The Rebel and the Saint - Angelfire



Book One: The Rebel and the Saint

by Joe Gill

“The night was long and deep and dark

Pierced only by my self-made mark

To show me where that I should stand

In this old strange and distant land.”

~ Such A Dreamer

Year: 2223 C.E. (Formerly known as A.D.)

~1~

Chase Woodcock sat by himself at the end of a long, bleak hallway. Whitewashed walls lined the space, and only a solitary window shed any light on the walkway. There were doors - oh, yes, there were doors. Chase had often walked through the doors from misery into misery, from sadness into sadness, from despair into despair. Unrepentant, Chase sat and wondered what he would do with his life when he was free from his own prison.

Presently a door opened and a man stepped out. This man was tall and old, wearing a weatherworn face that told of things he had seen. This man had seen lives slip through his fingers - lives of young men, whose troubled pasts only led to hopeless futures. With a scowl firmly plastered upon his face, he turned to face Chase.

“Come in,” he said in a voice that was totally devoid of emotion.

Slowly Chase stood up and began the trod through yet another door. He became conscious of the man’s eyes, which were following him. His eyes were as unfriendly as the expression on his face.

Chase entered a small office, with a desk and two chairs and a computer. It was a simple office. Unsure of himself, he stood there in the center of the room until the man closed the door behind him and ordered him to sit down.

“All right, Chase, this is the opportunity to reclaim your life,” the man began as he sat down at his chair behind the desk. “We have decided to let you out on parole.”

While Chase should have been relieved, instead his anxiety heightened. He was about to leave the only place that he had ever really known - the Hagerstown Juvenile Detention Center.

“We have found a foster home for you in a small suburb of Frederick. The family is very nice, and they’re Christian too.”

Chase rolled his eyes.

“On the terms of your release, you need to check in with your parole officer twice a month for the next three years.”

Chase then interrupted. “That’s not so bad. I thought it would be worse.”

The man frowned coldly. “I’m not finished yet. You also have to be tested for drugs twice a year, and you have to maintain a C average in school.”

Chase laughed arrogantly. “Piece of cake. I can get good grades if I really try.” Typically, he had been a D student in his classes.

The man, displaying more patience than he usually does, remained sullen. “There’s one more condition.”

“Oh yeah, what’s that?”

“You have to join the local Boy Scout troop and be an active member for three years.”

“WHAT!” Chase became incredulous. “That’s absurd!” He punctuated his remarks with a string of foul words.

At his reaction the man became angry. “It seems to me, Mr. Woodcock, that your five years here have taught you absolutely nothing. What we have tried to do here is to instill some sort of values system into young men such as yourself who have gone astray. It appears that we have failed our job, so instead of continuing to make taxpayers finance your life in this institution, I think it might be for both of our benefit for you to get some personalized care from two loving foster parents. Furthermore, I have seen that the boys with whom you associate here are not fit company for you to be in. I hope that by this last condition of joining such a worthy organization as the Boy Scouts you may come to see that there is a life outside of criminal activity by the positive peers you will meet.” The man became suddenly reserved and looked off into the distance. “Besides, I was a Boy Scout.”

“Oh, boy did I have an awful day at school!” Joey exclaimed as Mike Connor and he walked down the path into the woods. The flowers were out in full bloom, filling the air with the sweet smell of honeysuckle. The shade of the woods felt good on this hot day in June, as birds were singing in the air and squirrels frolicked briskly nearby.

“Well, luckily you only have a few more days left. What went wrong?”

“Everything,” he responded, kicking a dead tree branch out of my way. “It turns out that the last test I took in Spanish I failed, which really bites because my folks are going to ground me for that. Then I knocked over my full can of soda onto Kelly Spinnett.”

Mike chuckled. “I bet that was funny.”

“Not really. I was talking to Bryce from across the cafeteria, and he said that he was going to toss me his orange, since he didn’t want it, and you know, I love oranges. So he tosses it to me and I missed it and it hit my soda which went flying across the room, right onto Kelly’s lap. That was embarrassing.”

Joey could tell that Mike was laughing under his breath. That’s one thing about best friends, they never laugh at you right in your face. But you can always tell when they’re laughing at you anyway.

They passed underneath a peaceful pine grove and entered a thick growth of prickle bushes. “You know, Joey,” Mike said, “That’s not as bad as some of my more embarrassing moments. Like the time I was at the baseball hall of fame, and I was standing in front of the exhibit with George Brett’s bat. You know, the one with too much pine tar. Anyway there was this Chinese guy standing behind me who was saying to me, ‘I want to take a picture! I want to take a picture!’ So I turned around and started posing for him, before realizing that he wanted to take a picture of the exhibit, not me!”

They both laughed at the memory. “I don’t know how many times you’ve told me that story, but it gets funnier every time! How about the time we were both in pre-school…”

Mike shot him a steely glance. “I don’t think we need to bring that incident up again.”

Joey knew this embarrassed him still even though it was ten years ago. “Why not? Are you still embarrassed by the Incident?”

“Can we drop it?”

He laughed. “For heaven’s sake, all you did was fall through a trampoline. What’s so bad about that?”

Mike blushed but was smiling. “That’s not the whole story.”

“Oh, please refresh my memory.”

“The reason it was so bad was because all the big, bad kindergarten and first grade kids were on the trampoline. I wanted to show off by bouncing with them, so I got on. The first bounce, they launched me into the air and I landed in between the actual trampoline and the bars. That hurt pretty badly. But then no one would let me forget about it, either, for the rest of the year. You know, I have never gone on a trampoline since.”

“Really?”

“I’m not kidding.”

“You must have been scarred for life.”

“I was. I think I need therapy now.” Mike had never been more sarcastic.

The path took a sharp right turn and soon they were walking down a switchback. The land sloped downward sharply into a dry riverbed, but they could hear the sounds of the creek further away. There was something more that Joey wanted to tell Mike, but somehow, he couldn’t bring himself to speak. So they walked in silence for a while.

The sun was nearer to the horizon now. It must be almost four o’clock, he thought. The land leveled out as we crossed the gully, which hadn’t had water in it since the rainstorms in May. It was a strangely mystifying sight, with some vines partially obscuring their view of the forest. Up ahead, they could see the stream, which was not very large but still a wonderful place to visit. Farther on, across the stream, lay an area of flat grazing land. Today there were a few cows out in the field. It was peaceful here, but Joey was feeling melancholy. He heaved a sigh quite loudly, hoping that his friend would notice.

And indeed he did. “So what else went wrong at school today?” he asked.

“What makes you think that anything else went wrong?” Joey said, trying to sound innocent.

But of course, Mike knew him all too well. “No one sighs that heavily without something else being the matter.”

“Oh, everything’s just fine. I’ve never been better,” he lied.

They arrived at the stream, which was flowing significantly lower than usual. There was a large pool of water, about seven feet across and three feet deep, which they had dammed up a few years back to act as a makeshift fishing hole. Mike went over to a hollow log lying against the bank of the river, and pulled out two fishing rods. After handing one to his friend, he found a comfortable rock along the shore to sit upon, and he proceeded to drop his already-baited line into the water. Likewise Joey climbed upon a downed tree that spanned the river, and he too cast his line into the small pool of water.

It wasn’t long before Mike broke the silence by bringing up the one topic that Joey had not wanted to discuss today. “So, did you ask out Crystal today?”

He sighed again. “Yeah.”

“And what did she say?”

“She said no.”

Mike looked at his friend with sympathy. “I’m sorry.”

Joey paused before replying. “It wasn’t just that she said no. It was that she said, ‘I would never go out with you if you were the last guy on earth.’ That hurts.”

Mike said nothing.

He continued. “Sometimes I think you’re lucky to be home schooled. There’s so much peer pressure at school it’s insane. The only reason I wanted to go out with her was because she’s the most popular girl in the whole school. You know, by default, if I went out with her, I would be popular too.”

“Naturally.”

“I mean, I really like this other girl, Heather. She’s funny, and pretty, and very nice. I think she likes me, too. But see, I could never go out with her, because that would bring me down on the social scale.”

“And where are you on the social scale, might I ask?”

“I’m near the top.”

“Wow, I’m honored to be hanging out with someone who’s near the top of the social scale.” Ouch, such stinging sarcasm.

Undaunted, he continued. “You’re lucky you don’t have to deal with that kind of stuff. It gets frustrating, after a while. I try to fit in, but I never quite get there to the popular crowd.” He paused. “Am I making any sense?”

“Very little.”

Oh, well, at least he’s honest.

But Mike continued. “You’d have to be pretty insecure to need to be popular. Just look at me. I really don’t care about what other people think of me, and I’m perfectly happy.”

Right then Joey had one of those moments when he suddenly realized the answers to all of his problems. “That’s a good point. I guess I’ve just been so stressed out about nothing, huh? After all, I’ve got great friends. What more could you ask for?”

Mike nodded his head in agreement.

“But,” he continued, “I still think you’re lucky to be homeschooled.”

Mike shook his head. “Homeschooling is not all it’s cracked up to be. Yeah, you do get to sleep in late and take days off whenever you feel like it, but it does get sort of lonely after a while.” He took a deep breath. “I’ve been thinking about going to public school next year.”

Mike had never mentioned this to Joey before, so naturally he was stunned. Mike had gone to public pre-school, but his mother decided to home school him after that. He had always gotten the impression that his friend was happy where he was. After all, most people would have loved to be home schooled.

He continued. “I’m still praying about it, though. But please don’t tell anyone that I’m considering it.”

“Is your mom letting you choose?”

“Yeah. Everyone knows that Urbana High is one of the best high schools in the country. They’ve got the best scores on all the standardized tests, and their football team has won the state championship for four years in a row. I hear it’s a really good school.”

Joey wanted to agree with him, and encourage him to come. After all, they were best friends. But deep down he knew that Mike shouldn’t go to public school. One of the things everyone likes about Mike is that he’s innocent; he had never been exposed to the things that “regular kids” had seen and heard on a daily basis. Joey wondered what sort of person he might become if he went to public school.

“Mike,” he started, leveling with him. “You don’t know what goes on in public schools. I mean, it’s not like they’re terrible. There are lots of good people who go there. But it’s kind of bad, too, at the same time. I know this one kid who comes to school every day with a hangover, and I know where the druggies hang out and all that.”

“I know!” he replied excitedly. “This will give me a great chance to evangelize to those people!”

Joey looked with pity on his innocence. Here was Mike, excited to go into a place that Joey would give anything to be out of. “You can do what you want. But I still think you’re better off being homeschooled.”

“Don’t you think I’ve seen and heard it all in Boy Scouts? Perhaps I’m not as innocent as you might think.” Mike looked hurt.

Joey shook his head and replied much more forcefully, “The people you meet in Boy Scouts are genuine saints compared to some of the people in school.”

He could see Mike thinking it over. Of course, knowing him, he might have been praying.

“Just think about it. It would be cool, though, if you would come to school.” Joey leaned back on his log, confident that he had made his point.

Mike looked at him for what seemed like the longest time, before saying, “Joey…”

“What?” he responded, reclining even more.

“You’re about to fall off that log!”

And the next thing he knew, he was in the water. When he had stood up, Mike walked over to him and, reaching up, pulled a fish off the top of his head.

Joey rolled his eyes. “This is a bad ending to a very bad day.”

“I suppose this is the only thing we’ll catch today,” he commented, gently returning the fish to the pool. “Come on, let’s go back so you can change into dry clothes.”

~2~

To Chase, this house was the most dreadful sight he had ever beheld. The house was ordinary, even boring, and located in a tremendous development filled with houses that looked exactly like this one. It was a tidy brick-and-siding house, two stories, with a whitewashed porch out front and exactly eight windows on the front of the house. Chase could see an SUV parked in the driveway, alongside a basketball net and a bicycle which was lying in the grass.

Stepping out of the police car, he walked across a thick and freshly manicured lawn. The setting sun cast shadows all over the yard, making the house look even more dreadful than it would normally look.

Chase was accompanied by his parole officer, who happened to be a cop who worked at the local barracks. Both Chase and the man tramped up onto the porch, and the man rang the doorbell.

Chase’s heart leapt when he heard footsteps walking towards the door. ‘This is it,’ he thought, ‘my last moments as a free man.’

The door was opened, and out stepped a haggardly-looking old woman. Actually, in reality, she wasn’t all that old, but to Chase she looked like she was a relic from the Stone Age. She was tall and thin, with a horribly long nose and wildly frizzy grey hair. She wore sweatpants and a thin tee-shirt which at one time had “Disney World” written on it.

Her voice, however, calmed Chase’s fears as she spoke to him. “Hello! You must be Chase Woodcock! I’m Lisa Talbot.”

She extended her hand in friendship, but Chase drew back and remained sullen, quite afraid at meeting the woman who would become his new foster mother.

The woman withdrew her hand and addressed the man. “Officer Tudor, won’t you please come in. I’m sure there are a few forms to fill out.” With that she reentered the house, followed by Officer Tudor, who was carrying the suitcase that contained all of Chase’s earthly possessions. Chase lingered out on the porch for a few moments longer. The sky was now growing much darker, and there were only a few people outside in this neighborhood. Chase watched them for a while: a man and his daughter, kicking around a soccer ball, a woman tending the flowers along the walkway, two kids playing catch, an elderly couple walking their dogs.

And here he was, about to be subjected to this scary, yet boring new life. With a sigh he turned around and walked inside, slamming the door behind him.

Inside, Lisa and Officer Tudor were sitting at the Talbot’s dining room table, going over the final forms to begin the foster-parent program. When Lisa noticed that Chase had come in, she looked up and smiled.

“Why don’t you come and sit with us, Chase. I’d like to get to know you.”

Chase scowled but took a seat next to Officer Tudor, across from Lisa. He said nothing but looked at her with piercing eyes.

Lisa smiled warmly, trying to get this sullen boy to open up. “Can I get you anything? A drink, perhaps?”

Chase simply shook his head.

“Okay, why don’t you tell me a little bit about yourself.”

Chase lowered his eyes to the ground and did not speak.

Lisa looked at Officer Tudor and mouthed, “Is this normal?” Officer Tudor nodded sadly.

Lisa decided to try once more. With admirable kindness she said gently, “Look, Chase, I know how difficult it must be to be meeting your new foster parents for the first time, but you might as well make the best of it, since we will be together for a while. I can imagine that it’s kind of scary, being in a new place with strange people…”

Chase interrupted in a forceful voice but did not move his eyes. “You have no idea.”

“You’re right, I don’t. I’ve never been in your situation.” Lisa looked like she had run out of things to say, but she continued anyway. “Chase, look at this as a new chance at life. You now have a fresh start and a new family…”

“You’re not my family. My parents are dead.”

Lisa was silent for a moment, but then she said very softly, “I’m sorry.”

Chase looked up, and as he did so, his face relaxed for a moment, almost as if he was ready to accept this strange woman as his surrogate mother. But he again looked down.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a while before Officer Tudor spoke up. “I think I’d better be going.” He stood up and started walking towards the door, accompanied by Lisa. “Mrs. Talbot, if you have any questions or problems, feel free to call me. I expect to come and visit you sometime soon, to check on Chase’s progress and whatnot. Goodbye and good luck.” There was something very curt about the way he said that last statement, as if he was trying to get away from the place. And indeed, he left.

Returning to the table, Lisa found that Chase had not moved. To start a conversation (hopefully), Lisa began, “So Chase, why were you incarcerated?”

Chase looked up at her with a very strange look. “Did you just ask me why I was burned?”

Lisa laughed disarmingly. “No, no, not at all. I asked you why you were put into prison.”

Chase made a noise, which was a cross between a chuckle and a cough. “I did some bad stuff, and they threw me in jail. That’s about it.”

“So how long have you been in the detention center?”

“Five years.”

Lisa nodded knowingly, as she could only imagine the sufferings he endured in jail. “Was life very bad in there?”

“It was okay. That’s all I ever really knew, so I got used to it.” After he had said this, there was silence once again.

‘He sure isn’t talkative tonight,’ Lisa thought. “My husband isn’t home yet. He’s working late tonight. But he’ll be home later; I’m sure he’d be glad to meet you.”

Chase gave no visible sign that he heard anything she had just said. In fact, he wasn’t paying attention in the least bit.

“Do you want to unpack your stuff? I can show you where your room is.”

Chase nodded, and he arose from his seat and followed Lisa through the labyrinth of a house, up a flight of stairs, down a hallway, and through a random door. Once inside his room, he noticed that it was small but clean. It had a bed, a dresser, a closet, a clock, and a window, all bare except for the bed which had dark blue sheets on it. Although it was homey, Chase thought that this room was the farthest thing from home that he could ever have imagined.

Lisa flicked the light switch and turned on the lights and the ceiling fan in the center of the room. “This is it, your new home. I’ll just leave you now to unpack your stuff. If you need anything, I’ll be downstairs, don’t hesitate to come down.” With that she began to walk away, but she stopped after a few steps and turned around. Looking directly at Chase she said with love, “Chase, I hope you like it here. I want you to have a real family, with love and acceptance. But for that to happen, you need to reciprocate. I know you’re probably feeling alone and afraid, but if you don’t open up to us, we can’t help you. And that’s what we’re here for: to help you get your life back on track.” She smiled. “Good night.”

She turned around and left, leaving Chase alone once again.

Around midnight, Chase heard a car arrive in the driveway. It parked, a door opened, and someone got out. This person entered the house, came up the stairs, went into the master bedroom, and was not heard from again.

Chase heard all this because he did not get any sleep during his first night in the Talbot household.

~3~

Lisa Talbot was sitting downstairs at her dining room table the next morning. The sun was shining brightly through the windows as she read her newspaper and ate a bowl of cereal (which tasted like cardboard). It was going to be another hot June day, she thought as she chewed another mouthful.

Presently she heard a noise which made her put down her paper. It was Chase, who had finally come downstairs. He was looking quite disheveled as he walked into the dining room, as could be expected from someone who had not slept all night. He had bags under his eyes, and his hair was a wreck.

“Can I get you some breakfast?” Lisa asked. “We’ve got a lovely selection of cereals, fruits, and we’ve got toast.”

Chase looked like he was barely awake. “I’ll have cereal.”

Lisa got up and went to the kitchen. “Look in the pantry to the left and see if there’s anything you like,” she said as she reached for a bowl for her new foster son.

Chase opened the door to the cupboard and peered inside. Turning around, he exclaimed, “All you have is old people cereals.”

Lisa couldn’t help but laugh at the serious tone of voice that he used. “Since when is raisin bran an old person’s cereal?”

Chase, however, did not even crack a smile. Spotting the fruit bowl, he commanded, “I’ll have a banana.”

Lisa gave him a banana and they both then returned to the dining room where Chase started to peel his banana in silence. Lisa was a bit unnerved by his brusque behavior; she hoped that he would become more friendly as the day progressed. To break the ice, she asked him politely, “Did you have a good nights rest?”

Chase took a bite before responding. “No, actually I didn’t get to sleep at all.” He took another bite and looked directly at her. “So, what’s there to do around here?” There was ice in his voice as he spoke.

Lisa, however, seemed not to notice. She thought about his question for a bit before responding, “Well, that depends, what do you like to do?”

Chase was unhesitant in his response. “I like to make trouble.”

Lisa laughed genially, but the look on Chase’s face told her that he was not joking. “That may be true, but there’s not much trouble to make around here.”

Chase sat back in his chair, looking smug, as if he interpreted this as a challenge. “Just watch me, I can find trouble wherever I go.”

Lisa leaned closer to him and became very serious. “Look, Chase, I have no doubt that you could probably blow up this whole town if you wanted to. But you need to take a good look at your life, where you’re going, where you’ve been. When you got out of jail you got another chance to prove that you can be a responsible citizen. Don’t blow it. Remember that you’re still on probation, and that anything you do might land you back in prison. I’m sure you don’t want that, do you?”

Chase shrugged.

“I know what you’ve done in the past, with your drug dealing and all that. But here’s your chance to change all that. No one here knows about you, or your past. So you can make a fresh start here, make some good impressions, and see that life is good. Okay?”

Chase finished off the last of his banana. “So what do you want from me?”

“I just want you to try to be the best person you can be. Can you promise me you’ll do that?”

Chase just shrugged and changed the topic. “So, really, what is there to do around here?”

Lisa felt as if she were talking to a brick wall, but she continued anyway, quite gently, “You didn’t answer my question.”

Chase brushed it off. “Yeah, yeah, whatever. So what is there to do around here?”

Lisa saw that there was no use arguing anymore, so she might as well answer his question. “Well, there’s a stream out in the back of the house, you can go and do anything you want down there. We’ve got a swimming pool out back, too. It should be a great day for swimming. We’ve got bikes in the shed, if you like that, or we’ve got computer games, and we’ve got Virtual Reality games too, whatever you like. Later on when the neighborhood kids get home from school there’s usually a basketball or baseball game going on somewhere that you can join. If you want to go somewhere, I’ll be glad to take you. But really, anything you want to do, so long as it’s legal, is okay with me.”

Chase abruptly changed the subject. “Don’t you work anywhere?”

“Yes, I work as a secretary, but I’m on administrative leave until the end of the summer, when you go back to school.”

Chase nodded. “I see. You’re my baby-sitter,” he concluded rather harshly.

Lisa ignored the underhanded insult. Instead, she started clearing off her breakfast dishes, and loading them into the dishwasher in the kitchen.

Chase was slightly surprised by the fact that she did not respond to his unkind words. His surprise did not last long, however, because all of a sudden, he remembered something that he needed to do. Without a sound, he arose from his seat, threw his banana peal in the trash can, and wandered upstairs, so he could be out of Lisa’s hearing range.

He entered the master bedroom quietly, and after a bit of searching, found the telephone that the Talbots had in their bedroom. Removing an old, tattered scrap of paper from his pocket, he picked up the receiver and started to dial the number written on the paper. It rang twice before someone picked it up.

“Hello?” intoned the voice on the other end.

Chase smiled, his first smile all day. “Hello, is this Pinky?”

“Yes, this is Pinky,” answered the surprisingly deep voice of a man (especially for a man named Pinky). “Who is this?”

“This is Chase Woodcock. Remember me?”

There was silence on the other end for a bit, before the man burst out laughing in loud guffaws. “Yes, Chase! I remember you! Are you out of jail already?”

“Certainly. Look, Pinky, I need a favor from you…”

A couple of hours later, he was sitting on the bed in his room, wondering what to do. For the past hours he had been checking out the computer games that the Talbots owned. He enjoyed a car racing game in which he got to run down pedestrians in his car, but even that game got old after a while.

Chase Woodcock was positive that this was going to be the most boring summer of his life. He had been in this new house with new surroundings and new things to do for only a few hours, and still he was bored.

He arose from his bed to try to find something to do. First he wandered downstairs, considered eating a snack, but didn’t really feel like going to all that trouble. He entered the living room, plopped down on a chair and flicked on the television. After channel surfing for about fifteen minutes, he had found nothing of interest so he turned the TV off again. He meandered past the computer room, where Lisa was typing some document on the computer. He peeked into the family room and spotted a grand piano among other things, but since Chase had no talent in music, he decided not to linger in that room for too long.

After more searching, he found the door in the house that led to the basement. ‘Basements are always interesting,’ he thought as he descended the rickety wooden stairway into the dungeon of the house.

It was much cooler in the basement, which was a refreshing change from the humid heat of the rest of the house. Only two small windows illuminated the unfinished basement, but he quickly found a light switch and turned on the lights.

It was a small basement, but quite compacted with junk, boxes, flotsam, and bits and pieces of various tools and projects from long ago. There was a desk which obviously was used, not as a desk, but as extra storage space. The most interesting features of the basement was the workbench, which was covered in power tools, and the giant mahogany cabinet directly adjacent to the workbench.

Chase walked over to the workbench and looked around. He saw scraps of wood, a few rusty nails, and a cordless drill. He picked up the drill and tried to run it, but its batteries were dead.

Next Chase moved on to the cabinet. Opening the doors he saw a variety of dangerous chemicals, such as turpentine, wood glue, paint thinner, and a variety of other things. Still bored, he was about to close the doors when a can caught his eye. It was a can of black spray paint.

A devious smile spread across his face as he reached for the can. He imagined all the fun he could have with a can of black spray paint.

After closing the cabinet, he dashed upstairs to the first floor and called out, “Lisa, I’m going to the stream, okay?”

There was a pause before Lisa, who was still in the computer room, replied, “Okay. Be back by lunch.”

With that Chase dashed out the door and was gone.

It was a pleasant morning, but Michael Connor couldn’t really enjoy it because he hadn’t yet finished school for the year. He was sitting in his room, at the desk that his father had built for him. The math homework which he still hadn’t completed was lying on the desk, seemingly mocking him. Although Michael was intelligent, he simply could not understand Algebra. All those X’s and Y’s, those linear equations and graphs, it all just didn’t make sense to him.

Frustrated, he leaned back in his chair and looked out the window, longing to be outside on such a gorgeous day. ‘After today, only one more day,’ he thought with hope. ‘One more day of homeschooling left in my life.’ Mathematics was the only subject that he hadn’t finished already, and he had only one more test to take in the subject, which he would finish tomorrow. After this, Michael Connor would never have to sit in his room to do his schoolwork ever again. He had already made up his mind to attend Urbana High School in the fall, and he looked forward to going to school with all of his friends.

It wasn’t that he despised homeschooling. On the contrary, Mike had enjoyed the perks of it, such as being able to sleep in every morning, while his counterparts in public schools had to get up before seven in the morning. But homeschooling was very difficult, as well. It was lonely to have to suffer through school all by himself, and since his mother wasn’t very adept at mathematics either (he must have inherited her genes), he really had no one to teach him Algebra.

On the other hand, Mike was somewhat nervous about going to public school. He had heard Joey’s horror stories about evil teachers, terrifying bullies, loads of homework, and the like. It was a weird feeling - looking forward to school, and yet dreading it at the same time.

Mike was jarred out of his musings when he spotted something moving outside in his yard. Taking a closer look, he noticed someone walking through the woods that abutted his yard.

This shouldn’t have seemed too strange; after all, the person was walking along the path that led to the stream. This particular part of the path was fairly well-traveled, as just about every day someone traverses it. However, what made this person unusual to Mike was that, first of all, it looked like it was a person about his age walking through the woods, when everyone else his age was supposed to be in school. Also, he was carrying something in his hand, which looked remarkably like an air horn. But most of all, Mike had never seen this person before. He knew mostly everyone in the neighborhood, so for Mike to not know someone was very odd.

Mike leapt out of his chair and threw open his window to get a better look at this strange kid who was walking through his woods in the middle of the morning, carrying what looked like an air horn.

The boy turned and looked at him. Mike was far enough away that he couldn’t quite make out what he was carrying in his hand. The boy, however, when seeing Mike leaning out of his window, took off running down the trail, until soon he was out of Mike’s sight.

Mike thought that this was very suspicious as he shut his window. He considered going after the boy, but considering how fast he ran away, he would have had no chance to catch up to him. So Mike sat back down and resumed agonizing over his mathematics.

Lisa had already started eating lunch when she heard the side door open. “Is that you, Chase?” she asked.

Chase’s voice called out, “Yes, it’s me. I’ll be there in a minute.”

Instead of hearing Chase come nearer, she heard him go down the creaky wooden steps to the basement. After a minute she heard him ascend the stairs, and shortly after that he entered the dining room and plopped down in a chair.

“So,” asked Lisa between bites of her sandwich, “what did you do this morning?”

“Not much,” Chase replied. “I just went down to the stream and looked around a bit, that’s all.”

“Hmm, that sounds like fun. Would you like something to eat?”

“A turkey sandwich would be nice.”

Lisa was amazed at how polite he was being, when just this morning he was rude and sullen. She got up from her seat and was walking to the kitchen when she stopped mid-stride and sniffed the air. “I smell turpentine. Do you?”

Chase’s stomach lurched. Thinking quickly, he replied, “I smelt it in the kitchen. You’d better go check; it might be a gas leak.”

Lisa went into the kitchen, and as soon as she did so, Chase bolted out of the dining room by the other door. He hurried to the bathroom to wash his hands, mentally berating himself for being so foolish as to forget to wash off the turpentine, which he had used to clean the spray paint off of his hands.

When he had returned, Lisa had already sat back down, but with a concerned look on her face. “You’re right,” she said to him as he reentered the room. “I did smell it more strongly in the kitchen. I’d better call the maintenance man today to check out my gas line.” Almost as an afterthought, she added, “Where did you duck off to?”

Chase sat back down. “I had to use the bathroom. That’s all.”

Lisa nodded, but then stood up. “Oh, I forgot to make your sandwich. Do you like mustard or mayonnaise?”

“Mayonnaise,” he responded as Lisa went into the kitchen, leaving Chase smiling broadly at his latest prank, pulled off perfectly.

~4~

Joey had just gotten home and was preparing himself a small snack of crackers and cheese when the phone rang. He decided to ignore it; after all, he was hungry. As he was placing his plate of cheese and crackers in the microwave, the answering machine suddenly turned on and he heard Michael Connor’s voice.

Quickly he dashed to the phone and picked it up. “Hello, Mike? What’s up?”

“Hey Joey, just wondering if you wanted to get up a game of basketball.”

Joey was silent for a moment, and looking outside, replied, “It’s almost ninety degrees outside! How could we play basketball in such weather?”

“Joey, we haven’t played basketball in four months.”

“You’ve been keeping track?”

“Of course. Actually it’s been only three months and twenty-two days, but who’s counting.”

“Look, I know it’s your favorite sport and all, but there’s a reason why we haven’t played in four months. It’s been too darn hot!”

“Since when has that ever stopped us?”

Joey knew that the battle was lost. Mike was just too persistent. Just then, however, the microwave beeped, signaling that his dish was ready. “Okay, Mike,” he conceded. “Just let me have my snack and I’ll meet you at your house in fifteen minutes.”

“Okay, sounds good. What are you eating?”

Joey rolled his eyes good-naturedly. “Well, right now I’m not eating anything because you won’t get off the phone and I’m too polite to hang up on you. But I’d like to be eating crackers and cheese.”

Mike laughed. “Okay, okay, you’ve made your point. Goodbye.” And he hung up the phone.

Joey put the phone back in its cradle and prepared to eat his snack.

Fifteen minutes later both of them were walking along the paved path that led to the basketball courts. Mike was bouncing a basketball in his right hand as they walked along. He was starting to get the feeling that Joey was right - it was pretty hot and humid that day. But Mike loved basketball, and he would play in any kind of weather. Mike still fondly remembered the Christmas morning when he and Joey played a game of basketball with an inch of snow on the ground.

His love of basketball belied his diminutive size. He was at least five inches shorter and twenty pounds lighter than Joey, but he played with such a passion that what he lacked in size he made up for in energy. Joey was always amazed at the moves with which Mike could fool him.

The path led over a ridge, and as they reached the hill’s zenith, they could see the courts. There were two full basketball courts, expertly paved, complete with benches on the side and everything. This was one of the benefits of living in this tremendously large planned development: excellent public facilities.

Joey was surprised and Mike was pleased to see that there were two other people on the courts, shooting around. Upon coming closer, they discovered that it was Bobby and Charlie, two friends from the neighborhood. When they got closer to the courts, Joey called out to them, and they stopped shooting for a moment.

“Mind if we join you for a game?” Mike asked them as he and Joey stepped onto the court and started stretching.

“Sure,” replied Bobby, running his hand through his sweaty hair. “I’m surprised that you guys decided to play basketball on such a hot day.”

Mike smiled. “You know how much I love basketball. But I’ve got to admit, it is pretty hot today. We must be the craziest four people in town to play on a day like this.”

No sooner had he said this statement than he heard a voice from behind him. Turning around, the foursome saw that Sarah, another neighborhood friend and one of the best female athletes around, was jogging towards them, carrying her baseball glove.

“Make that the five craziest people in town,” Bobby muttered under his breath.

“Hi, Sarah,” said Joey. “Come to join our game of basketball?”

Sarah was already hot and sweaty from her jog, and she replied in between panting, “Yeah. I was looking for you all at the baseball field, but since you weren’t there, I figured I’d better check here next. I knew Mike couldn’t stand to be away from basketball for more than three months and twenty-two days.”

There was silence for a while.

Charlie, with a comically amazed expression on his face, finally asked, “How the heck did you keep track of that?”

Sarah blushed. Mike wasn’t sure whether this was because she was embarrassed by the attention, or because she had a crush on Charlie. Sometimes it was difficult to tell. Despite the fact that Sarah was two years older than him, there had always seemed to be, lets just say, an interesting relationship between them.

Needless to say, as Mike was thinking these thoughts, an uncomfortable silence ensued. To break the awkwardness, Joey asked, “Is your brother coming too?” Her brother, Danny, is a year younger than the four boys, but he’s probably the best basketball player in the neighborhood.

Sarah shook her head. “No. Danny’s got stress fractures in both of his feet, so he’s in casts right now. He won’t be able to play for a while; he’s got them on for three weeks.”

“Oh, that’s too bad,” said Mike, who made a mental note to say a prayer for him later.

“That’s strange,” added Joey, “since he was playing baseball with us just a couple days ago. Was he injured then?”

“Those things develop over a long period of time,” she replied. “He had been complaining of his feet hurting for a while.” She paused, and looked at her watch. “Hey, what are we standing around here for? Let’s play some basketball!”

The group soon picked teams. It would be Bobby and Mike against Charlie, Joey, and Sarah. Since Bobby and Mike’s team had fewer players, they got the ball first. Mike dribbled it up the court, and the game had started.

Soon he found himself double teamed with full court pressure. Quickly he sent a pass over to Bobby, who caught it on the run and wheeled around, evading Sarah who had been covering him tightly. Fading back he took a jump shot, but the ball bounced off the rim and didn’t go in.

Charlie recovered the rebound and quickly ran it back to his basket. Seeing that Charlie was uncovered, Mike dashed in to cover, leaving Joey wide open. Charlie snapped off a crisp pass to him in the lane and Joey went up for a layup, but he missed. Mike got the rebound. He tried to pass it quickly down the court to Bobby, who was already in the paint on the other side, but Sarah was too quick and she picked off the pass. Dribbling the ball back up she suddenly changed direction, pulled up, and tried for a three pointer. She was close but it bounced off the backboard and into Mike’s hands again.

This is how the game went. Plenty of action, but not too many points scored. After ten minutes the score was 6-5, in favor of Mike and Bobby’s team. They had just gotten the ball back after Charlie had bricked a shot, and they were dribbling it back up court.

Mike stood there, just outside of the three point line, dribbling the ball, as Sarah was staring at him, guarding him carefully. Mike was perhaps too confident, or perhaps he just wasn’t paying attention, but Joey dashed behind him and stole the ball from out of his hands. On the fast break Joey ran to his basket and easily made the shot, tying the score at 6-6.

Bobby had just started up the court again when they saw that there was someone watching them. Near the other end of the court stood a boy, about their age, whom nobody recognized. At first, he slightly startled them all, because he was sporting a spiked and bleached hairstyle, a silver stud in one ear, and he was wearing a chain around his neck. Bobby called time out and stopped dribbling the ball. “Do you want to play?” he shouted to the boy.

The boy gave no expression of having heard anything that Bobby had just said.

Mike, being the friendly type, walked up to him. As he was doing so, he got a very strange feeling that he had seen this person somewhere before, but he couldn’t figure out where. Ignoring these thoughts, he introduced himself. “Hi, I’m Mike Connor. Are you new in the neighborhood?”

The boy squinted at him, almost as if he were trying to see through him. Finally he said, “I’m Chase Woodcock.”

There was a long pause before Mike asked him again, “Do you want to play some ball?”

Again a moment of silence ensued before Chase replied unemotionally, “Whatever.”

Bobby spoke up. “Okay, you can be on my team. My name’s Bobby, and I’m on Mike’s team. The score is all tied up at six apiece.” With that he resumed dribbling the ball, and all of the players started to play again, this time joined by Chase.

Mike stood there on the sidelines, wondering what had just happened. There was something different about this guy, to be sure, Mike thought. Whatever it was, it made him very uncomfortable. And it wasn’t just appearances either. Mike felt that it must have been the Holy Spirit telling him that Chase was a very troubled youth.

He was quickly jarred out of his thoughts as he saw the ball coming his way. He snared the pass from Bobby and was quickly covered by Charlie. Since Charlie was not the most athletic of people, Mike was able to easily shake his defender with a quick fake. He had a clear lane to the basket, and he ran through it, scoring easily. 7-6.

Sarah got the ball for her team and took it all the way to the half court line, where she rocketed a pass to Joey, who was standing underneath the basket. He caught it and made an outstanding catch and an easy layup, again tying the score.

Mike took the ball up once more. He carefully worked his way to the right corner of his court, and then pulled off a no-look pass to Bobby, who was at the free-throw line. Chase cut in between Bobby and his defender, and Bobby handed the ball to him. Chase took it and with a fearfully intense look on his face stormed past Sarah and Joey. He then pulled up, and leapt in the air, and while falling backwards, took the shot. Amazingly, when it went in, Chase was just landing on the ground. He quickly pulled himself up and dashed back down the court.

Mike and Charlie, however, stood astonished at the incredible shot he had just pulled off. “That was an amazing shot! That never should have gone in.”

“I know,” Charlie said as they started to jog down the court. “That takes some talent to hit that kind of shot.”

Joey had the ball at this point and was standing just outside the three point line, dribbling it. Chase, who was covering him, was mocking him. “Come on, fat boy. You ain’t got nothin’. You think you can blow by me? Just try it.”

Joey was doing an admirable job of staying patient. Seeing a quick opening, he passed quickly to Sarah, who turned and put up a shot, but she missed. Charlie grabbed the rebound and fired it back to Joe, who was open.

Chase anticipated this pass and again got into position to guard him. Once there, he continued to trash talk. “You think a lazy old toad like you can play basketball? Come on. My dead grandma plays better than you.”

“What’s with the insults here?” Joey asked rhetorically. “You’re the one who’s the newcomer, why are you insulting me?”

Chase replied, “Why don’t you put up? ‘Cause you know you won’t hit anything, and then you’ll have to shut up.”

Mike couldn’t hear anything that was being said, but he could see Joey getting angry as Mike had to dash back and forth keeping close coverage on Charlie. Whatever words were being exchanged between the two, it was certainly ticking Joey off.

Finally Joey saw an opening. He started to pull off a spin move, catching Chase off guard. He began to drive past him down the lane, but as Chase saw he couldn’t prevent this, he stuck his foot out and Joey tripped over it, slamming to the ground with a thump and causing the ball to fly out of his hands and out of bounds.

“What the heck!” Joey cried out in pain and astonishment as he slowly got up. No one had bothered to help him; in fact, everyone was already running towards the other end of the court, and the other team had the ball. Ignoring the stinging in his now-scraped knees, he dashed back down the court to cover Chase.

Bobby had the ball and was about ready to pass it when Joey ran up and tipped the ball just as it left his hands. It flew out of his hands in a weird direction and bounced back to half-court. Mike ran it down and recovered it, and seeing an opening, passed it to Chase, who was just outside the three-point line on the left side.

Chase caught it and was calmly dribbling it, standing there, being guarded by Joey. “Ah, come to steal the ball away from me again, fat boy?”

Joey cast him a steely glance. “Why did you trip me?”

Chase pretended that he didn’t hear. “There’s a new player in the house,” he said smugly.

Mike was looking on, wide open, and slightly confused as to why Chase didn’t pass him the ball. Since both Chase and Joey were speaking in low voices, Mike couldn’t make out what they were saying, but it appeared that a competition was brewing between the two of them. And what a close competition it would be. They both were about the same height, same strength, and same intensity on the courts. Mike knew that this could be a good thing, but he still couldn’t shake the feeling that this new kid was a troublemaker.

“I’m open!” Mike called, as Charlie, who was guarding him, dashed in to double-team Chase. Chase backed up a step, but he still didn’t pass it.

“Throw it to Mike!” ordered Bobby, who wasn’t doing much of anything but wondering how Chase would get out of this one.

Chase, however, held on to the ball. Sarah ran over to triple-team him, leaving the rest of Chase’s team wide open. Chase however, leapt high in the air.

Mike was expecting a pass. There was no way that anyone could hit a shot from this far out. And yet, when Chase finally released the ball, it flew in the direction of the net. The shot was a brick, and it landed two feet short of the net.

Charlie, who was alert, grabbed the rebound and ran down the court. Mike looked stunned as he stared at Chase. Finally Mike spoke. “What was that all about? Why didn’t you pass it to me? I was wide open!”

Chase started jogging down the court. Mike persisted, though. He jogged up next to him. “Why didn’t you pass it to me?”

“I’ve made that shot before,” Chase replied, matter-of-factly. Without further conversation he dashed into position to cover Joey, who had just grabbed the rebound (Charlie’s shot was short).

Chase looked Joey over as the latter casually dribbled the ball.

“You know,” Joey said, obviously trying to bait him. “You’re awfully cocky, not passing the ball like that.” With that he faked right and cut left, but Chase wasn’t fooled. He stayed on him until Joey passed the ball to Sarah. Sarah put it up and made the shot, giving her team the lead, 8-7.

Bobby got the ball and chucked it all the way down court, to Mike who was standing beneath the basket. He caught the ball and tried for the layup, but missed. He did, however, grab his own rebound, and make the shot on the second try. Tie game, 8-8.

Charlie got the ball and passed in to Sarah, who took the ball to the outside right. Joey dashed in close to her, and she passed him the ball. He took it around to the top, where he was once again met by Chase.

“So we meet again,” Joey noted.

Chase scowled spitefully. “You haven’t yet scored on me. You ain’t got nothing.”

At this Joey grew tired of all the trash-talking, especially from this new guy. While continuing to dribble the ball, he said angrily, “Look, Chase, you’ve got to stop this. Don’t play stupidly.”

“And you don’t be an idiot,” Chase replied, punctuating that remark with a few foul words.

Now, you must understand here that normally, Joey is a very patient fellow. He’s not known for his quick temper. This is why what happened next shocked everyone on the courts.

Joey’s expression changed from its intensely angry look to a more placid look, which surprised Chase. But all of a sudden, he started running. Straight. Unfortunately Chase was in his way. Joey leapt into the air just before he was about to crash into Chase, and he put up the shot. Miraculously it went in, but that was beside the point. Joey landed directly on Chase, and the impact knocked both of them to the ground.

Chase knew that this was done on purpose. His head pounding, he jumped to his feet and leapt on top of Joey, who was still lying on the ground. Fists started flying. Chase was going at it with all his might, and Joey was trying to take him down as well.

Almost immediately Mike was over them, trying in vain to pull Chase off of Joey. Bobby, Charlie, and Sarah stood back, too stunned to do anything. They had never seen Joey lose it like he just had, and besides, this fighting was pretty entertaining.

This went on for a minute or so until finally Mike, seeing no other option, pushed Chase with all his might. Chase tumbled over onto his side, and Mike stepped between the two combatants. “Stop this, both of you!” he ordered.

Chase got to his feet. His lip was bleeding, and a black ring was forming around his eye. Joey was still lying on the ground, a dazed expression on his face, as if he was surprised that he would have ever beaten someone up. Mike helped him to his feet.

Mike looked angrier than either Joey or Chase, who were both pretty beaten up. In a very tensely soft voice he said to Joey, “Let’s get out of here.” Mike picked up his basketball and began to walk away with Joey. After they had walked a few steps, Mike turned around and addressed Charlie, Bobby, and Sarah, “I’ll see you later, guys.” Then they continued to go.

In silence Charlie, Bobby, and Sarah went their separate ways, leaving Chase all alone on the courts.

~5~

Mike and Joey decided to go to Mike’s house so that he could wash up and bandage his cuts before going home. When they arrived at the house, they found that the Connor’s car wasn’t in the driveway, but the door was unlocked. Upon opening the door, Mike called out, “Anyone home?”

A reply came from their kitchen, “Yes, I’m home.” It was Catherine, Mike’s older sister.

Mike led Joey to the bathroom (by this time he couldn’t see very well, since his eyes were beginning to be swollen shut). He then went into the kitchen to retrieve the family’s first aid kit. There he saw Catherine, sitting at the table that was in their kitchen area, reading a book.

“Hi, Catherine. Where’s Mom?” Mike asked, as he leapt deftly onto the kitchen counter.

Catherine looked up from her book. “She’s at the store. Where have you been all afternoon?”

Mike opened the highest cabinet drawer and began rummaging around for the first aid kit. “We’ve been playing basketball. There was this new kid, Chase, and he…”

He was suddenly interrupted by a shriek from behind him, which startled him so much that he almost fell off of the counter. He turned around to see that Catherine had a horrified look on her face.

Joey stepped into the room from the hallway where he had been standing. “Sorry, Catherine. Did I scare you?”

Catherine regained her composure and replied, “Yes, you did! You look like Frankenstein! What happened to you?”

It was true that Joey was a dreadful sight. A bulge was forming on his forehead where he had been punched, a dark ring was forming around one eye, his hair was disheveled, and there were streaks of dirt, sweat, and dried blood on his face. “I was in a fight,” he replied.

Catherine put down her book and stood up. “Yes, I can see that. Let’s get you cleaned up. Mike, have you found the first aid kit yet?”

Mike had indeed found it and he tossed it to her and climbed down. Catherine grabbed several paper towels and moistened them, and then she ordered Joey to sit, which he did.

Catherine sat across from the injured boy and began to wipe his face with the towels. “So what happened? Who were you fighting?”

“Well, there was this new kid there, Chase,” Joe replied, wincing from the pain. “We were all playing basketball and he comes in there and starts insulting me. I tried to ignore him as best as I could, but finally I just decided, what the heck, the only way he’ll shut up is if I hurt him or if I made a great play on him. So I decided to do both at the same time.”

At this point she interrupted. “Mike, can you get some Tylenol? It’s upstairs in Mom’s medicine cabinet. Go on,” Catherine urged, gently wiping his face. Mike ran upstairs to fetch the medicine.

Joey continued. “So I just ran right into him, trying to knock him down and make a great shot. It worked. Both of us fell to the ground, and the next thing I knew, he was on top of me trying to kill me. I think he succeeded.”

Catherine nodded. “I think so too. You’re pretty beat up.”

Mike reentered the room and handed his sister the bottle of medicine. “But do you know what the worst part about it was? The shot went in. So your team won.”

Catherine rolled her eyes and smiled at his humorous observation. She rose from her seat to fetch a glass of water for Joey.

Mike sat down across the table from his friend. “All joking aside, though, I had a feeling that Chase was trouble from the first moment I saw him.”

Joey looked at him for a moment, and then burst out laughing. Mike laughed too, although he asked him, “What’s so funny?”

“You are,” Joey replied, accepting the water that Catherine handed to him. “I had a feeling that you’d have a feeling about him. You can always seem to know when trouble is around.” He quickly swallowed two Tylenol.

“I have a bad feeling about him, though, and I think he’s not done causing trouble yet. I’ve never met him before today. Have you?”

Joey shook his head.

“I mean, how often do we get new people in this neighborhood? Not too often. But I can’t shake the feeling that I’ve seen him somewhere before.”

Joey looked at him out of the corners of his swollen eyes. He had to keep still while Catherine put the bandages on his wounds. “Mike, could it just be that your imagination is running away with you? Trust me, you’ve never seen him before, and neither have I. And I doubt we’ll ever have to run into him again.”

Mike was silent.

Catherine exclaimed, “There you go. All bandaged up.”

Joey smiled at her. “Thank you. I appreciate your doing this for me.”

“It’s no problem at all. Any friend of my brother’s is a friend of mine.” She smiled in a motherly way at him. Joey had always admired how well Mike and Catherine got along. He had never heard them fight or bicker, and he had never even heard an unkind word from either one of them about the other. This might be because Catherine was in eleventh grade, three years older than both of them, and she acted more as a mother than as a sister to both of them. Joey had to admit, though, that she was a very attractive girl, physically as well as in her personality. She was tall and graceful, with long curly brown hair and a freckled face. Like Mike, she was homeschooled also.

All of a sudden, the front door swung open and a woman’s voice called out, “I’m home!” All three children turned to look at Mrs. Connor, who was carrying two large grocery bags filled with groceries into the kitchen. “Can you three help carry in some packages?” At her command both Catherine and Mike sprang up and went to the car. Joey, meanwhile, took longer to rise from his chair because of how sore he was from his fight.

Mrs. Connor placed the packages on the countertop. She turned to look at Joey, and gasped when she caught sight of him. “Joey, what happened to you?”

Joey smiled sheepishly, embarrassed by all the attention that this family had been paying to him. “I got into a fight while playing basketball today.”

“Really, with whom? Oh, wait, hold that thought, I need to get another package.” With that she went back outside.

Mike and Catherine came back in bearing two bags each. They placed theirs down on the ground, beside the cupboards. When Mrs. Connor walked back in, Mike asked her, “Can Joey stay for dinner? We can take him to the boy scout meeting tonight.”

“Sure,” his mother replied. “We’re just having hot dogs, nothing fancy.” She placed her bags down and began to put the groceries away.

“Can we play on the computer, Mom?”

“Sure. Dinner is at five-thirty.”

And with that they left to play on the computer.

Chase Woodcock stood on the basketball court, aching, and lonely, as he watched everyone else walk away. Soon he was alone, with no one around. Spotting a public bathroom not too far off in the distance, he hobbled there to clean up a bit before heading home.

He stood over the sink there and splashed some water on his face. Looking in the mirror, he knew that he looked as badly as he felt. His face was starting to swell, and he had cuts all over his face. Right there, looking at himself in the mirror, he got right down to it: is this who he was? He didn’t know how to answer that question. Who was Chase Woodcock, after all? He didn’t want to be a criminal, he didn’t want to be good, he didn’t want to be anybody. And nobody was who he was.

Turning away, he headed home.

It was about five o’clock when he finally reached his house. Thinking about that made him chuckle cynically. His house? It would never be his house. He’s just an outsider, like he’s always been. He would never belong, like usual. He was used to this; these feelings of alienation were nothing new.

He walked up the porch steps and was about to ring the doorbell when he remembered that he could walk right in. So that he did, although he tried to be silent about it. He didn’t want Lisa to know that he’d been in a fight. He closed the door as softly as he could. The smell of fried onions and peppers filled the air, and he could hear Lisa in the kitchen, obviously busy at preparing the evening meal. He took off his shoes to be more quiet, and he started to walk up the stairs.

Unfortunately for him, the fourth step squeaks. He didn’t know this, and almost immediately after he stepped on it, he could hear Lisa’s voice coming from the kitchen. “Chase, is that you?” Not wanting Lisa to see him so dirty and covered in bruises, he quickly dashed up the stairs.

Lisa walked over to the bottom of the stairwell just as Chase had ducked into his room. “Chase, is that you?” she called to him.

“Yes, it’s me,” came the reply.

“Why didn’t you answer me when I first called you?”

Chase thought quickly. He was good at lying. After all, his entire life had been spent making excuses for his behavior. “Sorry, I didn’t hear you.”

“Will you be coming down soon? Dinner is in fifteen minutes.”

“I’ll be down soon. I’ve got to take a shower first.”

Lisa, content with his answer, resumed cooking.

~6~

At five-thirty, the four members of the Connor family sat down around the table, and Joey was there as well. After saying grace, the family proceeded to eat.

“So how are you, Joey?” Mr. Connor asked as he reached for a hot dog bun. “By the looks of things, you’re not doing too well.”

“I got into a fight today,” Joey replied for what seemed, to him, like the millionth time this day.

“Really?” said Mr. Connor with raised eyebrows. He knew Joey very well, and was surprised that a gentle boy like him could ever get in a fight. “Did you win or did he?”

Joey laughed. “I think it was a tie.”

“Who were you fighting with?”

Joey thought for a bit, trying to remember the new kid’s name. “It was some new kid in the neighborhood. I think his name was Chase.”

At this, Mrs. Connor’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. “Chase was his name? Then you two must have already gotten acquainted.”

This confused Mike. “What do you mean?”

Mrs. Connor started to explain. “This afternoon before I left for the store I was out back trimming the rosebushes when I saw Lisa Talbot sitting outside on her porch.”

“Lisa Talbot?” Mike interrupted. “You mean the older lady who lives next door to us?”

Mrs. Connor cast him a steely glance. “She does live next door to us, but she’s not old. In fact, Mrs. Talbot is two years younger than I.”

Mike tried to hide a smile. “Oh, sorry,” he said sheepishly. Joey laughed.

Mrs. Connor continued. “Anyway, I went over to talk with her. You know how the Talbot couple have been trying to conceive a child for the past few years. Well, Mrs. Talbot told me today that although they’re still trying for one of their own, they’ve decided to take part in the foster-parent program for Maryland State.”

At this point Catherine interrupted. “What do you mean, the foster-parent program?”

“The foster-parent program is where a couple accepts an orphaned child into their home, temporarily. Sometimes it’s permanent, but that occurs only if they’ve decided to adopt the child. But in Lisa’s case, she’s now taking care of a boy named Chase, who is an orphan and a juvenile delinquent. I’ll bet you anything that he is the one who beat you up today, Joey.”

There was a silence for a while, as everyone tried to digest what they had just been told (and they tried to digest the hot dogs too, which were growing cold as everyone mused on the day’s events).

Joey finally broke the silence, and he had a skeptical look on his face as he spoke. “So let me get this straight. I got into a fight with someone who just got out of jail.”

Mrs. Connor nodded.

Mike then chimed in. “And this guy is now going to our next-door neighbor.”

Again, his mother nodded.

At this point Mr. Connor felt the need to speak, as he addressed Mike and Joey. “I don’t want you to ever associate with that boy again, understand?”

Mrs. Connor grew angry at her husband’s orders. “Dear! This boy needs a friend. Perhaps Joey and Mike would be good influences on him.”

The man of the house raised his eyebrows slowly. “Do you see what he did to Joey here? Kids who end up in juvenile detention centers are there for a reason. He’s dangerous. I don’t want Mike to end up worse.”

“You’ll get no argument from me, Mr. Connor,” Joey added, nodding his head.

“But honey, look at it from another side,” Mrs. Connor urged her husband. “Isn’t being nice to lonely people one of the corporal works of mercy? If it isn’t, then it should be. I think that if Lisa isn’t worried about Chase’s behavior, than neither should we.”

“Does Mrs. Talbot know what Chase did today?” he asked in a gentle, yet firm, voice.

“Dad,” Mike started, but he then looked down and prayed a quick prayer to the Holy Spirit, to give him the words that he needed to say. Looking up, he said, “You have always said that we need to be like the Good Samaritan, reaching out to those in need without worrying about personal cost. I know that Chase is troubled. I could sense that from the first time I met him. But that doesn’t mean that no one should befriend him. Look, I’m not too fond of him myself, and quite frankly, it would be a big sacrifice to get to know him. But that’s okay, because living the Christian life is all about the Cross, isn’t it?”

Mr. Connor opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. “Darn,” he muttered under his breath, “he’s got me.” Looking at his wife, he said, “Okay, you win. But know that I am very uncomfortable with him being our next-door neighbor, and if he ever lays a finger on a member of this family, I’ll knock him into the next county.” He took a deep breath, his countenance relaxed considerably, and he said in a bright and cheerful voice, “So how was everyone else’s day?”

Chase descended the stairs, clean but still very sore from his escapades during the day. He stopped when he got to the bottom step because he heard tense voices coming from the kitchen, but he could not see who was speaking.

“This is definitely bad news, there’s no other way to cut it,” said a man’s voice that he did not recognize.

“I know, this is awful. Quite a sudden change from just one month ago,” said the voice of Lisa.

“I really don’t know what to do. We’re going to lose everything if this continues. We need a quick turnaround, but that might not happen. The pundits are predicting a continued decline.”

“What will you do if it goes up in flames?” Lisa’s voice had a tone of deep concern that Chase had never heard before.

“Well, we’ll have to figure something out. Our line of credit is already decreasing. Just pray to God that it all changes before the end of the third quarter, or investors might be dropping like flies.”

“Can’t we do the same?”

“It’s not that simple. If we pull out, everything will collapse like a house of cards. I think we’re stuck in quite a quandary.”

There was a rustling of clothes, as if the two people were hugging. Finally, the man said, “I love you. I will always love you.”

“I love you too.”

Chase decided that it would be grand to make his entrance at this point, completely ruining the moment of the two people who were in love. He plodded into the kitchen just in time to see Lisa enrapturing the man in a kiss.

Upon hearing Chase’s entry, both people suddenly turned and looked at him. They were both very embarrassed. The man straightened his tie and extended his hand to Chase. “Hello, you must be Chase Woodcock. I’m Tom Talbot.”

Chase eyed his hand warily, as if he didn’t trust him. Finally, without a smile on his face, Chase shook his hand.

“I’m sorry that I wasn’t here last night,” Tom said as he began to take three plates out of the cupboard. “I had to work late. But I’m glad to meet you finally.” He began to set the plates out on the table, and he went back to the cupboard to gather the drinking glasses.

Lisa, meanwhile, had been giving him a strange and scrutinizing look. Chase tried to ignore it at first.

“Honey,” Tom started, “Did you run the dishwasher?”

Without taking her eyes off of the boy Lisa replied, “Yes.”

Finally Chase asked her in a very suspicious voice, “What’s wrong?”

“You’re all beaten up.” Her voice was icy cold.

Chase scowled at her. “I was playing baseball today and I got hit by the ball in the eye. As for the cuts on my face, I dove for a ball and scratched up my face.”

Lisa’s searing stare did not move. “You are lying to me,” she said harshly.

Chase looked away. “I am not lying to you. I swear.”

Tom stopped bustling around the kitchen to observe their conversation, which was more like a stare-down.

Lisa’s face relaxed. “Okay, fine. I can’t prove it anyway.” Moving to the stove, she looked into a pot which was bubbling and declared, “Dinner’s ready.”

There was an uneasy tension during dinner at the Talbot house. Chase was eating very quickly, for he was truly hungry, and this was excellent spaghetti that was before him. He had the same sullen look on his face that he had that morning. Tom was staring off into the distance, barely touching his plate of food. Only Lisa was acting somewhat normally.

They ate in silence for a while, before Lisa attempted to start a conversation. Unfortunately, she selected the worst topic with which to begin a conversation.

“So, Chase,” she began, in a very casual voice, but bracing herself for his reaction, “Your first boy scout meeting is tonight.”

Chase froze, in the middle of taking a bite. He put down his fork and looked up with a defiant look on his face. “My what?”

Lisa winced. She could guess that he didn’t want to go. “Your Boy Scout meeting,” she reiterated. “It was one of the terms of your parole, remember?”

“I have taken the liberty,” Tom added, “to select one of the finest boy scout troops in the county. I know the Scoutmaster, and he’s a wonderful man. I promise you that you’ll have a good time in Scouting.”

Chase took a deep breath. He slowly and deliberately picked up his napkin and wiped his mouth. His face relaxed, and it appeared that he had accepted the situation.

Neither Lisa nor Tom had expected this reaction. They were both prepared for a battle to get him to go.

Chase placed his napkin back down and looked up towards his foster parents. In a very calm and very low voice, he said firmly, “I will not ever go to a boy scout function. Not today, not ever. And you can’t make me.”

At this challenge, Tom became angered. “And why not?”

Chase remained calm but spoke with spite. “The Boy Scouts are for losers who have nothing better to do with their life.”

Tom as well remained calm, but there was a certain forcefulness in his voice when he spoke. “Son, you will not talk to me in that manner. And you will be going to the Boy Scout meeting tonight and every Tuesday night for three years, or you can go back to jail where you came from.” The calmness of his voice did not mask the anger with which he spoke.

All of a sudden, Chase slammed his fist down on the table, rattling the dishes and startling his foster parents. He stood up brusquely and shoved his chair in. In a loud and angry voice he declared, “I am not going to any sort of Boy Scout meeting. And I am not your son.” As he said this last sentence his voice was filled with hurt. He stormed upstairs, leaving his dinner uneaten.

When Chase was out of the room, Tom looked at Lisa with concern. “Was he like this all day?”

Lisa nodded sadly. “I’ve been beginning to wonder if we’ve done the right thing by taking in Chase. Are we too inexperienced to handle his kind of problems?”

Tom took her hand in a reassuring gesture. “Dear, it’s only been one day. Give him some time. He’s probably just afraid. After all, he is an orphan, and he’s just gotten out of the detention center where he’s spent the last five years, and he’s moved into a new house in a new neighborhood and has to get adjusted to his new parents.”

Lisa sighed and looked into the distance. “I hope you’re right. I really don’t know what to do with him all day. He got into a fight; I’m sure of it. You saw how beaten up he was. And it’s only his first day here! Off to a bad start, I’d say.”

“Now, dear,” Tom said gently and lovingly. “If he said that he was hit by a baseball, I don’t think we should doubt him.”

Lisa shot him a cynical look. “I was the youngest of seven kids. My older brothers and sister were excellent in teaching me how to lie. They could have been professional con men, if they wanted to be. I got quite good at it, as well. So I know a lie when I see one. And Chase was lying.”

Tom rose from his chair and stood behind his wife, massaging her shoulders. “Were you lying when you said that you loved me?” he teased.

Lisa turned around with a mischievous smile on her face. “That was the biggest lie I’ve ever told.” She stood up and gave him a hug. “Now, go up to talk to Chase. Maybe he’ll listen to a man.”

~7~

“So Mike,” Joey began to say as the entire Connor family helped clear off the table after dinner. “Have you decided whether you’ll be going to public school or not?”

Mike nodded as he bit into his apple. Mike never ate sweets after meals, unlike the rest of his family, who always had a cookie or two after dinner. He called it his personal sacrifice to save souls. Instead of sweets, he would usually finish off his meals with a fruit.

After chewing thoughtfully for a while, Mike swallowed and replied, “I think I’ll be going to public school after all. I liked homeschooling, but I think it’s time that I got out into the real world. I’ve really struggled this year with some of my schoolwork, especially math. So I figure that I can get help with my math if I went to a public school.”

Joey nodded, understandingly. He still thought that Mike was better off home schooled, but since Mike’s decisions were usually made with a lot of prayer, then public school must be the place for him. “Are you finished with your schoolwork?” Joey asked as he placed his plate in the sink.

“No, actually I still have a math test to do tomorrow. But then I’ll be done.”

Joey turned and looked at him, very surprised. “You’re usually done months before me!”

“I know. As I said, I had a lot of trouble this year with math.”

Catherine finished putting her dishes in the dishwasher and sat down again at the table. “You know, Mike, I’m really going to miss having you around here. My senior year is going to be so lonely without you.”

Mike stopped what he was doing and looked at her. “Thank you, Catherine,” he said, truly grateful for such a complement.

Joey sat down beside Catherine at the table as Mike started the water to do the dishes. “So, Catherine, have you decided what college you’ll be going to?”

“Well, I’ve narrowed it down to two colleges. Mount Saint Michael’s College and Franciscan University of Steubenville. I’m stuck between the two of them.”

“I’ve heard only good things about Steubenville,” Joey commented. “It’s supposed to be the only college remaining that’s loyal to the Magisterium.”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ve heard that all before. But Mount Saint Michael’s is giving me a full scholarship, room and board included.”

Mike looked over to Joey, who mouthed the word, “Wow!”

“Well,” continued Catherine, somewhat humbly, “I did get a 1600 on my SAT’s.”

At this, Joey was even more amazed, but his face quickly darkened. “But what about the Revolution that’s centered on the campus of the Mount? Haven’t you heard about the latest news from there?”

“I’m sure it’s not as bad as they say it is. And besides, that’s only a very small portion of the community who’s active in the Revolution. I think it’s still safe.”

Joey shrugged his shoulders, but could not help thinking about the recent events that have occurred around Mount Saint Michael’s College. A year or so ago, a small band of young men and women who called themselves the Revolution started meeting in the woods at night, periodically. While there is nothing unusual about that, other students at the college had claimed that they had seen strange phenomenon occurring on the nights that the group was meeting. Stars fell from the sky, they claimed, and there was an unearthly aura and a golden glow surrounding their meeting place, which was deep in the woods behind the college. Later on, several students had come upon a mass animal graveyard deep in the forest, with mangled bodies of cows and pigs and cats and dogs. Then, last month, there had been a mysterious explosion in the chapel on campus. Miraculously the Blessed Sacrament that was reserved there was not injured in any way, but the roof had been blown off and the windows shattered. The strange thing about that explosion was that when the police did their investigation of the event, they could find no trace of explosives in the area, and no clues to who might have done this act of terrorism.

Not to mention that Mount Saint Michael’s College had the reputation for teaching the most heresy of any so-called “Catholic” college in the country, and the fact that this was one of the top ten party schools in the nation. This was certainly not a place for anyone who wanted to keep their morals.

Joey sat back in his chair, continuing to mull over these recent events. He wanted to say something to Catherine, advising her not to go to that college, but he couldn’t think of anything to say.

Luckily Mike said something. “Catherine, you know that the devil often tempts people with money, and you know that money is the root of all evil.” Joey nodded in agreement.

“Yes,” she replied slyly, “but my scholarship might also be a sign from God that I am to go to Mount Saint Michael’s.”

“Touché,” Mike replied, smiling, as he placed the final dish on the drying rack next to the sink. To Joey he remarked, “I think it’s about time that we left for the Scout meeting. Where’s Dad?”

At that very moment Mr. Connor bounded down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Are you guys ready to go?”

Mike dried off his hands on a dish towel, and after saying goodbye to Catherine, followed Mr. Connor out the door.

A month ago, Chase would never have imagined that he would ever be going to a Boy Scout meeting. He probably would have cursed at anyone who would have even suggested such a possibility. And yet, here he was, sitting in a car with Tom Talbot, driving to his first boy scout meeting.

It wasn’t that Chase had anything personally against the boy scouts. It was just that Chase didn’t want to go. He had no interest in making friends, or tying knots, or going camping, or doing anything that the boy scouts did. He would rather just be sitting at home, doing nothing.

Tom kept his eyes on the road, figuring that Chase probably didn’t want to talk. He was right; Chase was in no mood for discussion. It had been a battle to get him into the car in the first place. Only when Tom threatened to call his parole officer did Chase finally relent. Tom didn’t want to upset his foster son any more than was necessary.

Tom peeked, out of the corner of his eyes, at his new foster son, who was slouched in the passenger’s seat, looking despondent. He uttered a silent prayer for his son, and wondered what he could ever say or do to get through to him.

They rode the entire fifteen minute ride in complete silence. Finally Tom turned off of the main road and onto a small gravel driveway which led through a Christmas tree farm. He parked in the grass to his right. Farther down the driveway, Chase could see a small farmhouse.

“We’re here,” Tom announced, getting out of the car.

Chase slowly opened his door and exited. Looking around, he was confused. He could see several other cars parked in the grass, but no one was around, and they were standing in the middle of a huge field of Christmas trees. “Where is everyone?” Chase asked.

Tom chuckled warmly. “During the summer, the troop meetings are held at the pond on this land. There’s the trail that leads to it.” He pointed up ahead to a small path that led through the Christmas trees.

Chase looked around to see if there was some place where he could run away. Since he could see no way out, they both started to follow the trail down to the pond.

Mike and Joey, along with Mr. Connor, were the first people there at the pond. Soon more people came, until there were about thirteen scouts present, some with their fathers.

The pond was a beautiful sight on this warm June evening. It was a small and murky pond, with a small dock protruding from it. A fence circled the pond area, and there was a small three-sided shelter there as well. Two canoes were leaning up against the fence, and two scouts were fishing from the far end of the pond. The sunset was incredible tonight, as vibrant hues of red and yellow and orange casually mixed with the more mellow blue sky and white clouds to form a wondrous sight.

This night Joey was sitting cross-legged on the dock, chatting amicably with Bobby and Charlie. They were watching the sunfish, which were swimming around. Joey was telling them all about how Chase is now Mike’s next-door neighbor.

Mike was sitting at a picnic table in front of the shelter, speaking with the scoutmaster, Mr. Longer. They were discussing what requirements he needed to fulfill to achieve the rank of Eagle Scout, the highest award in boy scouting.

“Well, Mike,” Mr. Longer said in his trademark Kentucky accent as he looked over some papers, “It appears that you need four more merit badges.” He stared at the paper thoughtfully. “I thought that you only needed three…how many do you have?”

Mike looked up to the sky as he counted silently. “I only have seventeen,” he concluded. “So I do need four more for Eagle.”

“Which ones do you need?”

“Hmm, let’s see…I need Environmental Science, and three electives. I hope to get them all when we go to summer camp.” Mike gazed off into the distance, and suddenly leapt up from his seat.

“What’s wrong, Mike?” Mr. Longer asked, noticing the startled expression on his face.

Mike didn’t reply right away. Instead, he started to mumble something to himself. Mr. Longer followed Mike’s gaze and saw only Chase Woodcock and Tom Talbot, walking down the path to the pond. He stood up and began to walk towards them. Mike followed, but stayed slightly behind Mr. Longer, for fear of Chase.

Chase gave Mike an evil look as Tom shook Mr. Longer’s hand.

“Good to see you, Mr. Talbot,” Mr. Longer greeted. “And you must be Chase. I’m pleased to meet you.” They shook hands.

“You know him, Mr. Longer?” Mike asked, warily eyeing him.

Mr. Longer laughed a jolly laugh. “Of course, Mike. Mr. Talbot called me the other night and told me all about Chase’s desire to become a Scout.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “My punishment is more like it,” he muttered under his breath.

Mr. Longer turned to Mike. “Now, as the Troop Guide and one of our older scouts, I expect you to show Chase around, and introduce him to the guys.” Noticing Mike’s horrified look, he smiled. “Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. You’re one of the best scouts we have in the troop. I’m counting on you to help out Chase.”

Mike couldn’t believe his ears. “But I know him, and…”

“That’s good. I’m glad that you two have already gotten a chance to meet. Then you’ll be fine.” He turned around again to face Mr. Talbot. “All right, I’m sure there’s some paperwork we need to fill out, so let’s head over to the picnic table and get that squared away.” The two men walked away, leaving Mike alone with Chase.

The two boys eyed each other warily; neither of them moving or speaking, but simply looking at each other with enmity. Mike was surprised at how bad Chase’s face looked. It was almost as swollen and bruised as Joey’s face. Still, however, there was the same scowl, and the same evil look in his eyes.

No one had noticed this stare-down going on. Everyone else at the meeting was busy in their own activities.

Finally, Mike’s face relaxed. “Well, I might as well introduce you to the other guys. Come on.” And he began to walk off. Chase considered not following him, but he thought better of it and came along.

They first walked to the dock, where Bobby, Charlie, and Joey were still standing there, talking and watching the fish. Mike took a step onto the dock and stopped.

Clearing his throat, he just said simply, “Guys, don’t freak out.”

They turned around to face him and were all surprised to see Chase. Joey was so surprised, in fact, that he almost lost his balance and fell into the water, but luckily Bobby grabbed his shirt and prevented this.

Chase stepped onto the dock and started to walk towards them. Joey was in no mood to fight again, but he put his fists up anyway just in case.

Chase’s scowl faded a little bit. “Calm down,” he ordered, “I’m not here to beat you up.”

At this Joey relaxed somewhat. “Then what are you here for?”

“I was forced to come here. Trust me, I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t have to be here. Boy Scouting sucks.” He turned and walked off the dock.

Bobby shook his head in astonishment. “I thought that we’d never see him again after this afternoon. Boy, I was wrong.”

At that moment, the troop leader, Billy, gave a whistle. Everyone who was around the lake gathered in one spot and they started the meeting.

The troop meeting was well-attended, with about sixteen scouts total. After they had said the pledge of allegiance, Billy had read off some announcements. Then they split up into groups. One group, led by an older scout named Clayton, went to the picnic table where he taught them first aid. The other group followed Billy around to the other side of the pond to build a rope bridge across the water. Chase was in the first group, while Mike, Joey, Charlie, and Bobby were in the second group.

The meeting progressed smoothly until it was time to have the competitions.

About an hour later, the two groups reassembled as one to participate in a canoeing competition. They would split into two teams (called Patrols) and they would attempt to canoe to one side of the pond, where another team member would jump in and canoe back. They would do this until every member had canoed across the waterway.

Teams were selected, and they lined up with a canoe in front of them. Billy was about to yell, “Go!” when all of a sudden, Mike called out.

“Hold it!”

Everyone turned to look at him, and Mike turned to look to the picnic table, where Chase was still sitting. “Chase, are you coming? You can be in my patrol.”

Chase shook his head but felt someone nudge his shoulder. Looking up, he noticed Mr. Longer standing over him, giving him an expectant look. Grudgingly, Chase got up and got in line behind Mike. Billy whistled, and the two teams were off.

Mike turned around to face Chase. “Do you know how to canoe?” he asked.

Chase scoffed at the mere mention of the idea that he might not know something. “Of course I know how to canoe. How hard can it be?”

“It’s pretty difficult. The canoe can be hard to control if you’re not experienced.”

Chase shook his head and looked offended. “You don’t need to lecture me. I can handle myself. Trust me.”

Mike wasn’t convinced, but he knew that there was no way to convince him otherwise. So he turned back around to watch the competition.

It was a close race between the two patrols. It looked as if the other patrol was slightly in the lead when it was Mike’s turn to canoe. He quickly raced into the boat, turned it around, and paddled quickly to the other side. He was racing against Bobby, who’s team had about a canoe’s length lead, which was quickly disappearing as Mike put all of his strength into each paddle.

They both reached the other side at the same time. Mike leapt out of the boat first, as Bobby stumbled a bit, tripping over one of the aluminum seats in the boat. Mike handed the paddle to Clayton, who jumped into the boat and immediately put out maximum effort as he steamed across the pond.

Chase was the only one left from that team to go. Clayton had opened up a significant lead by the time he leapt out of the boat and handed the paddle to Chase. He took the paddle and got into the boat.

The canoe was much more wobbly than Chase had originally expected. He stood there in the boat, trying to gently sit down, but as soon as he would make a motion, the boat would lean dangerously to one side.

Both teams were now shouting excitedly, cheering for their racers. The other boat had just gotten to shore, so the final boater for their team had gotten in. Chase finally managed to sit down, and he started to paddle.

But the boat didn’t go where he wanted it to. Instead of going straight, it started to veer sharply to the left, and before long he was getting frustrated. He tried to switch from paddling on the right to paddling to the left, but by that time, the boat had so much momentum that it continued its rotation.

Meanwhile the other racer, a younger scout whom Chase didn’t know, was also having trouble controlling his boat. He was maneuvering closer to the other shore by means of a very zigzag path.

Chase finally got a hold of his boat and turned it in the right direction. He paddled furiously forth, switching paddle sides with every stroke. Soon he was headed straight toward the other boat, which was on one of its erratic paths.

The other boater immediately straightened out, but Chase was still worried that he might crash into him, so he stood up to push the other boat out of the way. In doing so, he lost his balance.

For a split second, it seemed as if Chase might be able to continue the race, but soon, the boat started tipping dangerously to the left. Chase had no choice but to fall in, fully dressed.

He resurfaced just as the other boat had reached the shore, and everyone on that team was making a loud ruckus, for they had just won. Some of them were laughing at him. He wanted to disappear.

Feeling miserable, Chase started to paddle to the dock. When he reached it, he looked up and saw that Joey was standing over him, grinning. Chase braced himself for the mocking that was sure to come, and he was surprised when Joey extended his hand to him, in order to help him up.

Chase just turned his head and spit out some pond water. Instead of taking Joey’s hand, he struggled to drag himself up onto the dock. His clothes were soaked and weighed a ton, and Chase could only think of how ridiculous he must look, like a beached whale or something. He finally pulled himself up onto the dock and lay there for a moment, catching his breath. Joey had not moved from his position, and was still grinning away like some fool.

‘Who does he think he is, grinning away like that?’ Chase thought angrily. ‘He must think that he finally got me back for this afternoon. How embarrassing, being stared at like some fish on the shore!’ He got to his feet and brushed by Joey, barely glancing at him as he stalked away, truly humiliated.

Joey just stood there watching him walk away, his clothing soaked. For a moment Joey almost got angry at the boy, remembering what occurred this afternoon, but this anger quickly turned to pity.

Chase stormed away up the path to the car, not bothering to look back.

On the ride home, Chase Woodcock was miserable. This was how he had been feeling ever since last night, when he first arrived at the Talbot house. Since that time he had made two new enemies, completely humiliated himself in front of his new boy scout troop, and spent most of the day totally bored stiff. All in all, it hasn’t been a good couple of days.

They sat in silence on the way home, and Chase tried to find someone to blame for his miserable state. If it weren’t for his older brother, Chase would not be in this situation right now. It was the Talbot’s fault, too, since they decided to bring him to this awful town. And it was Joey and Mike’s faults, because they were so unfriendly. Chase could find an excuse for anything, including his present state of misery.

In his mind, Chase went through the events that got him here to this point.

Chase remember that it really all started when his parents died. He didn’t recall too much about his parents; after all, he was only six years old when they both died in a car crash. He was left with his older brother, Chad, as guardian, who was only twenty-one at the time. Shortly after the death of their parents, Chad rented an apartment in Baltimore and began to look for work. Indeed he found it, but it wasn’t the kind of work that would make anyone proud. Soon Chase was helping him out, just making simple runs for him. Three years later he was busted on one of those runs. He spent five years in the juvenile delinquent center before finally being released on parole earlier this month.

Tom spoke, bringing Chase out of his thoughts. “So, other than your canoe accident, how did you like the rest of the troop meeting?”

Chase was not in the mood for an argument, so he sighed and replied without emotion, “It was fine.”

Tom, being the naïve fellow that he was, thought that perhaps Chase had actually enjoyed the experience, while in reality he thought it was the stupidest thing ever created. Tom said in reply, “That’s good, I’m glad you liked it.”

Chase just looked out the window and sighed silently. “When is it going to get better?” he whispered under his breath, knowing that no one could ever hear him, and no one would ever care anyway.

But he was wrong. Someone did care. And Someone heard his silent prayer.

~8~

The next morning, Mike Connor bounded out of bed, excited. ‘This is my last day ever of homeschooling!’ he thought to himself as he dressed quickly and went downstairs for breakfast.

Catherine was the only one awake, although it was already seven-thirty in the morning. She was sitting at the breakfast table drinking a glass of orange juice and reading the Sports Section of the local newspaper. As Mike came into the room, she looked up, and noticing the excited expression on his face, commented, “You look quite perky this morning. Any particular reason?”

Mike didn’t stop for a moment as he grabbed a bowl and a spoon and sat down at the table, across from his sister. “This is my last day of homeschooling ever! I’m so excited.”

Catherine watched him pour his cereal into his bowl. “So it is. Aren’t you the least bit sad, or at least nervous about going to public school?”

Mike reached for the milk. “No, not really. I’m looking forward to it.” There was a lull for a moment, as he poured the milk onto his cereal. “Do you know what I thought of last night?”

Catherine could see that he could hardly contain his excitement. “Don’t tell me. You invented the cure for the common cold.”

Mike made a face. “Of course not.”

“Wait, one more guess. You discovered the meaning of life.”

“No, I discovered that last week. Last night I thought of something new.”

Catherine couldn’t help but smile.

Mike continued, a broad smile growing across his face. “As I was praying the Rosary last night, I noticed that there are two times in the Gospels when someone says, ‘Thy Will be done’. One time is at the Annunciation, when Gabriel came to Mary and Mary said, ‘Umm, I guess Thy Will be done.’”

Catherine laughed at this paraphrase.

“And the other time is when Christ was in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before he died, when he said, ‘Thy Will be done.’ In both instances, great pain and suffering awaited both Mary and Jesus after they had said this. Jesus died on the Cross, and Mary had her Seven Sorrows that she had to endure.”

“That’s pretty clever,” Catherine said, thoroughly impressed.

“Just wait, it gets better. Notice that both Jesus and Mary are sitting in Heaven right now, pretty darn happy, if I’d say so myself. So that means that if we want to be happy in Heaven, we must say to God, ‘Thy Will be done,’ even though He’s going to give us a whole heck of a lot of suffering in this life.” He took a bite of his cereal. “Could you hand me the front page of the paper?”

Catherine complied. “That’s an interesting insight. How did you think of this, again?”

Mike took another bite and opened up the paper. “I was just saying the joyful mysteries of the Rosary and it came to me. It’s the Holy Spirit, I tell you.”

The conversation died off as each person picked up their section of the paper and began to read it. Catherine was engrossed in an article about the Baltimore Orioles, who won last night behind star center fielder Steven Gill’s three home runs and seven runs batted in. Everyone in the Connor household was a big fan of the Orioles, mainly because the team was actually pretty good this year.

Abruptly Mike slammed his fist on the table. Catherine (along with the dishes on the table) jumped a bit, startled at the noise.

“I knew it!” he exclaimed angrily, his eyes still locked intently on the newspaper.

“Knew what?”

Mike folded the paper over so that Catherine could see the inside page, and he pointed to an article. “See here? It says that yesterday, Farmer Brown’s barn was vandalized with black spray paint.” To himself, almost inaudibly, he mumbled, “That’s where I’ve seen him before…”

Catherine was confused. “So? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Chase Woodcock did this. He vandalized the barn.”

She was shocked. “You mean the Chase Woodcock that lives next door? Our new neighbor? Just because he’s a juvenile delinquent doesn’t mean you should suspect him for every criminal act that goes on around here…”

“No, I’m sure it was him. Yesterday when I was in my room I saw a guy walking through our woods, down in the direction of the Brown’s barn. He was carrying a can of something. I couldn’t see clearly who it was or what he was carrying, but I know that it was Chase.”

“Hmm, so what are you going to do? Turn him in for vandalism?”

“No, I think I’ll talk to him first. But please, don’t tell Mom about this, okay?”

“All right. But from what I’ve heard, that kid is disturbed. He should be locked up again in jail. I’d stay away from him.”

Mike shook his head defiantly. “All he needs is a friend. And I’m determined to be one to him.”

At exactly nine o’clock, Mike left the house without telling anyone where he was going. He went directly over to the Talbot’s house, where he tramped up their front steps and rang their doorbell.

He heard some noises inside. Finally, Lisa opened the door, and she was surprised to see Mike standing there. “Mike! What are you doing here?”

“Hello, Mrs. Talbot,” Mike greeted cordially. “May I speak to Chase?”

Mrs. Talbot got a strange expression on her face, as if to ask, ‘Why in the world would you want to speak to Chase?’ but she called him anyway. “Chase! There’s someone at the door for you.”

Chase was upstairs in his room, lying on his bed and reading an old magazine, when he heard his name being called. Immediately he leapt out of bed, and his heart started racing. All sorts of thoughts ran through his head. How had they found him so fast? He had thought that there was no one around. Had someone heard? Or had they caught Pinky already? Nervously he walked, very slowly, down the stairs.

He was greatly relieved to find out that it was only Mike at the door, but he was also surprised at what he could be doing here at such an odd hour. ‘Shouldn’t he be in school?,’ he thought.

Mike caught sight of him. Without a greeting, Mike said somewhat brusquely, “Chase, I need to talk to you.”

Chase smiled, masking his guilt. “Sure, whatever. Let’s go outside, on the porch. I’d bet that we need privacy for this talk.”

Mike nodded, so the both of them left the house and closed the door behind them. Chase sat down on a lawn chair on the porch, and Mike sat on the wooden floor.

Chase looked calm, but he was sweating bullets inside. He knew that whatever Mike needed to talk about would not be good.

Mike began the conversation. “Chase, I know that you vandalized the Brown’s barn yesterday. I saw you from the window in my room.”

Chase breathed a sigh of relief. ‘Oh, it’s only that,’ he thought gratefully. ‘At least it’s not the other thing…’ He boldly said to Mike, “So, what are you going to do about it?”

“Well, I could call the police and you’ll end up back in the juvenile detention center, where you belong.”

Chase feigned that he was insulted. “Ouch, such a desultory insult,” he said sarcastically.

Mike was impressed that Chase sounded so educated, but he continued to pressure him. “I just might.”

Chase’s face grew intense. “No you won’t. And do you know why? Because you’re compassionate. That’s a flaw of yours that I’ve noticed.”

Mike opened his mouth to speak, but then closed it again. For once in his life, he couldn’t think of a darned thing to say.

“I see that you don’t disagree with me. You’re not going to report me to the authorities.”

Mike looked at him with mercy. Somehow, through the grace of God, he could see beyond the sarcastic, angry, and apathetic facade of this troubled youth and into his heart. “Chase, stop doing this,” he commanded in a soft voice.

As wisdom always befuddles the fool, Chase responded, “What are you talking about?”

“You know full well what I’m talking about,” Mike replied, his dark eyes boring into Chase. “You’ve been given a second chance at life. Don’t keep alienating everyone who tries to treat you kindly.”

It was Chase’s turn to keep silent. Somehow he felt a pang of guilt, sorrow for how he had been treating everyone in his life. Immediately after he felt this emotion, he was surprised. ‘I thought I couldn’t feel guilt anymore,’ he said, almost happily. But both the guilt and the happiness subsided quickly, and faded into the melancholy darkness that he had been living in.

Mike went on. “I have no doubt that you’ve had a hard life…”

“You have no idea.” Chase sounded more than hurt; he sounded wounded.

Mike stared at him with his darkly intense, but kind, eyes. “You’re right, I don’t. But just because you’ve had a hard life doesn’t mean that you can be unkind to people. Look, forget about your past life. It’s history. Now focus on what you’ve got ahead of you. You’ve got two foster parents who love you, and a nice home. If only you were nice to people then you’d have lots of friends as well.”

Chase appeared to be thinking this over, but in reality, he was thinking of an excuse that he could use to get out of this condemning conversation. “So you’re sure that you’re not going to report me to the cops?”

“No, I won’t, but…”

Chase abruptly stood up. “Good. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got lots better stuff to do than to be chatting with you all day, so goodbye.” With that he walked inside and slammed the door.

Mike sat there on the porch steps for a while before finally heading home. As he was leaving, he took one last look at the Talbot house. Shaking his head, he turned away and, gazing up to heaven, said out loud, “He didn’t listen to a word I said, did he?”

Chase hurried upstairs to the master bedroom where he got onto the phone once more. Dialing the same number which he dialed before, he waited until the same burly man picked up once again.

“Hello?” said Pinky.

“Pinky, there needs to be a change of plans. My next-door neighbor seems to know more about me than I want him to know. Can we meet today at seven o’clock?”

“Sure, where?”

“How about behind the basketball courts. There’s a nice grove of trees that would provide great cover.”

“Okay, sounds excellent. I’ll see you there.”

“Goodbye.”

~9~

Two days later, it was Friday afternoon. Mrs. Susan Connor was driving along Route 22, somewhere in the badlands of Pennsylvania, accompanied by Catherine Connor. They were headed to an open house held by Franciscan University of Steubenville, which was located in Ohio.

Catherine took a sip of her soda and intently studied the map. “We should be there soon. Less than ten minutes, I’d say.”

Susan breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. We’ve been on the road for four hours already. Somehow I thought that Steubenville was closer to Maryland.”

They continued to travel, each one thinking their own thoughts. Catherine finally spoke up, saying, “I’m certainly going to miss home if I go to school all the way out here.”

Susan nodded sympathetically. “We’ll miss you, too, especially Mike. He really looks up to you, you know?”

“Do you know what he told me the other day?”

“No, what?”

Catherine laughed, remembering his words. “He told me that both Christ and Mary suffered greatly because of they said to God, ‘Thy Will be done.’ But of course, they are now gloriously exalted in Heaven. So we must also say ‘Thy Will be done’ and expect to suffer for it, but eventually we will gain our eternal reward in Heaven.”

Susan was impressed but not surprised. “That sounds like something Mike would say.”

“Yeah,” she agreed. “And after that, he told me that he figured out who vandalized the Brown’s barn…” As soon as she said this, she knew that she had said something that she shouldn’t have said.

Susan raised an eyebrow, as this statement piqued her curiosity. Mike hadn’t mentioned anything to her about the vandalism of the Brown’s barn. “Really? So who was it?”

Catherine looked down. “I can’t quite tell you. I promised Mike I wouldn’t say anything.”

“Well, you’ve already broken your promise, since you just told me about it. Now, who was it? Was it Charlie?”

“I’m not saying.”

Susan looked over to her daughter. “As your mother, I want to know. Please tell me.”

Catherine looked up, and something outside the car caught her eye. “Mom!” she exclaimed. “You just missed the exit!”

“Darn!” her mother exclaimed. “Luckily that sign up ahead says that there’s an exit only a mile away where we can turn around. Can you get out the map and see if there’s an alternate way of getting there?”

“Sure. Let’s see…you can take Lovers Lane South, although it requires driving through the city.”

“That’s okay. We can handle that.” And they drove on, with the conversation ending right there.

The sun was setting in the western sky as they drove through the small town of Steubenville. It almost looked like a ghost town, since no one was out roaming the streets, and most of the shops were already closed. Sporadically, there would be someone prowling the sidewalks, looking very scary. These people looked as if they had no souls; they apparently lived in poverty (judging by the broken-down houses that lined the streets), and their eyes were hollow and empty as they just stared at the passing car.

“Something about this town gives me the creeps,” Susan remarked with a shudder.

“I agree,” Cathy said, locking her door. “I thought that this college was located in a better neighborhood.”

Soon they saw the sign for the college, which was hard to see because it was made of wood and was rotting away. They turned into the entrance of the university, and drove up a steep hill to the main campus. When they had reached the top of the hill, they were surprised to see several concrete roadblocks in the way of the road, and behind it, there was a cop sitting in a police car. The campus was totally dark and deserted.

Susan was very shocked to see this sight. “What in the world is this?” she asked rhetorically.

Catherine simply shrugged, too afraid to say anything.

The policeman soon saw them, and he got out of his car and walked over to them. Susan rolled down her window to speak with him. “What is this all about? I’m looking for Franciscan University of Steubenville,” she said with a mixture of anger and shock.

“Sorry, lady,” the policeman replied. “This university was shut down ten days ago by the United States Government.”

Susan was incredulous. “What! Why would they do such a thing?”

The policeman shrugged his shoulders, somewhat apathetically. “Something about fostering papist anti-American sentiment. The University President didn’t sign the Act of Loyalty, so I hear. I really don’t understand it very well…”

“That’s absurd!” she exclaimed. “Why didn’t I read about this in the papers?”

“Well, you know, the press has to keep this kind of quiet. This sort of thing is likely to cause a revolt, like it has at Ave Maria College…”

“Ave Maria College! That was hardly a revolt; more like a massacre. Two hundred Catholics protested the closing of the school, and the National Guard came out and blew them to bits. What happened to freedom of speech?”

The policeman looked at her rather suspiciously. “The Act of Loyalty made it illegal for anyone to speak out against the government. That Act was a necessary evil, if you asked me, judging by the amount of terrorist activity going on lately.”

“So, just because a few Arabs decided to fly a plane into the Sears tower, and anthrax was discovered in the White House, means that the rest of the loyal American citizens cannot have their basic, inalienable rights?”

The policeman nodded. “Look, lady, any anti-American speech can now be considered as a terrorist threat to the nation. And I’d suggest that you’d not say any more, or else you might be considered a threat as well.”

Susan was steamed at the insinuation that she was anti-American. Without another word she rolled up her window and threw her car into reverse, and sped down the hill.

Catherine could only sit and stare out the window, stunned.

Driving through the town once more, Catherine couldn’t help but pray for the sad people that roamed the streets. As she was thinking in her mind, the world is changing.

Susan’s thoughts were a blur as she drove out of town and got onto the highway. How could they have closed down Franciscan University? It’s not anti-American. But why didn’t the University President sign the Act of Loyalty?

“Mom, what happened to Ave Maria College?” Catherine asked nervously.

Susan sighed deeply. “The College was shut down because of the Act of Loyalty. Several hundred Catholics came out to the campus to protest the shutdown, but the National Guard was called and they killed every single one of them.”

Catherine gasped. “Why? On what grounds?”

“Un-American activities. They think that every protest against the government is a terrorist threat.”

“That’s awful. And now they go and close Franciscan University…I suppose that I’ll be going to Mount Saint Michael’s College after all,” she commented sadly.

They drove off into the sunset, both of them quite sad.

Mike Connor was running. He was running through a dark forest at night, and he could barely see anything, as the moon was out but not particularly bright. He was growing tired, as he had been running for a while.

In his ears the breathing grew louder. He could tell that whatever was chasing him was growing closer. He picked up his speed and did not dare to look back, to find out what was pursuing him.

The forest was getting thicker now, and the darkness seemed to envelop him; choke him, as he continued to run. His lungs were screaming for air, which seemed to be in short supply in this forest.

The hot breath of the creature that was chasing him was soon upon his neck. He had to continue running - there was no other way.

And then he tripped over a root, and flew face first into the dirt. He quickly rolled over to try to escape, but he found that the creature was already on top of him, ready to devour him. The strange thing was that the creature was unidentifiable. It had glowing red eyes and a golden pendant around its neck, but other than that, it had no shape or size. It was simply a mass of darkness that covered him like a cloak.

Mike felt his chest tighten. The darkness was sucking him in; suffocating him. He tried to call out, but he found himself unable to do so. The creature’s circular amulet gleamed brighter and brighter, reflecting some unknown light, until Mike could see no more. His last thoughts were for mercy.

He woke up with a start, sweating profusely. Relieved, Mike thought, ‘It was only a dream.’ He turned to see the time, and it was only a few minutes past midnight.

His heart was still racing from this dream as he lay back down in his bed and tried to fall asleep. In a minute, however, he heard a car drive up into his driveway, and someone got out.

Being the curious type, Mike decided to see who it was. He quickly got out of bed, got dressed, and hurried downstairs.

He was surprised to see that his father was still awake, and sitting at the dining room table, doing the crossword puzzle in the newspaper.

Mike sat down across from him. “What are you still doing awake?”

Mr. Connor looked up and peered at him through bespectacled eyes. “I should ask you the same question.”

“I had a nightmare.” He cringed at the mere mention of the awful dream.

“I can see. You’re sweating like a pig. As for me, Mom called and said that she and Catherine were coming home, so I stayed up to greet them.”

At that exact moment, the door swung wide open and in stepped Susan and Catherine, looking somewhat flustered. They came in and sat at the table without a word.

Mr. Connor looked at them, one after the other, and nobody said a word. Finally, Mr. Connor broke the silence. “Well? Are you going to tell me why you are back so soon?”

Susan took a deep breath, then began. “They closed down the college.” She paused and observed the remarkably astonished looks on the faces of Mike and Mr. Connor. “Apparently it has to do with the latest Act of Loyalty. The University President didn’t sign the Act, so they interpreted that as a treasonous terrorist threat, and they shut down the college.”

“That’s awful!” Mike exclaimed.

Susan looked at him with kindness. He was so innocent, that he didn’t even realize the terrible implications that this Act of Loyalty would mean. “I just wonder what will be next for the Act of Loyalty: churches, schools, families…who knows. It could escalate from here.”

Mike’s eyes were now wide open as he heard this. While he didn’t fully understand the Act of Loyalty, he knew that there must have been a good reason why the University didn’t sign it.

“Do you think that Mount Saint Michael’s College is still open? Did they sign the Act of Loyalty?” Catherine asked.

“I don’t know,” her mother replied. “We’ll have to call them tomorrow to find out.”

“Why didn’t we hear about this?” Mr. Connor asked. “The press should have been all over this.”

“Apparently the government wants to keep this hush-hush, and the media is willing to go along with the government. If word gets out that all of these colleges are closing, there might be an insurrection or something.”

“ALL these colleges?” Mike asked incredulously. “There are more than one?”

Susan turned to him, and noticing the fear on his face, said in a reassuring voice, “There are only two right now, and I don’t think that there will be more. Ave Maria College in Michigan was already closed, and now Steubenville. I hope that this will be the end of the closings. Now, you should go to bed. It’s quite late.”

“Okay.” Mike got up from the table and left, and Catherine followed him, for she was quite tired as well.

~10~

At the next troop meeting, Mike convinced his dad to drop him off there early. He wanted to speak with Mr. Longer before anyone else had arrived.

When Mike arrived at the pond, he discovered that he was not the first one there. Charlie was also present, and he was sitting at the picnic table, reading a book. He looked up when he heard Mike coming.

“Hey, Mike,” he said as a greeting.

“Hello, Charlie.” Mike sat down across from him. “How’s it going?”

“Not bad at all. Have you had any escapades with Chase lately?” Charlie said, jokingly.

Mike looked at him strangely. “You don’t want to know. Trust me.”

“Do you think he’ll show up today? I doubt it.”

Mike got up and walked to the small shed that housed the boating gear. He began to nervously fidget with an oar. “I certainly hope not. He’s not my favorite person in the world.”

“You’ve got to admit, though,” Charlie replied, laughing, “his boating accident last time was pretty funny!”

Mike allowed himself to chuckle.

Suddenly Charlie stopped laughing. “What’s wrong, Mike? You’re acting odd today.”

Mike turned around to look at his friend, who appeared to be genuinely concerned. But Mike knew that he couldn’t tell him what was on his mind. Mike was somewhat confused by the events of the past week. He was pondering how to deal with Chase if he did come to the troop meeting - after all, Mike did know about his vandalism.

And Mike had also been thinking a lot about the recent closing of Franciscan University. That was the college that he had been hoping to attend, but now it did not exist any more. Furthermore, his mother had mentioned that “it could escalate from here,” whatever that meant.

“Oh, it’s nothing, Charlie. Thanks for asking.”

Soon more people began to arrive, slowly, until at seven o’clock there were around twenty scouts there, not counting the adult leaders. As Mike looked around to everyone there, he noticed that Chase was not here. Silently he rejoiced.

The meeting started on time, as it always does, with the pledge of allegiance. They were in the middle of saying it when Mike noticed Chase, coming down the path toward the pond. His elation quickly disappeared, and he groaned. ‘Not another evening of dealing with Chase!’ he thought sadly.

Chase soon joined the group as announcements were being read by Billy. After this, they split up into groups again, with Clayton teaching first aid skills for some of the guys (including Chase and Bobby), and Billy took a group to the other side of the pond, where they continued to build the rope bridge that they had started at the previous meeting.

Clayton’s group gathered around a picnic table, where he opened up a first aid kit. “All right, guys, today you’re going to learn the basics of first aid, so that if the world blows up and everybody dies, you’ll know how to treat the survivors.”

Chase, who was sitting on the ground behind everyone else, groaned. He was the only one who understood the joke.

“We’ll start with broken bones,” Clayton began. “If I was to break my arm, what would you do?”

There was silence before someone called out from the back, “Amputation is always an option!” Everyone laughed.

Clayton couldn’t help but smile. He stood up to see who had made that comment, and was not surprised to see Chase, who was smiling smugly at his own joke. Although Clayton was not acquainted with the former juvenile delinquent, Mike had warned him about Chase. “So,” Clayton said to him, “You must be the infamous Chase.”

“What’s this?” Chase replied in mock horror, “I have a reputation here already? I’m honored.”

“Don’t be,” Clayton replied. “It’s not the best of reputations.”

Chase’s smile faded at the harsh words.

“All right, getting back to the topic,” Clayton said, sitting down once more. “How would you treat a broken bone in, say, my arm?”

A short kid with brown hair spoke up. “Well, you should probably put a splint on your arm and get to the doctor as soon as possible.”

“You’re right, Smiley,” Clayton replied. “Okay, for my next one, what would you do for a blister?”

Again, the peanut gallery called out. “Amputation is always an option.”

Clayton stood up once more, and said jokingly, “I’ll amputate your head if you don’t be quiet back there!”

Chase gave him a quizzical look. “Isn’t that called decapitation, instead of amputation?”

Clayton just rolled his eyes and sat back down. “But seriously, folks, what do you do for a blister?”

A tall, skinny kid replied, “You should put a moleskin circle around it and cover it with a bandage. Try not to pop it.”

“Very good,” Clayton said, smiling. “Now how about this one: what do you do for a head wound? And don’t say amputation is an option!”

“Okay, then,” came the reply, “decapitation is always an option!” Everyone laughed, including Clayton.

“All right, Chase,” Clayton challenged, “I want you to answer the next one. Come up here and show me, with this bandanna, what you would do for severe bleeding.”

Chase complied and came to the table. Taking the bandanna, he looked at it, momentarily perplexed.

“You need to tie a tourniquet,” Clayton hinted.

Chase still looked at the bandanna. Suddenly, though, his face brightened. “I can’t tie a tourniquet, but I can tie a noose. Is that okay?”

Everyone laughed except for Bobby, who was sitting farther away on the opposite side of the picnic table. He scowled as he stared at Chase. ‘Who does he think he is?’ Bobby thought, amazed at his cockiness, especially after the last meeting’s fiasco.

He abruptly got up and went over to Chase, and grabbed the bandanna out of his hand. “Let me show you how it’s done,” he commented tartly. He quickly and deftly fastened a tourniquet around Clayton’s arm, giving the last knot a tight squeeze that made Clayton wince. It was, after all, cutting off all circulation to his lower arm.

Bobby stood back, satisfied with himself. “There. Now that’s a tourniquet.”

Clayton picked up his arm in his other hand. “Very good. Now can you please untie it; I can’t feel my fingers!”

He complied and sat back down, not noticing that Chase had given him a dirty look as he walked away.

Later on, Bobby and Mike were playing catch with a football in a grassy knoll just north of the pond. They were out of earshot of everyone else who was participating in some kind of swimming race.

“So Mike,” Bobby began, “What’s up with Chase?”

Mike rolled his eyes. Ever since a week ago, the topic of Chase had come up no less than one billion times, and he was getting very tired of it. “What do you mean by that?” he snapped. “How am I supposed to know what’s up with him? Am I my brother’s keeper?”

“Mike, I’m surprised at you,” Bobby said honestly, catching the football with one hand. “What happened to ‘Blessed are the peacemakers’? I thought you were supposed to be the holy one around here…”

Mike felt guilty at this insult. “All right, all right. Sorry, I shouldn’t have snapped at you. All I know is that I’ve tried to see what his attitude problem is, but I’ve got no idea. Why? What did he do this time?”

“Oh my God, he’s got such an attitude…”

Mike cast a sharp and freezing glare at his friend. “Don’t you ever take the Lord’s name in vain.”

Despite Mike’s words, Bobby was unfazed. “Sorry. But sheesh, the first troop meeting he makes an absolute fool of himself in front of us, but just today he was parading around like he’s the best thing since sliced milk.”

Mike laughed, mainly because Bobby didn’t realize what he had just said.

“You would figure that people would be more humble if they had just mortally embarrassed themselves in front of everyone but…”

“Okay, okay, I get your point. I’ll see what I can do.” Mike caught the ball and tossed it back to him.

Charlie, meanwhile, had been sneaking up on Bobby. As soon as the ball was in the air, Charlie let out a yell and jumped in front of him to try to catch the ball. But since he has no athletic talent whatsoever, the ball went right through his hands and landed right on Bobby’s head.

“Charlie!” he exclaimed as the ball bounced off his head and rolled into the grass.

Charlie looked as innocent as he could. “Sorry,” he said, trying in vain to hide his wide smile. “But I had that! If it weren’t for the wind…”

“Or your pathetic catching skills,” Bobby finished as he walked away to join the rest of the troop.

The troop meeting was drawing to a close, and Billy was announcing the final announcements.

“Camp Heritage is coming up,” he began, looking out to the scouts assembled before him. “That means that you have to sign up for your merit badges next week. Mr. Longer and Mr. McGillicuddy will be handling that task, so be sure to see them next week, or the week after that at the latest.

“Also,” he continued, glancing at a sheet of paper in his hands, “We have a service hours opportunity, as the United Methodist Church is asking if we could help them to serve food at their annual oyster and turkey dinner. You do get a free dinner, so it’s a good opportunity to earn service hours and have a good meal at the same time.”

“Billy, who do we talk to for signing up for merit badges?” interrupted the kid named Smiley.

“Talk to Mr. Longer or Mr. McGillicuddy.”

Chase rolled his eyes. “What an idiot,” he commented quietly. “Billy just said that.”

Joey, who was standing next to Chase, gave him a swift elbow in the ribs. In return, Chase pushed him, and seeing as how Joey was not expecting it, he fell over.

Billy gave him a strange look as he got up, because he didn’t see the whole confrontation. “Why were you on the ground, Joey?”

Joey just glared at Billy. “Sorry. It won’t happen again.”

Billy smiled and nodded. “Good. Then our troop meeting is closed. Have a good week, everyone.” And with that, everyone started to disperse. Some scouts went back up the path to where the cars were parked, some stayed to speak to an adult leader to take care of some administrative odds and ends, and some stayed to fish or canoe.

Mike had seen Chase push over Joey, so as soon as Billy closed the meeting, Mike went over to Chase. With Bobby’s words still ricocheting around in his mind, he confronted the larger boy.

Chase saw him coming and was considering walking away, but he decided not to. “Okay, Mike, what is it this time?” he asked sarcastically. “Have you come to reprimand me again, like my daddy?”

“Shut up,” Mike said, not in the mood for his games.

“Touchy, touchy, aren’t we?” Chase mocked. “I thought you were supposed to be a Christian…”

“Cut the crap, okay?” Mike said harshly. “What the heck’s your problem? I’m done being compassionate with you.”

“What are you talking about? You’ve lost your mind once again.”

“Maybe I have. Or maybe I’ve seen you beat up Joey one too many times.”

Chase snickered. “Funny you should stick up for him. He is almost twice as big as you. Can’t he take care of himself? Or does he need his little friend to defend him?”

Mike was seething inside. He mumbled to himself, “Jesus said, ‘No greater love hath a man than to lay down his life for his friend…’”

Unfortunately Chase heard him. “You really are a Jesus freak, aren’t you? Look, my life is none of your business. Please go away. I’ll do what I want.” And with that, Chase turned away.

Mike was still staring angrily at him, so much so that he didn’t realize that Joey had been watching the entire exchange. “What a loser,” Joey concluded.

Mike didn’t even reply.

~11~

Two days later, Tom Talbot came home from work quite despondent. His wife met him at the door and immediately knew, by the expression on his face, that something was dreadfully wrong.

“Dear,” Lisa began, worry lining her voice, “what is it? You looked worried.”

Tom sat down at the dining room table and ran his hand through his hair. “It’s the company, Lisa. We’re going down fast.”

“Goodness!” she exclaimed, although the news did not surprise her. Tom’s employer, Powernetwork Technologies, was a web-based business started three years ago to design web pages and host servers for major companies. However, the corporation had been steadily slipping this year, as a number of investors jumped ship and the company had several fatal computer malfunctions. The staff, which had at one time been over one thousand employees, had suffered one wave of layoffs after another until fewer than a hundred remained.

“P-Net Tech’s stock is lower than ever before. Rumors have it that we’ll have to file for bankruptcy soon. It’s not looking good.”

Lisa sat down across from her husband and took his hands in a loving gesture. “What will happen then? We’ve invested well over three-quarters of our life savings into that company!” Her voice was rising with anxiety.

“Don’t worry dear,” he reassured, although he himself was not at all sure of the future of his company. “Let’s hope for the best. The company isn’t dead yet. The Lord will protect us no matter what happens.”

At that moment Chase came into the room. Noticing the anxious looks of both of his foster parents, he asked, “What’s going on?”

As soon as Tom noticed Chase walk into the room, his demeanor immediately changed. He didn’t want Chase to be worried about the family’s financial status. “Oh, nothing much. There are just a few problems at work, that’s all.”

“Where do you work?”

“I work at Powernetwork Technologies, in Frederick.”

Chase’s facial expression changed to one of disgust. “I’ve heard bad things about that place. I’ve heard it’s going down, and fast.”

Tom was slightly perturbed that Chase knew so much. “Where did you hear about my company?”

“Oh, it was in the newspaper this morning,” Chase replied nonchalantly. “Financial section. There’s a whole article about businesses in Frederick that stockholders predict will go under in the coming year, and that Powwow Notworking company is number one on the list.”

Tom was shocked at the news. He quickly went over to the family room, where the day’s newspaper was lying on a chair, and after rummaging through it for a while, found the Financial Section. He opened the page and read the first article. After a while, his face went white. Looking up, he said to his wife, “I didn’t know that everyone knew about this. We were trying to keep it hush-hush from the public. We don’t want to do what that infamous Enron did, back in the twenty-first century, with all that damn publicity and whatnot. If we were going to go under, we were going to do it quietly. It appears, though, that the press has beaten us to it. They know all about our financial woes.” He paused for a moment and calmed down a bit. Looking oddly at Chase, he asked, “Why were you reading the Financial Section?”

Chase shrugged. “I was bored this morning. Besides, I care about our economy, too.”

Meanwhile, while this conversation was taking place, two other people were having another tense conversation at a different place.

Mr. Greg Connor slowly entered his house. He could hear his wife in the kitchen preparing dinner, so he made his way to the kitchen. “Hello, Susan,” he greeted with a cheerful smile on his face. This was the first time he had smiled all day.

Susan turned around (she was facing the broccoli) and saw her husband. “Hi, honey. How was your day at work?” She walked over to him and gave him a kiss.

Greg didn’t respond to her question. Instead, he kissed her in return and afterward asked her, “Where’s Mike?”

“He’s over at Joey’s house. Why? Did you need to speak with him?”

“No, no, not at all. Where’s Catherine?”

“She’s at work.” Catherine worked part time at a craft store in Frederick.

“Good. We need to talk, and I don’t want them to overhear our conversation.” He led her to the table, where they both sat down. Susan had a hard time reading her husband’s face, even though they had been married for twenty-one years. It was a mixture of shock, disbelief, and concern.

“What is it? Is something wrong at work?”

Greg shook his head. “No. Everything’s fine at work. Did you hear the news?”

“No, what?”

“Cardinal Stevens is dead.”

There was a dreadful pause, as the news sunk in. Susan finally realized exactly what her husband had said. “Cardinal Stevens is dead?” she repeated in incredulity.

Her husband nodded solemnly. “I heard it on the news today. It was awful. A deranged gunman who called himself Darkness shot him while he was saying Mass this morning at the Cathedral. The gunman is still at large.” He looked off into the distance, and Susan thought that this was the first time ever that she had seen him close to tears.

Susan was speechless. After all, everyone loved Cardinal Joshua Stevens. He was a jolly fellow, one of the most glib and beloved Catholics in the Archdiocese of Baltimore. Many Church officials thought that he had an outside chance of becoming the next pope. “Why would anyone do such a thing?”

“I don’t know,” Greg replied. He stood up and stared out the window, looking forlorn. “I’ve heard from a few Catholic sources that it was a government conspiracy. Did you hear about the Cardinal’s message last Sunday?”

Susan shook her head, too sad to speak.

“The Cardinal spoke out vehemently against the American government’s abortion policies. He called for a complete and utter ban on all abortion and euthanasia procedures. This appeal apparently angered some elected officials, especially President Ferraro.” President Dean Ferraro was known for publicly endorsing abortion, euthanasia, and sterilization as a remedy for the problem of overpopulation in America.

“It couldn’t be possible! Would the government hire a henchman to do the dirty work of slaying the Cardinal? That seems absurd!” Susan was silently seething against whoever was behind this dastardly murder.

Greg looked to his wife with love. “You might not think so when you hear what I’m about to tell you. The National Catholic Register was shut down by the government.”

The National Catholic Register is an orthodox Catholic newspaper run by the Legionaries of Christ.

Again Susan gasped. “Goodness gracious! This is terrible! How could they do such a thing?”

“Same reasons why Cardinal Stevens was killed. I read on the Internet that The National Catholic Register wrote several scathing articles disagreeing with President Ferraro’s decision to send $355 million dollars to China for use in ‘population control’. The President tried to shut down the newspaper because of something about ‘treasonous articles denouncing the Presidency’ or something of the like.”

“This is getting worse all the time! What’s next? The closing of churches, the murders of priests…it can only disintegrate from here. This country has lost its morals.”

Greg looked around nervously. “I wouldn’t say that too loudly, just in case someone hears. I’ll never trust the First Amendment again. Just wait until the media gets a hold of these stories. I’ve already heard a report on CNN (the Communist News Network, as I always call it) that said, ‘Gunman kills treasonous Cardinal.’”

“You make it sound so scary,” she said, looking up to him with trusting eyes. “It’s almost as if we’re up against a power that we can’t control.”

“The government is getting more and more powerful by the day.” He shook his head and walked over to the stove, where he checked to see if the broccoli was done. Popping one in his mouth, he said very thoughtfully, “It all started with the Act of Loyalty.” He walked back over to the table and mused on it some more. “No, actually, I take that back. It all started with the terrorist activities that preceded it. Everything has spiraled downward since then - April 13, 2206, when the Space Needle in Seattle was blown up, and the simultaneous smallpox outbreaks all over the northwest…then came the nuclear ‘disaster’ in Houston, where the reactors mysteriously had a meltdown…let’s see, that was in 2213…then those Arab terrorists last year flying the plane into the Sears Tower. Then came the Act of Loyalty.”

“So you think the Act wasn’t really a grab for more power, and to undermine our rights as US Citizens?”

“No, I think it was that as well. But although it started as a legitimate response to the terrorist activities, it’s now being abused to silence anyone who disagrees with the President. It’s starting to become a serious problem, you know.”

“Let me get this straight. You’re linking the Act of Loyalty to the death of Cardinal Stevens?”

Greg nodded solemnly.

Susan was incredulous. “What does the Act say, exactly, that makes it so dangerous?”

“The Act of Loyalty, from what I understand, gives the government the right to prosecute and, if needed, execute all those deemed dangerous to the peace and security of the nation. Unfortunately, this Act can be expanded to make it seem as if anyone who ever criticized the government was deemed ‘dangerous to peace and security.’ I have a gut feeling that this is why the government is behind the murder of Cardinal Stevens.”

Susan couldn’t find fault with her husband’s logic, but she thought about what kind of implications this might mean. Surely all of her worst fears would come true; the closing of churches, the censoring of the media, the paranoia…Nothing good could come from this Act.

She looked up at Greg, who was again looking into the distance, thinking. Finally, he finished the conversation, saying, “We have now started descending the slippery slope that will never end until we’re all dead or converted to their side. And the unfortunate part is that they don’t really care if we’re dead. Now, I’m hungry. Let’s eat dinner.”

~~~PART TWO~~~

“Everybody wants to play the fool

But, you know, only some are cool

Everybody wants to be the man

But, you know, only some can.”

~ Play The Fool

~1~

‘It’s going to be another hot July day,’ Mike thought as he was riding in the car with his father. Although the window was down and the wind was blowing directly into his face, it was still too hot.

The car took a right turn into the parking lot of New Market Middle School, where several other cars were parked. The scouts of Boy Scout Troop 1024 were milling around on the sidewalk, chatting and making last-minute preparations. The adult leaders were packing the cars with camping gear and discussing how to get to camp.

It was a beautiful day for the first day of summer camp.

Greg parked the car close to the troop’s trailer. Mike jumped out and quickly grabbed his pack from the back seat of the compact car. Slinging it over his shoulder, he quickly went over to the trailer to put his pack inside.

“Good morning, Mike,” greeted Mr. Longer, who was standing and leaning against the trailer, looking at a map.

“Good morning, Mr. Longer,” Mike replied, heaving his heavy pack into the back of the trailer.

“Looking forward to this year’s summer camp?” he asked in his deep-fried southern accent.

“Absolutely!” Mike said enthusiastically as he closed the door of the trailer. “This should be a great week.”

Mr. Longer nodded and smiled wanly. Then he returned to looking at his map.

Mike thought that there was something a bit odd about the way Mr. Longer looked at him, but he shrugged it off and went off to join his friends.

Greg had been speaking with the other adult leaders, but he had been keeping one eye on the conversation between Mr. Longer and Mike. When Mike had walked away, Greg excused himself from the other leaders and approached the scoutmaster.

“Robbie,” Greg began, “Did you ask him?”

“Ask him what?” Mr. Longer replied. He suddenly remembered, and blurted out, “Oh, no. I didn’t ask him.”

“You know as well as I that it’s for the benefit of both of them. Why didn’t you ask him? When are you planning on doing it?”

Mr. Longer sighed deeply. “It’s not easy to tell him what I need to tell him.”

“Do you want me to tell him?”

Mr. Longer shook his head. “No, no. I’ll do it. Just wait until Chase gets here.”

Greg shrugged and left to rejoin the other adults. Mr. Longer simply looked at Mike. Mike was the scout that he trusted the most, and probably the one with the strongest faith and morals. Mr. Longer had always admired his leadership skills, as well, and he had often put them to use in the troop. But he knew that he still wasn’t going to take the news very well.

“Are we stopping at McDonalds on the way there for lunch?” asked Smiley as he was leaning against the brick wall of New Market Middle School.

“I think so,” replied Mike, who was sitting on the sidewalk in front of the school.

“That’s good,” replied the younger scout. “I’m starving.”

“Didn’t you have breakfast?” asked Charlie as he tossed a tennis ball up in the air.

Smiley shook his head. “No, I had no time. I had to pack.”

“Talk about leaving things to the last minute,” Mike commented. “I hope you brought everything you need.”

“Did you remember socks?” Charlie asked.

Smiley tilted his head to the side as he thought. “Oh, darn, I knew I forgot something.”

Charlie stepped back and made a face, disgusted.

Smiley laughed. “Just kidding.”

Just then, Joey approached them. “Hey guys,” he said as a greeting. “Hey, Smiley, did you bring any Cravings Bars?” Smiley’s dad worked at a local candy manufacturing factory, and Smiley had been in the habit of bringing candy wherever he went.

“I think I might. Let me check my pack.” He picked up the backpack that was lying at his feet and began to rummage through it.

“You’re really quite obsessed with those Cravings Bars, aren’t you?” Bobby said to Joey.

Joey smiled as he thought of the delectable treats. “Thick and rich milk chocolate on the outside, with a thick peanut butter middle surrounded by light and crispy sugar wafers. What’s not to love?”

“These are all I have.” Smiley held out five smashed and melted Cravings bars in their wrappers.

Joey eyed them with horror. “Those are demolished! But, I suppose they’ll have to do.” With that he took all five of them and put them in his pocket.

“But Joey,” Charlie began, “How do you know that they weren’t tampered with?”

Joey looked at him, confused.

Charlie continued, his voice rising. “What if some random fellow on the street came up to Smiley and while he wasn’t looking put some kind of nuclear radiation on the chocolate bars? And you didn’t know it and ate them and you’d die of nuclear radiation!”

Everyone stared at him quite blankly.

Charlie lowered his head. “Well, it’s possible!”

Joey started to laugh. “Only in your world.”

Just then, an SUV drove up. Everyone turned to look at it, and they immediately recognized the person in the passengers seat.

Joey turned away from the road. “I knew it,” he said to himself, staring at the brick wall of the school. “Chase.”

“Oh, come on,” Mike replied, almost as if he read his thoughts, “It won’t be so bad. By the way, do you want to be my tent mate?”

Joey turned around. “Sure. I thought you’d never ask,” he replied jokingly.

Just then, Mr. Longer approached the group of boys. He stood at a distance and said, “Mike, can I speak with you privately?”

Mike looked at Joey, who shrugged. “Sure, Mr. Longer,” Mike replied. He went over to his scoutmaster and they began to walk down the road, away from the other scouts and leaders. “What’s up?” he asked curiously.

Mr. Longer looked down at Mike. He hated to do this, but he felt he had no choice. “Mike, you’re my most trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty…”

“I get the picture,” Mike said, wondering why Mr. Longer was saying this. “There’s nothing like a little flattery before you give me the bottom line, huh?” For some reason, Mike knew that he wasn’t going to like what Mr. Longer was about to tell him. Perhaps it was the fact that Mr. Longer looked like he was going to the electric chair.

Mr. Longer looked down to Mike, as Mike looked up to him. He took a deep breath and said, “Mike, I know that you don’t like Chase, but…I was wondering if you’d do me a favor.”

Mike turned his gaze back to the road, thinking. “Somehow I knew this would be about him.”

“Will you be his tent mate this week?”

Mike almost couldn’t believe his ears. He stopped walking with a halt and turned to look at his Scoutmaster. “What!?! That’s absurd!”

“Now, Mike, I know that this won’t be easy for you,” Mr. Longer said in a reassuring voice, “But I’ve spoken with Mr. Talbot, and we’ve agreed that it would be best for Chase to have a positive influence in his life, and I could think of no better person than you to give him a good example.”

Mike shook his head angrily, offended that Mr. Longer would even ask him. “No. Absolutely not.”

Mr. Longer stood up straighter and relied on his age-old wisdom to come to his aid. “Mike, what would Jesus do in this situation?”

“Why are you bringing Jesus into this? Leave Him out of this!”

Mr. Longer almost laughed, but he refrained. “Mike, I’m not going to force you to do anything that you don’t want to do. But I do hope that you seriously consider what an impact you can have on this young man’s life.”

Mr. Longer was hoping that Mike would change his mind, but his face gave away nothing, so the elder man turned and walked away.

Mike was, at first, incredulous that Mr. Longer would ask him a question like that. After all, couldn’t he see how much the two of them didn’t get along? But then he thought, what would Jesus do in this situation? Didn’t He come to seek and to save the lost? Although he tried to fight with himself, he knew that bunking with Chase would be the right thing to do.

“Okay, Mr. Longer,” he called to him, reluctantly, “You win. I’ll bunk with Chase. And he’ll be a saint by the end of the week.”

Mr. Longer couldn’t help but smile.

Mike came over to rejoin his friends. On the way there, he passed by Chase, who was sitting alone on the curb, about thirty feet away from the rest of the scouts. Mike was really not in the mood to be kind to him, but seeing how lonely Chase looked, he thought it might be nice to say something to him. “Hi, Chase,” Mike said in the kindest voice he could muster.

He got no reply, so he went over to his friends. Joey saw him first and looked at him with pity. “I’m sorry, Mike. That must suck.”

“What?” asked Mike, still slightly perturbed at his situation.

“Your bunking with Chase. That doesn’t sound like fun.”

Mike raised an eyebrow. “How do you know that I have to bunk with Chase?”

Joey chuckled. “Well, you shouted it across the parking lot, so now everyone knows.”

Mike blushed, embarrassed that everyone knew. “It won’t be so bad. I hope.” In reality, Mike thought that this would be the worst week of his life.

More scouts were now gathering in the parking lot. There were twenty-six scouts going to summer camp, and twenty-five of them were already there. The troop was only waiting on Clayton Black.

“I wonder what’s keeping Clayton,” Smiley said rhetorically.

Bobby, who was kneeling on the ground and going through his backpack to look for his MP3 player, replied, “He’s always late. I think it’s a disease in his family. Do you know how many times Mrs. Black came in late to class in the morning? She was chronically tardy.” Clayton’s mother, Mrs. Black, was a science teacher at Windsor Knolls Middle School, the school that most of the scouts in the troop attended.

“Or maybe,” said Charlie, his devilish grin spreading across his face, “Their car was swallowed up by a giant pothole and eaten by little white worms.”

“Oh here it is,” Bobby said to himself as he pulled out his portable music player. He stood up and said very sarcastically to Joey, “Did you bring any anti-psychotic drugs? I think Charlie needs some.”

“Ha, ha, very funny,” Charlie said with a smile.

All of a sudden a white minivan pulled up to the curb, and Clayton got out of the passenger’s seat. He immediately opened the back and began to take out his pack and his sleeping bag. “Sorry I’m late,” he said to no one in particular. “I slept through my alarm.”

“If it isn’t one thing, it’s another,” replied Bobby, who had heard him.

Clayton looked at him and smiled. “Hey, it’s true. You can ask my mom, who woke me up fifteen minutes ago.”

Just then, Billy came over to the sidewalk and called the troop together. All of the twenty-six scouts and several of the leaders gathered around him.

“All right, scouts, now that Clayton’s here we can leave,” Billy announced to the assembled throng. “We have eight cars going to camp, so find one of the eight cars and pile in it. We’ll be stopping probably around La Vale for lunch at McDonalds, so I hope you all brought money.” He turned and looked at Mr. Longer, who was standing over near the trailer. “Anything else, Mr. Longer?”

Mr. Longer shook his head, so Billy finished, “Okay, everyone. Go ahead and get into the cars.”

Mike found himself in Mrs. Black’s minivan with Charlie, Smiley, Clayton, Chase, and a short, round kid with sandy hair named Justin. After a few minutes, the vehicles pulled out of the parking lot and they were on the road to Heritage Reservation Scout Camp.

The six scouts and Mrs. Black settled in to a comfortable silence. Clayton, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned the air conditioning on full-blast, and he sat back in his seat to read the latest edition of Boys’ Life magazine (the official magazine of the Boy Scouts). Smiley pulled out an old and well-worn book, and Justin stared out the window at the passing scenery. Charlie leaned back and tried to go to sleep. This would have been a peaceful ride if it weren’t for Mike’s good intentions.

Mike was sitting next to Chase, who was staring straight ahead and looking quite bored. Mike noticed earlier how lonely he looked, so being the nice fellow that he is, Mike decided to make conversation with him.

“Chase,” Mike said in a low voice, as not to disturb anyone else who was reading or sleeping, “Do you know everyone here?”

Chase shook his head. “I only know you and Charlie. Oh, and I know Clayton. I don’t think Clayton likes me very much after last troop meeting.”

“Chase, I wouldn’t get on my bad side. Decapitation is still very much an option,” came the response from the front seat. Chase laughed, and Mike had no idea what they were talking about.

“That’s Justin,” Mike introduced, pointing to the kid in the middle seat. “Clayton’s mom, Mrs. Black, is driving, and sitting right in front of you is Smiley.”

“Why do they call him Smiley?” Chase asked, as if he didn’t know.

Smiley put his book down and turned around. “Because I smile all the time, that’s why. My real name is Matt Anconquinta.”

“You’re not smiling now,” Chase said quite matter-of-factly.

Smiley flashed him a brilliantly false smile before turning back around.

“Anconquinta, isn’t that a Spanish name?” Mike asked.

Smiley turned back around once more. “Actually, it’s Native American. It means something like ‘old tennis shoes’ or something like that.”

Mike laughed. “You don’t look Native American, though. That’s strange.” It was true - Matt didn’t look anything like an Indian. He was very short with a crew cut of black hair, and many freckles all over him. He looked nothing like a Native American.

“Yeah, I know. I don’t know where my family’s originally from. We’re mutts, I suppose.”

“Like the rest of us,” Mike agreed.

“There sure are a lot of cows out here,” Charlie added, although it had nothing to do with the conversation.

“What are you talking about?” Chase questioned.

“I was just thinking,” Charlie replied, looking out the window at the farmland, “that Frederick County still has a lot of cows. I mean, it used to be that people said we’d be all metropolitan by now, but we’ve still got plenty of open land.”

Chase looked out the window, and indeed, Charlie was right. As they drove along Route 70, they passed many dairy farms with cows grazing in the open fields. Being from Baltimore, Chase had never seen so many cows in his life.

“Hey, Chase,” Charlie asked while still gazing out the window, “If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do to get yourself in jail?”

Chase’s face darkened. “I do mind you asking,” he replied coldly.

Matt and Justin turned around immediately. “You went to jail?” Justin asked with a mixture of disbelief and fear. “So are you going to murder us or something?”

Chase reached into his pants pocket and slowly pulled out the small Swiss Army knife that Tom had given him. “I just might, if you don’t watch yourself,” he said with an evil grin. He quickly, with one hand, unsheathed the knife and held it up for everyone to see.

Mike jumped back, which is very difficult to do in a car. “Chase,” he commanded, “Put that away. I’m in your blood circle.” He was trembling when he said this.

Chase sheathed the knife and put it away, laughing all the while. “Oh, man, your facial expression was classic. You were freaking out, Mike. Do you think I would really kill you all?”

To everyone else in the car, however, this was not a funny incident. “What’s your problem, Chase?” Justin said rhetorically as he turned back around.

“Hmm, I don’t know,” he replied, still laughing. “What is my problem, Justin?”

Justin turned back around and replied, quite snidely, “Well, for one thing, you’re fat and you’re ugly and no one likes you.”

There were gasps in the car as everyone was shocked that mild-mannered Justin would be so daring as to insult a boy who was twice his size and just got out of the juvenile detention center. “Oh, wow,” Charlie said in amazement. “The Triple Crown of insults.”

“Oh yeah?” Chase said, taking up the challenge, “Well, you’re so ugly that when you were born, the doctor slapped your mother.”

Justin rolled his eyes. “Oh, that’s an old one. How about this: you’re so ugly that I looked out the window and thought I saw your face, but then I looked again and saw that it was only a cow.”

Everyone laughed, and Chase grew embarrassed. ‘Darn it,’ he thought, ‘That was a good insult.’ He quickly thought and said, “Oh, yeah, well, you’re so ugly that when you were born, the doctor slapped your face, thinking it was your bottom.”

Again, laughter filled the car. “You think that’s good?” asked Justin, gaining momentum. “You’re so fat that to get into the front door of your house, you have to shove your belly out the back door.” Wham, that was a devastating insult.

But Chase wasn’t out of insults yet. “You’re so fat that when you went to a restaurant by yourself, the waitress asked you, ‘Party of twelve?’”

Justin winced good-naturedly. “Ouch, what a sting. Try this one on for size. You’re so fat that you need the entire state of Florida to sunbathe.”

“You’re so dumb that we could put you in a circular room and tell you to sit in a corner.”

“You’re so dumb that you drowned because we put a scratch n’ sniff sticker on the bottom of the swimming pool.”

“You’re so fat that you jumped into the air and got stuck.”

“You’re so fat that you use the highway as a water slide.”

“You’re so stupid that when we told you that it was chilly outside, you went and got a spoon.”

“Yeah, well, you’re such a criminal that…”

Chase’s ears began to redden out of humiliation. “Shut the heck up!” he shouted angrily, although he didn’t use such delicate words.

There was silence in the car. Chase had just pulled out the trump card that ended all derogatory statements. Everyone turned away.

“That was not necessary,” Mike commented without a hint of amusement.

Chase looked around, surprised that everyone had suddenly become quiet. “What was not necessary? What did I say wrong?” Chase whispered to Mike, who had turned away and was staring out the window.

Without turning around, he mumbled, “Some things are off-limits in this troop.”

Chase was confused, for he had always used, shall we say, less than dainty language. Heck, who did Mike think he was, admonishing him like that? As if Mike never used foul words, Chase thought. He sat there, humiliated and quiet, for a long while.

The ride was growing long and dull. The scenery had become boring as they drove along the small, two-lane road. Staring out the window, most people thought about nothing as they drove along.

Mrs. Black finally spoke to break the monotony. “Hmm, look at that. There’s something big in the middle of the road. What is that?”

Everyone in the car, grateful for something interesting happening, strained to look out the front window. Indeed, there was something big and tan lying along the center line. Cars were slowing down as they needed to go around the object, whatever it was.

“That looks familiar,” Chase murmured as he stared at it.

Up ahead, they could see that Mr. McGillicuddy had pulled his vehicle off the road, and his blinkers were on. Since he was leading the caravan, the other cars behind him followed suit. “I wonder what’s going on,” Mrs. Black commented. She followed the car in front of her, and pulled onto the shoulder of the road after they had passed the big object in the middle of the road. Mr. McGillicuddy ran past the car in the opposite direction, towards the direction of the big object.

Chase turned around in his seat to watch Mr. McGillicuddy heading for the object. All of a sudden, it dawned on him where he had seen that object before. “That’s my pack!” he exclaimed.

Without wasting a moment, Chase climbed over Charlie and opened the door of the minivan. Leaping out, he ran as fast as he could after Mr. McGillicuddy.

“Mr. McGillicuddy! Stop!” he shouted as he ran up to him.

The man turned around. “Chase!” he exclaimed, surprised. “What are you doing out of the car? I have to retrieve the pack that’s lying in the middle of the road.” With that, he turned back around and started to walk out into the road.

“No, wait!” Chase said anxiously as he followed him. Chase ran up ahead and grabbed the pack before Mr. McGillicuddy could get there.

“Chase, what are you doing? It’s dangerous out here in the middle of the road!”

Chase heaved the pack onto his back and calmly walked to the shoulder of the road, followed by Mr. McGillicuddy. “This is my pack,” Chase replied. “I wanted to save it before it was run over by a car.” He started to walk towards the line of cars.

“I could have saved it. You had no right to dash out into the middle of the road like that,” Mr. McGillicuddy admonished. “You could have gotten killed! Think of the insurance problems we’d have if that happened.”

Chase didn’t respond. Instead, he walked with the pack to the trailer, which had apparently come open when they went over a bump. He heaved the pack into the back of the trailer, and Mr. McGillicuddy closed the door securely.

“Don’t you ever do that again,” the leader warned. “Now go back to your car.”

Without a word, but with a sigh of relief, Chase returned to his car, and the caravan started again to travel.

The car was utterly silent for another hour before they all arrived at the McDonalds in La Vale, Maryland. Upon arriving, Mrs. Black parked the car and everyone quickly scurried out.

“Finally,” Mike said in relief as he stood in the parking lot, stretching his legs.

Joey approached him, having just left the McGillicuddy’s vehicle. “How’s riding with Chase?”

Mike started towards the restaurant, while Joey followed him. “No comment. Come on, let’s hurry. I’m starving.” They both hurried inside.

It was a busy, bustling Sunday afternoon inside the McDonalds. There appeared to be at least one other Scout troop in the building, judging by the amount of people wearing Scout shirts. Mike and Joey got in line, and they were soon joined by the rest of the troop.

After waiting in line for what seemed like an eternity, they received their food and headed outside to a group of picnic tables underneath a wide umbrella, out of the bright and scorching sun. They were quickly joined at the table by Matt, Billy, Bobby, Charlie, and Chase.

“Sure has gotten hot today,” Mike commented as he took a bite of his Big Mac.

Billy, who was sitting across from him, nodded in agreement. “The weatherman says that it’ll be in the nineties this entire week, with rain on Wednesday.” He took a gulp of his Hawaiian punch. “So what merit badges are you taking, Mike?”

Mike thought as he finished chewing his food. Upon swallowing, he replied, “I think I’ve got Environmental Science, Rowing, Leatherworking, and I’m also taking BSA Snorkeling.”

Billy looked impressed. “That’s a lot of work. Will you have enough merit badges for Eagle scout after this summer camp?”

Mike nodded, taking a sip of his soda. “I should have enough. I thought that I had seventeen merit badges already, but it turns out that I have eighteen, so I only need three more.”

“That’s good.”

Joey had been listening to the conversation. Spotting an odd food item on Billy’s tray, he asked him, “What’s that?”

Billy held up two small containers. “These? They’re coffee creamers.”

“I know that. But why do you have them? You don’t have any coffee.”

Billy opened the top of one of the coffee creamers. “I know, but they’re delicious to drink plain.” With that, he quickly drank it and crumpled up the small plastic container.

Joey made a disgusted face. “You know, coffee creamer is unhealthy. It’s like pure fat or something.”

Billy shrugged. “We’re all going to die sometime. I’ll die drinking my coffee creamer.”

“So Billy,” Mike said to interrupt their absurd conversation about coffee creamer, “How’s the Eagle Project going? You were building the shelter at Kemptown Park, weren’t you?”

Billy sighed, and looked as if he really didn’t want to discuss this topic. “Yeah,” he said unenthusiastically. “I hit kind of a snag in the plans. The troop committee wanted to see more breakdown of the monetary issues, if you know what I mean.”

“No, I’m not sure I do.”

“Well, they basically rejected my plans. They said that I didn’t have enough information on how much it would cost, and how many materials it would require.” Billy was growing agitated as he remembered the incident. “They were making me pretty angry. After all, this was the second time that they had rejected my project. Isn’t that ridiculous?”

“Yeah, I guess so.” Mike actually had no clue as to whether this was ridiculous or not.

“But that’s not the worst part,” he continued. “They told me to basically select a new Eagle project, because the one that I had chosen isn’t really feasible because it would cost too much money and require too much work. I was so frustrated that I had to protest!” His voice was rising in intensity. “I finally asked them what they suggested for an Eagle Project, and they told me that I needed to sit and think about it some more. My gosh, they made me so angry!” He slammed his fist down on the table for emphasis. Unfortunately, as he did so, he smashed the other container of coffee creamer and it exploded, covering Billy’s face with the white liquid.

Everyone at the table heard him cry out in surprise and pain, since the creamer had gone into his eye. Everyone present grew silent for a moment, before Chase burst out with laughter.

“What a loser!” he exclaimed, laughing cruelly. Mike glared at him.

Billy managed to ignore him. “Ow, I got that stuff in my eyes. That hurts.”

Joey, upon surveying the situation, just shook his head. “Didn’t I tell you that stuff was hazardous to your health? And yet you didn’t believe me.”

Taking a napkin, Billy wiped off his face. “Yeah, yeah, whatever.”

It took about an hour and a half more before the caravan finally reached Camp Heritage.

“Here we are,” announced Mrs. Black as the minivan turned onto a small dirt road. “Camp Heritage.”

After five more minutes, they reached the camp parking lot, which was nothing more than a large, open field of grass and weeds. There was a cabin to the left, and the camp store was on the right. A wide dirt trail ran past the field and wound its way up a hill.

As soon as Mrs. Black had stopped the car, the scouts piled out, grateful to be out of the cramped minivan. All of the scouts congregated in one area, while Billy and Mr. Longer went over to the cabin to check in with the Camp Director.

Mike went over to the trailer, which was attached to the back of Mr. Longer’s pickup truck. He opened it up and began to unload many of the backpacks and camping gear that was stored in it.

Joey went over to the trailer. “Do you see my pack in there?” he called to Mike, who was inside of the vehicle.

Mike looked around briefly. “I don’t see it right now. It must be underneath of everything else. Why? Is there something that you need?”

Joey waved his hand in the air. “I was looking for some bug spray. There are a whole lot of mosquitoes around today!”

Mike shrugged. “Sorry, I can’t help you. I forgot to bring some. I think Mr. Longer might have some, though.”

“Thanks anyway.” Joey walked off, slapping at a mosquito.

Mike finished unpacking the trailer, being assisted by Clayton. When that job had been completed, the troop was already gathered and Billy was speaking to them, so they both went and joined the rest of the troop.

“All right, folks,” Billy said, apparently reaching the end of his speech, “Without further ado, let me present to you Ben.”

A tall, slender young man in his early twenties stepped forward. He had long blond hair gathered into a ponytail, and a small goatee was trying to grow on his chin. He was wearing an immaculately clean Scout uniform, which displayed his Eagle Scout patch quite prominently.

“Hello, campers,” the man said in a very deep, but quiet, voice. “Welcome to Camp Heritage. My name is Ben, and I’ll be your camp counselor this week. If you have any questions about anything or if you need assistance with anything, please don’t hesitate to talk to me or any one of the other counselors who wander this camp aimlessly all day. Just a few rules about this camp: No fires in tents, no knives larger than your palm, no running along camp roads, and no swimming except in designated swimming areas. Also it is required that all scouts take at least one shower while they are here. We got a few complaints last year about being able to smell a scout coming from a mile away, so that’s why we have this new rule.”

Everyone laughed politely, anxious to get to their campsite.

“And without further ado, I’ll now show you to your campsite. Grab as much of your stuff as you can carry, and follow me.” Taking long strides, he began to walk off down the path. All of the scouts picked up their personal gear and followed closely behind.

It was a very short walk to the campsite, which was named Massachusetts Bay. The campsite consisted of twenty-five canvas platform tents, scattered all over the campsite. There were three picnic tables in a row in the center of the site, covered by a thick and heavy tarpaulin. Off to the side of the campsite lay a latrine, which was not much more than a hole in the ground surrounded by a wooden shelter. The campsite was richly wooded, which provided some relief from the scorching heat and the oppressive mosquitoes. About five hundred yards from the campsite was a marsh which bordered the massive lake at the camp.

Mike didn’t have time to enjoy the beauty of the campsite as he hurried to select one of the choicest tents. He found one that was on the outskirts of the campsite, but flanked on either side by two other tents. He immediately threw his gear inside the tent to reserve it, and then called to Chase, who was standing under the tarp, looking bewildered. Chase quickly came over to the tent and threw his stuff inside.

“I’m going to help carry more stuff,” Mike said as he started to walk back to the parking lot.

Chase sat down on the raised platform of the tent. “Have fun. I’m going to be sitting here,” he said sarcastically.

Mike just shook his head as he walked off.

Meanwhile, Joey and Bobby selected the tent to the right of Mike’s tent, and the tent on the other side was chosen by Charlie and Justin.

The troop had just begun to unpack when Ben called out from the center of the campsite, “Everyone change into their bathing suits; in five minutes, we’re going to take the swim test.” Everyone readily complied. Five minutes later, the entire troop followed Ben to the waterfront.

The waterfront was a scenic area of the camp. There was a long dock leading out into the lake, with a sandy beach along the shore. Three picnic tables were around, and there were seventeen canoes and six rowboats tied to the far end of the dock. A tall lifeguard tower was in the center of the sandy beach.

The scouts of Troop 1024 were led into the area, where they sat down on the beach. A short, fat young man came up to them.

“My name is Andy, and I am the waterfront director,” the man said to the group assembled. “You all are here for the swim test? Okay, then, line up and we’ll take two of you at a time to take your swim tests.” The troop quickly formed a line, younger scouts first.

“Do you know what?” Chase said to Mike, who was standing in front of him. “I can’t swim.”

“Really? That’s too bad,” Mike replied absent-mindedly. He was staring off into the distance at the leaves blowing in the wind.

“I mean, I’ve never really tried. We didn’t have a pool, you know. Is it hard?”

Mike shrugged. “Just flail around for a while,” he suggested. “You’ll be okay. Do you know how to float?”

Chase shook his head.

“Well then, you might as well forget it,” Mike said jokingly, although Chase took him seriously. “You’re done for if you don’t know how to float.”

“Oh well. Swimming is stupid anyway,” he replied nonchalantly, trying to cover up his own apprehension about the swim test.

In a few minutes, Smiley walked past the line, soaking wet and shivering. “Did you pass?” Mike asked him as the younger boy reached for his towel.

“Yeah, but the water’s freezing!” he exclaimed, wrapping the towel around himself.

Bobby, who had been standing behind Chase, commented with a smile, “That’s good. So, Chase, if you don’t drown first, you’ll freeze to death in the water.”

Chase looked like he was about the be thrown to the lions.

Soon it was Mike and Chase’s turn. They both walked out with Andy onto the dock, out to the end.

“Okay, fellows. You have to swim out there to the floating dock,” Andy began, pointing to a dock that was about seventy five yards out in the lake, floating on the water. “Once you get back, you need to float on your back for a minute. Got that?”

Mike nodded, but Chase asked cautiously, “What happens if I get out there and I can’t get back?”

Andy’s face turned grim. “Then there’s one less mouth to feed on this earth, now isn’t there?”

Chase jumped back, startled by his response. “What are you, some stinking communist?”

Andy laughed. “Exactly. Down with capitalism! Down with Christianity! Long live communism! Now, get in there and swim!” Andy thrust his hand forth as if he were about to push him in, but he pulled his hand back just in time, before he actually touched him. Chase was so startled that he jumped back, forgetting that he was already on the edge of the dock, and fell in. Mike jumped in after him, and they both began swimming to the floating dock in the middle of the lake.

Although the water was very cold, Mike reached the dock easily and quickly, and then turned around to see Chase, splashing furiously, but not moving very fast. Mike treaded water there until Chase finally caught up to him.

“I don’t think I can make it,” Chase said breathlessly to the lifeguard who was standing on the floating dock. Mike noticed a look of utterly helpless terror spreading across his face.

The lifeguard stared straight ahead, as if he were a statue or a robot, and replied with a perfectly straight face, “I’m a Communist as well.”

Mike looked up at him with a very confused look. It was as if they had fallen into a bad horror movie, with strange communist lifeguards and everyone feeling like they were drowning. He turned to Chase and said with a determined look, “Come on, we need to get back to shore. Stay close to me.” He turned and started to swim slowly back to shore.

Chase followed behind. He was freezing cold and shivering in the water, and he struggled to keep his head above water as he slowly did the doggy-paddle to follow Mike. He was so confused that he couldn’t think.

In this manner both scouts finally reached the stationary dock. Grateful for finally getting back, Chase was so exhausted that he just lay there, floating on the water. When his minute was up, he climbed onto the dock and lay there on the warm wood, staring up at the clouds in the sky.

Mike, on the other hand, wasn’t tired in the least bit, so he stood up and said angrily to Andy, “What’s with this Communist routine? Chase almost drowned out there! There have got to be regulations against this!”

Andy stood there, looking quite smug. This only increased Mike’s outrage.

“Well? Aren’t you going to answer me?”

The young man smiled. “Yes, I will. He did it, didn’t he? He passed!”

“Yeah, so?”

“This kid didn’t believe that he could swim that far before he actually did. We wouldn’t really let him drown out there. But we do this so that he can have confidence in himself. Does that make sense?”

Mike’s anger slowly drained out of him. “Yeah, I guess. I still think that’s pretty cruel.”

“But in all reality,” Andy continued, “I am a Communist.”

Mike started walking down the dock towards the shore. “That’s more information than I wanted to know. Are you coming, Chase?”

Chase didn’t move. Instead, he said while staring at the sky, “That cloud looks remarkably like a cow.”

Mike looked up. “No, that’s definitely a pig.” With that, he walked back to the beach, followed by Chase.

Once everyone in the troop had finished with the swim test, the troop was taken by Ben to the dining hall, where they all sat down at a table near the front of the dining hall.

The dining hall was a very long rectangular wooden cabin filled with tables and benches, with a kitchen at one end and a small stage on the other end. They sat near the stage.

They sat and chatted within themselves for a while before a short, skinny young man came from one of the two front doors and quickly climbed up the steps to the stage. He looked quite comical; he was stick-thin, with a small goatee of dark hair on his chin and thick coke-bottle glasses on his face.

“Greetings, scouts,” he said in a remarkably high and nasal voice. “My name is Cletus. I’m the manager of this dining hall, so if you don’t like the food, feel free to throw it at me. For every meal, your troop needs to send two people per table to set the table and those people will also clean up after the meals. I’m now going to show you how to do this.”

For the next ten minutes, Cletus showed the entire troop how to set the table the proper way and then how to clean it up after meals. Finally, he was done, and the entire troop was dismissed to go back to their campsite.

Back at the campsite, everyone relaxed for the afternoon. Chase and Mike were both busy unpacking their things in their tent.

They had been working side by side silently for about ten minutes before Chase spoke. “Hey Mike,” he said as he unfurled his sleeping bag, “Thanks a lot for helping me back there at the waterfront.”

Mike could tell how hard it was for him to say this. “Your welcome,” he said softly, not looking up at him to preserve his dignity. He paused for a moment, before saying, “You’ll like it here. I promise.”

Chase sat down on his cot, across from Mike. “I don’t know. You know, I really just don’t know.”

“What don’t you know?”

“That’s just it. I don’t know what I don’t know. I wish I knew. I don’t know what I want out of life, I don’t know what I’m doing here, I don’t know what’s good or bad. I just don’t know.”

Mike nodded knowingly, although he was clueless as to what Chase was talking about. This was way too philosophical for him to understand.

“You know, Mike,” Chase continued, almost having to force himself to say these words, “I’ve never told anyone about me, really, and I doubt that I really could.”

Mike looked into Chase’s eyes, which were sad and searching. There was nothing for him to say.

Chase rose from his seated position and went out of the tent. “I’ll be back. I need to find a restroom,” he called to Mike.

Mike sat there for a while, thinking. This was his big chance to evangelize, to show Chase that what he was missing in his life was a personal relationship with an all-loving God. And yet, why was it so hard to find the words to say to him? How do you tell a person what they don’t want to hear?

“That was intolerable!” Chase exclaimed as he stepped forth from using the latrine. He hurried to get away from that odor, dashing all the way up to the picnic tables where he found Bobby and Justin playing a card game on the table.

Chase sat down next to Bobby. “You’d think they could do something about the smell of those latrines,” he commented.

Bobby couldn’t take his eyes away from the fast-paced game that was going on in front of him, but he replied. “I know a way that you won’t have that problem, ever.”

“What is it?”

Bobby slapped at the pile of cards on the table. Picking them up, he looked around cautiously. Seeing no one, he replied in a low voice, “There are nice restrooms somewhere in this camp.”

“Really? How do you know that there are nice restrooms at this camp?”

“Shhh! Not so loud!” he admonished, resuming his card game. “I don’t want the whole camp to know about this. We need to keep it secret, you know? There are always nice restrooms at summer camps. I’ve never been to this camp so I don’t know where they are, but when I find them I’ll be sure to tell you.”

“Tell me too, okay?” requested Justin.

“Sure, as long as you don’t tell anyone about this. Okay?”

Justin looked up and nodded. Seeing Justin distracted, Bobby slapped the pile of cards once again. “Aha!” he exclaimed. “I win again.”

“Darn!” Justin exclaimed calmly, almost as if he expected to lose. “You distracted me!” he said to Bobby.

“You’re just a sore loser,” he replied as he walked away.

One hour later, the entire camp gathered in the dining hall to partake of dinner. Tonight’s dinner consisted of roast beef, slathered in gravy, with mashed potatoes on the side and corn, green beans, and cole slaw as well. To top off the meal, there were small slices of chocolate cake for dessert. The beverage options were milk, water, or artificially-flavored juice-like drink.

“This is delicious,” Chase said as he engorged upon another slice of roast beef.

Clayton, who was sitting across from him, replied, “They always make the first meal the best. It all goes downhill from here.”

“That’s a nice thought,” Chase said sarcastically with his mouth full. “I guess I’ll stock up tonight so I don’t have to eat for the rest of the week.”

Mr. Longer was sitting at the table with them. He was watching, amazed, at how fast these kids could eat. It was as if they hadn’t eaten in a month. He was also impressed with how well Chase seemed to be relating to his peers. Mr. Longer had been worried about his attitude, but from what he had seen thus far, Chase was on his best behavior.

“So Chase, how do you like it so far?” Mr. Longer said loudly, as he was sitting at the far end of the long rectangular table, and there was quite a din in the dining hall.

“This roast beef is really good, Mr. Longer,” he replied, shoving another slice in his mouth.

The Scoutmaster smiled. “I wasn’t taking about dinner,” he clarified, “I was talking about the camp. How do you like the camp so far?”

Chase shrugged. “It’s okay, I guess. There’s not much to do if you don’t like card games.”

“What did you do all afternoon?”

Chase thought of a snappy response. “I sat on a log and thought about the deep philosophical mysteries of life.”

Mr. Longer’s eyebrows went up in disbelief. “Really? Is that so? And what did you figure out?”

Chase just looked at him blankly, surprised at how gullible some troop leaders could be. “Uh, I was just kidding. Do I look like the type of person who thinks about deep philosophical mysteries?”

Mr. Longer’s high esteem for Chase drained away. Indeed, how rude and sarcastic could he be? He bit his tongue so that he wouldn’t say an unkind word to him.

Luckily, though, Bobby responded. “No, you don’t, but you don’t look like the kind of person who would end up in jail, either, so I guess anything’s possible.”

Chase cast him a steely glance.

Mr. Longer couldn’t help but laugh at his sarcastic response.

At another table, a whole different conversation was going on.

“So, Mike,” began Charlie, swallowing a mouthful of corn. “I hear that you’ll be joining us in public school next year.”

Mike lifted up his glass to take a drink but stopped half way to his mouth when he heard this. Putting down the glass, he immediately looked around the table. “Who told you that?”

Joey, who was sitting next to him, looked off in the opposite direction.

“Joey! I’m surprised at you!” Mike exclaimed, half joking. “I thought you were someone that I could trust.”

“You never told me not to tell anyone!” he said in his defense.

Mike opened his mouth to rebut that statement, but he knew that Joey was right. So he turned to Charlie and said, “Yeah, I’m going to public school next year. The rumors are true.”

Charlie smiled widely. “That’s awesome! This year will be so great. We’re finally moving on to high school…”

“Aren’t you the least bit nervous about going to high school?” Mike interrupted.

Charlie shrugged it off. “Not really. I’m looking forward to it. All of my friends will be there, and classes won’t be that bad. This is going to be a great year.”

“Yeah,” Joey agreed, but with a touch of regret, “I hope this year perhaps I can find a girlfriend.”

“Dude, Joey, how many times do I have to tell you,” rebuked Charlie, “You should go out with Heather! She really likes you.”

“I could never do that! You know that I don’t really want to go out with her.”

“Heck, I’d go out with her if I had the chance. But, you see, she hates my guts. Like every other girl in our grade.”

Mike gave him a very sly look. “What about Sarah?” he asked, referring to the girl with whom they played basketball.

“Danny’s sister?” Charlie said incredulously. “She hates me too. I think all of their family hates me.”

“Well, that could be because you did once hit a golf ball into their house…”

“Please, don’t remind me. That whole family hates me.”

“Or perhaps,” Joey chimed in, “It’s because of all those annoying messages you left on their answering machine that one time…”

“How was I supposed to know they were out of town at their grandmother’s funeral? I needed to talk to them!”

“Charlie,” Mike said calmly, “You know they don’t hate you.”

“Yes they do,” he insisted.

“Sarah once told me,” said Joey, “That she has a huge crush on you, and that she thinks you’re quite a hottie.”

Both Mike and Charlie looked at him. “Really?” they both blurted out simultaneously.

Joey laughed. “No, actually I was just kidding.”

Charlie was trying in vain not to laugh, as he made his face look as angry as possible. “Don’t do that to me. Don’t mess with my mind, man.”

They all laughed.

~2~

That evening, after everyone had gotten back from dinner, Mr. Longer gathered the troop together.

“I think we should build a huge bonfire tonight,” the Scoutmaster suggested to the troop.

Everyone seemed to agree.

Matt spoke up. “That’s a good idea. Where do we get the wood?”

Mr. Longer motioned to the deep woods in back of camp. “There’s plenty of dry wood out there in the forest. I want you all to gather some, and bring it back here. I’ll grab some marshmallows, and I think we’ve got graham crackers somewhere.”

He walked over to a gear box and began to rummage through it. Meanwhile the scouts dispersed, each going his own direction into the woodlands to find downed trees, logs, or sticks that were lying around.

Chase, meanwhile, sat on a tree stump near to the fire pit and pulled out his pocketknife. Picking up a stray stick on the ground, he began to whittle.

“Aha!” he heard Mr. Longer say from inside one of the tents. Coming out, he said to no one, “Here are the graham crackers.” He threw the box on the picnic table. Looking up, he noticed that Chase was still sitting there, not collecting wood like the rest of the troop. “Hey, Chase, why aren’t you collecting wood? Don’t you like bonfires?”

“I love fires,” he replied without looking up. “But I didn’t come here to work.”

Mr. Longer shrugged it off. “Suit yourself.”

Just then, Bobby came back carrying an armful of moderate-sized sticks. He dumped them in the fire circle, and turning to Chase, he saw the wood shavings from his whittling at his feet. “Perfect!” he exclaimed, bending down and scooping them up. “Thanks, Chase. This’ll make perfect fire starters.”

Chase gave him a quizzical look. He couldn’t figure out why he would need wood shavings to start a fire. After all, whenever Chase had started a fire, he had always used only some extremely flammable liquid. That seemed to work well enough.

Bobby started to organize the shavings into a small teepee in the center of the fire pit. At that moment, Matt and Justin came back into camp, both of them carrying one tremendously long and thick log.

Bobby was surprised that both of them could carry the huge stick. “What did you guys do, cut down a tree?”

They dropped the stick just outside of the fire pit. “Something like that. Someone is going to need to cut that up, though,” Matt announced.

Mr. Longer, who was sitting at a distance at the picnic table, heard the conversation. “Chase, would you mind helping them cut that up?” he asked.

“Yes, I do mind.”

Mr. Longer wasn’t expecting this reply. “Uh…why?”

“I’m whittling. Ask Bobby, he’s not doing anything.”

Bobby simply turned and gave Mr. Longer a look that said ‘he’s hopeless’. “Sure, I’ll do it, Mr. Longer,” he said reluctantly. He dragged the log to the roped-off cutting area and proceeded to cut it to pieces.

While he was doing this, the rest of the troop came back, one at a time, each scout carrying a load of wood. They all dropped it off near the fire pit, while Mr. Longer, Billy, and Matt were slowly building the teepee of small sticks that would be lit to start the bonfire.

They had been doing this for a while when they heard a friendly voice call out from behind them, “Hello! I heard you were having a bonfire.” Mr. Longer stood up and turned around to find their camp counselor, Ben, standing by the picnic tables and holding a guitar in his left hand. “Do you mind if I join you all?”

Mr. Longer smiled jovially and went over to him. Shaking his hand, he said, “Sure! We’re glad that you could make it. We’re about to start the fire. Make yourself at home.”

Ben sat down on a downed log near the fire pit and watched the three people building the fire. Dusk was falling, as the sun dipped beneath the mountains that surrounded the lake. Shadows were creeping longer now, as Billy finally lit the fire. The scouts who had been elsewhere soon gathered around the growing flame. Some boys found small sticks and began whittling them into a point, for use in roasting the marshmallows.

For the most part, the camp was quiet as everyone stared at the crackling fire and thought their own thoughts. Only the wood burning broke the stillness, except for an occasional bird flying overhead or the breeze gently rustling the leaves of the trees. Soon it became so dark that Mr. Long lit a propane lantern and hung it from a nearby tree, to cast a bit more light on the campsite.

Finally Mike broke the silence. “Hey, Ben, do you know any songs on your guitar?”

Ben smiled. “Of course. What do you like, Bob Dylan? Beatles? Rolling Stones?”

“Boy, those are oldies. How about the Beatles? What do you know of them?”

Ben strummed his guitar and started into a rousing rendition of “Eight Days A Week”. Everyone was paying rapt attention to the incredibly good performance. When he had finished, there was a moment of almost reverential silence before the assembled scouts burst out into an enthusiastic applause.

“That was great, Ben,” Charlie commented.

“Do you know any ghost stories?” asked Matt.

Ben chuckled. “Do I know any ghost stories? Absolutely. Do you want to hear a great one?”

Mostly everyone nodded, except for Chase, who rolled his eyes. ‘This is kid stuff,’ he thought.

“Okay,” he began. “Here it is. You all know about Lord Baden-Powell, the founder of Boy Scouting? Well, according to legend, Lord Baden-Powell had a brother, George Baden, who was apparently very involved in Britain’s conquer of India, as he was a general in the British army. When George was in India, he was once captured by some barbaric Indians. According to legend, he was taken to a ceremony of the cult of Hare-Krishna, who intended to use him as a human sacrifice. Luckily, though, he escaped, but not before he stole an important and valuable golden necklace from the cult. Eventually, after the British subdued the Indian rebellion, George came to America. Here, the government discovered that he had the golden necklace, and they chased him all up and down the East coast to try to get it from him, believing that it had some secret power and was dangerous. They were about to catch him when it was rumored that he hid the necklace somewhere on this property, and he left a letter in another secret place telling the location of the necklace. As soon as he had hidden it, the cops caught him and shot him five times. Some people say that his ghost still wanders these properties, looking to claim his treasure, even though no one has ever found the golden necklace. Legend has it that this necklace promises great wealth and power to all who wear it around their necks.” Suddenly he looked up with a terrified expression on his face, and he gazed into the distance frightfully. “Look!” he exclaimed with horror in his voice, “There he is! The ghost of George Baden!”

The scouts all turned and saw a shadowy figure of a man walking slowly into the camp. Matt gave out a yip as he leapt to his feet and was about to run, but he was too afraid to do so. Even Chase’s heart was beating faster as the man came closer and closer.

In a moment, though, the lantern cast light on the man’s face. It was only Mr. McGillicuddy. Ben laughed when he saw how he had frightened all of the scouts.

“What’s all the commotion?” Mr. McGillicuddy asked, confused. “You folks look like I’m a mass murderer or something.”

Charlie murmured something about tuna fish with dolphins.

“Where were you, Mr. McGillicuddy?” Mike asked, still trying to calm down.

“I was just at the camp office, registering you all for merit badges. Why? Why do you all look so scared?”

“Ben just told us a slightly disconcerting story,” Chase replied quite nonchalantly.

“Slightly disconcerting, eh?” Ben asked, insulted. He picked up his guitar once more. “Do you all know ‘Stairway to Heaven’?”

As Ben started the song, Chase became bored so he wandered over to the picnic table, on which was sitting a gear box. ‘Hmm, this could be interesting…’ he thought as he opened the lid and began to rummage through it.

Mr. McGillicuddy sat down in Chase’s vacated seat. He kept an eye on Chase as he looked through the items in the box.

Chase, meanwhile, was finding all sorts of interesting things. Several propane cans, bits of rope, two saws and a hatchet, and pot lids, among other things, were scattered throughout the box. To Chase, however, there was something that he spotted in the bottom of the box which caught his eye. Pulling it out, he saw that it was a box of twelve dried fuel cells.

Chase waited until the song was finished to return to the fire. He drew close and began to poke at the large fire with a stick.

Mr. McGillicuddy had seen him with the box, although he didn’t know exactly what was in it. “Chase, don’t put anything in the fire, okay?”

Chase smiled a devilish smile. “This will only make the night more interesting,” he remarked, as he threw the entire box in the fire.

At once there was a tremendous explosion as the fuel cells hit the fire. The force was enough to knock Ben and Mr. McGillicuddy off of their seats and onto the ground. Everyone else ran away as soon as the tower of flame shot up into the night sky. Luckily no one was severely burned, but the flames continued to burn quite high as the fuel was consumed.

All of the scouts gathered quickly underneath of the tarpaulin, which was a safe distance from the fire pit. Mr. Longer, Mr. McGillicuddy, and Ben tried to throw water on the fire to calm the flames, but to no avail.

“Chase, you could have killed us!” Bobby shouted angrily to him as they stood beneath the tarp.

Chase looked blankly at him, and said nothing, which only enraged Bobby the more.

No one else said anything to him, but everyone gave him cold stares. His plan for making the night more interesting had backfired, because everyone now hated him. But, he had to admit, the night was finally getting interesting.

Finally, after about five minutes of this, the fuel cells were totally consumed, and the fire returned to its normal size. Everyone returned to their seats around the fire, but Chase stayed near the picnic tables, and Mr. Longer came over to talk to him.

“Sit down, Chase,” he said quietly.

Chase knew better than to disobey. He sat.

Mr. Longer looked at him, trying hard to calm himself down. He was outraged at the massive stupidity that some people could display. “Why did you do that?”

Chase shrugged. “I thought it would be fun.”

“Was it?”

“Actually, yes it was sort of enjoyable…” His voice trailed off as Mr. Longer glared at him.

Mr. Longer sighed. “I hate to say this, because usually I’m a nice guy, if I do say so myself, but what kind of sick sense of humor do you have that you find this enjoyable?”

Chase thought about that. “It must be a pretty sick sense of humor. But, I didn’t want to hurt anyone. I was just trying to make things interesting.”

Mr. Longer walked over to him and stood there, towering over the sitting boy. In a menacing voice, he said very slowly, “I have nothing more to say, except that you’d better shape up. You’ve been acting like a kid with a bad attitude ever since we got here, and if this continues, you will be in major trouble.” With that, he turned abruptly and walked back to the campfire, leaving Chase to sit and ponder his behavior.

That evening, Chase went to bed early. As he lay there in his sleeping bag, in the pitch blackness of the tent, he thought.

‘It isn’t that I’m cruel,’ he thought. ‘I’m not mean. I don’t do these things on purpose. Like the fuel in the fire, I was just trying to have a little fun. I didn’t harm anyone. Why did everyone get so uptight about it? That’s part of who I am - I just like to have a good time. What can I say? I’m a product of my circumstances.’

He mused upon the events of the past day, how many times he had been insulted and ridiculed by the scouts in the troop. ‘It isn’t fair,’ he thought sadly. ‘How come no one likes me?’ Somehow, he couldn’t see the fact that it was his behavior that needed to be changed before he would be accepted by the troop.

Still, even as he thought these thoughts, he knew deep down inside that he was the cause of his own unhappiness. But, as often happens with people who are blinded by sin, they cannot see the way to change themselves.

The noise outside was dying down, and Chase could hear Mr. Longer’s voice ring out, “Time for bed, boys!” The lantern was turned off outside and the campsite grew quiet.

In a minute, Mike came through the flaps of the tent. “That was a great campfire,” he said to himself under his breath.

“Was it?” Chase asked out loud.

Mike jumped a little, surprised that he was still awake. “Yeah, it was. But you have to like corny guitar music to enjoy it. Luckily for me, I love the Beatles.” He threw off his shirt and lay down on his sleeping bag. It was a hot night, so he didn’t pull the covers over himself, but simply lay there, closing his eyes.

“I don’t really like the Beatles,” Chase commented quietly. “But what did you think of the explosion I made?”

“Do you want my honest opinion?”

“Yeah.”

Mike chuckled. “I thought it would have been really cool to do that if you gave us some warning, but what you did was just plain dangerous. Someone could have gotten seriously hurt.”

“Yeah, I know. I don’t want to hurt anyone, I just want to have fun, you know?”

“Look, Chase, I know you may not believe this, but your kind of fun is not normal. It’s…uh…different. It’s just as much fun to enjoy normal things, like normal bonfires and music and marshmallows and stuff like that. So is that why you vandalized the Brown’s barn?”

“Hey, I was bored that day. Give me a break.”

“All I’m saying is that one day your type of fun is going to get you in deep trouble, and it might even kill you. Who knows.”

The two of them were silent for a while, each thinking their own thoughts. The only sound that they heard was the singing of the crickets in the tall grass nearby.

“Mike?” Chase asked, even more quiet than before. “Do you want to know why I was arrested?”

Mike could tell that this was a sensitive spot for Chase. “Yes, but only if you want to tell me.”

Mike could hear Chase take a deep breath, as if he were gathering up his strength for the story. “Here goes. When I was little my parents died. I don’t even remember them very well at all. They died in a car crash, or that’s what they tell me. But anyway, I was sent to live with my brother, who was much older than I was. See, the thing that they didn’t know was that my brother, Chad, was a drug dealer.

“Life with Chad was awful. Every night he’d come home with a different hooker, and he was constantly high or drunk or both. He beat me all the time. He forced me to make drug runs for him. Nothing big, just pot and occasionally a little bit of ecstasy or mushrooms, you know? When I didn’t come back on time, or if he even suspected that the cops were after him, he whipped me with his belt until I bled. It was awful.

“I was only nine years old when I had my first joint. I liked it; it was the only pleasure that I ever felt back then. I used to smoke it all day, every day. I’d steal it from my brother, or I’d steal things from stores to make money so I could buy some pot. Pot offered me an escape from reality, which was what I desperately needed.

“We lived in Baltimore all during this time. One day as I was making a drug run, I accidentally sold the drugs to an undercover cop, and she arrested me immediately. That was the worst time. My brother abandoned me; he moved out of his apartment so that I didn’t know where he lived. He was afraid of me ratting on him, you know? The trial was terrifying. I didn’t know anyone there; they shuffled me from one detention center to the next. I don’t think I even said anything in my defense; I was too afraid. I didn’t really know what was going on. I was never so alone.

“But anyway, to make a long story short, I was found guilty of drug trafficking, possession of illegal substances, and a bunch of other stuff, and I was sentenced to six years in the Hagerstown Juvenile Detention Center, but I got out early on parole. So that’s where I’ve spent my last four and a half years.”

There was a pause as Mike tried to digest this information. Mike could almost hear the anguish in his voice as he spoke about his past life. All he could say in reply was a quiet, “I’m sorry.”

Chase tried to shrug it off. “It’s all right. I’m over it now.”

“Was life in the detention center bad?”

“It wasn’t much different, although I had friends there - if you could call them friends. It was a Lord of the Flies-type friendship; if I didn’t beat them up, I was their friend. Since I was the runt of the litter, at first anyway, I got beaten up a lot. But as I got older and bigger things started to change. It was almost like a family in there. After all, it was all I ever knew, really. It was certainly better than life with Chad, anyway.”

“You really don’t seem like the type of person who ends up in prison. You sound very educated, and…”

“Is that surprising?” Chase interrupted bitterly. “Why is it that everyone sees me as some dumb criminal? I may not have gotten good grades in school, but I’m not stupid.”

It was obvious that he had insulted him. “I’m sorry, Chase,” Mike said sincerely. “I didn’t mean to imply that…”

“You sound educated, as well. Were you some super-genius in school?”

“Well, actually I was home-schooled.”

This caused Chase’s eyebrows to raise in curiosity. “Really? What’s that like?”

“Homeschooling? Well, it’s okay. It’s lonely sometimes, since I didn’t see my friends too often. And the work was much more difficult than I would have had it in public school. But it also had some good aspects, too. For example, I did get to sleep in every day, and I could take days off whenever I wanted, and I usually finished my schoolwork much sooner than they did in public school.”

“Those sound like very superficial reasons to like home-schooling,” Chase observed innocently.

“Well, they are. The main reason I was home-schooled was because of the terrible moral condition of the public schools. I mean, I heard that on the last day of school in seventh grade, they handed out condoms to all of the guys.”

“Why is that so wrong?”

“Well, I…uh…I mean…well,…it just is. Kids shouldn’t be fornicating. And contraception is wrong, anyway.”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why are condoms and having sex wrong?”

Mike tried his best to come up with a good explanation. “Well, you see, it’s against Church teaching to use contraception. And sex outside of marriage is expressly forbidden by the Bible.”

Chase mused on this quietly. “So what Church told you not to do this stuff? And why do you listen to some old people telling you what to do?” This was more than a question; it was an accusation.

Mike realized this and tried to pray to the Holy Spirit. “The Catholic Church tells me what to do. And I follow them because it’s the surest way to happiness.”

“What!” Chase said incredulously. “That’s ridiculous. Old people’s churches don’t want us to have any fun.”

“No, that’s not true at all. You see, the Church knows that the best way to happiness is to be good and to follow Christ. They know this from experience. Let me ask you a question: were you happy when you were smoking marijuana?”

“Yeah. That was the only bit of happiness in my whole life at that time.”

“I didn’t ask you about pleasure. I’ll bet that smoking marijuana is pleasurable. But did it give you a deep and abiding joy, a happiness that stays with you even when the high wears off?”

Chase thought about this for a while. “No, I suppose not.”

“That’s exactly my point. When we follow Christ and His Church, He gives us that happiness that we’ve been searching for. I can attest to it; Our Lord has transformed my life, and given me a peace that dwells within me.” He took a breath, amazed that those words had just come from himself. ‘Wow, that’s all the Holy Spirit,’ he thought gratefully.

“That’s crazy,” Chase commented, half skeptical and half enamored with the thought of true happiness.

“Call it what you want, but it’s the truth. Well, it’s getting late. We’d better get to sleep. Good night.”

~3~

Seven o’clock in the morning came very early. The campers were awakened to the sounds of Bobby, playing his bugle in the middle of the camp. Chase woke up and opened his eyes but remained lying down, wishing for more sleep.

All of a sudden, he heard a metallic sound outside the tent.

“Ouch, what was that for?” he heard Bobby exclaim.

“Dude, it’s seven o’clock in the morning. Shut up,” Billy responded from his tent.

Slowly but surely, the scouts rose from their beds and came out of their tents, looking bleary-eyed. Chase headed down to the water spigot to splash some water on his face, in order to wake himself up.

Upon arriving there, he saw that Mr. Longer was at one of the water fountains, shaving. “Good morning, Chase!” he said a bit too cheerily for seven o’clock in the morning.

Chase murmured something inaudibly in lieu of a greeting.

“How was your first night at Camp Heritage?”

Chase turned on the water from the spigot and splashed some on his face. Thinking back to last night’s conversation, he replied, “It was okay. At least there were not too many bugs.”

Mr. Longer nodded knowingly. “They say that if there are no bugs at night, a storm is coming.”

Chase looked up, and could see a bright blue sky through the trees. “Well, even bugs make mistakes,” he replied, and then walked away to join the other campers.

Once Mr. Longer was done shaving, the troop departed to the dining hall for breakfast. This morning, the dining hall crew was serving pancakes and eggs, with toast and jelly, and milk or watered-down orange juice on the side.

In a short while everyone sat down and the food was brought out to them. Chase simply looked down at the platter of pancakes as it was passed to him, still tired from last night’s adventure.

“Not hungry, Chase?” Mr. McGillicuddy asked as he passed the platter onward to Matt, who was looking ravenously at the pancakes.

“Not really,” he replied, yawning widely. “I could use a lot more sleep.”

Mr. McGillicuddy nodded knowingly. “Your merit badges will wake you up. Which ones are you taking?”

Chase shrugged. No one had told him which merit badges he would be taking.

Mr. McGillicuddy reached into the pocket of his jeans. “I have the schedule right here,” he said, struggling to get the piece of paper out of his pocket. “Boy, I must have gotten fat,” he said as he tugged at the paper. Finally, it came free and he unfolded it. Reading from it, he announced, “Here it is. Chase Woodcock, Swimming merit badge first, then Basketry, then Environmental Science, and finally Pioneering Merit Badge.” He folded up the paper and sat it on his lap. To Chase he said, “Those are some good merit badges. You’ll have fun.”

Chase yawned once more and reached for an apple that was sitting in a fruit basket in the middle of the table.

Across from him, Charlie was making a strange face, half surprise and half disgust.

Chase immediately suspected that he was making the face at him. “What?” he said, suspiciously.

Charlie chewed deliberately for a moment, and then swallowed his mouthful with great effort. “This pancake syrup tastes like Mountain Dew.”

Matt, who was sitting next to Charlie, took his spoon and scooped up some of the syrup that was lying in a puddle on his plate. Tasting it, he commented, “You’re right. This does taste like Mountain Dew.”

Billy, sitting across from Matt, shook his head at the absurdity of these scouts. “This isn’t Mountain Dew. It’s pancake syrup,” he said matter-of-factly.

“I didn’t say it was Mountain Dew, I said it tasted like Mountain Dew,” Matt insisted in his mouse-like voice.

Chase grabbed the syrup bottle, which was sitting in the center of the table. He unscrewed the top and poured a small amount onto his spoon. Placing the lid back on the bottle, but not screwing it in, he shoveled the spoonful into his mouth. Immediately he was disturbed by the taste. “I don’t know what this stuff is, but it doesn’t taste anything like pancake syrup. Yuck.”

Billy bit into his bacon, and grabbed the bottle to look at its contents. “This is pancake syrup made with two percent real Vermont maple syrup, with other natural ingredients. I don’t know what you guys are talking about.”

“Taste it and see,” Charlie suggested.

“All right, I will.” Billy leaned his head back and tilted the bottle so that the syrup would pour into his mouth. All of a sudden, however, the top of the bottle popped off (as it had not been screwed on) and the syrup gushed all over Billy, creating a sticky mess. He quickly righted the bottle and looked up, spitting out a whole mouthful of the sweet syrup.

The entire table erupted in laughter. Even Mr. McGillicuddy was rather amused that the leader of the troop would find himself covered in pancake syrup. Trying in vain to hold in his laughter, he remarked, “Billy, did you know that you have pancake syrup all over you?”

Billy looked around fiercely. Finally he stood up, which was difficult to do because all of his clothes were sticking to the seat. He stared directly at Charlie and said, with a perfectly straight face, “You’re right. It does taste like Mountain Dew.” Then he left the cafeteria to clean up, leaving the rest of the table howling with laughter.

Later that morning, Chase found himself at the waterfront for Swimming Merit Badge, along with Smiley and about ten other scouts whom he didn’t know, all from various other troops at the camp. It was fairly chilly at this time in the morning, and Chase sat on the picnic bench with the towel wrapped around him, trying to get warm.

At exactly nine o’clock, Andy came down the trail, and he quickly entered the waterfront area. He stood before the picnic table and gave a hefty blow on his whistle. All of the scouts, who were scattered about the waterfront beach area, quickly gathered around the table.

‘Wow, this guy looks like a drill sergeant,’ Chase thought, impressed.

Andy gazed at the scouts with a stern look on his face before beginning his speech. “Good morning, gentlemen,” he said brusquely. “You all know me from yesterday’s swim test, so I won’t bother introducing myself. I assume you’re all in Swimming Merit Badge?”

Everyone nodded.

“All right then. My job is to take you sissies and turn you into world-class swimmers. To do that, I’ll need your full participation. That means no slacking off, no fooling around, and above all, you must listen to me and obey me when I give you orders. Is that understood?”

The scouts were too shocked at his brusque demeanor to do anything but nod.

“Good. I know that some of you need more help with swimming than others.” He looked directly at Chase when he said this, but he then looked away. “Before we get into the water, however, you need to learn the first aid that might be used while swimming. Do we have any volunteers to be the first victim?”

No one moved.

“What, are you all sissies or something? I thought I signed up to work at Boy Scout camp, not Girl Scout camp!”

Matt whispered to Chase, “This guy is insane!” Chase nodded in agreement.

Unfortunately Andy heard him. “What was that, shrimp? Do you have something to tell me?”

Matt shrunk back, silent.

Chase took up his defense. “Hey, lay off of him.”

Andy turned to face Chase, who was giving him almost as evil a glare as Andy gave everyone. “Do you have a problem with what I do?”

Chase just nodded his head, not believing his ears. “Yeah, I’ve got a problem. You’re a communist, and you’re also psychotic.”

“Anything else you want to say to me before you die?”

Chase thought for a moment. “Yeah, there is. You’re fat and you’re ugly and no one likes you.”

Andy stepped back, almost taken by surprise that anyone would dare talk back to the communist dictator. Meanwhile, Chase smiled to himself and mumbled, “I knew that would come in handy someday.”

“Okay, then,” Andy said, regaining his composure, “How about you are our first victim?”

Chase shrugged nonchalantly. “Sure. What do I have to do?”

Andy smiled an evil smile. “We’ll be practicing what to do for hypothermia. So I want you to go out to the middle of the lake and tread water, until you’re so cold that your body temperature dips below sixty degrees, and you turn blue, and you pass out. Then we’ll come and rescue you.”

Chase chuckled and walked out onto the dock. “Just remember,” he called back, “Amputation is not an option.”

Matt laughed, as he was the only one to understand the joke. Andy glared at him, and he stopped laughing.

“Okay, for all the rest of you sissies, follow me out to the dock. I’ll show you how first aid is really done.” He turned around and started walking to the dock, followed by the scouts.

Immediately they heard a huge splash, as Chase hit the water, followed by a shriek. “Wow, that’s cold water!” he exclaimed.

When the whole class got out to the edge of the dock, Andy was surprised to see that Chase was floating face-down in the water, motionless. Immediately, all sorts of thoughts ran through the counselor’s head. ‘Oh, gosh, the camp is going to have my head if this kid drowns,’ he thought. ‘But wait, it’s impossible to drown that fast. He must be faking it.’ He quickly grabbed an eight-foot-long reach pole that was lying on the dock, and he poked Chase with the end of it. He bobbed up and down in the water but didn’t move.

A short, redheaded kid asked him, “Is he dead?”

“Uh, I don’t think so,” Andy replied, unsure. He tried to drag Chase closer to the dock using the reach pole, but to no avail.

By this time, Andy was getting quite worried. It had been almost half a minute since Chase had jumped in, and he still hadn’t moved.

“Do you think you ought to jump in and save him?” Matt asked innocently.

Andy didn’t answer. He was too busy thinking of another way to save him. He lay down on the dock and extended his hand to the floating body, but Chase was just out of reach.

In desperation he stood up once more and ran his hands through his hair. Finally he took his shirt off and jumped into the water to rescue him.

Chase meanwhile, upon hearing the splash next to him, surfaced and took a deep breath. He swam the short distance to the dock, where he climbed up and sat on the edge, watching Andy as he surfaced.

At first, Andy didn’t know where Chase had gone. He looked around frantically while treading water. Soon, though, he became aware that all of the scouts on the dock were laughing at him. He glared at them and soon spotted Chase, soaking wet but laughing jovially on the dock.

Andy swam over to the dock and pulled himself up. He stood up, huffing and puffing, and scowled at Chase. In an icy cold voice he growled, “Why did you do that?”

Chase stopped laughing long enough to reply. “I don’t know, I thought it would be funny. And it was.” He resumed laughing.

Andy stood and fumed for a moment before the scouts finally quieted down. “I should have let you drown,” he said under his breath. To Chase he said, “Your scoutmaster is going to hear about this. What is your name, son?”

Chase thought quickly. “Umm, my name is Mike…uh…Mike Connor. I’m in Troop 1024.”

“Okay, Mike. I want you to go sit at the picnic bench until it’s time to leave. And then you will drop and give me fifty.”

Chase got up and started to walk back down the dock. “Okay, but I don’t have any money on me…”

“Not fifty dollars!” Andy called after him, “Fifty pushups!” He shook his head in frustration. “Sheesh, some people. Well, anyway, now that the rest of you are already out here, do you all know how to treat someone with hypothermia?”

Later that day, the entire troop was heading down the path to go to lunch, when Bobby pulled Chase aside.

“Hey, Chase, I found them,” he said excitedly, but in a low voice.

Chase’s eyebrows rose. “Found what?”

“The nice restrooms.”

It took a moment, but Chase soon realized what he was talking about, and a smile grew across his face. “Really? That’s great. Can you show me where they are?”

Bobby nodded slyly. He took off towards the dining hall, following the rest of the troop. Instead of going in, however, he went around the dining hall, with Chase following right behind him.

“See that building?” Bobby said, pointing to a small wooden cabin in the distance.

“Yeah,” Chase replied, as they walked through the woods to get there.

“That’s the camp office. The bathrooms are on the other side of that building.”

All of a sudden, Bobby stopped in his tracks. Perking up his ears, he held up a hand to signal that Chase should be quiet.

“I don’t hear anything,” Chase whispered, confused.

“Good,” Bobby replied, moving cautiously forward. “No scouts are allowed to use these bathrooms, so we need to make sure that no adult leaders catch us in there.” They went up three cement stairs to the wrap-around porch. Quietly, almost reverently, they went around to the side of the building, on which were located two doors. “This one is the guys restroom,” Bobby commented, as he opened the door and went in. Chase followed.

It was incredibly nice in the bathroom, as far as bathrooms go. It was air conditioned in there, which was a welcome change from the oppressive heat and humidity of the outdoors. There were blue tiles on the floor, and everything was immaculately clean.

In a minute, Chase stepped up to the sink to wash his hands. He noticed that someone stepped out of the stall behind him, and he immediately assumed that it was Bobby.

“You’re right, Bobby,” Chase said, reaching for a paper towel to dry his hands. “These are really nice bathrooms. Are you ready to go to lunch?” He turned around, and to his surprise, it wasn’t Bobby that was standing there. Instead, it was Mike Connor.

Chase was taken by surprise. “Mike! What are you doing here?”

Mike smiled. “I should ask you the same question. I thought I was the only one who knew about these restrooms.”

“Uh, not quite. Boy, this has been a weird day, and it’s not even noon yet. Come on, let’s go to lunch.”

After a reproachable lunch of hot dogs and odd-flavored mustard (some scouts said it tasted like cough syrup, but Billy declined to try it), the troop headed back to their campsite for an hour of relaxation before merit badge sessions began again. Some scouts opted to play cards, and a game of football was going on as well.

Mike had just come out of his tent when Mr. Longer spotted him. “Mike, can you come here for a minute?” he asked.

Mike quickly obeyed and came over to the picnic table, at which Mr. Longer was reclining. “Yes?”

“Mike, have a seat.” There was something in his voice that made Mike a bit nervous, so he sat immediately.

“Mike, I must say that I’m disappointed in you.”

Mike was completely and utterly confused as to what he was talking about. “Huh?” was all he could say.

“I heard a terrible report about you from Andy, the waterfront instructor. Something about you intentionally playing dead in the water? I can’t believe that you would do such a thing.”

“But…”

“Now, I expect you to go back to Andy and apologize to him for your behavior in Swimming Merit Badge this morning. Those kinds of actions are unbecoming of any scout in this troop.”

“But, Mr. Longer…”

“No buts, Mike. I’ve always expected more from you. This kind of behavior surprises me. He said that you were insulting him, too, calling him fat and ugly, and…what was the last one…”

“No one likes him?”

“Yes, that’s it.”

Mike smiled. “The Triple Crown of insults.”

“This is no laughing matter. Mike, I don’t want our troop to get a bad reputation here. If you want to earn these merit badges, I expect you to be respectful to your instructors, even if they are psychotic communists.”

Mike laughed. “How’d you know about that?”

Mr. Longer allowed himself to smile. “Chase told me all about him. But seriously, I do expect you to apologize to him, and to never do anything like that again.”

“But…”

“Mike, I’m warning you. This type of behavior will not be tolerated in this troop!”

“Mr. Longer!” Mike exclaimed, finally standing up and losing his patience. “I’m not in Swimming Merit Badge! I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Mr. Longer stared blankly at him, trying to understand what he just said. “You’re not in Swimming Merit Badge?” he repeated.

Mike shook his head. “Of course not. I earned that merit badge a long time ago.”

Mr. Longer was once again silent, trying to ponder this great revelation. “Oh. Okay. But then who did play dead in the water and insult the counselor?”

Mike shrugged. “How am I supposed to know?”

“But he said it was a fellow by the name of Mike Connor, from Troop 1024. Hmm, this makes me suspicious.”

“Well, who from our troop is taking Swimming Merit Badge at nine o’clock in the morning?”

Mr. Longer fished a piece of paper out of his pocket. Unfolding it, he quickly ran his finger down until he found those scouts in Swimming MB at 9 am. Suddenly, he folded up the paper and looked up to Mike. “The only two are Chase Woodcock and Matt Anconquista.”

Mike laughed. “I should have known. There’s only one person in this troop that would do something like that.”

Later that afternoon, Mike was late for Environmental Science Merit Badge. He ran down the path, trying to get to the nature lodge as fast as he could, but he still arrived about five minutes too late. He bounded up the stairs and opened the door quietly, as not to disturb the merit badge classes already going on inside. He quickly found his class in a small room off to the side of the lodge. Going inside, he quietly sat down in the back, on the ground, as everyone else was sitting on the ground as well.

Cletus, who was teaching the merit badge, stopped mid-sentence when Mike walked in. After he had sat down, Cletus said, “What’s your name?”

“I’m Mike Connor,” he called out from the back of the room.

Cletus made a mark on his clipboard. “Okay, good. Glad you’re here. Now as I was saying about the air quality of Midwestern Pennsylvania…”

The boy in front of Mike turned around, and Mike saw that it was Chase. Chase gave him a nod as way of a greeting, but Mike drew closer and whispered to him, “Why did you get me in trouble with Mr. Longer?”

Chase turned back around and pretended to listen to Cletus’ lecture.

Mike whacked him, and he turned around once more. “Chase, why did you get me in trouble with Mr. Longer?”

Chase shrugged, and then turned around once more.

“That’s not a good reason,” Mike hissed.

Chase turned around once more. “Look, I didn’t feel like taking any crap from some psychotic counselor, okay? I didn’t mean to get you in trouble. It just happened that way.”

Billy, who was sitting adjacent to Chase, turned around and said in a terse whisper, “Be quiet!” He then turned around and resumed taking notes on the lecture in his notebook. What a studious fellow.

“Chase,” Mike said in an even lower voice, “I hope you’re not getting into trouble with all of your counselors.”

“No, not all of them. Just all of the weird ones.” He paused for a second, and then added, “Which is all of them.”

“Exactly. Look, we’ll talk about this later,” Mike concluded.

Unfortunately, Cletus caught sight of them. “WHAT IS GOING ON BACK THERE?” he roared.

The room was deathly silent. Everyone was amazed that such a little man could roar so loudly.

“Mr. Connor, Mr. Woodcock, is there something you’d like to discuss with the rest of us?” Cletus said, quite loudly and obnoxiously. His face was as red as a ripe tomato.

Chase got an evil gleam in his eyes. “Actually, there is,” he said just as loudly. “We were just discussing…”

Mike elbowed him in the ribs quite hard.

“Why the sky is blue. Can you answer that question, Mr. Cletus?” Chase asked.

Cletus’ demeanor changed drastically. His face brightened, as if he had just asked the best question in the world. “I would be delighted to!” he replied in a very high and happy voice. “That’s my favorite topic. The sky is blue because the light rays from the sun, being made of all different colors…”

Cletus continued to speak, but Mike was no longer listening. He started to doze off, seeing how boring this class was.

Billy turned around. Having heard the whole conversation, he commented, “Chase, nice save.”

Chase just smiled proudly.

The minutes continued to drag on, and the boredom only increased. Soon, Mike thought that he was going to be the first person ever to actually die of boredom, right there in the nature lodge. He wondered what the first aid would be if someone died of boredom. Maybe to get them into a room with a television quickly. That might revive them, you never know. It’s possible.

It was also extremely hot in that room. The four windows that lined the walls seemed to be boarded shut, and the sunshine poured in, heating the room to near-boiling temperatures. Mike was certain that if he didn’t die of boredom, he would suffocate from the heat and stagnant air.

“…and so, because only the blue light is refracted from the sun into our eyes, we perceive the sky as blue. Does that answer your question?” Cletus finally concluded, looking in Chase’s direction.

Chase, unfortunately, was snoring. Mike elbowed him in the ribs once more, and he looked up, startled. “Huh? What? Um, yeah, I guess so.”

Cletus smiled brightly at him, obviously proud that such an intelligent student would ask a brilliant question like that. He had not noticed that the vast majority of the people in the room had fallen asleep. Either that or they all had heatstroke.

“Okay, then, we’ll continue with our lesson. Moving on to the soil of Midwestern Pennsylvania, we find that in the heavily forested areas such as here at Camp Heritage, the ground is full of thick topsoil. It is this kind of soil which is very good for vegetation, as there are very few large rocks in the topsoil. Especially in the forest, one can find a layer of topsoil that is usually one to two feet thick, with no rocks whatsoever until you dig deeper. This kind of soil is comprised mainly of humus…”

Cletus continued to drone on and on. Mike looked at his watch. Only twenty minutes had passed out of the hour-long class!

Mike took a deep breath and sighed. ‘Oh well, I can offer this up,’ he thought. ‘After this class, there will be no souls left in Purgatory.’

After Environmental Science Merit Badge, Chase went over to the Scoutcraft area for his final merit badge of the day, Pioneering. The Scoutcraft area was located on the other side of the lake, in a richly forested area of the camp. Several wooden structures such as a small bridge and a small tower were located in the area. A tall, canvas teepee stood off to the left of the area, and a pavilion with three picnic tables was located to the right of the teepee.

Chase stood at the entrance of the Scoutcraft area, wondering where to go. Finally one of the tan-shirted staff members caught sight of him, and noticing how lost he looked, went over to him.

“Hello,” the fellow said. “Looking for something?”

“Yeah,” Chase replied. “Where is Pioneering Merit Badge?”

The young man pointed to the teepee. “You can find it in there.”

Chase walked towards it. “Thanks,” he said to the young man, who had already returned to the pavilion, where he was doing paperwork.

The teepee was tall, tan colored, and covered in Indian symbols. Chase drew back the leather flap covering the opening, and he walked inside.

He felt like he had stepped into a cloud. Inside the teepee, heavy smoke hung in the air, and he couldn’t see anything through the gray haze, which smelled remotely like flowers and incense. Immediately Chase started coughing. He stuck his head back out the door to grab a breath of fresh air, and then he went back in.

“Is anyone in here?” he said aloud, since he could see nothing because of the fog.

He thought he heard a tinkling of bells before a very soft and melancholic voice called out, “Yes, Grasshopper, we are here. Welcome to Pioneering Merit Badge.”

Chase buried his nose in his shirt and inhaled, trying to avoid breathing in the smoke. “What’s with the smoke? Are you sure this is okay with the fire codes and all that?”

The same voice returned, soft and silky. “You must learn not to worry, Grasshopper. Come, have a seat near me. I will teach you the ways of pioneering.”

Chase slowly took a step forward, trying to be careful not to step on anyone or anything that might be lying beneath his feet. He had gone only three steps when the voice called out from within the haze, “You may sit there.” Somehow, this voice seemed familiar to Chase.

Chase sat on the ground, cross legged. All of a sudden, he recognized who the voice belonged to. “Ben!” he exclaimed. “Is that you?”

There was a moment of silence before Ben replied. “Yes, my son. It is I.”

Chase looked around, surprised at where he was, although he still couldn’t see anything. “So what does this have to do with pioneering?”

He could hear Ben breathing rhythmically in front of him. He took a minute before responding, “We must enter in to the Zen of Pioneering. Simply clear your mind of all worldly thoughts, and meditate on our oneness with the rope and the wood and pioneering.”

Chase closed his eyes and actually started emptying his thoughts before he realized what he was doing. “This is bogus! Dude, this camp has some really whacked-out counselors, but you’re the worst. This is insane; I’m leaving.” With that, he stood up and started to walk to the door.

All of a sudden, though, Ben called out behind him in his normal voice. “Don’t go. If you do, you cannot return. Please, this is perfectly normal. Trust me.”

Chase turned around and gave it some thought. Finally, without a word, he returned to his place and sat down, figuring, ‘What do I have to lose?’ He then began to meditate on the oneness of wood.

As soon as he started, however, Ben called out, “All right, fellows, that’s enough for today. Let’s get to pioneering.” Chase heard the noise of bodies rustling around him, and he stood up. Everyone exited the tent (there had been ten other people in there with him and Ben).

“Follow me,” Ben said as he emerged. The scouts assembled went over to some logs, to practice their lashings.

‘This day keeps getting weirder all the time,’ Chase thought with amusement, as he followed Ben to practice his lashings.

After Pioneering Merit Badge, Chase was hiking back to the campsite when he met up with Clayton, who was returning from Citizenship in the World Merit Badge.

“Hi, Chase,” Clayton greeted, coming up alongside him. “How are you?”

“I’m about to lose my mind,” he replied quite dryly.

Clayton laughed. “Why is that?”

“The counselors here are insane. It’s just been a very, very weird day, trust me.”

“I know what you mean,” Clayton responded. “Did you have Andy for Swimming Merit Badge?”

Chase nodded.

“He can be a bit odd. But deep down, he’s a good guy. Trust me. What else was weird?”

“Well, there was Pioneering Merit Badge…”

Clayton interrupted with a laugh. “You must have had Ben as your counselor! He’s funny, isn’t he?”

Chase raised an eyebrow. “That wasn’t the word that I would use to describe him, but I suppose he’s okay.”

Right then, they both were approaching the camp store, which was off to the left of the trail. “Hey, I’m going to stop by the camp store. Want to come?” Clayton asked.

Chase shrugged. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”

Both boys walked off the trail and up the small hill, which led to the camp store. They entered the building and began to look around.

Chase was impressed by what he saw in the store. Just about any kind of scouting paraphernalia could be purchased in the shop. There were seventeen different kind of Swiss Army knives, a multitude of different scout patches, and several neckerchiefs. There were camp shirts for sale, along with belt buckles, and materials for making baskets, leather pouches, model rockets, and just about anything that one could imagine. There was a refrigerator stocked with all sorts of beverages for cooling one’s thirst during these hot days of July, and there was a wall totally covered with shelves full of snacks and candy.

Chase looked longingly at the wall of candy. He was hungry, mainly because the food in the dining hall was mostly inedible. Unfortunately, though, he had no money with him.

Clayton was looking over the rack of merit badge booklets. He finally found the one for Citizenship in the World. Picking it up, he said, “Aha! Here it is. You getting anything, Chase?”

Chase was still staring at the wall of candy. “I don’t know,” he replied. “I’ll be with you in a minute.”

Clayton went to the cashier, but kept his eye on Chase.

Chase looked around, and saw that the cashier was busy ringing up Clayton’s purchase. There was no one else in the store, so he waited until Clayton wasn’t looking, and he expertly picked up a Snickers Bar and slipped it into his pants pocket.

“You ready to go, Chase?” Clayton called, his purchase completed.

Chase turned around and nodded. Clayton started to walk towards the door, and so did Chase. But before Clayton went out, he whispered to Chase, “Put it back.”

Chase looked at him. “What are you talking about?”

Clayton gave him a look of exasperation. “You know what I’m talking about.”

“No, I don’t.” He started to walk out the door.

Clayton grabbed his shirt and pulled him back. In an annoyed whisper, he said, “Look, I’m not going to stick my hand down your pants pocket. Just put it back.”

Chase knew that he’d been discovered. Belligerently, he pulled out the Snickers Bar and returned it to the shelf, and then walked past Clayton and out the door.

Clayton stood there for a moment, before himself walking out the door. He had not gotten more than a step outside before he heard the clerk call to him, “Hey! Hold on a minute there!” Clayton rolled his eyes but returned to the shop.

“I saw your friend stealing that candy bar,” the clerk said accusingly.

Clayton sighed, but kept his patience. “No, he didn’t just steal that candy bar. He was about to steal it, but he put it back.”

The clerk looked skeptically at him, and shook his head. “I don’t believe you, but I don’t have any proof. Go ahead, you can leave.”

Clayton left the shop, and sighed for the hopeless Chase Woodcock.

~ 4 ~

It was becoming late afternoon as Mike Connor walked out into the woods, away from the campsite. It was nice and quiet out there; peaceful and serene. Only the slight rustling of the leaves on the trees and the occasional chirping of birds disturbed the silence. To Mike this was a tranquil sight: being surrounded by trees and brush, with the lake nearby and a stream trickling down the hill right in front of him. This was a place of God’s presence.

Mike found a downed tree and sat on it. Closing his eyes, he breathed deeply to inspire peace in his soul. The moist earth beneath him and the flora surrounding him gave off a beautifully clean smell, the smell that one notices after a fresh summer rain. He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out an old set of white rosary beads, well worn through years and years of daily use.

Putting all temptations and distractions aside, Mike shut his mind off to everything except for the task at hand. Slowly and deliberately he signed himself with the sign of the cross, and he began.

“I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth…”

And so began his Rosary, the same prayer he had prayed daily for as long as he could remember. His soul reached out to the ever-living God as he meditated on the beautiful mysteries of the Rosary. He pondered the incredible trust that Mary had as she was told that she would become the mother of her God. How could she have imagined the events of salvation history that would take place because of her simple ‘yes’? Her answer was one of complete reliance on the immense protection of God. Surely in her mind, she could not fathom that her simple word of ‘yes’ would change the entire world into a vicious, yet blessed battleground between good and evil, as God Himself was not such a distant deity, but instead a Person with flesh and bone, laughter and tears, as we are. By her simple yes, the Creator of the universe enters one of His creation and becomes like one of us, ready to suffer and shed his every single drop of blood for us wretched creatures.

Mike was alerted out of his meditations by the sound of a stick snapping off to his right. He opened his eyes and looking in that direction, and spotted Joey, coming towards him.

When Joey caught sight of him, he stopped. “Oh, sorry,” he said. “I didn’t know you were out here.”

Mike stood up and smiled. “That’s all right. What are you doing out here in the middle of the forest?”

Joey held up the notebook and pen that he was carrying. “I was going to complete some of my nature observations for Environmental Science Merit Badge. What were you doing out here?”

Mike shrugged. “I was just saying the Rosary. You’re welcome to stay here and observe, if you want. I’ll just pray quietly.”

“No, that’s okay. I think we’ve probably scared off any wildlife around by our talking. I’ll go somewhere else.” He turned around and started to walk away, but he took only one step and turned back around. “You know, Mike, you’re the holiest person I know.”

Mike flushed, embarrassed by the comment, although it was said as a complement. “Sheesh, just because I say the Rosary, I’m the holiest person you know? Trust me, I’m not very holy at all. But I’m trying.”

“That’s what all saints say.”

“What do you mean?”

Joey walked a bit closer and leaned against a tall maple tree. “Everyone who’s really holy recognizes how bad they really are.” He paused and looked out into the forest. “You know, I mean, I consider myself a Catholic and all that, but I don’t pray that often. I don’t go to Mass more than once a week.”

“That doesn’t mean you’re a bad person.”

“I know. But I still really admire the fact that you can keep your faith with everything going on.”

“What do you mean? You haven’t lost the Faith.”

“No, but it’s hard to be a good Catholic in front of your friends. You’re not ashamed to show everyone that you love God.”

“I can imagine that it’s pretty hard to live a double life, being a Christian on Sunday, and completely forgetting about God for the rest of your week.” He said this not as a criticism, but only as an observation.

“You’ve got no idea. I mean, I do things just because my friends do it. You know, like cursing and stuff like that.”

Mike nodded sympathetically. “Yeah, I suppose that it takes a lot to do that. But in reality, all you need is to have your priorities in the right place. If you love God more than you love popularity, you’ll be able to stand up to your friends. Besides, if they’re really your friends, they’ll respect you for who you are, no matter what you do, but especially if you stand up for your principles.”

Joey nodded. “I suppose you’re right.”

“Try it, you’ll see.” There was silence for a while as each pondered their own thoughts.

Joey suddenly stood up straight and looked surprised. “Woah, that was a pretty deep conversation. I’d better go do my observations.” With that, he started to walk away. “I’ll see you later, Mike.”

“See ya,” Mike called after him. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes once more. With renewed vigor, he resumed his prayer. He now added Joey to his intentions for this Rosary, and this prayer was for him.

He moved on to the second joyful mystery, the visitation of Mary unto Elizabeth. Here he meditated upon Mary’s charity towards her cousin, even though Mary herself was with child. It was here that Mary was declared to be “blessed among women,” and indeed, she was, as she was the Mother of our Savior. Then came Mary’s most beautiful poem of humility, the Magnificat. Mike echoed those words in his mind as he meditated on this mystery; as he truly desired the words to come true: “My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord!” How he desired that his soul always proclaim the greatness of the Lord!

Meanwhile back at camp, Chase had just come back from the trading post. After he entered the campsite, he went directly to his tent and grabbed his backpack. In the darkness of the tent, he began to rummage through it. He was speaking to himself as he did so.

“Boy, has this been a weird day. I really need to relax.” He reached to the bottom of his pack and felt around, but he couldn’t find what he was looking for. “Oh, sheesh, where is it?” He unzipped the side pocket. “Aha! Exactly what I was looking for.” He pulled out a Ziplock bag full of long, round marijuana smokes. “Perfect. All I need to do is find a place to smoke now…” He grabbed the book of matches that was lying on his bed, and he put both a cigarette and the matches in his pocket. After securely hiding the Ziplock bag, he dashed outside and walked off into the woods.

Mike was just beginning the third joyful mystery, the birth of Jesus, when he heard someone walking through the woods behind him. He stopped mid-sentence and turned around silently, to see who it was. He was surprised to see Chase, walking carefully through the woods. A dark feeling came over Mike, and he called out to him, “Chase! What are you doing out here, in the middle of the woods?”

Chase almost jumped out of his skin when he heard Mike’s voice. He quickly regained his composure, however, and tried to look calm as he walked up to him. “Oh, you know,” he replied, as nonchalantly as he could, “I was just taking a walk and thinking.”

Mike looked at him skeptically. “Really? What were you thinking about?”

“Oh, nothing in particular.” With that, he started to walk away, back towards camp.

Mike, still sensing that something was the matter, quickly got up and followed him. “So, how was your first full day here at camp?”

Chase was becoming angry, but he hid it well. ‘Why is he following me?’ he wondered, trying to think of a way to get away from him. Chase had a suspicion that Mike knew about his drugs. He quickly curtailed these thoughts, however, and replied, “My day was sort of rough, I suppose.”

“Really, why?”

Chase was growing nervous as Mike continued to walk alongside him. “Boy scouting sucks. What’s the purpose of learning to tie lashings, anyway? It’s not like I’ll ever need that in real life. And why do I have to do all these merit badges? They’re all stupid.”

Mike didn’t respond, which made Chase even more nervous. ‘What if he knows about my pot? He’ll turn me in for sure! Even if he doesn’t know that I’m carrying marijuana, he’ll certainly notice how freaked out I am. Why isn’t he saying anything?’

Finally, Mike spoke. “It’s too bad you don’t like boy scouts. But, you might as well get used to it, seeing as how you’re forced to be here. Really, it’s not that bad.”

“Not to you. But you’re a goody-two-shoes, anyway, so who cares about your opinion.”

Mike was surprised at his comment. He stopped walking right there, and Chase continued on ahead, back to camp.

‘Good,’ Chase thought with relief. ‘At least that pest is gone. But it’s too bad I won’t be able to smoke marijuana today. I’ll have to be more careful in the future; I almost got caught this time.’

Mike simply stood there, and watched sadly as Chase walked back to camp. He slowly reached into his pocket and pulled out his Rosary beads once more. He began to pray again with renewed fervor, as now he prayed this Rosary for both Joey and Chase.

And Chase did not smoke marijuana that day.

That night, after the whole camp was in bed, something happened. No one noticed it, since everyone was asleep. The world was quiet, and the only sound to be heard was the crickets in the brush. All of the lights were out, and everything was dark, as the moon was hidden by the thick cloud cover.

A person wearing dark camouflage and carrying a backpack slipped silently, unnoticed, down the path towards the camp offices. He came upon the door to the long, wooden structure, and pulled out a large key ring. After a moment of searching, this person selected his skeleton key, and very quietly inserted it into the lock in the door. With a swift turn of the handle, he opened the door and stepped inside slowly, not making a sound.

This person extracted a long flashlight from his backpack and turned it on, shedding a soft light around the room. He immediately saw the large oak desk in the front room of the offices. Approaching the desk, he opened the first drawer and began to rummage through it. This person found nothing but random papers, and other office paraphernalia. He closed the drawer quietly, frustrated that he didn’t find what he was looking for. He moved on next to the large file cabinet that sat adjacent to the desk. Opening the top drawer, he leaned over to search through the papers. Unfortunately, the top drawer was unstable, and it came loose from its hinges, falling to the floor with a terribly loud clatter.

Meanwhile, in the camp director’s residence, which was near the camp offices, the camp director, Mrs. Potter, was just about to go to bed. She had just changed into her nightgown and climbed into her bed, alongside her husband, who was already asleep. All of a sudden, though, she heard a loud clatter coming from the direction of the camp offices. Leaping to her feet, she ran to the window and looked out. She was extremely surprised to see that a light was coming from the camp offices.

“My goodness! A burglar!” she exclaimed. Hurriedly, she found her shoes and, after putting them on, ran out the door, wearing nothing more than her nightgown. She didn’t bother to wake her husband.

At this same time, the mysterious person in black was greatly startled at the loud crash that he had caused. He quickly regained his composure, however, and bending down, began to rummage hurriedly through the papers that were now spilled all over the floor.

He had been doing this for a short time when he heard someone approaching. Standing up, he saw through the window that a woman was running up the path. Fearful of getting caught, the mysterious person quickly and expertly dashed to the back door of the log cabin, and he disappeared into the night.

Mrs. Potter soon reached the cabin, and seeing no one in there, turned on the lights. She was shocked when she saw the mess on the floor, but it seemed that everything else in the camp offices were in order and untouched.

She shook her head sadly as she went about cleaning up the mess. She had been about this task for only a minute before her husband appeared at the door of the cabin.

“Rebecca, what is the matter?” Mr. Potter asked, with obvious concern.

Mrs. Potter sighed. “Someone was in here. They upset this file cabinet and took a few papers, but it doesn’t look like they touched anything else.”

Mr. Potter was greatly surprised. “Goodness, should we call the police? This is terrible, breaking and entering at our camp.”

Mrs. Potter stood up. “I don’t think that’s necessary. It was probably just some scouts playing a prank. Nothing much to worry about.”

“Nothing much to worry about!” he repeated, anxiously. “If this was done by a scout, we shouldn’t have these kinds of scouts in our camp. What is this world coming to, when Boy Scouts commit burglary?”

Mrs. Potter drew near to her husband, and she put her hand on his arm to calm him down. “Look, dear, let’s deal with this tomorrow. I promise, we’ll get to the bottom of this. Let’s go to bed.”

“What if they come back?” Mr. Potter asked warily, obviously shaken by the mysterious night visitor.

“Don’t worry about it,” Mrs. Potter responded calmly. “I think we’ve scared them off.”

“I hope you’re right,” he said, turning to the door. At once he turned back around to survey the mess, which lay in the middle of the floor. With worry lining his voice, he commented, “What do you think they were looking for?”

Mrs. Potter sighed and started to go out the door. “I don’t know. It could have been anything. We don’t keep any valuables in the office, and I can’t imagine that anyone would want any of those papers in the file cabinet. But, it’s late, so let’s not worry about this tonight.”

Mr. Potter nodded in agreement. They left the office, and after securely locking the door, headed back home to get some rest.

~ 5 ~

The next morning was Tuesday, and seven o’clock came bright and early. Chase and Mike both awoke to the sound of Bobby blowing his trumpet in the middle of the camp. Chase simply laid there, not moving, taking his time in trying to wake up.

The sun streaked through the flaps of the tent very brightly, casting stripes of light on the cots. Mike slowly arose, found some clean clothes in his backpack, and changed into them. He was putting on his shoes when Chase finally sat up in his sleeping bag, still looking half-asleep.

“Good morning, Chase,” Mike greeted cheerfully. “Did you have a good night’s rest?”

Chase stared off into space, not fully awake. He finally mumbled unemotionally, “Yeah, I guess so.” Casting his gaze to Mike, he stared at him for a minute, before asking him, “Have you ever wondered what life would be like without light?”

Mike stood up and started to smooth out his sleeping bag. Without looking up, he replied, “No, I can’t say I’ve ever really thought about it. Have you ever wondered what life would be like without God?”

“I don’t need to wonder about that.”

There was something about the way he said that statement that caused Mike to turn and look at him. There was a look in Chase’s eyes, an afflicted look.

“But really, what if life had no light?”

Mike smiled at how seriously he asked the question. “I guess it would be pretty dark.”

Chase laughed. “Probably. You want to know why I thought of that question?”

“Not really, but since you’re going to tell me anyway, I’ll listen.”

Chase shot him a look, but continued. “I was lying in bed last night, staring into the darkness, and I realized that I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face. It was so dark. I wondered what it would be like to be permanently blind. That would suck, wouldn’t it?”

Mike reached to his ankle to flick off a bug that had been crawling on him. “Yeah, I guess, but look at the bright side, you wouldn’t be able to see how many daddy long-legs are crawling on the ceiling of this tent.”

Chase looked up. Indeed, there were more than twenty of the insects sitting on the ceiling of their tent.

Just then, Mr. Longer called out from right outside the tent. “Are you boys awake in there?”

“Yes, Mr. Longer,” Mike replied.

“Good, because we’re leaving for breakfast in five minutes.” They could hear the sound of Mr. Longer walking away.

Mike stood up and started to leave the tent. “I’ll see you at breakfast,” he said to Chase as he walked out of the tent.

Breakfast that morning consisted of eggs that tasted like coffee, toast that tasted like those little French stinky cheese balls that your grandmother used to make, and coffee that tasted like it had just been made from pureed dirty socks. Also, they had donuts that tasted the way donuts were supposed to taste.

“Wow, Mr. McGillicuddy, you must be hungry this morning,” commented Smiley as he watched the assistant Scoutmaster reach for another donut.

Mr. McGillicuddy laughed jovially. “These donuts are the only edible food on the table. Besides, I love these kind of donuts. They taste just like the kind that we have at work.”

“You have donuts at work?” Smiley asked incredulously in his trademark squeaky voice.

Mr. McGillicuddy nodded. “Yup. That’s just another advantage to being a grown-up.”

“Boy, I wish we had donuts at school. Then maybe I’d actually like learning.”

“Maybe you could try to convince your teachers that donuts are brain food,” offered Charlie, sitting across from Matt.

“That might work,” Matt said hopefully.

“Or,” he continued, “You could wait until you get to home economics class. We had that class last year and we cooked pizza, and bread, and lots of other good stuff. Of course, come to think of it, since none of us could cook well, everything turned out like crap, but that’s how it goes.”

“You should take Cooking Merit Badge,” Mr. McGillicuddy advised.

Charlie shook his head. “They’d reject me, I’m such a bad cook. Once I even ruined Ramen noodles.”

Matt laughed. “How do you ruin Ramen noodles? Even I can cook that.”

“I tell you, I don’t know how I did it. I put the noodles in the water, and put it in the microwave for five minutes. Then I went off and forgot about it, and when I came back, my noodles were cold, so I put it on for five minutes more. When I came back the noodles had turned to mush. It was disgusting.”

“You’re hopeless,” Matt concluded.

At that moment, everyone in the dining hall suddenly grew quiet. Cletus was standing up at the front of the dining hall, on the stage, and holding his hand up to get silence in the hall. When everyone became quiet, he spoke. “Scouts and scouters,” he said in a loud voice, “The camp director wants me to make an announcement to all of you.”

Cletus started to pace back and forth as he spoke. “Last night there was a burglar in the camp. This mysterious person broke into the camp offices and upset the file cabinet, spilling papers on the floor. Luckily, it appears that he or she didn’t take anything. Unfortunately, they escaped and we weren’t able to catch them. But still, we want you all to know about this for two reasons. First, I want to reassure you all that we are undertaking an investigation to find out who the perpetrator was and he or she will be put to justice. So I don’t want any of you to worry about your safety here at Camp Heritage. I assure all of you that you are perfectly safe, and we will do everything within our power to make sure nothing like this happens again. And secondly, I want to ask that if any scout or scouter has any information on this person, to please contact myself or any of the Camp Heritage staff immediately. If you saw anyone last night who looked suspicious, or anything that was slightly askew, please tell us, no matter how insignificant you think it is. I promise you, nothing like this will ever happen again at Camp Heritage. Thank you.” With that, he left the stage, and the dining hall once again became noisy.

Matt looked slightly shaken up by the news as he resumed his breakfast. “Wow, that’s pretty scary, isn’t it?”

“You know, Mr. McGillicuddy, I saw someone suspicious yesterday,” Charlie commented.

“Really?”

“Yes. I saw Chase Woodcock. He always looks suspicious!” He burst out laughing, although no one else thought it was funny.

“Charlie,” Mr. McGillicuddy replied sternly, “That’s not funny. Don’t go around saying that or you just might get Chase in trouble for something he didn’t do.”

Charlie’s laughter died out. “Sorry. I won’t do it again.”

~6~

The morning went much better than it had the previous day for Chase. In Swimming Merit badge, Andy kept giving Chase very weird looks, as if he were afraid of him for some reason. Perhaps after yesterday’s incident, Andy figured out that Chase was not a kid to be messed with.

After Swimming, it was on to Basketry Merit Badge. Here, he continued to work on weaving the straw basket that he had begun yesterday. It was about half-finished.

The day was warm and sunny and Chase was enjoying the beautiful weather, sitting beneath the handicraft pavilion and weaving his basket. He thought of nothing as he wove.

Matt was also in the class with him, along with Bobby. Bobby was having obvious difficulty with his weavings, as his basket was only just begun.

“Oh, man!” Chase heard Bobby exclaim in frustration. Looking up, he saw that Bobby’s weavings had come undone once more.

Bobby put his basket down and looked at Chase’s. “How come yours looks so good?”

Chase shrugged. “It’s a hidden talent, I guess. No, actually, what you need to do is to push down on the reeds as you’re weaving, and weave much tighter than you’re weaving it now.”

“Okay, but it’s not going to work…” He began again to weave his basket.

Just then, Cletus came running up the path to the handicraft center. He stopped when he reached the pavilion, obviously trying to catch his breath. Looking at Chase, he said between panting, “Mr. Woodcock, can you come with me for a moment?”

Chase knew immediately that something was up. Warily he replied, “Why?”

“The camp director wants to see you.”

Two things immediately popped into Chase’s mind: one, someone had found his stash of marijuana, or two, Clayton had told someone about how he tried to steal the candy bar. Chase looked at Cletus carefully, not sure whether he should go. “Can I finish my basket first?”

“I don’t think so. She said it was pretty important. You’d better come now.”

Bobby was giving Chase a look of suspicion, wondering what he might have done that would warrant this.

Finally, after a minute or so, Chase finally got up. “Okay, let’s go,” he said resolutely, walking with Cletus away from the pavilion. As he was walking away, he turned around and said to Bobby, “If I don’t come out alive, tell Mr. Longer that I’m innocent!”

Bobby was confused as he watched Chase walk away. Finally, he shook his head and returned to his weaving, mumbling under his breath, “I wonder what he’s hiding…”

Chase felt as if he were walking to his own execution as he walked up the path towards the camp office. He wondered what kind of punishment he would receive if the camp director had found out anything about the pot or the shoplifting attempt. Surely it would mean back to prison for him!

He walked slowly up the steps to the cabin, lagging behind Cletus slightly. He was in no hurry to meet his impending doom.

Cletus opened the door, and Chase walked through it. ‘Here it goes,’ he thought with disdain. ‘My life is now over.’

He was surprised to find, however, a very sweet-looking older woman in front of him, sitting at the desk. She was not a tall woman, about as tall as Chase, and her hair was a graying brown color. She was wearing her scout uniform, but she looked remarkably like a grandmother. When she saw Chase, she smiled sincerely at him. “Come in, and sit down.”

Chase was not put at ease by the woman’s gentle demeanor. He took a seat, but glared at her, like a caged animal. Cletus saw this as an opportunity to leave, and he did so, without a word.

“My name is Mrs. Potter, and I’m the camp director here at Camp Heritage,” the woman said, her smile not fading.

“You apparently already know me,” Chase said tartly.

Mrs. Potter sighed and looked down to her desk for a moment. “Let’s get down to brass tacks here, Chase. You probably know about the burglary here that happened last night.”

This surprised Chase. He wondered what this had to do with anything. “Yes, I heard about it.”

Mrs. Potter leveled with him, looking him straight in the eyes. “Where were you last night at eleven p.m.?”

It took a second for her question to sink in, but Chase soon understood what she was insinuating. His voice began to rise, in anger. “Are you suggesting that somehow I burglarized this office? That’s absurd.”

“Is it, Chase? You are the only one here who has a criminal record. Isn’t it natural that I would suspect you first?” She was still speaking gently, but more forcefully.

“Wait a second. How do you know about my criminal record?”

“Your Scoutmaster reported it to us. It’s required by law for us to know who has had run-ins with the law. You know, for insurance purposes and safety issues and all that.”

Chase was silent.

“Now, Chase,” she said, her smile returning. “I’m not saying that you are guilty. I’m just asking you where you were last night, and if anyone can vouch for you being there. Trust me, I’m going to question all of my staff, and most of the scout leaders here as well. So please just answer the question.”

“I was in bed last night. I was tired, so I went to bed at around nine-thirty, and I fell asleep right away. My bunkmate, Mike Connor, could vouch for me. He saw that I was asleep when he came in at ten o’clock.”

At that very moment, the door of the office opened, and in stepped Mr. Potter. He was holding in his hand a white mechanical device about the size of a deck of cards.

Mrs. Potter immediately looked up as her husband came through the door. “What are you doing here?” she asked him, curious.

The man looked at the objects in his hands. “I decided that we need more security at this camp, just in case something like that burglary ever happens again. So I bought this great infrared sensor which I’m going to install over the door, which will alert us if anyone ever steps through this door during the night.”

Mrs. Potter shook her head. “I think you’re being paranoid, dear. Nothing like that is ever going to happen again.”

“Better safe than sorry,” he replied, as he knelt down and started to install the device.

Mrs. Potter once again shook her head and returned her attention to Chase. “All right. Thank you for your time. Do know, however, that we need to keep a somewhat close eye on you during this week at camp. It’s not that we don’t trust you, but we need to first look out for the safety of all the campers here. Okay?”

“Don’t I have some say in the matter?”

“Not really.”

“Uh, okay then. Whatever you say. Can I go now?”

Mrs. Potter nodded, so Chase got up and went out the door.

That morning, after basketry, Chase returned to the campsite. The troop had a half-hour of relaxation before lunch time. Immediately, though, Chase went to his tent and tossed in his basket and his towel from swimming, and went to seek out Mike Connor.

Mike was at the picnic table playing cards with Justin and Billy. Chase walked up and sat down next to him. He watched the game for a while (it was incredibly boring to watch), but when there was a lull in the action, he turned to Mike and asked him, “Mike, can I talk to you for a minute?”

Without looking up from his hand of cards he replied, “Yeah, go ahead.”

Chase looked around to Justin and Billy, who were both intently looking at their cards. “Uh, I kind of need it to be private.”

Mike glanced up at the pile of cards on the table. “Okay, can it wait a minute?”

“Not really.”

Mike placed his cards on the table. “Okay, we can talk. Justin and Billy, I fold. I wasn’t going to win anyway.” Standing up, he said to Chase, “Where do you want to go?”

“Anywhere private.”

Mike shrugged and started to walk away, with Chase following closely behind. “Okay, let’s go to the marsh. There’s never anyone out there.”

They both walked in silence until they got to the marsh, which was slightly outside the campsite. It was very secluded there; full of cattails and downed logs. Mike stood on the shore of the marsh and looked out over the wetlands. It was beautiful, as always. The frogs were croaking loudly, and the murky water trickled through the reeds on its way to the lake.

“Okay, what’s on your mind?” Mike said very innocently, gazing out over the marsh.

Chase decided not to beat around the bush. “Mike, do you trust me?”

Mike briefly glanced at him, somewhat surprised by his question, but he soon returned his gaze to the wetland. He was silent for a moment, thinking, or perhaps praying. He finally replied, “No, not really. Why?”

This was not the reply that Chase had expected, or wanted. “Wait a minute. Why don’t you trust me?”

“Because I have no reason to trust you. But what brought this up? What’s really on your mind?”

Chase was amazed that Mike knew there was something more on his mind. “Well, I had a very interesting experience this morning. The camp director accused me of the burglary last night.”

Mike didn’t bat an eye. “Go on,” he urged.

“That’s wrong, man. She shouldn’t have accused me without good reason. Just because of what I did doesn’t mean that I should be treated with suspicion.”

“Well, I hate to say this, but you’d be the first person I’d suspect in any kind of crime, just based on your track record. So it really doesn’t surprise me that the camp director suspected you first. What was he like anyway?”

“Who?”

“The camp director.”

“Well, it was a she. She looked like someone’s grandma. Her name was Mrs. Potter.”

Mike was silent for a while. Finally, he turned and started to walk back to camp, accompanied by Chase. “I wouldn’t worry about it too much,” he said reassuringly. “As long as you play it straight for the rest of the week, she won’t suspect you again. Besides, I know you didn’t do anything. You were asleep when I came into the tent last night. So, I can always vouch for you.”

These words seemed to calm Chase down a bit. “Thanks a lot. I appreciate it.”

Mike stopped walking suddenly, thinking of something. “You were really bothered by that, weren’t you?”

“Uh, I suppose so.”

Mike gave him a very suspicious look. “Why were you so bothered that she would suspect you if you’re innocent? You aren’t hiding something, are you?”

Chase’s heart leapt into his throat. “Uh, n-n-no, not at all,” he stammered. The image of his bag of marijuana flashed before his mind’s eye.

This answer seemed to satisfy Mike. “Okay, just curious. We’d better hurry back to camp; we’re probably late for lunch.”

After lunch, Mike, Chase, and Billy went together to the nature lodge where they would be subjected to another hour of torture, also known as Environmental Science Merit Badge. They were surprised, however, when they got to the lodge and sat down in their usual spots on the floor.

All of the other scouts in the class were already there in the small room when the three walked in. Cletus, however, was nowhere to be seen. Mike was grateful. The later Cletus shows up, he thought, the less boredom he would be subjected to.

Five minutes later, Cletus burst through the door in a loud manner and hurried to the front of the room. He seemed out of breath as he stood there in the front, holding his hand up to get silence. Everyone was soon quiet, and Cletus blurted out, “Sorry I’m late, everyone! We won’t be sitting inside today, we’ll be studying the soil content of Camp Heritage! Everyone stand up and follow me!” With that, he quickly led the scouts out the door.

Normally, looking at dirt is not one of Mike’s favorite pastimes, but anything was better than sitting through another one of Cletus’ extremely dull and boring lectures.

Cletus instructed the scouts to grab a shovel that was leaning against the back side of the nature lodge. Each scout grabbed a small shovel and the group started to hike up a narrow path that led out the back of the nature lodge and up a small hill. The path led to a large clearing in the forest, which was covered in tall grass and weeds. Here Cletus stopped and instructed the scouts to form a large circle around him.

“All right, scouts, I want each of you to dig up one shovel full of dirt. Try to keep it nice-looking so you can see the different regions of the soil.”

All of the scouts immediately complied. They all knelt down to closely examine their dirt.

“Notice here the amount of life in the top layer of soil. Also notice how easy it was to dig up that soil. A vast amount of creatures have aerated the humus near the surface.”

Mike noticed that there were several worms, grubs, and other insects in the dark, rich soil.

“Does anyone have any idea why the soil is this dark brown color?” Cletus asked.

A tall kid raised his hand. “It looks like there’s a lot of dead matter in the soil here.”

Cletus smiled broadly. “Exactly!” he gushed. “There is a lot of plant matter that has formed this thick, rich, fertile soil. This humus level goes down for about fourteen inches in some parts. Pennsylvanian soil is some of the best soil in the world, exactly for that reason.”

Another kid raised his hand. “Why hasn’t this land been farmed, if it’s so good?”

Cletus beamed. “Excellent question! Most of the surrounding land has been farmed. This particular land, though, was actually first owned by George Baden, who wanted to keep it pristine and virgin. Apparently, he was a great nature lover.”

Cletus then bent down and grabbed a handful of soil from off of his shovel. “Notice how few rocks are in this soil. Most of the rocks in the upper level of this soil has been eroded through years of acidic rain. But, that’s another topic altogether. Now, please put the soil back into the ground, and we’re going back to the nature lodge.” With that, he filled in the hole that he had made, and headed back down the path, followed by the scouts.

Mike lingered a bit more, not anxious to spend a whole forty more minutes listening to Cletus talk about the environment. Finally, reluctantly, he refilled his hole and headed back down the path, again offering this class up for the salvation of souls.

~7~

It had been another very long afternoon, and Chase was tired. Psychotic Ben again encouraged him to enter into the Zen of Pioneering, and Chase was tempted to steal all of his incense sticks. But he tolerated that Merit Badge, and actually thought it was somewhat fun when they built a small A-frame monkey bridge that was suspended about a foot off the ground.

But it had still been a very long afternoon. Chase finally came back to the campsite after Pioneering, and he collapsed on the picnic bench, too exhausted to do anything else.

Mr. Longer came out of his tent, dressed in his bathing suit and a tee-shirt, with a towel slung over his shoulder. “Hey, Chase,” he called out to him. “Want to come to the waterfront to go swimming?”

Chase gave it a quick thought, but judging how tired he was, he declined. “No thanks, Mr. Longer. I’m tired, and besides, I really don’t want to see Andy any more than I have to.”

Mr. Longer laughed. “Okay, suit yourself.” With that, he walked out of the campsite toward the waterfront.

The campsite was now quiet. Chase could hear a few people stirring in their tents. It appeared that if anyone was here, they were sleeping or something like that.

‘I really need a smoke right now,’ Chase thought. Immediately, however, another voice countered to him, ‘What if you get caught? Mrs. Potter is already watching you closely.’

‘I won’t get caught,’ he thought back. ‘I’ll be more careful this time. I’ll smoke down by the swamp.’

‘Is it worth the risk?’ the thought responded quickly. Chase didn’t know that this was his conscience warning him.

Chase decided to ignore that little annoying voice inside his head, however. He got up and went to his tent, taking one last look around the campsite to make sure that no one was watching him. He went into his tent, and started to try to find the package of marijuana smokes in his backpack.

He had been at his task for only a minute when he heard footsteps outside of the tent. Immediately he froze, fearful of whomever it might be.

He relaxed when he heard Bobby’s voice. “Anyone here?” Bobby called from the middle of the campsite. Chase made no sound but continued to search his backpack quietly. Finally, his hand stumbled upon the plastic bag. He pulled it out and opened it.

“Just a minute, Bobby, I’ll meet you at the waterfront in a minute. I need to get my towel out of the tent,” he heard Mike call out across the campsite. Chase was too terrified to move.

In a moment, the tent flaps were flung wide open and Mike walked in and grabbed his towel which was sitting on his bed.

Chase leapt up and immediately took a step back, holding the bag behind his back. He must have been sweating bullets, because Mike immediately sensed that something was askew.

“What’re you hiding there behind your back?” Mike asked, trying to peer behind Chase.

Chase meanwhile was speechless for one of the few times in his life. He stood there, frozen, as a statue, not able to think or move.

Mike seemed to notice the fear on his tent mate’s face. “Are you hiding something?”

Chase glared at him. “No,” he said simply.

Mike reached around Chase, trying to grab it out of his hands. Chase, however, was too quick and transferred it to the other and held it behind him, just out of Mike’s reach. Chase was bigger and stronger than Mike, but Mike was smart. He reached around the other side and grabbed it out of the other boy’s hands.

Mike stepped back and looked at the bag for a moment, before looking up, with a mixture of confusion and horror on his face. “Is this what I think it is?”

Chase didn’t know what to do, now that he had been caught red-handed. He nodded solemnly, not saying a word.

Mike again looked at the brownish-green grass in the bag. With a startled expression he dropped the bag and leapt backward, almost terrified to be near the substance. “How could you bring marijuana to summer camp?” he exclaimed in horror.

Chase picked up the bag. “Not so loud!” he ordered. “I don’t want the whole camp to know about this.”

Mike stared at him, confused, and quickly closed the tent flaps. “How did you get this stuff?”

Chase shrugged nonchalantly, as if illegal drugs showed up every day at summer camp. “I got it from a man named Pinky. Before I went to jail, he owed me a debt for some drugs, so this is his way of repaying the debt.”

“I suppose money wouldn’t do the trick.”

“Hey, he was in the red. Besides, I prefer this stuff. It’s a little hard to smoke money.” He paused. “This is why I had to jump out of the car on the way here to save my backpack. I didn’t want anyone to find out that I had pot stashed inside of it.”

Mike was shaking, and looking at Chase as if he were the devil incarnate. “You’re going to have to get rid of that stuff.” His voice was quivering as he said this.

Chase sighed. “Yeah, and I suppose I’ll have to go back to jail, too. Go ahead, turn me in. Mr. Longer’s at the waterfront if you want to tell him that I’ve got drugs.”

Mike took a deep breath and sat down on his bunk, staring at the bag of pot, as if he expected it to jump on him or something. He closed his eyes and started to pray to the Holy Spirit for guidance in this matter.

Chase wondered why he didn’t immediately go for Mr. Longer. After watching him pray for a moment, he blurted out, “Well? Are you going to turn me in or not?”

“Just a minute,” he practically yelled without opening his eyes. His first inclination was to do what anyone would do in this situation: go to the authorities. But then another thought, this one from the Holy Spirit, came to him. Chase would be no better off in jail. He would only continue in this vicious circle of drugs, hate, and sin. Mike knew that it was up to him to try to change this troubled youth.

Finally he opened his eyes. Casting one more glance at the bag of drugs, he instructed gently, “Here is what we are going to do. We are going to go out into the woods and destroy this marijuana. Then we will pretend that none of this ever happened, and you will never do this again. Got that?”

Chase nodded, secretly relieved.

Mike got up, still trembling, and visibly shaken. “Stay here while I go find a shovel. We’re going to bury these drugs deep underground so that you won’t have any temptations to dig them up and use them.”

“But…this stuff is worth at least a hundred bucks!” Chase started to protest.

A searing glance from Mike immediately shut him up. “Stay here!” he commanded tensely. “I’ll be back in a minute. If you’re gone when I come back, I’m going straight to Mr. Longer. So stay here.” With that, he left the tent.

Once out of the tent, Mike headed straight for Joey’s tent. Flinging the tent flaps wide open, he saw that his friend was fast asleep on his cot, taking a midday nap.

Mike gently shook him. “Joey, wake up. I need your help.”

Joey mumbled something about green trees and rolled over.

Mike shook a bit harder. “Come on, please get up. I need your help.”

Joey opened his eyes and rolled back over to face his friend. With a smile he said, obviously still half-asleep, “Good morning, Mike. Why are you here?”

“Joey, I really need your help. We’ve got a problem.”

Noticing Mike’s deadly serious tone, Joey woke up fast. He propped himself up and asked, “Mike, what’s wrong? Is someone hurt?”

“Not exactly. You have a shovel, don’t you?”

Joey nodded.

“Good. We have a bit of a problem with Chase.”

Joey climbed out of his sleeping bag, fully dressed. “Do we need to bury his corpse? That would be fun,” he commented jokingly as he started to put on his shoes.

Mike didn’t even crack a smile. “Hurry up, please. I don’t trust him at all.”

Joey gave him a strange look as he tied his shoes. “Why are you acting so weird? What is up with you?”

Mike took a deep breath. “Chase has drugs. We need to get rid of them.”

Shocked, Joey finished tying his shoes and stood up, still somewhat confused. “What do you mean?”

Mike went over it again, more slowly this time. “I found out that Chase has a bag of marijuana with him. We’re going to dispose of it by burying it in the ground deep in the woods.”

At this point his friend interrupted. “No, we’re not. If Chase has drugs, we’re going to turn him in to the police, and he will go back to jail where he belongs.”

“Joey, don’t let your personal grudge against him get in the way of helping him out.”

“The best thing we can do to help him is to lock him up, permanently. He’s a troublemaker, and now he’s even corrupted you. Look at this, you’re defending him for his criminal activity!”

“No, I’m not. But what is sending him back to jail going to do? We need to show compassion. He needs our good influences in his life. Locking up people doesn’t do anything. He’ll just persist in his sin.”

“Look, we’re dealing with something way over our heads if Chase has drugs with him. I don’t want to have any part of helping him. I could be arrested myself if I go along with your little scheme.”

“You won’t be arrested. Joey, you’re going to have to trust me on this one.”

“Why do you need my help anyway?”

Mike looked away, ashamed. “He’s bigger than me, and I need a little protection, you know. Just in case.”

“See? Deep down even you know that, being a former criminal, he’s more than we can handle.”

“That’s exactly why he needs our help. I know that he’s a good person deep down inside. Look, this is our big chance to convert someone!”

Joey just shook his head.

“Think about his soul!” Mike exhorted.

Joey sighed, and looked down. “All right, Mike, you win again. I don’t like it, but I’ll help you.”

Mike smiled weakly, for he was still trembling out of excitement and nervousness. “Good. Grab the shovel, let’s go.” Joey did so, and both of them returned to Mike’s tent.

Chase was sitting patiently and placidly on his cot, waiting for Mike to return. He stood up, when Mike threw open the tent flaps, but stepped back in disgust when he caught sight of Joey, who was standing behind Mike. “What’s he doing here?” he asked unkindly.

“Trust me, I really don’t want to be helping you,” Joey replied tartly.

“Chill out, Chase,” Mike directed, tensely, feeling cold all over. “Do you have the stuff? Put it in your pocket, and make sure it’s out of sight.”

Chase did as he was told, almost meekly because of Mike’s authoritative tone. He stepped out of the tent. “So who else did you tell, Mike? Does the whole camp know about my drugs?”

“Well, they will if you keep talking in such a loud voice. But no, I thought that it might be good to have someone else along to make sure nothing else goes on. Now, shut up and follow me.” With that, Mike started walking away, followed by a stunned Chase and Joey.

The threesome walked out into the woods, away from the campsite, and past the Rosary spot. ‘No one will be out here this far into the woods,’ Mike thought dryly as they continued to walk, even though they could not see the campsite anymore.

Chase took out the bag and held it. He considered taking some out of the bag and putting it in his pocket, but he thought better of it.

Joey broke the silence. “Mike, where are you taking us?” he said, with a tone of rebuking him.

Mike remained as calm as he could. “A little bit farther. See that pine grove up ahead? Let’s bury it in the middle of that. No one will ever think to look in there.”

They were all so intent on getting there that they didn’t see Smiley sitting on a tree stump to their right a little ways off, watching their every move. Finally, just before they were about to go into the pine grove, he ran up to them. “What are you guys doing out here?” he called out in his squeaky voice.

All three of them froze. ‘This is it,’ Chase thought in fear, ‘We’ve been caught red handed.’

Mike managed to compose himself, however, as Matt came up to them. “I should ask you the same question,” he said. “Don’t you know that it’s against the rules to wander away from camp, especially without a buddy? You could get lost out here in the middle of the forest!”

Matt shrugged, unconcerned. “I don’t care. I was just trying to do my nature observations for Nature Merit Badge. I saw a hawk, and…” His eyes suddenly narrowed as he stared at the bag that Chase was clutching. “Hey, what’s that stuff you’re carrying?”

All three fell silent, unsure of how to answer him.

Finally Mike attempted a little white lie. “Uh, we’re doing a science experiment for Environmental Science Merit Badge. We’re burying this plant matter to see how fast it will decompose.”

Matt gave them a strange look, but seemed satisfied at this answer. “Hey, that sounds like fun. Can I come with you?”

Mike glanced at the others, who didn’t respond. Finally he replied, “I suppose so. But follow closely, and don’t tell anyone about this.”

“Why not?” he asked innocently.

“Uh, the merit badge instructor told us that if we did this, we’d all get prizes at the end of the week. But we don’t want everyone to know about this, or they’d all try to get prizes. So we need to keep this as a secret just between us.”

Matt’s eyes lit up. “Can I have a prize, too, since I’m helping you?”

Mike smiled at his exuberance. “Sure. But remember, you can’t tell anyone about what we’re doing, okay?”

Matt nodded solemnly, so all four of them went into the pine grove.

Once they were inside, they were amazed at what it looked like in there. It was almost like a church inside it. There was a wide open space, about one hundred feet in diameter, where they could clearly see the sky, surrounded by a ring of thick pine trees, which made it almost completely secluded. The ground was covered in a thick and soft carpet of pine needles and tall grass, and it was nearly silent in the middle of the grove.

Mike couldn’t help but notice that a very dark feeling came over him as they stood in the middle of the sacrosanct area. It was almost as if an aura of foreboding covered the place. Mike looked at Joey, who returned the look, saying with their eyes, ‘There’s something weird about this place.’

Chase broke the silence. “All right, let’s get it over with.”

Joey took up the shovel and shoved it into the ground, stepping on it to dig it deeper into the soft earth. He immediately hit something hard, however. He pulled up the shovel, and while muttering to himself, “Hit a rock,” he walked about five paces more and stepped on the shovel. This time, it went deep into the ground. He pulled up a shovel full of dirt. “How deep do you want it?”

“Another shovel full ought to do the trick,” Mike responded, looking around to the trees, still feeling an odd feeling.

Joey dug up one more shovel full, making the hole about eight inches deep. Mike threw the plastic bag in the hole. Joey scattered the dirt over the marijuana, finally covering up the hole. He picked up the shovel and said tensely, “Okay, let’s go. This place gives me the creeps.”

Chase didn’t notice anything strange, but he followed the other three scouts out of the pine grove and back through the forest to the camp, remaining sullen the entire way there.

Later that day, the entire troop had once again gathered into the dining hall to partake of the evening meal. Tonight’s cuisine featured dry, sawdusty hamburgers, served with wood chips (the dining hall called them french fries), and a side of tasteless green beans. At least the dessert was good: chocolate cake.

“You’re very quiet tonight,” Mr. McGillicuddy observed to Chase as they sat at one end of the table.

Chase nodded but said nothing. He was still bemoaning the loss of his precious illegal drugs. He knew that destroying the drugs was better than going back to jail, but he still didn’t like the fact that they were now gone.

Matt took another slice of cake, and nodded compassionately towards Chase. To Mr. McGillicuddy, he said, “Andy was really giving him a hard time today in Swimming.”

Mr. McGillicuddy chuckled. “I know how cruel he can be; I was at free swim today. What was he doing?”

“Chase made some rude comment, like usual, and Andy made him swim laps for a very long time, until he just about collapsed in the water.”

“Well, then, perhaps he shouldn’t make such rude comments.”

“Easy for you to say,” Chase chimed in.

Matt grabbed another hamburger and cut a small piece off of it. Sticking his hamburger on top of his cake, he took a bite.

“What are you doing, Matt?” Mr. McGillicuddy asked, slightly disgusted.

Matt smiled broadly as he chewed up his concoction. “It’s delicious! The cake disguises the nasty flavor of the hamburger.”

Mr. McGillicuddy shrugged his shoulders, then turned his attentions back to Chase. “I know that Andy can be a little difficult to get along with sometimes, but don’t let him get to you. Because he makes you try to feel inferior, it just shows that he’s very insecure.”

Chase looked confused. “Uh, okay. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Isn’t that why you’re pretty quiet tonight? Because you had a rough time in Swimming Merit Badge today?”

Chase looked down. He didn’t want any adults to start suspecting him for anything. It was bad enough to have the camp director to suspect him for something he didn’t do. Now that he had done something (doing drugs), he was even more wary of anyone suspecting him of anything.

Mr. McGillicuddy wisely let the subject drop.

~8~

Later that evening, there was a visitor to the camp.

Charlie was the first one to see him. A scout from another troop walked into the campsite, where Charlie was sitting around the fire pit, whittling a stick. He looked up when he heard someone approaching and beheld the boy, about his age and height, although much more rotund and with short blond hair and wearing a patched-up sweatshirt.

“Hi,” Charlie greeted.

“Hi, my name’s Rich,” the boy said in a raspy voice. “My troop was wondering if your troop would like to play us in capture the flag.”

Charlie stood up. “Yeah, I guess so. My name’s Charlie. Where are you from?”

“Our troop is from Altoona, Pennsylvania. We’re staying in the Shiloh Campsite, right over the ridge there.” He pointed out in the direction of the waterfront a ways.

“Cool. Let me see if I can get up some guys to play. What time should we meet you over at the parade field?”

“How about in ten minutes?”

Charlie nodded. “I guess that would okay. We’ll meet you over there, okay?”

The boy smiled, somewhat slyly. “Okay! We’ll see you then.” With that, he turned and walked away.

Dusk was beginning to fall, and Charlie, being an experienced boy scout, knew that dusk was the best time to play capture the flag. He immediately went to find scouts who wanted to play.

He first approached Matt and Justin, who were playing cards. They readily agreed to join him for the game. He then went over to the edge of the woods, where Chase was sitting on a stump, reading the Boy Scout handbook. Charlie was about to pass him by. He really didn’t want to have anything to do with him, but upon second thought, he decided to ask him to play. After all, the mere presence of Chase might scare away the other team.

“Hey, Chase,” Charlie called out. “Do you want to play capture the flag against another troop?”

Without looking up Chase responded dryly, “No thanks. I’m reading.”

“Are you sure? It’ll be fun.”

Chase looked up and was about to say no, but since he was bored, he decided to accept the invitation. “Sure, I guess I’ll play.”

“Cool. I’m going to find more guys to play, and then we’ll go.”

Ten minutes later, Charlie had gathered eight scouts from his troop to go to the parade field. The parade field was a long, rectangular area that was flat and used for a gathering-space for the camp. It was surrounded by trees on all four sides. Near one side were three flagpoles, and behind the flagpoles was the camp offices.

Charlie could see that Rich had about ten scouts from his troop, already waiting for them at the field. Somehow, they all looked bigger, stronger, and meaner than anyone from his troop.

Chase, however, wasn’t intimidated.

Charlie led his crew to the middle of the field, where he greeted Rich with a nod.

“Is this your troop?” Rich asked, somewhat sarcastically, snickering all the while.

Charlie nodded. “Yeah. What are we going to use as flags?”

Rich pulled out two glow-sticks from his back pocket. They had already been opened and were glowing brightly. “We can use these. What will our boundaries be?”

“How about the line of trees all around the parade field?”

Rich snorted. “That’s a pretty small field. How about up to that ridge there,” he said, pointing to the left, “And the lake on the other side. Behind us, we can go all the way to the bridge, and behind you guys, you can go all the way to the handicraft lodge.”

Charlie looked around, at the huge size of the field. “That seems a little big to me.”

“You guys can’t handle that? Do you need it smaller?” Rich was smirking when he said this.

Chase then spoke up, having been listening to the whole exchange. “No, we can handle that. Let’s just play.”

Rich looked back at his troop, then to Chase, who was staring him down. “Okay. Let’s begin.” With that, the two troops departed and went to hide their flags on their respective sides.

It was Justin who grabbed the flag for his troop and quickly ran back to the handicraft lodge. Standing on a picnic table under the pavilion, he reached up and planted the flag behind one of the roof beams. It was virtually invisible from anyone who might be standing in the middle of the field.

Once Justin got back to the center line, Charlie called out to the other team, who had scattered all across their side, “Are you all ready to play?”

From behind the a tree, Rich called out, “No. One more minute.”

They all mulled around for a minute or two before Charlie again called out to the other troop, “Are you ready yet?”

“Yeah, we’re ready.” As soon as Rich said this, a few of the scouts came out of the woods and the game began.

Justin and Matt decided to stay back to guard the jail. Clayton, Billy, and two other scouts went into the woods on either side of the field, trying to sneak onto their opponent’s sides. This left Chase and Charlie left guarding the line.

Two very tall and very fast scouts from the other troop were on the other side of the line, not moving much. Charlie took to guarding the taller one wearing his troop’s tee-shirt, and Chase stayed closely on the other one, who had on a green tee-shirt.

It was now getting very dark, and it was becoming very difficult to see. Clayton crept through the woods, trying to be as silent as possible. All of a sudden, he heard a loud noise, as Rich walked by him. Clayton froze with his back up against a tree, trying to make himself as inconspicuous as possible. Rich walked right by him without noticing him.

Clayton cautiously stepped out from behind the tree and almost immediately spotted something glowing behind a tree in the distance, atop the densely wooded ridge. He knew it was their glow-stick. He began to walk more quickly, still trying to be as quiet as he could be.

Unfortunately for him, he stepped on a dry stick, which made a loud cracking noise as it snapped in two. Rich wheeled around and, seeing him, took off running after him.

Clayton started to run through the woods, toward the glow-stick, hoping to reach it before Rich caught him. He had to run gingerly, however, because he needed to dodge the many vines and brambles that covered the ground.

Rich was catching up to him as they both ran up the hill. Clayton was near to the glow-stick, but Rich was right behind him.

Soon Clayton reached the pinnacle of the ridge. He ran to the tree, and, looking down, saw that it was indeed their glow stick that had been glowing. He reached down to pick it up, when suddenly, Rich ran into him, shoving him down the other side of the ridge.

Clayton, at first, didn’t know what was happening. He started rolling down the other side of the hill, rolling across the hard and brush-covered ground, over tree stumps and clumps of prickly weeds. When he finally reached the bottom of the hill, he stopped rolling and looked up. Rich was standing over him.

Rich smiled cruelly. “Go to jail.”

‘Jail’ was the bridge. It took Clayton a long time to limp there, since he was bruised and banged up from his tumble down the hill. His knees were bloodied, and he was a bit dizzy due to hitting his head on a tree stump on the way down.

When he got to the bridge, he sat down on it, resting for a moment. There was a short younger scout from the other troop guarding the jail. Once Clayton caught his breath, and his head cleared, he muttered to himself, “That kid pushed me down the hill on purpose.”

The kid heard him and smiled. “That’s what everyone says.”

Chase had been watching, as best as he could, the chase between Rich and Clayton. He was very surprised when he saw Rich slam into Clayton. ‘I guess we’re playing dirty,’ he thought.

Meanwhile, the guy in the green tee-shirt was trying to distract him. He would dart into Troop 1024’s territory, then dash back into his own zone as soon as Chase would move to try to tag him. They had been going at this for a while when Chase finally got frustrated.

“Hey, why don’t I let you have free passage to my side, then you can let me have free passage to your side,” Chase suggested.

The boy, being not too bright, agreed to his idea. They both switched sides, each one watching the other closely. Chase had gotten about five yards into his territory when he suddenly turned around and started to pursue him.

The other boy realized that it was a trick. He immediately turned around and tried to get back to his own side, but before he could do so, Chase caught him and tagged him.

“Go to jail,” he said.

The boy did not respond. Instead, he simply stood there, on his own side, a dumb smile plastered on his face.

“Didn’t you hear me? Go to jail. I tagged you.”

“You tricked me.”

“I tagged you fair and square. Go to jail.” Chase was beginning to lose his patience.

The other kid shook his head, his dumb smile still there. “I’m not going to jail.”

Chase just shook his head in frustration. He felt like he was talking to a brick wall, but a lot stupider.

Meanwhile, Rich was slowly and silently making his way along the ridge, into Troop 1024’s territory. He crept through the forest, keeping his eyes on the pavilion at the handicraft area. He had a sneaking suspicion that the glow-stick was hidden somewhere around there.

He had almost reached the pavilion when he noticed that he saw a glowing coming from the roof beams, where the glow-stick was. He began to move faster, deftly dodging low-hanging tree branches and sticks on the ground.

Matt, meanwhile, was standing around, about fifteen yards away from the glow-stick. He was guarding the jail (which was currently unoccupied) and scanning the horizon for signs of movement. All of a sudden, however, he spotted a creature moving towards the glow-stick stealthily.

Matt called out to his team members, “I see someone!” and he began to pursue him.

Chase heard and he ran back to help Matt defend the flag.

A funny thing happened, though. While it would have been prudent for Rich to run back to his own side (he would have made it easily), he decided to make a run for the flag.

Matt was standing almost directly in front of the pavilion, guarding it closely. Rich started to dart to the right, to try to evade his tag, when all of a sudden he darted left, slamming right into Matt. Matt fell backwards, hard, onto the cement floor of the pavilion, hitting his head on the ground and banging off of a picnic table. He let out a shriek of pain.

Rich was unconcerned. He leapt onto a picnic table, and reaching up, grabbed the glow-stick. He quickly leapt down and started running, across the open field, back to his own side.

This entire scene caused Chase to become incensed. ‘No one does this to a member of my troop!’ he thought boldly. Instead of helping Matt, however, he decided to take on Rich.

Rich was running towards him head-on. Chase simply stood there, waiting for him to run into him.

Rich, however, had other plans. He was obviously afraid of Chase, who was quite a bit larger than he was. Rich darted quickly to his right, heading up the hill.

Chase saw this and chased after him. He caught up to him before he reached the woods. Grabbing him around the shoulders, Chase threw him to the ground.

Rich was surprisingly strong, however, and the two of them started to fight. Punches were thrown, until finally Rich got up and tried to run away. Chase gave him one last kick and he was thrown headfirst down the hill.

As Rich slowly got to his feet, quite bruised up, Chase came up next to him. In a seething tone, he said, “Go away. We don’t play with troops like yours. And if I ever see you on the path, you’d better walk the other direction, ‘cause I’m going to whip your fat butt the next time I see you.”

Rich glared at him as he walked slowly away. The rest of his troop joined him, and they all walked off of the parade field and back to their campsite.

Chase stood there, watching them walk away. The rest of Troop 1024 came up to him and they all started to walk back to camp.

“That was incredible!” Justin exclaimed, having seen the whole fight.

“I must say,” Charlie began, as they started walking off the parade field. “That was very impressive, how you beat him up like that.”

Chase shrugged, then winced. “Yeah, well, we can’t have anyone beating up on little Smiley. He’s not big enough to defend himself,” he said with a smile, looking at Matt.

Matt just looked at him and weakly smiled back. He looked like he was in a lot of pain.

“That was really cool, Chase,” Justin agreed. “I’ve never seen a fight like that.”

Chase and Charlie looked at each other, remembering the fight at the basketball game. “Yeah, you know, Chase likes to get into fights every month,” Charlie commented with a smile. “It helps him stay sharp, so when his fighting skills are needed, like tonight, he can really beat up the other guy.”

Chase chuckled. “Yeah. Unfortunately my last victim was Joey.”

They reached the campsite, and Chase and Matt sat down at the picnic tables, to rest a bit. Mike was sitting there, practicing his knots with a piece of twine. Chase sat down next to him and said, “Hey, Mike, how’s it going?”

“Not bad,” he replied without looking up. “I’m just practicing some timber hitches. What have you been doing all evening?”

Chase laughed. “Oh, you know, the usual. Getting into fights, killing people, stuff like that.”

This answer made Mike look up, and he did a double take when he saw Chase’s black eye, by the light of a solitary lantern. “Oh, no,” he said, “You weren’t kidding, were you?”

“Nope. But look at Matt. He looks even worse than I do.”

Mike got up and went around the table to where Matt was sitting, staring into space. When he caught sight of the wound on the back of Matt’s head, he gasped. “Wow, that looks terrible. Let me clean that out. I’ll bet that hurts.”

Matt just kept staring into space. “Not really. I can’t feel much of anything.”

“Hmm, then you’d better get to bed as soon as I bandage this wound. You look like you’ve hit your head pretty hard.” He grabbed the first aid kit, which was conveniently sitting on the next picnic table over. He pulled out some gauze pads, and taking his water bottle, started to clean the wound. Matt winced when the water was poured on him, but stayed silent. “So, Chase, how did this happen that both Matt and you look pretty awful? You didn’t get into a fight with him, did you?”

Chase was insulted. “No way! He’s only half my size. I’d have to be pretty evil to do that. I’ll tell you what happened, but you must promise not to tell Mr. Longer. I don’t want to get into trouble for beating someone else up.”

“Okay, I won’t tell him anything. What happened?”

“We were playing capture the flag, when a kid on the other team named Rich started playing dirty. First he pushed Clayton down a hill. Then, he slammed into Matt, throwing him onto the ground. That made me mad, so I decided to stop him. We got into a fight, and I beat him pretty badly.”

“I’d say he clobbered that other kid!” Matt said.

Mike was impressed. “Sounds like an exciting evening for both of you.”

Just then, Mr. Longer walked up to the tarp that covered the picnic tables. He stood there, frowning. “I must say, Chase, that I heard what you did tonight.”

Chase hung his head.

Mr. Longer, however, broke out into a broad smile. “I’m very proud of you. What you did, in defending Matt, was quite brave. You’ve either got incredible courage or incredible foolishness to be willing to get into a fight. But I’m very impressed that you would defend another member of your troop.”

Charlie and Justin walked up to them. “I hope you don’t mind, Chase, that we told Mr. Longer what you did at the capture the flag game,” Charlie said.

Chase shook his head, smiling bashfully.

Mr. Longer was looking at Matt’s wound. “Are you okay?”

“I’ve been better,” he replied in his squeaky voice. Along with the huge gash on the back of his head, his arm and his side were turning black and blue from hitting the picnic table as he fell.

“I think we’d all better be getting to bed. It’s been a long day,” Mr. Longer commented.

Chase got up and started going to his tent. “You have no idea how right you are…”

Everyone started to disperse. Charlie helped Matt to his tent, since he couldn’t even walk straight. Once Matt was lying in bed, Charlie started to walk away, when Matt called out after him, “Hey, Charlie, did Clayton ever come back?”

Charlie stopped dead in his tracks. “Oh, no!” he exclaimed, “I knew we forgot someone!”

It was getting cold out there on the bridge where Clayton was still sitting. He looked at his watch, then commented to no one in particular, “I wonder if they’re still playing. I haven’t heard from them in a while…”

That night, after everyone was in bed, a person dressed in black crept out once more. This person slipped silently, unnoticed, to the front of the camp offices. Like the previous night, this person pulled out the proper key, and quickly unlocked the door. He slowly opened it and stepped inside. All of a sudden, however, all of the lights went on and a loud alarm sounded.

The person turned around and took off running out the door and into the night, without touching anything in the office.

The alarm woke up Mrs. Potter. She quickly threw on a jacket over her nightgown and hurried outside. She ran over to the office, where she entered and flicked off a switch located on her desk, which turned off the alarm.

Her husband followed her over to the offices. “Another burglar?” he asked, standing in the doorway.

She nodded solemnly. “Look at the boot prints right outside the door. Someone’s been here just now.”

“Well, then I’m glad that we installed the new burglar alarm. It apparently scared him off, so hopefully he won’t come around here again.”

“Don’t you think we should call the police this time?”

“Probably, but let’s worry about it tomorrow. Let’s go back to bed.”

“I’ll be there in a moment,” Mrs. Potter answered, and her husband walked away.

Mrs. Potter, however, pulled the top drawer of her desk completely out. Reaching beneath it, she removed an old, tattered piece of paper, folded it up, and shoved it into her pocket. “He’ll never find it now,” she said to herself. After putting the drawer back in her desk, she exited the office, locking up securely.

~9~

The next day was Wednesday. It was a drizzly, rainy day, but somehow, more had changed than just the weather. It seemed to Chase that by the time breakfast was over, everyone in the troop knew about his adventure last night during the capture the flag game, and everyone treated him with respect, almost awe, because of it.

After breakfast, he and Matt walked along the path to the waterfront.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Chase asked as they went along.

“I’m okay. How are you?” Matt replied.

“I’m fine. My black eye has gone down.”

“That’s good. I didn’t get a chance last night to thank you for beating that kid up for me. You should be my permanent bodyguard, seeing how small I am.”

Chase looked down to the younger kid, who couldn’t have been more than four and a half feet tall. “You’re welcome. He had been playing dirty all game. Did you see how beat up Clayton was this morning? That kid pushed him down the other side of the hill.”

“Yeah, he looked pretty bad, too.” Matt paused and stared up at the grey, cloudy skies, with rain falling steadily down upon their heads. “Do you think we’ll having Swimming Merit Badge with all this rain? It’s going to be pretty cold in the water.”

Chase sighed. “I sure hope not. I really don’t want to face Andy again.”

“I know he’s mean to you, but is it really that bad?”

“Let’s just say that I knew nicer people in the juvenile detention center.”

Matt laughed. “You’re a really nice person. You don’t seem like the person who would go to jail.”

Matt was looking so sincere that Chase couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, well…I’m only nice to short people. To everyone else, I’m actually pretty mean.”

Matt laughed.

They reached the waterfront, one minute early, and Andy wasn’t there yet. Chase hung his towel on the fence to the waterfront and leaned up against the fence. He gazed out upon the water, which was being stirred up from the raindrops falling upon it. Despite the cold air and rainy weather, Chase finally felt happy. It didn’t seem like everyone had it out to get him anymore. Besides, he now considered Matt and Mike as friends, the first real friends he’d ever had in his life. It was also very nice to finally have Mr. Longer proud of him, as he had been last night. It seemed like life was finally coming together. No more drugs, no more crime, nothing like that. It was just a start, as he knew, but hopefully he could get his life back on track. He was certainly going to try.

That morning, Mrs. Potter called Cletus into her office.

“Good morning, Cletus,” she began, smiling. “Nasty weather out there, isn’t it?”

Cletus sat down in front of her desk, shivering. “It’s gotten fairly cold out there today. I hope it warms back up before the end of the week. So, what is it that you wanted to see me for?”

She took a deep breath, and then looking at him, said, “Cletus, you’re my most trusted staff member. I have a major favor to ask of you tonight.”

Cletus waited expectantly.

“Last night we had another burglary. Luckily our new alarm scared off the intruder, but I’m worried that he might come back tonight. So I need you to stay up until about one o’clock, watching the office. I want to catch this person red-handed.”

“What do you think this person is looking for?”

Mrs. Potter shook her head. “I have no idea. But we need to stop this. Twice in two days; this person must really want whatever they’re looking for. I’ll bet they won’t stop until they get it. So will you be willing to stay up tonight, guarding the office?”

“Yes, yes, absolutely,” Cletus replied, obviously worried. “I want this to stop just as much as you do. I don’t feel safe around here anymore.”

“I don’t think you have anything to worry about. This burglar seems to be intent on only hitting the office, and not anything else. So, you’re probably okay.”

“That’s good.” He glanced down at his watch. “I must get back to the nature lodge,” he said, standing up. “I’ll show up here at around ten p.m., okay?”

“Sure, thank you,” replied Mrs. Potter, looking obviously relieved. Cletus left the offices to hurry back to the nature lodge.

No sooner had Cletus left than a kid entered. Mrs. Potter was taken aback, at first, by this kid’s appearance. He was quite large but of medium height, with blond hair, and he was wearing his troop’s tee-shirt. But that wasn’t what made him a sight to behold. It was the fact that his face was swollen and bruised, and he had a black eye under his right eye. He looked like he had been in a fight very recently.

Mrs. Potter regained her composure and said to the boy, “May I help you?”

“Yeah,” the boy said in a raspy voice, not moving from the doorway. “I know who burglarized this office.”

Mrs. Potter was once again taken aback. “You do? Please, have a seat. I want to talk to you.” The boy sat down, and she said, “So who committed the burglaries?”

“Burglaries? You mean there was more than one?”

The camp director almost kicked herself for being so stupid as to tell anyone else that there were more than one burglaries. She figured that the campers might become nervous about the camp’s safety if word got out that there was another prowler in the camp. She replied, “Umm, yes, there was another burglary last night. Probably by the same person. Who was it?”

The boy smiled slyly. “I don’t know his name, but it was a kid in the Massachusetts Bay campsite. He was about as tall as me, with spiked-up hair and a chain around his neck. He was pretty unmistakable.”

Mrs. Potter had been writing this all down. When he finished, she looked up and whispered, “Chase Woodcock! I knew it was him!”

“What did you say his name was?”

“Oh, nothing, never mind. But can you tell me your name?”

“Yeah. I’m Rich Morgan, from Shiloh campsite.”

“And so, Rich, how do you know that it was Chase?”

“Well, I was just coming back from the showers, walking down the path, when I saw him walking up to the camp offices. It was dark and hard to see him, so I shined a flashlight in his face, and that’s when I saw who it was. I didn’t think too much about it, until the next day, when the burglary was reported to everyone in the camp at breakfast. That’s when I made the connection. I went looking around for the kid all of yesterday, and I finally found out that he lived in the Massachusetts Bay campsite last night.”

“Are you absolutely positive that it was him?”

“I’d say so. There aren’t too many campers that look like him, are there?”

“No, I suppose not. Well, thank you very much for your help. I hope that Chase will soon be sent home for doing such a thing.”

Rich smiled wickedly. “No, I insist, thank you.” With that, he got up and walked out the door. Walking away from the camp offices, he felt very smug. “Ah, sweet revenge!” he said to himself.

Meanwhile Mrs. Potter picked up the walkie-talkie that was lying on her desk. Turning it on to channel 5, she spoke into it. “Cletus, can you come back here for a moment? I have another thing I have to ask you to do…”

Chase was almost ready to finish his basket. He was weaving the last straw, about ready to close it off, so that the weavings wouldn’t come undone. Deliberately and carefully he moved the straw in and out of the vertical straws, shaping it into a round basket.

Once he had tied it off, he put his basket down, and looked on to Bobby, who was further than he was the day before, but still obviously getting frustrated at his slow progress.

“What’s the secret to this?” Bobby said to no one in particular, staring intensely at the work of his hands. “I can’t figure it out.”

“I told you yesterday,” Chase answered. “You need to push down the weavings as you go around.”

Bobby tried to do this.

“You’re getting it,” Chase advised, “Keep doing what you’re doing. And make sure it’s circular.”

“You would think that a star scout like Bobby would know how to do basketry,” Matt chimed in, almost finished his own basket.

“Hey!” came an exclamation from someone down the table. Everyone turned to look at the older scout who said it. “I’m an eagle scout and I still haven’t earned this badge. So watch it.”

Everyone laughed.

Just then, Cletus came running up to the picnic table under the pavilion. He stood there for a moment, catching his breath, before saying between panting for air, “Chase Woodcock, come with me. Mrs. Potter wants to see you again.”

Chase just gave him a very strange look. “I’m getting that strange feeling that you said that to me once before.”

“Yeah, well, she wants to see you again.”

“Why? What have I done this time?”

“I don’t know! Don’t shoot me, I’m only the messenger.”

Bobby smiled. “What a thing to say to a juvenile delinquent,” he mumbled under his breath.

Chase returned his attentions to his basket. “I’m not going with you this time. Tell Mrs. Potter to come to me if she has something she wants to talk to me about.”

Everyone at the table was taken aback. No one speaks that way to Mrs. Potter’s right-hand man, and lives to tell about it.

“Well, Chase, she won’t be very happy when I tell her that,” Cletus responded. “I wouldn’t want to be in any more trouble than you’re already in, if you ask me.” With that, he turned and began to walk away.

Immediately Chase thought of the drugs that he buried yesterday. Did she know about them? Did Joey finally rat on him? Chase looked at Matt, who shrugged his shoulders. Leaping up, Chase ran after Cletus.

“All right, you win,” he said, catching up to the staff member. “Take me to her. I’m ready to die.”

Cletus smiled and led the way to Mrs. Potter’s office.

Once there, Cletus led Chase into the office, then quickly went away, not wanting to hear the exchange that was to go on.

Mrs. Potter was looking very friendly again this morning, but Chase knew that the news wasn’t going to be good. When the camp director caught sight of the boy, she smiled. “Sit down, Chase.”

Chase sat down. “I’m getting a strange deja vu feeling, that I’ve been in here once before.”

Mrs. Potter laughed very politely, not at all sincere. “That’s funny. You’ll probably continue to get that feeling as I ask you the same questions I asked you yesterday.” Her smile quickly faded, and she said quite seriously, “Chase, where were you at eleven p.m. last night?”

Chase’s face darkened, confused as to why she would ask such a question again. “I was asleep, like most normal people do at night. Why?”

“We had another burglary last night. The only reason that I’m asking you where you were is because another scout stopped by this morning to tell me that he had seen you breaking into this office at eleven o’clock on Monday night.”

“Look, I have no idea who’s behind these burglaries, but I can assure you, it’s not me. I can’t believe that you’d suspect me on the testimony of some random person.”

“And your past history. Chase, I know it’s wrong to immediately suspect you without proof, but you must admit that the combination of your former incarceration, and the testimony of this kid, sort of presents you in a bad light.”

Chase was growing more and more indignant as the conversation continued. “Okay, so I made some mistakes. That’s why I’m here, to try to be better. But you’re being ridiculous.”

Mrs. Potter looked him straight in the eye. “Am I, Chase?”

“Yes, you are. How would I even get into this place? I don’t have a key, and no windows were broken.”

“I don’t know. You tell me how you got into this place.”

“I thought that in America, we’re innocent until proven guilty.”

“Those rights are suspended when you come back from jail.”

Chase stood up abruptly, upsetting his chair. “I don’t have to take this kind of crap from anyone!” With that, he turned and stormed out the door.

Mrs. Potter just sat still, not attempting to call after him. She still wasn’t convinced, but she hoped that Cletus might finally catch him in the act, tonight.

~10~

After lunch, everyone returned to the campsite for a bit of relaxation before the afternoon merit badge classes began. Mike noticed that Chase looked extremely agitated all throughout lunch, ever since he returned from basketry. He hardly spoke, and had a mean look in his eyes.

Once they returned to the campsite, Mike started to engage Joey in a game of cards, while Chase went to the end of the three picnic tables and just sat there, scowling at the world, and thinking.

Mike kept glancing over to him during the game, wondering what was the matter. This morning, Chase had actually been friendly, and everyone was friendly to him. Mike wondered if it had something to do with what happened last night, how Chase had gotten into a fight to defend his troop’s honor. Perhaps finally doing something selfless showed him how good it was to be good. But now, it seemed as if that had all been lost, because he was back to his usually sullen self.

Finally, during a pause in the game, Mike called out to him, “Hey Chase, do you want to play cards?”

Immediately Joey shot Mike a look. “I don’t want to play cards with him!” he whispered tersely.

Chase didn’t respond, however.

“Come on, Joey,” Mike said softly but with a very intense look in his dark eyes. “Be kind.”

“I don’t like him! Why are you being kind to him?” Joey demanded.

“One of us has to.” Mike turned his attention back to Chase. “Chase, what’s wrong? You look like you’re mad at the world.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” he replied coldly, turning away.

Joey didn’t say anything, but he had a look that said, ‘When will you ever learn? He’s hopeless.’

Mike shrugged, and both he and Joey returned to their card game.

“You really want to know what I’m mad about?” Chase asked from down the table.

Joey quickly replied, “No. We don’t really care.”

He was kicked under the table by Mike, who replied, “Yeah. What’s up?”

Chase got up and went around the table so he could talk to both of them without shouting. “There was another burglary last night, and Mrs. Potter suspected me again.”

“I wonder why,” Joey said sarcastically. Again he was kicked.

“Really?” responded Mike. “That’s awful. Why?”

“I don’t know!” he exclaimed, very frustrated. “Apparently some kid said that he saw someone who looked like me around the offices on Monday night, when the first burglary happened. This is getting ridiculous.”

“I agree. I’d be mad, too, if someone suspected me twice.”

“The worst part is that if it happens again, she’s probably going to throw me out of the camp, for good. I might even have to return to jail.”

Mike was silent for a moment, thinking hard. He finally said, “I’ve got an idea. Why don’t we find out for ourselves who’s doing these burglaries, and then that’ll clear your name.”

Chase sat down on the edge of the seat of the picnic table. “I don’t know, that sounds pretty risky…”

“It’s the only way. If this happens again, you’ll be thrown out for sure.”

Joey smiled. “That’s not such a bad thing, is it?” he said sarcastically. Chase just glared.

“But seriously,” Mike continued, “I think we should. Let’s do it tonight. After everyone else is in bed, we’ll sneak over to the camp offices and hide out in the bushes. When we see someone go in, we’ll follow them and try to find out who it is.”

“Mike, that’s a crazy plan,” Joey said.

“Let’s do it,” Chase agreed.

Mike looked expectantly at Joey. “Will you come with us to help out?”

Just then, Smiley walked up to them. “Hey, what’re you guys doing?”

Mike and Chase said nothing, trying to look as innocent as possible. Joey, however, blurted out, “We’re going to find out who’s been doing the burglaries at the camp offices.”

Matt’s eyes grew wide. “Really? That sounds like fun. Can I come?”

Mike spoke up. “No, I’m sorry, but you can’t. This might be dangerous. We don’t know who this person is who’s doing these things, but he might have guns or weapons. You’d better just stay here.”

Matt smiled slyly. “I’ll tell Mr. Longer if you don’t let me come.”

Chase looked at Mike. “All right,” Mike said reluctantly. “You can come. But not a word to anyone else about this.”

Matt nodded solemnly.

“So, Joey, will you come with us?”

“No. I’m done helping you guys with your foolish plans. It was stupid of me to help you bury the ‘stuff’ yesterday. I could have gotten arrested for that, and I don’t want to be a part of your newest plan.”

“Look, Joey,” Mike said, “We could spend all afternoon debating this back and forth, but you know that in the end, I’m going to win. So you might as well save us both the trouble and agree to come with us.”

Joey looked down, and Mike could tell that he was thinking. Finally, he looked up and said softly, “I know I’m going to regret this.”

Mike smiled broadly. “Good. Then let’s all meet in my tent at ten o’clock tonight.”

Later that afternoon, Chase walked alone down the road, across the bridge, to the Scoutcraft center. He was sincerely hoping that he wouldn’t have to face the Zen of Pioneering today, since he wasn’t really in the mood. He was very much preoccupied with worrying about what he was about to do tonight. He knew that trying to find out who was burglarizing the office was the right thing to do, and possibly the only thing that would save his reputation and good name, but he kept having a feeling that this was all going to backfire.

So he was truly glad when he approached the Scoutcraft area and spotted Ben, not in the tent as he usually was, but instead, he was sharpening an ax while sitting on a log, in the corner of the Scoutcraft area.

Chase walked in and went over to the place where Ben was. Finding a seat on a nearby log, he waited until the rest of the scouts had arrived. Ben remained silent until the twelfth scout walked in, at which time he stood up and held up his hand to get silence.

“Greetings, scouts. Today we will be using the ax to chop down trees to lash together to build a lean-to shelter.”

This made everyone happy. Anyone who has been in scouting for any length of time knows that axes are joyous things to use, and they make any scout happy.

“So does that mean we won’t have to invoke the Spirit of Pioneering?” called out a scout from the back of the crowd. Everyone laughed.

Ben smiled. “No, of course not. Today, we will become in touch with the Zen of the Ax. This is a much more intense thing on which to meditate, and I trust that you are all ready to meditate on this mystery.”

Everyone groaned. No one liked these meditation exercises Ben had them go through.

“Close your eyes, scouts. Now empty your minds of all other merit badges. Focus on the ax.”

Chase did as he was told. His eyes closed, he thought about axes, their handles and heads, how sharp the blade should be, what they are used for.

“Now envision yourself holding an ax. What will you do with the ax? How will you hold it? What will you cut down?”

Chase’s mind wandered from one ax image to another. He saw himself holding a sharp ax, ready to cut down a twenty-foot tall statue of Mrs. Potter. He was about to swing the ax, deal the devastating blow…

“Now, remember, axes are dangerous tools if you do not know how to properly use them.”

In his mind’s eye, Chase’s ax was about to strike the statue. He swung with all his might…

…And all of a sudden, the ax bounced off the statue, as if it had struck rubber, and started flying back, out of control, towards his own neck…

…An image appeared of a guillotine with the blade falling upon him, ready to slice his throat. The blade drew closer and closer, almost in slow motion, falling, falling. He felt the cold breeze of death blow across his skin. His dream-mind closed his eyes, not wanting to see the strike of death as Chase lay there helpless, his head locked securely in the guillotine. The blade drew closer and closer until it was almost about to slice through his flesh…

Chase opened his eyes, startled. Ben was looking at him.

“Woah,” Chase said, still shook up. “That was intense.”

“I know it was,” Ben replied, an excited gleam spreading across his eyes. “I was controlling your thoughts.”

Chase was still too shocked to completely understand what he said.

All of a sudden, Ben called out, “Okay, everyone, we’re going to get started. Follow me, we’re going to go get an ax from the supply box.”

Chase never gave the event a second thought.

~11~

The rain stopped, the sun came out, and it turned out to be a beautiful day. Later that afternoon, after Chase returned to the campsite (with many blisters on his hands. He wasn’t used to using an ax very much), he met Mike, who was about to go to free swim at the waterfront.

“Hey, Chase, want to come to free swim?” Mike asked.

“You know I can’t swim very well,” Chase replied.

“That doesn’t matter. We can get up a game of water football in the shallow end.”

Chase shrugged. “I guess so. Maybe it’ll take my mind off of what we’re going to do tonight.” He still had his bathing suit on underneath his shorts, so he grabbed his towel from the tent and they both started to walk towards the waterfront.

“Are you worried about our stakeout or something?”

“How could you tell?” Chase was never more sarcastic.

“You know, it’s the only way to clear your name.”

He sighed. “I know. It’s just…I really don’t want to go back to jail. As much as I complain about life, being here sure beats being in the detention center.”

“So do you like scouting now?”

“Yeah, I guess so…at least here you and Matt are nice to me. Back in the detention center, no one was truly nice.” He paused as he was thinking for a moment. “Why are you nice? I really haven’t been nice to you.”

“What do you mean?” Mike asked, embarrassed. “I’m not that nice. After all, I didn’t really want to share a tent with you at first.”

“Yeah, but you didn’t turn me in when I had drugs, and you’re nice to me even when I’m not nice in return. Why is that?”

“Well, I’m just trying to follow Christ. He said, treat others as you’d like them to treat you. He also said to turn the other cheek when people insult you.”

“That’ll never get you anywhere in this world.”

“No, but it’ll get me to heaven in the next world, which is where I’m trying to go.”

They arrived at the waterfront, and both of them took off their shirts to go swimming. Chase noticed that Mike was wearing an odd-looking brown cloth necklace, and a round, oval medal, with a lady on it. “What are those?” he asked, pointing to the necklaces.

Mike took them off and held them in his hands. “The brown one is a scapular, and the silver medal is a Miraculous Medal.”

“Why do you wear them? They’re pretty ugly, if you ask me.”

Mike laughed. “It’s not for fashion. The Miraculous Medal is a sign that I’m consecrated to Our Lady, and the scapular is another sacramental that reminds me of Our Lady’s presence. It also has a promise that you won’t go to hell if you wear it.”

Chase’s eyes widened, then narrowed. “Wait a second. How can a medal and a piece of cloth get you to heaven? That’s just odd.”

“They don’t automatically get me to heaven. But they remind me that God is always with me, and that helps me to stay out of sin and love God.”

“So who’s the lady on the medal? Is that a picture of God?”

Mike laughed again. “No, that’s Mary, the mother of God. She’s my protector and friend.”

“So God had a mother? Wouldn’t that make her God instead?”

“No. You see, Jesus Christ, Who is God came down from heaven to live with men, and He was born of Mary. So we really can say that Mary is the mother of God.”

“I thought that Jesus was just a nice guy. He wasn’t really God.”

“He was God. He said so Himself, when He said that ‘I AM’, which is the traditional name of God. And He proved that He wasn’t a liar because He rose from the dead.”

“That’s confusing. How could He do something like rise from the dead?”

Mike looked at his watch. “I’ll explain this all to you later. We should go swimming now. We only have a half-hour left of free swim.”

With that, both boys went into the swimming area. They soon got up a game of water football with Mr. McGillicuddy, Charlie, Billy, Bobby, Justin, and Clayton. They had been playing thus for about seven minutes when the whistle from the head lifeguard blew twice. This was a buddy check, where the lifeguards make sure that no one has drowned. Everyone needed a buddy to go into the swim area, and when buddy check was called, the two buddies needed to stand next to each other and clasp hands in the air. Then the lifeguards would count them, and if the count of buddies equaled the number of people who had come in to the swim area, then they were free to swim. If there was an unequal number, that meant that someone might have drowned, and the lake needed to be searched for the body of the drowned swimmer. Over all, not pleasant stuff. But it was necessary.

When the two whistles sounded, all of the buddies joined hands and stood still, and silent. One of the lifeguards counted the buddies, then yelled to the person in the lifeguard tower, “Fourteen doubles and five triples!”

The response came, “No! Try again!”

The lifeguard on the dock counted once more. “Thirteen doubles and five triples!”

The response came back, “No! Try again.”

The lifeguard on the dock tried again. After a minute he called out, “Thirteen doubles and six triples!”

“No! Try again!”

Andy came out of the lifeguard tower and stormed out to the dock. The lifeguard was trying once more to count the number of buddies in the water, when Andy walked up to him. “Can’t you count?” he asked sarcastically, coming up close to the lifeguard and getting into his face.

“Sorry,” he apologized, although he was bigger than Andy. “I still get thirteen doubles and six triples.”

“You suck!” Andy shouted, pushing the lifeguard in the water, and he hit with a splash, not expecting it at all. Andy turned away, muttering, “I can’t stand incompetence.” He pointed to another lifeguard down the dock and shouted. “You! Count them!”

The other lifeguard quickly counted. “Twelve doubles and six triples!”

The answer came from the lifeguard tower, “Good! Continue swimming!”

However, no one was about to move. They all stared at Andy, the communistic lifeguard. People were stunned at what they had just seen.

Andy, with his head held high, walked off the dock and returned to inside the lifeguard tower.

Everyone resumed swimming.

Later, once everyone returned to their campsite, they had about a half of an hour before dinner, so Chase, Mike, Justin, and Charlie decided to take their required shower for the week. They headed over to the shower house, which was a roofless cement building with one room containing twelve showers. Everyone showered in their bathing suits inside.

It was a nice feeling to stand there under the hot water, Chase thought. There was only one other scout in the showers, along with the four from Troop 1023.

“Did you see what Mark did today?” Chase heard Charlie say, referring to another younger scout in their troop.

“No, what did he do?” Justin responded.

“He was pulling on the tarp over the picnic tables, and he pulled it down right onto Mr. Longer, who was sitting there at the table. It was hilarious. Mr. Longer was pretty mad at him, but he didn’t yell or anything.”

“I bet that was funny to see,” Mike said.

“Oh, gosh, it was. He’s such a nutcase.”

“I know,” agreed Justin. “Mark’s the most hyperactive kid I know.”

The other kid in the shower laughed. “We have a few of those in our troop.”

“I tell you,” Charlie said, “We’ve got a lot of guys in our troop who have ADD.”

The other kid looked at him. “Really? That’s interesting. I’ve got ADD.”

“Yeah, well,” Charlie said, embarrassed. “They don’t treat it with Ritalin. So they’re hyper all the time.”

“Really? Well, I don’t treat my ADD with medication, either.”

Charlie looked horrified that he had insulted the other person in the shower until the other kid smiled. “You want to know how I treat my ADD? I fidget.”

“You what?”

“I fidget. You know, bounce around. I’m constantly moving. That’s how I get my energy out. It works, too.”

“Really?” said Charlie, grateful that the kid wasn’t mad at his insensitive comments. “That’s interesting. I hope I didn’t insult you. I really have nothing against people with ADD.”

The kid laughed. “No offense taken.”

Mike chuckled and said to Charlie, “Nice save.”

Charlie just looked at him and said, “I think I’d better keep my mouth shut from now on. That way I won’t have to insert my foot into it.”

Chase just had to laugh.

That night, Chase tried to act as normal as possible, throughout dinner, and throughout the evening. He didn’t want to alert any adults to their plan of what they were about to do that night. It was difficult, however. He was terribly nervous of getting caught, and everything blowing up in his face.

Twice during the night, Mr. Longer asked him, “Are you okay? You don’t look right.”

Both times Chase had to lie to him. “Yeah, Mr. Longer. I’m fine. Just tired, that’s all.”

At around nine-thirty, he went into his tent and lie down on the cot, exhausted but too nervous to sleep. Instead, he thought. Just when everything was about to go right with his life, just when he was starting to fit in, everything had to be screwed up by Mrs. Potter. He knew that to catch this mysterious burglar was the only way to clear his name, but he still didn’t like the idea at all.

Shortly after nine forty-five, Mike came in. He sat down on his cot, looking exhausted as well. “How’s it going, Chase,” he said as way of a greeting.

Chase just took a deep breath and didn’t respond. He was too tired to bother.

“Are you nervous?” Mike asked, in a low voice.

“Yeah. This is a stupid idea, Mike. If we get caught, I’m done for.”

Mike nodded sympathetically, reclining on his cot. “Yeah, well…just remember, that whatever happens will be God’s will. May His will be done.”

This didn’t make Chase feel much better. “Uh…I hate to disagree with you, but no. I don’t want God’s will to be done, if God’s will is for us to be caught and for me to be sent back to jail.”

“I understand, but God has reasons for doing things that we don’t know about.”

“Whatever. Look, let’s just do this and get it over with, so my name will be cleared, and this camp will be rid of its burglar. Let’s leave God out of this.”

“So I guess you’re not in the mood for a prayer right now?”

Chase snorted. “Yeah, right,” he said sarcastically.

Mike closed his eyes and started to pray, to intercede - for everyone. That Chase may be converted to see the beauty of the Catholic faith, and that he may not be sent back to the detention center. That Joey may be patient with Chase. That Matt may not get into trouble during this mission. That they catch the burglar. There were so many things to pray for, and Mike was doing his best to send them all to the Altar of God in heaven where the Father guides everything by his all-powerful hand.

He actually started to doze off, because the next thing he knew, Bobby was outside playing Taps on his bugle, giving the signal for everyone to go to bed. Mike sat up and looked at his watch. It was exactly ten o’clock.

He sat there, watching, silently, for about two minutes before he heard footsteps outside of his tent. His tent flaps were opened, and in stepped Matt, carrying a flashlight. “Ready to go?” Matt asked, obviously excited by this adventure.

“Yeah, just a minute,” Mike replied, gently shaking Chase’s cot, for he had fallen asleep. Chase sat up, dazed for a moment, but he soon started putting on his shoes.

A moment later, Joey walked through the back of the tent. “All right everyone, I’m here. The party can start,” he said very sardonically. He, too, was carrying a flashlight.

Mike stood up. “All right, let’s go.” With that, the four scouts went out the back of the tent quietly and started walking towards the camp offices.

Cletus walked along the path alone, about five minutes until ten p.m. He soon reached the office, which was dark and deserted at this time of night. He went behind it and sat down against the back wall of the building, ready to wait for as long as possible. He sat there, looking up at the dark sky, determined to catch whoever was doing these burglaries, to once again make the camp safe at night.

He fell asleep in five minutes.

They walked along the deserted path, being as silent as possible. It was a very dark night, as the moon was hidden beneath a thick layer of clouds. They didn’t turn their flashlights on, because they didn’t want to alert anyone to their presence. Fear hung in the air as they went along. Soon, the offices were in sight.

Mike very quietly started to whisper, “Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to thy protection, implored thy help, or sought thy intercession was left unaided…”

“What are you saying?” Joey whispered to him, interrupting his prayer.

“Oh, nothing,” he replied hastily. “Just the Memorare.”

“That’s a good idea,” Joey replied. “We need all the help we can get.”

They approached the offices, which loomed in front of them, dark and deserted.

“Where should we hide?” Matt asked, looking around. There really weren’t a lot of very good hiding places.

Chase looked over to the woods to the left of the building, about ten yards from the entrance. This would be close enough to hear if someone was coming, and yet far enough away to be hidden. “Let’s hide in the woods over here,” he said, walking towards the trees. Everyone soon followed suit.

Once they had gotten situated, they waited. Waiting was actually incredibly boring. Nothing happened. It was starting to get a little chilly as they were sitting on the moist ground. There were plenty of bugs around, biting them and generally making their life miserable, as bugs do best.

They had been sitting there, on the ground, partially hidden by the bushes, for about half an hour. Nothing had even stirred, and Chase was starting to lose patience with the whole operation.

“You know what, guys?” he finally said, frustrated. “I don’t think anyone’s coming. This plan was really stupid. What if we get caught?”

“Chase,” Mike replied, “What time did the camp director say that the burglaries happened?”

“I think it was eleven o’clock both nights.”

“It’s only ten-thirty! Let’s stay until eleven thirty, just to make sure no one’s coming.”

Chase shrugged in agreement.

All of a sudden, however, everyone heard a rustling coming from the path. Slowly, all four scouts perked up to look through the bush, and they could make out the figure of a shadowy person creeping towards the offices.

“He’s early tonight,” Joey commented quietly.

The person slowly and cautiously climbed the stairs leading to the wooden deck that surrounded the offices. He went to a window that was next to the front door, and with the stealth of a fox, pulled out a glass cutter from his pocket and completely removed the window pane. Then, like a cat, he smoothly climbed inside the building, not making any noticeable noise.

“It’s showtime,” Joey said to no one in particular as he led the way out of the bushes. The other three followed him.

As silently as possible, they went up onto the deck and went to the window, carefully peering into it, trying to keep as hidden as possible.

“What should we do?” Matt asked.

“Just a second,” Joey whispered. Quickly he looked down to Matt and said, “Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. He went into a back room, so you’re going to sneak in and let all of us in by unlocking the side door.”

Matt nodded, visibly afraid, but trying valiantly to be brave. Being the smallest, he fit easily through the window. Once inside, he dropped silently to the floor and went to the side door.

There was a loud bump in the office, and Matt froze in fear. He heard the mysterious person shuffling through papers in the back room, so he continued slowly going to the door. Upon reaching it, he unlocked it and opened it very slowly, and the other three scouts came in, as quietly as possible, closing the door behind them.

Just then, however, there was a crash coming from the other room. A filing cabinet had fallen over as the mysterious person pulled out one of its drawers.

Cletus woke up when he heard the crash. Leaping to his feet, he drew his flashlight out of his pocket. “Who’s in there?” he called out, quite loudly. He ran up to the back door and tried to unlock it, but since it was dark, he couldn’t find the right key.

The mysterious person heard Cletus’ voice coming from outside. He bolted out of the back room, trying to escape as fast as possible. Unfortunately, as soon as he ran out of the back room, he crashed right into Chase, who was standing in front of the front door. Both of them fell onto the floor.

“Guys! See who it is!” Chase shouted, trying to throw the big man off of him.

Matt turned his flashlight on and pointed it at the man, but his face was covered by a ski mask, so they couldn’t tell his identity.

The man leapt to his feet, and quickly unlocked the front door. He opened it wide and ran out, which set off the burglar alarm. He quickly ran away, into the night.

Meanwhile, Cletus finally found the back door key. He unlocked it and swung it wide open. He was surprised to see the four scouts inside.

All four scouts tried to run away. They all knew that it must have looked like they were the ones who committed the burglaries. Cletus chased them down and grabbed a hold of Chase and Mike. Meanwhile, Joey and Matt ran out the door.

Cletus, with impressive strength, threw both scouts to the floor and turned on the lights, and flicked the switch on the alarm that made it stop sounding. Then, he stood over them, shaking his head, trying to calm down. “Chase Woodcock, I knew it was you,” he commented angrily, obviously disappointed. “But Mike Connor! This is a surprise. You seemed like such a nice kid in Environmental Science Merit Badge. Not the type of person I would suspect to burglarize the camp offices, but hey, even good kids go bad.”

“Cletus, we can explain,” Mike said desperately, not bothering to get up from the floor.

“You might as well save it. You’ll have a lot of explaining to do when Mrs. Potter gets here.”

Joey and Matt stopped running when they were out of sight from the camp offices. They stopped to rest on the path, trying to catch their breath.

“What should we do?” Matt said, his heart racing from fear.

Joey looked down the path. “We need Mr. Longer’s help for this one.” With that, they ran off down the path to their campsite, to wake Mr. Longer.

Ten minutes later, everyone was assembled in the camp offices. It was truly a sight to see. Everyone was tired, Mrs. Potter and Mr. Longer were both in their bedclothes, Cletus was dressed as normal, and Matt, Joey, Mike, and Chase were all dressed normally but were dirty from hiding out in the woods.

Although Mr. Longer wasn’t pleased to be awakened from a sound sleep, he looked too sleepy to be angry with his scouts. Cletus, on the other hand, was furious. He paced back and forth in the office, like a caged animal, with an angry expression on his face. Mrs. Potter was somewhere in the middle, only slightly angered. For the most part she was calm.

“So please explain to me,” Mrs. Potter began, in her usual kind way, “Why you four were found in this office at ten-forty this night.”

Chase began to say something, but Mike cut him off. “Mrs. Potter,” he began, recalling the great martyrdom speeches of the past, “It was all my fault. I should get all the blame for this.” He tried to look as contrite as possible.

“Go on,” she said, interested.

“I only wanted to clear Chase’s name. I heard that you had been suspecting him for committing the burglaries around here. I figured that if I found out who really had been burglarizing this office, you would stop suspecting my friend.”

Chase looked at him, surprised that he would be called his friend.

Mike continued. “These other three were actually here to stop me. They found out about my plan to spy on the office, and since they didn’t want me to get in trouble, they decided to try to stop me themselves. It was only unfortunate that they were in here when Cletus caught me. In reality, they weren’t doing anything wrong.”

Chase again looked at him, even more surprised that he would say something that was an outright lie to keep the other three out of trouble.

“You might be surprised when I say this,” Mrs. Potter replied, smiling, “But I believe you. There’s no way you could have cut this window open so perfectly. I know you’re innocent.”

Cletus virtually flipped when he heard this. “But Mrs. Potter!” he exclaimed, becoming red in the face. “What about the fact that they were still breaking and entering, not to mention the fact that they were out of their campsite after quiet hours, and the fact that they were spying, and…”

Mrs. Potter held up her hand for silence. “I do not disagree that these scouts should be punished. But I’ll leave that up to their Scoutmaster.”

Mr. Longer was asleep in his chair.

Mrs. Potter smiled. “I guess he’ll have to decide on a punishment when he wakes up. But to you scouts, I do hope that you learned a lesson. Consider the fact that I’m giving you a warning. If you get another warning, there definitely will be repercussions.” She was silent for a moment before remembering something else. Addressing Chase, she said, “For you, young man, I just remembered something. I need to give you another warning, for disrespect to a merit badge counselor.”

“Who?” Chase asked.

“Apparently Andy, the waterfront director, has told me that you have been repeatedly making rude remarks and being insubordinate in his class. So I have decided to give you your second warning. I was going to tell you tomorrow, but I suppose that now is as good a time as ever. One more and you will be sent home.”

Chase nodded sadly, feeling guilty.

Mr. Longer woke up with a start and looked around. “Where am I? What am I doing here?” he demanded, vastly confused.

Mrs. Potter smiled. “You’d better go to bed. You scouts are all dismissed, unless there’s something else you have to say.”

“Mrs. Potter,” Chase said, “There really was another burglar in here tonight! He was a tall man, but we couldn’t tell anything else because he was totally dressed in black.”

“I know, Chase,” she replied. “I’ll take care of that later. I suppose the person who was supposed to be guarding the offices fell asleep.” She looked accusingly at Cletus, who cowered.

“Goodnight, Mrs. Potter,” said Mike, as he got up to leave. He had to nudge Matt, who too was asleep in his chair. ‘Poor kid,’ he thought, ‘He was so brave to come with us tonight. It’s been a long night.’ Soon, all five troop members were out the door and headed back to their campsite.

This gave Cletus a chance to speak privately with the camp director. “Mrs. Potter, with all due respect, I thought you didn’t trust Chase at all. Why didn’t you want to kick him out of the camp? You could have called the cops about his breaking and entering, and that would have sent him back to jail for breaking his parole.”

Mrs. Potter looked Cletus in the eyes and spoke sincerely. “In these past few hours, I’ve learned who to trust and who not to trust.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“After I had been thinking about a scout’s testimony today, I realized that he was lying. This kid Rich came to me today, and he said that he was walking back from the showers at eleven o’clock on Monday night, when the first burglary happened. He saw Chase breaking into the offices at that time, so he claims he was a witness to the first crime.”

“So?”

“The showers close at ten pm. There was no way he was still out at eleven pm. I can’t believe that I believed him for a minute. So Chase was really telling the truth when he said he didn’t burglarize these offices. There’s also another reason that I believe Chase is innocent, but I can’t tell you that right now…”

“Why not?”

“Trust me, you’ll find out at the end of the week. But I know what the burglar is looking for. And it’s not in the office anymore. I took it out on Tuesday morning.”

“What is this mysterious thing? Or are you not going to tell me?”

Mrs. Potter shook her head sadly. “I wish I could, I really do. But I can’t. Not yet, anyway. You’ll find out soon enough, though.”

“But aren’t you still uncomfortable with having a former juvenile delinquent in your camp?”

“Yes, I am, but I’m not going to kick him out without a serious reason.” She glanced at her watch. “Oh, look at the time. It’s quarter past eleven. I’m exhausted. Let’s go to bed. The burglar won’t be back tonight.” With that, the two of them locked up the place and left to go back to their homes to go to sleep.

Before Mrs. Potter went to sleep, however, she opened her dresser drawer and took out a piece of paper. Going into her kitchen, so as to not wake her husband, she sat at the table there and unfolded the paper. She looked at it long and hard.

“Oh, Cletus, I wish I could tell you,” she said out loud, although no one could hear her. “But this paper has been in my family for generations. This is what the burglar is looking for, so I need to destroy it. This piece of paper can be extremely dangerous if it falls into the wrong hands.” She looked with hatred at the paper. “The secret will be hidden forever!” Although a part of her didn’t want to, she took the paper in her hands and tore it to shreds. She quickly emptied the scraps into her trash can. “Good riddance,” she said sadly. Then Mrs. Rebecca Baden-Potter went to bed.

~12~

Thursday morning came around bright and early. It was a beautiful morning, as the sun was shining and a cool breeze swept through the trees. Birds were singing, squirrels were doing squirrel-like things, and Joey, Chase, Mike, and Matt were still asleep.

As troop was getting ready to leave for breakfast, Charlie noticed that they were missing. “Mr. Longer,” he said, “Should I go and wake up the other scouts who aren’t here?”

Mr. Longer yawned, as he, too, was still tired. “No, I don’t think so. Those four can sleep in. They had a long night last night.” Noticing Charlie’s confused look, the scoutmaster decided to do the prudent thing and walk away.

When Chase awoke, he noticed that the camp was quiet. Glancing at his watch, he was surprised to find that it was already seven forty-five in the morning.

“Mike, wake up!” he said loudly. Mike stirred and opened his eyes. “We’re going to miss breakfast if we don’t hurry up!” Breakfast was over at eight fifteen.

Mike got up, and quickly dressed.

After waking up Matt and Joey, all four went to the dining hall.

Breakfast this morning consisted of some extremely fake egg product which was apparently scrambled and served with scraps of meat disguised as sausage. Although everything was fairly disgusting, everyone was hungry.

“You know, Joey,” Chase began, after heaping a pile of yellow egg product on his plate, “I never got to thank you for coming with us last night. I really appreciate it.”

Joey shrugged. “It was nothing. In fact, it was kind of fun. We should do it again sometime.”

“Maybe next year,” Chase said with a laugh. “But I really do appreciate it. You could have gotten in major trouble for coming with us.”

“You’re welcome,” Joey replied sincerely.

“I was thinking, though,” Mike said, “That last night leaves us still with two questions. One, who is the burglar? And two, what was he looking for?”

“I noticed that the burglar seemed to know his way around the office pretty well, even in the dark. I’ll bet he’s someone connected with this camp, like a counselor or staff member or something,” Chase surmised.

“I’ll bet you’re right. He was pretty clumsy, too, wasn’t he?” Mike took a sip of his watered-down orange juice. “But who could it be? It wasn’t Cletus…”

“Ben’s pretty weird,” Chase replied.

“Andy might have done it. He’s the kind of person who would do something like that,” Matt offered.

“Yeah, but we can’t accuse anyone until we have more evidence,” Joey pointed out.

“I think we’d better just start observing the camp counselors, to see if there are any clues that link them to the burglaries. You know, like owning a black ski mask, or having a fixation with glass cutters,” said Mike. “I’ll ask Cletus when I see him today about the second question, whether there is anything valuable hidden in the office that the burglar might be looking for.”

“Wait a second,” Joey said, suddenly thinking of something. “We’ve already cleared Chase’s name. Mrs. Potter now knows that he’s innocent. Why are we bothering with this mystery? Why don’t we just let Mrs. Potter handle this? Who knows, the burglar might be dangerous. We’re getting in over our heads here.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, surprised that someone finally pointed this fact out. Chase was the first one to respond. “Joey, this camp isn’t safe until this prowler is caught. No offense to Mrs. Potter, but I don’t think she really wants to catch this guy, or else she would have called the police by now.”

“She didn’t call the police because she didn’t want the entire camp to know that the prowler keeps coming back,” Mike suggested. “But I agree with Chase. Whatever the burglar is looking for, he wants it very badly, and he might do anything to get it, including harming Mrs. Potter or some other innocent scout. The sooner he’s caught, the better.”

Joey shrugged. “I guess so. I just think that we can’t handle this on our own.”

Mike smiled. “Trust me, we’ll be fine.” Little did he know.

Later that morning, as Mike was walking alone on the path to his first merit badge, he was trying to pray the Divine Mercy Chaplet, but his mind couldn’t focus. There was just too much to think about. He kept going over last night in his mind, trying to think of some clue to who might be behind these daily break-ins. He couldn’t shake a dark feeling about the whole deal, almost as if there was something demonic behind everything that had been going on over the past few days.

Over the years, Mike had learned to trust his gut feelings, since most likely they were movements of the Holy Spirit. For example, the first time he had ever met Chase, he had a feeling that this boy was deeply troubled and up to no good, and it turned out he was right, at least at the beginning. Chase ended up in a fight with Joey.

Likewise, there was something very dark about this mystery. It was as if a huge cloud suddenly hung over him, and Mike couldn’t quite figure out why. But he knew that there was something not right about the whole matter, which is why he was so persistent in wanting to find out who’s behind the burglaries.

He soon spotted Cletus on the path, walking up ahead of him a bit. Mike ran to catch up to the counselor. Walking beside him, Mike said, “Hi, Cletus.”

Cletus barely gave him a glance. “Yes, Mike? Do you want something?”

Mike was not expecting this brusque greeting. ‘He must not be a morning person,’ he thought. “Well, I was just saying hello, but now that you mention it, I do have a question to ask you.”

Cletus sighed, as if he didn’t have the time to listen to a young scout like Mike. “Go ahead. I’m listening.”

“It’s about the burglaries…”

“I’m not discussing that matter with you.” There was something final about his tone of voice.

“Why not?” Mike said, with equal force.

Cletus looked down to the short Life scout. “You’ve gotten already too deep into this matter. It’s none of your business. Trust me, it’s being taken care of properly.”

“Like having you as night watchman? You did fall asleep last night.”

Cletus stopped walking. Turning to face his antagonist, he said tartly, “Okay. What do you want to know? Make it snappy. I don’t have all day to talk to you.”

“First, tell me why you’re so mad at me.”

“Mrs. Potter let you off too easily last night. Frankly, I don’t think she’s taking this matter as seriously as I am, and that makes me angry. And then you go and get involved. Look, just stay out of this, and you’ll be better off.” With that, he started walking off.

Mike ran after him and continued to pester him. “All I want to know now is what the burglar could be looking for. Is there something in the office that’s really valuable?”

“How the heck should I know? I’m as clueless as you are.”

“But you’ve been at this camp for a long time.”

“Trust me, there’s nothing of value at this camp…” His voice faded off as he suddenly thought of something. Almost to himself, he said, “There is that one thing, but that’s just a legend. It couldn’t be real.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Nothing. Never mind.”

Mike glared at him with his intense dark eyes. “Tell me,” he ordered.

Cletus glanced down. ‘This guy is really pestering me,’ he thought. ‘Maybe I should just tell him…it is just a legend, after all.’ To Mike he said, “Do you know about George Baden’s ghost?”

“A little bit. Ben told us about that story on the first night we were here.”

Cletus kept looking ahead. “Well, legend has it that the golden necklace is still somewhere around here, buried deep beneath the ground. The legend also says that the map is still hanging around, but no one knows where it is. Perhaps the burglar is looking for the map to the golden necklace.”

“Really? Does everyone know about the legend of George Baden?”

“Everyone who’s been around this camp for more than a day knows about the legend. But it’s just a ghost story. Nothing to put any faith in. I’m sure it didn’t happen. If it did, don’t you think someone would have found the map by now? After all, it has been more than three hundred years since the death of George Baden.”

“Yeah,” Mike agreed, somewhat disappointed that he didn’t have more information than a legend. “I guess a ghost story isn’t much to go on. Are you sure that there isn’t anything more valuable hidden in the office?”

“If I knew there was something valuable in the office, I would have taken it a long time ago and sold it for a lot of money. Then I wouldn’t have to be working at this camp.”

At this point, Mike was at the handicraft lodge, where he was taking Leatherworking Merit Badge. “Thanks a lot, Cletus. I’ll see you later today.”

“Goodbye, Mike,” replied Cletus, glad to finally get away from the pest.

At exactly nine o’clock that morning, Andy entered the waterfront area, punctual as usual. Also as usual, all of the scouts were there already.

“Good morning, gentlemen,” he said gruffly as he bent down to take off his shoes and socks. “Today we’re going to be going over some basic lifesaving skills, so I expect you to all pay extra close attention to me. Someday these skills could be vital to saving someone’s life.” He stood up and glared at all of the scouts. “Now, if you all are ready, follow me out to the dock.” With that, he turned and went to the end of the dock, followed by all of the scouts, as ducklings follow the mother duck to the water.

Once at the end of the dock, Andy picked up a rescue tube that was lying on he wooden dock. “All right, I need a practice victim,” he barked.

Meekly a sandy-haired scout raised his hand to volunteer.

“Okay, get out there, buddy.” The kid jumped in and swam out about fifteen feet from the dock, where he treaded water to stay in the same place.

“All right, you girl scouts, let me show you how a rescue throw is done. Usually, if the person was close enough to shore, you would first try to reach him by laying down on the dock and stretching out your arm or leg.” He demonstrated. “But, since that’s easy, we don’t need to practice that. Notice how I throw this rescue ring. I’m right-handed, so I hold the ring in my right hand, with the rope securely in my left hand. Now watch how I throw the ring across my body.” He hurled the ring, and it landed less than a foot from the scout floating in the water. The scout quickly grabbed on, as he had been tiring from treading the water. “Did you all see how I let the rope out in my left hand? Now we pull him in, going hand over hand on the rope.” He quickly reeled the scout in to the dock, and picked up the ring from the water. “Okay, now I need someone to go first to try this.”

No one wanted to be the first, so Andy pointed to a tall kid in the back and shouted, “You! Get up here. You’re going to try to rescue this kid.”

The volunteer victim swam back out to his spot, and the other kid picked up the ring. Giving it a hurl, he threw the object out into the water, and it landed about three feet short from the victim in the water.

“Not bad. Could be better,” Andy commented. This was the closest to a compliment he had ever given anyone.

“All right, next thrower.” He looked around, but no one was willing to volunteer. Finally, he pointed to Chase and shouted, “You! Mr. Woodcock, get out here. I want to see you throw this.”

Chase walked up to it and picked the ring up, confidently. He gave it a mighty toss, and the projectile landed exactly in front of its intended target. The victim grabbed a hold of the ring, and Chase heaved it in very quickly. When the victim reached the dock, Chase picked up the ring and handed it to Andy.

Andy took the ring and, looking straight at Chase, said bitterly, “That sucked. Try it again.” He handed the ring back to Chase.

Chase gave him a very defiant look but took the ring from his hands. The victim swam back out, and Chase proceeded to hurl the ring once more. Again, the ring landed in the perfect spot: directly in front of the victim. Once more the victim grabbed on, and Chase expertly pulled the ring back in to the dock.

Andy just shook his head as he grabbed the ring. “You’re hopeless,” he said emotionlessly. “Get back over there with the rest of the scouts, you sissy.”

Chase opened his mouth to say something in reply, but Matt suddenly called out, “Chase, don’t say anything!”

Chase looked at him, confused.

“Don’t you see?” Matt said, “He’s trying to bait you. Don’t fall for it. He wants to get you kicked out of the camp.”

Chase nodded. He cast a stony glance back to Andy, then returned to the rest of the scouts. “Thanks, Matt,” he said to the younger scout.

“No problem,” he replied. “I don’t want to see you kicked out of this camp.”

“I did everything perfectly, though. I don’t understand why he said I didn’t do well.”

“Don’t worry about it. You did really well. Andy’s just being mean.”

Later that morning, after everyone had returned from their merit badges, they had some free time before lunch. Bobby and Charlie were sitting at the picnic table, ready to begin a game of cards, when Mike walked up to them.

“Hey, guys,” Mike said cheerfully, “Mind if I join you?”

Bobby looked at him strangely. “I don’t know, are you going to bring your friend Chase along with you?” he asked sarcastically.

Mike was taken aback. “What did you mean by that?”

“What do you think?” Bobby asked, with a slight chill in his voice. “You used to hate him, and now you’re best buddies with him. What’s with that?”

Mike didn’t know how to reply. “You know,” he finally said, “Chase is an okay guy once you get to know him.” He paused, before finally understanding what Bobby had been implying. “Wait a second. Are you mad at me because I’ve been spending more time with him than I have been with you guys?”

“I don’t know. I just get this feeling that you and Chase have some secret that you’re keeping from us.”

“Yeah,” chimed in Charlie, “What was Mr. Longer talking about when he said that you guys had a late night last night? Why didn’t you guys come to breakfast with us?”

“I have no idea what he was talking about,” Mike feigned. “We went to bed at the normal time. We’re not keeping any secrets from you guys. And look, I know you’re probably put off that I’ve been hanging out with Chase a lot. But come on, he’s new in the troop, and he needs a friend. I’m just trying to be one to him. If you guys would be a friend to him too, you’d see his a really nice guy.”

Bobby felt the accusation in that last sentence. “I don’t trust him. After seeing him beat up Joey that one day, I know he could do the same to me.”

“He’s changed a lot since then. Trust me, he’s a different person now.”

“I must admit,” added Charlie, “It was pretty impressive when he beat up Rich during that capture the flag game. Maybe he has changed. But I still say that you’re keeping something from us.”

Mike shook his head. “Nothing. Trust me, there’s nothing going on that you don’t know about.” Mike felt bad about lying, but he had to keep last night’s incident a secret.

Luckily, neither Bobby nor Charlie had a chance to respond, because Mr. Longer called everyone together to form up for lunch. Charlie, however, wasn’t convinced at all. He decided to talk to Mike privately about it later.

~13~

“All right, everyone, today we’re going to be examining the flora and fauna of the Midwestern Pennsylvania deciduous forest region. To do that, we’ll be headed back up to the clearing where we were before. Everyone grab a shovel on the way out.” With that, Cletus exited the nature lodge, followed by all the scouts in Environmental Science Merit Badge.

Mike was still to busy thinking about everything to enjoy the day. It was a gorgeous day, as the sun was shining and a cool breeze blew across the land.

The scouts walked along the narrow path until they arrived at the clearing. They quickly formed a circle around Cletus, who was bending down and picking some grass and flowers on the ground.

“Okay, who knows what this plant is?” he asked, holding up a small yellow flower.

Billy looked at Clayton, as if to ask, ‘How stupid does he think we are?’

Clayton raised his hand and answered. “Cletus, that’s a dandelion.”

Cletus looked at the plant. “My goodness, you’re right. Sorry, that one was way too easy.” He searched the ground a bit, then picked a yellow flower with five petals. “Okay, does anyone know what kind of flower this is?”

No one knew.

“This is a trout lily. It grows very frequently up here in Pennsylvania. It’s a very beautiful flower that can be often found around ponds and other bodies of water.”

Cletus picked up another plant, but Mike wasn’t listening. He was busy thinking about something he had learned in this merit badge a few days prior.

Cletus had said on Monday that there are very few rocks in the upper soil here at Camp Heritage. But then why was it that when Joey was digging to bury the drugs, he said he hit a rock? What if what he hit wasn’t a rock, but something else…like a box? Perhaps the legend of the golden necklace was real, and they had accidentally stumbled upon where it was buried?

It’s possible, Mike thought. After all, what else could the burglar be looking for but a map? No one hides jewelry or money in a camp office, but it would be possible for Mrs. Potter to have stored the map to the golden necklace in there. Although farfetched, this seemed to make sense.

Mike decided to wait until he got back to camp to tell the others about his idea.

After all the merit badges were done, all the scouts returned to camp. Mike, trying to be as nonchalant as possible, went up to Chase and told him, “I figured it out.”

Chase was about to go to free swim, so he wasn’t about to get into a deep philosophical debate with his friend in case Mike had figured out the meaning of life. “That’s nice,” he replied. “I’m going to free swim. Want to come?”

“Chase, this is important. I have a suspicion of what the burglar is trying to steal.”

“Hmm, that’s interesting. Should we get Joey and Matt?”

Mike agreed, so they went to find the two. They found them sitting at the picnic table, playing poker with a couple of other scouts. “Joey and Matt, we’ve got to talk to you.”

Noticing Mike’s serious expression, they both got up and all four of them went to Mike and Chase’s tent. Sitting on the bunks, Joey said, “So what’s this all about?”

Mike took a deep breath before beginning. “Do you remember how when you were burying the stuff in the middle of the grove of trees, you hit a rock? Well, we learned in Environmental Science that there really aren’t too many rocks in the upper soil. So I was starting to think that you hit something other than a rock…something like a box of some sort.”

“What are you getting at?” Joey asked, skeptically.

“I think the burglar is looking for that box.”

There was silence for a moment, before Chase asked, “And what is in that box?”

“Well, I think it’s the golden necklace of George Baden.”

There was another moment of silence before everyone burst out laughing.

“That’s the most absurd thing I’ve ever heard!” Joey said between laughs. “What ever gave you that crazy idea?”

Mike was undaunted by their reaction. “Well, think about it. No one hides jewels or money in the camp offices, but they might be hiding the map in there. Plus, no one ever goes out to the grove of trees. It would be a perfect place to hide something like a golden necklace.”

His logic did make sense. Mike then continued, “I think it would be worth it to go back out there to the grove of trees and check it out.”

At this point, Matt stood up. “Oh no. Not again. We’re not following one of your wild plans again. Last time we did, we got caught by Cletus. If you’re going to go wandering out to the middle of the woods looking for some golden necklace, I’m not going with you. And I’ll tell Mr. Longer. You guys will get in big trouble.”

“Matt, calm down,” Mike said gently. “No one will get in trouble. Trust me, there won’t be anyone that far into the woods, so no one will even know we’re there.”

Chase had been silently thinking. He finally said, “I agree with Mike. Although it sounds somewhat farfetched that this ghost story of George Baden would be true, what if it is? We could be rich and famous for finding the golden necklace. Let’s go tonight, at about eight o’clock.”

Joey nodded. “That sounds good. What could be the harm? If we don’t find anything, then we’re no worse off. Matt, are you sure you don’t want to come? It’ll be exciting.”

Matt looked around, from Chase to Mike to Joey. “Okay,” he said finally, “I’ll come with you guys. But I still think this is really stupid and we’ll get in trouble.”

“Then why do you want to come, if you think this is stupid?”

“What!” Matt exclaimed, “And let you guys get rich and famous without me? Forget it. I’m coming with you.”

“Good,” Chase said, smiling. “Also, guys, I have a pretty good idea as to who’s behind the burglaries.”

“Really? Whom?” Joey asked.

“It must be Andy. Matt could tell you, he was acting especially cruel to me today in Swimming Merit Badge. I think he was deliberately trying to get me kicked out of camp. The only reason he would do that is if he knew that I knew he was the burglar. So I think Andy’s the guilty one.”

“Okay,” Mike agreed, “He’ll be our prime suspect.” Standing up, he went out of the tent, followed by everyone else. “Meet me here at eight o’clock tonight, guys.” With that, they all dispersed, excited and anxious for another adventure that night.

Later that day, as the entire troop was walking to the dining hall together, Mr. Longer pulled Mike aside.

“Mike, I need to have a word with you,” Mr. Longer said in a troublesome tone.

Immediately, Mike wondered whether he found out about what they were to do tonight. It seemed that during this entire week, anytime Mr. Longer had anything to say to him, it wasn’t something that he wanted to hear. “Yes, Mr. Longer?” Mike responded, meekly.

“I was just thinking about last night,” he said, looking straight ahead. “I really don’t want to, but I feel that I must punish you for sneaking out last night and breaking and entering the camp offices. So I’ve decided that tonight, you’ll be cleaning out the troop trailer for an hour.”

Mike shrugged. “That’s not so bad. Thanks for going easy on me, Mr. Longer.”

“No problem…but I must say, I’m very surprised that you would do something like that. You’ve always been the type of person to follow rules and not get into trouble. Perhaps putting you with Chase was the wrong idea.”

“No, Mr. Longer, it’s not that. Trust me, he’s not a bad influence on me. In fact, I think I’m finally starting to be a good influence on him.”

“I agree. I was very surprised to see him be willing to stick up for Matt during the capture the flag game. Perhaps all he really needed were some good peers to hang around, to enable him to become a much better person.”

“Yeah. Strange how people can change, isn’t it?”

“It is indeed.” At this point, the troop reached the dining hall. “So I’ll see you at eight o’clock at the trailer, okay?” Mr. Longer said before starting to walk away.

“Uh…can we do it at seven?”

“Nope, sorry. We’re going to scout Vespers ceremony at seven.”

“How about nine o’clock, then?”

“I want to do it while there’s still some light outside. Why? Is there something you were going to do at eight o’clock?”

Mike shrugged. He saw no way out of it. “No, I guess eight o’clock is fine.”

“Good!” Mr. Longer exclaimed before walking away.

Mike soon found Joey sitting at a table. Sliding in next to him on the bench, Mike said, “Joey, I won’t be able to come with you guys tonight.”

This vastly surprised Joey. He held his fork in mid-bite while he responded, “Really? Why not?”

“Mr. Longer is having me clean out the trailer as punishment for last night,” he replied dismally. “Do you know the way to the grove of trees?”

Joey nodded, taking a drink of water. “We should be fine. I remember the way. Have fun cleaning out the trailer. I promise if we get rich and famous because of this, we’ll share it with you.”

Mike smiled sarcastically. “Thanks. That makes me feel much better.”

~14~

At exactly eight o’clock, dusk was beginning to fall on Camp Heritage. Chase, Joey, and Matt met at the edge of the campsite, each carrying his flashlight. After making sure that no one was looking, the threesome started walking off into the woods. Joey was carrying the shovel that they hoped would solve the mystery of the golden necklace.

Mike met Mr. Longer at the trailer at exactly eight o’clock.

“Okay, Mike, here’s what I need done. These patrol boxes have a lot of old food in them. I need you to separate the food into three piles. First, canned food and other non-perishable food items. Second, perishable food items. Third, food that’s starting to decompose.” He opened a patrol box and pulled out an old, half-rotten banana. “This is what we need to throw away. Also, once you’re done that, I need you to sweep out the trailer and reorganize the tents that are stacked against that wall.”

“Is that it?”

“Yes. That should take you about forty-five minutes or so. Good luck.” With that, the Scoutmaster walked away to leave Mike to his task.

“I wonder where we are,” Matt said innocently as they walked through the woods. Out here, everything looked the same; one hill or tree is indistinguishable from another.

“Don’t worry, we’re not lost,” Chase reassured him, although he himself wasn’t too sure if they were anywhere near to the grove of trees, the camp, or they could be near Chicago, for all he knew.

“Wait a minute,” Joey exclaimed. “This is the spot where Mike usually says the Rosary! Good, we’re on the right path.” And they continued on towards the grove.

Mike had been about his task for five minutes. It wasn’t particularly enjoyable. Cherry pie filling goes in the non-perishable pile. Box of white cake mix goes in the perishable pile. Bag of cheese curls that looked like someone sat on it goes in the demolished pile.

So it went. In a little bit, Charlie came up to the trailer, and peeked his head in the back.

Mike caught sight of him. “Have you come to help?” he asked hopefully.

Charlie shook his head. “No, not at all. I want to ask you what you’re hiding from me and Bobby.” There was an accusation in his voice.

“Didn’t we have this conversation once before?” Mike replied, trying to be funny.

“Are you going to explain your behavior?”

“First, tell me why you think I’m hiding something from you.”

Charlie nodded. “Okay. Fair enough. All of a sudden, you’ve started being buddy-buddy with Chase and Matt, when you couldn’t stand either of them before this week. I haven’t seen you around very much all week, which makes me think you’re trying to hide something. Also, this morning, Mr. Longer let you guys sleep in late this morning, saying that you four ‘had a late night last night’. Now you’re cleaning out the trailer for no apparent reason. What’s really up with you?”

Mike was growing angry at these accusations, but he kept his temper under control. “First of all, some of your accusations aren’t true. I’ve always tried to be nice to both Chase and Matt. It’s just that once I really got to know both of them, it turns out that they’re both really nice people. You should try to get to know them, instead of being prejudiced against Chase because of his past.”

“Okay, whatever. But I still know that something’s going on that you’re not telling anyone about.”

Mike knew he was trapped. There was no way he could get out of this situation without lying, and he really didn’t want to lie to one of his best friends. On the other hand, he couldn’t tell him the truth. If Charlie found out the whole story - that Chase had drugs, that they hid out last night to catch the burglar, that they’re now going to try to dig up the golden necklace - he would most certainly go straight to Mr. Longer, and get them all in trouble. This might mean expulsion for Chase, and major punishment for the other three.

Mike took a deep breath. “Well, Charlie, to be honest with you…”

Darkness was becoming more present now as they continued their hike through the woods. Soon Joey became worried, wondering where they were.

“Chase,” he tried to whisper, as not to alarm Matt, “Do you know where we are?”

Chase gave him a look that said, ‘I’m as clueless as you are.’

“If we don’t find it within the next five minutes, I say we turn back,” Joey said, looking around at the now-dark forest.

Chase too looked around as they continued to hike through the woods. “If we only knew which way was back to camp,” he added, noticing that the scenery didn’t look familiar at all.

“…You will find out about everything by the end of the week, I promise. But there’s no way I can tell you anything right now,” Mike finished.

Charlie looked at him with a mixture of confusion and betrayal. “Mike, I thought that you could tell me anything. But it appears that you don’t consider me a friend anymore.” With that, he walked away deeply saddened.

“Charlie!” Mike called after him, but Charlie kept walking. Mike felt awful. He had just unintentionally insulted one of his best friends. The more he thought about it, the more he could only think, ‘This is all my fault. Why didn’t I just turn in Chase when I caught him with the drugs? Then I could just have a nice, peaceful week at summer camp…’

As he was thinking these thoughts, he heard footsteps coming up to the trailer. Peeking his head out, he saw Ben approaching the trailer.

“Hello!” Ben called out cheerfully.

Mike, however, was in no mood to be cheerful. “Hey, Ben,” he said gloomily.

“What’s wrong? You look a bit down.”

Mike rolled his eyes. “It’s a very long story. So what brings you to Massachusetts Bay Campsite this evening, Ben?”

Ben shrugged nonchalantly. “I don’t know. I just wanted to chat with you, that’s all.”

Mike was a bit taken aback. “Why do you want to talk to me? I don’t even know you that well.”

Suddenly, Ben’s eyes turned fiery. “No,” he replied tensely, “But you do know something about the burglaries.” He smiled a truly diabolical smile. “So, what would you like to tell me about what happened last night?”

Joey looked at his watch once more. He couldn’t see it very well, but it was almost eight-thirty. “I think we ought to turn around. I don’t think we can find the grove of trees in the dark. We should try again tomorrow, when there’s more light.”

Chase wasn’t listening, however. He held up his hand for silence, and the other two stopped walking and listened closely. They heard the sound of music and dancing, off in the distance.

“What is that music?” Joey asked.

Chase started walking again. “I don’t know, but that means we must be near civilization. I’m going to go check it out.”

The threesome continued, over the next hill. At the top of the hill, Matt exclaimed, “There it is! The grove of trees!” Indeed, there it was, about fifty yards away.

A wave of fear washed over Joey. He noticed that there was something flickering in the center of the grove, as if a group of people were having a bonfire. It was from the center of the grove of trees that the singing was coming from. But there was something eerie about the singing that was coming from around the bonfire; something that was telling him to stay away.

Chase and Matt, however, started heading towards the grove, to check it all out. Joey ignored his own fears and followed them.

As they drew closer to the grove, it seemed that the music was of a very earthy, breathy sort, to the tune of panpipes and tambourines. It actually sounded as if pagan chant tones were emanating from the bonfire circle. A chill ran down Joey’s back to think of such things.

They soon reached the thick growth of pine trees. They passed through their boughs, and were taken aback by what they saw. People, many of them, dressed in long, flowing robes, were dancing around the tremendous bonfire. They were singing supernatural music, which, although beautiful, somehow was greatly terrifying.

“What is this?” Chase whispered, transfixed by the scene.

Joey didn’t reply. He couldn’t. He, too, was stock-still, staring at whatever was taking place in the middle of the grove. He couldn’t quite figure out what the purpose of this ceremony was, but it certainly was fascinating to watch.

Presently all the people stopped dancing around. They stood still, around the circle, and waving their hands in the air, chanted words in a language that Joey had never heard before.

All of a sudden, they became aware of a being rising up from the grass. This being was dressed in black, and no one was too sure of what it was, because it really didn’t have a shape. The black cloak that covered it prevented any of the boys from seeing its body. Its red eyes glowed, however, with an hellish glow, from beneath its cloak.

Slowly, what seemed like an arm stretched out toward the scouts. Uttering a loud cry, it started rushing at them.

Matt shrieked in pure terror. All three boys turned and ran as fast as they could, out of the grove, and through the woods, as fast as they could possibly run. The being didn’t follow them, but they didn’t stop running until they were far away from the grove of trees.

“Ben, I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Mike lied, taking a step back. Something about Ben’s mannerisms tonight was giving him the creeps.

“I think you do,” he said coldly. “You were there last night, in the camp offices, and you know more than you’re letting on. You know about the golden necklace.”

Mike turned and resumed sorting through the cans of food in the trailer. “Well,” he replied, “I believe that the golden necklace exists, if that’s what you mean. What else do you want to know?”

There was ice in his voice when he spoke. “You know where the necklace is.”

Mike wheeled around. “That is not true!” he exclaimed, lying once more. “Trust me, if I knew where the necklace was, why wouldn’t I be digging it up right now?”

Ben took a step back, and suddenly, his countenance relaxed. He nodded knowingly, saying, “I see. Well, forgive me for bothering you. Have a nice evening.” With that, he turned and hurried away, down the path.

Mike was left staring at him, completely confused. ‘What was that all about?’ he wondered. ‘Why does he want the golden necklace so badly? Was he the burglar?’

The boys stopped running when they had the camp in sight. “What was that thing?” Matt asked rhetorically. His face showed a look of complete terror.

“I have no idea,” Chase replied, trembling. He looked like he was in a state of shock.

Joey stood there, leaning against a tree, trying to catch his breath. He said at last, “I don’t know what that thing was, but we need to stay away from that place. Whatever that thing was, I’ll bet that it was probably demonic, and something that we should stay away from. Also, whatever we do, let’s not tell anyone about what happened tonight.” There was a note of finality in his voice.

The other two scouts readily agreed.

The remainder of the evening passed as normal. Of course, normal was relative.

‘Normal?!’ Mike thought bitterly as he brushed his teeth, preparing to go to bed. ‘There has been nothing normal about this week. I’ve just alienated one of my best friends, gotten myself in trouble for last night, and I keep getting deeper into this mystery of the golden necklace, which I really don’t care about at all. What can this lead to?’

He was drastically confused about what to do. He considered going to Mr. Longer about Ben’s odd behavior tonight, but that wouldn’t prove that he was the burglar, and it wouldn’t solve anything. He wanted to talk to Charlie and Bobby, to tell them about everything that had happened this week, to explain why he had been acting weirdly. But he knew that he could never do anything like that, because that would betray Matt, Joey, and Chase, who risked their lives last night to find out who the burglar was. A part of him even wanted to get out of the whole matter, and just enjoy the rest of the week at Camp Heritage. But he knew that Mrs. Potter would never figure out who’s behind these burglaries herself. Therefore he felt obligated to find out for himself who’s behind it all.

Grace was moving right then, trying to encourage Mike to pray for guidance in this matter. Mike, however, wasn’t really in the mood for a prayer. He finished brushing his teeth and so he went away from the bathhouse, heading for bed.

It was because he didn’t say a quick prayer that a devil was loosed upon him.

Chase was lying in bed but still wide awake when Mike entered the tent.

“Hey, Chase,” he greeted as he shoved his toothbrush and toothpaste back into his pack.

“Hey, Mike.” He was too busy trying to forget the night’s events to be talkative.

“I didn’t get a chance to ask you how the night went. Did you guys find the golden necklace?”

Chase sighed. He didn’t really want to talk about this right now, but he figured that Mike had a right to know. “Well, actually we didn’t try to look for it. We kind of met something strange out there in the grove of trees.” And he proceeded to relate the entire story to his friend, leaving nothing out.

After he had finished, Mike was silent for a long time, obviously shocked by what he had just heard. He sat down on his cot, a very surprised look on his face. Finally, after a full minute of silence, he said, “Wow.”

“I know. This whole night has been weird. I’m not sure that we should go back to the grove of trees ever again. There seems to be something sinister out there, and we don’t want to mess with it.” Chase sat up and faced his tentmate.

“I agree,” Mike said sadly. “I felt an odd feeling the first time we were out there. Let’s not go back.” He paused for a moment. He knew that they were getting too deep into this mystery. As much as he didn’t want to say it, he said, “Chase, I think we should stop this.”

“Stop what?”

“Stop pretending we’re investigators in a little Hardy Boys mystery. We don’t know what we’re dealing with, and this whole deal with the golden necklace is getting pretty scary. I wouldn’t want one of us to get hurt or end up in serious trouble as a result of our sleuthing. Besides, it’s drawing a wedge between us and the rest of the troop.”

Chase nodded, but he was confused by the last statement. “I agree that we need to put a stop to this little charade, but what do you mean, it’s driving a wedge between us and the troop?”

Mike leveled with him, boring into him with his intensely dark eyes. “Chase, Charlie’s on to us. He knows that something’s up. I don’t think it’s fair to exclude him or Bobby from what we’re doing, if we were to continue looking for the golden necklace. They’re both some of my best friends, but now they think I’m hiding something from them, because I really couldn’t tell them what we’ve been doing for the last two evenings.”

Chase gave him a funny look. “What about the fact that we were trying to rid the camp of a prowler? Isn’t that a good enough reason to keep it from them?”

“I don’t think so,” his friend replied. “In the order of priorities, it’s God, family, then friends. Then comes anything else. It’s really not worth it to lose friends over something like this.”

Chase leaned back on his cot. “You know, I really think that’s cool that you’d do that for your friends.” He paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “I’ve never met anyone like you before.”

Mike smiled. “That could be a good or bad thing,” he joked.

“I mean that in the best way possible,” Chase replied sincerely.

Mike was embarrassed by the compliment. “Thanks, but I can’t take any credit for myself. It was totally God who has changed me into who I am today.”

“Here you go off on your little religious tangents,” Chase said, truly frustrated. He simply didn’t have the gift of faith yet. “Do you just want to hash it out right now, with a religious debate? Come on, I can take you on,” he said with mock toughness.

Mike laughed. “I’d blow you out of the water.”

Chase took that as a friendly challenge. “Okay, here’s one for you. How can there be an all-good God since there’s so much evil and suffering in the world?”

Mike shook his head. “That’s an easy one. First, you’ve got to remember that people have free will, so they can decide on their own if they want to follow God or not. Evil and suffering comes in to play only when people choose not to follow God. If we all followed God perfectly, there would be no evil in the world.”

Chase nodded, as if he understood, but in reality he was thinking. Finally he whispered almost inaudibly, “Where was God when my parents died…”

Mike sighed sympathetically. “Chase, there’s a reason why everything happens. Perhaps He allowed your parents to die so that you’d be at Camp Heritage today, having this conversation, that might someday lead to your discovering faith in the Lord. We cannot know the Mind of God, or the reasons why He does certain things, like allowing your parents to die.”

His friend nodded. “I suppose you’re right. Well, it’s been a long night. We’d better get some sleep.” He lay down on his bunk once more. “Goodnight, Mike.”

“Good night, Chase.”

~15~

The next morning, Chase awoke exactly at seven a.m. He lay in bed, staring at the canvas ceiling of the tent, thinking of nothing. He heard voices outside.

“Do you have it?” he heard Mr. McGillicuddy say from the direction of the picnic tables.

“I’ve got the pot,” Mr. Longer said cheerfully.

Chase woke up more fully. ‘What were they talking about?’ he wondered, not wanting to think of what he was thinking of.

He could hear someone come out of a tent. “Wow, look at that weed!” he heard Billy exclaim in astonishment. “I’ve never seen anything like that before.”

Immediately his thoughts rocketed to the worst case scenario. They had found the marijuana! This was it, he thought with horror. They had caught him. He presumed that it would be better to confess and plead for mercy than to pretend that he had no idea what they were talking about.

He leapt out of bed and ran outside the tent in his bare feet and pajamas. Hurrying to the picnic table, he fell to his knees before Mr. Longer and Mr. McGillicuddy, and with true anguish in his voice, he said, “I’m so sorry. It was all my fault. I did it. That was mine. Please won’t you forgive me, and don’t call the cops on me!”

There was silence for a moment, before Billy asked in utter confusion, “What in the world are you talking about?”

Chase suddenly became self-conscious about kneeling in the dirt in his pajamas. He stood up, embarrassed. “What were you just talking about?”

Mr. Longer picked up the coffee pot that he had just placed on the table. “I was just going to make some coffee in this pot, that’s all.”

Billy, as well, went over to beside his tent, and bending down, pointed to a strange red and yellow spotted plant growing there. “Isn’t this a cool weed? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Chase was not only humiliated but confused. Taking a step back, he said, much to the amusement of the adults, “I’m just going to go and put some clothes on now…”

Once Chase was out of earshot, everyone burst out laughing.

Later that morning, Matt and Chase were in Swimming Merit Badge for the final time. This morning, however, was different from any other morning, because the scouts were doing their infamous floatations.

A floatation is where a scout would need to jump into the water fully clothed, then take his shirt and pants off in the water, and make them into floatation devices. This is a very difficult maneuver to accomplish while attempting to tread water.

All of the scouts in the merit badge class showed up on time, fully dressed in pants and a long-sleeve shirt. As usual, Andy promptly arrived exactly at nine o’clock.

Walking through the gate, Andy addressed the scouts gathered at the waterfront. “All right, gentlemen, this is your final test to see if you will pass this merit badge. Thus far you have all done quite excellently in this badge, and so I expect this excellence to continue through today. What you’ll be doing today will test every scout’s endurance and survival skills. You will all be pushed to the limit as you struggle against the cold water and your own exhaustion. But I have faith in you all. I know that you can all do it, if you suck it up and just get out there, and give it your best.” It was obvious that he had rehearsed this speech.

From the back of the crowd a kid called out sarcastically, “Is that the best you can do for a pep talk?”

Andy glared. “No comments from the peanut gallery,” he barked harshly. “Now, I want all of you to get out there on the dock. I’ll give you all further instructions when you’re all assembled out there.”

Everyone hurried out to the end of the dock where they congregated in a line along the edge of the dock, overlooking the deep water.

“All right,” Andy said, “What is the first thing that you’re going to do when you get into the water?”

No one wanted to answer.

“Come on, didn’t anyone read the merit badge booklet like I told you to last night?”

More silence.

Andy was growing frustrated by these scouts. “Mr. Woodcock,” he said, addressing Chase, “Tell me, what is the first thing that you’re supposed to do when you’re doing a floatation?”

Chase glared at him for a minute before replying, “I don’t know.”

Andy threw his hands up in the air in anger. “And what was your excuse, Mr. Woodcock, for not reading the merit badge booklet last night?”

Chase remained calm on the outside, but he had finally gotten fed up with Andy’s constant bashing. Through clenched teeth he replied, “Why are you picking on me? None of these other scouts read the booklet, either.”

“Yes, I know that,” he exclaimed, “but you’re the oldest scout in this merit badge class, so I’d expect you to know better. For your lack of knowledge, swim five laps out to the floating dock and back.”

Chase’s eyes grew mean. “You stinking…” he was about to say, before Matt stopped him with two words.

“Chase,” he said quietly, “Don’t.”

Chase looked at him, then back to Andy. He was sincerely tempted to slug the smirking waterfront director right in the face, and then to push him off the dock and into the lake. He looked back to Matt, who had a concerned pleading expression on his face. He looked once more to Andy, saying with his face, ‘You dirty slimeball.’ With that, he turned and jumped into the water and started to swim his five laps.

Andy was thoroughly impressed with how the young man could control himself, in that Chase didn’t say anything in his defense although he was being persecuted.

“All right, for the rest of you scouts, let me tell you the first thing to do when you’re doing your floatation…”

Chase was the last one done with his floatation, mainly because he was so exhausted from his five laps (wearing a full set of clothes) that he could barely keep his head above water as he tried to blow up his shirt and pants to make them into makeshift floatation devices.

Finally, about ten minutes after everyone else had finished and left, Chase finally completed his task.

“Good job,” remarked Andy begrudgingly as Chase slowly climbed out of the water.

Chase didn’t even acknowledge him as he brushed by him to grab his towel on the picnic tables on the shore. Matt was there, waiting for his friend.

“Come on, Matt, let’s get out of here,” Chase said, exhausted and not in a very good mood.

They were both about to leave the waterfront area, when they heard Andy call out from behind them, “Chase! Wait, I need to speak with you.”

Chase slowly turned around, and was surprised to see that Andy was coming after him, smiling broadly. When Andy reached the scouts, he extended his hand in peace, but Chase didn’t take it.

Andy’s smile didn’t fade, however. “Congratulations! You did it. I’m very proud of you.”

Chase really wasn’t in the mood for games. “What are you talking about?” he said impatiently.

“I guess you didn’t figure it out. I’ve been trying all week to get you kicked out of camp, but you didn’t fall for it. Congratulations, I’m quite impressed.”

Chase was too tired to fully understand what he was saying. “What do you mean?”

Andy went more slowly this time, explaining himself. “Mrs. Potter asked me to try to get you to talk back to me, which would give her grounds to expel you from the camp. You see, she was very much bothered by the fact that you’re a former juvenile delinquent. She thought that your mere presence here would cause trouble. So, she gave me the task of trying to get you expelled from camp, but you’ve outsmarted her! Congratulations!”

Chase was still confused. “So let me get this straight. The camp director hates me.”

“No, she doesn’t hate you, but she was very wary of you. That’s why she called you into her office twice about the burglaries - she doesn’t trust you. But you’ve impressed me very much. You’ve made it through a whole week of me torturing you without talking back to me three times. That would have been enough for expulsion from camp, but you passed the test with flying colors.”

At this point Chase didn’t know whether he should cry or be angry or laugh. Luckily he chose the latter. “That makes sense, I suppose,” he said while laughing.

“I hope it makes perfect sense. I have nothing but a glowing report to give to Mrs. Potter about you, especially after today. I could tell that you were ready to beat me up out there on the dock, but your self-restraint was very admirable.”

“Thank you,” Chase said, laughing. He still couldn’t believe that all this was taking place. He and Matt started to head back to camp. “Although I don’t appreciate what hell you put me through this week, you are still a pretty good merit badge instructor.”

“Thank you,” he called after them, “Although I really am a stinking communist!”

~16~

Before lunch, Mike went up to Charlie and Bobby, who were both heading towards the camp store.

“Bobby! Charlie!” Mike called out to them, running up to them from behind. “How are you guys doing?”

They both turned around and kept walking. “Hey, Mike, what’s up?” Bobby said.

Mike caught up to them and walked with them along the path. “Look, I just wanted to apologize for my behavior this week. I hope you guys still want to be friends with me.”

Charlie smiled at him. “That’s incredibly sappy, you know that?”

Mike shrugged, smiling. “I don’t really care. So, peace?” He extended his hand.

Charlie shook. “Peace.”

Turning to Bobby, Mike said, “Peace?”

He smiled. “I never hated you in the first place,” he said, although it was quite a lie. “But yeah, I guess we can have peace.”

“So, do you guys want to come over to my tent tonight to have our annual engorgement festival?” The engorgement festival was a tradition in Troop 1024. On the last night of summer camp every year, Charlie, Mike, Bobby, and Joey would spend the remainder of their money on candy and sodas, and spend all night eating and drinking and laughing and talking. It was one of the best parts of summer camp, and it was certainly a tradition that no one could go without.

Bobby patted his back pocket, which held his wallet. “I’ve got ten bucks to buy some candy. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. In fact, that’s why I’m going to the camp stores right now. It’s burning a hole in my pocket; I’ve got to waste these ten bucks.”

“I’ve got seven dollars for food,” Charlie chimed in.

“Cool,” Mike said, pleased. “I’ll see you all tonight then!” With that, he started to walk towards the dining hall, instead of continuing towards the camp stores.

“You’re not coming with us to the camp stores?” Charlie asked.

“Nope, sorry,” he replied. “I’m going to the camp offices.”

A look of concern and confusion spread across Charlie’s face. “Does this have something to do with what you’ve been hiding from us all week?”

Mike laughed. “Not at all. I’m only going to use the nice restrooms at the back of the camp offices.”

Bobby and Charlie were laughing as they walked away.

Later that day, after lunch, the devil that had been loosed upon Mike returned, seizing his opportunity at causing this saint-in-the-making to fall.

Mike was a bit too inexperienced to see this attack as one from Satan. He perceived it as simply normal human curiosity.

It all started when he went to his cot to have a short nap before the final Environmental Science Merit Badge class. He lay down on his cot, exhausted from really not getting enough sleep during the entire week.

A thought crept into his mind. ‘I wonder why Chase liked marijuana so much. What’s so great about being high, anyway? Couldn’t he see the trouble that it caused him? Then again, it did lead him here, into my life, and so his doing drugs might have had a good result, after all. Perhaps he would still be a cruel, cynical person if he wasn’t arrested, let out on parole, and forced to come to Camp Heritage and be stuck as my tentmate.’

He began to reflect on how amazing this week really had been. He has had an opportunity to try to convert someone who was a former juvenile delinquent. He became involved in an exciting, albeit dangerous, mission to try to discover who burglarized the camp offices. And all while doing this, he was about to earn three more merit badges and have a good time in the process.

The thought came back to him. ‘I really do wonder what’s so great about marijuana.’

A little voice whispered in his ear, ‘You could always go try it. You know where it is, and no one would ever find you if you smoked just a small bit.’

His own mind countered, ‘No way! It would be wrong to do something like that.’

Again that persistent little voice whispered, ‘Why? It doesn’t explicitly say in the catechism that recreationally smoking is bad. I didn’t see it in the Ten Commandments anywhere.’

Mike frowned as he thought in response, ‘Yeah, but what about the fact that it’s a sin to disobey a just law?’

‘Is that law really just? Isn’t a law only just if it’s based upon either natural law or divinely revealed law, like the Ten Commandments or the Gospels? But we know that there’s nothing in the Bible, or even our human nature, that goes against feeling pleasure from smoking. Therefore the law against recreationally smoking wouldn’t really be just, would it? If it’s not wrong to smoke cigarettes, why would it be wrong to smoke pot? Marijuana is less dangerous to one’s health than tobacco, after all.’

Mike was starting to be swayed, based on both the persistent nature of this devil, and also on the very soothing language that the devil was using. He wasn’t experienced enough to know that by saying “recreational smoking” as opposed to “smoking marijuana,” the devil was simply trying to sway him with half-truths.

‘I guess not,’ his mind answered, growing more confused by the minute. ‘I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to just try it just once.’

‘That’s the spirit.’

Mike was about to get up, but he suddenly lay back down. ‘There’s no way I’ll ever do drugs. I’ve got things to live for, and I don’t want to end up like Chase, in jail.’

The voice in his mind laughed. ‘You won’t get caught. Trust me, Chase loved his smokes. They were the only pleasure he felt during the dark period after his parents died, remember? Why don’t you want to partake of that same pleasure?’

‘Well, if it’s only pleasure, and there will be no bad effects…’

‘There won’t be. Do it!’ the voice commanded.

Mike got up, and after grabbing the shovel out of Joey’s tent, went into the woods, past the Rosary spot, and out to the grove of trees.

He stood before the grove of trees, unsure of what to do.

‘I can’t believe I’m actually going to smoke pot,’ he thought. The nervousness in his stomach increased.

‘It’ll be okay,’ the devil answered. ‘Nothing bad will happen.’

Mike looked up to the sky, which was clear blue through the thick canopy of trees. ‘If this is wrong, Lord, you’d better stop me now,’ he prayed in his mind.

‘Do it!’ The voice seemed much more forceful now.

Mike was surprised that when he walked through the wall of pine trees, no lightning bolt appeared to strike him down dead.

‘This is so easy,’ he thought. ‘Nothing will ever happen to me. I thought it would somehow be more difficult, like I could have gotten lost on my way out here or someone would have caught me. But this is so simple and easy, how could it be wrong!’

Another voice spoke. ‘You shouldn’t do this, Mike. You know smoking pot is wrong.’ Darn it, what a time for his conscience to show up.

The dark and devilish voice answered for him. ‘Do it! It’s fun.’

Mike took a step towards the place where the marijuana was buried.

Mike was, for once, five minutes early to Environmental Science. As he arrived in the nature lodge, he found that Chase and Billy were already there.

“Hi, Mike,” Chase greeted. “You’re here early.”

Mike laughed gleefully, feeling as light as a feather. “Am I? Yes, I suppose I am. You are, too.”

“Yeah, I wanted to talk to Cletus before class, but it looks like he’s not going to show up early. Boy, am I glad this is the final class for Environmental Science. Aren’t you?”

Mike shrugged, leaning against the wall of the room. “Not really. I’m having a great time!” He laughed again and lost his balance, falling to the floor and continuing to laugh.

“Mike, are you okay?” Billy asked, staring at the laughing heap on the floor.

Mike slowly stood up, still quite wobbly. “Of course I’m fine. In fact, I’ve never been better. I’m just peachy. Just like the pie. Get it, peachy, like the pie!” He laughed again raucously, even though he just made the lamest attempt at a joke in the history of the whole humankind.

Chase gave him a curious look. “If I didn’t know better, I would say you’re drunk or something.”

Mike shook his head. “No, no, no. Nothing like that. I’m not drunk. I’ve never touched a drop of alcohol in my life. Unless there’s alcohol in the water here. You never know what’s in the water at this camp.”

Chase smiled. “I agree. The water here is pretty disgusting.”

Mike suddenly frowned and covered his ears. “You don’t have to yell!” he shouted.

Chase exchanged thoroughly confused looks with Billy. “What are you talking about? I’m not yelling. What’s gotten into you this afternoon, Mike?”

Mike suddenly stood up straight and became sullen, looking down and not saying anything.

They both became worried by this behavior. “Mike, what’s wrong? You can tell us. You look like you’re schizophrenic or something.”

“I’m fine,” he said tartly, walking away.

Billy looked at Chase, who shrugged. “I wonder what’s gotten into him.”

“Beats me,” Chase replied. “Oh well, it doesn’t matter.”

By this time, everyone else had already arrived in the nature lodge, so Cletus began the merit badge class, and Chase didn’t give another thought to Mike’s very peculiar behavior.

~15~

That evening, it was getting dark, and it was almost time for the engorgement festival. Mike was coming from the trading post, carrying a bloated plastic bag full of sodas. On the way to his tent, he passed by Matt, who was reading and looking uncharacteristically sad. Mike noticed that he was looking down, so he decided to try to cheer him up.

“Hey, Matt,” the older boy greeted. “Do you want to come to our engorgement festival tonight?”

Matt said nothing. Instead, he got up from his seat around the campfire circle and walked away.

Mike thought that this was very odd. Matt was usually a very happy person. After all, he did merit the nickname “Smiley” because he was always smiling. “Hey, Matt,” he called after him, “What’s wrong? You look unhappy.”

Matt didn’t turn around as he mumbled, “Nothing.” He went to his tent and stepped inside, closing the tent flaps after him.

Briefly, Mike considered going after him, but he thought that it might be better for the younger scout to be alone for a bit. Silently, Mike offered a prayer for him before heading to his tent.

It was nearly nine forty-five when everyone else arrived. Both Bobby and Charlie carried with them bags of various goodies, including cookies, various candies, the ever-necessary Pixie-Sticks, gummy worms, chocolate, and more. Chase, who was unfamiliar with the tradition, didn’t bring anything, and neither did Joey (who spent all his money during the week).

The party began.

“Can you pass me some more M & M’s, Charlie?” Mike asked, starting on his second bag.

Charlie complied. “So, Mike, are you going to tell us what’s been going on all week, why you’ve been so secretive?”

Mike looked at Chase and Joey, who nodded, giving Mike permission to recount their entire harrowing tale. “Charlie, Bobby, do you guys remember that there was a burglary on Sunday night at the camp offices?”

They both nodded.

“Well, there was another burglary the next day.”

At this point Chase spoke. “The worst part about the burglaries was that the camp director suspected me for both of them. She was getting ready to kick me out of camp if there was another burglary.”

“So,” continued Mike, “We decided that to prevent Chase from being suspected once more, we needed to find out who the real culprit was. So on Wednesday night, we hid out after quiet hours to try to catch the burglar. He showed up once more, and we tried to catch him, but instead he got away. I got in trouble for sneaking out after quiet hours, so that’s why I was cleaning out the trailer last night.”

“Also, yesterday, Mike thought he figured out what the burglar was searching for,” Joey added. “Do you remember the ghost story that Ben told us at the campfire, about the golden necklace of George Baden?”

They nodded once more.

“Well,” he continued, “We think that the burglar was searching for the map of where the golden necklace is hidden.”

Bobby was skeptical that they would fall for an old legend that wasn’t true. “You guys seriously believed that the golden necklace exists?”

Joey nodded. “Yeah. Just wait, the story gets better. So last night, Chase, Matt, and I decided to go out to the middle of the forest to search for the golden necklace.”

“And did you find it?”

“We really didn’t get a chance to look. We encountered something strange out there. We saw a strange group of people dancing around a bonfire. It seemed almost as if they were a cult of Satanists or something. It was terrifying!”

Bobby and Charlie started to laugh at what, to them, seemed to be the absurdity of the story.

“Don’t laugh yet, it gets even better. When we were watching these strange people, a creature rose out of the grass. I’ve never seen anything so scary. This creature was dressed totally in black, and we couldn’t really see his face, but we could see his eyes very clearly. His eyes looked like glowing red embers. They shone brightly. As you can imagine, this terrified us. The beast started to come after us, giving off a dreadful shriek. That’s when we turned and ran away as fast as we could. It was an awful experience.”

Mike’s face was turning white as Joey described the beast. He immediately recalled the dream that he had about himself being chased by a black-robed beast with glowing red eyes. Although he briefly wondered what the dream meant, he shook his head to clear these thoughts away.

Bobby and Charlie, meanwhile, were howling with laughter. For some reason, they thought that this story was the funniest thing in the world.

“That was a great story, Joey,” Charlie said between gasping for air and laughing hysterically. “Pass me another soda, would you please?”

Joey calmly passed him the cola. “I know it’s hard to believe, but it’s all true.” This only made them laugh harder. Joey shrugged, unconcerned. “Someday you’ll see that what I’m saying is the truth.”

“So,” said Bobby, trying to control his laughter, “Did you guys go back there, to see if the golden necklace was out there, buried in the woods somewhere?”

Joey shook his head. “Nope, that’s the end of the story. We decided not to go back there after what happened last night.”

Their laughter slowly subsided. “You know, Mike,” Bobby said, “I can see why you didn’t want to tell us what you’ve been up to this week. It would be too embarrassing to admit that you were going on a wild goose chase after some imaginary golden necklace!”

While they were busy with this conversation, a man dressed in black was creeping up, through the woods, to the back of their tent. He was trying to be as silent as possible. When he reached the tent, he stood there, listening to their entire conversation.

“I must admit, though,” Chase said, “It has been a fun week. I didn’t think I’d like Boy Scout Camp before I came. In fact, I thought it would be the stupidest thing in the world. But I really did have a good time here this week. I thank you all for making this a good week for me.”

Charlie shrugged. “I guess I owe you an apology. After your infamous fight with Joey on the basketball courts, I automatically disliked you. But in reality, I found out that you’re a nice guy once I got to know you. So I’m sorry for being unfriendly to you at first.”

“Yeah,” added Bobby, “I was guilty of that too. I’m sorry, man.”

Chase smiled. “Apologies accepted. I must admit, though, that I really was a jerk at first. I hope I’ve changed.”

Joey grinned slyly. “You know, Chase, I disliked you too, at first, but I had a good reason to. After all, you did beat me up pretty good.”

Chase took mock offense at his comment. “Are you kidding? I looked worse than you did after that fight. I’d say that I got the worst of the beating.”

Everyone laughed.

“No, Chase, I must insist. You were meaner to me than I was to you.”

“You want to take this outside? I’ll really give you a beating this time,” Chase said, jokingly.

Everyone laughed again.

“Pass me another M & M’s, please,” Mike requested, laughing jovially.

All of a sudden, however, both of the back tent flaps were flung wide open. Everyone jumped back in surprise, but they soon relaxed to find Ben standing before them, dressed completely in black from his neck down.

“Hi, Ben. Come to join our engorgement festival?” Chase asked, being friendly.

Ben smiled. “Sure, don’t mind if I do. Y’all got any gummy worms?”

Charlie, who seemed to be manning the food stash, handed him a packet of sour gummy worms. Ben quickly opened the package and popped one into his mouth. “Actually, guys, I came to ask you all a question. What do you know about the golden necklace of George Baden?”

Charlie laughed. “You believe in that old legend, too? That’s ridiculous.”

Ben looked tolerantly at him. “ ‘That old legend’ may be more true than you want to believe.”

Charlie gave him a look that questioned his sanity. “Yeah, and I’ve got a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you,” he said sarcastically.

Ben did his best to ignore him. Turning to Mike, he said, “So, Mike, what do you know about the golden necklace?”

There was something about the way he asked that question that gave Mike the creeps. He immediately recalled last night, when Ben was acting so strange. It almost made Mike worry about his sanity. In a trembling voice, he replied, “We don’t know anything that you don’t know.”

Ben smiled and nodded. He seemed to accept that answer.

‘Good,’ Mike thought, growing more anxious about Ben’s presence by the minute. ‘Maybe he’ll leave now. I don’t trust him a bit.’

Ben turned and looked like he was about to leave.

All of a sudden, as quick as a flash, Ben reached down underneath his shirt and whipped out a revolver that had been hidden in his belt. Pointing it at Mike, he said in a cold voice, “Perhaps this will help you remember.”

Mike was frozen in fear; in fact, all of the scouts were unable to move or speak.

“Let’s try this again,” Ben said, an evil grin spreading across his face. “What do you know about the golden necklace?”

In a very small and meek voice, Chase responded, because Mike was too terrified to speak. “We think it’s hidden in the grove of pine trees.”

Ben smiled broadly, as if he had just struck gold. “Perfect. Now we’re getting somewhere. I want you to take me to it.”

Not knowing what else to do, and too afraid to think, Joey rose from his seat on the cot and went out of the tent, followed by the other four scouts and Ben. Joey grabbed his shovel, which was lying beside his tent, and the six of them walked off into the woods in the direction of the grove of trees.

Once they were into the woods a ways, Ben instructed them, “Don’t try any funny business, like trying to run away when I’m not looking. I’m not afraid to shoot any one of you. Except you, Mike. You know the most about the golden necklace, so I’ll keep you alive. But I’ll shoot anyone else if they try anything funny.”

“That’s a comfort,” Mike mumbled sarcastically to Bobby. Mike thought that there was no possible way that he could be any more afraid. He was shivering out of fear and cold, for it was growing quite chilly this evening. It took maximum effort to take even one step, because his fear was oppressive. He could only imagine what the others must be feeling, knowing that they could be shot at any moment. He started to whisper the words that the psalmist first wrote many thousands of years ago: “Though I walk through the valley of death, I fear no evil, for the Lord is at my side…”

Chase, however, wasn’t particularly terrified. After all, he had gone through worse experiences: being forced to sell drugs or be beaten, being arrested and deserted by his brother, being thrown in jail. Instead he was confused. He felt betrayed by one of his merit badge counselors, who he respected, even though he thought that the counselor was weird at times. After walking in silence for a while, Chase finally said, “Why, Ben? Why do you want this golden necklace so badly?”

Ben looked straight ahead as they wandered through the woods, the only light coming from the full moon out tonight. “Well, Chase, the golden necklace is, in reality, a very powerful artifact called the Amulet of Yendor. For thousands of years, the Amulet has been used to bring wealth, fame, and power to its owners. That’s why George Baden buried it: he knew the amount of destruction it could cause if it fell into the wrong hands. However, once I find the Amulet of Yendor, I plan to take over the world with it.” He said this so nonchalantly that it was hard to believe that they were captives of a madman.

“How did you know that we knew about it?” Chase asked once again, trying to understand what was going on in the mind of this deranged camp counselor.

Ben shrugged. “It was easy. I was the burglar, searching for the map to the Amulet, so when I ran into you on Wednesday night, and that short kid shined the flashlight on me, I caught a glimpse of both you and Mike. Also, I’ve been talking to Cletus, who told me all about how curious Mike was regarding the Amulet. Since I’m a very smart fellow, I put the pieces together and figured that you probably knew something about the Amulet.” He paused, and added, almost as an afterthought, “Chase, do you remember when we were in Pioneering Merit Badge, and you were meditating on the ax, and I told you that I controlled your thoughts?”

Chase scratched his head, trying to remember. “Uh, yeah, I guess I do remember that day.”

“Well, my friend, that’s just a small glimpse of what the Amulet can do. Although, I shouldn’t say that the Amulet itself has power. In all actuality, the Amulet is only a tool for harnessing the power of the Darkness.”

These words took Mike’s breath away. “You’re a Satan worshipper!” he gasped in horror.

Ben nodded, his countenance serene. “Yes, of course I am. Did you think anything else? Actually, I’m part of a whole group of people called the Neo-Pagan Revolution, often called just the Revolution. You might have seen them around here. Actually, they hold their worship rituals on Thursday nights out here, in the grove of trees. I’m surprised that the Amulet was beneath our feet this entire time, and we never knew it.”

“That’s what we saw last night!” Joey whispered, stunned. To Bobby, he whispered, “Do you believe us now?”

Bobby nodded, his face white. He was too afraid to speak.

“In a few years,” Ben continued, “You’ll find that we’ll be controlling everyone’s thoughts, and rising to power in the government, and eventually taking over the world. We have tried to do this, to follow the instructions of our Dark Master, but we have not been able to win souls for him because our power is too weak. Once I have the Amulet, we will have enough power to win souls over to the dark side.”

“Why are you telling us all this?” Chase asked.

Ben laughed a diabolical laugh. “Oh, for hell’s sake, you can’t do anything about us once we have the Amulet. You can tell your troop leaders, call the police, notify the pope, I don’t really care. We’ll be so powerful that it won’t matter a bit. I figure that since you’re all nice kids, I’ll give you all advance warning so that you can watch as we all conquer your friends, your family, and your world.”

Mike felt a crazy courage swell up from within him. Without thinking, he said in a burst, “Ben, why are you doing this? You will find much more happiness and fulfillment in serving God. Serving Satan will only give you eternal misery and unhappiness. You can still turn back to the Lord. It’s not too late.”

A fiery look spread across Ben’s eyes. “It is too late!” he exclaimed, but the voice in which he said it was not his own - it was hoarse and demonic. As suddenly as this happened, however, he resumed his peaceful countenance. Looking up, he gazed upon the grove of pine trees. There seemed to be a particularly vivid aura borealis flying overhead, directly over the grove.

They entered the grove in eerie silence. A thin mist floated in the air, as the lights overhead shone an odd glow around the whole area. As the first time when Mike was here, a dark feeling came over him, as if a black cloak had just been thrown on top of him, suffocating him. The only difference was that this time he knew exactly what was causing the evil feeling.

“Okay, now tell me, where is this Amulet?” Ben said, looking like a fox about to devour his prey.

Silently, Joey walked to the exact spot where he had hit the rock the first time that he tried to dig. He pointed to the ground.

Ben grew even more excited, knowing that the object of his desire was so close. He grabbed the shovel from Joey, and started to dig. Indeed, after digging for only a minute, he extracted a small, rectangular ivory box. Slowly, obviously savoring the moment, he opened the box, and from it he removed a small golden pendant on a golden chain, with a violently bright ruby set in the center of the medallion.

His smile grew wider. He placed the necklace back in the box and closed it. Clutching the box tightly to his chest, he cried excitedly, “This is it! The Amulet of Yendor! I shall go down in history as the one who has discovered this vital artifact. Now, if you’ll all excuse me, I’m going to go run off into the woods and you all will never see me again until I’ve destroyed all of your minds and the Darkness will rule!” The scouts were half-expecting a cruel laugh to follow this speech, like it usually happens in the movies. However, this was certainly no movie. It was fearfully real.

The boldness returned to Mike. He took a step forward, towards Ben. “Ben, you can still turn back! There is still time for you to live for good!” He fixed his intense gaze upon the man, trying to convince him.

Another cruel smile spread across Ben’s face. “You know, Mike, there’s one thing I noticed about you. You’re way too compassionate.” He pulled his gun out once more and pointed it directly at the scout. “You know what happens to compassionate people? They often die.” He pulled the trigger.

Silence ensued. No bullet came out of the gun, mainly because Ben forgot to load one in. “Damn!” he exclaimed, throwing the gun on the ground. “I knew I forgot something. Oh well, that doesn’t matter. Goodbye, my friends! I thank you for the great help you’ve been to me. Goodbye!” As he was saying this, he was walking away. Soon he was enveloped by the mist, and they saw him no more.

Stunned, the five scouts didn’t know what to do. They had just witnessed an event that would rock the world, and there was nothing that they could do to stop it. Finally, after ten minutes of standing in dazed silence, the five scouts turned around and walked back to camp in complete silence.

~16~

Matt was tossing and turning in bed, trying in vain to get to sleep. His mind was a blur of thoughts, all of which were unpleasant. Any time he closed his eyes, he could relive the events of the day, and this only distressed him all the more.

Finally, he looked at his watch. It was ten-thirty at night. Hopefully Mr. Longer wasn’t asleep yet. Matt got up and went first to Chase’s tent, looking for his friend. Not finding him there, he went over to the Scoutmaster’s tent, walking barefoot over the rocky ground.

“Mr. Longer!” he whispered loudly when he arrived at the tent. Peeking his head in, he could hear the big man snoring quite obnoxiously. Once more he called, in a louder voice, “Mr. Longer! Wake up, I need to talk to you.”

He could hear the leader roll over in bed. A moaning voice came from within the sleeping bag: “Matt, what do you want?”

“I need to talk to you.”

He moaned again, still only half-awake. “Can it wait until the morning?”

Matt was growing impatient. “No! It’s very important.”

Mr. Longer sat up in his cot. “Okay, Matt, what’s wrong?”

Matt came in and closed the tent flaps securely. “This has been bothering me all day. You see, it started this afternoon…”

When the five scouts were finally within sight of their campsite, Mike broke the silence by saying, “Guys, what do we do now? If Ben was telling the truth, he could be very dangerous with that Amulet. Somehow, I definitely believe that he could be telling the truth.”

Everyone nodded in agreement. For the most part, they were still to stunned to disagree.

Joey spoke up. “I don’t think we should tell anyone about what happened tonight for at least a week. We’re all terrified, and we need time to calm down so that we can think clearly about who we want to contact about this.”

Everyone was once again in agreement. Chase added, “Let’s meet next Friday, at Mike’s house, to talk about this and decide what to do.”

“That sounds good,” Bobby added. “I still can’t believe what happened tonight. It all seems so weird, like a really bad science fiction movie or something.” His face was white as he said this, and his voice trembled.

They stood there, unsure of what to say next, until Charlie said, “Guys, I’m going to pass out if we don’t get to bed soon. Let’s go back to camp.”

No one disagreed. They all went back to camp and to their tents, falling asleep as soon as they lay down on their cots.

~17~

The next morning, Chase awoke to the sounds of sirens. ‘This is strange,’ he immediately thought. ‘It’s not often that you hear sirens in such a secluded place like Camp Heritage.’

All of a sudden, the memories of last night came flooding back to him, and he understood why there were sirens. Either Charlie or Bobby must have called the police about Ben, he reasoned. He wasn’t unhappy that they did so, either. It was a good idea to tell the cops about all of the strange events of the week, so that they could deal with it and the scouts didn’t have to. He slowly got up and put on his shoes.

Mike slowly woke up. Hearing the sirens, he sat up in bed immediately and looked at Chase. “What are those sirens for?” he asked.

The sirens were now getting closer. It sounded almost as if they were right outside the tent. “I think someone must have told Mr. Longer about last night, and Mr. Longer probably called the police,” Chase explained. “Hopefully they’ll find Ben, because, most likely, he’s not too far away by now.”

Mike nodded and he, too, started to get dressed.

Chase went out of the tent and saw a police officer standing by the picnic tables, talking to Mr. Longer in hushed tones. Chase immediately went over to them.

“Hello, Officer. I’m Chase Woodcock,” he greeted, extending his hand.

The officer shook. “Good morning, son.”

“You probably want to know about last night. Well, the guy’s name was Ben, and he was about six foot two with blond hair and a goatee…”

The officer interrupted him at this point. “Son, I’m just here for Mike Connor. Is he here?”

Chase turned around and caught sight of Mike coming out of the tent. Mike stood there, looking intensely at the officer, but not moving.

The officer walked over to Mike, followed by Chase, who was curious as to what this was all about.

“Are you Mike Connor?” the officer asked, gently, as if he knew how painful this would be.

Mike nodded slowly and extended his hands, holding them out in front of him.

The officer grabbed the handcuffs that were strapped to his belt and placed them on the boy. “Mike, you have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do can be used against you in a court of law. Come with me, son.” With that, the officer led Mike away to the police car, which was parked just outside of the campsite.

Chase just stood there watching, completely stunned. He turned to Mr. Longer and demanded angrily, “What is this all about? Why are they arresting Mike?”

Mr. Longer didn’t answer. Instead, he looked down to the ground and ran his hand through his hair in sadness and despair.

All of a sudden, Chase heard a squeaky voice say from behind him, “Perhaps I’m not as innocent as you first thought.”

Chase wheeled around and saw Matt, standing in front of his tent, looking obviously distraught and angry. His eyes were red, and it looked like he had been crying.

“What’s going on, Matt?” Chase asked, as a feeling of dread came over him. He knew that he wouldn’t like the answer.

Matt took a deep breath and came over to him. “Yesterday, I was out by the grove of trees, doing my nature observations for Nature Merit Badge, when I saw Mike walking towards the grove. I was curious as to why he was out there, so I followed him into the grove of trees. Once in there, I saw him smoking marijuana!” He looked down, visibly shaken.

Chase was silent, trying to understand this. Finally he whispered, “Oh no! It’s all my fault!” He looked directly at Matt and asked quietly and gently, so as to not upset the young boy any further, “Why did you turn him in?”

Matt looked at him with tears in his eyes. “I looked up to him. He was always so nice and holy…I wanted to be just like him. And now he goes and smokes pot. Why can’t good people just be good? Why do they always have to go and do bad stuff?”

Chase put his hand on his friend’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. It was obvious that Matt had been scandalized by this. “I’m very sorry this happened, Matt. But why did you turn him in?”

“I didn’t know what to do. Seeing him smoking pot made me so sad and mad that I couldn’t sleep last night. I had to tell someone what I saw, and since you weren’t around, I went to see Mr. Longer, and I told him the whole story.”

Chase turned to the Scoutmaster. “Mr. Longer, Mike’s such a good person. Why did you have to call the police?”

Mr. Longer was looking as distressed as Matt was. “What else could I have done?” he demanded angrily, still looking down. “If anyone found out that he had pot and I knew about it, I would be sent to jail. I’m sorry, Chase, but I had to do it. I had no choice.”

Meanwhile, other scouts were waking up and coming out of their tents. They all stood around in a group, away from Chase, Matt, and Mr. Longer.

Also, the police officer came back. He went directly into Mike’s tent, and after a minute of searching, found something. He went back to his police cruiser, explaining as he passed Mr. Longer, “I found it. The bag of marijuana,” and he held up the plastic bag of greenish-brown weed.

Chase stood there, shaking his head in disbelief. “I still can’t believe it,” he muttered to himself, watching the police car drive away, carrying Mike to jail. “I thought he was such a good person…”

Matt turned away, not able to bear watching. “I’m sorry, Chase,” he said quietly as he went into his tent.

Mr. Longer stood up and sighed deeply. “My favorite scout, too. I still can’t believe he’s been arrested,” he whispered silently to himself. Finally, turning away, he said to no one in particular, “I suppose we’d better be cleaning up the camp. We need to leave in two hours to go home.” With that, he walked away, to wake up the few scouts who were still asleep.

Chase was left standing there, all alone, staring down the road to nowhere, as the police car disappeared from view. He was deeply saddened by this, and a part of him still couldn’t believe it. “He was such a nice person…all the time talking about Christ and God and such, and look how it ends.” He sighed deeply. “Who would have thought it would come to this?” Then he turned and walked away.

THE END!

Yes, I know this ending leaves you hanging. What happens to Ben and the Amulet of Yendor? Does he eventually take over the world? What happens to Mike? Is he sentenced to time in the juvenile detention center? I purposely left you hanging with these questions so that you will read Book Two of the five book series, Garden of Roses, due out sometime in the winter of 2002.

In Garden of Roses, Joey faces his biggest faith crisis yet, the world is changed as the new age movement sweeps across the nation, Chase loses his family and his faith in humankind, and conditions in the nation worsen drastically. Catch Bobby, Charlie, Chase, Joey, Mike, Catherine, and everyone else in the next novel, coming soon.

AND NOW, A WORD OF THANKS

Anyone who knows me knows that many of the characters in this book were based upon real people in my life, as I tried to capture their personalities as best as I could. First of all, I would like to thank all of Troop 1023, upon whom I based the fictional Troop 1024. Mike Connor was based upon Mike Cohn, who I must say, is a very nice guy and he would never be arrested for anything! Bobby is based upon Bobby Becker, and Billy is based on Billy Becker, although in the book, they’re not related. Charlie was based on Charlie Hoppes, although the Charlie of real life is much nicer (and much funnier) than the Charlie of this book. Long live the Giant Rabid Squirrels! Catherine is based upon Cathy Gill, whom I love like my own sister (well, of course, she IS my sister!) Greg and Susan Connor are based upon Greg and Susan Rohr, some very classy folk. Mr. McGillicuddy is my dad, Mr. Gill. I really didn’t mean that comment about you being fat (page 69)! Mr. Longer is based upon Mr. Long, one of the most honorable men I’ve ever met. Mrs. Potter is based upon the instructor for my religious emblem, Mrs. Marilyn Potter. Andy, Ben, and Cletus were all real instructors at Camp Heritage, which is a real place, by the way. Clayton Black is based on Clayton Brown. Matt Anconquista is based on Matt Acosta, a very nice fellow. Sarah was based on Sarah Pfister, a good friend. I really do apologize for hitting a golf ball into your house and leaving those annoying messages on your answering machine! Dean Ferraro and Joshua Stevens are real people, good friends of mine here at college. I think that’s all, but I might be forgetting someone…

Also many of the events in this book actually happened. For example, the conversation with the ADD kid in the shower actually happened to me (trust me, I don’t mean to insult anyone with ADD). The pouring of the maple syrup down Billy actually happened, although it happened to a kid named Kyle Davis (thanks!). Billy Becker did once explode a package of coffee creamer, though, so I wrote that into the book. Also, my brother’s pack once fell out of the back of the car on the way to summer camp, so that event actually happened as well

Also, I must thank my roommate Tom for putting up with me constantly using the computer to write this stinkin’ novel. And also, many, many, many thanks to Jesus Christ and the Blessed Virgin Mary, whom I love dearly, for not allowing the computer to crash when I had already written 100 pages! Thanks to my family and friends, as well. Peace!

Finally, many thanks to Chase Woodcock for allowing me to use his name in this book, although he probably will never read it. Chase, you’re a nice guy, and you’d never end up in a juvenile detention center!

Praised be Jesus Christ, both Now and Forever!

January 13, 2002 - April 22, 2002

Final Revision completed on: April 29, 2002

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