Chapter Three
G ia pulled the lighter out of her pocket and glanced over both shoulders before she flicked the dial. The corner of the ivory envelope curled and turned black amidst the orange flame. She knelt at the edge of the pit and dropped the blackening letter into the pile of ash. In a pop of burning color it was gone.
End of problem.
“What’s up?” Rebekah stood on the cabin porch with her hands on her hips. “I thought Mr. Olivares was the only person allowed to start a campfire for us in this dry weather.”
“I’m not starting a campfire at ten a.m.” There was a second of alarm. If they were both outside... “Where are the girls?”
“They’re still inside changing for the lake.” Rebekah plopped on the top step. “We can’t lose one if I’m sitting here blocking the door. And it’s not like we can’t hear them. The whole county can hear them.” She sniffed the air. “I smell smoke.”
Gia slipped the lighter into the lower pocket on her cargo shorts. “Who are you, Smokey the Bear? I told you there’s no fire.”
“Oh, Gia. I may be a ditz-bot on occasion, and I know I get on your nerves sometimes, but I am not without a working brain. That’s the fourth envelope I’ve seen you destroy in a week.” She patted the step beside her. “So why don’t you sit a spell and tell your little rookie sis about it. ‘Cause it’s just you and me in this wooded oven all summer and you may have to trust me.”
Gia looked around. The boys of Mighty Oak Cabin 2B, who resided in their own rustic structure on the other side of the common fire ring, had already headed for the lake. If she wanted to share something with Rebekah—which she did not—she had to be sure no one ever overheard any conversation about her tumultuous last semester of college.
She’d told no one about the handsome and seemingly harmless professor whose romantic cat and mouse pursuit of her was charming at first, especially in light of their forbidden faculty-student situation. Her near graduation and his adjunct status blurred those lines in her mind. It ended quickly, but when she tried to break free, his stalking behavior and emotional blackmail forced her to withdraw from the very educational community she’d worked hard to claw her way back in to. Their sick relationship culminated on the evening of a department awards dinner in late April. Her last clear memory of that night was of him following her to her car.
She shivered beneath the burn of the mid-morning sun and struggled to concentrate as the same spotty images scrolled again through her mind. Were they dreams, or were they memories? She’d seen herself in his car in the same dress she’d worn to dinner. But did that happen? Or was she watching it in a dream from far outside herself? She woke in her car, but why had she been asleep? She thought her head might explode from the confusion. For her sanity she had to push it away, but didn’t she need to know? Why didn’t it all gel in her mind, why did she dream about it like it happened but really didn’t, and where were the missing hours?
It was maddening.
What happened that night?
“C’mon. Sit,” Rebekah repeated. “Tell me about it.”
Gia gripped the rail. “Nothing to tell.”
“That look on your face says otherwise. You’ve either got some story going on in that head of yours, or you’re about to toss your cookies again.”
“I feel fine. Great, actually. I think that bug is finally gone.”
“Then the story must be a doozy.”
Gia leaned in, her voice a little more than a whisper. “Look, it’s nothing, OK? I dated a man before I left school. Didn’t know he was such a weirdo. He’s slow to take the hint. I’m ignoring him until he goes away.”
“What kind of weirdo? Like a stalking weirdo? Like he might show up here?”
Gia hadn’t seriously considered that. “No. He’s more of a mental tormenter. He likes to play mind games. I suspect these letters are more of an emotional threat.”
Rebekah left the step and pulled Gia away from the cabin. “Wait. What does that mean you suspect ? Haven’t you read those letters?”
“Keep it down. I told you there’s nothing to tell. He’s not coming here.”
“But if you haven’t read the letters, you don’t really know what he’s up to. And since you’ve been burning things out here like an over-excited pyromaniac, we don’t have any evidence of intent if he does show up here. We can alert camp security to be on the lookout, but it would help if we had one of those letters or a picture. Do you have a picture?”
“No, I don’t have a picture. You’re way overthinking this.” Her heart skipped a beat as her own panic rocketed and possible scenarios multiplied in her mind. “We need to stop this and get back inside. Stop worrying about my sophomoric mistake. That guy is merely a psycho lunatic mental abuser who not only flirts with the dark side of his personality, but lives there most of the time behind a sweet unassuming smile.”
Maybe that was too much. All right, waaaayyyy too much.
Rebekah’s eyes grew wide at the same rate her mouth opened. “That would be poetic if it wasn’t so inherently scary.”
Gia tried to usher her back toward the cabin. “Everything’s fine, rookie. If I get another letter, I’ll look at it. If it’s anything, I’ll tell someone. Camp safety is my top priority. And I’m a psych major, remember? I know this guy.”
“But—”
“But nothing. Don’t worry, and don’t say a word.” She pounded on the door. “Let’s go, girls. Don’t forget the sunscreen.”
Rebekah gave her the I hear you but I don’t really believe you look and opened the cabin door. “By the way,” she whispered. “Isn’t it against the rules for camp staff to have a lighter?”
“It’s also against the rules for camp staff to use their phones at any time they are on active duty. Yet last night I spotted a glow from under your covers.”
Rebekah hitched up her chin and slipped on through the door.
Gia grabbed her own towel and sunscreen and plucked the clipboard off its hook. “Fall in, girls.”
Ten chatterboxes spilled out of the cabin in a coconut scented cloud and stood in loose formation. Some tried, in vain, to stifle their excitement. Others stood like mummies with extra towels secured around their swimsuit clad bodies. Gia took note of who was uncomfortable. She would quietly work with those girls at the lake in hopes of creating a positive experience. She remembered well their insecurity, and had come to expect a certain number of body and self-image issues in every group.
But despite the need for angst inducing swimwear, camp water activities remained the most popular. When a low rumble of thunder crept from the westward sky and popped their bubble of anticipation, they erupted into an overly dramatic and inconsolable collective wail.
“Now we have to wait an hour for The Blob,” Sophie whined.
“It’s not an hour,” Caroline corrected her. “It’s like fifteen minutes from the time the thunder starts.”
“Yes,” someone else chimed in. “But that fifteen minutes starts with every new clap of thunder.”
“We’re never gonna get on The Blob today,” someone else lamented, and the whole group dissolved into a noisy discussion about the unfairness of the situation and the woes of weather safety.
Gia understood their frustration. Storms were few and far between in east Texas during the summer, but it was not unusual to hear distant thunder claps—on an otherwise clear day—that never culminated into a real weather event.
“Don’t worry yet,” she said. “Let’s move out.”
“That’s the spirit,” Rebekah added. “Maybe they didn’t hear that down at the lake.”
No one really believed that, but it was a good effort on the rookie’s part.
Rebekah scrambled to reach her as they hit the narrow path. “They sure love The Blob.”
Gia smiled. “Oh yeah. There’s nothing here better than The Blob.”
And there wasn’t. It was only the best thing ever. A magical forty-foot inflated pillow that rested on top of the water in brilliant hues of blue, red, and yellow. Giggling campers would scurry up the ladder to the platform and jump onto The Blob, launching the person at the other end into the water with amazing height and distance. Enthusiastic campers couldn’t swim fast enough to get back for another turn. For added excitement, veteran male counselors who knew all the tricks of a successful launch often took turns to see who could keep a kid airborne the longest.
“I’m heading up front,” Rebekah called out. She darted from the path and jogged past the girls. Along the way, she left the trail and circled two tall pines as she sometimes walked backward and sideways to scan the woods around them.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Gia muttered. She caught up with the skittish rookie and snatched her by the sleeve right out of the group. “Look here, Miss Law & Order, I know what you’re doing and you need to stop. I have no stalker.”
“All right, I know. But our conversation made me feel all wonky. It could happen, you know. If that crazy guy knows where to mail letters, he knows how to get here.”
“You see why I didn’t want to talk about it? You are literally going to drive me nuts by the end of the summer. Now, get back up at the front and make sure they don’t go left at the dining hall and end up in the camp kitchen. No one needs to see how the spaghetti comes together.”
Gia fell in at the back of the pack while Rebekah ran toward the front.
At the hint of more noise from the sky, Caroline stopped abruptly and turned to crash into her. “Is that what I think it is?”
“No, baby.” She turned her around and pushed her forward. “That’s the angels bowling.”
“No, wait,” she whined and twirled right back into Gia’s chest. “What happens if they don’t let us swim?”
“Don’t worry. If we miss our scheduled time today, we’ll get another time slot. Maybe later today when it’s safe.”
Caroline stood still long enough for a sweet smile of relief to blossom and sweep across her face. “That’s good, Gia. ‘Cause you know, there’s nothing better than The Blob.”
AS RATTLING EXPERIENCES went, Rocky decided this one was not as rattling as he’d expected. Yes, he had to worry about his talk. And the absurd bandage on his head. And getting back off the stage by way of the same ramp that ate his lunch last week. But overall, it was going well. He wrapped up his presentation, and he hadn’t fallen off the platform or sustained another cut or scrape.
He also hadn’t seen Gia, and that was more disappointing than he wanted to admit.
The camp director took the microphone from him and offered more thanks and applause as a group of counselors gathered to perform a series of improvisational skits. Auxiliary camp staff—including him—were called to judge as each group drew a topic out of a giant stew pot from the kitchen.
He made his way down the ramp and to the judge’s table. A sauna-like mist of humidity settled over everyone like a soggy blanket. Wafts of garlic and basil from the kitchen mingled with wet kid smells from the crowd and hovered in the thick air. The rain shower that had blown through earlier in the day did little to ease the stifling heat. Still, he was content at Camp Towering Pines. Content among the children, content with the goofy camaraderie between his new staff acquaintances, and content with the idea that maybe this leap outside his comfort zone had been exactly what he needed.
He downed another liter of water from his jug and conferred with his fellow adjudicators as each group launched their informative acts about everything from bullying and self-confidence to personal camp hygiene and bathroom cleanliness. A blast from an air horn started and stopped each skit while judges reserved the right to toss props onto the stage that actors had to pick up and incorporate into their scenes. The crowd came unglued when Rocky pulled a rubber chicken and a toilet brush from the wooden box and chunked them at the participants’ feet. He laughed until the first aid tape on the side of his forehead began to peel away.
As that skit ended, he scanned the crowd behind him in search of Gia. She wasn’t there. Instead, when he turned back around, she was in the middle of the stage. She caught his gaze and returned his surely spastic smile with a warm and easy one. The subtle arch of her brow, accompanied with the curious tilt of her head, made him think she was wondering how he ended up at the American Idol-like judgment table. He wondered that himself as he managed a slight wave. There was no use trying to look self-assured or uninterested. She simply disarmed him to the point of goofiness.
At the sound of the horn, they were off. The topic was clearly about cliquish behavior and excluding others. Gia and two male counselors—who pretended to be female—acted as the clique while another female played the outcast, desperate to join in. When the guys started in with exaggerated feminine gestures and spoke in falsetto voices about nail polish and hair, it was only fitting that a judge at the end of the table snagged a wig and animal print high heels from the box and tossed them on stage. As the muscular six-foot-plus male counselor struggled to step into the shoes, someone else tossed up a large metallic gold handbag and a grass hula skirt.
“Are you on your way to the dining hall?” the outcast asked. “Mind if I walk with you?”
The clique acted appropriately appalled and met the request with scorn. “We don’t lunch with babies. Run on back to the elementary cabin.”
“I’m the same age as you!”
Rocky noted the hula skirt and surmised there must be a coconut bra in the box somewhere. It was summer camp. Someone had to wear a coconut bra. He found it and meant to toss it to one of the guys. It landed at Gia’s feet. She shot him an amused look as she picked it up and let it dangle at the end of her fingers. Even the kids knew it needed to go on the guy in heels and cheered for her to pass it on.
The outcast tried again. “I was thinking we could have lunch together and talk about last night’s devotional.”
Gia made a greatly annoyed face. “What do you think this is, Vacation Bible School? We don’t discuss that at lunch. We talk about boys. And sneaking out of our cabins at night to meet boys. And breaking into the camp office to video chat with boys. And—”
“And how good looking all the male counselors are,” one of the guys shrieked as he tugged at his coconut bra.
“Boys are not the only reason to come to camp,” the outcast replied.
“They are the best reason,” Gia answered.
And at that moment, a gigantic pair of ruffled red and white polka-dotted panties landed on her face with such force her hair blew back.
The kids rolled with laughter as she held up the enormous prop and glared at Rocky.
His face grew hot with fear. Whoa. Maybe not a good idea?
The outcast broke character and snickered behind her hand before regaining control. “Well, I came here to make friends, learn more about Jesus, and fly off The Blob,” she shouted at them.
“We don’t have time for that,” one of the guys interjected. “We have to make plans for Friday night’s 80’s theme party.”
“Yeah,” Gia said and tossed her the gargantuan underwear. “So put on your big girl panties and deal with it.”
“No.” She tossed them back. “ You put on your big girl panties and grow up.”
The crowd cheered the outcast on as she continued. “It wouldn’t hurt you to learn to be a little Christlike while you’re here and stop being such snobs.”
From there the skit took its natural course through tears, understanding, forgiveness, acceptance, and friendship. At the end all was well in camp world where bullies learn to behave and underdogs gain empowerment. It was a good message he hoped would stick.
The players took exaggerated bows and jockeyed for position in front of the table as Rocky and his fellow judges determined awards for everything from acting and interpretation to the best use of props. The coconut bra wins again.
Gia stood there laughing and clapping with the others, completely immersed in her leadership role. She glanced his way a couple of times, and he responded with all the finesse of a junior high aged boy at a school dance. He quickly looked away. The swish of her long dark hair as she whipped it into a knot at the back of her head was too much for him.
During the closing prayer, he kept one eye open to track her movements, but she’d vanished as fast as she appeared. Campers made a quick but orderly exit toward dinner, and he sat stupidly at the edge of the path, hoping she’d reappear, but already knowing he’d lost what nerve he’d mustered to ask her out.
“I believe these are yours,” she said from behind him and dangled the large polka-dot underwear in front of his face.
Be cool, be cool, be cool... But how cool could he be as he snatched a pair of giant panties out of the air?
“Yeah,” he said as he turned to face her. “About that. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. The kids loved it.”
“I didn’t mean to hit you in the face with them, but it didn’t seem to rattle you much. You didn’t miss a beat.”
“There aren’t too many surprises left in those improvised skits. It’s a good thing we get new kids every week. Our true lack of talent would be obvious otherwise.”
She pulled a chair away from the table and sat at his level. It was a sweet gesture, one few acquaintances snapped to early on. He often had to pause and ask people to have a seat so he didn’t have to strain his neck looking up at them, or spend a whole conversation looking straight into the sun.
She motioned toward the loose bandage on his forehead. “What’d you fall off of this week, cowboy?”
“Nothing. It’s nothing.”
“Doesn’t look like nothing, and your bandage looks like it’s about to slide off your face in this heat.” She leaned in and raised her hand as if she were actually going to poke at it. “Do you want me to get some fresh tape from the nurse?”
He stopped short of swatting her hand away. “Are we really going to do this again this week?”
“I don’t know. How many more things are you going to fall off of?”
“I didn’t fall off anything. I was changing my oil and nicked my head on the jack stand when I rolled out from under the car.”
“It doesn’t look like a nick. Looks pretty nasty where the bandage is coming off. You probably needed stitches.”
“I didn’t need stitches, and can we call a truce on the triage-by-force? And please tell me your unnatural tendency to commit first aid is because deep down you want to be a paramedic or something. Otherwise, I’d have to say you’re just weird. And borderline sadistic.”
She sat back in the chair, crossed her legs, and batted her lashes. “Aw, there’s that charming guy I met last week. Tell me, does this sort of complimentary banter usually work for you with the ladies?”
Somehow, he’d gone from cool to clueless in a matter of seconds. She was making fun of him and he’d lost all control of the situation along with his ability to focus. He didn’t know how it happened that in one breath their conversation made sense, and in the very next he was calling her weird and sadistic. In all fairness, she had tried to poke his open wound.
“Any word on that truce I asked about?”
“Oh sure,” she said with a laugh. “I’m just giving you a hard time. No, I don’t want to be a paramedic. My mom’s a nurse, but she hasn’t worked in nursing for years. As for me, I’m stuck in protector-fixer-leader mode while I’m on duty. Kids tend to have loose personal boundaries and wide open personal space. Everything is in your face and there’s constant physical contact. Not much is off limits, so we often forget ourselves around other adults. Hard to remember I don’t need to help everyone punch a hole for the straw in their juice box.”
“I think it’s great you’re so dedicated to your work.”
“Speaking of work, I need to help Rebekah. She’s already freaked out because we’re off schedule today.” She stood and smoothed her shorts. “Once again, I missed your talk.”
“I didn’t think I saw you when we first started.”
“That little storm that passed through messed up our Blob time so we got pushed to later in the day. You can’t mess with their Blob time. It’s sacred.”
If Blob time was what Rocky thought it was, he understood completely. “I get that,” he said and scrambled to keep the conversation going. He wanted to make her stay, wanted to talk more, wanted to regain the courage to ask her out.
“Now, don’t watch me walk away,” she teased. “I have a wicked case of Pine Butt.”
Rocky was suddenly horrified . Pine Butt? Who is this woman?
She burst out laughing. “Sorry. That look on your face is priceless. Wish I had my phone to snap that.” She paused by his chair. “You’ll have to lighten up if you’re gonna work here, Rocky. Remember loose boundaries? Kids will say anything? And so you know, Pine Butt is this camp’s term for when you’ve sat in something wet, sticky, or gross and it’s still on your bottom for all the world to see. No time to change around here. I sat in a muddy spot after that rain and voila ! Pine Butt.”
“Good to know.”
“You can also get Pine Cooties, Pine Grunge, and Pine Splats. But we’ll save that for another time.”
“I can’t wait,” he muttered.
She touched his shoulder. “I gotta run. See you next week?”
“Yeah, but wait.”
“Yes?”
“I was wondering if you’d like to see a movie or get some dinner one night when you’re off duty.”
Now who looked horrified?
“I uh...well—”
“Never mind. Didn’t mean to put you on the spot. Let’s forget I said anything. Agreed?”
“No, not at all. I’d like to go out with you, but I’m not sure how. I’m only off for a short time between Saturday when the campers leave, and Sunday when they come back.”
“Saturday night, then.”
“But you’re an hour down the road, there’s not much to do around here...”
“Details.” He pulled a card out of his pocket. “Text me when you get phone time. We’ll figure it out.”
She took the card and turned it in her fingers before she tucked it into her pocket. “Sure.” She smiled. “We’ll talk. And hey, if you’re hungry, I’m sure I could find you a plate of spaghetti.”
“Sounds good, but what I’d really like to see is that Blob. I’m wondering if it’s still as amazing as I remember from my camp days when my parents shipped me to Arkansas.”
“Oh yeah,” she said and started down the path. “There’s nothing better than The Blob.”