Is he going to kiss me? What should I do?

Jaeson's hand brushed against her cheek. "There. You had some cookie crumbs on your cheek."

"Oh," Christy's hand flew to her cheek and brushed away a few tiny crumbs Jaeson's hand had missed. Her skin felt hot to her touch, and she hoped Jaeson couldn't see her blushing in the moonlight.

"When do we need to leave to get back before we're missed?" She tried not to sound as nervous as she felt.

"Oh, about now. Are you sure you want to go? This is the most peace and quiet you'll have for the rest of the week."

Christy wanted to stay. She wanted to float on the quiet lake for hours and stare at the moon and share her secret dreams with Jaeson. She wanted the fantasy to go on and on. But inwardly the struggle was growing. Should she be here, alone withjaeson? Would they get in trouble for leaving the meeting? Would she do or say anything with Jaeson that she would later regret?

"I guess we should go back," Christy said with a sigh. "This has been wonderful, Jaeson. The music, the flowers, the moonlight. I love it. I loved being here with you."

"Thanks. I'm glad you liked it." He extinguished the lantern light. "I'll take you back. Remember, though, it was your choice, not mine."

He lifted the bunch of flowers from the vase and handed them to Christy. "To remember me by."

She took them and said, "I'll keep them, Jaeson, and I know I'll never forget you or tonight."

She could see his smile in the moonlight and felt content and a little relieved that things had gone just as far as they had and no farther.

Dipping her paddle into the water, she asked, "You want me to practice paddling us back to sh.o.r.e?"

"Good idea. Remember to start on your left side."

Christy tried to remember all of Jaeson's pointers as she plunged the paddle deep into the water and headed them for sh.o.r.e. It was a lot easier than her afternoon experience had been, and in no time, Jaeson's end of the canoe sc.r.a.ped up onto the gravel.

"Excellent." Jaeson hoped out and pulled them up on sh.o.r.e. "I'll put the gear away if you want to head on back. Or you can wait for me if you want."

The thought of wandering through the dark woods by herself didn't thrill Christy, so she helped Jaeson put the stuff back where it belonged. He stuffed the picnic bundle into a corner in the boat shack. Christy couldn't help but wonder if it would sit there until next week, when Jaeson would take another girl counselor out on the lake.

He took her by the hand again, and they hurried back to the meeting hall where the campers were just beginning to stream out the open doors and run for their snacks.

"See?" Jaeson let go of her hand and joined the throng headed for the mess hall. "No problem."

Christy almost believed everything was okay until devotions in her cabin that night when she was supposed to discuss the movie with her girls. As they all started to jabber about it, Christy had no idea what they were talking about. Quickly taking another direction, she asked the girls to be quiet and listen so she could tell them her testimony.

"Why do they call it a testimony, Teach?" Amy asked.

"Well, I guess because you're telling something that happened to you and you're letting people know that what you're saying is true," Christy explained. Then she went on to tell the girls how she had grown up in a Christian home.

"How can a house be a Christian?" Sara popped off.

The other girls laughed, and Christy calmed them down, saying, "Of course a house can't be a Christian. What I meant is both of my parents are Christians, so I grew up going to church."

"Me too," Ruthie said, and several other girls chimed in that their parents were Christians too.

"It wasn't enough for me to just know about G.o.d," Christy said. "I had to invite Him into my life. I did that when I was fifteen. I prayed and asked G.o.d to forgive all my sins and to come into my life. He did, and since that time I've slowly been changing and becoming more the person G.o.d wants me to be."

"How can there be a Christian school?" Sara asked. "The people who go there could be Christians, but the school can't become a Christian."

The other girls joined in with their opinions on the difference between a school of Christians and a Christian school. Christy felt certain none of them had heard her testimony, and even if some of them had, it didn't seem to matter much to them.

"Okay, girls. That's enough. I'm going to turn out the lights, and everyone needs to be in her sleeping bag." She snapped off the light and climbed into bed.

"Now I'm going to pray, and if any of you wants to pray, you can. We'll all be silent for a little bit so anyone who wants to can pray, and then after a while I'll close, okay? Let's pray."

It was silent for about two seconds, and then one of the girls gave a loud snort, which prompted lots of m.u.f.fled giggles. Then someone else did her best to manufacture a belch. Jocelyn whispered, "Stop kicking my bed, Sara."

"Girls," Christy said firmly, "we are praying."

It became silent. Completely silent. None of the girls prayed, so Christy jumped in after two minutes of silence. She prayed specifically for each of the girls, the way they did in the counselors meetings. Then she prayed for the other campers, the counselors, the camp staff, and the campers - who would be coming next week. Her prayer lasted more than five minutes, and when she finished, not one girl was still awake.

Well, she thought, that's one way to get them to sleep at night!

Christy fell asleep immediately and had wonderful dreams about being in a rowboat on a placid lake with swans swimming around her. Behind her was a huge storybook castle. She held a lacy parasol and twirled it with her white -gloved fingers. Across from her sat a man dressed in a tuxedo who was pouring tea into a china cup. When he asked if she would like one lump of sugar or two, he looked up, and she saw that it was Todd.

When she woke up with the alarm at six the next morning, she felt rested. Bouncing out of bed, she headed to the restroom for a brisk morning shower. Jessica was already there, and Christy told her about her new devotional tactic for praying the girls to sleep.

"The only bad part was they didn't pay attention when I gave my testimony, and none of them prayed. I don't think any of my girls are interested in spiritual things."

Jessica wrapped a towel around her wet hair, and pouring some astringent on a cotton ball, she began her facial-cleansing routine. "I think the next step is for you to spend time with each of them one-on-one and find out where they are."

"How can I do that? It's Thursday already. That's not much time. Besides, what do I say? 'Let's have some quality time. We've got three minutes. So tell me if you're saved or not, and if you want to be or not.'"

Jessica laughed. "Not like that, Christy. Just sit down with each of them individually, tell them you care about them, and ask if there's anything they want to talk about. We don't know which ones are ready to give their hearts to the Lord and which ones aren't. G.o.d knows. All we need to do is give them an opportunity to talk about it and offer to answer their questions."

Christy combed through her wet hair. "You're right. I'll figure out a way to get together with each of them. I hope you know that if you weren't here giving me all this good advice, I'd be completely lost."

"I'm sure you would do fine," Jessica said. "I'm glad we're here together though. I want to be sure to get your address so we can stay in contact after camp."

"Me too. My friend Katie is never going to believe I said this, but I'm glad I came. It's been a great week."

"It's not over yet! We still have to live through the counselor hunt tomorrow."

The hunt was the first thing they discussed at the meeting that morning.

"I suggest," Dean Ferrill said, "that you each take a hike over to the other side of the lake sometime today and scope out a hiding place. This will help save a lot of time tomorrow when you get over there."

Since Christy had promised the girls she would pitch at their softball game after lunch, she wasn't sure when she would have a chance to hunt for a spot. Fortunately it was hotter than usual that afternoon, and after three innings, both teams were ready to quit and find a cooler sport. The minute one of them suggested volleyball in the pool, they all disappeared, leaving Jaeson and Christy alone to put away the equipment.

"You coming over to the pool?" Jaeson asked.

"Actually, I thought I'd better find myself a good hiding place across the lake."

"Good idea. I'll go with you. I can show you some places I've used before."

They walked around the lake rather than taking a canoe. At one spot where the trail became narrow, Jaeson reached his hand behind him, offering it to Christy. She felt comfortable holding Jaeson's hand.

"Here's one spot I used last year," Jaeson said, stopping and pointing straight up.

"Where?" Christy asked.

"Up there. This is an easy tree to climb. It was a lot of fun because the kids never thought to look up even though I showered them with pine needles."

"I'm not much of a tree climber," Christy said hesitantly. "Do you have any other suggestions?"

"Sure. Follow me."

Jaeson led her through the woods, pointing out five possible hiding spots. She liked the last one best and decided that was the one for her. It was a hollowed-out tree trunk behind a huge tree that grew close to the trail. The campers would have to go off the trail and around the tree to find her. She thought it would be good to bring a towel along so she wouldn't have to sit on the moldy bark inside the tree.

Jaeson took her hand again and began to lead her back. He stopped at the good climbing tree and said, "I think I'll try going up again this year. Worked great last year."

He then coached Christy on canoe strategy. She loved this feeling. The birds were singing above them, the shimmering lake was peeking at them from behind the trees, and she was on an afternoon walk, hand-in-hand with the cutest counselor at camp. This is what Christy dreamed camp would be like. Nothing of her previous life seemed to matter now. She had two more days at Camp Wildwood, and she intended to enjoy every minute of them.

Jocelyn wasn't eating. Christy asked her if she felt okay.

"My stomach hurts," she said.

Christy felt her forehead, "You feel pretty warm. Let's get you over to the nurse's office."

Turning to Jaeson, who sat behind her as usual, Christy asked, "Can you keep an eye on my girls? This one needs to see the nurse."

With her arm around Jocelyn, Christy escorted her from the noisy mess hall and across the grounds to the nurse's small white building.

When they were only a few yards away, Jocelyn said, "I think I have to throw up."

"Can you make it to those bushes?" Christy asked, helping Jocelyn walk a little faster.

They made it just in time for Jocelyn to be sick. Christy turned away and held her breath. This was a part of camp counseling she hadn't planned on. Rummaging through her pockets, she found a tissue. Still holding her breath, she held it out to Jocelyn and said, "Here."

Jocelyn groaned and started to cry as she wiped off her mouth. "I feel awful!"

'We're almost there, honey." Christy wrapped her arm back around Jocelyn and coaxed the sobbing girl along.

Fortunately the nurse must have heard them coming because she opened the door and helped Jocelyn to a clean cot.

"Her stomach hurts," Christy explained. "She threw up out there in the bushes."

"You poor little thing," the nurse said, placing her hand on Jocelyn's forehead. "What did you eat today?"

"She didn't eat any dinner," Christy said.

"What about during free time? Did you have any snacks?"

Jocelyn slowly nodded her head and listed half a dozen snack foods and types of candy bars she'd eaten.

The nurse placed a cool washcloth on Jocelyn's forehead and whispered to Christy, "Sounds like a case of junk food overload. I'll give her something to settle her stomach, and she'll be fine."

Christy patted Jocelyn on the arm, "You do what the nurse says, and I'll check on you later, okay?"

She was about to slip out when the nurse said, "Could you do me a favor? Would you fill up the bucket on the side of the building and then wash down the site where she vomited?"

Christy shuddered as she doused the spot with a bucket of water. This was definitely the part of being a counselor she could do without. For good measure, she filled a second bucket and poured it over the area so no signs of the accident remained.

I'm glad I got her out of the mess hall when I did!

The doors to the mess hall opened, and the Camp Wildwood wild campers scattered to make use of their short free time before the evening meeting.

Oh, great, dinner's over, and I didn't finish eating. Actually, I don't feel like eating anymore.

Christy had planned to spend time with her girls individually today, but with the baseball game and the walk with Jaeson, the afternoon had flown. Jeanine was the first of her girls she spotted exiting the dining hall. She caught up with her and asked, "Do you want to do something?"

Jeanine looked at her funny. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Go for a walk, sit by the lake, and talk."

"Why?"

"Well, just so we can have some time together." Christy scrambled for a better approach.

"We've been together all week," Jeanine said. "We're bunk mates even."

"I know, I just thought maybe, wellanever mind."

"No," Jeanine said, clutching Christy's arm. "We can do something if you want."

Now Christy wasn't sure who was the leader and who was the follower. "Why don't we just go out in the woods and talk. I know where there's a bench not far from here."

"Okay," Jeanine said cheerfully. "If that'll make you feel better."

Christy led Jeanine to the bench. She had planned her opening line during their walk and sprang it on Jeanine. "I want you to know that I think you're wonderful, I care about you, and I want to know if you have any questions about G.o.d."

Jeanine looked at her a moment before answering. "Nope."

"Okay, that's fine." Christy had no idea where to go next with her big witnessing opportunity. "So you feel like everything between you and G.o.d is fine?"

"Yep. My parents prayed with me when I was little, Jesus lives in my heart, and I know I'm going to heaven. Do you think you could braid my hair like that other counselor Jessica braids her girls' hair?"

"I could try," Christy floundered.

Why don't any of these girls want to talk about spiritual things?

"Good." Jeanine turned her back to Christy and scrounged in her pocket. "I have a rubber band here." She proceeded to extract at least two dozen rubber bands from her pocket.

"What are all these for?" Christy asked, trying to smooth Jeanine's matted mane with her fingernails before she pulled all the pieces together in a French braid.

"Jessica told me to try giving something to Nick instead of taking stuff from him, you know? I tried it with the leather bracelet, but you know how that turned out. So now I'm giving him something else. A rubber band in the back of the head whenever he's not looking. He still doesn't know it's me."