Camp Miracle

That evening Clyde and Ian drove the big flatbed wagon pulled by two horses up to the front of the house. The back of the wagon was full of hay. “Get in”, Ian shouted. “We’re going for a hay ride! Every camp has to have a hayride, and Camp Miracle will have one too!” The entire group climbed aboard the wagon and away they went. They were singing and laughing and having a wonderful time. After a while they came to a clearing on the far side of the lake and there were several tents pitched and a big supply of fire wood. “We’re going to camp here tonight!” Freeda told the excited boys and girls. Seeing the looks on some of their faces she told them there was nothing to worry about. “What about mountain lions and bears?” Robbie asked. “Ain’t been no mountain lions or bears around since Bigfoot come to these parts!” Clyde said in a mock hillbilly accent. “BIGFOOT??????” They all screamed! “There’s no such thing as Bigfoot. Uncle Clyde’s just playing with you,” Jo said. “Of course we’ll be safe here. There’s nothing to worry about,” she reassured them. However, when they returned home a strange sight awaited them. There on the front porch of the house was a baby rabbit. He seemed to have a hurt foot and couldn’t walk. “Can you fix him, Uncle Clyde?” someone asked. “You’re a vet.” He agreed that yes, he thought he could help the little bunny. They all followed him into his office and watched carefully as he gently and tenderly helped the little bunny and set his broken leg. “It will take a while for his leg to mend, so we’ll have to take care of him and feed him,” he explained to the kids. Looking around he said, “Hey, I thought y’all were sleepy and wanted to go to bed?” The thought of sleep had left them all when they had seen the rabbit. Lying in bed that night Clyde thought back to the little bunny rabbit. They had found other ill or hurt animals on their porch at other times, and he and Freeda had always taken care of them and made them well. It seemed that whenever they found an injured animal that there was always the mother or mate waiting in the yard until the sick one was well enough to rejoin their family. How very strange, Clyde had commented to Freeda. “Uncle Clyde, Uncle Clyde, wake up!” the boys were shouting as they shook Clyde out of a sound sleep. “We want to check on the rabbit and see if he’s OK. I’ll bet he needs some breakfast.” They all trooped across the yard to his office and little clinic. Freeda, Jo and the girls were all waiting for them. The rabbit seemed to be in good health, and all the children gathered food for him to eat. They all seemed more concerned about breakfast for the injured little rabbit than for their own breakfast. Finally after the rabbit was properly fed and watered according to the camper’s satisfaction, Freeda and Jo started to prepare their breakfast. “Ian, come with me, please,” Clyde said. “I’ll bet there is a mother rabbit in the front yard waiting for the baby to be made well and released. They looked out the front window and sure enough, there was a mother rabbit with three other young ones the same age as their rabbit patient. “Here, Nurse Jerry Ann,” Dominick said very politely. “Why don’t you sit here in the shade in this nice patch of grass and I’ll get you a cold drink.” “Dominick,” Daisy said, “That’s…” “I know that’s where you wanted to sit, Daisy, but we should let Nurse Jerry Ann sit there. It’s the nicest spot around,” Dominick said as he took Daisy by the hand and guided her toward the cooler of soft drinks. “Dominick, that’s poison ivy you sat her in!” Daisy said. “Yeah, so?” he replied with a grin. Adrian was laughing as well. “Here’s your soda, Nurse Jerry Ann,” Dominick said sweetly. “It’s about time!” she snapped as she grabbed the cold can from him. As she popped the top of the can the syrupy soda spewed in her face, hair and all over her clothes. She screamed and fell backward in the poison with the soda still spewing all over her. Rolling around in the poison ivy, she was finally able to stand. By this time everyone was staring at her as the sticky soda dripped from her long nose, ears and hair. She was a pitiful sight indeed. All the children were laughing at her and pointing, while the adults tried their best not to laugh. “Let me help you out of the poison ivy, Nurse Jerry Ann,” Ian said. “Why in the world would you sit there?” “Dominick told me to sit there and he brought me the drink!” she shrieked. “You did it on purpose, didn’t you? And you shook up my drink to make it spew on me.” “Oh, I’m sure Dominick would never do any of those things on purpose, Nurse Jerry Ann,” Jo said trying her best to be sincere. “He probably didn’t realize that was poison ivy. And some of the other drinks spewed as they were opened,” she fibbed. Jo turned to Dominick and said, “Don’t you remember from last year? ‘Leaves of three, let it be’”? “Oh, gosh!” Dominick fibbed. “You mean it’s not ‘Leaves of three, safe as can be!’” He looked at Jo and gave her a sly wicked wink. Jo had to turn away from Jerry Ann and could not look her in the face. She really wanted to laugh but wouldn’t.