I found this in the archives…

I told my mom I didn’t want to go but she made me go anyway because she said I was getting on her nerves and I told her I was sorry about putting wet plaster from my craft project down the garbage disposal I thought it would just wash it away and didn’t know it would go hard like that so fast so when Contance Kraus asked if I would go to camp with her for a week my mom said I had to go even though I don’t really like Constance and mom doesn’t like her family either because they go to the Overbrook Bible Church and hate Catholics and Aunt Margaret met them one time at a piano recital and Mom said at least they were always smiling and Aunt Margaret said that wasn’t a smile it was a snarl which made me laugh out loud and spit my lemonade all over Frankie which made him start crying and I got the blame for that too so anyway I went to camp with Constance and nobody told me that it was going to be a Bible camp named HeKeMeSi and everybody was either a cowboy or an Indian and Constance and I were Indians and we lived in a teepee and had to go to use an outhouse and there were mosquitos everywhere and I got sunburnt very bad and when we were playing capture the flag I stepped in a yellow jacket nest and got stung everywhere even under my shorts which hurt a lot and I didn’t know you would swell up that much just from a little bit of poison ivy but all that wasn’t too bad and I did have fun especially when we covered the counselor’s pillow with calomine lotion and when she put her face in it she looked like Bozo the Clown and even though it was kind of fun canoeing and stuff the worst thing was that we had to have a Bible study for a whole hour every day and all the other girls had big black Bibles with zippers and the words of Jesus in red print and I forgot to bring a Bible and they all knew how to find Hezekiah and the Book of Philippines and knew all the Bible stories about Zacheus and Zipporah Sodom and Gomorrah and Lot’s wife turning into a pillar of salt and when they found out I was Catholic they made fun of me and told me I was going to hell because I worshipped Mary and prayed to statues and then Constance wouldn’t play with me anymore so I had to go horse riding by myself with a big fat girl named Shandy who was homesick so then I remembered that Aunt Margaret had given me a special package which she told me to open only when things were very bad and when I opened it inside was a special little statue of the Little Flower who I like very much and a candle and a holy card with the Sacred Heart of Jesus so I put St Therese and the Holy Card up by my bed in the cabin and every night I lit the candle and before bed started to kneel down and say a Hail Mary and an our Father and I started feeling better and then MaryRose who is a very nice girl in the Sasquatch cabin said she used to be a Catholic and could she say the rosary with me just using ten fingers and so during campfire when we were supposed to go forward and get saved we just went for a walk in the woods and the moonlight was beautiful and Catherine said her Grandpa told her that Our Lady was like the moon because she reflects the glory of the Son so everything worked out ok but I’m not going back next year even if Contance’s mother pays for it.

You can read all the archived Caitlin O’Rourke posts by using the Categories tool at the “Alter Egos” channel of the archived articles section of this blog.