Lottie said something then Egg’s Grammy said, “Can I ask you not to ask? We just need to see the man for a minute. Oh, thank you, dear. We’ll meet you in the front lobby in a half hour. Bye-bye.”
*****
One hour and thirty minutes ago . . .
Egg had been flying all around town looking for a good deed to do. She happened by a store when three or four people came running out waving their arms. As she flew closer to investigate, she discovered that a monkey from the pet store had escaped and the people were running after it. But the monkey was way too fast and lost its pursuers in short order.
Everyone, that is, but Flying Girl.
She watched the little rascal climb up a very tall tree and she followed it. As she landed on a branch not too far away, she called out “okay little one, come to mama.” To her utter amazement, the monkey looked at her, squealed something in monkey-ese and scampered right into her outstretched arms.
“Oh, you are just too cute” and she stroked his (or her) head. “Okay, climb on my back and I’ll take you home.” She didn’t actually expect the monkey to listen . . . but it did.
With her precious little package on her back holding tightly around her neck, Egg took off. She passed a man on a telephone pole and waved to him as she passed by.
She found the pet shop, landed out front (no one was around) and she walked in. “Excuse me” Egg said to the man inside “I think this little guy belongs to you.”
“Oh, you found Jynx. How on earth did you catch him; he’s so afraid of people. Anyway thank you so much.”
“It was my pleasure.” Egg gave the monkey a kiss and walked out.
*****
Egg and her grandmother drove to the hospital and parked the car. They walked into the main lobby and there was Lottie. The two older women hugged each other. Then Lottie noticed Egg.
“Hi, I’m Egg.”
“Egg? That’s a little unusual, isn’t it?”
“It’s my initials – Eloise Grace Graystone,” explained the girl.
“Oh . . . well, then that makes it very clever. I’m very pleased to meet you. Shall we go? The poor man is up on the third floor. I know all the nurses up there.”
So they rode the elevator and when they got out, Lottie went to the nurse’s station and said “Well, good afternoon, Viola.”
“Hi, Lottie. I didn’t know you were working today.”
“I’m not. I’m just bringing my best friend and her granddaughter to see that poor man who fell off the telephone pole. How is he?”
“He’s stable (meaning he wasn’t any worse or any better). How does your friend know this guy?”
“Actually, she’s friends with his mother” she fibbed.
“Well, then I guess it’s okay. He’s in room 307.”
So the three of them went to the room, opened the door and peered inside. The poor man was in bed bandaged from head to toe.
“Egg needs to see him alone. You and I can wait out here, okay?”
“Sure.” Lottie knew better than to ask her friend why.
So Egg went inside. Under her street clothes, she was wearing her flying suit and jewelry with the bracelet back on her right wrist. She tiptoed up to the man who was fast asleep and put her hands lightly on his head.
“I’m so sorry I did this to you. Anyway…May the injuries from your untimely fall from heaven to earth be undone and may your body be made whole and your spirits renewed. And may you not remember this unfortunate event.”
“Weird” was all she could say about the way her words came out when she tried to cure somebody. “Just plain weird.”
“Hey.”
Egg jumped about a foot. It was the man in the bandages. “Hi.”
“Where am I?”
“The hospital.”
“Really? Why?”
“You fell off a telephone pole.”
“I did?”
“Yes. How do you feel?”
The man gave that a moment’s thought. “Geez, I feel great. Never better.”
*****
Chapter 3 – Bacon and Egg
“Good night, sweetheart. Pleasant dreams.”
“Thank you for your help, Grammy.”
“You did all the work. But, you’re welcome just the same. And Egg, don’t worry about Sylvia. Just give it a little time.” The older woman kissed her granddaughter, turned out the light and left.
As she laid there snuggled into her big pillow, Egg’s mind was racing with a million thoughts . . . of Sylvia, the monkey, the Hameggattic Sisterhood, the telephone repair man all bandaged up, and the upcoming week at camp. It was just too much for her nine-year-old mind to absorb. So, instead of falling into her usual deep sleep (that’s the place where dreams come from); she tossed and turned and fretted and moaned. As far as her body and mind were concerned, it could hardly be called sleep at all.
“Egg.”
“Egg, it is I, Dazzle.”
“Egg, you have accomplished all the tasks. You are the One. I am pleased beyond words. You are truly my sister.”
“Egg, please answer. We must talk.”
But Egg couldn’t hear her. Because her mind wasn’t in a dream state (it’s actually called REM sleep), Dazzle could not get her attention. There was too much brain noise from all the things she was thinking about. It was like going to your friend’s house and knocking on the door. You can hear the person inside, but because she is playing the TV or music too loud, she can’t hear you.
And starting tomorrow morning, for the next week Egg would be at camp. What she didn’t understand was that when she wasn’t close to her flying suit, Dazzle didn’t have the power to communicate with her. That’s why she only appeared in Egg’s dreams when the young girl was in her own room. (When the little chest with the flying suit had been sold during the garage sale, it had taken an extraordinary effort for the Princess to tell Egg about its sale on eBay . . . one that she could not repeat).
So, until she returned from camp, Egg wouldn’t know that she had already solved the last mystery of the magical jewelry.
*****
They drove through the entrance to Hooting Owl Camp for Girls and parked the car. And even though the kids all called it Hoot Camp (kind of like Boot Camp where soldiers go to train) many came back a second or third time.
The place was pretty much deserted since most of the campers had registered the day before. At this time of the morning, they were probably all down by the lake swimming or canoeing. As Egg and her mom walked towards the main building, the person who ran the camp came out leading a young girl.
“Well, good morning Egg. Mrs. Graystone.” She called.
They both responded with a “Good morning, Josie.”
“Your timing is perfect. I would like you to meet a first time camper . . . this is Christy Bacon.” The girl was obviously younger than Egg and more than a little shy. “But, she prefers to be called Claire . . . that’s her middle name.”
“Very nice to meet you Ch . . . umm . . . Claire” said Mrs. Graystone
“Egg, why don’t you show Claire the camp? Your mom and I will finish the paperwork and I’ll join you two over by Snow Owl cabin. You’ll both be bunking there.”
“Sweetheart, have a wonderful week and I’ll see you on Sunday.” Mrs. Graystone hugged her daughter. “Very nice to meet you, Claire.”
So the two older women went into the main building and Egg led her new friend towards the center of camp. To break the ice, Egg asked, “Why do you prefer the name Claire?”
“It’s my grandmother’s name and, besides, all the mean girls call me Crispy instead of Christy.”
At first Egg didn’t get it. Then it came to her “oh . . . like crispy bacon. That’s kind of cute.”
“I hate it.” After a minute, she got the courage to ask, “Why do they call you Egg?”
“It’s my initials.”
“So if we become friends, they’re going to call us Bacon and Eggs?”
Egg was
about to argue . . . if she had to be part of a breakfast menu, she would always be Ham and Egg. But she looked at the little girl who was smiling and she decided to play along. “Well, of course. So that absolutely means that we just have to be best friends during camp. Nothing can be better than Bacon and Egg(s).”
And for the first time since being dropped off, Claire felt so much better. She had made her first friend . . . and making friends was something she didn’t do very well. She took Egg’s hand as they walked which surprised the older girl. Then, considering the fact that she had lost her best friend and all the sisters, it made her feel pretty darn good. So like Dorothy and the Scarecrow, off they walked down Camp Hooting Owl’s version of the Yellow Brick Road.
*****
After the tour, the girls found their beds and lockers in the Snowy Owl cabin, unpacked, and hung their clothes. Then they changed into bathing suits and went down to the lake where most of the other campers were in two person canoes…
So Claire and Egg put on their life vests, jumped into an empty canoe and paddled out to join the rest of the girls.
As they got closer to the others, Egg let out a startled “Oh my gosh!”
“What’s the matter?”
She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. In one canoe were Angela and Presley. Right behind them were Melody and Sylvia. She wasn’t sure how to react. Her first thought was ‘oh, no’ followed immediately by ‘oh, wow’ then ‘oh no.” Would this be a chance for her to apologize and for them to become friends again? Or, would they just stay mad. This could turn out to be a wonderful week or an incredibly horrible one. Well, there was only one way to find out.
She took a deep breath to calm herself then said “those girls over there are my . . . umm . . . friends. I was just surprised to see them. Let’s row over and I’ll introduce you.”
So they rowed towards them but half way there, Angela spotted Egg’s canoe. She pointed while saying something to her three friends who all turned to look. There seemed to be an excited conversation between all four . . . and then they turned their canoes in the opposite direction and started to row away. Only Sylvia looked back at her ex-best friend.
“Well that wasn’t very nice. Are you sure they were your friends?”
Egg’s heart was pounding in her chest and she was having a little difficulty breathing. It took her a few moments to answer. “I guess I was mistaken. Obviously they weren’t the friends I thought they were.”
After canoeing for another hour, all the girls drifted to one of the four cabins – Snowy, Screech, Spotted or Horned . . .
. . . to change out of their swimsuits. Egg and Claire were the first ones back at Snowy and quickly exchanged their suits for shorts. Then Egg waited on her bunk for the other girls to come in. She held her breath . . . if her four former friends were in this cabin, she would have to ask Josie to move her to another one.
The girls came in by ones and twos . . . and none of them belonged to the Lollipop Guild. Egg let out a sigh of relief. Since most activities were done by cabin, she might be lucky enough not to bump into those four except at meals. That would make things a little better.
Naturally, it didn’t turn out that way.
*****
“This summer, based on the feedback we received from many of you who were with us last year, we decided to do something a little different. Every other day, one cabin will compete against another cabin. So by the end of the week, each cabin will have a chance to spend one day with every other cabin. I’ll post this schedule on the bulletin board for everyone to look at. Are there any questions?”
No one had any, so Josie finished with “Okay then. Lunch will be served shortly and afterwards we’ll have our nature walk so you can spend time getting to know your cabin mates.”
Egg shook her head . . . with the way her luck was going this whole summer; she should have known something like this would happen. She tugged on Claire’s arm and they walked over to see the schedule.
So she had only one day to endure with her formerly friendly foursome. Maybe she’d get lucky and it would rain so hard that all activities would be cancelled. ‘Ha’ she thought ‘that will probably be the only nice day we have all week.’ She found out later that the fateful day would be Saturday.
“Claire, I’m hungry; how about you?”
“I’m so hungry I could eat an owl.”
Egg giggled then said, “You better not let Josie hear you say that.”
The younger girl turned to her new friend and said, “Well, I just don’t give a hoot” and they both started to laugh till they cried.
Standing a little way behind them was Sylvia. When she heard them laugh, she turned and walked away . . . whether from jealousy or anger she wasn’t sure.
*****
Hooting Owl camp was located right next to a very large state wildlife preserve. With so much to explore, the hikes each year were totally different from the ones the previous year.
Their destination was a small pond and meadow surround on all sides with great old trees. Supposedly it was home to the Spotted Owl…but you would have to come out at night to see (or maybe hear) one. This year, all the girls were given a handout that contained pictures of flowers, birds, trees and animals. Their goal was to find as many as they could.
Egg and Claire walked together as you might have expected. They enjoyed each other’s company – the younger girl looking up to the older one, the older one feeling very protective of the younger one. As they hunted for the wildlife on their checklist, the conversation turned to more interesting things . . .
“Claire, do you have a best friend at home?”
The younger girl actually blushed then said “Yes.”
“Well, tell me about her. Is she in your class?”
“She’s a boy.”
“WHAT?” Egg was stunned.
“My best friend . . . is a boy.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Is that bad?”
“No, it’s not bad . . . it’s just . . . well . . . I, umm, don’t really like boys. The ones in my school are just so goofy and rude.”
“Well, Yoshi isn’t like that; he’s very nice. We’ve lived next door to one another for my whole life. Except for his older sister, he’s an only child just like me.”
Egg was both horrified and intrigued by the idea of having a boy for a best friend. “Did you ever . . . you know . . . kiss him?”
“YUK” yelled Claire. “Are you crazy? He’s my best friend, not my boyfriend.”
“Oh” said Egg who was very surprised to think that there might be a difference.
“How about you?’
“What?”
“Do you have a best friend?”
“I did.”
“What happened?”
“That’s a long story.”
“We have time . . . unless you don’t want to talk about it?”
Egg thought about that for a moment. “Actually, I do want to talk about it. And since you’re my best friend for the next week, I want to tell you.”
“Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For calling me your best friend and trusting me enough to tell me your story. You make me feel special.”
Egg was touched by Claire’s sincerity and squeezed her hand. “Okay, well, it started almost a year ago right here at camp . . .” And for the next twenty minutes she retold the story of the how she and Sylvia became best friends and started the Hameggattic Sisterhood . . . and everything else up to the time their friendship broke up.
“I think the sisterhood club is just too great. I wish I was a member. But what I don’t understand is why you guys broke up. Why do you care so much about Peter Pan?”
“I don’t. I was just having a miserable week or two. It was really stupid of me.”
“Did you tell her that?”
“I sent her an email, but she didn’t even answer it. And you saw what she and the others did when we rowed over to them.”
/>
“Do you still want her to be your best friend?”
“More than anything in the world.”
“I wish I had a friend like you.”
“Thank you. And, Claire, thank you for listening . . . and caring.”
Chapter 4 – Dancing in the Rain
Camp was going very well . . . all thing considered. In their first two days of competition against Horned (on Tuesday) and Spotted (on Thursday), the girls from Snowy won three of the four events. Egg was the star as she always was. And when she could, she helped Claire who was average at best.
But, fun was fun . . . and Egg was enjoying herself . . . until the incident in the crafts tent.
It was Friday morning and it was raining very hard. While the other girls bemoaned the weather, Egg was secretly glad. If it kept up tomorrow, she wouldn’t have to deal with Screech and the four Lollipoopers (that’s what she had decided to call them). And so far, they hadn’t crossed paths – each side keeping their distance.
All the girls were in the crafts tent – each cabin sitting at tables by themselves. That was the good news. The bad news was that Sylvia and the other three were at the table that was closest to Egg and Snowy.
Egg and Claire were busy making jewelry. Claire was working on a string and bead necklace while her older friend was trying something very advanced. She was making a ring out of aluminum. But not just any old ring . . . this was going to be a two-headed snake (or was it a serpent?) ring. With the help of one of the counselors, she had learned to use a metal punch to stamp out the two faces. It was very slow going and more than once, she had to start over. But finally, she had the design just right. Then she used a little lever thingy and was able to bend it into the correct shape. When she was finished, she held the ring up for her cabin mate to see. “Well, what do you think” she asked Claire.
The younger girl took it in her hand and examined it very closely. Finally, she declared, “Egg, you are so amazing. Is there anything you can’t do?”
The four former friends turned around when they heard the word “Egg.” They were all kind of mad that Eloise hadn’t tried to make up with them. Melody, Angela and Presley wanted to be able to tell her NO and watch her cry. Sylvia wanted a reason to be friends again.
Boxed Set: Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood: [The 12 book 1st adventure + the series prequel] Page 28