Stan Morris - Surviving the Fog

Slowly, they all made their way back to their camp, some pushing the barrel. Mike was exhausted that night, but he found it hard to sleep. He remembered the terrible sights that he had seen, and once he awakened from a bad dream. Sometimes, he felt tears trickling down his cheeks.

The next day Mike asked Ralph to make a sign. Ralph agreed, and using a piece of cardboard, he made a sign and he went over the hill and down to the hanging body, and he attached the sign to the stomach of the body. The sign said, “Murderer and Rapist.”

After a few days, some of the kids wanted to bury the man, just as they buried Jackie and Pete down at the west end of the meadow on the boys’ side of the river. Mike refused to let them take the body down. It hung there until the following spring when Mike was finally moved to bury the bones close by the Hanging Tree, where they had buried the bodies of the other three bikers.

The following days seem to pass in a haze. The kids moved around in a stupor much of the time, except when someone breathlessly warned that something or someone had been heard. Then they would all cringe and cower for awhile, until it became apparent that it was just another false alarm. The wood on the bridge was removed, but it was placed close by in case it was needed. Howard found the cover for the five gallon bucket so that the gasoline would not evaporate. During this time, Mike posted a guard on the gravel road at the top of the hill.

Mike managed to get the kids to dig two graves. It was not easy to dig graves in the rocky soil with just the simple picks and shovels that they found in the storage room. But doggedly they stayed at it until Jackie and Pete had been buried. Much harder, Mike discovered, was the need to say words over the graves as the sad group of campers stood by. Thankfully, a boy named Luis found the right words. On the third day, they moved the body of the dead motorcyclist from the parking lot down to the Hanging Tree.

On the fourth night after the hanging, Mike called a meeting. It was difficult to meet in the dining hall, because the boys were still sleeping there. This had caused problems.

“I want to get back in my bunk,” a boy insisted. “Let the girls sleep in here for a change.”

“We need more privacy than you guys,” a girl responded.

“Yeah, that’s another thing,” a boy said. “They keep trying to come in and sneak peeks at us in our underwear.” The girls hooted with laugher when they heard that.

“Oh, like you have anything we’d like to see!” a girl jeered. “And besides, you guys keep trying to peep into the showers when we’re in there.” A few of the boys blushed at that.

“That piece of wood fell out accidentally,” a boy protested.

“All right, all right,” said Mike raising his hands. “We need to decide how to arrange it so that everyone has a decent place to sleep.”

No one spoke for a moment, and then a girl raised her hand and asked timidly, “Do you think it would be alright if we slept in our cabins again?”

That was the question on every one’s mind. Was it safe? How safe was it? Were there others around like the bikers?

Mike took a breath. Like the others, he was wondering about the answers to these questions, too. But unlike the others, he felt that it was his responsibility to ensure the safety of his tribe.

“You can’t sleep anywhere except on this side of the river. That’s final,” he replied.

No one challenged him on this, although some girls resented that he could decide for them. All of them knew by now that the Spears would enforce Mike’s orders.

“Can’t we at least bring the bunks and mattresses over here?” Yuie asked.

“I guess that would be a good idea,” Mike admitted.

“Does that mean that we can get our bunks back?” a boy asked eagerly.

“No it doesn’t,” answered Mike sharply to the crestfallen boy. “We are going to have to share the sleeping spaces.” Everyone was silent.

“Look,” Mike continued. “There’s a lot of room in the Chief’s Headquarters. And there are futons upstairs. John, take a couple of mattresses and put them in the loft. Four girls should be able to sleep up there. I’ll give up my bed for now. It’s big, so two girls can share it. John, you and Desi will have to give up the counselors’ cabin. Six girls can sleep in that cabin. So, some of you guys can move back into your bunks. I’ll need one though. Um…”

He stopped. That was about all that he could think of.

“Mike,” Desi said. “Can John and I move into the cave? I mean into the small part that’s really a cave?”

“Uh…well if it’s okay with John, I guess so,” he replied.

“Do you think that we could move one of the cabins over to this side of the river?” asked Rasul. “Since, we’re going to move them anyway.”

Not all of the kids had heard about this plan, so Mike had to stop and take the time to explain their plans for the cave. It was plain to see that many of the kids thought the plan was crazy.

“But that means we would have to dismantle the cabin twice,” Howard objected.

“True, but it would give us some practice,” argued Eric. “We could find out if we really can move a cabin. If we can’t, then we better make another plan.”

“That’s a good point, Eric,” said Mike. “Okay. Tomorrow we’ll try to move a cabin. Then the girls from that cabin can sleep in their own bunks.” This brought a murmur of cheers from the girls.

After the meeting, some of the boys went to help move the two mattresses to the loft in the Chief’s Headquarters. With regret, Desi agreed that she and John would have to wait until morning before they could move into the cave.

The activity caused the boys and girls to cheer up. Things were moving forward again. It was good to have something to do. There was a lot of joking; boys offering kindly to share a bunk with a girl, girls politely declining. The task of moving more bunks and mattresses into the counselors’ cabin took them until late into the night. The more they worked, it seemed the better they felt. Mike decided that everyone would get a late night snack, so pudding cups were opened and enjoyed.

Eventually, Mike went to his cabin. There, he found a flurry of activity as girls prepared to sleep. He sat down at his desk. He had taken to writing down notes each night, so he could remember what had happened that day, what had been discussed, and what had been decided. Around him girls were chatting and preparing for bed. When it got quiet, Mike glanced around to see what was happening.

The four girls upstairs were hanging their heads over the edge of the loft. The two girls downstairs were watching him.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Uh, Chief, we’re ready to go to bed now,” Makayla replied.

“Oh, okay, go ahead. I’m just going to work for a bit.”

The girl blushed. “Uh, Chief, the thing is, it’s kind of warm right now so…,” she looked at the others for help.

“So we sleep in our underwear,” explained a girl from the loft.

“Oh,” Mike said looking at them. “Oh!” Hastily, clumsily knocking over a cup of pens and pencils, he got up.

“Then, I’ll see you in the morning,” he called as he practically ran out the door. He made his way to his old cabin and to his own bunk.

The next morning, they began the task of moving one of the cabins. It was slow going. First, they discovered that they would have to unbolt the wood braces connecting the corners. Fortunately, the campground was new, and the nuts and bolts had not yet corroded. Then they realized that it was difficult to remove the canvas cover without damaging it. Then they found that several kids were needed to brace the walls while they were lowering them from vertical to horizontal.