Chapter Thirty-One: Translation

Sunday, August 7/Monday, August 8, 1910

"And the leader of Cabin 6 is Miss Sarah Conrad of Eagle Creek."

There was a smattering of applause and Sarah sat down.

Nancy tugged on her blouse. "I think you're the best one of all."

Sarah smiled and then made the sssh sign, so as to not disturb the other cabin counselors introducing themselves.

After the tables were introduced, Mrs. Brewster asked, "Which cabin would like to volunteer for kitchen clean up?"

Sarah raised her hand. "Ma'am? Cabin 6, would like kitchen clean up."

Melissa whined, "Huh?"

Sarah said in a serious tone: "We are a cabin, we have responsibilities. I think it's nice for Mrs. Brewster to let us help out. We can learn something, help make the camp a better place and we will eventually have the night-off option."

The girls were not impressed with her reasoning.

After the other cabins got their assignments, Sarah stood up. "Let's go."

When they walked into the kitchen, Babette was leaning against a counter talking to Emily.

Babette spoke in a grand sing-song voice; "Bonsoir petits parasites. Bienvenue au plus mauvais travail dans l'état. Ma conjecture est la blonde que la fille a jamais même embrassé un garçon."

Sarah replied with a gracious lilt, "J'ai embrassé un garçon vous vache odorante."

Babette laughed with her and winked.

Emily spoke up, "My name is Emily. This is Babette; she is a French saucier."

Babette curtseyed while the girls clapped for her.

She acted humbly. "Je mérite ces applaudissements pour moi suis plus beau que vous pouvez jamais imaginer."

Emily tried to keep from laughing. "That means she is very happy you are helping us tonight with cleaning the kitchen."

Sarah spoke up, "Alexis is an expert with soap. Perhaps she could wash dishes?"

Alexis smirked at her.

Babette looked into her eyes. "Cet enfant?" She delicately motioned with her hands. "Elle semble être un porc."

Emily began clapping; Sarah tried to keep from giggling and joined in the applause.

Alexis smiled. "Thank you, Babette."

Babette patted her head, "S'il vous plaît, appelez-moi votre maître."

The girls clapped again.

Babette threw her arms into the air and sang a little song,

"J'ai le plus mauvais travail dans le monde.
Je veux courir loin et passer le temps avec mon petit ami.
Nous ne devons pas être mariés pour dormir ensemble.
Je veux aller à la maison. Je déteste cette cuisine stupide."

Emily and Sarah tried to keep from laughing.

The girls mimicked her and danced around.

Sarah had her hand over her mouth to cover her shocked expression.

The girls were utterly charmed by Babette.

Emily said, "Enough singing." She playfully wagged her finger. "Ah Babette, vous avez le cervau d'un sandwich au fromage."

She graciously bowed, "Au moins j'ai un homme."

The girls helped clean up the kitchen.

Babette taught them several interesting French phrases: "J'ai un pistolet. Mettez vos mains dans le ciel" and "Mère, je veux une bouteille de boissons alcoolisées pour Noël"

By 9 pm, they were all through.

As they left, Babette waved: "Et maintenant, mon ami Emily et moi filtreront notre évasion de ce cachot."

The girls waved back and cheered.

Sarah smiled and waved back at them. "Vous deux êtes terrible."

Emily bowed. "Merci, Merci."

They met for a large bon fire outside the hall. Mrs. Brewster read the first 8 verses of Psalm 119 and then passed the Bible to the counselor for cabin 1. After she had read verses 9 to 16, she in turned passed it down. By the time it got to Sarah, she was eager to read verse 49 to 56.

"Remember the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.
The proud have had me greatly in derision: yet have I not declined from thy law.
I remembered thy judgments of old, O Lord; and have comforted myself.
  Horror hath taken hold upon me because of the wicked that forsake thy law.
Thy statutes have been my songs in the house of my pilgrimage.
I have remembered thy name, O Lord, in the night, and have kept thy law.
This I had, because I kept thy precepts."

As the Bible was passed around and read by all of the cabin counselors and other staff Sarah looked at the girls in her cabin. She recalled what it was like to be that way with Emily. They always looked up to their counselor; this was a big undertaking which was as exciting as it was terrifying. However, she trusted her instincts and had faith that she could make the right decisions.

At summer camp she learned how to shoot a bow and arrow. She made a wallet for her father and an ash tray for her mother. Both absolutely adored their presents even though he already had a wallet and no one in the house smoked. At summer camp she was baptized in the swimming hole one Friday night, underneath the stars.

She wondered what memories she would make with Alexis, Nancy, Melissa, Ellen and Sherry. They'd already made quite an impression on her; each one had faithfully done her job in the kitchen.

As Sarah stared at the dying embers, Nancy leaned on her left shoulder. She thanked God for the opportunity to help out that week. She thanked God for Emily whose spastic acceptance of the job had made it all possible. She then fervently prayed that no one in their family would be able to speak French and the camp could avoid a lawsuit.

Soon, Mrs. Brewster was finishing the closing prayer, "And the whole camp said…." The girls gave a silly cheer which was a Camp Sunflower tradition, "Aaaaaaaaaaaaamen!"

Mrs. Brewster laughed. "Sweet dreams!"

Sarah gathered up her girls and they headed down the darkened trail to the cabin. She made sure that everyone could find the showers and toilets.

Some of the girls talked for quite awhile; Sarah didn't mind as long as they did not disturb the others.

At 4 am, there was a knock on the door. Sarah yawned and opened it. "Emily?"

She was in a tizzy. Emily grabbed Sarah's hand and they stepped away from the cabin to a light pole.

Emily gave her a note.

"Emily, It was fun, but I'd really rather spend time with my boyfriend. Ta-ta.
- Jackie."

"Do you know what this means?"

Sarah shrugged. "Babette wasn't a saucier?"

Emily playfully screamed, "It means I'm all alone. The camp is understaffed as it is. This is insane. Babette… I mean, Jackie, was an idiot. She didn't care about this camp at all. The only reason she came was to meet boys!"

Emily paced back and forth. "She only wanted to goof off and get away from her mother for a week. And… and…" Emily collapsed her shoulders. She looked to Sarah. "I saw a vivid demonstration of who I'd be… if I didn't have you."

Sarah smiled; they hugged.

"Sarah, I'm still in a fix; one person cannot prepare three meals a day for almost eighty people!"

"Why not?"

"Because… because… because… it's a lot of work."

Melissa came to the door. "Miss Sarah? Miss Sarah?"

She turned around to Emily and said with much confidence. "Remember you got us into this. Night-night."

She stepped back into the cabin and shut the door.

Emily whispered a growl, "I hate it when you're right."

The girls woke up securely, no accidents. They dressed and walked to Beamer Hall for breakfast.

When Sarah opened the door, she caught a whiff of bacon. "Mmmm. Emily, I knew you could do it."

Emily threw open the divider that separated the kitchen from the rest of the hall and rang a triangle, "Come and get it."

The girls cheered. Emily had managed, on her own, to fix bacon, scrambled eggs, pancakes and fruit for the large group. Everyone was full.

When the duty roster was brought out Mrs. Brewster said, "Since Cabin 6 volunteered last night and got the kitchen duty, so that job will go to someone else. Whoever gets kitchen duty today will clean the kitchen after breakfast, lunch and dinner."

The girls of Cabin 6 smiled.

Alexis whispered to Sarah, "We only had to do that once instead of three times?"

Sarah winked at her. Nancy pointed and said, "You're smart."

"Cabin 6, your responsibility for today is Beamer Hall. After breakfast, you will make sure the hall is swept, the tables and chairs are put up and any sports equipment is in its rightful spot."

Melissa grinned. "That sounds easy."

Ellen agreed. "Yeah, Sarah's the best."

As they were finishing up placing chairs on the tables Sarah said, "Come on, we're going to be late for chapel." They briskly walked down a small, winding trail and sat down just as Mrs. Brewster stood up to lead the morning prayer.

After a brief free time, Sarah followed the signs to the archery range. She sat back and watched as another young lady taught the girls about bows and arrows.

She remembered how when she and Emily were twelve, they fell in love with the archery instructor, Randy Eubanks. Both had feigned ignorance so he could reach behind them and demonstrate the exact form to use. Even back then, Emily had a method to wrap men around her fingers.

This female archery instructor looked at the clock and then to Sarah. "It's only 11:15; all the girls have shot 10 arrows. What do you want to do?"

Sarah shrugged. "I dunno. We'll go for a walk I suppose."

The girls ambled along though the woods collecting small flowers and making silly noises. They tied the flowers into a necklace and gave it to Sarah as a gift.

As they made their way to the hall for lunch they held hands and ran around in figure eights.

The aroma of fresh hamburgers filled Beamer Hall. When they walked in, Sherry broke away from the group and ran through the kitchen door.

Emily opened the screen with great pride.

She nodded to Sherry who rang the triangle, "Come and get it."

The group cheered.

After everyone had been served, Sarah walked back to the kitchen.

"When did you find time to cook all of this food?"

Emily shrugged. "When I quit whining about it."

Sarah smiled and then returned to her table.

For sports that day they played softball. Cabin 6 lost; however, they did manage to get two home-runs.

At canteen, each of the girls had a choice between a slice of Emily's fudge marble cake or an apple.

After chapel and crafts, it was free time. Sarah planned on going back to the cabin for a quick nap but the girls asked her to play a game of Snakes and Ladders with them in Beamer Hall instead, she happily obliged them. When the game was over, they put the chairs and tables in position for the evening meal.

As the girls were moving chairs, she snuck back to the kitchen.

"So, Em, how are you?"

Emily trilled her lips. "Utterly exhausted."

Sarah asked, "Do you think coming here was a mistake?"

Emily wiped the sweat off of her forehead. "I don't know. Part of me wishes I was back home in Crummy Creek, but…."

A little girl rushed in, "Miss Emily can I ring the triangle?"

She looked over at Sarah and smiled.

"I understand, Em. I understand."