I saw the rest of Camp Juniper. Just like Dad said, they had arrived. There was my Uncle Clement, Uncle Macon, Aunt Jessie, Aunt Delia, and Aunt Lydia. All of them were chitchatting and sipping cups of coffee. Everybody was also wearing their traveling clothes. There were no more pajamas. I tried my best to not be seen by the rest of Camp Juniper. I slipped over to my dry bag and picked it up. I prepared to sneak outside and put it in the Excursion, but just before I could, Uncle Clement spotted me.
"Hey, Kylie!" he yelled, and he waved at me, "Guys, Kylie is here!" All heads turned to me, and I chuckled nervously. Camp Juniper cheered, and I remember, suddenly, confetti, which came from out of nowhere, washed over me. I was such a big deal in Camp Juniper for some reason. I remember everybody called me "The Oracle." Nevertheless, I was still the only teenager.
While the confetti buried me, my Aunt Lydia approached me and yelled, "It's you! You decided to come! I'm so glad you did!" I really did not decide to come along. It was more I was forced to come along. I tried telling this to Aunt Lydia,
"Well actually...," but Uncle Clement interrupted me.
"You've already made me proud, Kylie! Come on, give your Uncle Clement a big, giant hug!" He was a tall, skinny, beardless, middle-aged man. He picked me up and pulled me into a hug. He squeezed me so tightly that my eyes popped. I could barely breathe.
Finally, Uncle Clement put me down, and I rubbed my shoulder, saying, "That was quite the hug, Uncle Clement." And it was. I remember Uncle Clement was the fisher of Camp Juniper. He loved to fish, – he still does – and throughout the trip, he tried to catch as many pikes as he could muster. I'll go more into detail about that when it gets to that point in the story. For now, we're still in North Tonawanda.
I remember Uncle Clement put his fists on each hip, and with the American flag flapping behind him, literally flapping behind him, he announced, "I swear to God that I will catch myself a nice, large pike on this canoe trip! Pike for dinner is always the best, and I will not rest until I get it!"
I chuckled and put down my cereal bowl. See what I mean when I explained Uncle Clement is very bubbly? The next person to approach me was crazy Aunt Jessie, and yep, just like I predicted, she was dressed in a cowgirl outfit. Her brown hair was pulled back in two braids, and she had blue eyes.
In a country accent, she yelled, "Yehaw!" in my face, "Well howdy, mate!" She gave me a tip of her hat, "I've heard that we're in for quite the adventure this week! This will just be like accelerating speed in a horse race! Behold, the newest Triple Crown winner! Aunt Jessie the cowgirl!" Aunt Jessie loves watching the Triple Crown races. She's totally crazy about horses. She loves them. She yelled, "Yehaw!" one last time in my face, and this time, she sprayed me with spit. I felt like I had just gotten sprayed by a warm hose.
I rubbed my cheek, and Aunt Jessie finished with, "Looking forward to canoeing with you, mate!" and she gave me one last tip of her hat. Then she left me.
Finally, the last person to approach me was my Aunt Delia. She had short, graying hair and blue eyes. She's a really good person. I really like my Aunt Delia. I would be spending some time with Aunt Lydia and Uncle Macon later. For now, only Aunt Delia, Aunt Jessie, and Uncle Clement spoke to me.
"Well, Kylie?" Aunt Delia asked me, and she placed her hands on her hips, "This is it. Are you excited?"
"Ehh," I answered, and I waved my hand.
"Ehh?" Aunt Delia repeated after me, "Just ehh? Don't worry, cupcake," She pinched my cheek, "when we get on the lake tomorrow, you're spirit will change. You'll have a ball!" Yeah right. Yeah right, Aunt Delia. You'll have fun of course because you're with people you're age, but me? I'm fifteen years old and am an only child, so what does that make me? The bait? I think it does. At least, I thought it did. In my position, I saw myself as the bait and the rest of Camp Juniper as the fishermen. I totally didn't belong with them. I belonged at the mall with my friends, not in the wilderness.
I sighed and told Aunt Delia, "I hope so," because I didn't want to offend her.
Suddenly, I heard another whistle, and both Aunt Delia and I jumped. Gee, what was with these whistles being so insanely loud? Who had blown that whistle? Who had blown it? My dad. My dad had blown it. Aunt Delia and I placed our hands over our ears and slowly turned in the direction the whistle's tweet had come from. Sure enough, there was Dad.
"Who's ready to canoe?" he asked again, and everybody except Mom and I shouted,
"Yeah!" I removed my hands from my ears and crossed my arms. Scoffing, I leaned up against the wall and closed my eyes. I didn't speak. I just listened. My witchy behavior was getting worse and worse by the second. I heard Dad.
His next question for Camp Juniper was, "Nobody can interfere with Camp Juniper, right?!"
"Yeah!" Uncle Macon, Uncle Harrison, Uncle Clement, Uncle Bart, Aunt Delia, Aunt Lydia, and Aunt Jessie yelled again.
Dad blew his whistle again, and my skin prickled like static electricity. I kept my arms crossed and opened one eye. Camp Juniper, except Mom and I, started to sing and dance.
Dad offered his hand to Aunt Delia, and she took it, saying, "I'd love to." She and Dad danced as partners. Uncle Macon was in the kitchen, and he was stuffing his face with snacks. Uncle Bart, Aunt Jessie, Aunt Delia, and Aunt Lydia danced in a circle, and Uncle Clement pulled Uncle Harrison into a dance and started to dance with him as if they were a couple. Ugh. Normally, I would join the dance party, but despite the mood I was in that day, I wouldn't be dancing any time soon. To me, all this dancing was just...,
"Poppycock." I mumbled to myself, and I held my dry bag by the handle. Yep, it was all just poppycock. This dance wasn't a victory dance to me. It was a, "Oh screw the teenager! Let's totally bring her along, so we can just annoy her!" dance instead. Well, they succeeded with the annoyance. I was so annoyed. What was so special about canoeing in Ontario anyway? It was just like any other canoeing trip Camp Juniper went on! That's what it was at first, but later on, that changed.
Dad continued to dance with Aunt Delia, and he yelled, "Yoo-hoo! We're finally on our way to Ontario!" Aunt Delia laughed as he twirled her in a circle.
I scoffed again and closed my eyes. "Childish behavior." I mumbled, and I turned my head away from the excited adults.
After the so-called victory dance, a few more cups of coffee, and some breakfast, it was finally time for Camp Juniper to leave for Ontario. We together stepped outside, and Mom locked up the canal house. Dad led us to the front lawn and divided us into the groups we would be riding with both to and from Ontario. Unfortunately, I didn't get to ride with Uncle Bart. He, Uncle Clement, Aunt Jessie, and Uncle Macon instead took Uncle Clement's car. I had to be with my parents. They wouldn't let me out of their sight. Sigh, that's the only downside of being an only child. Your parents watch you like hawks. Do you know what I mean, all you only children out there? So yes, I was put in the Excursion with Mom, Dad, Uncle Harrison, Aunt Lydia, and Aunt Delia. Before we hopped into the cars, Dad just had to give a farewell speech. He always does this on our trips. Before we leave, he always gives a speech. I don't know, I think it's an annoying dad kind of thing.
Dad stood in the middle of Camp Juniper, in between each car, and stood up straight. I still had my arms crossed and a glare glued on. Dad's eyes bounced from each person, and after a bit, he finally gave his speech. "Attention, Camp Juniper!" he announced, and he turned his body so he could have a 360° look at everyone, "As we leave this beautiful territory of North Tonawanda, New York, USA, keep in mind that we're going to enter Ontario not as Canadians, South Americans, or Bahamians, but as US citizens!" The exited members of Camp Juniper cheered. Mom and I just simply rolled our eyes. "After months of preparation," Dad added with, "we'll finally board the Excursion and Explorer and drag them through the border crossing! I want you all to have fun on this vacation! We'll canoe to our heart's content, and we won't stop until we're tired! To all you lovely people coming on this trip, I wish you all the best of luck, and we'll meet up with each other in Finlayson Point Provincial Park! Who's ready to jam?!"
"I am!" Uncle Macon shouted, and he took a step forward. He's a tall, spunky dude with incredible ab muscles. He works out a lot. To Dad, he showed off his biceps and continued with, "I've been working out at the YMCA ever since you made the announcement Christmas Eve, Azul!" Yep, it's true. Dad first mentioned the canoeing trip Christmas Eve. It first started off with just us, Mom, Dad, and me going, but then, on Christmas Eve, Dad just had to open his big mouth and invite everybody else. Honestly, I wouldn't mind just going with Mom and Dad, but with ten total people, gods help me through this. No, seriously! Ten people was such a huge party!
Going back to the story, Dad placed his hands on his hips and faced Uncle Macon, the brains of Camp Juniper, asking, "Really, Macon? All right. So I trust your biceps are all ready to go?"
Uncle Macon cracked his neck and showed off his biceps some more. "They're as ready as they'll ever be!" he yelled, and he pointed at the cars, "Without further ado, Camp Juniper, let's board our rides and get this show on the road!"
Camp Juniper cheered one last time except, ugh, you know who. And yes, without further ado, we parted ways and opened the car doors. I crawled into the seat behind the driver's seat after Dad, and Mom crawled into the passenger seat next to the driver's seat. After her, Uncle Harrison boarded the car. He took the back. However, he didn't have a lot of room because the back was littered with paddles and canoeing supplies. Normally there would be much more room in the back of an Excursion, but not with Camp Juniper. Uncle Harrison didn't mind the crowded back. He just sat down, buckled up, and set his canoeing book, the one he found that morning, on his lap. After him crawled in Aunt Lydia and Aunt Delia. Aunt Delia took the middle seat, and Aunt Lydia took the seat behind the passenger seat. She had a pillow with her, and she wanted to sit somewhere where she could prop up her head. After she crawled in and closed the door, officially our half of Camp Juniper was ready to go! Goodbye, North Tonawanda. See you again as a zombie. I say zombie because I knew I would get eaten alive in Canada by flies and mosquitoes. Trust me. Todd told me everything.
At the front of the car, Dad turned on the GPS, and he typed in Finlayson Point Provincial Park's address in it. He uses an iPad he got at work as a GPS. Do any of your dads out there use iPads as a GPS? Only a few? Yay! So my dad isn't the only crazy dad in the world!
While Dad finished typing the address, he told our half of Camp Juniper, "This is it, everyone! Camp Juniper is on the road once again!" He finished typing in the address, and once he did, he pressed the Done button on the iPad. The route showed up on its screen, and yep, Finlayson Point Provincial Park was seven hours away. Dad next picked up his fist and brought it to his lips. He imitated a tour guide. I remember this. It was actually kind of funny. He said, "Attention, passengers of Excursion Expedition, today we will be driving to Finlayson Point Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. We ask you to please keep hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times. Other than that, just sit back, read a book, and enjoy the drive. Thank you. Have a nice day." Dad was so excited. I had never seen him so excited about a trip before.
After making his announcement, he lowered his hand and turned the key in the ignition. The Excursion booted right up, and I jumped. It was really loud. I wasn't used to it yet. I pulled my iPhone and headphones out of my dry bag and set them on my lap. My iPhone would be my best friend during the drive. I placed my headphones in my ears and lowered my window. I sighed and propped my head up on the window frame.
Dad gave the Excursion some gas, and we pulled out of the yard and onto the main road. Uncle Clement appeared right behind us. Dad wanted to make sure we didn't get separated. He was very strict about that. Trust me, I remember. "This is it!" Dad yelled when he saw that Uncle Clement was right behind him. He drove forward, with the car huffing, and Uncle Clement followed from behind.
While we drove away, I waved goodbye to the canal house and said, "Goodbye, canal house! Goodbye, North Tonawanda! See you whenever we return!" With that, Camp Juniper disappeared down the road.
This is it, fellow audience! This is officially the start of our great expedition to the Lady Evelyn-Smoothwater Provincial Park and the Ghost of Ontario! Thank you for being so patient! I promise you, the story's about to get a lot more interesting. I promise, all of you lovely faces out there, you will soon figure out why this story is called The Ghost of Ontario. Warning, warning! Foreshadowing, foreshadowing! The story is going to get a little sad later on, so just be prepared. If you're curious why, well, there's nothing more I can say except to keep listening.
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