The Wild One

Adult fiction 

     Hey, readers, we're about to return to summer camp.  But it's a darker, creepier session than you may have experienced back in the day.

     "But we all played a part in what happened that summer, and so we shared the burden of that silence.  For years the three of us were the only ones who knew that I'm the one who killed him.  And now I'm back in the same woods where it began, once again helpless beneath towering oaks and elms and pines.  They whisper to each other like they, too, want to unleash the truth."

     Amanda, protagonist of Colleen McKeegan's The Wild One, didn't want to go to Camp Catalba the summer she was twelve.  She'd be missing out on all the fun her elite clique would be having:  sleepovers, a first coed party, maybe a first kiss.  She fears that by the time school starts again she'll have been replaced in the group.  

     But when Amanda meets her cabin mates she becomes engaged in their social dynamics.  In addition to the official camp 🏕 activities--swimming, color wars, crafts--there are more covert ones.  She's determined to be Sarah's best friend and ruin Catherine's life.  Ironically when she suspects that something evil is going on it's Catherine who joins her in a rescue attempt that ends in tragedy.

     The three girls involved have sworn to keep what really happened secret.  Amanda did keep that promise until she met a boyfriend she could really trust...

     ...until she can't.  As he threatens to expose her she must meet up with the now women whose lives will also be impacted...

     ...back on the abandoned camp 🏕 grounds where it all started.

On a purrrsonal note, yesterday was Maine Hello, the move in day for first year students.  It's a precision operation.  As each car or truck pulls up in front of a dorm a group carries the new student's possessions to their room.  The greetings are enthusiastic.  The new student and their parents are quite appreciative.  

     I focused on talking to parents: telling them what a good school they were leaving their child at, assuring them that what they were feeling was valid.  They and their kids appreciated that.  Some of the new students hugged me.  I also talked to some siblings about mixed feelings being understandable.  Call me the family whisperer.  It was on and off rainy and 🥶.   By the time I got back home it was all I could do not to fall asleep.

     Today we'll have the barbeque at which I'll distribute the loaded backpack 🎒 s to kids in my trailer park.  It's the first time I didn't just lug them around.  I sure hope it works out.  The sky is pure clouds.  But nothing is falling from them.  Yet.  (Jules)

Hopefully rain holds off.  (Tobago)

A great big shout out goes out to all the Maine Hello volunteers.

Tobago and Jules Hathaway 

     

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