Every Summer Has A Story

Ch. 2 - The Rat Bastard

Eve closed the dresser drawer with her hip and examined her work triumphantly. It had only taken about thirty minutes to unpack and situate the small space that would be her home for the next three months. She had a twin sized bed, a single dresser, and a few shelves on the wall opposite the window. The walls were a bright and cheerful yellow and the floor a polished cement, as seemed to be the trend. Bright colors and concrete floors were a Camp Wabanaki staple thus far. Through one door she could enter the lodge and the other lead to the Infirmary. It was modest but cozy and Eve couldn't help smiling.

"Maybe there's something to all this camp nonsense after all", she concluded.

Overcome by curiosity, she kicked off her shoes and slung her bright green backpack over her shoulders. She had seen only bits and pieces of the camp on her way in and she was ready to see more. She grabbed her Happy Camper lanyard and tossed the keys around her neck, feeling quite reminiscent of an eager college freshman checking out campus during Welcome Week. Eve padded barefoot into the empty lodge and exited out the side door, immediately immersed in a thicket of pine trees. She recalled Auden telling ghost stories about "Whistling Pines", but conspiratorially shared that Whistling Pines was primarily used for making out.

She took off down a well-worn dirt path, enjoying the uninterrupted view of Lake Michigan on her left. It was a breezy day, enough to turn up some white caps on the great lake and ruffle her long brown hair. Eventually her view became obscured by tall pines and she pressed onward at a quickened pace, eager to see what Wabanaki had to offer. It wasn't long before she broke into a clearing surrounded by fencing. Four cabins and a bathhouse stood proudly among the pines and a large sign reading "Girl's Village" greeting her wondering gaze. She listened hard for voices, but hearing none she decided to enter anyway. It was a great opportunity to creep.

The first cabin, build from solid wood, caught her attention.

"Shawnee," she thought to herself, "this is Ellison's cabin."

Her younger sister, Ellison, would be working at Camp Wabanaki for her third summer in a row. This year she earned the privilege of working with the oldest girls. Eve walked around to the front of the cabin, enjoying the feeling of soft dirt working its way between her toes. Any other day she would be horrified; the dirt was undoubtedly ruining her fresh pedicure, but hey, when in Rome...

She tried the door handle and, finding it unlocked, stepped soundlessly across the threshold. An earthy (albeit somewhat musty) smell reached her, a twist of generic disinfectant mingled in there too. Eve unwittingly wrinkled her nose against the offensive odor. She couldn't help but wonder how in the world 'little miss prissy' Ellison tolerated it. After her eyes adjusted to the dark, she began looking around the large cabin. The bunks were built into the walls, one on top and one on bottom, and ran the expanse of two walls. She silently counted twenty bunks in all. On the far wall stood two single beds and what looked to be an armoire between them.

Must be for the counselors, she mused.

She took a few steps into the room and dropped down onto a bottom bunk, testing out the paper thin mattress. Again she wondered how Ellison could tolerate these accommodations and smiled slightly to herself. Lost in her thoughts, she visibly startled when a male voice called out,

"Hey, who is in there?"

Eve shot to her feet and turned toward the door,

"I'm sorry. I was just looking around." She stammered.

She could hear footsteps approaching but stood glued to the spot, terrified she was somehow trespassing or doing something wrong.

"Are you on staff?" the voice asked.