For me, the inside wires that connect to my physical body are sort of like the ones inside that fixture. They’re pretty much fried. But the wires to my brain—ah! Absolutely, exceptionally excellent!
And that made me think about how here at camp, no one was doing what so many people I’ve met seem to do. Lots of folks still have a tendency to just look at me from the outside. They notice the wheelchair and the head wobbling and the fact that my hands just can’t hold still. I drool sometimes—which, yes, is totally embarrassing. Folks don’t often look deep enough to see the kid who knows the names of every single bone in the human body. I’m almost twelve, but I read on a twelfth-grade level. Lots of that is thanks to Mrs. V, who never saw me as unplugged, but only saw my power.
But of all the conversations we’ve had, and all she’s taught me, she and I never talked about what to do about someone who made my heartbeat race and my fingers tingle.
CHAPTER 24
On Tuesday morning I woke up to see that our paintings from Sunday were now on our cabin wall. They were gloppy and crazy-looking, but I felt kinda proud anyway. Athena was quick to point out her pink contributions, and the one dot of yellow. Jocelyn, however, reached up and rubbed her hands all over her painting, like she was feeling the colors and the bumpiness of the clumped paint.
Once in my chair, I rolled over to the wall feeling the need to touch mine too—I’m not sure why. The green felt different from the red, and the blue had a different texture from the yellow. It was like each color had a personality. Trinity snapped picture after picture of us… it was like we were at a gallery show.
Then, tucking her camera away, she announced, “Today we’re gonna do some stomping in the woods. We’re going to get up close and personal with some nature—maybe even hug a tree.”
Just as she ended with a laugh, Karyn let out a scream. Actually, it was more a bloodcurdling shriek that pierces the silence during one of those Halloween movies, when the bad guy is about to slice and dice somebody with a buzz saw. Then Karyn screamed again and pointed, her arms as trembly as mine usually are.
All four counselors raced to her side. “What’s wrong?” Kim asked, grabbing for Karyn’s hands. “Are you okay? Did you hurt yourself?”
Karyn frantically wheeled her chair backward, her eyes wide with fear. Kim checked her chair, her arms, her legs, her hair, and still Karyn screamed.
Athena and Jocelyn and I backed away as well. I didn’t even know what I was afraid of, but it had to be terrible to make Karyn react like that.
“Tell me what’s wrong, Karyn,” Kim pleaded.
I looked around. Nothing seemed out of order. None of us could figure out what was upsetting her.
Finally Karyn’s scream turned into one single word. “SNAKE!”
A snake? Where? I wasn’t afraid of snakes, but I didn’t want one to be my best friend. They were apparently Karyn’s worst nightmare, however.
“I don’t want to be here! Call my mother! I’m going home NOW!”
Trinity, clearly the queen of calm, merely asked, “Where? Where did you see it?”
Karyn pointed to a corner. We all warily looked in that direction.
“There are no dangerous snakes in this area,” Lulu quickly assured us. “I bet it was scared of you, too!” she said, trying to joke a little. Nobody laughed.
“What did it look like?” Kim asked.
Why would she ask that? Was she going to invite the snake over for dinner?
Karyn was still clutching her wheelchair rims, breathing hard, but she managed to say, “It was horrible!” She paused. “But it was a pretty color….” She took a deep breath, I guess trying to get her brave on. “It was, maybe, orange and brown and yellow.”
“Will it bite us?” Athena asked, creeping close to Sage. “It won’t eat us, will it?”
“No! Snakes don’t eat people,” Kim told us emphatically. “Besides, the group of us would give him really bad indigestion, don’t you think?” Another joke bomb.
Jocelyn wanted to know why a snake would even want to come in here.
Lulu answered this one. “Probably because our cabin’s warm. It was a little chilly last night.”
Jocelyn nodded as if this was perfectly reasonable.
“Listen up, my brave campers,” Lulu continued. “First of all, the snake that Karyn saw was probably a corn snake. It’s harmless, and like Karyn said, actually quite pretty. It’s orange and gold and brown, mostly minds its own business, and eats small mice. It does not bite.”
“I don’t believe you!” Karyn argued.
“I understand,” Lulu told her. “But trust me—it’s not poisonous, and it was probably more scared of you than you were of it. Corn snakes are very shy.”
“If that’s true, why would it come in here with all of us, even if it was cold?” Karyn wiped her forehead. “I don’t like snakes.”
“Why?” Kim asked.
“They’re nasty and slinky and evil.”
Jocelyn shook her head. Three times.
“Snakes have a pretty bad reputation, I admit,” Lulu said calmly. “But think about it—it’s hard to be a snake! They don’t have arms or legs, which means they have to slide on their stomachs everywhere they want to go. Plus, they’re cold-blooded, which means they have to find sunshine to get warm, and they have to eat bugs and mice for dinner! No s’mores for snakes!”
Okay, so that was a little funny. Poor snake!
Then Karyn screamed once more. “There it is! I see it!” She backed up so fast she bumped into the wall behind her.
There, in the corner closest to the door, was our visitor. It seemed to me that it had emerged on purpose. It curled into a small shaft of morning sunlight.
Did that snake just blink? Nah—I was pretty sure snakes couldn’t blink.
Then, as breezily as if she were picking up a dropped headband, Jocelyn shocked us all by scooping that snake right up! Karyn gasped. I did too! Athena pressed against Sage.
Even Lulu looked a little alarmed. “Jocelyn, uh, maybe you should give me…” But Jocelyn shook her head and began whispering to the snake as it wound itself around her forearm.
I couldn’t believe she was letting the snake do that. What if it did bite her? I was barely breathing.