Camp part one.
I was very excited about going away to summer camp. I had never been away from home for any length of time before. (Unless you consider the almost 5 months I spent in the hospital after Steve shot me. Not the most fun time to be had.) My best friend George was always being sent away to camp or various other places. He seemed to enjoy himself.
So after Dad exiled John and Geno for what he called, "Acting like inbreed Missouri hicks", (Mom and her family are from Missouri) I began to prepare to go to camp.
Dad had been told by people he worked with at the Park Police in Kewanee about the camp. Apparently he had been complaining about the,"Slacked jawed yokels pretending to be his son's" one day. He said he'd like to just ship them all away for a few weeks and get some peace and quiet. One of Dad's friends an actual Police Officer overheard Dad and told him about the summer camp, "Camp Sherwood Forrest". He said it sounded like a great place to send me for a couple of weeks.
Dad was skeptical at first. "How much would it cost?"
"It's free."
"Sign him up!" Dad actually smiled when he told me about it.
He still smiles about it.
It may not of cost any money for me to go, but I'll admit Dad spent quite a lot of money to buy me things to take with me. I got a new fishing pole, and tackle box, new clothes to wear, and even a new hat.
Which still puzzles me. I've never been a hat person.
But I'll admit I loved this Hat. It had the Enterprise on it.
The day before I left it stormed out. Hail fell from the sky and tore my Mom's garden to shreds. It turned out there was one of the biggest Tornado outbreaks in the midwest's history that day.
"Maybe God's trying to tell you something", my sister said. She was always trying to ruin anything I enjoyed. I just ignored her. Dad told me to get to bed. I had to be up at 6 to get ready to leave.
I barely slept at all that night I was so excited. I was afraid that if I fell asleep, Dad would oversleep and I wouldn't get to go.
At 5.30 I could wait anymore and began to get up and get ready. Very loudly I might add. At 6.30 Dad and I left the house. I looked forward to two weeks of fun away from my family. I was so happy to be leaving I didn't even pull any mean last minute pranks on Rose.
Dad and I drove in his car to the police station. Dad looked around with a slight frown on his face. "I guess this is where the bus is leaving from." We went in and Dad talked to a police officer sitting at a desk. I didn't hear what was said. I was too busy looking around at the cells in the back. I remember thinking, "I bet this is where Geno is going to end up."
Dad turned around and said, "Ok this is where I leave you. You'll get a ride in just a few minutes." Dad looked at me, clearly uncomfortable, and said "Um....You be good....Have a ....Good time......Bye." And with that he was out the door.
I smiled. I knew with Dad gone I was one step closer to going to camp, where I had visions of sitting by a lake shore fishing all day.
After about 10 minutes of impatiently waiting for a bus to pull up a squad car drove up with another boy in the back. The officer got out and looked at me and said, "You the other boy going to Camp Sherwood Forrest?"
I smiled and nodded. "Well get in. We don't have all day." He opened his trunk and I put my stuff in. I jumped in the back of the squad car with a big smile on my face. The little boy next to me obviously didn't appreciate going to summer camp as much as I did. He sat next to me with a big frown on his face. I tried talking to him about how cool it was going to be. I even offered to share my fishing pole with him, because I didn't see one in the trunk for him.
From his lack of response all I could tell was he didn't like fishing.
I tried a different subject.
"Isn't it cool we get to ride there in a police car?" I leaned forward. "Hey officer can you turn on the lights and siren?" Both the Cop and the Boy next to me looked at me like I was insane.
Trying yet another subject I looked at the boy next to me and asked, "So you ever been here before?"
He looked down at the floor of the car and muttered softly, "Yeah."
"Wow, it must be a great place if you want to go back."
"Nah they're making me."
"Ah", I said. It became obvious that this must be some kind of mamma's boy who didn't want to leave home. The rest of the ride was spent in silence.
I was just about to nod off in the backseat when the Police Officer said, "Here we are boys."
I looked out the window and saw the sign. A big smile grew on my face.
"WELCOME TO CAMP SHERWOOD FOREST" My smile faded.
In slightly smaller letters the bottom of the sign read, "For troubled youths."
Suddenly the next two weeks did not seem like they were going to be much fun.
"I'm going to kill Dad." I muttered to myself.