Mary Anne And Camp Read online

  So maybe a circus camp wasn't a totally original idea, but we all loved it, especially Claudia. She kept calling our barn the "Big Top" and suggesting that I train Tigger for. the "Lions and Tigers Act."

  But goofing aside, Claudia had designed these super tie-dye shirts for us to wear. We hadn't told the kids about the circus idea yet, though. We decided to wait until they'd settled in the first day and then announce it.

  By Sunday night, we'd done all we could do. The only big question remaining was the weather. Would it rain?

  It didn't. I woke up extra early and opened

  my eyes and started smiling immediately. No matter what else happened during the day, the sun was shining. It was a sign, I decided, that Camp BSC was going to be a success.

  Dad and Sharon left, wishing us luck, and Claudia arrived with a last minute load of art supplies, which she hustled out to the assortment of tables we'd set up by the barn. We'd lined the tables with cups filled with colored pencils and crayons and paper for everyone to draw on. That was going to be the first activity of the morning for the kids, until everybody had arrived and settled in. We'd even decided to have a theme for the kids to draw. Today, the first day, we'd suggested that they draw their favorite circus animal.

  Logan showed up next on his bicycle (he looks very handsome on a bicycle), followed by Mal and Jessi, along with four more Pikes and one more Ramsey.

  Dawn, who'd been hovering by the front door with me, gave Logan a friendly punch on the shoulder, Kristy-style, and said, "I think I'll go check out those circus animals." She grinned at me, gave me an exaggerated wink, and then grinned even more as I felt myself start to blush.

  But I was glad to have a minute alone with Logan to say hello, which is about all we got to say, because more clients arrived, via Kristy,

  in her grandmother's car, the Pink Clinker.

  I whipped out my roll book again and checked off the names as more and more people showed up. Jamie Newton arrived and announced that he had to go to the bathroom, and Logan said, "See you later," to me and held his hand out to Jamie. "This way," he told Jamie.

  "Nineteen, twenty," I counted off the names and made sure that everyone I'd checked off had actually arrived. Two people to go.

  And there they were: Bobby and Alicia Gianelli.

  Bobby saw all the activity at the tables and took off at once, shouting, " 'Bye, Mom!" over his shoulder.

  Alicia, who had just turned four, stood holding her mother's hand, and she reached with her other hand and locked it in place on her mother's wrist.

  "Hi, Mrs. Gianelli. Hi, Alicia,” I said, checking off the last two names. I put the roll book away and said, "Welcome to Camp BSC."

  "Hi, Mary Anne. It looks like a lot of fun, doesn't it, honey?" Mrs. Gianelli said to Alicia. Alicia didn't answer. She just stared up at her mother with big brown eyes.

  "Do you know what a circus is, Alicia?" I asked.

  Alicia shifted her gaze from her mother to me. She nodded.

  "We're drawing our favorite circus animals today. You want to come with me and help me? I can't make up my mind. An elephant? Do you like elephants?"

  "Camels," said Alicia.

  "Camels? Camels could be in a circus," I said.

  Alicia let go of her mother's hand. I reached out and took Alicia's hand in my own. "Camels would look very good in circus costumes. And you know what, Alicia? See Claudia over there? Claudia is an artist and I bet she could think of some great camel costumes."

  We started walking toward the tables, but we hadn't gone three steps before Alicia twisted around. "Mommy!" she said in a panicked voice. "Mommy, don't go!"

  "Would you like to see the tables and some of the artwork?" I said. "We'll have juice a little later this morning. And we have a surprise announcement this afternoon for all the campers."

  I was talking as much to Alicia as to Mrs. Gianelli and Mrs. Gianelli did the same, exclaiming over how much fun everything sounded and laughing at some of the funny hat drawings Claudia came up with for Alicia's

  camel. Alicia seemed to enjoy it, but I noticed that she kept making eye contact with her mother.

  Poor Alicia, I thought. She's afraid to be separated from her mother. "It's okay, Alicia," I said. "Camp BSC is going to be lots and lots of fun."

  Then Kristy said to me, "Everybody's here. Let's let them color for a little longer, then move on to the next activity.… Hi, Mrs. Gianelli. You should see the lion Bobby drew for his circus animal. You will, I guess, because everyone's going to bring their drawings home at the end of the day."

  "I suppose I can go now," said Mrs. Gianelli in an undertone.

  Kristy looked surprised. "Sure!"

  Claudia said, turning so that Alicia couldn't hear her, "I think she's fine now. Don't worry."

  Mrs. Gianelli left. I watched her go. "Poor Alicia," I said softly. "It must be so scary to be a little kid and have to be left on her own like this."

  "But it's not like Alicia doesn't know us," Claudia said practically. "And it's not like it's the first time her mother has ever left her with one of us."

  Alicia had raised her head from her coloring project and was watching her mom's car pull

  away. I saw her look down the table toward where her brother Bobby was sitting. Then she bent her head over her coloring again.

  I reached out and gave her shoulder a gentle, reassuring pat.

  Then Jamie Newton's piece of paper blew away somehow and I ran to help him catch it and forgot about Alicia for the time being.

  I forgot about Alicia until we decided to make an excursion to the park, right after the mid-morning juice (during which, miraculously, no major juice mishaps occurred).

  Everyone was instantly excited about the field trip to the park. "Cool," shouted Haley, signing rapidly to her brother Matt. (Matt is deaf. We've all learned some sign language, but none of us can talk with our hands at top speed the way Haley and Matt do.)

  "Monkey bars, monkey bars, all the way up to Mars," sang Vanessa Pike. Marilyn Arnold giggled and added, "Swing high, swing low, to the park we go!"

  That set everybody off. We paired the kids into buddies and divided the buddies among us, and set off amid some of the most awful poetry you've ever heard.

  All except Alicia. I saw Hannie Papadakis, who'd been paired with Alicia, say, "Come on, Alicia."

  "No," I heard a firm, small voice say and I

  turned to see Alicia standing. by the table where she'd been coloring. Her arms were folded. Her face was turning red.

  Mal, who was nearest, turned to her. "Alicia? Don't you want to go to the park?"

  "The park, the trees, if you please," I heard Vanessa calling out up ahead.

  "No." Alicia's tone was firm, but her voice also sounded a bit shaky. Up ahead, I saw Kristy look back and then slow down. The whole "park train" did the same.

  Mal said to her group of campers, which included Karen and Nancy, "Wait a minute." I nodded at the twins, Marilyn and Carolyn, who were standing nearby with Becca and Charlotte, and said, "Hold up, you guys."

  I went back to join Mal, who had squatted down beside Alicia. "Alicia, is something wrong?" Mal said. "Do you need to go to the bathroom first?"

  "No," said Alicia for the third time. She looked at me. "I have to stay here," she said.

  "But don't you want to go to the park?" Mal said. "It'll be fun. We can ..."

  Whatever Mal had been going to say was lost in a truly amazing howl as Alicia opened her mouth and squeezed her eyes shut and began to cry.

  "Alicia! What's wrong?"

  "Not the park. I cannnn't,” was what we heard.

  "Are you afraid of something in the park?" asked Mal.

  Alicia shook her head. She kept crying.

  "Shhhh," I said. "You don't have to go to the park if you don't want to. Shhhh." I grabbed one of the paper napkins I'd stuck in the pocket of my shorts (a good baby-sitter is always prepared) and used the napkin as a tissue. I wiped the tears from Alicia's cheeks.
r />   "Mommy," sniffed Alicia. "What if Mommy comes back for me? What if I'm not here?"

  My heart broke for Alicia. She looked so little and scared and forlorn standing there.

  "Your mom won't be back until after lunch. This afternoon," said Mal. She held out her arm, and pointed to her watch. "Not until the big hand is on the twelve and the little hand is on the five, see?"

  The tears began to well up in Alicia's eyes again. By this time, of course, all of Camp BSC was gathered around us, watching us as if we were a performance of some sort. But some of the campers, I noticed, were also getting restless.

  "Will we get to the park at least by dark?" demanded Vanessa.

  I said quickly, "I'll tell you what. I'll stay

  here with Alicia. You guys can handle the trip to the park without me, can't you?"

  "Well," said Kristy. She didn't look happy. Kristy hates it when her plans get changed.

  Mal said, "It probably would be a good idea, at least for today."

  "Okay," said Kristy. She's stubborn, but when it comes to baby-sitting she knows that being flexible is key.

  "Come on, Hannie, you can be our partner," said Karen instantly and Nancy nodded. "Then we'll be the Three Musketeers."

  Camp BSC left for the park. Alicia and I watched them go, and then I persuaded Alicia to take a short walk around the barn (but only after I explained to her that we would be able to see Ker mother from the barn, if her mom arrived).

  I couldn't remember being four, but I could certainly sympathize with Alicia. I also admired her single-mindedness. And of course, as an experienced baby-sitter, I knew that what she needed was some time to adjust to camp. Once she saw that her mother was going to come back and get her every day, no matter what, she'd be fine.

  Everyone returned from the park in high spirits and with big appetites. We sorted out the lunches (Camp BSC requirement: all lunches had to be labeled by name) and

  poured out juice and milk. The kids loved eating outside. We all did.

  And in spite of the fact that she hadn't gone to the park, Alicia had an appetite to match everybody else's.

  After lunch we settled down for a quiet read-aloud storytime. We divided into two groups for reading aloud, and let the older kids choose which stories they wanted to listen to. Jessi and Mal took the four youngest kids, Claire, Alicia, Andrew, and Jamie, inside and read . aloud to them, too, and then settled them down for brief naps.

  When quiet time was over, we gathered together all the kids and Kristy stood up. "Welcome to Camp BSC," she said.

  Linny Papadakis put two fingers to his mouth and gave a shrill whistle. Some of the kids applauded.

  Kristy grinned. "Thank you, thank you. Applause is always welcome. And we'll all be getting plenty of applause because we've decided on a theme for Camp BSC. We're going to have a circus camp!"

  Karen's hand immediately shot up. "Kristy! Kristy!" Karen called, waving her hand furiously.

  "What is it, Karen?" Kristy asked.

  "Is this a real circus camp?" Karen asked, her blue eyes intent behind her glasses.

  "I'm not sure what you mean," said Kristy.

  "I've been to a real circus camp," said Karen. She looked around. "We learned about real circus things."

  Ricky Torres was nodding and waving his hand at the same time. "Me, too! Are we going to learn about tightropes? Trapezes?"

  "Lion taming?" asked Hannie.

  "You didn't learn how to tame lions at circus camp!" exclaimed Claudia. I could tell she was trying not to laugh.

  Kristy took charge. "How many kids here have been to circus camp?"- "Real circus camp?" asked Karen.

  "Karen," said Kristy warningly. "Everybody who has been to circus camp before, raise your hand."

  Karen and Ricky raised their hands. So did Natalie, Chris, Hannie, Linny, Nancy, and Bobby. Bobby said, "I didn't go with Karen. I went to another camp."

  "Okay, good." Kristy nodded. "I'm pleased to see we have so many experienced circus campers with us. That will make our circus that much better at the end of the camp. I'm counting on you experienced circus hands to help us out."

  "Will we have a tightrope?" persisted Ricky.

  "We can learn about tightropes," Kristy

  said. "We'll figure out what acts we want to do as we go along."

  "No tightropes way up in the air," said Karen. "They wouldn't let us have a tightrope in the real circus camp."

  "I think circus camp is a great idea," said Becca Ramsey. "Maybe some of us can pretend to be lions and do a lion taming act!"

  "Excellent," said Kristy. "I want you to think about all the things you want to do for our circus and come tomorrow ready to write them down. Then we'll decide what we want our circus to have in it.

  "Now, let's have a game of freezetag."

  Kristy had averted a circus riot. I caught her eye and gave her a thumbs-up signal. Then we all joined in a game of freezetag until the parents started returning to pick up their kids.

  The moment the first parent arrived, Alicia froze.

  "You haven't been tagged yet," I said to her, since I was standing (frozen) nearby.

  "Where's Mommy?" she said. "Where's my mother?"

  "She'll be here soon," I promised.

  Alicia's lower lip trembled. "I want my mother."

  "Alicia," I began.

  Alicia's whole face lit up. "Mommy,

  Mommy; Mommy!" she shrieked and took off across the yard.

  I followed her to make sure everything was all right and watched her fling herself headfirst into her mother's legs.

  "Whoa there," Mrs. Gianelli said. She bent down and scooped up Alicia. "How's my girl? Did you have a good day at camp?"

  Alicia nodded.

  "I'll go get Bobby," I said.

  Unlike Alicia, Bobby wanted to stay until he finished the game. With her mother there, Alicia soon wanted to play, too. Mrs. Gianelli stood by me and watched.

  "Has Alicia been, uh, separated from you much before?" I asked.

  "No," said Mrs. Gianelli cheerfully. "Today was the longest time. I started to come by at lunch to check on her, but then I thought it might make things worse. Did she do okay?"

  Claudia, who was standing beside me said, "Her first whole day! Wow. She did super, Mrs. Gianelli. Except she didn't want to go to the park because she was afraid you wouldn't know where to find her if you came back early."

  The game of freeze tag was ending since the parents had arrived. Mrs. Gianelli laughed and caught Alicia's hand in her own as Alicia came

  running back. "I'll try to explain it to her," she promised us.

  " 'Bye, guys,” called Claudia.

  " 'Bye, Bobby. 'Bye, Alicia," I said.

  " 'Bye," said Bobby. "See you tomorrow."

  "Good-bye," said Alicia. She looked up at her mom. "I don't have to come back tomorrow, do I?" she asked as they were leaving.

  Claudia gave a little snort. "I don't think Alicia likes Camp BSC."

  Logan had wandered over to us and he bumped his shoulder against mine. "Who doesn't like the best camp in all of Stoneybrook?"

  "Alicia," I said. "She's having some adjustment problems."

  "Standard stuff," said Claudia. "She'll get over it. You'll see."

  "Maybe," I said.

  Everyone else had joined us and we automatically went to work, cleaning up after the day's activities and getting things ready for the next day. We didn't talk much. We were all a little tired.

  But circus rebellion and Alicia's adjustment problems aside, it had been a pretty good day. It looked as if Camp BSC was going to be a stupendous success.

  Chapter 5.

  "No, no, no, noooooo!"

  Alicia Gianelli looked like the perfect camper. Her white sneakers were spotless and so were her white socks with lavender trim that matched the lavender stripes on the side of her navy blue shorts. She was wearing a navy and lavender and white striped T-shirt and carrying a safety-orange backpack. Until a moment ago, she'd been holding h
er lunch in a dinosaur-decorated insulated lunch bag.

  But when her mother had turned to go, Alicia had dropped the lunch bag and the appearance of being a perfect camper and flung herself at her mother to clutch her knees.

  "Noo, don't gooooo!" Alicia wailed.

  Poor Alicia. I knew that Mrs. Gianelli had explained about camp to her. So had I. So had Claudia. And Mal. And Jessi. And Dawn. And Kristy. And Shannon. And Logan.

  Everyone in the BSC had tried to convince Alicia that she didn't need to worry. That her mother was coming back — just as she had come back every single day, all four days, since Camp BSC had been in session.

  Alicia had nodded. And continued to cling to her mother desperately every single day when Mrs. Gianelli had tried to leave Camp BSC.

  "Oh, Alicia," I said softly. I bent over and smoothed her soft, dark hair.

  Alicia shook her head angrily. "No!"

  "No way, huh?" asked Mal.

  Mrs. Gianelli bent over and unwound Alicia's arms. "Come on, Alicia. I'll walk with you to your table."

  Still sniffling, Alicia allowed herself to be led to the table. "We have some new circus books here," said Mal. "Look at this one. It's got a camel in it. You like camels, don't you?"

  Alicia reached for the book.

  Mal looked up. "I think you can go now," she said softly.

  "Well…" Mrs. Gianelli hesitated. Nearby, Bobby had already forgotten about his mother and was involved in a lion roaring contest with Ricky.

  "You don't have to," I said quickly.

  "Neat camel, Alicia," said Claudia, who'd

  arrived with some more crayons and paper for Alicia's table. "Want to try to draw one?"

  Alicia took the crayons from Claudia and began to sort them into piles of similar colors on the table. Claudia looked up at Mrs. Gianelli. "She'll be fine. Don't worry."

  Reassured, Mrs. Gianelli nodded and strode across the grass to her car. Alicia, oblivious to the stains of the tears drying on her cheeks, bent over the crayons and her book, studying them intently.

  "Poor Alicia," I said softly to Mal as she stood beside me. "It seems mean to trick her."