Values & Virtues
Why did everyone keep asking me how I felt? How did they expect me to feel? I felt rotten. I felt worried. I felt scared.
Scared about her falling and hurting herself.
And very very scared about what my friends would say when they found out what was going on.
How did I feel? What a dumb question.
In tae kwon do, I love it when I take a kick to the head, or when some guy punches me in the chest. When I can take some other guy's hit, it makes me feel tough. But there are always moves I stop myself from using, because they are frowned upon in my sport. Tonight I am free to win any way I can. With any move I see open to me.
Mes mains se mettent à trembler, tout mon corps vibre. Et mon cœur bat à grands coups. J'ai l'impression d'avoir frôlé la mort!
"Mosquitos? Scorpions? Rattlesnakes? Maybe even rabid grizzly bears? I can hardly wait."
"Drop the sarcasm, Callie. Gerry sais the bugs aren't bad this summer. Now go pack. It's a long drive and we need to get started."
I sighed again. Like it or not, I was going camping. Cold nights, snoring mothers, bloodthirsty mosquitoes, stinky outhouses and all. Not to mention having to listen to my cousin go on and on about her horse. Or her 4-H projects.
But there was nothing I could do. I had to go. Sighing again, I picked up my suitcase and went in the house.
My mom would kill me if she knew I was this close to the flooding creek, but I was desperate.
I heard footsteps crunching on the gravel path. My heart pounded. I was about to be caught doing the dumbest thing I had ever done. Well, maybe not the dumbest. There was that whole slime-mold experiment last summer. We couldn't use our bathtub for a month.
I made one last grab for my hat.
