Heidi's Dilemma

The counselors rounded up the girls who spilled out of the bus. Heidi ended up in Cabin 9. A blonde girl named Judy was her cabin mate, an instant friend. She promised adventure. The first morning of the two week stay she said, “Let’s ditch clean-up and catch pollywogs in the lake. Judy had been to the camp before and knew the best spots for fun.

At first Heidi protested scared they would get into trouble. Judy just giggled, “You’ll see; they won’t even miss us.” Nobody did.

Heidi had no chance to get bored. By late afternoon, during the counselor’s group instructions, Judy whispered, “Let’s catch fireflies tonight.”

            “Sure,” said Heidi still a little unsure of Judy’s ideas. She rolled up her clothes under the blanket like Judy showed her. Together they slipped out after Taps with the jars they’d found on the shelf of the community pantry. They caught so many fireflies that night that the jars glowed too bright. They couldn’t bring them back to camp, so they made wishes and let the blinking bugs go.

            From then on, Heidi stuck to the curly haired sprite with the blue-green eyes like glue. She’d never had such an exciting friend before, and felt sure catching pollywogs and fireflies was alright, even if it meant ditching a few rules. A lot of rules didn’t make sense to her anyway. She liked Judy, because Judy wasn’t afraid of anything.

            A few days later the counselors took the girls to the camp store. Heidi and Judy dragged at the back of the group talking about what to buy. Heidi wanted a lanyard key-chain for her mom. When she counted her spending money, she found she was short fifty cents.

Judy nudged her and said, “You don’t need money, watch me.” She picked up an Indian arrowhead from the counter and seemed to study it as if she were trying to make up her mind to buy it. When no one was looking, she slipped it into her shorts pocket. Heidi got a sick feeling in her stomach.

Judy whispered in her ear, “Here, take the key-chain. You want it for your mom, don’t you?” Leaning against the counter she blocked the view of the other girls in the shop and gave Heidi a look of “You can do it.”

With her heart in her throat, Heidi grabbed the key-chain and stuffed it into her jeans. No one saw her take it, not even the friendly cashier who only gave a kind smile and asked, “Nothing for you girls today?”

That night Heidi couldn’t sleep. She tossed in her bunk and kept sliding her hand under her pillow to touch the hidden key-chain. Every time she felt it, she wished it would disappear. By morning she’d made up her mind to bring it back to the camp store.”

“Let’s go for a swim,” Judy offered as soon as their bunks were made. “I don’t want to go on any old nature walk, do you?”

Heidi, pale with worry answered, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea. I promised my dad I’d never swim alone.”

“But you won’t be alone. I’ll be with you,” complained Judy. “Don’t you know how to swim?

“Of course I do; but I was thinking about yesterday,” Heidi tried to change the subject to what bothered her more, “Why don’t we go to the camp store instead? I saw a nice frog pin I have enough money for.” 

“We can’t go without our group; the counselors will notice,” said Judy. Her blue green eyes bored through Heidi uncomfortably. “You aren’t planning on bringing your key-chain back, are you?

“We can put them back without being seen, like when we took them,” said Heidi. “We can go with the group and won’t get into trouble.” It would make things right, thought Heidi, but something inside her nagged that it wasn’t the best solution. Heidi wanted to let the cashier know what she had done, even if it meant being punished.

Judy turned mean. She threatened, “If you take the key-chain back, you can’t be my friend. I don’t need sissy friends!”

Heidi felt awful. She’d had more fun at camp this year than ever before, all because of Judy. She studied her new friend through mounting tears. Judy suddenly seemed a pathetically unhappy girl in spite of all her adventures. Swallowing back her tears, Heidi hunted for the right words. “I’m going on the nature walk with our group,” she said with a firm voice. “Are you coming along?”

Judy didn’t answer. She turned on her heels and stomped off, slamming the cabin’s screen behind her.

Wiping a stray tear from her cheek, Heidi took a deep breath and walked toward the camp store, the key-chain jingling in her jeans.