Ann Martin - Mary Anne And Camp

Tears stung my eyes. Quickly I slid the crutches back into place and turned toward my room.

Sharon said, "Just a minute, Richard. Mary Anne, do you want to say good-bye to your father? Do you want Dawn to help you back to your room?"

"No! I said good-bye. And I don't need help. I'll just go bravely to my room alone." I said the last sentence under my breath so that Sharon couldn't hear me. .

Without waiting for her answer, I thumped and bumped clumsily back to my room and fell into bed.

When Dawn and Sharon came to say good night, I pretended to be asleep.

But I wasn't. It was a long, long time before I fell asleep, long after Tigger had come to claim his place on the end of the bed, long after Dawn and Sharon had gone to bed, too.

I stayed awake and felt lonely and sorry for myself.

Chapter 11.

Claudia counted the pairs of buddies and came up with ten pairs and one extra, as usual. This time it was Jamie.

"Yea, Jamie!" she exclaimed. "I get to have you for my partner. Outstanding!"

Jamie, who'd been looking a little forlorn, suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh, boy!" he said. He slipped his hand into Claudia's and looked up with a big Jamie-special smile.

Alicia, who was standing by me, said, "Is bowling fun? I've never been bowling."

"Bowling's great, I can hardly wait," Vanessa replied. "I'm glad that Camp BSC made Monday bowling day and included me!"

She skipped off with Haley to get in line under Kristy's eagle eye. Then Kristy and Shannon and Logan and Mal and Claudia and Jessi divided up the kids among the three station wagons (the Braddocks', the Pikes', and the Ramseys') and began hustling them into the cars for the afternoon bowling excursion.

"They're going to have lots of fun, aren't they?" asked Alicia.

"Yes. Probably," I said. I couldn't have gone bowling even if I'd wanted to. Not with my dumb ankle in a dumb brace.

Alicia watched as Kristy went from car to car, taking one last head count. Then Alicia

said, "Mary Anne, am I going to stay here with you?"

"Sure," I said reassuringly. "Of course. You can keep me company since I can't bowl. ... I know, let's put some extra-special touches on your camel costume."

I turned and began to crutch-hobble my way across the grass toward the activities tables.

Then I realized that Alicia wasn't with me. I looked over my shoulder. Alicia was standing where I had left her, staring after the departing station wagons.

"Alicia? Alicia!" I called.

At last, slowly, Alicia turned and walked across the grass toward me.

In Claudia's car, Vanessa burst into song. "Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to bowl we go!" Soon everyone in the car had joined in. From there they moved on to "Bowl, bowl, bowl your boat," which sent them into giggles.

Then Claudia thought of "Take Me Out to the Bowl Game," and they sang a few rounds of that.

By the time their car reached the bowling alley, it seemed as if every song in the world had been sung with the word "bowl" in it.

Mr. Braddock grinned and shook his head as he helped Claudia and Mal make sure all the kids got into the bowling alley. For a little while it was chaos as the sitters and the three

chaperons, Mr. Braddock, Jessi's Aunt Cecelia, and Mrs. Pike, checked to see that everyone got the right size bowling shoes and bowling balls, that everyone wore socks with their shoes, and that the kids were divided up evenly among the bowling alleys.

Kristy, of course, being the organizer of the world, had called the bowling alley in advance and reserved enough lanes at the far end of the alley away from the other bowlers to minimize the disturbance. Fortunately, it wasn't very crowded at that time of day on a Monday anyway, although there was a group of women who were really knocking down the pins nearby.

But getting everyone to their alleys wasn't the same as getting the bowling underway.

"I can't pick up the ball with my fingers in the bowling ball holes," Jamie gasped, his face red.

"Just hold it in your hands. Like this, see?" Claudia cradled the ball in her hands.

"But then I can't throw it the way everyone else is throwing it!"

"Not everyone is throwing it that way," Mal pointed out. "Claire and Andrew aren't, are you?"

Mal and Claudia were in charge of the three youngest kids.

"I don't know how to hold it," said Claire.

Andrew shook his head to show that he didn't either.

"Go for it, Claud," said Mal, grinning. She stepped aside and motioned toward the bowling lane.

Claudia thought, Oh, well, and went for it. Cradling the bowling ball (which was one of the lightweight ones for kids and for some reason was bright red) in both hands, she walked to the edge of the bowling alley, bent over, and set it down. Then she gave it a push.

The ball rolled slowly down the alley for a little ways, then curved off into the gutter.

Claire said, "I don't want my bowling ball to do that!"

"It might, though," Mal said, trying not to laugh. "But you'll have to practice. Just like you practice softball."

"Oh." Claire could understand that.

Next to them, Matt, David Michael, Ricky, and Bobby were rolling the ball as hard as they could down the alley. Sometimes it actually made it to the pins, but more often it shot into the gutter. Kristy, who was a pretty good bowler, was trying to give them tips on how to hold the ball. But they were more interested in rolling it as fast as they could.

Karen, Hannie, Nancy, and Margo were taking a different approach. They were rolling the ball very, very slowly. Then they stood at the

end of the alley leaning left and right and jumping up and down as if they could influence whether the ball hit anything.

All in all, everybody had their hands full.

Then Claire stomped her foot. "Stop that!" she shouted at her ball, which was just tipping into the gutter. Before anyone could move, she had marched down the bowling alley to try to grab the ball.

"No!" shouted Mal. "Claire!"

But Claire had already bent over and was making slapping motions at the heavy ball, trying to stop it, but afraid it would hurt her somehow. As Mal reached her, Claire straightened up triumphantly and put her foot down on the ball.

Logan, who'd been watching, said, "Whoa! If she'd been playing soccer, that would have been a great trap."

"Claire," said Mal. "You can't cross over the line. Even if your ball goes in the gutter."

"It's not fair," said Claire. But since she was already holding her bowling ball, she didn't sound too unhappy.

Mal and Claudia kept a close eye on Claire and the other two after that.

Suddenly Linny shouted, "I got a strike! I got a strike!"

Everyone in the bowling alley looked at Linny.

"Good work!" called one of the women who was bowling next to the campers. She grinned and gave Linny a thumbs-up sign.

"I want a strike, too,” said Claire.

"If you keep practicing, you might get one," Claudia said diplomatically. But she wasn't hopeful.

Then Jamie jammed all his fingers into the holes of the bowling ball and tried to roll it the way the big kids were doing. Unfortunately, he forgot to take his fingers out when he shoved the ball forward.