The mailbag!
I decided to put my letter in the bag with the others to be mailed. I slipped around the counter and into the back room and crouched down to put my envelope into the bag.
To my surprise, the mailbag was stuffed full with letters. As I pulled the bag open and started to shove my letter inside, a bunch of letters fell out onto the floor.
I started to scoop them up when a letter caught my eye.
It was one of mine. Addressed to my parents.
One I had written yesterday.
“Weird,” I muttered aloud.
Bending over the bag, I reached in and pulled out a big handful of letters. I sifted through them quickly. I found a letter Colin had written.
I pulled out another pile.
And my eyes fell upon two other letters I had written nearly a week ago when I first arrived at camp.
I stared at them, feeling a cold chill run down my back.
All of our letters, all of the letters we had written since the first day of camp, were here. In this mailbag.
None of them had been mailed.
We couldn’t call home.
And we couldn’t write home.
Frantically, my hands trembling, I began shoving the envelopes back into the mailbag.
What is going on here? I wondered. What is going on?
16
By the time I got into the mess hall, Uncle Al was finishing the evening announcements. I slid into my seat, hoping I hadn’t missed anything important.
I expected to see Jay and Colin across the table from me. But their places on the bench were empty.
That’s strange, I thought, still shaken from my discovery about the mailbag. They should be back by now.
I wanted to tell them about the mail. I wanted to share the news that our parents weren’t getting any of the letters we wrote.
And we weren’t getting any of theirs.
The camp had to be keeping our mail from us, I suddenly realized.
Colin and Jay—where are you?
The fried chicken was greasy, and the mashed potatoes were lumpy and tasted like paste. As I forced the food down, I kept turning to glance at the mess hall door, expecting to see my two bunk mates.
But they didn’t show up.
A heavy feeling of dread formed in my stomach. Through the mess hall window, I could see that it was already dark outside.
Where could they be?
A three-mile hike and back shouldn’t take this many hours.
I pulled myself up and made my way to the counselors’ table in the corner. Larry was having a loud argument about sports with two of the other counselors. They were shouting and gesturing with their hands.
Frank’s chair was empty.
“Larry, did Frank get back?” I interrupted their discussion.
Larry turned, a startled expression on his face. “Frank?” He motioned to the empty chair at the table. “Guess not.”
“He took Jay and Colin on the hike,” I said. “Shouldn’t they be back by now?”
Larry shrugged. “Beats me.” He returned to his argument, leaving me standing there staring at Frank’s empty chair.
After the trays had been cleared, we pushed the tables and benches against the wall and had indoor relay races. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. The shouts and cheers echoed off the high-raftered ceiling.
I was too worried about Jay and Colin to enjoy the games.
Maybe they decided to camp out overnight, I told myself.
But I had seen them leave, and I knew they hadn’t taken any tents or sleeping bags or other overnight supplies.
So where were they?
The games ended a little before lights-out. As I followed the crowd to the door, Larry appeared beside me. “We’re leaving early tomorrow,” he said. “First thing.”
“Huh?” I didn’t understand what he meant.
“The canoe trip. I’m the canoe counselor. I’ll be taking you guys,” he explained, seeing my confusion.
“Oh. Okay,” I replied without enthusiasm. I was so worried about Jay and Colin, I’d nearly forgotten about the canoe trip.
“Right after breakfast,” Larry said. “Wear a bathing suit. Bring a change of clothes. Meet me at the waterfront.” He hurried back to help the other counselors pull the tables into place.
“After breakfast,” I muttered. I wondered if Jay and Colin were also coming on the canoe trip. I had forgotten to ask Larry.
I headed quickly down the dark hill. The dew had already fallen, and the tall grass was slippery and wet. Halfway down, I could see the dark outline of the Forbidden Bunk, hunched forward as if preparing to strike.
Forcing myself to look away, I jogged the rest of the way to Bunk 4.
To my surprise, I could see through the window that someone was moving around inside.
Colin and Jay are back! I thought.
Eagerly, I pushed open the door and burst inside. “Hey—where’ve you guys been?” I cried.
I stopped short. And gasped.
Two strangers stared back at me.
One was sitting on the edge of Colin’s bunk, pulling off his sneakers. The other was leaning over the dresser, pulling a T-shirt from one of the drawers.
“Hi. You in here?” the boy at the dresser stood up straight, his eyes studying me. He had very short black hair and a gold stud in one ear.
I swallowed hard. “Am I in the wrong bunk? Is this Bunk Four?”
They both stared at me, confused.
I saw that the other boy, the one in Colin’s bunk, also had black hair, but his was long and scraggly and fell over his forehead. “Yeah. This is Bunk Four,” he said.
“We’re new,” the short-haired boy added. “I’m Tommy, and he’s Chris. We just started today.”
“Hi,” I said uncertainly. “My name’s Billy.” My heart was pounding like a tom-tom in my chest. “Where’re Colin and Jay?”
“Who?” Chris asked. “They told us this bunk was mostly empty.”
“Well, Colin and Jay—” I started.
“We just arrived. We don’t know anyone,” Tommy interrupted. He pushed the drawer shut.
“But that’s Jay’s drawer,” I said, bewildered, pointing. “What did you do with Jay’s stuff?”
Tommy gazed back at me in surprise. “The drawer was empty,” he replied.
“Almost all the drawers were empty,” Chris added, tossing his sneakers to the floor. “Except for the bottom two drawers.”
“That’s my stuff,” I said, my head spinning. “But Colin and Jay—their stuff was here,” I insisted.
“The whole cabin was empty,” Tommy said. “Maybe your friends got moved.”
“Maybe,” I said weakly. I sat down on the lower bunk beneath my bed. My legs felt shaky. A million thoughts were whirring through my mind, all of them frightening.
“This is weird,” I said aloud.
“It’s not a bad bunk,” Chris said, pulling down his blanket and settling in. “Kind of cozy.”
“How long you staying at camp?” Tommy asked, pulling on an oversized white T-shirt. “All summer?”
“No!” I exclaimed with a shudder. “I’m not staying!” I sputtered. “I mean… I mean… I’m leaving. On… uh… I’m leaving on Visitors Day next week.”
Chris flashed Tommy a surprised glance. “Huh? When are you leaving?” he asked again.
“On Visitors Day,” I repeated. “When my parents come up for Visitors Day.”
“But didn’t you hear Uncle Al’s announcement before dinner?” Tommy asked, staring hard at me. “Visitors Day has been canceled!”
17
I drifted in and out of a troubled sleep that night. Even with the blanket pulled up to my chin, I felt chilled and afraid.
It felt so weird to have two strange guys in the bunk, sleeping where Jay and Colin had slept. I was worried about my missing friends.
What had happened to them? Why hadn’t they come back?
As I tossed restless
ly in my top bunk, I heard howls off in the distance. Animal cries, probably coming from the Forbidden Bunk. Long, frightening howls carried by the wind into our open bunk windows.
At one point, I thought I heard kids screaming. I sat up straight, suddenly alert, and listened.
Had I dreamed the frightful shrieks? I was so scared and confused, it was impossible to tell what was real and what was a nightmare.
It took hours to fall back to sleep.
I awoke to a gray, overcast morning, the air heavy and cold. Pulling on swim trunks and a T-shirt, I raced to the lodge to find Larry. I had to find out what had happened to Jay and Colin.
I searched everywhere for him without success. Larry wasn’t at breakfast. None of the other counselors admitted to knowing anything. Frank, the counselor who had taken my two friends on the hike, was also not there.
I finally found Larry at the waterfront, preparing a long metal canoe for our river trip. “Larry—where are they?” I cried out breathlessly.
He gazed up at me, holding an armload of canoe paddles. His expression turned to bewilderment. “Huh? Chris and Tommy? They’ll be here soon.”
“No!” I cried, grabbing his arm. “Jay and Colin! Where are they? What happened to them, Larry? You’ve got to tell me!”
I gripped his arm tightly. I was gasping for breath. I could feel the blood pulsing at my temples. “You’ve got to tell me!” I repeated shrilly.
He pulled away from me and let the paddles fall beside the canoe. “I don’t know anything about them,” he replied quietly.
“But, Larry!”
“Really, I don’t,” he insisted in the same quiet voice. His expression softened. He placed a hand on my trembling shoulder. “Tell you what, Billy,” he said, staring hard into my eyes. “I’ll ask Uncle Al about it after our trip, okay? I’ll find out for you. When we get back.”
I stared back at him, trying to decide if he was being honest.
I couldn’t tell. His eyes were as calm and cold as marbles.
He leaned forward and pushed the canoe into the shallow river water. “Here. Take one of those life preservers,” he said, pointing to a pile of blue rubber vests behind me. “Strap it on. Then get in.”
I did as he instructed. I saw that I had no choice.
Chris and Tommy came running up to us a few seconds later. They obediently followed Larry’s instructions and strapped on the life preserver vests.
A few minutes later, the four of us were seated cross-legged inside the long, slender canoe, drifting slowly away from the shore.
The sky was still charcoal gray, the sun hidden behind hovering dark clouds. The canoe bumped over the choppy river water. The current was stronger than I had realized. We began to pick up speed. The low trees and shrubs along the riverbank slid past rapidly.
Larry sat facing us in the front of the canoe. He demonstrated how to paddle as the river carried us away.
He watched carefully, a tight frown on his face, as the three of us struggled to pick up the rhythm he was showing us. Then, when we finally seemed to catch on, Larry grinned and carefully turned around, gripping the sides of the canoe as he shifted his position.
“The sun is trying to come out,” he said, his voice muffled in the strong breeze over the rippling water.
I glanced up. The sky looked darker than before.
He stayed with his back to us, facing forward, allowing the three of us to do the paddling. I had never paddled a canoe before. It was harder than I’d imagined. But as I fell into the rhythm of it with Tommy and Chris, I began to enjoy it.
Dark water smacked against the prow of the canoe, sending up splashes of white froth. The current grew stronger, and we picked up speed. The air was still cold, but the steady work of rowing warmed me. After a while, I realized I was sweating.
We rowed past tangles of yellow- and gray-trunked trees. The river suddenly divided in two, and we shifted our paddles to take the left branch. Larry began paddling again, working to keep us off the tall rocks that jutted between the river branches.
The canoe bobbed up and slapped down. Bobbed up and slapped down. Cold water poured over the sides.
The sky darkened even more. I wondered if it was about to storm.
As the river widened, the current grew rapid and strong. I realized we didn’t really need to paddle. The river was doing most of the work.
The river sloped down. Wide swirls of frothing white water made the canoe leap and bounce.
“Here come the rapids!” Larry shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth so we could hear him. “Hang on! It gets pretty wild!”
I felt a tremor of fear as a wave of icy water splashed over me. The canoe rose up on a shelf of white water, then hit hard as it landed.
I could hear Tommy and Chris laughing excitedly behind me.
Another icy wave rolled over the canoe, startling me. I cried out and nearly let go of my paddle.
Tommy and Chris laughed again.
I took a deep breath and held on tightly to the paddle, struggling to keep up the rhythm.
“Hey, look!” Larry cried suddenly.
To my astonishment, he climbed to his feet. He leaned forward, pointing to the swirling white water.
“Look at those fish!”
As he leaned down, the canoe was jarred by a powerful rush of current. The canoe spun to the right.
I saw the startled look on Larry’s face as he lost his balance. His arms shot forward, and he plunged headfirst into the tossing waters.
“Noooooo!” I screamed.
I glanced back at Tommy and Chris, who had stopped paddling and were staring into the swirling murky waters, their expressions frozen in openmouthed horror.
“Larry! Larry!” I was screaming the name over and over without realizing it.
The canoe continued to slide rapidly down the churning waters.
Larry didn’t come up.
“Larry!”
Behind me, Tommy and Chris also called out his name, their voices shrill and frightened.
Where was he? Why didn’t he swim to the surface?
The canoe was drifting farther and farther downriver.
“Larrrrrry!”
“We have to stop!” I screamed. “We have to slow down!”
“We can’t!” Chris shouted back. “We don’t know how!”
Still no sign of Larry. I realized he must be in trouble.
Without thinking, I tossed my paddle into the river, climbed to my feet, and plunged into the murky swirling waters to save him.
18
I jumped without thinking and swallowed a mouthful of water as I went down.
My heart thudded in my chest as I struggled frantically to the surface, sputtering and choking.
Gasping in a deep breath, I lowered my head and tried to swim against the current. My sneakers felt as if they weighed a thousand pounds.
I realized I should have pulled them off before I jumped.
The water heaved and tossed. I moved my arms in long, desperate strokes, pulling myself toward the spot where Larry had fallen. Glancing back, I saw the canoe, a dark blur growing smaller and smaller.
“Wait!” I wanted to shout to Tommy and Chris. “Wait for me to get Larry!”
But I knew that they didn’t know how to slow the canoe. They were helpless as the current carried them away.
Where was Larry?
I sucked in another mouthful of air—and froze as I felt a sharp cramp in my right leg.
The pain shot up through my entire right side.
I slid under the water and waited for the pain to lessen.
The cramp seemed to tighten until I could barely move my leg. Water rushed over me. I struggled to pull myself up to the surface.
As I choked in more air, I stroked rapidly and hard, pulling myself up, ignoring the sharp pain in my leg.
Hey!
What was that object floating just ahead of me? A piece of driftwood being carried by the current?
Murky water w
ashed over me, blinding me, tossing me back. Sputtering, I pulled myself back up.
Water rolled down my face. I struggled to see.
Larry!
He came floating right to me.
“Larry! Larry!” I managed to scream.
But he didn’t answer me. I could see clearly now that he was floating facedown.
The leg cramp started to loosen up as I reached out with both arms and grabbed Larry’s shoulders. I pulled his head up from the water, rolled him onto his back, and wrapped my arm around his neck. I was using the lifesaving technique my parents had taught me.
Turning downriver, I searched for the canoe. But the current had carried it out of sight.
I swallowed another mouthful of icy water. Choking, I held on to Larry. I kicked hard. My right leg still felt tight and weak, but at least the pain had gone. Kicking and pulling with my free hand, I dragged Larry toward the shore.
To my relief, the current helped. It seemed to pull in the same direction.
A few seconds later, I was close enough to shore to stand. Wearily, panting like a wild animal, I tottered to my feet and dragged Larry onto the wet mud of the shore.
Was he dead? Had he drowned before I reached him?
I stretched him out on his back and, still panting loudly, struggling to catch my breath, to stop my entire body from trembling, I leaned over him.
And he opened his eyes.
He stared up at me blankly, as if he didn’t recognize me.
Finally, he whispered my name. “Billy,” he choked out, “are we okay?”
Larry and I rested for a bit. Then we walked back to camp, following the river upstream.
We were soaked clear through and drenched with mud, but I didn’t care. We were alive. We were okay. I had saved Larry’s life.
We didn’t talk much on the way back. It was taking every ounce of strength we had just to walk.
I asked Larry if he thought Tommy and Chris would be okay.
“Hope so,” he muttered, breathing hard. “They’ll probably ride to shore and walk back like us.”
I took this opportunity to ask him again about Jay and Colin. I thought maybe Larry would tell me the truth since we were completely alone and since I had just saved his life.