“Melody!” Athena cried out. “We got ya, Melody!” She ran back, unlocked my wheels, swiveled my chair, and ran-pushed me to catch up.
Then… we just left! As quietly as we possibly could. Chipmunks skittered in front of us as we rounded the first bend. We went a little farther, and for this adventure, we didn’t care about National Geographic facts or the height of pine trees or what little mammals darted by. Well, maybe a skunk, but I had my eyes peeled for that!
When a bird swooped and landed on a low branch right in front of us, we all froze. Its feathers were black, except for a patch of flaming reddish-orange and yellow above each wing. It had a sharp, pointed beak. I knew exactly what it was.
“Red-winged blackbird,” I tapped.
“Cool, cool, cool,” Jocelyn whispered.
The bird squawked, I guess saying hello to the four runaways in the forest, before lifting up and flying off.
As we rolled, walked, and skipped along a well-worn path, we reached an area that was a bit of a dip. The bottom looked soggy.
“It doesn’t look too wet,” Karyn decided.
Jocelyn ran ahead and pressed her foot hard into the muddy area.
“Not too bad,” she confirmed.
So off we went—down the slight incline, and then… uh-oh…!
My thick tires rode easily over the mud. But Karyn’s—not so much. Then, uh, not at all, despite how hard Jocelyn pushed. And pushed. And pushed. Karyn was stuck in the mud.
She turned around to give me a look that clearly said, This isn’t good!
Athena hurried over. “We’re gonna be in such big trouble!” she wailed, tugging her ponytails. She and Jocelyn got on either side of Karyn’s chair and pushed. And heaved. And pushed some more. Karyn’s face was red with exertion from trying to roll the wheels with them. Even I managed to give Karyn’s back wheel a kick.
“Keep pushing!” Jocelyn cried.
The chair swayed forward, and just as we cheered, it rolled back.
“Again!” Athena yelled. And with one mighty, perfectly coordinated heave, the chair trundled forward and up onto firmer ground.
Jocelyn and Athena fell to their knees, panting. But we all looked at each other, our faces smeared with sweat. The looks of shock broke into smiles.
“We did it! We got her out!”
We knew better than to press our luck—we weren’t even sure how long we’d been gone. Maybe ten minutes? It seemed like hours. So instead of risking another super-stuck situation, we headed back. Jocelyn and Athena together pushed Karyn around the dip by going off the path for a few yards, then Athena ran back for me. And we cheered again.
And I had an idea. I did a quick search on my board and found the song “Elvira.” I hadn’t played it in forever—it used to be my most favorite feel-good song! I turned up the volume as loud as it would go, and as we headed back, Jocelyn, Karyn, and Athena all scream-sang the words, “Elvira! Elvira! My heart’s on fire for Elvira!”
We laughed, we sang, and it was right at the second playing of the “oom papa, oom papa mow mow” part of the song when our counselors found us.
They. Looked. Mad.
Really mad.
It wasn’t like we were lost or anything, and the music let them know exactly where we were, but I think we were in trouble! And you know what? It was worth it! And you know what else? I realized I’d never been in trouble before!
BEST. AFTERNOON. EVER!
As our counselors walked us back, the silence was LOUD. Yep, they were mad. But I grinned at Karyn, who rode beside me, and she gave down-low high fives to Athena and Jocelyn, who stomped through the underbrush.
Sure enough, the counselors had a purple hissy fit when we got back to the “picnic” site. Trays of food sat waiting for us in the grass. At least the ants hadn’t reached them yet.
“Okay, Falcons, we need to have ourselves a little talk!” Trinity started in first, scowling. “What were you thinking, Melody?”
Me (scowling back): I bet you’ve had fun with friends before! (I didn’t type it out, but I’m sure she could see it on my face.)
Kim: “Karyn, I expected more from you!”
Karyn (hands on hips): “But we didn’t do anything!”
Sage: “Athena, this could have ended so badly!”
Athena (frowning): “How? We were just having fun.”
Lulu: “Do you have any idea how upsetting it was to come back and find you all gone? We were terrified.”
Jocelyn: “We weren’t lost.”
It went eerie quiet again. My friends had to be wondering what was going to happen next.
Then Trinity spoke up again. Her voice was gentle and kind of blue-sounding, but the edges were bright orange. She was still mad. “What were you thinking?” she asked again, sounding honestly perplexed. “You all could have gotten hurt!”
But we didn’t. Had it ever occurred to them that we had the need for, uh, more?
Athena responded, her voice sullen, “Nobody got hurt. We had fun.”
I tapped out, “We’re almost teenagers!”
Karyn and Jocelyn crossed their arms in agreement.
I watched the faces of our counselors closely, the frowns, the pursed lips. And I realized, They seriously don’t get it!
“My mom treats me like I’m a baby! So do you guys,” Athena said, her voice bolder than I’d ever heard it before. “But I’m NOT!”
“For real, that’s not what we were trying to do, Athena,” Sage said, her voice purply sad and confused. “Our job is to keep you all safe and make sure you experience all the best parts of camp.”
Karyn sighed. “Yeah, but can’t we be safe and not have our every breath monitored? We just wanted a picnic by ourselves,” she went on. “But we’re sorry we took off. We didn’t mean to scare you.” She paused and looked over at us.
Athena added, “We’re really, really sorry!”