Good answer, Dad, I thought as Mom touched his arm. Penny started telling Doodle how rich Dad was.
At the same time, hearing him say that gave me an ache. He wouldn’t have me! For a whole week! And… and… I wouldn’t have him. Or Mom! Or Penny! Or Butterscotch. Or Mrs. V.
All of a sudden all that nervousness that I didn’t have even two minutes ago came rushing in. Maybe this camp idea was a mistake. What was I thinking? There was no way I could do this! What if I get hurt? What if nobody likes me? What if somebody laughs at me? What if they don’t understand what I’m trying to say? What if there are bugs in the beds? Ahhhh! I let myself worry for the next fifty miles.
I did my best to stuff my worries into the back of my brain as we drove closer and closer to this camp and I noticed fewer buildings and more trees, fewer cars and more green. Fewer people. More silence.
We passed through some small towns, then by a few farmhouses, and lots of fields—thick with stalks, swaying in the breeze. The crops were—uh—I really have no idea. I’m not sure I could tell the difference between barley and wheat. If Mrs. V were here, she’d expect me to know, and also be able to tell her how I could identify each type of plant. Wow, that lady lives in my head.
Dad said, “Hey, girls—most of these fields are soybeans, I think. The taller ones are corn—Ohio’s two biggest farm crops.”
Somebody paid attention in school. Or maybe Dad was just smart. He always said I get my brains from him, just to tease Mom.
Miles of pine trees, such a deep green they looked like shadows of themselves, darkened the highway. We turned onto a smaller highway; parts of it looked like they had been cut right through an actual forest. The longer we drove, the less there was to see. We were driving through a whole lot of absolutely nothing but forest! And the nervousness started morphing into panic.
I had no business being out here by myself in a forest! My mind started to create scenes from a disaster movie. There were probably bears or wildcats hiding in the forest waiting to eat me! No, that was ridiculous—like something Penny might say. But it WAS possible that I could get hurt! Or drown. Or roll off a cliff. Or get bitten by a poisonous snake. Maybe I should tell Dad to turn around and go back home! Yep, we need to go back.
I kicked the back of Mom’s seat.
“Yes, Melody? Are you okay? You need a bathroom stop? Doesn’t look like we’ll pass one soon.”
I glumly shook my head no. How am I going to tell them I want to go home? Elvira was stuck in the far back with my chair.
I was about to be dumped in the boondocks and left to rot. This was not gonna work.
A few buildings came into view.
—A fire station/police station combined: the sign read GREENGRASS FIRE AND POLICE. Ooh, we’re almost there. I think we’re almost there! And I started to feel that flicker of excitement again, like I had the first time I opened the camp’s website.
—Two churches: one with a pointed steeple, one with a wine-colored roof.
—A general store. Wow! I thought those only existed in old movies anymore, but the faded blue banner read BUCKETS AND BOLTS GENERAL STORE. Clever.
—A coffee shop. The sign in front said COUSIN JOE’S CUP OF JOE. A lotta cars in that parking lot.
—Ooh! The next store had a giant swirly cone coming out of its roof like an ice-cream chimney. Yum. DANNY’S ICE CREAM—ELEVEN FLAVORS. Whaat? Eleven? I wondered what the flavors were. And why only eleven? Good thing Penny was asleep, or she’d beg for a cone. Maybe Mom and Dad would stop on the way back—but, gee, they’d be stopping without me.
Then it occurred to me that Penny wouldn’t be able to say, Oh look at that—a humongous ice cream on the roof, Dee-Dee! Because I would be sitting all alone with strangers while she rode back home.
Okay, when we got to this place, I was going to tell my parents that I changed my mind.
Then I saw it—a large red road sign that said CAMP GREEN GLADES—THREE MILES AHEAD! My throat felt like I’d been traveling through a desert, but my palms were wet and sweaty. How does a body even do that? It was like one part of my brain was feeling prickly excited, while the other wanted Dad to make a U-turn in the middle of this road and head the heck back home. Yeah, I was a mess.
CHAPTER 10
We drove down a bumpy road that you’d think would wake Penny, but that kid can sleep through anything. Bumpity, bumpity, until we saw a petite, youngish lady in a baseball cap waving us toward a sign that said STOP HERE FIRST. Dad lowered his window.
“Welcome!” she said, adjusting her baseball cap. “You’re early birds, but we’re ready for you! My name is Cassie, and I’m your camp director. I’m also the head cook and the song leader and the trash master. I do a little bit of everything.” She gave us a quick, broad smile, then got right down to business. “Your camper’s name, please?” She glanced at her clipboard.
Mom whispered, “Well, she seems nice!”
But I’m thinking in the back seat, That lady sounded more like business than fun. She did not sound like she was glad for me to be here. Fine, maybe I’d just go back home.
Dad smiled at her and said in his jovial, easygoing way, “I’d like you to meet Miss Melody Brooks, a young lady of extraordinary grace and charm and beauty!”
Cassie smiled at me through the back window, checked her clipboard, scribbled a few notes, then said more cheerfully this time, “We’re all set! We’re eager to get to know Melody. See that orange sign up there? That’s where you’ll meet your counselor. She’ll help you unload, answer all your questions, and get Miss Melody of the extraordinary charm ready for the Glades.”