There's a Bat in Bunk Five (10 page)

“Just remember that camp's going to be over and both of you live in different places.”

That's something I don't want to think about, not now, not tonight.

There's a lot more I want to ask Corrine, about being in love and sex, but I'm too shy to ask and I don't want to seem like a dumb kid, especially when she's treating me like an adult. It's hard to know who to talk to. I've never been able to talk much to my mother about it, even when she sat me down and told me the facts of life. Somehow that was hard because I kept thinking she and my father must have done it, since Stuart and I are here, but it's weird to think of your parents having sex.

I'm not just shy, I'm tired, very tired. It's been a long day.

I'm almost asleep when I hear screams of “raid” and someone playing a trumpet.

Suddenly the whole bunk is filled with kids from the boys' intermediate cabin.

The girls are screaming again.

I quickly jump out of bed.

Corrine grabs her robe and puts it on.

I grab mine and do the same.

Opening the door, we get bombarded with water balloons and shaving cream.

Rolls of toilet paper are flying.

The trumpet's still playing.

Pillows are being thrown. Feathers are flying.

As quickly as it began, it's ended.

Bunk five's a disaster area. It's filled with toilet paper, water, and shaving cream.

There are also frogs running around, obviously collected and saved for just this occasion.

“Someone stole Paddington,” Stacey yells. “He was my favorite stuffed animal.”

“I managed to bite one of them,” Ginger calls out.

Alicia curses in Spanish.

“Get those frogs out of here before I die,” Linda yells.

“Try catching them and putting them in a blender,” Helene yells back.

“Not funny.” Linda stands on her bunk. “Please, if you catch them, I promise I'll never tell those two jokes again.”

The frogs are caught—I hope we got all of them—and taken outside.

“Everything okay now?” Corrine checks.

“Someone stole my bra,” Robin says.

“Don't worry. You don't really need one anyway,”
Ginger says. “A Barbie doll's got bigger boobs than you do.”

“I'm going to kill her,” Robin yells, lunging at Ginger.

Corrine holds her back, while I say, “Ginger, apologize.”

“Robin, I'm sorry you don't really need a bra.”

“That's not what I meant.”

Ginger sneers. “Sorry.”

Some of the girls give Robin a hug and say things like “Don't let her get to you,” and “We should have made her eat those frogs.”

Corrine looks around the room. “Let's get this all cleaned up and then we're going to have to go down to the showers to clean off.”

We clean up.

We troop down to the showers.

I'm past being exhausted. I'm not even sure I'm alive anymore.

Everyone looks the way I feel.

Finally we all go back to bed.

It's finally quiet.

I wonder what Ted's doing right now.

The sheep I try to count are all jumping over rainbows. Frogs are hopping under those rainbows.

Someone from the bunk yells, “Revenge will be ours.”

I hug my pillow, pretending the pillow's Ted, and fall asleep.

Reveille.

Someone should shoot the kid with the bugle. Or at least put a muzzle on him.

I'm tired. The only reason I can think of for getting up is to see Ted at breakfast.

That's enough of a reason.

I jump out of bed.

Giggling. I hear giggling. How can anyone be alert enough to coordinate their giggling mechanism after all of last night's disturbance?

I'm almost afraid of what I'm going to find when I open the door.

I peek out, into the righthand part of the cabin.

No one's there.

They're all on the left side.

“What's going on?” I ask, wiping the sleep out of my eyes.

All of the girls, except Ginger, are sitting together, looking guilty.

I repeat my question.

Risa says, “We were just practicing kissing.”

“Each other?” I ask.

“No, ourselves. Look.” She shows me her arm.

I look.

She's given herself a hickey, a big red mark on her arm.

The rest of the girls hold out their arms. They've done the same to themselves. All of them have hickeys, red turning to purple.

“I didn't do it,” Ginger says. “For once, I'm the good one.”

Corrine comes in.

“You two do it too,” Risa says. “Then we'll all be alike, except for Ginger, and she doesn't count anyway.”

Ginger stomps off.

Corrine looks at their arms and then at me. “Marcy, I have a feeling that today's going to be one of those days when I wish I'd taken another kind of job.”

I nod. But that's not really true. There's no place in the world that I'd rather be than Camp Serendipity.

“Okay. Get ready for breakfast,” Corrine says.

The girls try to convince us to give ourselves hickeys.

When we won't do it, they all sing, “Every party has a pooper, that's why we invited you, party pooper.”

Finally we go to the dining room.

The girls are trying to give hickeys to all the boys in the bunk that raided us last night.

Corrine's right.

It's going to be one of those days.

W
here's the time gone?

I feel like I just got to camp and now it's halfway over.

The hiking. I don't think I've ever walked so much in my entire life. Back home, everyone walks to and from school and sometimes over to friends'. Other than that, our parents take us places in cars.

Not here. We walk everywhere. And as if that's not enough, Carl's some kind of nut about going on
hikes. There have been three of them since the night that the bunk was invaded by the bat and by the boys from the intermediate cabin.

And the overnight. Some of the kids were terrified. And those who didn't start out scared got that way after two hours of ghost stories.

Visitors' Day. Parents taking kids off the grounds, talking to us, making sure that the kids are having fun.

The swimming. Even Janie's learning to swim. And it's Ginger who taught her. Amazing. I still can't reach Ginger. I tried once more to be nice, but she told me to go away.

There's been kind of an uneasy truce for a while, ever since Corrine and I've been holding daily bunk meetings. I only hope it lasts.

And in another week it'll be time for carnival and the talent show . . .both on one day.

Ted and I are still “going together.” That means the few minutes that we have free, we spend together. It's not really like back home where people get to go out on real dates. It's more like when people in grammar school and junior high went out (I always heard about it but it never happened with me). People
“hang out” together, and everyone says they're a couple.

So now I'm part of a couple and I love it. It's not always easy, though, because sometimes I would like to spend more time with other people, and there just isn't enough time.

Especially with carnival and the talent show coming up.

It's been so busy here that there was barely enough time for me to even remember my birthday. That's why it was such a wonderful surprise, the party that Corrine and Barbara threw for me.

And the magazine. That's coming out this weekend too. With the hour and a half each day that the majors (dance, music, writing, art) have alloted, we've been getting the magazine ready, as well as the daily newsletters.

I'm watching the kids practice the bunk skit for talent night. They've put it together so that it's a showcase for their individual talents.

It's about a magic kingdom (only they've made it a queendom) where everyone is allowed to have one special talent and what happens when the people want to branch out and have more than one talent.
The wicked witch casts a spell. They are, individually, unable to break that spell until they discover that as a group against the wicked witch, helping each other, they can make things end “happily ever after.”

Risa says the skit's going to be a real show stopper.

Ginger says the only way it's going to be a show stopper is so that everyone can take time out to throw up. She's got the part of the wicked witch. I tried to talk to the kids about changing the script, but Ginger said she loved her part.

Oh well, you can't expect miracles.

I watch the kids practice as I work on the costumes.

Heidi Gittenstein stops by the cabin. “Hey, Marcy, we've gotten permission to go into Woodstock after dinner to pick up some stuff for carnival. Want to come? It'll be you, me, and Sally.”

“I'd love to.”

“Great. We'll meet right after dinner.” She goes down the hill.

Great. It'll give me a chance to spend some time getting to know her and Sally better.

I continue to sew and try to remember if Ted and I've made any plans to be together after dinner. I
doubt it, not formal ones. I don't think he'll mind though. It'll give him some time to practice his guitar, since he's always saying he doesn't have the time.

Ginger comes over. “I've got some time free until I have to do anything again. Can I go brush my teeth? I've got some corn from lunch caught in my teeth.”

“Sure,” I say.

She rushes into the bunk for her stuff and runs to the bathroom.

Either she really is getting better or I'm getting used to her.

She comes running back, yelling, “I'm going to kill someone.”

I rush over. “What's wrong?”

She's angry. “Someone put a pinhole in my toothpaste tube. When I went to use it, the gunk slopped all over me.”

“Calm down,” I say.

“I don't want to calm down. I've had it. Last night when I got into bed, someone short-sheeted my bed, and now this.”

“Why didn't you mention that at a meeting?”

“I didn't want to tattle, but too much is happening.”

“Look, Ginger,” I say, “I'll talk to Corrine about it after dinner and we'll try to work it out.”

She looks at me. “Promise.”

“Sure,” I say, thinking that maybe now she'll be easier to reach. I would really like to be the one who helps her.

She joins the skit and I go back to sewing.

The other girls act like they're not responsible. I wonder who is.

Corrine's at the office, getting the literary magazine put together. I'll have to discuss it with her later.

The afternoon goes well.

Time to go back to the bunk so that everyone can write letters. Once a week every kid has to write a letter home and present the sealed message to the counselor before dinner. That way we can see that mail is being sent home so that no parents complain.

The dinner bell rings.

Corrine comes up to me. “I'm going to skip dinner tonight. I've got a fever or something. Do you mind?”

“I was supposed to pick up some stuff in town for carnival. Should I cancel?”

“I just want to rest for a while. I'll be fine after dinner.”

The kids are all kind of quiet at dinner, but I figure it's because they're all tired out from practicing.

After dinner Ted comes over to me and says, “Want to go for a walk after the tables are all cleared?”

I nod.

Heidi comes running over. “Ready? Barbara says we can go now.”

I forgot.

I turn to Ted. “Ooops, I've got to go shopping. Okay?”

“Does it matter if it's okay with me? Looks like you've already made your choice.” He shrugs.

I want to be with him. But I promised to go. And I do want to get to know Heidi and Sally better. It's confusing.

“See you around sometime,” he says in this really cold voice I've never heard before.

I start to say something, but he's already turned away.

I watch as he goes over and starts talking to Betty, one of the other CITs.

That hurts—a lot. She's been after him, ever since camp began.

Heidi looks at me. “Wow. I didn't realize this was going to cause any trouble. Would you rather stay here?”

I'm not sure of what I want to do. Part of me wants to cry. Part of me wants to strangle Ted. How can I be so angry at someone I love so much?

Heidi turns her baseball cap to the back and says, “Would you rather stay here, really? I'd understand.”

I look over at Ted. He's put his arm around Betty and they're laughing about something.

That does it. “No, I want to go.”

We get into the van and Sally drives into town.

I try to put all thoughts of Ted and Betty out of my mind and concentrate on talking with Heidi and Sally.

After a while it becomes easier to join in their conversation.

I can even laugh a little.

Neither of them mentions what happened with me and Ted.

I'm glad because I might say something I would regret.

I remember that I'm supposed to talk to Corrine about what happened with Ginger. Oh well, I can do
that when I get back, or Ginger'll probably tell Corrine herself.

We pick up lots of stuff and then go over to a café, sit on the patio, and have Cokes.

“Do you play pinball?” Heidi asks.

I shake my head. In my hometown the only kids who play are the kids who cause trouble.

“Want to learn? It's fun. We've got one at home,” Heidi says.

Pinball in the home of a U.S. senator. I guess it's okay to play then.

We go into one of the rooms.

Pinball machines.

There's a little kid playing.

Heidi, Sally, and I go over to one, Close Encounters of the Third Kind.

They're really good at it.

I'm not.

But it's fun. I love the flashing lights, the sounds it makes, and the way you don't think about anything personal when you're playing.