The Fossegrimen Folly

by Michael Almich

  "Kind of."

  "Look, these creatures are serious business, but I can tell you are a smart, brave boy at heart. Trust yourself, believe in yourself, and you will make the right decisions. Things will work out the way they should."

  "OK."

  Shy closed his eyes, but it was a long time before he drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Five:

  "He’s just a bully…"

  The next three days passed uneventfully for the boys. Outside it was beautiful Northern Minnesota summer weather, hot during the day and cool at night. They practiced their events during the day, and occasionally Tad took them on some hikes around the camp. He showed them the way to the Lake cabins, Shore cabins, and even the Cave cabins. At each group of cabins except the Cave cabins, they met the counselor. Tad introduced them briefly, made some small talk with the counselor, and then they were off to the next. When they reached the Cave cabin territory, Tad turned and told them they would not be meeting the counselor, and only went on to warn them to stay away from this group of cabins.

  ***

  The morning of the stargazing party at the breakfast announcements, Clancy promised them s'mores, sodas, and popcorn over the fire at the evening's events. The party would be held on the beach, and since the meteor shower was to take place towards the eastern horizon, they should see the stars falling over Lake Superior.

  Anticipation was high. To pass the time, Tad led the boys in a game of tag-in-the-trees in the late afternoon before they headed down to the shore. Tag-in-the-trees combined hide-and-seek skills with capture the flag, and took place in the maze of walkways in and around their forest canopy cabins. Shy was elated as his team of Ralph, Daniel, and Sawyer defeated Sam, Henry, Finn, and Tad.

  Shy decided he had quite a knack for the game. After most of his tactics and plans worked, the other three began to defer to him, and look to him for the plan. Shy remembered reading about how Genghis Kahn had once retreated deeply with his main force, which caused his opponents to rush in after them. The opponent's line stretched and became spread out as it pursued the retreating force. Little did they know that Kahn had hidden his flanks alongside the retreat route. As the opponents force became stretched out and weakened, Kahn’s hidden forces attacked from the sides and crushed their enemy. Shy tried a version of that, and they were able to draw the other team away from their flag and capture it. Daniel came up and told Shy what a good plan it was.

  After all the running, yelling and chasing, they boys were ready for some sugary soda. They zipped down to the Lodge and then were going down to the beach. The lodge had a huge front porch, with log columns, and boulder bricking for the footings. In front of that grand porch lay the vast courtyard where they had been sorted into cabins on the first day.

  Paths led off in several directions from the courtyard, identified by wooden signs in the shape of an arrow. Names were carved into the signs. The boys flowed through the courtyard as a group and followed the sign that read: Gitchi Gummee.

  Shy thought back to what his father had told him about the lake. He had said that it was the largest freshwater lake in the world. He also told Shy that the Ojibwe Indians had called the lake "Gichigami," which meant "big water." The name had been changed by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and later by others to the more Americanized, Gitchi Gummee. There was even a song that lamented the sinking of a ship on the powerful lake. Shy felt the pangs of missing his dad as he pictured him singing in his goofy sing-song voice:

  "The legend lives on from the Chippewa on down

  of the big lake they called "Gitche Gumee.

  The lake, it is said, never gives up her dead

  when the skies of November turn gloomy.

  With a load of iron ore twenty-six thousand tons more

  than the Edmund Fitzgerald weighed empty,

  that good ship and true was a bone to be chewed

  when the ‘Gales of November’ came early."

  As they moved toward the lake, they could hear a jumble of voices ahead, muted by the crashing of the big lake’s waves. As they hiked, the voices grew louder and clearer. Soon they emerged from the wooded path onto large exposed rock shelf above the water. The boys excitedly spread out and each chose a different path to climb down from the rocks onto the pebbled shoreline. There was a huge boulder fire ring, surrounded by rows of pine half-log benches. The bonfire rose ten feet into the air. When they reached the beach, they saw an amazing spread of food, which even included corn on the cob! The boys quickly picked a picnic table and tucked in, while Tad gathered with Clancy and the other counselors. The Shore and the Lake cabins' girls were there already, and as the boys made their way back to their table balancing their loaded paper plates, the girls stared and whispered at the mounded food. Claire simply looked at Shy and shook her head. Shy, feeling confident this night, smiled back at her with his most charming smile. He also smiled cheekily at the girl in the long blond curls. The boys were all laughing and joking as they reached their table, Shy could almost feel the magic in the air.

  Just then, the Cave cabin boys arrived on the rocks above. Insults and pebbles alike rained down from the rock shelf as they clambered down onto the beach. Upon reaching the beach they surveyed the scene, and with Crutch in the lead, chose a route to the food that would take them right past Shy and his friends. Shy watched them approach out of the corner of his eyes. Sampson and Daniel had already noticed their approach and were whispering to Finn and Sawyer. Shy went back to his food and attempted to ignore the bullies. That, however, proved impossible as they stopped directly behind Shy in a semi-circle. Shy looked straight ahead and could see Claire watching the developing situation from her table.

  Crutch walked up behind Shy and snarled," You gonna eat that," and grabbed Shy’s corn on the cob. He then proceeded to munch on the corn as noisily and messily as possible.

  Daniel, Sam, and Sawyer had jumped up by now. Shy took a breath and stood up slowly and turned around.

  "What is your problem Crutch? Just leave us alone. Just leave me alone. I have never done anything to you"

  "Sure you have, you butt… You came to this camp."

  "I didn’t have a choice"

  "You should’ve stayed at your crappy ol' farmhouse. Here… I don’t want anymore." Crutch shoved the now half-eaten cob into Shy’s shirt, and then let it drop. The Cave boys moved off to the food line. Shy turned, embarrassed, and sat down.

  "Why does he hate you so much?" Ralph asked.

  "Why is he such a jerk?" Henry said immediately.

  Shy shrugged. "He’s just a bully…" Shy now locked eyes with Claire and was embarrassed again by the sympathetic look in her face. He plastered his eyes onto his food and tried to eat. He didn’t look up again until his friends had finished their meals and everyone was starting to drift over to the bonfire.

  The different groups of cabins were beginning to break apart as both boys and girls scrambled up and down the pebbled beach in search of driftwood to toss into the raging fire. Shy felt completely deflated. All of his excitement was gone, taken by Crutch. He couldn't bring himself to join the others. This is the first time everyone has hung out without being in our cabin groups, Shy thought as he sat by himself on a log bench.

  As night drew down upon the beach, eyes began were drawn to the eastern sky, looking for the meteor shower. Sawyer and Finn continued to grow the fire with driftwood, but everyone else was lingering around Clancy and the counselors, hoping to catch a glimpse of the meteors.

  Shy continued to sit on the bench, but soon began to feel like someone, or something had joined him. He couldn’t put his finger on what made him feel that way. Possibly it was the goosebumps that ran up his right arm, or maybe just the overall creepy feeling that made him look to his right repeatedly. When he stared straight ahead, at the group gathered on the beach, he swore he could see a small figure hunched on the bench next to him, but when he would look, there was nothing there. Shy looked forward again, and out of the corner of his eye, he
swore it was Tom T that he was seeing next to him on the bench. On a whim, Shy unwrapped the thick piece of cornbread that he was planning to bring back to the cabins. He set it on the bench next to him and slid it over next to the figure he thought he was seeing. Then he looked toward the east again, but he would occasionally let his eyes stray back to the cornbread.

  Sure enough, he soon saw an arm appear out of the air, and bites of the cornbread quickly disappeared. Shy smiled, but otherwise pretended not to notice. After the bread was gone, Shy again shifted his focus back to the group on the beach. Meteor streaks began to flash in the night sky. Bright silver white lines would appear and then fade. Shy was amazed; he had never seen anything like it before. Once his mom had pointed out a shooting star, and told him to make a wish. She said if he didn’t tell anyone that it would come true. He didn’t tell, but his parents were not back together, so he realized that it was just a wish and nothing more.

  "You must stand up to him," stated a quiet voice.

  Shy had jumped at the sound. He looked around, but no one was there. It had to have been the nisse sitting next to him. "Tom T…. is that you?"

  "I am, though it matters not. You must stand up to him. Have confidence. You can."

  The words ‘you can’ struck up the memory of being pushed into jumping into the Hive for the first time a week ago.

  "What are you talking about?" Shy asked, although he was pretty sure that he knew what Tom T was talking about. The question brought a thump on the back of Shy’s head, then the disembodied voice came again from Shy’s other side.

  "When fear strikes deep into the heart, you must fight it off with belief in yourself, else you will never defeat the fear. You can." The nisse whispered into his left ear.

  Shy turned to the left and his vision blurred. He rubbed his eyes and asked, "Do you mean Crutch? He is just a bully. He doesn’t really bother me. "

  Again a thump on the back of his head, and the voice again came from his right. "Deny the fear and you only hide it. Have confidence. You must face it and defeat it. You can!" the nisse said more fiercely this time.

  Shy held the back of his head to ward off any more thumps. "I will try," he told the invisible voice to his right.

  Now, his vision blurred again, and before he could rub it away, he felt a small snap inside his head. With that strange sensation, the nisse’s face appeared just inches from Shy’s own. Shy jerked back in surprise, but the face stayed close.

  "You believe in yourself and face your demons. YOU CAN!" snarled the small, hairy face. Then he was gone.

  "You talking to yourself Shy?" Tad called out as he approached.

  "No, didn’t you see… Nevermind," Shy answered.

  "What?" He pressed as he sat down next to Shy.

  "Nothing. How often do meteor showers like this happen?" Shy attempted to deflect Tad’s line of questioning with his own question.

  Tad looked off to the group on the beach that was now dispersing in different directions. "Well, I am not sure, but this is the first one I have seen while at camp. Shy, I definitely saw you talking to yourself. What is going on?"

  Shy took a deep breath and related what had happened with Crutch, and his conversation with Tom T. Tad asked him many questions regarding the latter. Finally, he said, "Well…. You certainly have caught the attention of the Fey in these woods, Shy. I don’t quite understand it, but you have already had more sightings and interaction than most campers have over all their time here. What he told you certainly ties into what I want you all to learn. Self-confidence cannot solve all life’s problems. It can, however, help you face up to them and deal with them."

  They sat together watching some girls turn on an old, beat up, battery powered radio near the bonfire, and begin to dance. On the far side, Crutch and his cronies pointed and laughed at the girls, and those that joined them. Soon, however the majority of all the campers had congregated by the fire and radio, and were dancing, drinking soda, eating watermelon, and generally enjoying themselves. The tall, curly haired blond girl was dancing with Claire and another girl, and she kept stealing glances at Shy.

  How am I going to stand up to him, Shy angrily thought to himself.

  "Do you know what my name is? My full first name? Tad is just a short form."

  Shy shook his head and shrugged.

  "My name is Thaddeus. Tad for short. Do you know how much teasing I got in school for Thaddeus? I had a boy like Crutch that didn’t like me, for no apparent reason."

  Shy looked up at Tad, surprised that he knew Crutch’s name.

  "Yes, I know Crutch McFarlane is the one who has been bothering you. My ‘Crutch’ was Joe Pentalone. He latched onto my name from the first day of third grade. I struggled with why he hated me so much. I had never done anything to him. What I finally figured out is he was miserable in his life at home. Sometimes people displace their anger… they funnel it into other situations. Sometimes they are insecure. In both situations they protect themselves by attacking others first. I was just the victim that Joe chose.

  "He started out trying to turn my friends against me by calling me ‘bad-for-us’ or ‘fatty pus’ around my friends. Soon, it caught on, even with my friends. It devastated me. It wasn’t until after my experience with the trolls at camp several years later that I decided I had enough. Those were long miserable years that I will never get back. You can try to talk to a bully…. Maybe it will work, maybe it won't. Most of the time though, you just need to stand up for yourself. Sometimes more than once. When I started school the fall after the troll experience, I was waiting for the first run-in with Joe. It was seventh grade, and I wish I had done it sooner. I spotted him after the last bell, as I was headed for the bus. He ran up beside me and was going to knock my books and folders everywhere. I pulled my arm away at the last second and he went sprawling. Then he was mad. He wanted to fight right there…. The principal broke us up before any punches were thrown. Things were worse for weeks. Sometimes he would get me, but sometimes I stopped him…."

  "Did he eventually stop?" Shy asked.

  Tad smiled, "No, he moved away. I don’t know if things would have gotten better or not. What DID change though was the way I felt about myself. I had stood up to him, and I then began to take control of other aspects of my life. I was more aggressive in asking for and getting what I wanted out of life. I could see that others began to value my opinion and skills. They began to trust and believe in me because of my confidence in myself. You can take care of this business with Crutch…. But it is up to you." With a pat on the shoulder, Tad stood and went to rejoin the group.

  Shy continued to sit for a long while. What could he do? No answers came to him.

  Chapter Six:

  "It’s a form of fairy Glamour, boy."

  Shy stretched in his hammock. Tad was fully dressed and drinking an orange juice that was set out on a table by Tom T. He could see sunlight shining through the tops of the pines outside.

  "I’ll see you at the Hive in a bit, OK? I have a couple things to do first," Tad said.

  Shy nodded in his hammock, and then Tad jumped out the trapdoor with a smile to the net below. Tonight was going to be the first night that Daniel and Shy were to practice their orienteering at night. Shy was more than a little scared. After all the stories, he really didn’t want to be out at night in the woods. Tad had promised him that Gust would be out there watching and tracking all the groups. That should have been reassuring to Shy, but he kept coming back to the fact that it seemed to be him, Shy, that continued to have experiences with all these creatures. Tad even said so. All this worrying had kept Shy up, and he yawned again. He decided that, tired or not, he would not be able to get anymore sleep, so he swung out of the hammock, and padded his bare feet over the pine planks to the table and the cool glass of juice. Refreshed, he got dressed, brushed his teeth, and opened the trapdoor.

  As he bounced on the net below the cabin, Shy was amazed at how well the structure was hidden from the ground. From the un
derside, the floor was painted to match needle covered branches. He took a deep breath and looked around. What was he going to do today? He wouldn’t be practicing his night orienteering until well after dinner. All the other boys would be practicing for their events this morning. Daniel and Shy would have the whole morning to explore. They could go play some games at the Lodge, or maybe try to find some other entrances and exits to the forest cabins. He was sure that Tad had mentioned, at one point or another, that there was other entrances besides just the Elevator. First order of business then, was to find Daniel. Shy hustled off the net and onto the adjoining platform.

  Daniel was not at the Hive yet, but several of the boys were lounging around. He grabbed a second orange juice from the pitcher that Tom T set out each morning, and plopped into his favorite bean bag chair. He tended to prefer the hammocks, but thought he better not attempt it with a full glass of orange juice. Shy kicked back and listened to Henry regale the other boys with tales of his uncannily accurate and skillful rock skipping. Not soon enough Daniel came tumbling through the door. He immediately looked around, and, upon locating Shy, marched right over.

  "Hey, what should we do today?" Daniel wasted no time in asking Shy. "I have to go for a cross country run this morning for practice, but after that I got nothing."

  "I was thinking about looking around the cabins…. Maybe trying to find some other entrances, or exits."

  "Yeah, sounds good. You should run with me for practice…. I mean, you are the back up."

  "Naw, you won’t get sick…. I really hate running," Shy said after giving it some thought.

  Daniel smirked, "OK, how will I find you when I get back from my run?"

  Shy tried to not smile too much at the question, but he was glowing inside. The fact that Daniel really wanted to hang out with him made him feel really good.

  "I will meet you at the Elevator at, like… 9:30?"