Fiona Goes To Camp

Fiona did cartwheels around her bedroom. She stuck her head out into the hallway to yell to her dad, “IS IT TIME to GO YETTTTTTTT????????”

“No Fiona.”

“HOW ABOUT NOWWW???”

“No Fiona.”

“WHAT ABOUT-”

“NO FIONA!!!!!”

She got a snack from the kitchen-some fresh blades of grass and a tiny piece of chicken. As she chewed she debated which of her sculptures she wanted to bring to camp. It would be her first winter at Camp Spillway for Foxes.

She chose her family sculpture and her one of her and Dolly. Then she grabbed three wood chips in case she wanted to carve something new.

She was so excited! Both her parents and all her grandparents went to Camp Spillway and they loved to tell her about in. On the first day all the foxes worked together to dig a hole in the spillway that led to a huge burrow, even going under the lake in some parts. They would insulate it with snow. Then they would go inside and lay out their beds. Their bunks were rooms inside the burrow. Every week everyone came out to hunt for chickens.

Fiona’s mom’s favorite story to tell went like this. Felix, Fiona’s dad, was in one of the rooms under the lake. He was helping to make lunch: chicken, seaweed, and acorn. He accidentally sliced a hole in the ceiling. The lake started to flood! He clogged up the hole with acorns and figured no one would ever know, but he did end up ruining an entire batch of the acorn affogato they would have for dessert by soaking it and also removing the acorns.

Then, one week later, Felix and his buddy were on kitchen duty together, making an acorn-chicken stew. Felix’s buddy, said, “That sure is a weird place to store acorns!” And pulled one out to slice up and use to season a stew that had just been cooked recently.

“WAIT-NO-“ Felix began and tried to sop his friend, but he pulled out the acorn and the entire pile came crashing down. They ran from the floodwaters, yelling at everyone to get out of the burrow, Fiona’s mom included.

They all had to work together to get the water out, and the Burrow stayed damp for two weeks.

Felix liked to talk about the Filling Ceremony at the end of camp. They’d all gather snow and mix dirt and sticks in until it was brown and almost just plain dirt. Then they’d fill up the burrow. He said it was always sad to pack up his dirt bed and then cover it with icky snow. It was a nice way to say goodbye to the winter though.

Frido, Fiona’s grandfather, liked to talk about the activities. Everything Fiona liked was on the list. She couldn’t wait to go! If only it would be time to go already.

Eventually Felix came in. “We’re leaving in five minutes. Your hole is number 5, your counselor is Fiyla, and your bunkmate is Foozia, okay?”

“Okay,” Fiona said. “Five, Fiyla, Foozia. 5, Fiyla, Foozia.”

“Good luck. Have fun.”

“I will. I won’t flood the burrow, like you did.”

Felix smiled. She grinned at him and checked if she had everything one last time. She did.

It was Camp Spillway time!

She left home to take the path to the spillway which she knew very well, but this time a lot of foxes were there. Fiona waited as more and more joined. Eventually one of the counselors started roll call. When she got to “Fiona the Fox?” Fiona shouted, “HERE!” Later she got all the way to Foozia the Fox, and Fiona heard a dark red fox shout, “HERE!” Almost as loud as her.

They began to dig. Fiona imagined she was sculpting. She helped with the kitchen, which was pretty hard because they had to carve out appliances and stuff. Two foxes named Forfiwin and Follia were there too. After they finally figured out the fireplace they used in place of an oven, they agreed to go to the dining hall. Tables and chairs would surely be much easier.

Fiona asked what hole they were in. “Six,” They both said. “Oh, I’m in five,” Fiona said. “My bunkmate is Foozia. Not sure what a bunk is.”

“You’re going to have to build your beds on top of each other,” Forfiwin said as she made and stacked plates. “Follia and I are bunkmates actually.”

Fiona nodded. “Cool.”

After the burrow was set up, Fiona went to hole 5. She and Foozia built their bed. It came out pretty cool. Day 1 and she had three friends already!