Diary of a Struggling Student Entry Thirteen

July 29, 2016

Dear Diary,

No the date is not wrong.  It really is the 29^th of July.  I am not sure where those other entries came from or how everything happened but today is the 29^th and I am in trouble.  I am in Big Trouble!

Last night when the ranger came and told us that a boy was missing, my mom was really upset.  She kept saying, “I could just imagine if it was one of our children.”

However, when the ranger stepped into the campfire light, I saw the face of the same person or thing that was holding on to my leg when I was on the tube trying to get back home.  I only saw the face for a second, but it was the same face.

The ranger told my dad that someone had said one of the campers from this site was down at the water with a tube.  My dad told him that they must have been mistaken because we do not have any tubes and none of us were playing down by the water today.  The ranger said they were pretty sure that they saw someone and then he looked right at me.  He said that the witness clearly identified me.

He came closer to me and bent down and asked, “Were you at the water today playing with a tube?”

“NO!” I said.

 

My dad looked at me.  I could tell he was not pleased with the way I said no.  My mom was also looking at me very strangely.

The ranger didn’t let up and I swear I could see a slight grin.

“Are you sure you were not down at the water with a tube?  I have it from a very reliable source (and he winked at me) that you were there.”

I felt my stomach turn and thought for a second about running.  Instead, I stood up and said, “I am really sorry but I can’t help you.”

“Why don’t you come with me and we can go talk with the person who saw you?  I bet we can clear this up right away.  I know your parents won’t mind and we will be right back.”

“NO!” 

“For heaven’s sake, what is the matter with you?”  My mother asked.  “Why are you being so rude?  This poor ranger is trying to find a missing child and you are behaving badly.”

Again the ranger looked at me and smiled.  No, no it was a grin – an evil grin.

My dad looked right at me and said, “Were you playing down at the water with a tube?”

I could not lie to my dad.  I wasn’t sure what I was going to do and all I said was, “I was not playing with a tube.”

The ranger looked at me and said, “Did you find or see a tube while you were at the water?”

I knew this was not going to go away.  I was going to have to answer the question.

“I did find a tube down by the water and thought that someone must have left it and gone exploring.  I was afraid if I left it out in the open that someone might come along and throw it in the water or take it.  So, I hid it in the woods and if someone came looking I would show them where it was.”

“Great!” said the ranger.  “Take me to it and maybe we can find the boy.”

“I am not going to do that,” I said.

This time my dad looked shocked.

“What?” he asked.  “What did you just say?”

“I am not going down to the water with the ranger,” I said.  “It is too dark and we would never find it at night.”

“At least come and show me where you found it,” the ranger said.

“I found it at the end of the path.  Just take the path to the water and that is where it was sitting.”

“YOU WILL TAKE THE RANGER TO THE EXACT SPOT WHERE YOU FOUND THE TUBE!  THEN YOU WILL GO DIRECTLY TO YOUR TENT AND STAY THERE UNTIL MORNING.  YOUR MOTHER AND I WILL DISCUSS THIS WITH YOU THEN.  DO YOU UNDERSTAND?” my dad said. 

 

I knew he was mad.  My dad never shouts like that.  Well almost never.

“I am so sorry about this,” my dad said.  “We brought our children up to respect others and be polite.”

What happened next can only be called a miracle.  All of a sudden there was a big flash of lightning and a huge clap of thunder.  The rain started to come down hard and heavy.  I mean hard and heavy.

“Well it is obvious you can’t go to the water tonight but, you come by first thing in the morning and my child will go with you.” My dad said.

I didn’t waste any time getting to the tent and inside.  My brothers and sisters were talking about how much trouble I was in and that tomorrow was not going to be a good day.

Suddenly a head poked in the tent and the ranger’s voice said, “Sweet dreams everyone!”  I will be by bright and early and we can go to the water together.”

Diary of a Struggling Student Entry Twelve

August  27, 2016,

Dear Diary,

What happens next is hard for even me to believe.  I am not even sure how to explain this to myself.  I guess the best thing to do is just write down exactly what happened.

I was lying on the tube and the water just stopped.  I felt like I had to get out of the water quickly as it was dangerous to stay in the water.

The tube was still tied to the tree.  I carried it out of the water and pulled on the other end of the rope.  I was hoping that my friend, I just realized I never asked his name, was hanging on to the other end.  What was on the other end was the clip that he had taken off the tube and put on himself to pull me to safety.  I was safe, but my friend was gone.

I saw my shoes by the edge of the stream.  How strange that my parents would leave my shoes there.  They must have been looking for me.  I can’t believe they would still be at the campsite after so long.  The next thing I noticed was the pan bumping up against a couple of rocks.  It looked like it wanted to get out and float downstream.  At least I wasn’t going to have to explain how I lost a perfectly good pan.

I put on my shoes and decided I would hide the tube.  I knew if I left it out it would look like it was abandoned and someone would probably take it.  I untied the rope and pulleys from the tree, walked into the woods and hid it under some brush.  I thought I would come back with my dad and show him the tube.  It was the only thing I had to prove the story I was going to have to tell them.  This was not going to be an easy story to believe.

I figured I would take the path back to where we had camped, find a ranger and explain that I was lost and have them contact my family.  I took the pan and headed back to the campsite.

When I got to the site, my dad was there!  He was at the fire making supper.  He looked up at me and said, “I was just about to go looking for you.  Supper is almost ready and if you are going to tell a story tonight, we need to eat soon as it looks like it is going to rain.”

I just stared at him.  How could he be so calm when I had been gone for days. Why was he still here?

“I thought you were going to get some water?  How come you came back with an empty pan?  We need the water to boil so we can use it.  Go back and get the water and this time come right back.  No playing around.” 

 

I still didn’t move.  What was going on?  

“I said go now!”

I turned and went back to the water and filled the pan.  I made sure that no part of me touched the water.  I hurried back to the campsite and gave my dad the water.  I went to my tent to sit down and think.  When I got to the tent my other siblings were outside. They just nodded to me as I went into the tent.  No one acted at all surprised to see me.  I went over to my sleeping bag and sat down to think.  That is when I noticed the diary, the same diary that I had written in about the shopping trip to get supplies.  How did it get here?  You have to know that I would never bring a diary on a camping trip!  Who would even consider that to be a good idea?  Well maybe one of my teachers but give me a break, a diary on a camping trip!

I opened it and there were several entries.  I started to read it and it was exactly what had happened to me.  The last entry was posted on Aug. 26, 2016.  I did not write those entries.  We always have to spell out the months and I would never think to abbreviate August as Aug. 

My dad called everyone to supper.  I put the diary down and then thought I had better hide it in a safe place.  I put it in the bottom of my backpack.

 

When we all sat down for supper, I decided to ask the question that was going to prove if I was losing my mind. 

 

“What is the date today?” I asked.

“July 28,” my mother said. “Why?”

I just looked at her.  My stomach did not feel very good.  How could it be July 28?

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“He is just counting down the days to when he has to go back to school,” my sister said.

“Yeah, I just didn’t realize the summer was going by so fast,” I said.

“Are you ready with your ghost story?”  My dad asked.  “It may get cut short if it rains.”

“I will wait until tomorrow then, if that is okay.”

“What?  You passing up a chance to tell a story?  I can’t believe it,” my mother said.

“Let’s go over to the fire.  It is getting dark.  If you get interrupted with the rain, you can continue with the story tomorrow night.”

We moved to the fire and we were sitting around it.  I was trying to figure out what I was going to do.

“Excuse me,” a voice said from behind us.

I turned around but it was too dark to see who it was and he was too far from the campfire.  My dad got up and went over to him.

“What can we do for you?” he asked.

“We are looking for a lost boy.”

“How awful!” my mom said.  “It is dark and he is missing.”

He was moving closer to the fire and we could see that he was a ranger.  Being lost at night is not a good thing in the woods.

“He was spotted down by the stream earlier in the day and I am checking with everyone to see if maybe they saw him.”

Suddenly he was in the light of the fireplace.  I could see his face.  It was the same face that the shape had turned into.  The shape that had grabbed my leg!

Diary of a Struggling Student Entry Eleven

Aug. 26, 2016

Dear Diary,

I woke up early and expected something to happen.  I knew it was still a couple of hours away from when we could leave. There was no wind and there were no noises.  The sun started to rise and I got up and got ready to leave.  I kind of wondered what excuse my buddy was going to give me to delay our departure.

“Are you ready?” he asked.

I jumped and turned around and he was there at the door of my tent.

“I need to know how you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Appear out of nowhere.”

“I don’t understand what you mean.”

“Forget it.  I am ready to go,” I said.

We got the tube and walked to the water without talking.  I knew I wasn’t going to see the campsite again.  We were either going to be home or in a much worse place in a very short period of time.

When we arrived at the water, everything was just how we left it the night before.  I don’t know why I kept expecting the worst.  This was a good plan and it was going to work.

I checked the pulleys on the tree to make sure they were secure.  We had clips to hook ourselves to the tube.  We were going where the tube went no matter what.

“Ready?” I said.

“Yes.” 

We put the tube in the water and climbed on one at a time.  I went first and steadied it as my buddy got on as well.  We were very careful not to touch the water.

 

“Remember as soon as we touch the water take your foot out and start to pull.  Do not leave any part of you in the water because that will slow down the tube.” I said.

“On the count of three we touch the water.  One, Two, Three”

The water started to rush immediately and we started to pull.  It was working.  We were actually moving at a fairly good pace.  The pulley was working.  I wasn’t sure how far we were going to have to go but I had no plans on stopping until I got to that tree!

Suddenly the water came rushing at us and almost tipped the tube.  It was coming so fast and hard now that we were not moving at all. 

 

“Pull,” I shouted.

“I am trying.”

My hands were starting to bleed.  I felt like I was pulling on wire and not rope.  The rope was so taut that I was afraid it was going to break. 

 

“We can’t give up.  Pull as hard as you can!”

That was when the next rush of water came and flipped the tube.  I lost hold of the rope from the pulley and went under the water.  Luckily the clips held and I came back to the surface and the tube was still there.  My buddy was just coming to the surface as well.

“Get on the tube!” he shouted.  “Get out of the water!”

I did manage to get on the tube and told him to get on.  I offered my hand to help him.  He just looked at me and said, “Hang on and do not look back.”

“What are you talking about?  What do you mean don’t look back?

Then, I saw what he was planning to do.  He had taken the rope from the pulley and tied it on to his clip.  He was now taking the clip off the tube.  He was going to let go and use his weight to pull the tube forward.

“No!” I shouted.

 

But it was too late.  He had decided what he was going to do and had done it.  He let go of the tube and the tube moved forward as he moved downstream.

I felt a hand on my leg and looked back to see a form holding on to me.  I say a form because I couldn’t make out what it was but it was something. Suddenly, I saw a face and then it disappeared and it was over!

Diary of a Struggling Student Entry Ten

Aug. 25, 2016

Dear Diary,

I was in big trouble.  The water would soon be over the rock I was standing on.  If I got on the tube, the wind and rain would make it impossible not to tip.  I was going to have to get in the water and use the rope to get me on shore.  It wasn’t far, but I knew as soon as I touched the water it might be all over.  I did not have a choice.  It was now or never.

“Get on the tube!”

I thought I heard something and looked toward shore.

“Get on the tube!  You have to do it now!  Get on the tube!”

“I can’t.  There is no way I can keep it from tipping over.  The rain and wind are so bad.”

“I will pull you to shore.  You have to try.  Get on the tube now!”

I knew that was the best option.  I at least had to give it a try.  I climbed on the tube and the wind and rain stopped.  The water was still running fast but the wind and rain stopped.  When I looked up at the sky it was blue!  How did he do that?  Did he cause the weather as well?  I realized he was pulling me to the shore.  As soon as I touched the shore, I jumped off the tube and pulled it out of the water.

“How did you do that?”

“Do what?”

“Oh come on, how did you change the weather like that?”

“You think I changed the weather?”

“Well how would you explain it?  You tell me to get on the tube and all of a sudden the rain and wind just stop.”

“Have you ever heard of a hurricane?  Didn’t you realize this was not just a big thunderstorm?  We are in the eye of the hurricane and we need to get to shelter quick.  Once this passes the back side of the storm could be even worse.  Come on, let’s get back to camp.”

“Help me with the tube.  I do not want to leave it here again in case the back side is worse.”

“No, leave everything.  We need to get to shelter now!”

“I am not leaving the tube.”

I started to carry it myself and when he realized I would not leave it, he took one side and we carried it back to our campsite.   What a mess!  My tent was still standing but that was the only one.  To make matters worse the rain and wind started again as quickly as it had stopped.  The blue sky was gone.  I really had to look up hurricanes when I got back.  I said we should hunker down in my tent.  I secured the tube and we stayed in my tent.  It took about 3 more hours before the storm started to let up.

Just like the eye of the hurricane, when the back side of the hurricane passed, it cleared up and the blue sky was overhead.  The campsite was destroyed.  We spent the next few hours picking up what we could save out of the debris.

I went back to the water to see what was left of my pulley system.  To my surprise, it was still there.  The ropes were tangled and some trees were down across the ropes.  The pulleys attached to the tree were still there and the tree was still standing.  That tree was critical to getting us across the portal.

The water was running very hard and probably would for the next couple of days.  I could get everything set up and ready to go while the water went back to normal.

We spent the next two days cleaning up everything and getting our pulley system ready to go.  The water had settled down and tomorrow morning we were leaving. 

My buddy wasn’t trying to talk me out of it anymore and had been a huge help in getting everything ready.  I am not sure why the change but I was sure glad of the help and support.  I wondered if the hurricane scared him.  No matter, tomorrow I was finally going home.