Megan jumped out of the car. At last she was at camp! She would be
here for two whole weeks. She was so excited. She couldn’t wait for
her parents to leave.
“I guess you hate watermelon, too,” said Megan.
“I do, do you? asked Sue Ann.
“I do too, Sue Ann,” laughed Megan.
Sue Ann looked around at the happy group. “I never had food
Claire, Megan’s group leader, came over to meet them. She showed
them all around camp. She said Megan would be in Cabin 5.
Soon it was time for families to go. Megan’s mother and father
gave her a hug. Megan watched as they drove off. Now two weeks
without them seemed like a long time. She began to feel sad.
cooked like this!” she said.
Megan nodded her head. “I never did either,” she said. “Isn’t it
great?”
“Yes!” said Sue Ann. “I still like pizza best, though.”
Me, too,” said Megan.
Claire took Megan’s hand. “Come with me,” she said. “I’ll show you
Cabin 5.” Claire was so nice, Megan began to feel better. They walked
together inside the cabin.
Cabin 5 was a small, wooden cabin. Inside were six bunk beds,
where twelve campers would sleep. There was also one regular bed for
Claire.
Claire showed Megan her bunk. Megan had the bottom bunk.
“What do you think we’ll do now?” asked Sue Ann.
“I don’t know” said Megan. “Maybe we’ll sing.”
The group leaders put out the fire. The sun went down behind the
hills. It got dark swiftly.
Sue Ann pointed at the sky. “Look,” she said. “The stars are out.”
Megan looked up. The stars seemed brighter than she had ever
seen them. “They look like diamonds,” she said. “It’s just like the song.”
“This is Sue Ann,” Claire said. “She has the top bunk.”
Megan smiled. Sue Ann smiled back. “Hi,” she said.
Megan began to sing. “Twinkle, twinkle, little star…”
Claire saw the girls gazing at the sky. She came over to sit down
“We eat at six o’clock. It’s five now,” said Claire. “You have time to
get ready. Here’s your locker.” She turned away to greet another girl.
Megan arranged her things in the locker. Sue Ann climbed down to
put her clothes away, too. Then she helped Megan make her bed.
The two girls started talking. They discovered they had the same
with them. “Look there,” she said. The girls look where Claire was
pointing. “Those three stars-Altair, Deneb, and Vega-are called the
Summer Triangle.”
Megan counted the three of them. “One, two, three! Just like us!”
“Yes!” said Sue Ann. The girls looked at each other and laughed.
favorite food, pizza. Neither girl liked chocolate milk, but they both
loved cheese. In school, they both liked math best. By six o’clock, when
it was time to eat, they were good friends!
Supper was a feast. They had hot dogs cooked over a fire. Megan
ate two pieces of corn on the cob. Sue Ann ate three!
“Too bad you don’t like corn,” said Megan.
“Right! We can’t be friends,” said Sue Ann. Both girls giggled.
“How do you know so much about stars?” Megan asked Claire.
“I have a star map at the cabin,” said Claire.
The two weeks at camp passed swiftly. The campers went on hikes.
Sometimes they hiked in the woods. Once they hiked past a canyon.
Every day, they went swimming in the lake. Megan was a good
swimmer. She took pride in her swimming. Sue Ann was not as skillful at
swimming. Megan tried to help her as much as she could.
Each night, they looked at the starry sky. They used Claire’s star
map to find special stars and constellations. They found the Big Dipper
and the North Star.
On their last night at camp, it was cloudy. Megan and Sue Ann
looked up at the sky and waited, but the clouds did not go away.
“We won’t see stars tonight,” Megan said.
“Not even the North Star,” agreed Sue Anne. “It’s still there,
though,” she said.
“Yes, behind the clouds,” said Megan. “It’s always there.”
The two friends sat for a while. Then Megan said, ”I’ll miss you.”
“I’ll miss you too,” said Sue Ann. “At home I can look at the stars.
I’ll think about you then.”
“Right,” said Megan. “I’ll look at the stars, too. I’ll think of you
then.”
“Look!” shouted Sue Ann, pointing at the sky. “The clouds are gone.
There’s the North Star!”
Megan smiled. “We’ll be friends as long as the North Star shines,”
she said.
“That’s forever,” Sue Ann agreed.
The next day Megan’s parents came to take her home. “What did
you do?” asked her mother and father.
“I had a great time,” said Megan. “I hiked, I swam, and I made
things. Every night I watched the stars. I learned that stars and
friends are forever.”