Camp Ghost-Away (2 page)

All of Rachel’s family must be rich, thought Molly.

“What will they do with all those donut?” ask mary Beth.

“They’ll get fat!” shouted Molly, filling her cheeks with air. “They’ll turn into donuts if they eat twenty boxes!”

Molly waddled across the floor, pretending to be Rachel’s fat relatives.

Rachel looked very angry. Her face got red. “My grandma and my aunt are not fat!” she cried.

“They will be when they finish all those donuts,” said Roger, holding his sides and chuckling.

“They aren’t eating the donuts themselves,” said Rachel. “They will give them to hungry people.”

“The main thing is that we have enough money for camp,” said Mrs. Peters. “And Rachel and Sonny get the award and the best donut seller’s badge.”

After Scouts, Molly said to Rachel, “You didn’t sell a million boxes anyway. You said you were going to sell a million.”

“Well, I sold a lot more than you,” said Rachel. “Your dumb twelve boxes.”

Molly couldn’t argue with that. She wished a hex on Rachel’s aunt and grandma. And on Sonny’s mom. But she was glad that the Pee Wee Scouts (and their relatives) had earned enough for them to go to camp.

T
he next Tuesday, Troop 23 met again. Mrs. Peters talked about Camp Hide-Away. She told them what to bring. She told them what to wear. And she sent notes home to their mothers with the address and telephone number of the camp.

“We will leave Friday afternoon from the school,” Mrs. Peters said. “We will ride to camp in a bus. We will come home on Sunday evening.”

*   *   *

Lisa’s mother was coming along to help Mrs. Peters.

During the rest of the meeting the Scouts told good deeds they had done.

“I watered Mrs. Johnson’s plants for her,” said Tracy Barnes. “She’s my next-door neighbor.”

“I washed my dad’s car,” boasted Roger. “All by myself.”

“Good for you!” said Mrs. Peters.

It was a short meeting. The Scouts sang their Pee Wee Scout song. Then they said the Pee Wee Scout pledge. Then they ran home to tell their parents about Camp Hide-Away.

“I’ve got a new swimsuit to take to camp,” said Mary Beth at the park the next day. Some of the Pee Wees played there in the summer.

“I have a new swimsuit for camp too,”
called Molly from the top of the jungle gym.

“I’ve got two swimsuits,” said Rachel. “My mom says everyone should have two. In case one is wet and you want to go in the water again.”

Molly hung upside down by her knees. She tried to think of a worse word than hex. Molly learned “hex” from her grandma, but it wasn’t really bad. She wanted a really bad word to use on Rachel’s mother. Her mother was probably a show-off just like Rachel.

“I’m wearing my new bracelet to camp too,” said Rachel. She held out her arm. “It is fourteen karat gold.”

Rachel’s bracelet sparkled in the sun. It looked very expensive. “My dad brought it back from New York with him,” said Rachel.

*   *   *

Molly had a bracelet. But it was too small. And it was not real gold. It made her wrist turn green.

Rachel kept waving her arm so the bracelet would sparkle in Molly’s eyes. Molly watched her. She wished the bracelet were hers.

The Pee Wees played in the park until suppertime. The next day they went there again. They had to wait and wait until Friday.

They ran under the sprinkler at Molly’s house to make the time go faster.

They rode their skateboards in Roger’s driveway to make the time go faster.

And they made lemonade at Lisa’s, and tried to sell it on her front lawn, to make the time go faster. They sold only two cups. One to Lisa’s mother. And one to
her little brother. But he couldn’t pay because he had lost his penny.

At last Friday came. All the Pee Wee Scouts carried their camp bags to the school. The school was closed, but the bus was waiting! Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Ronning were waiting too. Everyone got on the bus. Even Mrs. Peters’s big black dog.

“He is coming along as our mascot,” said Mrs. Peters. “His name is Tiny. He will be a watchdog in camp at night.”

“Tiny!” shouted Tim. “His name should be Giant. Why would such a big dog be called Tiny?”

“Sometimes you call things the opposite of what they really are,” explained Mrs. Peters. “Like sometimes if a man has no hair, they call him Curly.”

The Scouts looked puzzled.

Then Roger said, “My uncle is real tall and everybody calls him Shorty!”

“That’s right,” said Mrs. Peters. “The opposite of what he is.”

As the bus rolled along, the Scouts sang camp songs. They sang the Pee Wee Scout song too.

Mary Beth showed Molly her new swimsuit. And her new birthstone ring she got for her birthday. “Emerald,” she said. “For May.”

Rachel dangled her bracelet in front of everyone’s eyes. Mary Beth’s ring was almost as shiny.

“I don’t feel so good,” said Sonny. His face looked white. He leaned back in his seat and closed his eyes. He was sitting next to Lisa.

“OOOOOOoooo,” he moaned, holding his stomach. “I think I’m carsick.”

*   *   *

Lisa leaned over into the aisle. She didn’t want to sit too close to Sonny. He might have an accident. All over her.

Sonny groaned again, and the driver stopped the bus. He took Sonny off the bus until he felt better. But Sonny’s face was still white when he got back on.

The Scouts looked out the windows.
They watched the trees and telephone poles whiz by.

“How much longer?” asked Mary Beth.

“Are we almost there?” asked Roger.

Just when the ride was getting boring and Roger and Sonny began to fight, Mrs. Peters said, “Here we are!”

Tiny began to bark. The bus squealed to a stop. The Pee Wees hurried to get off.

There were tall pine trees everywhere. There was a sparkly blue lake too. And right in the middle of the dark woods stood the tents.

“Do we have to sleep in a
tent
?” whined Rachel. “I thought there would be a hotel or something.”

*   *   *

Roger laughed.

Sonny cracked up.

Even Mrs. Peters smiled. “This is a camp, Rachel. Camping is living outside, close to nature.”

“Ugh, bugs,” said Rachel, making a face.

“Bears!” said Roger. “Not just bugs!”

Rachel screamed. “Are there bears, Mrs. Peters?”

“There could be,” she said. “But we are safe with Tiny. And we must not leave food outside.”

Rachel looked as if she wanted to get back on the bus and go home.

“Scaredy cat,” said Molly.

“Sissy,” called the boys.

Four Scouts stayed in each tent. Mrs. Peters and Mrs. Ronning were not far
away. Tiny stayed in Molly’s tent. And Mary Beth, Rachel, and Lisa. Each Scout had a cot and a sleeping bag.

After supper, Mrs. Peters and the Pee Wees built a campfire. Everyone held hands and sang around the campfire.

The fire made shadows in the woods. The moonlight shone on the lake. It was very pretty at camp. But it was scary, too, thought Molly.

The campfire burned low. Then it went out. Mrs. Peters led the Scouts in the Pee Wee Scout pledge. Everyone held hands while they said it. They always did that when they said the pledge.

Lisa’s mother and Mrs. Peters helped the Scouts get tucked into the sleeping
bags for the night. Then they went to their own tent.

“It’s so quiet,” said Lisa.

It was quiet. Except for the wind whistling around the tent, there wasn’t a sound.

And it was dark. Pitch black, dark!

“I’m not scared, are you?” whispered Mary Beth.

“Naw,” said Molly. But her voice sounded like it was shaking.

“We’ve got Tiny and Mrs. Peters and Lisa’s mother to protect us,” said Mary Beth with a quiver.

And then, just when they decided to be brave, they heard a loud ghostlike sound.

“OOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo
,” the ghost moaned. It sounded as if it were right outside their tent!

“W
hat was that?” said Molly, leaping up from her cot. The other girls sat up. Mary Beth’s eyes were wide open and as big as saucers. They all listened. They had goose bumps on their arms. But all they could hear now was the wind roaring in the trees.

“It was probably just an animal,” said Lisa bravely. Lisa’s mother was nearby. But not close enough, thought Lisa.

“What kind of animal makes a ghost noise?” asked Rachel.

“A wild animal,” said Mary Beth, rolling her eyes toward the tent door.

“A wild animal!” yelled Rachel. “I want to go home! A wild animal could eat us! A wild animal is more dangerous than a ghost!”

Molly didn’t know which was more dangerous. She didn’t know if she would rather meet a ghost or a tiger. A ghost, she decided. No, a tiger, she thought, changing her mind.

“It’s gone anyway,” said Lisa, who felt she had to be brave. With her mother there, she couldn’t be a sissy.

The children lay back on their cots. Just as they did, they heard the ghost-sound again.
“OOOOOOOOoooooooo.”
The voice carried on the wind.
“OOOOOOOOOoooooooeeeeeeee,”
it sounded again.

Molly screamed.

Mary Beth pulled her sleeping bag over her head.

Rachel cried.

Lisa got out of bed and crept to the door. She stuck her head out of the tent opening. But she held on to the sides so they did not flap in the wind. “I can’t see anything in the dark,” said Lisa.

Molly crept to the door beside Lisa.

The creature’s loud voice rang out again,
“OOOOOO ooooo eeeee!”

This time Tiny woke up and began to bark. The louder the creature’s voice got, the louder Tiny barked. After a while he stopped barking. He threw back his head and howled. “Owwwooo!”

Molly was getting mad. She put her head out of the tent door and yelled, “A hex on you! Dumb ghost! Get out of our camp!”

The voice stopped. Tiny stopped howling.

Then the Scouts heard the voice say, “I’m going to get yoooooou.”

“That’s no wild animal,” said Molly. “Animals can’t talk.”

“But ghosts can,” said Lisa.