Velma Peyton

chapter 5

Not quite. Here came the turn of the event.

After a quick lunch, all the scouts and families gathered for the opening ceremony, during which we heard that foreigners may not be allowed to camp at the very site we were at.

What? No camping? Why? That park is not "licensed" for foreigners to camp! Oh how I wish it was true. But at that point, it was only a rumor. The" good" side of the story--as my mum had put it--is that the organizer was still negotiating with the park, to see if there would be an exception, given the situation that we, two busloads of foreigners were already there, tents were set up, etc.

A lot of us were not even thinking that maybe the park was being difficult, or maybe a little bribery will do the trick, or a gaping loophole in the park rules would get us to stay eventually, or maybe there would be a miraculous change of heart. But somehow we would end up camping that night as planned. We—the students--were quite thinking the opposite anyway.

While the grownups were deeply perplexed by the situation, the scouts were having their fun activities as scheduled.

By five, words came that we definitely had to leave. All the negotiations failed! That means we could not stay in the park that night!

After all this work! It's not hard to imagine the happiness of some of the students, when the tents were being packed. Some young kids were having a hard time understanding why the tents were up for a while and then everybody was packing up.

Another factor that complicated things was, due to the schedule change, the bus had to be dispatched back to the park the same night, which was hard. The best they could do was to come pick us up 8:30 at night.

With the tents gone, the camping spirit went with it. The waiting for the bus felt long, tiring and tedious.

At the same time, another group of campers were bellowing some Chinese songs, loud, out of tune. The microphone amplified the roaring and made it sound like hungry wolves howling.

The singing was endless, so was the waiting; the cold damp evening air filled with the ashy dust from the burning wood of the campfire made the waiting feel longer than it was.

  I mean seriously, what's the point of this?!?

The bus finally came at around 9pm. We were too tired to walk back to the gate. The close to one hour walk was even unthinkable to the parents.

The walk back to the gate was another experience to remember. The forest was pitch dark by then, and the only source of light was the flickering flame of the flash light, weak and insignificant in the giant sheet of smothering darkness. My parents and I dragged every step in the dark.

I know the Boy Scouts' motto is "Be Prepared", but I really wonder how many people were prepared for this kind of "camping" experience. Set up the tent, take it off, pack up everything, hike in the dark, all happened on the same day?

The physical drain put aside, mentally, it was a big knot! But as I always said, if you live in London, be ready to expect the unexpected. It goes a long way!

        After all the hiking, we finally reached the campsite. Nobody said a word. We were all tired; we didn't even set up the tent. No not one family did that, everyone just drifted off to sleep.

     And you know one teeny- little fact?  Not one single junior had come up to me or even look at me as a "role model". That's right; Mrs. Peters is a bloody liar. That had even been one of the reasons I had agreed to come to this "camping of a lifetime".

    Not for too long. Soon the whole school is going to know me for me.

   In fact after all the hiking, I thought I would lose my talent due to the ill feeling I had in my leg. But, I knew that was not possible.

     Oh no! Why did I have to think about that now??