I kick against the cold black water until a sharp pain grabs my stomach. Good. The pain is better than what’s waiting in the back of my mind, ready to take over if I give it a chance.

*   *   *

“YOU GOTTA GET UP, you gotta get up, you gotta get up this morning!” They stand like soldiers: Peggy Jo in the baggy St. Andrew’s T-shirt, Denise in Sue’s Camp Courage shirt with the crutch-and-pine logo.

We all groan. It’s the opening of “Morning at Camp Courage.”

“Okay,” Sara says. “Now groan real big. Everyone has to get it right away, even the PMRs in the back row.”

The period before supper is reserved for final rehearsals. Through the screens, we hear the competition declaiming lines, singing in chorus and solo, strumming guitars. We’re curious, but we can’t stop to listen. I’m still tense, unsettled, but now it feels like excitement.

Denise blows an earsplitting whistle and bawls out orders, half camp counselor, half football coach. Peggy Jo pleads ineffectually and struggles with recalcitrant hair clips. It’s going very well, but still Sara makes changes. She draws a giant thermometer and adds jokes about the heat. Is this really the decoy skit? After all this work, surely we’ll just do this one and forget about whatever it is Sara has schemed up.

“We need Dolly in her party clothes,” Sara says.

“Shouldn’t y’all be in nightclothes?” Carole asks.

“Yeah, really we should, but I don’t want to go to supper in my gown, and changing is such a hassle.”

“We could pretend to be under sheets at the beginning,” Margie says.

“Perfect!” Sara says. In the corner, Mary is tearing toilet paper with aussie single-mindedness. “He loves me, he loves me not…”

“I’ve gotta hit the bathroom,” Carole says. “If y’all don’t mind? Okay?” She sounds so much like Peggy Jo’s imitation that we all laugh. “Now, y’all? Stop it? Please?”

Sara has another idea. “Let’s make Dolly a tiara, like a beauty queen.” She flashes her most engaging smile. “Sue, could you possibly run up to the lodge for some aluminum foil?”

“Sure.”

As soon as Sue and Carole are out of earshot, Sara asks quietly, “Y’all know your cues?” They all nod. It’s on.

“He loves me, he loves me not,” Mary drones.

“Just perk up when you hear your name. The positions are the same as ‘Morning at Camp Courage,’ but we won’t be covering up with sheets. Margie’ll use the thermometer. I need it marked at ten, and then at forty, and then at one hundred.”

“I can do that,” Peggy Jo says.

“Okay, mark it at ten now, and after she uses it the first time, she’ll bring it back to you to mark again.”

“Margie, you sure you can remember those numbers?” Sara asks.

“Can I look at the thermometer?”