Chances and Changes: My Journey with Molly

This is my chance to find out what summer camp is like! And I love to swim, so All Wet Day sounds like fun. I suggest we stay here. Molly and Linda cheer. Molly says that she was hoping I would choose that. Linda agrees. Molly explains that Linda is a part fish and All Wet Day is all kinds of fun. I joke around that I’m a mermaid, too. I tell them my friend Bea and I have a tradition of swimming everyday in the summer, rain or shine. My hair basically stays wet from May through October. Molly rolls her eyes. Now she has two friends who are fishy.

Molly suggests we hurry to our tent to make up my bunk. Miss Butternut will blow the bugle for an all-camp meeting soon. Linda explains that Miss Butternut’s bugle is our clock while at camp. She blows it to wake us up in the morning to “Reveille” and throughout the day. The day is divided up into activities like arts and crafts, nature, archery, horseback riding, team sports, and swimming, and the bugle keeps every activity on schedule. Molly warns that sometimes you have to bring a letter to mail home, or you won’t be allowed in for the meal. Molly says that I can use a piece of her stationary. She has a whole box of writing paper in my trunk.

Wow. Camp Gowonagin sounds very regimented and strict. I ask if camp is run like an army. Molly and Linda look at me completely seriously. Well, of course. Then I remember that it’s 1945, and World War II is still going on. Rules and regulations make sense to everyone—even kids at summer camp.

Tent Ten is so cool! It’s bigger than I thought it would be. It’s big enough to stand in. Inside, bunk beds are lined up military-style on either side with tidy trunks or duffel bags at the foot of each. The tent is much friendlier and cozier than I imagined an army tent would be. The flaps are rolled up and fastened so the sides are open to the fresh air. Girls are playing jacks, making their beds, and hanging clothes on hooks. I feel shy when I see all the new faces turning toward me, but every face is friendly. All of the girls know Molly and Linda already. They all jump up and hug them and break out into song. Molly introduces me to everybody. They all make me feel very welcome. I meet Nancy, Carolyn, and Edie. They introduce us to Bobbie, another new camper. Linda tells the girls all about my missing trunk and all the girls offer to loan me anything I might need.

Molly introduces me to a counselor-in-training, Betty, who will sleep in the tent with us, and Miss Archer, who is one of the senior counselors. Molly and Linda help me make up my bed, which is good because it takes three of us to tuck in the sheets properly. Linda explains they must be pulled tight enough so that you can bounce a quarter off of them just like in the army. Just then, the bugle blasts. I jump, startled by how loud the bugle is. But everyone cheers and I’m swept up in a stampede of girls as they dash out of the tent.

The Dining Hall is filled with noise. Everyone from Tent Ten sits at the same table, but we have to shout at one another to be heard. Girls are shrieking hello to each other and laughing and pretty soon everyone is singing the Camp Gowonagin welcome song. The air reverberates with their cheers. They sure do like to sing at Camp Gowonagin.

Then, Miss Butternut blows the bugle again. Everyone wiggles and whispers and finally goes quiet. Miss Butternut welcomes everybody to camp and says that this will be the best summer ever. The room explodes with cheers and claps. I think of Bea and how we were planning to have our best summer ever. I miss Bea!

Miss Butternut continues and says that one of our favorite camp traditions is All Wet Day. On this day, everyone will be in bathing suits all day long because we’ll be wet all day. There are fun games for everyone like bubble blowing, the bucket brigade, and the water slide. The room erupts into cheers again. She also says that they’ve added something new this year: a swim meet! Those who wish to can compete, even if they’re only at the Pollywog Level and don’t dive or swim underwater yet.

Linda whispers that she wants to swim in the meet. I say I do, too. Molly looks serious when she says it’ll only be fun if all three of us do the same thing. Linda reassures her that Miss Butternut said even Pollywogs can compete. Molly is a Pollywog? But I don’t have time to ask her about it because Miss Butternut says that everyone who wants to swim in the meet should gather at the lake in five minutes. And with that, she releases us.