sean_harby_was_a_zombie

I tried to appear calm. My brother was sitting right there too and I didn't want him poking his nose in. A fourteen year old's attempt at nonchalance.
'Who was that, Freckles?' he asked me. I could see he was suspicious.
'None of your beeswax, Bignose.'

Later, I told my mom that I was sleeping over at Tommy's on Friday night.
'Did his mother say it's OK?' she asked.
'Sure, Mom.'

I didn't like lying to her, but the truth was out of the question.
And while I was lying to my mom, Tommy was busy lying to his. He told his mother that he and Sean were staying for a sleep-over at my house on Friday.
That was our master plan.

Now all I had to do was sneak out of the house on Friday without my brother sticking his big beak into my business. Silber's bakery was in the opposite direction from where the Harby's lived, where I had lied that I was staying, so I didn't want him to see me walking down there instead.

At dinner on Friday, I tried to remain at my coolest. I ate properly and didn't wolf down my food as usual. My plan was to attract no attention to myself at all. Then, when dinner was done, I casually got up and headed upstairs to my room. Once there, I opened the window, slid down the eaves, hopped on to our Sears shed roof, then on to an adjoining tree branch, and jumped down to the ground. I hoped I was quiet about it. I guess I was.
I didn't run into my brother anyway.

When I got down to Silber's, Tommy, Mike, and Sean were already there waiting. Tommy jumped out of Mike's car.
'Mike's not talking to us. He thinks we're dirty little snitches, 'cause we have one over on him.'
I didn't care about that. I was going to see Diane and that's all that mattered.
Tommy and I got back in the car and away we went.

It took us about three hours to get to Padfoot Camping Ground. I think it would have taken longer if Mike hadn't been driving. His car was a souped-up Dodge Charger with dual exhaust and those racing stripes so popular at the time.
Mike had two speeds. Fast and faster. We'd cheer him when he overtook someone, but he just drove on with a stony face.

It was around 9pm by the time we got there. Mike pulled up at the Padfoot Camping Ground entry sign with the painted animal paw prints on it.
'We're even,' Mike grunted at Tommy.
'When you picking us back up?' Tommy asked.
'Just be sure and be here in three hours,' Mike said. 'If you want a lift back, be here then. Midnight. I ain't waiting for ya.'
And Tommy, Sean, and I got out. Mike roared off to wherever he roared off to.

To reach the camp, we had to walk through the forest on the camp trail. Luckily, because it was summer it was still light out. We kept walking until we could see camp signs for different groups who were staying there.
Diane wrote that she was staying at the 'Bluebell' Camp, so when we saw a sign for that, we headed off in that direction.
We ran into a group of little girls. I asked one of them if they knew Diane. She said that she did and pointed to a tent just in front of us.
'Thanks,' I said.
As we walked away, I could hear them all giggling. They started chanting.
'Diane has a boyfriend. Diane has a boyfriend.'

We walked up to the tent the girls indicated and, just then, I saw Diane walking toward us from the opposite direction.
'Ralphy!' she squealed. 'You made it! You found me!' She gave me a squeeze of a hug.
'This is Sean,' I said. 'He's Tommy's brother.'
'I'm so happy you're here,' she sighed.
I was happy too.

Diane took us into her tent. It was pitched over a raised wooden slatted platform.
There seated on one of the two cots was Charmaine.
'Charmaine, this is Ralphy and his friends,' Dianne announced.
'Hello, Earthlings,' she said.
'Hello,' I replied.
I remember thinking she didn't look very 'psychic' to me.
Whatever 'psychic' is meant to look like.

'Is that the fortune teller witch?' Sean asked pointing at Charmaine.
'Plug your hole,' Tommy mumbled as he slapped down Sean's pointing hand.