Chapter 2

“Hey, are we just going to lie around all day looking up at the sky?” Riley poked her campmates, Sherri and Jesse. “Come on! Today is a free day and we can do whatever we want.”

Over the last six days, since they arrived at Sunny Brook Camp, Riley and her two best friends had participated in all the organized group activities and tried all the individual challenges.

Sherri raised herself on her elbows and said that she wanted to go on the trampoline, but that there were already too many kids waiting their turn to get on. Riley suggested they could toss some more horseshoes since she and Sherri were good at aiming and ringing the stake. Jesse didn’t want to do anything, moaning that his arms were still sore from rowing the boat the day before from one end of the lake to the other, while the girls just sat back enjoying the ride and watching him put his muscles to the oars. They offered to take turns, but he refused, wanting to show off how strong and brave he was.

“Okay, I have a better idea,” Riley sat up. Even though she was the youngest of the three, she always came up with ideas. “Why don’t we take the hiking trail that goes around the lake?”

The three had gone on the trail once with the whole group of seventeen other campmates and two counselors but wanted to explore at their own pace and spend more quality time all by themselves. Sherri nodded. She liked the idea. Jesse agreed as long as they would be back at the camp in time for supper. They were going to serve macaroni and cheese with meatballs, his favorite dish. Sherri rolled her eyes and Riley giggled.

They each filled their water bottles and set off like the Three Musketeers in pursuit of adventure and new discoveries.

The trail started wide enough for the three to walk abreast side-by-side. Gradually, though, it began to narrow until they were forced to walk single file. They picked their way through dense thickets of tall pine trees and around large boulders many of which were covered with smooth, flaky lichens in unexpectedly bright colors of orange and yellow, as well as the more common ones of reddish brown, gray, green, and white. It felt like tiptoeing through a fantasy land where unseen beings had left mystical paint marks.

A cool breeze flowed like a hushed voice through the trees chasing away the midafternoon stifling heat. The air smelled pure and wholesome; they could almost taste it.

The forest was teeming with life; every tree, bush, flower, and blade of grass seemed to have a story to tell. The three often stopped to listen to what sounded like whispers.

Flowers were everywhere and came in many different varieties and colors. There were some they had never seen, growing in spots where the trees allowed the sun to poke through. Riley and Sherri picked a couple of the blue and intense pink flowers and stuck them in their hair. They looked like princesses from a Disney fairy tale.