Camp Interlaken- Sharon, Vermont. Summer of 1971 - Part 2

Looking back almost 40 years I feel sadness for many of the young campers at Camp
Interlaken. How many knew that they had grown too old to come back the next summer? Who knew how many summers the camp had left? After mid-way ,they were headed again into uncertainty- away from a place that had become their summer father and mother.

As for me, my future was on the other side of August. Senior nursing. Nine months before graduation, state boards, and my first job. I was restless. I missed Hanover. I missed the bookstore, the movies. I missed my friends. There was something of Lotus Land at the Camp, and I wanted to get away. I began to count down the days. I wrote letters to Mary Ellen Bean and Christine Kelsey, my two best friends. "Tell us more about Uncle Bunny and the rich girls", they begged. Uncle Bunny's name alone made them laugh.

I continued to pass out bandaids, and to watch over my girls. Sweet- tempered Su-Su was my favorite, though I tried not to show favoritism. I took the campers on field trips to the beaver lodge, and we hunted for wildflowers. We turned over stones looking for that little salamander, the red eft. I paid little attention to the excitement growing over the swim meet with a rival girls' camp. It was one of the biggest events of every summer. Interlaken usually won, though this year winning looked unlikely. The Interlaken team was weak.

I heard all this talk, and I did not care. I cannot remember the name of the rival camp. I doubt I ever knew it..

But I began to hear things about what Bunny Dudley planned to do to make sure his camp won.

For there was one girl at the camp who could ensure victory. She was the Vermont state high school champion in the Butterfly. The problem was that she was a local girl. She worked in the camp kitchen. Bunny Dudley brought her in as a ringer. He passed her off as a camper, and Interlaken won.

It was not long after this that the camp cook, a man who liked to drink a bit, got into an argument with Uncle Bunny, then drove away in the night. Uncle Bunny and his wife were now cook and bottle washer. I could not wait for Beano and Kelsey to read this news.

The final camp fire came. I stood up to talk about the lake and the beaver lodge and the crayfish. A beaver swam by as if I had willed it, and I felt like a magician.

On the last day I collected my check. It was smaller than I expected. My hard won free orange Speedo was not free. Bunny Dudley had deducted its cost from my pay.I was angry, but it was Virginia who marched to his office and came back with a new check.

I never saw Ginny or Norm again, nor any of the girls. Bunny Dudley died of cancer not long after.

The history of Camp Interlaken was over.