Cabin Friends

“And you must be Izabella.” “Izzie, please.” “Well Izzie, it is nice to meet you. Have you met everyone in Cabin 29 so far?” “Yes.” Heather sensed some tension and said “Well, nothing brings the crew together better than surviving Mrs. Mendax’s opening meal together.” The girls all laughed. All but Izzie. Heather stood at the door and instructed the girls to go to the mess hall where dinner would be served. Izzie wasn’t quite ready. Heather looked back at her and smiled. It was a smile of reassurance and hope. Izzie felt comfortable and knew that she was going to enjoy the camp eventually. She was optimistic that dinner would change things for the better. “Do you need help?” asked Heather. “No, I’ll be there in just a minute.” “Okay, well if you get lost, follow the signs with the purple circles to the mess hall. If I don’t see you in five minutes, I’ll come get you. Okay?” “Thank you. That’s nice of you.” And with that, Izzie was alone in the cabin. After attending to a few final details before getting ready, Izzie left the cabin. She followed the purple circles to the mess hall. Just as she was coming to the side door of the mess hall, the one she could get in the easiest, she saw a large lady with no smile talking to a large man unloading a truck of its contents. They seemed to be having a disagreement of some sort. The lady was miserable and the man seemed to just laugh her off as if what she was saying meant little to him. Heather was right. Dinner was a lot of fun. The girls all sat together and by the time Izzie got there, Heather had all the girls in a friendly comfortable mood. They even left a space for Izzie to join them easily. Everyone from Cabin 29 taught Izzie their cabin cheer. Each cabin in the mess hall had to participate and the team that was voted the worst cheer had to do kitchen duty, clearing and cleaning all the dishes after dinner. Cabin 29 won every year, and the winning team got out of dish duty for the entire time they were at camp. We are the cabin that makes Cabin friends so great We are the cabin that makes Cabin friends so great Cabin 29 is so fine we are friends ‘til the end of time. This was the winning cheer, three year’s running; make that four. The girls won again and Joe high-fived Izzie. They bonded over dinner. After dinner, as they followed the path back to their cabin, the entire camp was filled with their laughter and joy. They moved along quickly so they could get ready for the campfire. Lillian held the path rope all the way up the door and was the last to stop laughing. “What is it?” she asked. “The letter on the door.” Allie said. “That’s not normal.” said Joe. It was stuck to the door with a large dirty nail and on the envelope it said “GET OUT!”