~completed~ "She drew with the colored pencils even though the only thing in her brain was a blank page. She wanted everybody to believe that she was as vibrant as her art. I was a dead soul in the body of a youth. I would have cried if I was strong...
Fair was coming up soon! Carnita was almost sixty pounds and still very persistent about lots of attention. It was nearing the middle of the month of July. My life was pretty busy, from summer camp which was that weekend, back-to-back with Vacation Bible School at the Chapel which I attended, to the Redwood Empire Fair and junior auction. Every day was really hectic, but I still talked to David as often as possible. I wasn't allowed to take my phone to camp (basically the rule of every single camp that I had ever attended), so David would have to wait to talk to me. I hoped that the next coming year, David would be able to attend the same camp with me! I had talked to him about attending, but he had a conflicting schedule.
Camp went by quickly. The study sessions were very deep and serious. The only parts of camp that I didn't like, were the parts where a boring old man from my chapel, gave everyday study lectures; these were very boring, like fall asleep boring. He made jokes that were only funny to himself, so he laughed at his own jokes. The only problem with this man was that since he knew my family, he used Alissa, Jessie and I, as examples in his teaching. The other youthful teacher was very fun and energetic about what he was teaching.
Every night that I couldn't actually say goodnight to David, I would silently pray that God would give him a sense of strong loving care, and also that he would be able to feel a powerful hug from the angels above. All David knew, was that I was at summer camp for the weekend, and was hopefully learning a lot. I had learned a lot, but I yearned to physically be able to be that best friend who would throw their arms around the other person and be able to say, "I missed you!"
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"Just three more hours of sleep!" I wishfully thought. I had gotten back home midday Sunday, and the Vacation Bible School started early Monday morning. Jessie literally rolled out of bed (onto the floor) while simultaneously saying, "I hate Mondays!" In actuality, Monday's weren't so bad; the only bad thing that I could think of in that moment was that the library was closed on Monday's.
After actually getting out of bed, showering, eating breakfast, and feeding livestock, we were off to Comptche! The blades of grass had slight drops of dew on them. The cool air was a refresher to my lungs. We had gotten to the Chapel later than expected and there was already a line of children waiting for name tags and parental consent forms. After snagging a name tag and lanyard, I was ready to start the day. David met up with me shortly after I arrived at my destination: the sound booth.
I quickly got the tech area set up and turned around to give David my full attention. After just a few seconds of talking, we both took seats on the floor. David said that he was looking forward to hanging out for the entire week! I was extremely happy! He had an idea of planning out every day so we could be more organized. He was a teacher's aid, whereas I was the music, sound board operator, AND teacher's aid. My schedule was very busy; a little too busy in my opinion. A bonus to being a teacher's assistant was that Jennifer was the teacher that I was going to be helping! Droves of children came in through the main door of the chapel. It was time to begin.
After all of the kids were placed in their appropriate groups, we began the day by learning the theme song of the week. After the teachers were ready, we were dismissed by groups to go to our respective classrooms. Mrs. Walker sat all of her students down and had them introduce themselves. She told all of the students, "My name is Mrs. Walker. Please don't call me any other name." Many of the children already knew Mrs. Walker, and they kept calling her by her first name: Jennifer. She promptly corrected them to call her Mrs. Walker. From then on, as a matter of respect, I would call her this every time I saw her.
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"Hey Ellie, come here! Preferably before the ice cream is gone!" David yelled throughout the entire building. I ran. Nobody was stopping me from my ice cream serving! Huffing and puffing, I made it in line. I overheard the ice cream server say that there were only four options to choose from: coffee-espresso, vanilla, chocolate, or a chocolate covered banana; all with the option of dipping it in chocolate or creamy peanut butter. Naturally, I chose my favorite flavor: chocolate dipped in peanut butter.
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