Lake Rescue (17 page)

“All right,” Nash reminded them. “What’s the first rule of hiking?”

“Stay together.”

Nash gave a thumbs up to the group.

“I think we should go for help. We can make a chair lift for Avery with some of our sweatshirts and tie them to sticks like the Native Americans did,” Katani offered in her best Ms. Take Charge voice.

“That’s a great idea,” Anna said sarcastically. “But if we’re lost and don’t know where we are supposed to go, where are we going to take her?”

“Anna’s right. The second rule of hiking is that you stay where you are and wait for help. Otherwise you just keep getting more and more lost,” Nash informed everyone. “We’re just going to hunker down and wait. When we don’t show up they will send a search party for us.”

“But we can’t just stay here and wait. It’s starting to get cold,” whined Anna. “Besides, I heard a noise. I think a bear is tracking us.”

“Bears love swampy areas, Anna,” Henry Yurt said. “People step in the mud, get trapped, and then it’s easy for a bear to get them. They bring in all their relatives for a feast. Anna-banana casserole.”

“You don’t put bananas in a casserole,” Dillon said. “Even I know that. Anna-banana cake or pie is more like it.”

“You’re really stupid, Kiki, you know that?” Billy suddenly lost it. “You had one job to do. Pick up the lunch and carry it for what
—
about ten feet. How could you have lost it?” Billy was still starving. The snack did nothing but whet his appetite for more.

No one had ever seen Billy lose his temper like that. He flopped on the ground beside Avery, ignoring the fact that
the ground was pretty damp. The green team was becoming slightly unglued.

Ms. Weston raised her hand in a stop motion. “No use getting mad. It was an honest mistake. What’s done is done. None of us is going to starve in the next hour or two,” she said firmly.

“I wish everyone would be just be quiet and think of something to do!” Avery shouted. She felt like crying. Even though the cold pack helped, her ankle still hurt and Avery just wanted to go back to her bunk and sleep. She wished that she had stuck Happy Lucky Thingy in her backpack instead of leaving him on her bed. She did not want to stay out here in the woods waiting for a hungry bear. She had had enough adventure.

“I know it’s hard…” began Nash.

Chelsea raised her hand.

“Yes, Chelsea.” Nash, ready to lay out his plan, gestured impatiently for Chelsea to speak.

“I think I know how to get back.”

All eyes were on Chelsea. Could Chelsea actually have a solution to their problem? Suddenly, Chelsea Briggs was no longer Chelsea, the helpless gym partner, last to be chosen, first to fall or make a fool of herself. She was Chelsea, their rescuer. The only one smart enough and tough enough to help her classmates out of a bad situation.

“Hey,” Nash said in a warmer tone. “I’m all ears. All good ideas are welcome.”

Chelsea explained. “When we were walking I was at the back of the line. I built little stone nests along the trail and took pictures of them. I got the idea from a book my brother
Ben gave me on hiking in the wilderness. Some hiker did the same thing, and it saved him.”

Ms. Weston put her arm around Chelsea and gave her a quick hug.

“What do you think, Nash? Has Chelsea’s quick thinking saved the day?”

“Chelsea,” the handsome counselor beamed at her. “I think we have a plan.”

The wind suddenly picked up and made the trees around them swish and whisper. Nash dashed off with Billy, Dillon, and Yurt to cut down tree saplings. Nash always carried a small axe with him on hikes and now his foresight was proving handy.

Ms. Weston had the rest of the green team dump out their backpacks, and she laid out a patchwork quilt of their sweatshirts.

Chelsea and Maeve knelt down to help tie the sleeves of the sweatshirts together, although they weren’t quite sure what was happening next.

“I get it,” Maeve marveled. “You are going to tie this to the branches and carry Avery. This is so cool.”

“Katani, get my water bottle,” directed Ms. Weston.

Chelsea asked Ms. Weston why she needed water.

“You’ll see,” she smiled slyly.

Katani handed Ms. Weston the bottle of water. Everyone watched as Ms. Weston dampened all the knots.

“That’s really cool, Ms. Weston,” said Katani. “Now the knots won’t slip.”

When Nash and the boys came back to camp they were surprised to see that the rest of the team was packed up and ready to go, the blanket ready for Avery’s transport.

“Stop laughing, Avery,” admonished Anna. “You are making this thing shake like jello.”

“I’m not laughing anymore. I’m cold.”

“I didn’t use a knife to blaze a trail as we were walking,” Chelsea told everyone, “but I was really paying attention and taking photos. I was also looking for photo opportunities, so maybe I paid more attention to the trail than some of you did.”

“Good thinking, Chelsea,” Ms. Weston said approvingly. “Avery, we don’t have anything to put over you. We used all the sweatshirts we had. You’ll just have to imagine someplace warm.”

All of a sudden, Chelsea remembered something. Her brother Ben had given her a space blanket for emergencies. “My brother insisted I bring this.” She unfolded it and threw it over Avery.

“Thanks a bunch, Chelsea,” Avery said, grateful that somebody had been smart enough to invent the space blanket.

The group continued their trek in what they hoped was the right direction. They passed a big rock that Nash remembered passing on the way in. They began to feel more confident that they had found the right trail home.

Suddenly, Chelsea shouted. “Look. Here’s one of my cairns. We’re on the right trail.”

Nash heaved a sigh of relief, as did every other member of the green team.

Maeve and Kiki, the pink sock flag bearers, were so excited that they started pumping their flags up in the air.

D
illon launched into an army-style marching song, making up the words as he walked along.

Chelsea thought of blazing a tree trunk as they walked, but she feared that might scar the tree. Not nice to the tree, Chelsea smiled to herself. Instead, she broke the end of an occasional limb where it hung near the path, then showed Kiki and Maeve how to stack up the few rocks they could find to make their own cairn. Anyone seeing the tiny rock formation would know it wasn’t natural. Or if Chelsea was wrong and they were going in the wrong direction again, they could backtrack with no effort.

“How’d you learn how to do all this, Chelsea?” Kiki asked.

“From a book my brother demanded I read before we left. It said that it’s usually best to stay put. In fact, they tell little kids to hug a tree and blow their whistle. But I figured that if we could find the trail we made coming in here, we could walk back to the main trail.”

Maeve grinned. “I guess brothers can come in handy occasionally, especially older brothers.”

“Your brother plays football, doesn’t he, Chelsea?” Kiki stopped to pick up a small stone. “What’s his name?”

“Ben. People call him Big Ben, for obvious reasons.”

Dillon’s marching song had caught on, so Kiki, Maeve, and Chelsea joined in. Maeve kept pumping up her pole as though she was the head of a marching band.

“You’re in the army now. One, two, buckle my shoe…” Everybody was singing so loudly that they almost didn’t hear the voices.

“Green team!” a ranger shouted. “There you are. We’ve been looking for you for hours. We just saw your pink socks.”

“We were right here.” Dillon grinned at their rescuers.

“Man, are we glad to see you guys!” Nash gave the signal to put Avery down.

“You were supposed to walk to Fern Lake,” Mia said. “We’ve been all the way up there and back.”

“One of the trail markers must have fallen off or been pulled off. If it hadn’t been for Chelsea here, we would be still sitting up in the swamp waiting for you guys…”

“What have we got here?” The ranger asked as he knelt down next to Avery.

“I think I sprained my ankle, sir.”

“Well, I like your entourage.”

“Me too.”

“Was Fern Lake really beautiful?” Maeve asked Mia. “I did really want to see it.”

“Yes, but everything out here is beautiful, don’t you think?” Mia smiled.

Chelsea knew she should be starving, but somehow she wasn’t. She focused her camera to capture some great shots of light and shadow in the growing darkness as they followed the ranger back to camp.

C
harlotte had just returned from the blue team’s hike and was resting by the campfire circle, swigging down an entire bottle of water. She had run out on the way back down the mountain even though she had carried two bottles in her pack. Nick came and sat down and said, “Did you hear? The green team is lost.”

Charlotte leaned forward.

“Charlotte. Did you hear me?” Nick turned to follow Charlotte’s gaze.

The strangest procession was entering camp, and they were carrying Avery in the oddest contraption Charlotte had ever seen. Of course, Maeve was at the head, acting like she was striding to the beat of a John Phillip Sousa march.

Suddenly, everyone in the camp was running to find out what was going on.

“What happened, Ave?” Charlotte hurried to meet them. “Are you all right?”

Avery waited until Nash placed her in one of the few
camp chairs, wincing as she placed a little weight on her foot.

“Oh, nothing,” she joked. “I just pulled a Charlotte and became a klutz for about two seconds. Suddenly, bam, I was down. And look what happened!”

“Down and out for the count,” Yurt added. “But she’s been very patient, letting us carry her all the way back.”

Avery grinned at the BSG, who were all gathered around by now.

“Chelsea got us unlost,” Katani said to Charlotte. “Turns out she has an excellent sense of direction.”

“And a good eye for detail,” Billy added, “like which side of the trail the tree moss was on. Tree moss grows on the north.”

“Some of the trees were completely covered with moss,” Maeve said.

“Lichens,” Ms. Weston corrected Billy and Maeve. “The difference between moss and lichen is
—
”

“Beside the point right now,” Jody interrupted and took over. “Has anyone gone for the nurse?”

Isabel had run for the nurse the minute they set Avery down. Everyone watched as Jody unwrapped Avery’s soggy foot. Charlotte (who had wiggled her way into the crowd that was now surrounding Avery) gasped. The whole side of Avery’s foot was swollen and black and blue.

Charlotte grabbed Avery’s hand. “Oh, Avery. That must hurt so badly.”

Before Avery could respond, the nurse was there.

“Well, well, what have we got here?”

Avery managed to crack a little smile as the nurse squeezed and turned her ankle carefully.

“Do you think it’s broken? I play soccer and basketball, you know. I need my foot.”

“You know what? I don’t think it’s broken. But you do have one heck of a sprain. When you get back home though, it would be best to have it checked out. Just to be sure.”

She wrapped an elastic bandage around Avery’s foot and ankle tightly and sent Billy back to the infirmary for crutches. Since they were going home the next morning, the nurse thought that Avery could wait for X-rays until she got home.

Darkness was closing in on them and there was a chill in the air. Jody and her crew had started a roaring fire and, to everyone’s delight, had already prepared a dinner of chili, mounds of corn bread, and bowls of coleslaw, with chocolate cupcakes and melon for dessert.

“Everybody ready for a feast?” Jody asked in a big, friendly voice. “You all were awesome today. You all worked liked Clydesdales. And a few of you deserve the ‘I climbed Mt. Everest’ award. So fuel up, everyone!” Jody looked at Chelsea and grinned when she said that. Chelsea jumped up to join the line that was already forming.

With stomachs full, dishes cleaned up, and the group seated around the campfire with cups of cocoa or hot tea, everyone became exceptionally quiet.

Charlotte thought about how great today’s hike up the mountain had been. The climb was challenging, but at the top they were rewarded by a panorama of lakes, fields of grass and reeds, and even more mountains in the distance.

Nick had walked beside her or close to her the entire day. Occasionally he asked Isabel if she was okay, and helped her with her pack and once a blister. But Charlotte realized that
that was just how Nick was. If anyone needed help, he was there. She liked him even more because of it. It was as if he’d read one of the BSG’s mottos:
Be loyal to each other and give back as much as you take from the universe
.

He sat beside her now, quiet, but very much there. Avery sat on the other side of Nick, with Billy Trentini on her left. Avery’s every wish was their command. She was obviously enjoying her night as Queen of the Camp. Charlotte knew that back home, when Avery was recovering, she’d need her friends even more.

Jody stood and broke the silence. “I hope all of you have had as much fun at Lake Rescue this week as I have. Groups come and go, but this seventh grade from Abigail Adams is among the best I’ve ever worked with.” Jody had to stop talking until everyone got through cheering.

“Yes, congratulate yourselves. I hope all of you will take home wonderful memories and will have learned at least one new thing about yourself…and a classmate. We’re going to start tonight’s campfire program by going around and having each one of you tell one thing that surprised you about this week. Who wants to start?”

Maeve jumped up, although no one was required to stand.

“She probably just wants to show off her cute new vest,” Katani whispered affectionately to Isabel.

“I didn’t want to come, but I’ve been surprised by how much fun I’ve had even though one of my best friends got hurt. I enjoyed being outside all week. I especially liked the loons. It’s almost as if they are singing a haunting love song.”

Maeve and romance, smiled Charlotte, were never far apart.

“Yeah, I thought the trip would be a drag,” Dillon said. “I wondered what we’d do if we didn’t have a basketball court, but we were busy the entire time.”

A lot of other people said they liked being outside and planned to ask their parents if they could go camping next summer.

“Nick,” Isabel said, “insisted that I could climb the mountain, then helped me when I had trouble. I surprised myself when I reached the top.”

“I realized that sometimes you have to work as a team to get things done.” Anna’s statement came as a total shock to everyone…especially Joline, who looked at her friend like she had two heads. Anna just shrugged her shoulders.

“I was surprised by how quickly you can get lost in the woods. I’ll never go hiking unless I am really prepared,” Dillon said with conviction.

“I learned that you can accomplish much more than you think when you put your mind to it,” said a popular girl named Sierra.

“I was surprised at how fast I could walk when I had to.” Katani laughed.

“Dude, you surprised me with that too,” Yurt joked.

“I learned that you really have to pay attention.” Avery’s comment got a big laugh.

“Yeah, I have to thank Maeve for thinking pink.” Dillon grinned at Maeve.

“When will we get to see your photos, Chelsea?” Yurt asked, and several people chimed in that they wanted to get copies.

“I’ll put some of them in the next
Sentinel
, but I can send them around on e-mail,” Chelsea offered.

“Thanks to my totally annoying big brother. He made me read a book on what to do if you get lost in the woods.” Chelsea grinned.

Once everyone who wanted to had shared, Jody passed around little slips of paper. “Hold on to these until I tell you what they’re for,” she said. “But now, you’re going to have to sit through one more of my little speeches.” She paused patiently for everyone to groan, but instead they waited for her to continue. The only sounds were the fire snapping and crackling. Then, as if on cue, the loon called.

Oooo-ooo-oooo-ooo-oooo-ooo.

Everyone giggled until Nick piped in, “That’s an augury of a heavy lecture coming, worse than death to sit through.”

Jody grinned. “Nick is demonstrating one method of surviving junior high. A sense of humor. I hope all of you have learned to laugh at yourselves this week. If you fell, you picked yourself up, tried again.” She looked at Avery. “Unless someone else had to pick you up and carry you in his arms.”

Nash reached over and gave Avery a high five.

Avery got poked by an elbow from both sides. She buried her face in her hands until Jody continued.

“I think one of the worst things about being in junior high, about being twelve or thirteen or fourteen, is the fear of ‘the big fear.’”

Jody had a rapt audience now. “The fear that I might do something weird and embarrass myself…am I right?”

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Except for Henry Yurt, who stood up and made like a
backup dancer for a pop group. The whole group burst into raucous laughter, even Jody.

The Yurtmeister bowed and took his seat.

“I think Henry has just demonstrated, very nicely, I might add, my second point, which is that being embarrassed is not the worst thing in the world.”

Now Charlotte got an elbow on either side from Nick and Maeve. She smiled but wanted to keep listening to every word that Jody said.

“So, Jody’s rules for having a great life are: Don’t sweat the small stuff. We’ve all got a few hills to climb…” There was a collective groan from her exhausted campers. “Give yourself and each other a break
—
you are only in seventh grade for goodness’ sake. And contrary to seventh grade wisdom, you’ve all got a few things to learn. Which brings me to my last few recommendations
—
try new things, learn to get along with all kinds of people. Eat right, and most importantly…” She turned to Nash and gave him a thumbs up. Suddenly the coolest song in the world came on, and Jody lifted her arms in the air and shouted, “Get a move on!”

With that, the Yurtmeister, the Trentinis, Dillon, and of course Maeve all jumped up to dance. In a split second, the campfire had turned into “Dance Fever.” Counselors, kids, chipmunks, and squirrels went wild.

Maeve grabbed Charlotte, who grabbed Katani, who grabbed Dillon, who grabbed Chelsea, who grabbed Yurt, who grabbed Isabel, and on and on until there was a huge conga line snaking its way around the campfire. Sierra, also known to her classmates as “Jazzy,” jumped to the front of the conga line and pulled out a “microphone”
—
aka granola bar
—
from the pocket of her shorts. She lip-synched the words to the Mariah Carey tune, dancing around the line and holding the microphone in front of her eager backup singers, Brittany, Mandy, Lauren, and Emily. A few of the boys started chanting, “Jazzy! Jazzy!” and everyone else quickly joined in.

Avery, who wasn’t big on dancing anyway, sat watching the conga line, cracking up every time Henry broke out into a goofy dance move. Chelsea Briggs thought it was the coolest night of her life.

When the song ended, Jody raised her hand for everyone to take their seats again. Campers sat down near the fire to hear what was next. No one wanted to ruin the moment.

“What I’d like you to do now, as an end to the campfire, is to write down on the little scraps of paper that are being passed around one important thing that you learned about yourself or a friend while you’ve been at Lake Rescue. You don’t have to share it with anyone if you don’t want to; just write it down and be proud of yourselves for what you have accomplished here. When you are done, our ritual is to throw the paper into the campfire so your words will remain a part of Lake Rescue forever and inspire future campers.”

Maeve loved the drama of that vision and set about earnestly to create something worthy. She wrinkled her brow in concentration.

This was a night of surprises, and Yurt surprised them all. “I have learned that I would like to have a girlfriend,” he blurted out.

Jody stared at him while everyone guffawed, especially the boys. “Well, President Yurt, that might be a universal challenge, but be careful what you ask for. You might get it.”

Chelsea studied the slip of paper. Finally, she wrote: She added a big exclamation point for emphasis. Chelsea wanted what she wrote to stay with her forever, and she hoped that the next overweight girl who came to camp would experience the same kind of encouragement that she had received here. When it was her turn, she dropped the paper in the fire, watched it flame and blacken. There was something magical about the ashes floating into the sky.

One by one the BSG watched one another drop a note into the fire. They helped Avery get up on her crutches and toss in her slip of paper instead of doing it for her.

For special effects, the loon cried out again, his lovely, haunting melody filling the air.

Without speaking, the campers headed toward the dining hall where the evening would end with a much anticipated dance. A perfect ending to an almost perfect day.