How to Survive Summer Camp (4 page)

She hurried off. Louise ripped her Ralph Lauren T-shirt over her head and wriggled out of her jeans.

‘Come on, you lot. I don’t see why I should flog myself to death to win all the races and then get my precious team points taken away.’ She pulled a beautiful white nightie over her head, trimmed with little pink bows and pink lace. A matching dressing gown lay at the end of her bed. She even had white slippers with pink ribbons and pink swansdown and little grown-up heels.

Karen was surprisingly bashful and undressed underneath her quilted dressing gown. Some of the quilting had come unstitched and it was a different blue from her pyjamas. When she was ready she begged Louise to let her try on her slippers. Louise let her have a little go. Karen couldn’t walk properly in heels and her bottom stuck out.

‘You don’t half look daft,’ I said. ‘Doesn’t she, Marzipan?’

But Marzipan wouldn’t join in and tease Karen. Yet when Marzipan got undressed Karen made some awful remarks about her. I was glad when most of Marzipan was hidden under her long nightie. I told her I loved that Victorian style to comfort her, although I really liked my own red nightshirt much more. I reached up automatically to undo my plaits and it was a shock finding all the stubble. It felt shorter than ever. I pulled at it, willing it to grow a bit.

‘Did you only just get it cut?’ Marzipan whispered.

I nodded.

‘It suits you. It’s very stylish. Lots of fashion models have got their hair like that nowadays,’ said Marzipan.

I felt a bit better —but perhaps she was only saying it to comfort me.

Janie looked very sweet in frilly white baby doll pyjamas and everyone made a fuss of her. She had a little blue toy teddy and her mother had made it a pair of frilly white pyjamas too. Janie showed the child with the donkey her blue teddy but she didn’t seem interested.

‘Hadn’t she better get into her night things?’ said Louise. ‘Miss Hamer-Cotton will be back in a minute. We don’t really want to lose a team point, do we?’

‘I’ll undress her,’ said Karen, but the little girl cowered away from her when she started to unbutton her cardigan.

‘Don’t. She’s my friend, not yours,’ said Janie. She hunched up beside the little girl, her frilly white bottom sticking up in the air. She whispered. The little girl said nothing but Janie nodded understandingly.

‘She says she’s very tired and doesn’t want to get into her nightie. She doesn’t want to clean her teeth or go to the toilet. She just wants to go to sleep, don’t you?’ She eased the little girl’s shoes off and then pulled the bedcovers up to her chin.

We were all in bed when Miss Hamer-Cotton came back. She was pleased.

‘There’s good girls,’ she said. ‘Night night, then. Sleep tight. Sunday tomorrow. We’ve got all sorts of exciting things
planned. There’s swimming assessment in the morning and a hike in the afternoon.’

I sat up in bed.

‘What is it, dear?’

‘What’s swimming assessment, Miss Hamer-Cotton?’

‘Well, we have to sort out how far everyone can swim. Uncle Ron puts you through your paces and then you go in the beginner’s class, or the intermediates or the advanced,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton, smiling. ‘Now lie down, poppet, and—’

‘But I won’t have to go in the swimming pool, will I?’ I interrupted.

‘How do you think you’re going to swim then, Baldy?’ said Karen. ‘Are you going to do the breast-stroke up and down the front lawn?’

‘Now now. Don’t be silly, girls. Lie down and we’ll discuss all this in the morning,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton.

I couldn’t wait until the morning.

‘You promised I wouldn’t have to swim! You promised! You know you did!’

‘I don’t know anything of the sort. I
do
know that if you don’t stop talking to me in that rude tone of voice and lie down like a good girl I’m going to take off a team point straight away.’

‘But—’

‘Shut up and lie down, you fool,’ Louise hissed.

I lay down and huddled up in a little ball. I wrapped my
arms tightly round myself with Squeakycheese tucked into my armpit. I could feel my heart thudding against my arm. I shut my eyes to try to stop myself crying. It wasn’t fair! She
did
promise. Well, Mum did. She swore I wouldn’t have to swim.

‘There, that’s a sensible girl,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton, switching off the light. ‘Night night, then. Straight to sleep and no whispering. I’ve got very big ears. Remember those team points.’

But we did whisper, of course, even Louise.

Karen kept asking me why I’d made such a fuss about swimming.

‘It’s because you’re scared, isn’t it? Do you hear that, Louise? Old Baldy’s scared of swimming.’

‘No I’m
not
,’ I said. ‘I’m just not allowed to, that’s all.’

‘Well, why aren’t you allowed to? Go on, tell us.’

‘You mind your own business.’

‘See! She’s just scared, isn’t she, Louise?’

‘Of course she is. Do whisper, Karen.’

‘Scaredy cat. Baldy’s a scaredy cat.’

‘
Whisper
.’

‘I can’t go in swimming because of a serious medical reason,’ I said desperately.

‘You what?’

‘You heard, ignorant. I have a serious—’

‘Rubbish.’

‘It’s not rubbish at all. It’s my heart. I can’t go in cold water. My heart has this murmur and the shock could kill me.’

That silenced them. It silenced me too. I hadn’t known I could tell such big lies. My heart thudded so violently I began to wonder if there really was something wrong with it. Squeakycheese nestled inside my nightie but for once he wasn’t much of a comfort.

The others went on whispering for a bit and then they seemed to fall asleep. I lay awake for a long time, trying very hard not to think about swimming pools. The other girls made odd rustlings and mumblings. The old house creaked spookily. I wished I hadn’t made up that story about Princess Stellarina and the Brigavampire. I kept thinking I could hear him creeping down the corridor. And there was another sound too, coming from a long way away. A wailing whimpering sound. I kept thinking I’d imagined it and then it would start up again.

‘Can you hear a funny wailing noise?’ I whispered to Marzipan, but she was asleep.

The wailing went on. Perhaps it was a child in one of the other dormitories. It must be very young child, not much more than a baby. It sounded so sad. Perhaps it didn’t understand about summer camp and thought it was stuck here at Evergreen for ever. It wanted its mother the way I wanted mine.

I sat up in bed and then slipped across the dormi towards the door. I opened it very carefully. The wailing grew a little louder. I stood there, shivering, wondering what to do. Then a hand grabbed my shoulder and I shrieked.

‘Sh! Shut up, Baldy.’ It was only Karen.

‘You didn’t half give me a fright,’ I whispered furiously.

‘Well, what are you up to, creeping about in the middle of the night? You woke me up.’

‘Someone’s crying. You listen.’

So we both listened. Karen heard it too.

‘I wonder who it is?’ Karen whispered. ‘Perhaps it’s one of the boys? There’s a very little one, only about three or four. I bet it’s him.’

‘Shall we go and find him?’ I said.

‘It’s not allowed. We mustn’t leave the dormi at night. Miss Hamer-Cotton said. Except in a case of emergency.’

‘This is an emergency. Sort of. Come on.’

So Karen came with me.

‘I think it’s coming from the corridor on the right,’ I said.

‘Let’s keep hold of each other. It’s so dark. It can’t be from down there. All the boys’ dormis are back that way. So are the girls’,’ Karen whispered.

We stopped and listened again. It was quiet for a moment and I just heard a weird roaring in my ears—but then the wailing started again and it was unmistakable.

‘It
is
from down there. Perhaps it’s coming from the tower,’ I said. ‘Yes, I bet Miss Hamer-Cotton’s locked someone up in the tower.’

‘She wouldn’t,’ said Karen, but she clutched hold of me. ‘Let’s go back to our dormi now.’

‘But it’s crying. We can’t leave it.’

‘Yes we can. And we’re not allowed down there.’

‘Well I’m going.’

‘All right then. You go,’ said Karen.

I hesitated, not sure whether I dared go on my own.

‘Come with me, Karen. Please. Don’t be such a coward.’

‘I’m not a coward. You’re the one who’s a cowardy-custard, scared of a simple thing like swimming.’

We’d forgotten to whisper. A door suddenly opened somewhere down the forbidden corridor on the right.

‘Quick!’ said Karen, tugging me.

We ran back to our dormi, bumping into each other, frantic. I jumped into my bed with a great thud of the springs and then lay still, panting. I listened hard. There were no footsteps, no angry voices. And no crying. It had stopped.

‘I don’t think they heard us, Baldy,’ Karen whispered.

‘It’s stopped crying.’

‘Good.’

‘Maybe it isn’t good. Maybe they’ve done something to it,’ I said.

‘Don’t talk rubbish. It’s just gone to sleep.’

‘Perhaps they’ve made it sleep,’ I whispered. ‘They could have drugged it. Or gagged it. Or smothered it.’

‘Do shut up.’

So I did. I wanted to give Karen a scare but I was scaring myself too. I lay awake for a very very long time. Listening.

I
 wanted to talk to Miss Hamer-Cotton without any of the others listening so I went along to her room when everyone else went down to breakfast.

‘It’s Stella, isn’t it?’ she said, stroking Tinkypoo. ‘Downstairs now, dear. You don’t want to miss your scrambled eggs, do you?’

‘I’ve got to talk to you about swimming,’ I said. ‘You did promise I wouldn’t have to do it, honestly you did.’

Miss Hamer-Cotton sighed. ‘I know your mother mentioned that you’re worried about swimming. But there’s no need to get into such a state. We’re not going to let you drown, you know. Uncle Ron isn’t going to throw you in the deep end. He’ll teach you exactly what to do and you can wear an inflatable ring if it makes you feel safer and—’

‘But I won’t feel safe, no matter what. Please, I
can’t
have swimming lessons.’

‘I wish you wouldn’t keep interrupting me, dear. Now, go and get your breakfast and stop worrying about swimming. I’ll have a special word with Uncle Ron about you. I know you’ll find him very kind and understanding. Do you know
he even managed to teach a little blind girl to swim? She was diving about like a little dolphin by the end of her holiday with us.’

‘I can’t go in the water. My doctor said. It’s my heart.’

‘You’re being silly now, Stella,’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton briskly. ‘We ask all our parents to sign a form saying that their children are fit and healthy. There’s nothing wrong with you. So stop telling silly fibs and go and eat your breakfast before I get cross.’

‘I can’t go in swimming. I haven’t got a swimming costume.’

‘I’ve got some spare ones. No problem. Now run along.’

I thought hard as I walked to the door. Then I turned round.

‘Could I see the Brigadier, please?’

Miss Hamer-Cotton shrugged her shoulders so that Tinkypoo slid to the ground. She stood up and put her hands on her hips.

‘Why do you want to see the Brigadier?’

‘I want to ask him if I have to go in swimming.’

Miss Hamer-Cotton held on to her hips. Her knuckles went white. ‘The Brigadier is much too busy to be bothered with silly little girls like you. Now go away at once or you’ll lose a team point.’

‘I’m going to write to my mother,’ I said. ‘It’s not fair. You did promise.’

‘You’re in Emerald, aren’t you?’ said Miss Hamer-Cotton
ominously. ‘Right. You have now lost one team point for the Emeralds.’

I slunk out of her room. It wasn’t fair. And she hated me now. She’d keep on picking on me the whole time I was here. Maybe she’d even lock me up in the tower like the child crying in the night.

The others hadn’t believed me. Even Karen said she thought it might have been a dream, which showed she was completely mental, because how could we both have the same dream?

I paused in the middle of the corridor. I was in enough trouble as it was. And yet I badly wanted to find out where the crying had come from. My feet started creeping down the corridor of their own accord. My trainers squeaked noisily and I glared at them. And then a door opened at the end of the right hand corridor and I heard more footsteps. Shuffly old-ladies-sandals footsteps. It was Orange Overall, only she was wearing a sort of pinafore thing today, with a flowery purple pattern. She was carrying something in an old towel and she scowled when she saw me.