Again, I quietly opened my bedroom door and then carefully scanned the floor for painful objects before I proceeded. I used my foot to kick aside rocks and cars so that I might make it safely to bed. I placed my backup Tums on the bedside table.

I climbed up the ladder and crawled into my sleeping bag. My foot stung. The thought of tetanus flashed through my head. Nope. No tetanus for me thank you very much. I let my body melt into the bed. The wine induced acid reflux was better by half but not gone. I grabbed another Tum and chewed it.

I drifted off into a fitful sleep as either my foot or the reflux would waken me. When I did sleep I had brief vivid dreams of a bear chasing Fred and Ted, larvae burrowing out of Tim’s purulent eyeball, panty raids and Drew with the squirts. It was not a refreshing siesta.

I woke as the sun light poured in around our curtain. My hips were achy from the thin mattress. I was still exhausted and briefly wondered if I could manage to schedule a nap sometime today.

I could hear my son’s gentle breathing in the bunk below me. I glanced at the clock and saw that I had 45 minutes until the wake up call. I figured  I might as well get up and get myself organized before bedlam reined down.

I climbed down the ladder. My foot still stung as I stepped on it and I was reminded that I needed to tidy up our little room…later. I stealthily changed into shorts and a t-shirt and readied myself for Monday.

My first priority was coffee.

I went down to the dining hall and headed straight to the coffee maker. I was delighted to discover a fresh pot had been brewed!

“Thank you coffee fairy, whomever you are!” I said out loud.

I grabbed a cup from the kitchen as I nodded and waved at Shawn who was in the middle of making french toast. He had his tunes blaring from his stereo, so conversation was almost impossible.

I poured myself a cup of coffee and then went directly up to the health office and put out the morning meds. I double checked my medication administration records to make sure I hadn’t missed anything. Then I grabbed my joke book from the shelf and wrote the joke of the day on the white board.”What did the beaver say to the tree? It’s been nice gnawing you!” I smiled as I wrote it. The health tip of the day was about applying plenty of sunblock.

I sat down on my desk chair, took off my sandal and examined the bottom of my foot in the daylight. It looked fine. I had a nice one inch laceration, but it wasn’t deep at all. I washed it off with some soap and water and then I applied a thin line of anti-bacterial cream. It was soothing. Good to go. I strapped my sandal back on and washed my hands.

I grabbed my coffee and looked at the clock. I had about ten minutes before wake up call. I decided I would finish my coffee on the second floor balcony and enjoy a few more minutes of peace. I snuck down the hall and stepped out onto the balcony and walked to the far end. I placed my coffee cup on the balcony railing. I stretched my arms above my head as I looked out over the camp and the surrounding forest. I heard  my back crack. It felt sooooo gooood. I had another sip of coffee.

The sky looked clear today but there was a bit of a wind. That would be good for the sailing and windsurfing instructions, I thought as I rested my arms on the railing and cradled my coffee cup. I heard the flag snap as it was gently blowing in the breeze. That’s when I noticed the boxers. There were four of them attached to the flag rope with laundry pins just below the flag. They were also gently blowing the breeze.

“What the…” I thought. Then I laughed out loud. I guess there had been a panty raid of sorts last night. Not quite what I had imagined, but definitely a panty raid. And if I had to guess who’s boxers those were, I would guess they belonged to Jake. I nodded and then shook my head. I hated to admit it but revenge was sweet. I raised my cup in a toast.