Camp Ghost-Away (3 page)

Now all four Pee Wees were at the door of the tent. As they watched they saw two white figures move in and out of the trees.

“Look!” screamed Rachel. “There are two ghosts!”

“HELLLLLP!” shouted all four girls.

The white shapes billowed in the wind. Their floppy arms waved and they looked as if they were floating!

All of a sudden Tiny dashed through the door and began to chase the ghosts. The girls chased Tiny.

Then the flaps on the other tents burst open and all the Scouts raced out!

They ran through the woods. The ghosts jumped over a creek with Tiny right behind.

Then the ghosts ran toward the camp. It seemed as if they couldn’t see where they were going. Soon they bumped smack into the tent that was the kitchen.

Crash went the pots and pans!

Bang! The table toppled over.

Smash! The food fell from the cupboards.

It sounded like glass breaking. Wet things were dripping. By now everyone in the whole camp was awake and chasing the ghosts.

Suddenly a lantern came on, and light filled the kitchen tent.

“Yuck!” said Rachel. “I stepped in maple syrup.”

The other Scouts were stepping in food too. Food was all over. Chairs were on their sides. The place was a mess.

*   *   *

The ghosts were under it all. They were trapped on the floor. Tiny had a foot on one ghost’s body. He barked and barked.

“Tiny caught the ghosts!” cried Molly. “Tiny is a hero.”

A
ll of a sudden, one ghost started to cry. Mrs. Peters lifted the chairs and cleaned the food off his body. Then she shone the lantern over him.

“My legs are broken!” wailed the ghost. “And that dog walked on my stomach!”

The Scouts stared.

A ghost did not get broken legs, thought Molly. And do they have stomachs? Hey, that voice sounded familiar!

The ghost slowly got to his feet. The other ghost was still moaning.

“He has a sheet on!” said Mrs. Peters.

A real ghost did not wear a sheet, thought Molly. A real ghost was made out of something like smoke. White smoke. Something that was like a cloud. This was no cloud!

Mrs. Ronning marched up and pulled the sheet off of the ghost.

“Sonny Betz!” shouted the Pee Wee Scouts. “It’s not a ghost, it’s Sonny Betz!”

“Roger made me do it!” he shouted. He pointed to the other ghost.

Some-of the Scouts began to laugh. Some of them called him names. “Dumb bunny Sonny!”

Molly did not laugh. Being scared in the woods at night was not funny.

A hex on Sonny Betz.

A hex on Roger White.

A double hex.

Sonny was still sobbing in pain. Mrs. Ronning checked his legs. She felt all his bones. He cried louder. “Nothing is broken,” said Mrs. Ronning.

“He made me do it,” said Sonny again, pointing.

Mrs. Peters pulled the sheet off the other ghost. Sure enough, it was Roger.

“It was his idea!” Sonny cried. “Roger said we should scare the girls.”

Roger did not look hurt. He looked sheepish. He looked as if he would like to dash out the door and run away. “It was just a joke,” muttered Roger.

*   *   *

Molly felt like giving Roger and Sonny a big smack. Pow! Bang!

But Mrs. Peters said, “I think the ghosts have suffered enough. I hope they learned a lesson. Jokes are dangerous. They could have been hurt.”

“This camp is named wrong,” said Mary Beth. “Instead of Camp Hide-Away, I think we should call it Camp Ghost-Away!”

“Yeah!” shouted Molly. “That is a good name.”

In the morning Mrs. Peters made Roger and Sonny clean up the mess in the kitchen.

Everyone was yawning when they came to breakfast. They had all missed a lot of sleep because of the ghosts. But when the food came, they were hungry.

“Pancakes.” said Mary Beth. “I love pancakes.”

Rachel said, “I don’t eat pancakes. My dad says there’s too much sugar in them.”

Molly groaned. Rachel was a fussbudget. She just drank orange juice and ate some grapefruit.

Molly made a face at the grapefruit. “Sour,” she said. “It gives me the creeps. Yuck!”

“You’ll be sorry when all your teeth fall out,” said Rachel.

“Teeth-schmeeth,” said Molly. “My teeth are as good as yours.”

Later that morning, Mrs. Peters said, “Everyone into your swimsuits.”

When the Pee Wees were ready, she said, “Let’s see if you can learn to float. When you can float alone, you will get the Pee Wee float badge.”

“You can’t float,” said Rachel to Molly. “You ate too many pancakes.”

Molly wanted to stick out her tongue. She wanted to hex her. She wanted to say a bad word.

All of a sudden she shouted out, “Rat’s knees!”

It felt good. It was better than a hex. Rats were ugly things. It was a bad word. And a new one!

When they got to the beach there was a lifeguard. He looked old, maybe eighteen. His name was Rick. He showed them how to do the dead man’s float.

“Just relax,” said Rick. “Then your body will float.”

The Pee Wees tried it. Rick held his arms under each of them at first. Then he let go.

When he let go of Lisa, she floated!

When he let go of Tim, he floated!

But when he let go of Molly, she began to sink. Plunk, plunk, plunk.

Molly’s feet sank down. Right down to the bottom of the lake. She could touch even the ground with her toes!

Molly kicked her legs to get them up. She got a big gulp of lake water.

“I can’t do it,” she sputtered. Then some water went up her nose.

“I told you, you ate too many pancakes!” Rachel said. Rachel could float before she came to camp. She had had private swimming lessons in kindergarten.

Rat’s knees! A hex on Rachel.

“Don’t worry,” said Rick the lifeguard. “It takes time to learn to float. You have to relax all of your muscles.”

Molly felt like crying. She even felt
like going home. It was no fun to be a failure. She was as smart as they were. Why couldn’t she float? Maybe Rachel was right! She was too fat!

Rachel went to the tent and changed into her other swimsuit.

Molly practiced floating with Rick. But she still sank. Soon it was time to go out in the rowboat. Molly still could not float.

Rick showed them how to row. Sonny tried it. His oars flopped around, but the small rowboat moved.

“Good!” said Rick.

Then Roger rowed. He got water in the boat. The girls got wet.

“Hey, stop it!” said Rachel. “I just got all dried off!”

But Rick said, “Good!”

Then it was Molly’s turn.

Molly pulled on one oar. Then the other. The oars were heavy. She felt one begin to slip. Ker-plop! One of the oars fell off the boat. It sank to the bottom of the lake as the Pee Wees watched.

Rick did not say Good. He said, “How are we going to get in to shore?” He had to row all the way in with one oar. It took a long time.

“Ho-ho! What a rower!” shouted Roger. He made sounds like the oar going into the water. “Ker-plop, ker-plop.” Everyone laughed.

Molly was getting tired of camp. Everyone could learn camp things but her.

After lunch, the Pee Wee Scouts went on a nature hike with Mrs. Peters. They looked for seeds and berries. They listened to the birds sing. Mary Beth found a stone that was an agate. Rachel found a
robin’s blue eggshell. Tim Noon found a rare wildflower. But Molly got poison ivy.

“Now, everyone, look here,” said Mrs. Peters. “Stay away from this plant. It has three leaves together. It looks just like the picture in our nature book.”

The Scouts all looked at it closely. “That was dumb,” said Rachel. “Why did you touch it?”

“It doesn’t look like the picture in the book,” muttered Molly. She scratched and scratched.

Mrs. Peters put some lotion on her arms. She still itched. Rat’s knees!

E
veryone was tired by suppertime. Everyone but Rachel. She put on a new outfit for supper. It had an anchor on the shirt and a whistle around the neck.

Rachel made a face. “I hate hot dogs!” she said. “I thought we’d have a picnic with steak and stuff.”

After supper the Scouts had a treasure hunt. Then they sang around the campfire. They sang the Pee Wee Scout song.
Rachel got ashes and mustard on her new outfit. And Roger pushed her into the lake with her new sandals on.

Camp wasn’t so bad after all, thought Molly. Even though her arms were still itching.

Soon it was dark. Everyone helped put the campfire out. All of a sudden there was the sound of someone crying. Molly looked around. Sonny was sitting on a tree stump. Tears were running down his face.

Mrs. Peters went over to him and said, “What’s the matter, Sonny? What happened?”

Sonny cried even louder. He buried his face in his hands. Everyone ran over to see why he was crying.

“I want my mother!” screamed Sonny.

“I want to go home!”

Mrs. Peters put her arm around Sonny. “You’re just homesick,” she said. “You will feel better in the morning.”

“Baby,” muttered Rachel. “Mama’s boy.”

Mrs. Peters tried to make Sonny feel better. She gave him warm milk and tucked him into his sleeping bag. Sonny still sobbed.

“He is really spoiled,” said Rachel when they were in bed. “Can’t even leave his mother when he’s in first grade. Yuck!”

In the middle of the night Sonny came to the girls’ tent. He was carrying a blanket and crying. He was not playing ghost now.

“I want to go home!” he screamed.

Mrs. Peters heard the noise and came running.

“I want to go home,” wailed Sonny. “Right now!”

All of the Pee Wee Scouts were up now. They wondered what Mrs. Peters would do.

“You should have stayed home,” muttered Roger. “Babies shouldn’t come to camp.”

Sonny wailed louder. “I feel sick,” he said, holding his stomach.

“Homesick,” said Mrs. Peters. “You are just homesick, Sonny.”

“It feels awful,” sobbed Sonny.

“I guess the only thing to do is to call Sonny’s mother,” said Mrs. Peters.

Sonny threw his arms around Mrs. Peters. “Call her!” he cried. “Tell her to come and get me right away!”