The Bus Ride From Hell!

The kid was disgusting and I shrank as he made his way towards me and looked out the window praying he didn’t sit with me. He always had snot crusting his nose or dripping from it and he talked like he had a nickel up his nose as my mom liked to say about people who talked in a nasal voice.

I felt someone sit beside me and sighed not only was I going to a lame camp missing all my friends but now I was stuck with a kid I couldn’t stand for a three or four hour bus ride.

"Don’t I know you," a voice asked, it wasn’t nasal and the kid was dark skinned, he did look familiar.

"Spike? The guy who catches for the Blue Sox?" I asked.

"Yeah that’s me and you are on the Sharks," he said.

"Yeah," said I who was relieved seeing Snider sitting a few seats away bawling as he stared at his mom.

"Aw da wittle sissy misses his mama aw-weady," a voice said, it was shrill and grating like a chain saw on ice.

"Oh Jeeze it’s Ricky," Spike sighed.

"Who’s that?" I asked glancing around at the ruckus and laughing as the bus pulled out. There were some girls on the bus they were all setting towards the front.

"Don’t know him, don’t want to, I know he plays for Northgate Eagles and two of my friends lost two weeks allowance playing cards with him," Spike confided in a low voice.

"Ooooh the sissy boy is gonna cry all the way to camp," Ricky shrieked, "Hey sissy boy! Did mama send you clean shorts . . . I sure hope so cause we are going to fly them up the flag pole."

A chorus of snorts and giggles and laughter broke out with this.

"Excuse me Skeeter," Spike said in a low but strong voice, and I thought when he grows up he is going to sound like the deep voiced guys that sang with some of those Motown groups.

I thought he was going to go kick old card shark Ricky’s butt right there on the bus, but instead he went and sat with Snider. I was surprised and shocked, and thought what a brave and good guy Spike was.

I though Ricky was crude but when we stopped at Three points to pick up some more kids I knew he was mean.

"Freakin redheaded howdy doody looking crippled retard," Ricky shrieked as a redheaded kid dressed like a cowboy with braces was helped onto the bus.

Several laughed but not as many as had about the shorts of the flag pole joke.

"Freakin letting girls go, is one freaking thing. Freaking then but they let sissy boys and retarded freaking howdy doody dummies in this camp," Ricky squealed.

On and on Freakin this and freaking that, putting down cars we saw called other kids names, Davie was the only one who told him to be quiet, and I thought he had a lot of gumption standing up to Ricky and his buddies. Of course he had four buddies too, I had no one, Spike had opted to sit with snotty Snider.

"Freaking gimp a long Cassidy," Ricky shrieked.

I motioned for the kid to sit with me he was real shy I guess.

The bus driver insisted he sit in front though.

But he did tell me his name was Marty.

But Ricky went on and on and on. He reminded me of the high pressure car commercial for Wheelers Chevrolet only wound up about three notches higher.

On and on his mouth ran every third word was freaking or a synonym for stupid, which made up most of his vocabulary.

It was the bus ride from Hell, as Sid would say. Butch would have punched Ricky out and Topaz would have told him off. Sid would have made fun of him for making fun of everything, Jeremy would rolled his eyes and ignored him, Benny would have thought of something clever. The twins would have done something funny or clever to get him back for being such a nimrod.

I really missed my friends, even Willie who was new to our group would have thought of something to shut up the freaking motor mouth. Out of the gang Willie was the one who was quieter and I didn’t know as well as the others. But I knew him well enough to know he would not have put up with that constant high pitched nattering like some kind of insane chipmunk.

"Are we there yet?" Snyder's nasal voice rose every now and again in the chatter and Ricky's nattering."I think I am going to puke."

"Freaking bus smells like puke," Ricky commented once, then started talking about freaking this and stupid that.

The Arrival At Camp Aglesha Bay

Finally the bus pulled to a stop and unloaded and I saw all the balloons and the cabins and more kids, probably more kids than went to our whole school.

Snider started puking as soon as we got of the bus. I guess he wasn’t kidding when he started crying I am going to be sick.

Of course Ricky Motor Mouth had to poke fun at this someone came and got the cowboy kid and the others and took them across the lane I guess they had a special place for crippled kids over there, Marty looked back at me and smiled I guess my offer of a seat was a good thing for him.

This blond guy who wore a uniform just like ours came out and greeted us.

"I am Steve and I am head councilor here, welcome to Camp Aglesha Bay." The man said smiling at us.

Davie ran up to him and I could see the kid was so excited to be here and to meet Steve who looked familiar in a way.

"There are a few rules . . . but first will one of you that has been here last year take that poor kid vomiting over there to the office the nurse will see to him." Steve said.

At first no one moved but then a kid who I thought’s name was Charlie went to him and led Snyder reluctantly towards the largest two story building.

"Freaking sissy boy," Ricky muttered.

We were all taken to the crafts pavilion.

Steve went over the rules and they were pretty good ones no running around the pool, and so on, then he got to cabin assignments Charlie and Snider had returned Charlie looked almost as green as Snider, the latter had pink pepto dismal as Jeremy called it stains on the corners of his mouth.

I was thinking please, please don’t stick me with Snider.

The cabins were not bad most had three beds some had four.

Steve was pretty smart, he assigned Ricky and one of Davie’s friends to cabin one, breaking up the mini gangs, and so on giving Ricky’s friends a loner or one of Davie’s friends as a cabin mate, finally they were down to the last two cabins, all was left was me, Davie, Snider, and Spike, and Steve assigned me to the cabin as proctor and Davie to the cabin, Steve then looked at Spike and Snider, and said, "I can put you too in the last cabin it only has two bunks or I can assign you to one of the other cabins."

"We will take the small cabin, if it’s okay with Snider . . ."Spike said then looked at the boy who was finally getting some of his colour back.

Snider smiled and blew his nose and nodded.

I was relieved and wondered why Spike wanted to hang around with Snider, Spike was a popular guy at his school. Snider was a no body at mine.

We were shown the cabins they were pretty nice I guess for camp cabins

At least we weren't in sleeping bags on the ground like I had heard some kid on the bus say between Rickys rabid rantings.

There were three bunks in my cabin, I took the one farthest from the door. Davie took the one near the door the other one would be filled later by a new camper Davie explained, it was the way things were done here. I wondered why Steve had not made him cabin proctor if he had been here before.

I put my things away and I heard a bell ring.

"Breakfast," Davie announced.

"Oh," I said looking at my watch it was eight o’clock and that three hour bus had seemed so much longer.

There was a long line of kids for breakfast, and Davie said, "Food is not too bad, then went to stand with his buddies. Some girls behind me were giggling and talking about crafts and how they couldn’t wait to make friendship bracelets.

I had never felt so lonely in my life. I didn’t see Spike or Snider or even Charlie, who I knew slightly from baseball. I missed my dog and my friends so much. I am not a spiteful person or I would have started plotting revenge on my parents right then.

I decided to call home that evening we had been asked by the councilors to turn all our money in for a daily allowance which was divided up to not more then ten camp tokens a day which was a dollar. But I had squirreled back a dollars worth of dimes inside a clever bottle of aspirins Sid had given me for Christmas, he had cut the bottle in two pasted orange baby aspirins on the inside, then super glued it back together after putting a tube inside that would hold dimes and cotton. It had been a gag gift on the count I was always getting hurt. But he made different things for everyone but all were funny but useful. Benny’s had been a shoe he had caught fishing mounted like a trout but with a secret compartment for hiding things.

There were pay phones outside the shower room but they worked on coins not tokens.

After the days activities swimming which was fun making crafts which was okay, and playing games I was exhausted it but at supper time I decided to make my move. I waited until everyone was in line for supper then I slipped to the phones, and put my five dimes in, thinking it was a quarter of my weekly allowance.

My aunt Becky picked up the phone, and I swallowed hard, why was she there.

"Aunt Becky, where’s mom or papa?" I asked, heart pounding wildly.

"Skeeter?" Aunt Becky asked, I noticed Davie walking by and hoped he wouldn’t say anything

"Yeah, where are they I need to . . ."

"You all right honey?" she asked.

"Yes but I want them to come up here and get me I can’t stand it!" I said swatting a mosquito as big as a moth.

"Oh honey are you home sick . . ."

Just then a hand clamped over mine, not hard just firmly.

"Who are you talking to?" Steve asked. I was busted.

"My aunt Becky," I said wishing I had called Sid or Butch or Benny or anyone else.

"Hello Aunt Becky, you know some campers get a little home sick their first night away, I wouldn’t worry," Steve said and I wanted to kick him.

He talked to Aunt Becky and assured her I was fine, then the money was up and he said goodnight and I said goodnight and hung up.

"Now Skeeter you know you broke a rule?" he said looking at me as if I had broken his heart.

I sighed, and nodded the rules were right there you had to have permission to use the phones you got one phone call a week and new campers were supposed to wait five whole days before calling home.

I found an older cabin that hadn't been claimed yet so I could write in peace without Davie the rat looking over my shoulder. He had to be the one that finked on me.

Hello Mother, Hello Father here I am stuck at Camp Aglesha, a letter would take too long but a letter it would have to be, I had plenty of post cards and stamps.

Steve was nice about it, most adults would yell or put you down but he made me come and eat with him and talked to me and I found it hard not to like him, but he had fifty other campers to worry about and all that.

He told me I would like camp just give it a chance, everyone got home sick. I wasn’t home sick I was missing my dog and friends. I didn’t say that though because he would just say make friends with these kids. I wanted my friends, none of these kids could be the kind of friend those guys were.

But grownups, no matter how nice or good hearted never get that they think kids automatically like other kids.

After I mailed my letter off to Sid and Butch, determined to write each of my friends a night I went back to my cabin and went to bed.

"PONY UP BOYS WE ARE HUNTIN’ The little black Queenie!" a chain saw on ice voice tore through the silence of night and crickets.

I moaned.

Then that snitching rat Davie came in I pretended to be asleep, I knew he had to go snitch he was the only one who saw me at the pay phone he knew the rules.

"Marty are you shooting the moon?" Ricky asked and there were some murmurs.

"What’s that?" Davie asked.

I sighed, and said in the sleepiest voice I could manage, "I don’t know."

I knew all right I had spent many rainy afternoon loosing bottle caps to Topaz playing Hearts, I knew very well they were playing for money which was against the camp rules, but as much as I despised Ricky I wasn’t about to squeal.

"Oh jeeze," someone moaned from the next cabin and Ricky brayed like a donkey.

"They better not keep this up much longer lights out at ten sharp," Davie said.

I tried to remember who was in the cabin south of us, I knew north of us was Snider and Spike.

I thought that Charlie and some other kid, I couldn’t remember I knew that old motor mouth Ricky was in one of the first cabins.

"Pony up!" came Ricky’s gleeful chain saw cry, "We are going hunting for the little black Queenie, and get that bad girl out."

I pretended to sleep, and even as tired as I was the ruckus from the card players in the next cabin kept me awake, finally I drifted off and dreamed about running through icy white terrain with Ricky chasing me with a chain saw trying to saw the ice beneath my feet so I would fall in the water. Chapter Three