India Rose & The Eternals - The Fountain Of Youth Chronicles Vol. 1

Chapter 14: The Cliffs Of Madness Is Just A Name

The Trail To The Cliffs Of Madness, 1982, 3 P.M, 28th Day Of Summer

It's funny how a day can change so quickly. That morning, India had felt just about as low as a kid at a great summer camp can feel, and now here she was, having the time of her life battling pirates on Camp Outermost's waterfront.

To be clear, they were not actual pirates of the scurvy sort, but camp counselors dressed up as buccaneers. They were throwing water balloons and other projectiles at campers, and making all those pirate-like noises that pass for words in "pirate speak."

India had walked out of the kitchen that morning in a sweet kind of daze. As she heard the rusty screen door slam behind her, she looked around at the sun in the sky and at the campers running around in front of her, and felt like she was in an unfamiliar world. The terrain was familiar, but the activities and motions were all new. She imagined that this is what it was like to be released from prison. Things that were known in a previous lifetime (or what seemed like one to a girl India's age) were suddenly reintroduced in a rush of activity and gusto.

Careful to avoid being seen by Mrs. Blue, India made her way to her cabin. Not knowing quite what to do, she sat on the end of her bunk and looked out her window at camp life. Before too long one of her cabin mates, a girl named Amy, rushed back in to grab a forgotten towel and then spied India sitting quietly.

"Oh. Hi, India. What are you doing in here?"

"Roberto gave me the day off. I guess I don't really know what to do. I was going to pack for tonight's campout, but I ended up just sitting here."

"That's silly! Come down to the waterfront. It's campers versus counselors, and it's our turn to use the water balloon cannon."

"The water balloon cannon?"

"Yeah, come on! See for yourself," said Amy, slinging her beach towel over her shoulder and motioning for India to follow her out the door.

India scooted down off her top bunk and grabbed a towel of her own. She was still in too much of a daze to think about details like a bathing suit, so she just followed Amy down the trail to the waterfront.

"The girls from our cabin are over here," called out Amy as she headed toward the left side of the beach.

India could see that there was a group of her cabin mates surrounding an object that looked like a pole with a rope on it. Beside the pole, there was a milk crate full of water balloons, and as India looked, one of the girls loaded a balloon into the device, and a few more girls helped her pull it back and let it fly. The balloon soared majestically over the waves towards a dock that was out in the water, anchored just off the shore.

On the dock were a group of Camp Outermost counselors who were dressed in silly pirate costumes. They were standing over a wooden chest that was full of what appeared to be bags of marshmallows.

"You'll never get ye marshmallows back!" thundered one costumed counselor, standing on the edge of the dock and brandishing what appeared to be a plastic sword above his head. India recognized Egan's voice underneath the huge fake beard he was wearing.

As he spoke, a volley of projectiles flew towards him and the other pirates, and almost all of them dropped to the deck as the multicolored balloons sailed overhead. As soon as the threat had passed the counselors popped back up, and in unison, shouted, "Arrrrrrr!" at the top of their lungs.

This scene replayed itself a few more times as more and more campers tried their hands at shooting a water balloon out to sea. A few of them hit their targets (or near-enough) and the counselor-pirate who was hit, gamely fell into the ocean with a dramatic, "Arrrrrrr, ye got me! I be going down!"