Chapter 31: Destination Camp

As Jessie’s mother was getting ready to indulge in her naked housework romp Jessie was heading off down the road in the back seat of Mr Erikson’s car with Mr Erikson’s son, Bjorn, sitting next to him in the passenger seat. Nobody said much for the the first few minutes of the ride then Jessie learned forward between the two men in front of her and asked, “So come on guys, what’s the go with all the secret squirrel stuff about this Music Retreat? It is just a Music Retreat, right?”

Bjorn and his father exchanged a few words between them in Swedish before Bjorn looked at Jessie and said, “I don’t know either. I know my pop knows something but he won’t tell me anything. Ever since their meeting the other week with Reverend Unsworth and our new choirmaster he’s had this funny little smile on his face but refuses to let me in on anything. Even mom seems to know what the big secret is and she didn’t even go to that meeting. I’m sure it can’t be anything too weird - it’s just not that kind of church, or camp - I think!”

The two men then exchanged a few more words in their native tongue before Bjorn looked at Jessie and just shrugged his shoulders. Mr Erikson then looked at his son then at Jessie and gave a little laugh before saying, “Yar, you vill have the good time. You see. You sing, you make music, you have the good time ... ha ha ... the VERY good time.”

That was all they got out of the man until they got to the church and he was dropping them off with all their gear and waving goodbye as he headed back home. As he waved goodbye to Bjorn and Jessie he said again, “Yar, you vill have the good time!” Then he added with another chuckle, “And I vill be seeing you on Thursday for the good time too!” Then he was gone.

Jessie and Bjorn looked at each other again with just a blank stare that said without words, “What on earth was that all about?”

The two quickly forgot all about this funny little episode as they got busily occupied with stowing their gear under the bus and helping lots of others do the same. They also willingly got involved in packing and loading lots of other stuff that was going out with them from the church ... food, music books, sound equipment, musical equipment and just general boxes filled with all sorts of odds and ends. Once it looked like everything was safely stowed they filed onto the bus with all the rest of the choir team and that was when Jessie Harper got the shock of her life - along with a few other members of the choir too!

Jessie bounced up the three steps inside the front door of the big Greyhound bus chartered for the occasion. When she was fully inside the bus she looked up from the floor and down the length of the aisle running between all the seats. Her eyes fell on a group of three kids sitting right down the back on the very last row of seats and took an immediate double take when she thought she saw her friend Carrie Pearson sitting in the middle. When she realized that it really was Carrie Pearson she raced down the length of the aisle, flung her arms around the girl and rasped out, “CARRIE! What on earth are you doing here? I thought you guys had fallen off the planet or gone to Mars or something. Why didn’t you answer any of my calls or my text messages?”