway point in Yazoo, Alabama, while everyone else headed to the campgrounds. Uncle Leo would meet us with the trailer at 0900 hours in the post office parking lot. After we hitched the trailer to our van, we’d take off and meet up with everyone else at the campgrounds in time for lunch.

  All the families met at dawn at the base entrance so that we could caravan to Yazoo. Hailey and Stanley were with Michael and Nicole because they had a huge camping trailer that slept six. Brady’s family took a pop-up tent that they’d rented for the weekend.

  Tori and Sam doz
ed, but I was wide awake. I sat in the back seat by myself. Michael’s family’s RV was behind us, and since Michael was sitting in the front seat with his dad, I turned around and stuck out my tongue.

  Then Michael crossed his eyes and touched his nose with his tongue. I still hadn’t learned to do that. Michael was the Freaky Face Champion.

  The first hour on the road flew by, but even making freaky faces gets boring. Not to mention my tongue became sore.

  When we arrived at Yazoo, we waved good-bye to everyone else. Then we pulled into the post office parking lot. No Uncle Leo.

  “Oh, dear,” Mom said. “I was afraid of this.”

  “There are five minutes until 0900, Edie,” Chief said. “Give him a chance.”

  Mom sighed. “We’re talking about Leo. Remember, he has a terrible sense of direction.”

  “Why doesn’t he use a GPS?” I asked.

  Mom shook her head. “Piper, Uncle Leo wouldn’t know how to program a GPS.”

  “What do you expect?” Tori said. “He’s the absent-minded professor.”

  “I’ve never been absent,” Sam said.

  “Yes, you have,” I told her. “Remember when we moved from San Diego last year? You missed a week of school.”

  “Well, I haven’t been absent this year.”

  “It’s only October. You might get some terrible disease like the creepy crawly disease.”

  “What’s the creepy crawly disease?” she asked.

  “You can only catch it around Halloween time,” I told her.

  To my surprise, Tori joined in. “Yes, that’s right. You break out in pink spots all over your body.”

  “Well, I don’t plan to get it,” Sam said. “I’m going to be very careful and wash my hands a hundred times a day with soap.”

  “Good luck!” I told her.

  Tori winked at me. “Yep. Good luck.”

  While we waited, I counted all the blue cars passing by.