Chances and Changes: My Journey with Molly

When my eyes focus again, things look different. The steps aren’t rotted anymore, and they lead to a big wooden building behind me that’s labeled “Dining Hall.” Where on Earth did this come from? How do the steps look so new? I look at the pin. Everything was normal until I rubbed the white stone. But before I can figure out what happened, I hear a girl say, “Hi” from behind me.

I turned to face her. She welcomes me to Camp Gowonagin. Camp what? Am I dreaming? Is this girl real?

She smiles and introduces herself as Molly. With old-fashioned politeness, she holds out her hand to shake mine and asks me what my name is. I manage to mumble that my name is Margaret. I look around. There’s a wide shady path that winds up a hill. There are tan tents on one side of the hill, and green fields sloped down to a border of green pine trees. A lake peeks through the trees. I see chattering groups of girls greeting each other happily. They are all dressed just like Molly, with white shirts, red shorts, and red caps.

I grip the steps for dear life because I’m so dizzy. As impossible as it seems, somehow I am at a girls’ summer camp. My face must look mixed up and scared because Molly kindly says that camp is sort of overwhelming on the first day. But I will love it. She says the camp director, Miss Butternut, is really nice and so are all of the counselors. Her face lights up. She can introduce me to her friend, Linda. She runs inside the Dining Hall to get her.

The screen door swings shut behind her, and I slip my hand into my pocket to take out the pin. What will happen if I rub it again? Will it take me home?

I make the instant decision to rub it again, and after a whoosh of darkness, I blink in the light. This time I’m back in my own woods, sitting on the splintery steps, the pin in my hand. I look at my watch. No time has passed. I’m relieved to be home, but after a few seconds, I begin to think. I liked Molly. She was friendly and welcoming. Being with her felt good. It was like a break from worrying about my big decision. This might be my opportunity to find out what it’s like to go somewhere new. The part of me itching for adventure wants to go back to Molly. So even though I’m not sure where the pin will take me next, I make an impulsive decision. I rub the pin again, hoping it will take me back to Molly.

I Whoosh through the darkness and blink in the sunlight. I find myself sitting again on the new-looking steps. When I turn around, Molly and another girl in a camp uniform bounce down. I put the pin in my pocket for safekeeping. Molly introduces her friend, Linda. She pats my shoulder and says that my name is Margaret, like Princess Margaret in England.

Linda says Margaret is also the name of President Truman’s daughter. Molly shakes her head. She still can’t get used to saying President Truman. The president has been Franklin Roosevelt her whole life. Well, I think. This talk of princesses and presidents has me confused. Truman is not the president. And then it hits me. I’m not just in another place, but in another time, too. The pin transported me back in time to the past. I feel excited and terrified all of the same time.

Linda asks if it’s unfair that President Roosevelt didn’t live to see V.E. Day, the end of the war in Europe. I rack my brains, trying to remember my American history so I can figure out what year I’m in. We learned that Franklin Roosevelt led the United States out of the Great Depression in the 1930s and nearly to the end of World War II. Roosevelt died suddenly, and his vice-president, Harry Truman, took over. That means that I have traveled back to 1945!