Camp Kumoni Ch. 36 by Anistasia Allread Assisted and proofed by Nick B She opened her eyes to see the angelic face of Samantha facing her, her eyes still closed in a peaceful sleep. Erika’s heart almost broke right then for want of caressing her velvet like lips; to feel their silkiness against her own. A tear slid gently down her cheek . . .

“Katie, move over so that Tricia can have a seat,” Phoenix suggested. “Tricia, come have a seat and welcome to Columbine cabin.”

“Thanks, Tricia smiled with a soft voice. She sat down between Katie and Phoenix and looked around the table at all of the girls staring at her with mixed emotions.

Phoenix looked at Rachel with a look that seethed with dominance. “Okay, girls, let’s go around the table and introduce ourselves to Tricia.”

Once they had given their names and where they were from again, Tricia greeted all of the girls with a smile. Her family traveled and moved quite a lot. They had recently moved to this area and were planning on moving again next summer to another part of the country.

Tricia had pretty blonde hair that looked to be highlighted almost to a white, which matched her almost perfect teeth. Long dark lashes framed emerald green eyes which sparkled with good humor and excitement as she told them a bit about herself.

Erika studied her face intently. Her make-up was so clean and perfect. It was getting to be late at night and she still looked fresh. Her delicate hands were folded on the table in front of her, except when she spoke, but then they only moved just a little and in such a graceful way, that she didn’t need large gestures to emphasize her brief story.

Erika looked from the pretty blonde to the other girls of Columbine. Katie, like Erika, was entranced and a little awed by simple elegance of the newcomer. Samantha looked to have found a new kindred spirit while Victoria looked on with only a little interest. Rachel seemed distant and almost appeared to view the newcomer with contempt

A loud, deep thump on the roof caused several of the girls to shriek and squeal in fright. Erika jumped slightly at the sudden noise and looked to the rafters, hoping that they would be able to hold out the storm. She felt grateful that Director Hobbs had insisted that everyone gather in the mess. She would have been terrified huddled in the small cabin.

“I hope your stuff isn’t too badly damaged in this storm.” Dani patted Tricia’s hand from across the table. “I’m sure we can get you through the next few days.”

“Thank you, Dani,” Tricia smiled. “I am excited to get to know each of you better. The whole camp looks up to your cabin. To be a part of it is so cool.”

“Okay girls,” Director Hobbs interrupted. “This storm isn’t going to blow over anytime soon. So, we’re all going to have to sleep here in the mess.

Groans erupted from more than one table.

“We have some extra blankets and pillows next door in the storeroom. We’ll pull some of those out to use,” Director Hobbs continued.

“Can we get the side that has the sofas and carpet?” Rachel pleaded.

Director Hobbs sighed aloud and nodded. “No fighting over the sofa’s though.”

Half an hour later, the girls all gathered on one side of the mess, the boys the other side. Pillows and blankets had been brought out. Along with the cushions from the sofas, and wadded-up jackets, most in the mess were reasonably comfortable.

The wind, now a constant and familiar sound, continued to throw a more subdued tantrum in the branches of the trees. The hail had stopped as quickly as it had begun. It was followed by large drops pouring from the sky, but now only small drops were whipped and driven by the mad winds. The only sound of thunder was distant and a low roll, almost an undertone.

Erika lay on the carpet, curled up on her side between Samantha and Dani. The cheerleader, the object of Eric’s desires was only a few inches away, breathing softly. Her blonde hair, like silver and golden threads fell down her back and pooled on the floor. Erika wanted so badly to reach out and touch those silken threads, that soft luxurious hair, but was terrified of being seen amongst the assorted girls. How would it look for one girl to be touching another in that way?

Her mind flashed back to Josh’s hand resting on Samantha’s thigh; Samantha’s giggle and her face all aglow as he looked at her. Her heart seemed to implode as the memories touched her mind as she drifted off into a restless sleep.

---

Erika woke to the stirrings of a few girls around her shifting on the uncomfortable floor; that and the aroma coming from the kitchen. The smell of bacon, eggs and toast drifted into the mess.

She stretched her muscles and opened her eyes to see the angelic face of Samantha facing her, her eyes still closed in a peaceful sleep. Erika’s heart almost broke right then for want of caressing her velvet like lips; to feel their silkiness against her own. A tear slid gently down her cheek as she resigned herself to resisting the urge, for fear of how it would appear to the rest of the assembled people.

Then something else occurred to her. Not only was sunlight coming through the window, but there were no sounds of wind or rain coming from outside. The trees even seemed to be silent in their vigil.

Her blue lacquered nails flew to her mouth as she tried to stifle a yawn, but a slight noise escaped her traitorous lips; a small squeak that woke the sleeping Samantha.

Erika quickly wiped the tear from her cheek and smiled a good morning Samantha after a moment of confusion smiled back, warming her heart.

Erika propped up on one arm and looked out the window at the sun filtering through the giant vegetation and covered the limb strewn ground in dappled sunlight. A few other girls had risen and were quietly stretching and whispering amongst themselves.

Erika looked at the clock. It was much later than they had been getting out of bed to do their morning exercises. Part of her missed the morning walk in fresh air to wake up by. Another part of her loved the ability to wake up without the blaring of an alarm clock. Two counselors stood in front of each of the two mess doors. A couple of girls stood fuming and arguing quietly with them.

“I don’t care,” a counselor told the girls. “No one is allowed to leave here until after breakfast.”

The rest of the campers were now stretching and wiping the sleep from their eyes.

Slowly the girl of Columbine including their new member, Tricia gathered and sat at their table. The wonderful smells of pancakes wafted through the doors.

“God, those smell good.” Krystal’s eyes lit up as she looked to Rachel.

“You can have one,” Rachel nodded. “But go easy on the butter and syrup.”

“Aren’t we controlling?” Tricia observed.

“We’re trying to help her lose weight.” Dani defended the two.

The girls then took turns informing Tricia about their morning rituals. The walk, the exercise, helping Krystal to lose the weight she so desperately wanted to lose.

A big plate of pancakes was served to their table, along with some butter, syrup, and peanut-butter. The girls dug in hungrily. A few moments later the head cook came out and placed a bowl of cottage cheese garnished with some pears and set in next to Krystal with a smile.

“You got your counselor to allow you a clock radio in your cabin?” Tricia’s face lit up.

“Yeah, so? What’s the big deal?” Katie asked.

“No one is allowed to have music playing devises in their cabin, and you not only have one, but you get your counselor to allow it openly?” Tricia looked at them incredulously. “This cabin rocks!”

“Shhh,” Rachel hissed. “Not so loud.”

“I didn’t know alarm clocks were included in that ‘banned list’, “Dani smiled.

“Does it get any good stations?” Tricia looked hopeful.

” We really haven’t had a chance to find out.” Samantha yawned. “We’ve been a bit busy.”

Director Hobbs called everyone to attention. She thanked them all for being so understanding about sleeping in the mess and promised that they would be allowed back to their cabins as soon as breakfast was over. The girls of Foxglove cabin would be allowed, with supervision, to go through what remained of their cabin after it had been made safe.

“The good news campers, is that there won’t be a cabin clean up or inspection this morning,” she smiled as they all hooted and applauded. “Instead, there will be a camp clean up.” The cheers turned to groans. “The wind created a lot of mess and damage out there. We have some rakes and shovels as well as garbage cans. Everyone will be expected to pitch in to help clean up the main pathways and the area around their cabin.”

“Good morning, Columbine,” Phoenix greeted. “We have to go back to the cabin as a group. So when you are all ready to go, just let me know.” She paused and looked around the table making eye contact with everyone there. “Good morning, Tricia.” She smiled.

“Morning, Phoenix.” Tricia smiled back.

“Anyway. I checked out our cabin this morning. We survived pretty well. There are a lot of downed branches to be removed and pine needles to rake up. But we were pretty lucky. Daisy cabin got a branch through one of their windows. And there isn’t much left of Foxglove.” She frowned at Tricia. “I’m sorry.”

“At least no one was hurt,” Tricia smiled back.

“A great way to look at it,” Phoenix smiled.

---

The girls walked back to their cabin in an awed silence. The pathways were difficult to make out, due to all of the debris covering the ground. The air felt crisp and cool, as if the wind had sucked all of the warmth out of the ground to use to fuel its light show the previous evening.

“What’s that?” Dani pointed to a mountain across the lake.

Everyone stopped and looked across the lake through the trees to the horizon. A large brownish yellow haze filled the sky.

“Forest fire,” Katie sighed sadly.

“Forest fire?” Victoria sounded alarmed. “Is it coming this way?”

“Forest fires tend to travel up hill.” Krystal informed them. “Wind and gravity can help with them going against the norm, but I believe we’re safe. . . for now.”

“Should we call 911?” Dani asked.

Katie, Rachel and Victoria snickered.

“What?” Dani questioned.

See that dark dot on the sky?” Katie pointed.

“Yeah.”

“That’s the fire department,” Katie smiled. “I think they know.”

A few seconds later, smaller dots fell from the larger one.

“What’s that?” Dani inquired.

The small dots broke into two pieces then suddenly slowed.

“Parachutes,” Katie explained. “They’re smoke jumpers.”

“I’m confused.” Dani went on watching the dots descend to the ridge top.

Katie looked at the others. “You want to take it from there, Krystal?” Katie pleaded.

“Smoke jumpers are firefighters who jump out planes and parachute to the fire line,” Krystal described.

“What good will they do without water?” Dani inquired.

Rachel went from snickering to a full-on roar of laughter, causing the small blonde to redden with shame.

“Cut her some slack,” Tricia defended.

“What do you know about it, Princess?” Rachel shot back.

“My Uncle happens to be a retired smoke jumper,” Tricia shot back. “He has some pretty nasty burns from when he worked the lines.”

“Then why don’t you explain it to her….. highness?”

“Because Krystal is doing just fine,” Tricia smiled sweetly.

“They don’t use water.” Krystal continued. “They use chainsaws, shovels and picks to create a fire line–a wide patch of ground that is bare dirt and won’t let the fire spread any further. The goal is that the fire will be starved of fuel and then burn its self out.”

“But it can jump the fire lines.” Katie added.

“If they don’t get a wide enough bare area, or if a burning tree falls across it, it can continue the fire.” Krystal explained. “Sometimes if the wind is blowing, it will blow sparks across the fire lines–that kind of thing.”

“And they are stuck out there?”

“If they contain the fire, then they hike out to a clearing or a road and get a lift back to town, otherwise they have to hide and try and survive the fire burning all around them. A second group of jumpers are then sent out and the first group joins them later.”

“How do they survive in the middle of a forest fire?”

“If it bad, many don’t.” Tricia sighed. “My uncle almost died in one. He has some nasty burns on his arms and legs to show for it.”

A quiet fell around them.

“They do it because they love the forest, they love the endorphin high and they get paid very well.” Tricia added.

“I wonder if they’ll use our lake,” Krystal questioned aloud.

“That would be cool to see.” Katie agreed.

“What are you talking about now?” Dani looked from one to the other.

“If the fire is big enough, they have helicopters that have a large bucket hanging from them. It uses local lakes to fill up with water and then it flies over the fire and releases the water to help put out the flames.” Krystal explained.

“We’d probably be banned from using the lake if they did that . . . for safety reasons.” Rachel sighed.

“Come on, Columbine, we have a lot of work to do today,” Phoenix called from up the pathway.

---

Erika picked up the large end of a long tree branch while Tricia picked up the other end. They slowly made their way over to a growing pile of debris and branches set off to one side of the pathway.

“What are they going to do with all of this stuff?” Tricia wondered aloud trying to strike up a conversation with Erika.

“I hope that they have a big bonfire and burn it,” Erika’s eyes sparkled.

“Not with a forest fire already burning,” Rachel butted in.

Are we working all day?” Dani asked, dragging a rake over the ground, gathering pine needles into a pile.

“After lunch, I believe we go back to the rope course.” Victoria groaned.

“You aren’t afraid of heights are you?” Rachel asked Tricia.

“Nope; I actually love doing the rope course.” she smiled. “As long as I have gloves so that I don’t ruin my nails.

“Ruin your nails?!” Rachel rolled her eyes. “Oh my God! Did you really just say that?”

“I pay a lot to keep my nails looking this good,” Tricia defended. “At least my nails don’t look like I dig potatoes for a living.”

“Rachel,” Dani snarled. “Stop spitting poison–and Tricia; retract those manicured claws, please. We have a lot of work to do, and I want to enjoy my free time tonight.”

“So do I,” Samantha affirmed with a big smile.

“You just want to be alone with Josh,” Dani teased.

“I can’t help it,” Samantha grinned. “Did you see his biceps?”

“He is cute,” Krystal confirmed. “But I’d pick brains over looks any day.”

“Even over someone as cute as Josh?” Samantha raised an eyebrow.

Erika walked quickly out of earshot. She didn’t want to hear anything more about Josh’s biceps, butt, or charm. She was here, dressed as a girl, because of her or should she say Eric’s desire to be with Samantha and what happens? Samantha runs off after another numb-skulled, arrogant jock. Did cheerleaders ever change?

“Wait up Erika,” Tricia called after her.

Erika kept up her pace, stooped for a large branch and began hauling it back towards the pile. Her blood pounded in her ears from the comments.

“What’s going on?” Tricia asked stepping in front of Erika.

“Nothing; please leave me alone.” Erika attempted to side step the pretty blonde.

“Hey, I’ve only been part of this cabin for a few hours. I need to know what is going on . . . I deserve to know what I’m getting into.”

“Don’t worry about it, Tricia,” Erika started with the branch again.

“You like Josh? Is that it?” Tricia poked.

“No.” Erika continued on. She was losing her calm. She liked Tricia, but this line of questioning, right now, was not helping her deal with Samantha’s infatuation with Josh.

“Oh, my goodness,” Tricia stopped in her tracks. “You like Samantha,” she stated.

The slight pause in Erika’s storming, was all of the confirmation that Tricia needed. “Does she know?”

Erika whirled around on Tricia. “No; and you aren’t going to tell her either.” Her voice was filled with venom. “Just leave me alone.”

“Okay, I’m sorry, Erika,” Tricia put her hands up. “I truly am.”

It didn’t take long for the girls to clean off a sizeable section of the path and clear the area around their cabin of branches and needles. After they put their tools away, they one by one fell into their beds. Tricia entered the cabin last and stood in the doorway not knowing where to go or what to do.

“Here, Tricia,” Victoria offered patting her bunk. “Until you get yours.”

Tricia collapsed onto Victoria’s bed and looked around at her new cabin. “You’ve got hangers?”

“We got those while we were in town, along with a few other things,” Victoria explained.

“Tricia,” Phoenix got her attention. “I thought we would stick your bed over there.” She pointed to a bare spot on the wall just past Samantha and Erika’s bunks. “I’m not sure what we can do about your clothing. We might have to share our drawer space with you.”

“I don’t think it will be too big of an issue,” Tricia sighed. “From what I hear, most of my clothing is torn, stained and ruined by a tree.”

“Oh, that reminds me,” Phoenix lit up. “We can now go by your cabin and see if there is anything you can salvage.”

“Cool!” Rachel sat up crowing. “Can we go see the carnage too?”

“That wasn’t the nicest way to put that, Rachel,” Phoenix scowled. “But I don’t see why not. We can help carry whatever survives back here before going to lunch.”

As they approached where Foxglove had once been, a hush fell over the forest. The birds didn’t chirp or call and the squirrels didn’t chatter in nearby trees. Even the usual light breeze seemed to be mourning the loss of a giant tree as well as a cabin.

Only a part of one wall still remained standing. From what Erika could see, the only reason it was standing was because of all the debris holding it up. A large pine tree with rough gray bark lay through what was once the center of Foxglove cabin. Shards of broken wood, poked up here and there, but most of the more dangerous stuff looked to have been cleared by chainsaw while everyone else was cleaning up.

Two counselors and two maintenance men worked their way through the wreckage. Personal items of any kind were being extracted as quickly and as carefully as possible from the wreckage and piled off to one side. Hatchets and chain saws were being used to hack holes into sections of the collapsed roof to free some of the items.

“Don’t come into this mess.” One of the maintenance guys warned. “We’ll get out what we can and pile it there. Go ahead and take what is yours.”

One of the counselors waded through the splintered pile of wood and came up to the Columbine girls. “Anything of value, such as jewelry, we are holding on to. Tonight, we’ll gather you all to get what is yours. That way no one is accused of stealing,” she explained. “Did you have anything in particular that was valuable or urgent?”

“No,” Tricia shook her head. “Just my clothes. I didn’t bring any valuable jewelry. It looks like that was a good thing too.”

Tricia went through the pile of stuff pulled from the cabin and piled what was hers, off to the side. Erika noticed that most of the clothing that she was claiming as hers was pink.

The girls each took an arm load and headed back to Columbine cabin.

“Can we take a shower?” Rachel inquired. “We have forty-five minutes before lunch and we’re still in our clothes from last night.”

“Is anyone down there now?” Phoenix inquired.

“I didn’t hear anyone down there when we came in. I’ll go take a look.” Rachel raced out of the cabin.

“Look at all of this,” Tricia sighed. “I don’t know if I’ll be able to get some of these stains out. And my favorite blouse has sap all over it.”

“I believe Director Hobbs is taking you and the rest of Foxglove into town this afternoon to get some new items,” Phoenix consoled.

“What should I do for the rest of the day?” She bit her lower lip in frustration.

“You’re about my size.” Erika offered. I don’t have a huge selection, but you can borrow some of my clothes.”

“Really?” Tricia’s face brightened.

“Shorts or skirt?” Erika offered.

“I prefer a skirt, if that is okay?”

“Not a problem. If we are doing the rope course today, I’ll need to wear shorts anyway.”

Rachel jogged back into the cabin. “No one is down there right now,” she announced.

“Alright then,” Phoenix smiled. “Let’s all go. God knows, I need a shower.” She wrinkled her nose at the end of the statement.

The girls all gathered up their toiletry bags and towels. Erika dug a skirt out of her drawer, careful not to reveal the laptop, and handed it over to their new blonde cabin mate.

“Here, Tricia,” Phoenix came over. “Since you are now part of Columbine, you’ll need an official shirt. She handed Tricia a couple of lavender shirts.

The girls all began filing out of the cabin, eager to feel hot steamy water clean their skin.

“Come on, Erika,” Phoenix beckoned from the door.

“I’ll be down in a few minutes,” Erika waved her on.

Phoenix paused and studied Erika.

“I promise,” Erika smiled. “I want a shower as much as anyone else. I just need to take care of a few things here.” She lied.

Phoenix nodded her curly copper hair and walked off after the girls.

Erika sat down on Samantha’s bunk and sighed heavily. She needed to allow them time to shower without her being there to make them nervous. How much time should she give them? Ten minutes? Twenty? She desperately hoped that Phoenix didn’t plan on coming back to check up on her.

She lay back on Samantha’s bunk and eased her head onto Samantha’s pillow. She inhaled slowly and filled her nose with the sweet musky scent of the blonde cheerleader. The urge to be near the golden goddess washed over her body again. Her chest felt tight as breathing became difficult and her heart thumped loudly. Salty tears pushed their way past her eye lids and slowly trickled down her cheek. If only Samantha could see her as she really was, boy or girl, she was in love with her, and the cheerleader was clueless.

She took in one more deep breath of Samantha’s essence and pushed herself up into a sitting position. She took her time gathering her towel and change of clothes before heading down to join her cabin mates in the shower building.

Samantha greeted her at the door with her blonde locks still wet. “Oh good, you’re here. I was about to come and get you. You get the next available.”

Erika bounced up and sat on the bathroom counter and waited for the next shower to open.

A few minutes later, Erika found herself undressed and standing under hot steaming water. She lathered her hair and rinsed, then took out her pink razor. It had been a few days and she could start to feel the slight prickles on her face. As quickly and carefully as she could shaved her face, then her armpits and lastly, she ran the pink razor in long swipes up her legs, from heel to just below her knee. Using her fingers as a guide, she made sure to scrape all of the stubble from her skin. Her fingertips enjoyed the smooth silky skin that the razor left behind.

“Don’t take all day in there, Erika,” Samantha called, breaking her peaceful gratifying shower.

“I’ll be right out.”

After drying off, Erika slipped into her clothes–shorts because of the rope course and one of her un-enhanced lavender camp shirts. She slipped her flip-flops back on and emerged from the shower stall to see Samantha putting her make-up on while waiting for her, so intent in her task that she failed to notice Erika.

Erika stood as still as a statue and watched the love of her heart, lean over the counter and apply her makeup. Even doing such a mundane task, the cheerleader was beautiful. She stifled a sigh and made her way forward.

“Good, you’re ready. The others already went up to the cabin.”

Erika rubbed her hair vigorously with her towel. “How should I do my hair today?” she inquired of her friend.

“Hmmm” Samantha looked back at the black mass of slightly longer than shoulder length hair. “I think I have some combs. You can pull the sides back with them,” she smiled.

The smile on Samantha’s face warmed Erika’s heart. It was almost the same feeling of drinking hot chocolate on a cold day and feeling the warmth radiate from your stomach out, only this was a radiating of warmth from her chest.

Erika entered the cabin to find the girls in various roles of cleaning.

“Just a quick clean before lunch,” Rachel explained.”

Erika put her stuff in her drawer and pitched in with the quick clean. Most of the cabin had already been spotless, so other than a good sweep, a wipe down and straightening of their beds, it was pretty much done.

“Here.” Samantha handed the combs to her.

“Thank you, Samantha,” Erika gushed. She held the pretty sparkly combs in her hand and realized she had no idea how to place them in her hair. It couldn’t be that hard. There weren’t any clasps or latches on them; they were just bars encrusted with crystals that had comb teeth.

Erika went into the bathroom, brushed out her hair, took one of the combs and stuck it in her hair. Her hair fell forward and the comb came loose. She pulled her hair back up and tried again, but again it wouldn’t stay.

“You’ve never used combs before?” a voice whispered from the door.

Erika turned to see Tricia standing there with a friendly smile on her face. “Um, no,” she blushed.

“Can I help you?” Tricia asked.

“Would you?”

Tricia closed the bathroom door and approached Erika. “You have very pretty hair, Erika.” She commented while running her fingers through the slightly damp tresses.

“Thank you.” Erika stammered.

“Take the comb like this,” Tricia showed her. “And pull it up through the hair. When you get it where you want and with the tension that is desired, you flip the comb the other direction and slide it in . . . Like that.” She smiled at Erika’s reflection in the mirror. “You try.”

Erika was a bit awkward but she managed to get the comb in about the right place even if it didn’t have quite the tension as the one that Tricia placed.

“Very good,” she smiled at her pupil. “See there’s nothing to it. Now pull them out and do them both yourself.”

Erika smiled at the pretty blonde newcomer and did as instructed under her watchful eyes.

“I am so jealous,” Tricia sighed.

“Oh? About what?” Erika wondered.

“You have such long, thick eyelashes.” Tricia remarked. “Usually only guys get luscious eyelashes like those.”

Erika’s heart skipped a beat. She took a deep breath. “Good genes I guess,” She smiled at Tricia.

“If we have time after lunch, could I do your make-up?” Tricia asked.

“That would be great!” Erika smiled. Tricia’s makeup was so flawless, Erika was jealous.

“Cool.” Tricia threw her arms around Erika and gave her a big hug. “I’m so glad I’m part of your cabin.” Tricia confided. “I’ve wanted in on your circle since the first night you all marched into the mess wearing these shirts all changed up.”

“I’m–uh–glad you could join us too.” Erika gave the girl a squeeze back. “I’m just sorry a tree had to fall on your cabin to arrange it.”

Tricia stood back, looked Erika in the face and began laughing hysterically.

Erika joined her, not knowing what was so funny, but felt that she needed to support her new friend.

“You are nothing like what some of the other girls from the other cabins said you were like,” Tricia continued, laughing.

“What did they say?” Erika’s interest was piqued.

“They said that you were a cold-hearted witch. After all you don’t talk much to the other girls and you turned Josh down after one date.” Her laughing slowed and she smiled at Erika. “That you felt he was beneath your status. But I see everything more clearly now.”

---

To be continued . . .