Kacey & Friends at Camp Wildwood

Kacey & Friends at Camp Wildwood

  by C. Metzinger

  Thank you for downloading this ebook. This book remains the copyrighted property of the author, and may not be redistributed to others for commercial or non-commercial purposes. If you enjoyed this book, please encourage your friends to download their own copy from their favorite authorized retailer. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental. Thank you for your support.

  Copyright 2014 C. Metzinger

  Kacey & Friends at Camp Wildwood

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One: Lost!

  Chapter Two: Bugs and Bears

  Chapter Three: Bartley the Brat

  Chapter Four: Trouble with Emma

  Chapter Five: Wild in the Woods

  Chapter Six: Ava to the Rescue

  Chapter Seven: Overnight Camping Trip

  Chapter Eight: Kacey to the Rescue

  Chapter Nine: Together Again

  Chapter Ten: Revenge of the Counselors

  Chapter One: Lost!

  “Hurry up or we’ll be late!” Ava complained to her friend, Emma, who was carrying two large, heavy suitcases.

  “Please put these in the trunk while I go get the rest of my stuff,” she replied.

  Ava lugged the heavy cases into the trunk of Kacey’s sleek, red convertible. She paused to ask her friend,

  “Other stuff? She’s brought two huge suitcases and still has more stuff?”

  Kacey shrugged and smiled, “Well, Emma never travels light, as you must know by now.”

  “Yeah, but we’ll be camping. How many pairs of shorts and T-shirts is she bringing, anyhow?”

  Kacey didn’t answer because Emma came hurrying down the sidewalk in front of her house, carrying two overstuffed totes.

  “I brought along a few groceries and cooking utensils,” she explained.

  “We don’t need that,” Ava replied, “The camp provides our meals.”

  “But this is for us,” Emma explained, “You know, special stuff.”

  She got into the car and slammed the door shut.

  Kacey put the car in reverse and backed out of Emma’s driveway.

  “Oh, wait!” Emma cried, “I forgot something!”

  Kacey and Ava rolled their eyes in unison and Kacey pulled back into the driveway.

  “What is it?” Ava asked.

  “I’ll only be a sec,” Emma assured them as she dashed back to her front door.

  She soon returned carrying a large pillow covered with a flowered pillow case. She stuffed it into the back seat and got back into the car.

  “Why are you bringing that?” asked Ava, “They have pillows at the camp.”

  “But this is my pillow, and I can’t get to sleep without it. If you two want me to go camping, I must have my creature comforts. By the way, did I tell you I don’t like camping?”

  “Only about a million times,” Ava replied, “But this is different. We’ll all be together and we’ll have fun.”

  Kacey put the car in reverse and backed out again and headed the car down the street.

  “How long will it take us to get there?” asked Emma.

  “About two hours, or a little more, depending on traffic,” Kacey explained.

  “Great! Maybe we can stop on the way for milkshakes,” she replied.

  Ava and Kacey smiled and teased her.

  “Yeah, we’d better get something to eat on the way or we might starve to death,” Ava said sarcastically, “It’s only been an hour since I had breakfast.”

  Kacey chuckled and replied, “Well, I’ll probably stop somewhere outside of Augusta to fill up the tank. Maybe we can grab something then.”

  The girls settled in for the long drive into Maine and its beautiful, green pine forests. It was a balmy, summer morning, perfect for a drive in Kacey’s convertible with the top down. They turned the stereo on and played their favorite music loudly.

  The three girls had been best friends for years. Now Kacey and Ava had just completed their first year of college, and Emma was a student at a local culinary school. She loved to try out her new skills and favorite dishes on her two best friends. Kacey and Ava had gone to scout camp together when they were in middle school. Camp Wildwood would be a chance for them to experience camping in the woods again while helping others.

  Camp Wildwood was a camp for kids with special needs. Some had health conditions that prevented them from attending a regular camp. Other kids were handicapped or confined to wheelchairs. Camp Wildwood provided all the special accommodations they needed to have a real camping experience.

  Kacey, Ava, and Emma had volunteered to spend a week at the camp during their summer break from school. Kacey had learned about the camp at her church, St. Mark’s. When she told Ava and Emma about her plans to volunteer, they wanted to join her. After attending a special counselor training program in their home town of Westfield, they were ready to take on the role of camp counselors.

  They crossed the border from New Hampshire into Maine, and followed the signs on the highway to Portland. They took a circuitous route around the city and pulled off the expressway to stop at a gas station. Fortunately, there was a fast-food restaurant next to the station, and Emma volunteered to get the milkshakes while Kacey filled the tank.

  Soon they were back on the highway heading north. As they left the city behind, the scenery became more beautiful around each bend in the road. Large granite rock canyons hugged the road on each side, topped with clusters of green pine trees. The road twisted and turned up into the tree-covered mountains. Occasionally, they passed a rushing river, cascading waterfalls, or a placid lake with small islands. Each new vista was more exciting than the last.

  They suddenly came to a roadblock in the main road, with large detour signs pointing to a dirt road through the forest.

  “Oh, no,” Ava moaned, “A detour! This trip will take forever on this old dirt road!”

  The three friends bounced up and down in their seats as they followed the bumpy dirt road, full of pot holes and rocks.

  “Look!” Emma cried, pointing to the right. Kacey slammed on the brakes and they skidded to a stop.

  “What is it?” Ava asked.

  “Shh!” Emma warned, “You’ll scare them away!”

  Upon looking closer, the girls spied a doe hiding between the trees, with two fawns. The deer stopped and pricked up her ears. As soon as she spotted the car, the mother deer hurried off into the woods with her two fawns leaping after her.

  “Oh, how precious!” Emma crooned, “If we hadn’t taken this detour, we never would have seen the deer!”

  “Yeah,” Kacey agreed, “Maybe I should slow down so we don’t miss anything else.”

  The girls watched the woods intently as Kacey drove along the dusty road. They spotted two rabbits running through the brush and an eagle perched in one of the trees.

  The detour seemed to go on endlessly. They began to tire of looking for animals and began to worry that the dirt road would never end. They were going deeper into the woods and up the mountain side. The road became very steep at some points, and its hairpin turns were sharp and dangerous. As Kacey made one turn, the trees thinned out and they could see that they were riding on the edge of a bluff overlooking the valley below.

  “Oh, no! I can’t look!” Emma cried, closing her eyes as the car swung along the road’s edge. She held her breath while Kacey made the curve carefully, hugging the mountain side as closely as possible, and hoping no cars were coming from the opp
osite direction. After the turn, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

  They were all tense during the next few miles. Finally, they were relieved to see a sign ahead reading “Detour End” and a paved highway.

  “Well, now where do we go?” Kacey asked, “Should I go left or right?”

  Ava studied the map and shrugged, “I don’t know. This dirt road isn’t even on the map, so I have no idea where we are.”

  “Try your GPS,” Ava suggested, and they tried to locate the road on navigation system. It was showing their location to be in the middle of nowhere, with no roads in sight.

  “You mean we’re lost?” Emma cried.

  Kacey and Ava looked at the road in each direction. Ava replied, “I guess we are!”

  Kacey looked both ways but could see no signs or clues as to where they were. She said,

  “Well, this road leads somewhere, so I’ll just turn right and see where it goes.”

  The others agreed and settled in for the ride. They were just glad to be off the dirt road with its perilous, steep turns and bouncy ride.

  After several miles, they came to a hunting and fishing supply shop, located in a rustic, dark brown log cabin. Kacey pulled in to ask for directions.

  Inside the shop were shelves loaded with camping, fishing, and hunting equipment. A large tub of bubbling water was filled with minnows, and a sign above read, “Live Bait: Minnows and Worms”.

  The owner was an older man dressed in a red and black checkered flannel shirt and jeans. He walked with slumped shoulders as he came out of the back room to greet the girls.

  “Can I help you?”

  Kacey smiled, “I certainly hope so. We had to take a detour through the woods and now we’re totally lost. We’re on our way to Camp Wildwood. Do you know where that is?”

  “Oh, sure I do. I supply all the bait for fishing at that camp. It’s only about five miles from here. You must have come down that old dirt logging road. It hasn’t been used much in the past few years, except for a detour now and then.”

  The man gave Kacey the directions while Emma and Ava walked around the shop. They found some items, such as flashlights and extra batteries, and set them on the counter near the cash register. After paying for them, Kacey thanked the man for his directions and they headed back out onto the road.

  Soon they spotted another sign reading, “Camp Wildwood”, with an arrow pointing down another unpaved road. Kacey followed the road down a hill. In the distance, a blue lake peeked through the tall trees. Kacey pulled into the graveled parking lot next to a large log cabin.

  “Welcome to Camp Wildwood!” called a friendly-looking woman as she walked toward them. She was dressed in a tan uniform shirt and matching shorts. She had short, light-brown hair and a pleasant smile. She looked to be in her late forties.

  “Hi, I’m Sandy, the activities director,” she said, introducing herself to the group. Kacey introduced herself and her two friends.

  “We’re glad you found the place okay. They had to close the highway because the bridge over Hoot Owl Creek got washed out last night with the rain. They hope to have it fixed by tomorrow, and it should be done by the time the campers get here on Saturday. Let’s get you ladies checked into your dorm.”

  Emma turned to Ava and said excitedly, “Hear that? A dorm! We won’t have to sleep in a tent after all!”

  Kacey and Ava exchanged skeptical looks as they followed Sandy inside the large log cabin. It had a big desk at one end next to a door marked “Kitchen”. The main room had a cobblestone fireplace at one end. Rows of picnic tables and benches filled the room. The walls were lined with shelves full of books and games, with posters and displays hung above them.

  “This is the main lodge where the kids come to eat their meals, to play games, or to check out books. If the weather gets bad, we bring them here to stay dry and keep them entertained. Please sign in on this clip board while I make a call,” Sandy explained. She picked up her radio and called for someone to help the new arrivals get settled in to their dorm.

  After the girls signed the register, Sandy explained that dinner would be served at six o’clock, followed by a meeting for all counselors. She gave them each camp T-shirts and told them to wear them to dinner.

  “And don’t forget to wear bug repellent,” she advised, “It gets a little buggy here at night especially.”

  Soon, a young man about their age came to the cabin and shook hands with the girls as Sandy introduced him.

  “This is Justin. He’s our jack-of-all-trades here. He can do just about anything, so if you need help, just ask him. Justin, please take these counselors to Hawks Nest, will you?”

  “Sure thing!” Justin replied, smiling. He followed the girls to their car and helped to take out their luggage.

  “Follow me,” he said, picking up two of Emma’s heaviest cases as if they were empty.

  He led them on a paved trail into the woods. They passed large tents perched on big wooden platforms that were nestled between the trees and the lake. A gentle breeze stirred the boughs while birds chirped up in the tree branches. Kacey and her two friends were amazed by the natural beauty of the place.

  “It reminds me of the state park near us back home,” Ava remarked, and the others agreed.

  Soon they arrived at a roomy tent on a platform. A sign posted on the nearest tree read, “Hawk’s Nest”. Inside the tent were four cots, some small wooden stools made from tree trunks, and one small table.

  “If you brought any food, you have to keep it in the main lodge kitchen,” Justin explained, “because of the bears.”

  “Bears?” Emma asked in alarm.

  “Yeah, we sometimes get black bears nosing around here looking for food at night. That’s why we have to keep everything out of their reach and locked up. They can smell a cookie even when it’s inside a plastic container. Bears love to eat anything they can get their paws on, so don’t keep any food here.”

  Emma looked at her two totes full of groceries and sighed.

  “I guess we won’t be having any midnight snacks. I thought this place would be more like a college dorm.”

  Justin laughed at the idea and bid them goodbye before heading out.

  “Well, which bed do you want?” Ava asked.

  Kacey set her suitcase down next to the cot by the open tent flap.

  “I’ll sleep here.”

  Ava took the cot across from her, and Emma sat down on the one to her right.

  “This is kinda hard,” she remarked, bouncing up and down.

  “Not as hard as on the ground, which is where you’d be sleeping if this were a real tent,” Ava replied.

  “Yeah, Emma, be grateful we don’t have to sleep on dirt,” added Kacey.

  “Ew! No, I’d never do that!” Emma cried, “I hate bugs and everything else in the dirt!”

  Ava looked at her and shook her head slowly.

  Kacey asked, “Hey, what do you think of Justin?”

  Emma replied, “Well, if this place has more good-looking guys like Justin, I won’t mind a putting up with a few bears and bugs.”