July Writing Craze: Day 24!!

Day 24!! We're almost at the end!! :)  Enjoy!

Not three minutes had Yori been playing (and not minding running) did Katie come storming down to the field with Velvet and Brody at her heels.  Yori pretended not to see Katie in her rusty orange sweater that seemed to choke her rooster throat and just kept playing.  The laughs and cheers of the campers floated through the air and surprised Yori with the joy they brought her.  One little boy, that Yori learned his name was Brent, made a bolt for the flags on the girl’s side.  Yori let the other girl campers race after him and tackle him, so she could provide the moral support on the sidelines.

            “All right!  There you go!  You got ‘em!”  Yori cheered, pumping her arms in the air.  Mallory danced around, holding up Brent’s red flag, making hilarious animal noises.  Tegan, Sapphire, and Kristina piled on top of her, cheering and laughing the whole time.  Yori couldn’t but laugh, too.  In fact, Yori laughed a whole-hearted laugh, one she hadn’t felt resonate from her body for a long, long time.

            “Yori!”  Katie yelled.  Yori’s internal tranquility immediately ceased as Yori’s mind focused back on reality.

            “Hi Katie,”  Yori said, as if nothing was wrong.

            “A word with you, please,”  Katie said, her voice drawn out like a stupid chess game.

            “Sure,”  Yori said, as pleasantly as she could muster.  “You guys keep playing,”  Yori told the campers.  Walking over to Katie and unsnapping her yellow flag, Yori waved to Velvet and Brody, her fingers crossed for good luck.  Velvet gave her a sympathetic smile and Brody thumbs-upped her.  Katie and Yori headed into the office building, past the lethargic Jane Webster, and into Katie’s claustrophobic and poorly designed office.

            “Yori, I regret to say…”  Katie said, once they had both taken a seat with the door closed behind them.  The isolation from everyone else made Yori sick.  She felt her knees wobble like she was standing in four-inch Stilettos.  Yori looked down at her bare feet to make sure she was stable…for the time being.

            “…that you are suspended for the rest of Camp Sing-Song.  You will be leaving early tomorrow morning.”  Yori knew the news was coming, she knew what she could say to defend herself, but no words came out.  All Yori could concentrate on was Katie’s smug expression with her nose scrunched up like a Pug puppy’s.

            “I…I…”  Yori couldn’t find the words to stand up for herself.  Yori wondered if Velvet and Brody were able to get through to Katie?  Apparently they hadn’t because Katie was sitting before Yori, telling her to get her butt out of the camp.  The more Yori looked at Katie’s complacent face, the angrier Yori felt.  Finally, words seemed to shove their way through Yori’s vocal chords, because soon Yori couldn’t stop talking.

            “Suspended?  You are suspending me?  For what, may I ask?  I didn’t do anything illegal.  You just…you don’t like me, isn’t that it?  Isn’t that it?  Well, who says that’s fair?”

            “Life’s not fair.”  Yori caught her breath.  She hated that saying.

            “Why are you suspending me?”

            “You were caught in the woods today, the woods are off-limits,”  Katie said, her face so smug it looked like it might implode. 

            “I wasn’t in the woods today, Katie.  I was down at the field playing Capture the Flag with the campers.  You just saw,”  Yori said evenly, trying not to loose her temper.  Whoever had mistakenly reported Yori in the woods made Yori mad for jeopardizing her counselor-ship.

            “No?  Then how come I was down here with Velvet and her campers earlier this morning, and you weren’t there?  I bet I could get Velvet to confirm on that.  Even Brody, too,”  Katie said, almost teasing Yori with the information.

            “Don’t bother,”  Yori said, deciding that two could play Katie’s game.  Yori put on her best superior and tantalizing smile, breathing easy and calmly.  Yori knew she hadn’t been in the woods, therefore she couldn’t be suspended.  Yori knew she couldn’t be suspended, so there wasn’t anything to worry about.

            “I won’t bother if you can tell me where you were this early morning,”  Katie replied, leaning on her elbows.

            “I was in my cabin.  I was running late because…something has happened in my family that…”

            “Caused you to be running late?”  Katie mocked Yori.  Yori felt the thunderous rumble of her inner anger, but made sure to flash her genuine smile and just agree with Katie.

            “Right you are,”  Yori responded, giggling a little.  Yori sensed Katie’s eyes flutter. Katie was getting antsy.  “I was upset and needed time to be by myself.  That’s not a crime against camp rules, is it now?  Especially since I pulled it together enough and came down to play anyhow.  Right?”  Yori widened her eyes, pulled her chin down, and smile a weakly innocent smile.  Katie didn’t speak for a moment and Yori’s mind was racing.  Would Katie give in?  Even though Yori was lying about being in her cabin all morning when she was actually in a boat, crying her eyes out, Yori was still in the right about not being in the woods.  There weren’t any rules against hiding in boats, were there?

            “Listen, Yori.  I’m going to be frank with you.”  Katie stood up and came around to Yori’s side.  Katie sat on the edge of her desk, her orange sweater shedding a handful of thread as she sat.  Yori purposely backed her chair up in disgust.

            “Lucky me.”

            “I’m going to suspend you whether you were in the woods or not.  Really, you were suspended from this camp the minute I knew your name.  All I needed to do was find someone to do my dirty work, report to me something you did that was not allowed.  That way, true or not, I would have something to write down for the paperwork to send to the big boss.”  Was that it then?  Katie simply didn’t like Yori and not caring if it was fair or not, was going to suspended her.  Yori was fighting a loosing battle.

            Suddenly, Yori’s walkie talkie crackled to life.  It buzzed and hummed and vibrated in her shorts pocket.      

            “Y-Yori?  Are you there?  It’s Velvet.  Over.”  Yori took out her walkie talkie and loving the excuse to get a moment to herself to regroup and breathe, Yori absolved herself from the room and from the uncomfortable conversation.

            “Yori, this is important,”  Katie snapped.  “You can’t just leave.”  Yori opened the door and right before she closed it, she said, “Can’t I?”

            “Yori, are you there?  I repeat, are you there?”  Velvet pretty much yelled into her walkie talkie, blasting Yori’s ears out.  Yori fumbled for the volume, turning it down quite a bit before pressing the red Speak button and announcing herself.

            “Oh, Yori!  Are you done?  What happened?  Over.”  Yori rolled her eyes.  It was just like Velvet to interrupt to know something.

            “Velvet, I’m being suspended.  There’s nothing I can do about it.  Katie doesn’t care if I was in the woods or not.  I’m gone.”  Yori pressed the Mute button on her walkie talkie.

            “What are your deals for overnight paving?”  Yori heard Jane Webster, the secretary, boringly say into her beige telephone.  Yori put her walkie talkie back into her pocket and took a few breaths.  Yori could feel the tension seeping from the crack underneath Katie’s office door and needed a few moments to regroup before she reentered.

            “You said 3200 dollars for overnight paving? …We have over 10 miles of pavement that needs to be redone and dry by the late morning. …Yes, well do you have any painting deals?  We need 34 wooden porches refinished. …When?  Tomorrow, late morning.  …I know it’s late notice.  Well, I’m sorry, but my boss just asked me if I made arrangements for our visitors and I didn’t know we needed to!”  Yori opened her eyes from her mini yoga meditation and slyly glanced at the panicked and overwhelmed Jane Webster.  Jane’s hand was pushing up her short hair in stress and her neck was strained so tight that it looked like it just might break if she said another word.  Yori couldn’t help but keep listening.

            “How much?  We’re willing to spend 10,000 dollars today.  …Yes, that’ll be for painting, refinishing, repaving, and landscaping.  We need a major crew for today and tonight...nothing?!  You can’t do anything?!  But, you don’t understand, my boss will fire me…I know, I know that’s not your problem.  Okay, well, thank you.  I’ll call you…soon.”  Jane Webster replaced the phone to its holder and covered her face with her hands.  Her shoulders were moving a little and Yori knew she was crying.

            “Excuse me,”  Yori said quietly, not wanting to startle the obviously oblivious secretary.  Yori didn’t care too much about Jane’s problems, but she needed to buy more time before she went back to her doomsday party.

            “Huh?!  Oh!  I didn’t know you were here.  Can I help you with something?”  Jane started, quickly wiping her eyes and smoothing down her hair.

            “Are you okay?”  Yori asked, hoping Jane’s problem was long, but didn’t require much concern or advice-giving.

            “I’m fine…what do you need?”  Jane said, folding her hands on her desk and smiling an awfully forced smile.

            “Nothing, but are you sure you’re okay?”  Yori said, glancing at Katie’s door, hoping it wouldn’t open.

            “No!”  Jane suddenly exploded.  “The magazine reviewers are coming tomorrow at one o’clock and I need to get this whole camp redone by then!  I knew the visitors were coming, but I didn’t think we’d have to change the whole camp!  So, Katie.  Ooh, Katie!  She tells me this morning that we need to fix this place or I’m fired!  Oh my god!”  Jane was a mess.  But Yori wasn’t at all concerned about that.  Suddenly, things were coming together.  The magazine reviewers were coming the next day.  And Katie was suspending Yori for no reason, just the simple fact that she didn’t want Yori there.  It was obvious, wasn’t it?  Katie didn’t want Yori at camp when the press came in case Yori messed anything up.  Katie was weeding out the trouble-makers, which Yori had to admit, she was kind of one from the beginning.  But Yori was a weed that could never be removed, instead she would be one of those really annoying ones that would spread, gaining a team, and turning the tables.

            “Jan,”  Yori piped up, running over to her desk.  Jane looked up, her bottom lip quivering.

            “It’s Jane.”  Mrs. Webster plump lips turned down in a frown, her eyes filling with water.  She looked absolutely pathetic.

            “You hate Katie?”

            “Well…”  Jane started, looking nervously down at her phone book and clipboard.  She started fingering the papers and flipping through pages, avoiding the conversation.  Yori slapped her hands on top of Jane’s, forcing Jane to look at Yori.

            “You’re telling me you like Katie?  The one who has you running around like a maniac, trying to fix the camp overnight?  She’s putting her workload on you, Jan—“

            “Jane.”

            “Don’t you wish you could walk into that office and tell Katie off?  Tell her, no!  It can’t be done, this camp is how it is!”  Yori hollered, trying to pump some life into the down-and-out Jane.

            “You bet I would.  The truth is, I have so many ideas for this camp, but every time I try to tell them to Katie, she won’t listen.  She pushes me aside and ignores me.  You know, my mom use to do that sometimes to me as a kid…I never got to speak—“

            “That’s what I want to hear!  Get rid of Katie, get rid of Katie!”  Yori cut Jane off, not wanting to hear her whole childhood memories.  Yori just wanted to get rid of Katie, not have a therapy session.

            “Right!  Get rid of Katie!  She’s unfair!”  Jane agreed, a smile creeping to her face.

            “Exactly!  Now, listen before the devil comes out of her office,”  Yori began.  “Katie is going to suspend me.”

            “I know.  I heard the conversation between her and Tiffany about you being in the woods,”  Jane responded, leaning forward, ready to listen to Yori.

            “You heard?  Who’s Tiffany?”  Yori was definitely glad she had come in contact with Jane.

            “Tiffany?  She’s a girl…short, squat.  Has brown hair, but with white roots.  Actually, that might be dandruff, that poor girl.  I use to have dandruff…one time in seventh grade, I had it bad—“

            “Tiffany has dandruff, you said?”

            “Yup, why?”  Jane returned, forgetting her second childhood memory.

            “Snowy mountain’s the one who reported to Katie?  Snowy mountain’s doing Katie’s dirty work…”  Yori mused to herself.

            “That’s not surprising.  Tiffany is Katie’s niece.”

Thanks for reading!  Just so you all know, I LOVE writing this blog!  It is so much fun writing, designing the page, coming up with new sideline activities, and reading all the comments!  Anyway, see you tomorrow!!

And remember guys: Sometimes thinking of your story in your head like it was a play or a movie, really helps you to visualize details and helps you to add in the little subtleties you might have missed just writing it.  Try acting out the chapter in your head (or if you're bold, by talking and actually acting with your body) to see if you missed anything. 

ABC 123,

                Maddie