“Rambling Pines” by Abby Weinstein, XII: flash fiction

Rambling Pines

Mommy pastes the pre-made name tags on our shirts. Mine says Jaguars, so I’m a Jaguar. Now the bus is here and it’s not the same lady driving it this year, the one who looked mean but had a big smile that I gave a thank-you note to with a picture of me as Super Cat. And then when the little red stop sign jumps out on the side and Laura steps off the bus and we run to her. We like Laura. I get there first and wrap my arms around her and Maddie gets there second and wraps her baby arms around my back.

We get on the sweaty bus and wave through the dirty windows at Mommy and Daddy, and they wave, too. John and Rose are there. John is tall and skinny like a green bean, and Rose is short and skinny like a smaller green bean. Their parents own a farm somewhere in this town and we just call it Gravity Hill because when we put the car in neutral it looks like we’re rolling up, up, up. There’s Caroline, a girl my age who never talks and wears pink barrettes in her hair. Her overalls are ripped on one side, maybe from gaga last week. I recognize the big kid, I think his name is Ryan. Last summer he went on one of the big kid trips to Six Flags and brought back a glass dolphin and showed it to everyone in the gravel parking lot before we left camp.

The bus ride is fun when Laura is there because she tells stories. Last year was Harry Potter and then we read the books and watched the movies after summer. John says Pirates of the Caribbean! Pirates of the Caribbean!

Care-ib-ee-an? Carib-ian?

John says he doesn’t know, either. But Laura starts the story anyway. She’s sitting on the two-seater side with legs drawn up like a peanut and her arms are waving around because someone stopped her and asked a question and now she’s explaining why Will Turner has his hands tied in front of him and that’s why he can move his arms and beat up the bad guys.

I am a Jaguar. The other half of the girls my age are Giraffes, but the Jaguars are better because it’s my bunk. Instructional Swim is first and I don’t like it but this year it’s okay because they said we’re going to be in the deep pool with the big waterslides and maybe they’ll let us go on the yellow one at the end if we do a good job.

There are pine needles in my shoes by the time we get to the cabin to change. The one that saysJaguars is closer than the Giraffes, so we get there first shove our bags into cubbies and pull out our swimsuits and towels. We’re standing on benches, sitting on the floor, and hopping around on one foot. We sing Underwear is fun to wear, fun to wear, fun to wear! Underwear is fun to wear, on your he-ad!

I always order buttered noodles on pasta day because I don’t like sauce and also because they put so much butter it tastes like heaven. We mix the lemonade and fruit punch and say ew when Sierra puts ice in her