Sunshine Days - Chapter 1
Welcome to Camp Sunshine Days!
Camp Sunshine Days, located near scenic Mount Shasta, is a Christian youth camp dedicated to teaching cubs about God's love and valuable life lessons. They will learn about the Bible while enjoying lots of outdoor activities such as hiking, swimming, and much, much more! So come on down for fun and faith at Camp Sunshine Days, located off Exit 29 on I-5.
It was a gorgeous, blue-sky morning over Camp Sunshine Days. Not a single cloud littered the sky above the snow topped mountain or the vibrant green ocean of pine trees around it. The interstate that divided the land cut through the trees like a black snake winding through grass. Three yellow school buses drove up its back as they made their way to the camp, carrying a shipment of over five dozen restless cubs. As the sun was making its trek up from the east, final preparations were being made by the Camp Counselors and Camp Helpers as they awaited the buses arrival. The temperature was a pleasant 70 degrees and cool dew drops still clung to the leaves and sweet smelling pine.
"You couldn't ask for a finer day," Pastor Durham had remarked. "Truly a blessed day..."
The camp was located 50 miles north of Redding and sat right on the edge of Angel Lake. There were six cabins, each built to accommodate at least a dozen furs at a time. Four of the cabins were for the cubs, one was for the designated Camp Helpers, and one was for the Camp Counselors and Leaders. The age groups of cubs were between 12 and 15 and the Camp Helpers were local volunteers aged 16 and up. The six cabins made up the edge of the camp, encircling the large wooden building that served as the Main Lodge and Mess Hall where all the cubs and leaders would congregate. On the edge of the lake was a smaller but wider building that served as the bathrooms, changing rooms, and showers.
Around 10 AM, the buses pulled single file into the parking lot. Cheers erupted amongst the loud chatter of cubs, most of them anxious to get out of the cramped buses and finally stretch their legs. The door swung open and the drivers ushered the cubs so they didn't all clamber out at once.
"All right, one at a time from the front to back! Please stay seated if you are sitting in the back! Hey!" the driver had to shout over their excitement.
Jonathan, a 14 year old tabby cat, was more than happy to stay seated at the back of the bus. He fidgeted with the handle on his backpack, feeling anxious and lost looking out of the window at the camp. He was a long way from home, from San Diego to be exact. His parent's had sent him up to visit his older cousin, Vince, who was one of the Camp Helpers. Vince had promised to keep Jonathan company and help him make some friends over the two week visit. Jonathan scanned the sea of unfamiliar faces and couldn't find Vince anywhere.
"Hey!"
Jonathan jumped a little at the loud voice. The bus was completely empty except for the bulky bus driver, who stood in the aisle and blocked it like a wall. She glowered at him.
"You coming or what?" she barked.
Jonathan hastily picked up his bag and skittered nervously to the front, keeping his head down. He tried not to look at her on the way out but could feel her intimidating glare the whole way.
He stepped outside and squinted in the sunlight, putting a paw over his eyes to look for Vince. Still, not a familiar face in the crowd.
"Move kid!"
It was the bus driver again, coming around to the side of the bus to unload luggage from the baggage compartment. Jonathan skittered away again, the fur on his neck standing up as he relocated to a different area. He wandered around, avoiding the dreaded mistake of making eye contact with anyone as he scanned through the crowd for Vince. He wondered if there was something he should be doing or someplace he needed to be standing.
He looked up at the entrance to the camp: two Native American totem poles held up a broad wooden sign with the words "Welcome to Camp Sunshine Days" burned into it. Below the sign was a plastic, aqua blue colored banner that read "Very truly I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless they are born of water and the Spirit. - John 3:5".
Finally, a familiar voice called out, "Johnny boy!"
Jonathan felt a wave of relief as he turned and saw Vince marching through the crowd toward him. He made his way towards Vince as well and when they met up, Jonathan stuck out his paw in a formal pawshake. Vince ignored it and pulled the younger feline into a tight brotherly hug, followed by a noogie.
"How's it going, squirt?" he asked, putting an arm around Jonathan. "Enjoy the ride up here?"
Jonathan readjusted his glasses, "Nah...I slept most of the way. It was bumpy."
He had taken an overnight bus from San Diego to San Francisco and changed shuttles to Redding in the early hours of the morning. One of the yellow buses had picked him up from the station and brought him to the First Baptist Church where he waited while other cubs were dropped off by parents and loaded on to buses.
"You shoulda flown in. That would have been much easier." Vince added. Jonathan nodded but the idea of flying terrified him more than being semi-alone on a bus driving upstate. He did have an unaccompanied minor form hanging in a plastic pouch around his neck and a very sweet Latina guardian who kept him company the ride over.
Vince and Jonathan went back to the bus to retrieve his duffel bag. Jonathan kept his eyes averted as he took his bag from the bus driver.
The bell above the Main Lodge clanged loudly and the adults began to herd the cubs in the direction of the building. Vince and Jonathan followed the crowd under the entrance sign to the hub. Outside the Main Lodge was a flag pole with the American Flag, the California state flag, and the Christian flag. Outside the front double doors was a bulletin board with a scheduled list of activities for the following two weeks.
Entering the Main Lodge felt like entering a dark, dank cave. Jonathan's eyes had to readjust to the dim lighting and the air conditioner felt a little too cold to be refreshing on a mild day. The inside of the building was as huge as it had looked on the outside, the ceiling reaching up like a small cathedral. The benches were lined up like pews in church, in two rows facing the stage. On the stage in front of drawn red velvet curtains was a podium with the logo for New Life Ministries.
"Alright, I gotta go sit with the other helpers," Vince said. "Go find a place to sit down and I'll come find you after the assembly."
Reluctantly, Jonathan found himself a seat in a corner near the back of the auditorium and sat down. He watched as the Helpers and Counselors were trying to ebb the chaotic tide of cubs and get everyone seated. The sound of a booming mic temporarily silenced everyone.
"Attention, please," an elderly fox said, tapping the microphone on the podium. "I need everyone seated." The elderly fox was Pastor Durham, the camp Leader and minister of Redding's First Baptist church. He wore a mock Scout Leader uniform, complete with fake badges with things like Crosses, Bibles, and paws clasped in prayer on them. He even wore a kerchief that seemed a little too small for his neck. In fact, his whole uniform seemed comically small on the large fox.
The Pastor started off with a few announcements before leading everyone into prayer. A giant projector screen came down and the lights dimmed. Some upbeat, yet slightly generic, music began to play from the speakers on both sides of the stage. Everyone was told to stand and sing while the PowerPoint displayed the lyrics on the screen.
Jonathan stood with the rest of the cubs but didn't sing along, not feeling confident enough in his singing abilities to contribute to the choir. He scanned across the hoards of painfully out of tune cubs and thought of a million places he'd rather be. He also noticed a recurring theme that all the songs had something to do with water.
His eyes caught another cub's, a bull terrier pup that looked to be the same age as him. The bull terrier flashed a grin at him, gestured with his head at the rest of the crowd and rolled his eyes. Jonathan couldn't help but grin and tried to suppress a giggle. The terrier pup reached behind his neck and pulled an invisible rope, crossing his eyes and sticking his tongue out like he was being hung. Jonathan giggled and the girl next to him shot him an irritated look.
The singing ended with dreadful parody of The Kingsmen's "Louis Louis" called "Pharaoh Pharaoh". The chorus went, "Pharaoh Pharaoh, ohhh baby let my people go! Oh! Yeah yeah yeah, I said..." Richard Berry would not have been proud.
One of the Leaders stood up and took the podium after the music was finished. "Hello! My name is Larry Morris but you all can call me Lars," the human said. He was wearing a scout uniform like Pastor Durham but it seemed more suited to his smaller, nimble frame. He had a slightly effeminate voice.
"You will all be receiving a packet of information as well as a syllabus of the next two weeks. Read them at your leisure and if anyone has any questions, be sure to ask one of the designated Helpers or Leaders."
He rustled his note cards and cleared his throat, "Okay, the cabin order will go as follows: Boys aged 12 to 13 will go to Cabin A, boys aged 14 to 15 will go to Cabin B, girls aged 12 to 13 will go to Cabin C, and girls aged 14 to 15 go to Cabin D..." and so he went on for another five minutes about the rules and activities.
They sang another dreaded song and Pastor Durham made another little prayer, blessing the camp and all the little cubs before disbanding them for lunch. Everyone stood in unison but the Leaders were ready to control the chaos, leading everyone towards the door. Lunch would be served outside in the Commons area.
Jonathan was trying to squeeze his way through the crowd to find Vince when he saw the bull terrier boy making his way up to him.
"Hey! Wait up!" the pup said, grinning wide.
Jonathan looked over his shoulder, pretending not to notice him but the pup caught up to him before he could make his escape.
"Hey, what's your name?" the pup asked, his tail wagging swiftly.
"Jonathan," he said, internally admitting defeat.
"I'm David," the pup replied, sticking his paw out. "You new here?"
Jonathan shook his paw, "Yeah...I'm just up here visiting my cousin."
"What that guy?" he said, gesturing with his thumb at Vince, who was busy talking to Lars.
"Yeah."
"That guy's awesome! Yeah, I can see the resemblance."
Vince and Jonathan were both brown striped tabby cats with similar stripe patterns. They both also had messy brown headfur and amber colors eyes. They would often get confused for siblings, especially since they acted as such whenever they were together.
"Hey, let's go grab a bunk before everyone else does!" David said.
"Well I was actually..." Before Jonathan could finish, David had grabbed his paw and was dragging him through the crowd and out of the Lodge. Jonathan followed him half heartedly.
"Shouldn't we grab our bags first?" Jonathan asked.
"We'll get 'em in a minute. Come on!"
David led the kitten to Cabin B on the west side of camp. The cabin was smaller than the Lodge but smelled just as old and dusty. There were six bunk beds, three against each wall. As far as furnishing went, there was little else except six dresser drawers, one between each set of beds. The bunk beds reminded Jonathan of a movie he had seen a long time ago about a military boot camp.
David picked the bunk bed on the far right of the cabin, throwing himself onto the bottom bunk. "You can take the top bunk if you want."
Jonathan climbed up the ladder and observed the hard, lumpy mattress. The dark green blanket over the sheet was course and scratchy and the pillow was flat and smelled funky. He could tell that it was going to mess with his allergies. Fortunately, his mother had packed him his hypoallergenic pillow case. He slid back down the ladder and sighed softly.
"So where'd you come from?" David asked, laying on his back and kicking off his shoes onto the floor.
"San Diego," he replied, leaning back against the wall.
"San Diego? You came all the way up here to visit your cousin? How come I haven't seen you around here more often?"
Jonathan shifted uncomfortably, "My parents are going through a rough patch...they sent me up here so they could work on some 'issues'..."
David's smile faded and his ears folded back. "Oh...I'm sorry, dude..."
Jonathan shrugged and dismissed it. "It's fine. It's been that way for a while."
A brief silence fell between them. Jonathan noticed that in the short space of time they had known one another, David seemed rather uncomfortable with the silence.
David fidgeted and sat up. "Let's go get our bags and something to eat!"
~~~
The sun was descending in the west, casting a brilliant orange glow on the mountain in the distance. In the dying light of the day, the camp had their first cookout and bonfire of the summer in the Commons. Games were played, burgers and hot dogs were consumed, and marshmallows intended for s'mores were burnt in the flickering flames.
David had stuck around Jonathan for most of the day, even after Vince had finally caught up with him. He was persistent, forging a friendship out of him which made Jonathan slightly uncomfortable and annoyed. He was friendly enough to the pup regardless of how he felt, appreciating that at least one cub wanted to be his friend. David took him around and introduced him to the other guys, acquainting him with his fellow cabin mates.
At 9 PM the sky was deepening purple and the surrounding trees were dark in the late twilight. The cubs were all led back to their respective cabins for bed. Wake up would be at 7 AM and breakfast would be served no later than 8.
Jonathan felt embarrassed to change into his pajamas in front of his peers. He changed in the corner as far away from them as he could get and faced the wall. It didn't help matters that David was trying to have a conversation with him, casually standing next to him in only his underwear.
He dug around his duffel bag and pulled out one of the many prescription bottles he had in there. He had medication for his allergies in the morning, his asthma medication (as well as his backup inhaler), vitamins, anti-anxiety and sleeping medication.
"What's that?" David asked, lying out on his bed still in only his white briefs. He had one leg propped up like he was trying to seduce him.
"Lunatol," Jonathan replied, trying not to look at the pup. "It helps me relax and fall asleep."
"Why do you have to take meds for that?" he asked.
Jonathan shrugged. "I have trouble falling asleep, I guess. My psychiatrist says that I think too much at night and I have anxiety..." He suddenly remembered the Pepsi he had with his burger that evening and slapped himself mentally for letting himself slip like that. He knew he shouldn't be consuming caffeine anytime after lunch. He guessed he got caught up in the excitement of the day and it must have slipped his mind.
After the lights went out in Cabin B, David continued to talk to Jonathan. He attempted to pry out information from the kitten and converse with him, much to the ire of the other cubs trying to get to sleep. Jonathan was too tired to be annoyed by David's banter. Thankfully the caffeine was no match against a tablet of Lunatol and an entire day's worth of travel and activities. Jonathan slipped into a deep sleep with the sound of David's voice growing dimmer and dimmer.