Camp Antler Point

Chapter 5

Rain pounded Beaver Cabin with all the untamed ferocity of a rabid animal. Wood creaked against the watery onslaught as the flickering lights illuminated the art supplies strewn across the floor.

Four girls sat huddled around Amy, sharing a mountain of blankets and a bowl of Cheetos. "This is so lame," Maggie said. At twelve years old, she was the oldest kid in Beaver Cabin. Unfortunately for everyone else, her attitude had aged like a peach left to rot on the branch. "Arts and crafts are for babies."

"She says that about everything," Gwen stage whispered. She tightened her blanket cocoon as thunder roared outside.

"I do not."

"Do too!"

"At least I didn't hook a tree. How can you miss a lake?"

Amy held up her hands in a calming gesture. "You don't have to make anything if you don't want to. Everybody comfy?"

Beverly scooted closer to Amy, her thin frame shaking with chills. "I'm cold."

"You can have my pillow." Nina shifted under her share of the blankets, squirming futilely until she gave her friend a sheepish grin. "I'm stuck."

"Hang on, I've got some hot chocolate for all of us." After Amy helped Nina disentangle herself, she passed each of the girls a small thermos. "Careful, it's hot."

"Can I have Maggie's?" Gwen asked.

Her sister shot her a look that could fell a moose. "No way!" She took a big gulp to prove her point, only to cough as the scalding liquid burned her tongue.

Amy wished she could go back to the days when the extent of her worries had been the kids teasing each other or burning their tongues. At least while they were cooped up in the cabin she could keep an eye on them and make sure they stayed safe.

She emptied a jumbo bag of pipe cleaners onto the floor and spread them out so the kids could see all the colors at their disposal. "What should we make first?"

"Kittens!" Beverly shouted.

"A giraffe," Nina said quietly.

"I think I'll make a lion," Gwen said.

Maggie snorted. "Yeah, right. You couldn't even make a snake."

Gwen bent a pipe cleaner into a crooked loop around her finger. Before she could toss the 'snake' at her sister, a claw of lightning slashed through the sky.

"A monster!" Beverly screamed.

"It's just a thunderstorm," Maggie deadpanned. Still, she turned her gaze to the sky, wincing at the muddy river winding its way through the center of camp. "A nasty thunderstorm."

"That's why we've gotta make animals," Amy said. "I bet they'll scare the rain in no time."

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Sure." Still, she joined the other girls as they set to work twisting the fuzzy fragments into shapes vaguely resembling wildlife.

A menagerie soon covered the floor of the cabin. Pink kittens climbed atop green giraffes, hitching rides to see lions with tangled rainbow manes. Amy sat making misshapen flowers for their animals to frolic in. She squinted with frustration at their drooping petals and crooked stems. Try as she might, her fingers just wouldn't follow her brain's blueprints with the same precision as the kids could.