Chapter 17
Eugene: In Charge
Eugene felt a wave of superiority telling him that he should be in charge of his fellow campers during Cindi’s absence. After all, he was the smartest one there. He knew it was a big job, but he felt up for the task. Obviously, he was the only one able to do anything after Maria went searching for food and water. For sure, Charlie wasn’t going to take any leadership roles because he was too focused on Sarah Beth. Cody and Jorgina were injured, so they wouldn’t be able to take charge either.
Eugene felt a rumble in his stomach. It had been how long since they had eaten? They had been on their own for what seemed like days. Another rumble, like an angry animal demanding attention, spurred him to action. He had to try to find some kind of food and maybe some herbs too. He couldn’t wait any longer for Maria to come back, so he grabbed the plastic bag that some of their supplies had been in and decided it was up to him to find herbs he could use as medicine and something to eat. He had watched an educational show on herb remedies before he left for the camp which he thought was a sign he would find something to help those that were injured. First, he checked around the perimeters of the base camp hoping to find something useful, but there wasn’t anything.
After he had gone a short distance, he looked closely for anything useful. “All I see are woods,” he muttered to himself, but then something unique caught his eye which wrapped around a tree. There were vines with clusters of three leaves and little yellow flowers. Studying it closer, he decided it was poison ivy because of the leaf formations.
He felt he had a duty to protect his camp mates from harm as well as find food and medicine for them. He would be sure to tell them about the poison ivy, so none of them would get into it. He was making mental notes to tell them about how the skin turns red, and forms blisters and rashes once a person is exposed to it. Glad he had read up on it, he felt sure everyone would be interested in the lecture he was planning.
On the ground close by the tree, he spotted some mustard greens. He knew they grew wild because his grandmother had some in her garden. With certainty, he was sure he had identified the plant correctly.
As he leaned over to pick the wild greens, he got on one knee and didn’t notice the poison ivy vine extended from the tree to the ground. He had poison ivy all over his knees and legs. Without thinking, he felt an itch and accidently scratched his knee, and then his arms, ears, and neck. As soon as he had given in to the desire to scratch, he felt like a fool because he knew better than to do that. He wondered how long it would take for the swelling to begin.
Hurriedly, he put the mustard greens in his bag and started to walk back. Fortunately, he saw an aloe plant. What luck he thought. I can use it to heal my poison ivy. Also close by was a wild tall plant that had yellow and orange flowers. He had read somewhere that the wild plant was called jewel weed and that Native Americans mixed it with aloe stems to help soothe rashes. He pulled the yellow and orange flowers carefully so he could use the sticky fluid inside them as an ointment. Using a sharp stick, he cut open the stem to retrieve the liquid and then smeared it on the places where the poison ivy had been. He began to feel better and looked at all the aloe stems, wild mustard greens, and jewel plants. They were all great finds he thought. He found other useful herbs nearby and thought the area might be some sort of herb sanctuary because there were so many different varieties close together.
Content with his discoveries, he decided he should head back because he was anxious to start working on the herb medicines. He had saved and washed out a tin can that would be the perfect mixing bowl for the herbs. There was no time to waste because Sarah Beth looked completely out of it and needed medical attention.
First, he stored the mustard greens in the empty plastic bag he had brought. It looked like he had enough to make a meal for everyone and luckily, he knew where he could find more. Wild greens might not be everyone’s favorite food, but if they were hungry enough, the greens would taste good. He wished he could find some more herbs to season them. Maybe I look again later, he thought. He had more important things to do, like mixing the herbs, so he happily got busy and hurried back to the base camp. He was a little disappointed no one greeted him when he returned, but he knew they couldn’t know what time he would return, so he let it go.
He laid out all of his finds admiringly and looked like a chef as he methodically blended the ingredients. After he was satisfied with his home remedy, he walked over to Sarah Beth’s tent, placed the tin can on the ground, went inside, and tried to wake her up, but she wouldn’t open her eyes. Charlie kept saying, “Come on Sarah Beth, wake up!!” He didn’t want Eugene around, so he started yelling for him to leave. Eugene thought Charlie was not acting in Sarah Beth’s best interest, but he left anyway and went over to Jorjina who was sitting near the unlit fire pit.
“How are your feet feeling?” Eugene asked her.
“They hurt; it feels like I have a thousand pieces of broken glass stuck in them.”
Eugene proudly told her about the herbs he found and that he thought the aloe stems would help relieve some of her pain. Even though Jorgina didn’t seem too grateful at first, and rolled her eyes when he was explaining things, he was still glad to be able to help her.
The herbs might help Cody too, Eugene thought, so he called for him to come over by Jorgina, but when he started telling Cody about all his great finds, Cody started mimicking him and said in a loud voice, “So Dr. Know-It-All what makes you think you know everything about medicine? You really are a nerd loser.”
Hurt, Eugene didn’t respond. He completely ignored Cody because he had too much to do; he reasoned that Cody was jealous of him because he wasn’t as smart as he was and he also knew Cody was only into himself. He had never seen Cody help anyone. The thing Cody was good at doing was putting others down and trying to make fun of as many people as he could, but Eugene couldn’t allow himself to focus on Cody’s rude comments.
Still excited by his find, Eugene remembered the last herbs he found and told Jorgina how he had also stumbled upon cloves which he remembered helped tooth aches. He stuck his hand in his pocket and pulled some out and handed them to her. She readily accepted them because she had a nasty taste in her mouth since she hadn’t been able to brush her teeth for days. Jorgina started thinking about her mom and how she would have had a stroke if she could see or smell her now.
More good smells came out of Eugene’s bag. He pulled out some nutmeg leaves which he thought might help with indigestion and fight bacteria. Nervously, he fumbled around and began spreading some of his medicines on Jorgina’s feet. She thanked him. He offered some to Cody. Not impressed by Eugene’s knowledge, Cody refused even though his body was covered with scratches and sores.
Afterwards, Eugene walked back to Sarah Beth, but Charlie was still mad at him for no reason. “Can I try to help her?” he asked Charlie.
Charlie started acting strange and said, “Okay but if you hurt her, I’ll hurt you.”
What a weirdo! Since when did Charlie get so tough? Eugene thought, but he knew he had to put his thoughts away and help Sarah Beth; after all, he was in charge.
He gave Jorgina and Sarah Beth some yarrow plant he found but Jorgina started screeching in pain. “I’m sorry; hold on! I’m going as fast as I can,” Eugene apologized. He finally finished mixing more medicine and began doctoring Sarah Beth and reapplied the new medicine on Jorgina’s feet.
By watching television shows and reading medical books for fun, he did what he thought would help and began smearing the mixture all over Jorgina’s feet again. She began to feel better and thanked him.
He responded, “Anytime but the pain will still be there. It will take several days before it heals. Be careful not to stand up, or you will be sore.”
She nodded and replied, “Eugene, I hear something; go check it out!”
Eugene stopped talking and began listening. Coming straight toward their camp was a strange-looking man.
> Sarah Beth was frightened, and she asked Charlie to hold her. He put his arm around her shoulder and beamed with excitement that he had the honor of protecting her.
The man rubbed his short but thick beard as he approached the clearing and paused when he saw a worried-looking boy.
“Uhh, who are you?” asked Eugene, shocked by the stranger who was walking towards him.
The bearded stranger looked like a lumberjack or a mountain man. He extended his right hand but Eugene didn’t reciprocate. He stood with his feet spread wide and his hands gripped as if he was ready to make a fist if the stranger wanted trouble.
In a gruff voice the stranger said, “My name is Jack. A girl named Maria found me and told me that several of you were hurt and needed food, water, and medicine. He dropped the backpack he had been carrying, opened it up, and began distributing water and granola bars.
Cautious and not willing to be bribed by a total stranger Eugene asked, “Where’s Maria?”
“She went back to the bunkhouse,” said Jack.
“How did she get there?” asked Jorgina.
“I drew her map and gave her a compass. She should be there by now. She called her mother before she left, but she didn’t get an answer, so she left a message. She told me she was going home and not coming back.”
“Whoa, that stinks. How did she call? I didn’t think there was any phone service out here?” asked Eugene.
“It’s very hard and not dependable, but sometimes you can get a signal if you know the right spot,” said the man. Fumbling in his pocket, he pulled out a folded note. “She wrote a note to give to you guys. Is the counselor, Cindi here?” Jack asked.
“No, she hasn’t made it back yet. Just give it to me. I’m in charge,” said Eugene. He read it aloud, and they all sat there speechless.
“Well you kids have been through a lot. Do you remember which way your counselor went?” Jack asked.
“Over there,” Eugene said getting all anxious. Cody crawled out of his tent and seemed disturbed that no one was paying him any attention.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
“We have someone who is going to help us find Cindi, and the others,” Eugene said. Before the group had a chance to say anything else, Eugene saw Cindi and Luna approaching their campsite. Everyone started yelling excitedly as they watched the girls stumble towards the base camp. Eugene ran towards them with his arms outstretched and gave Cindi a huge bear hug. Excited, he began telling them everything that had happened while they were gone.
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