Starry Night

ten

Turns out that "quiet hours" really do mean quiet. Even though the tent cabins in Camp Owl are spread apart, when it's pitch-black outside and the usual white noise of city life - traffic, air conditioners, TV - is replaced by crickets, you can hear everything.

And I do mean e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.

The flush of toilets. Distant laughter. The crunch of gravel as a stranger walks. Even the smallest noise is amplified. So when all six of us converge in the girls' tent cabin to talk about how we are going to retrieve the hidden wine, it isn't long before we decide that Bogum and Jungkook will get up early and cart the wine back in their packs. Actually, Bogum volunteers Jungkook, and Jungkook just says drily, "I've always dreamed of being a rumrunner."

The boys retreat to their tent, and we get ready for bed. It's been a while since I've slept in a bunk ed - and never since I slept in a tent. But after recording the events of the day in my mini-journal and a copy of hours spent lying wide-awake in bed, cataloging all the nocturnal noises in camp, I manage to fall into a restless and unsettled sleep, waking periodically.

When dawn pushes away the darkness, I give up on sleep and climb out of my bunk.

It feels strange to be up so early. But Seolhyun is a morning person, and when I got to the floor, I find her facedown, sprawled on top of a still-made bed. She never got under the covers? It's insanely chilly in here. I'm a little worried something is wrong, so I shake her shoulder.

"Go away," she says in a rough, muffled voice into her pillow. She sounds awful. And pissed off. So I leave her alone and gather my clothes as quietly as possible. Hyejeong is still asleep, and I fear I'll wake both of them up if I use the en suite bathroom, so I head out to the camp bathhouse.

It's far brisker outside the tent than inside, but I see lights in some of the other tents and silhouettes moving around, so I'm not the only person up this early. But I'm able to snag a free shower stall in the bathhouse, and I don't hurry shaving and washing my hair so that my phone has time to charge. When I'm finished drying my hair, I hike back through the camp, feeling a lot more civilized. The boys' tent is dark and both of the girls in my tent are still  asleep. Unless I want to sit here and listen to Seolhyun snoring, my best bet is to head up to the lodge for early breakfast.

Blue-gray light filters through the pine trees as I hike up the main path. The compound looks different out here in this light, so I  have trouble spotting the garbage bin where we left the wine. Maybe Bogum and Jungkook have already retrieved all the bottles. I mentally cross my fingers and continue along the path toward the lodge.

When I enter the pavilion where we ate dinner, I find an expansive breakfast bar set up on a couple of tables. Eggs, bacon, pastries. Also, an oatmeal station with a dozen topping choices, which one guest is browsing. Why anyone would want that over sausage is a mystery to me. Grabbing a plate, I lift up the lid of a silver chafing dish, and through the warm sausage steam, I get a hazy look at the person hovering over the oatmeal station. He's tall, dark, and hot, and -