By Sara Molinaro
Scene: An all-girls summer camp in rural New Hampshire. The girls of Cabin 19 are “Cherokees,” the camp’s six- to eight-year-old division. It is around 11:45 in the morning, just at the end of free play time before lunch.
The girls are playing on and around two picnic tables, which are in front of a green cabin. They have two counselors-- 19-year-old girls drinking herbal tea out of Mason jars-- who sit and supervise them without doing much of anything.
Annie, Brianna, Caitlin, and Danielle are playing in front of the tables in the dirt, near a clump of trees.
BRIANNA:
Do you know this one?
She holds her hands out, palms pressed together, indicating the beginning of a hand-clapping game.
CAITLIN:
Oop-boop-she-battin-battin?
BRIANNA:
Yeah!
Caitlin holds her hands out in the same way and the two girls begin to recite a nonsense poem.
CAITLIN and BRIANNA:
Oop-boop-she-battin-battin, bo-bo-kee-wattin-wattin, me-no-my-no make your mother cry
Annie and Danielle are running around, seemingly without an end goal, the way small children do when they have a lot of energy. Annie runs to a nearby tree, and momentarily disappears behind it. She emerges screaming, loudly, in delight.
ANNIE:
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
DANIELLE: (in response)
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
ANNIE:
Will you form a secret club with me?
DANIELLE:
Well, what kind of secret club?
ANNIE:
The secret club of the forest queens!
DANIELLE:
And we will be the forest queens?
ANNIE:
YES!
They both run behind the tree and stay behind for a little longer this time.
CAITLIN and BRIANNA:
Bo-bo-skee-dat-in-dat-in—
BRIANNA:
Wait!
Caitlin stops, startled.
BRIANNA:
Did you hear her?
CAITLIN:
Who?
BRIANNA:
Annie! She said she is forming a SECRET club! We’re not allowed to HAVE secret clubs!
CAITLIN:
Well, maybe we can ask her if we can—
Brianna leaves Caitlin sitting in the dirt and runs over to Rebecca, one of their counselors. As this happens, Annie and Danielle emerge from behind the tree, their faces smeared with dirt in a warrior-like pattern.
BRIANNA:
Rebecca! Rebecca!
REBECCA:
What’s going on?
BRIANNA:
Annie and Danielle are having a secret club and they’re not letting anyone join! That’s against the rules!
REBECCA:
Did you ask Annie and Danielle if you could join their club?
BRIANNA:
No, but I HEARD her SAY that it was SECRET!
Rebecca pats the wooden bench next to where she’s sitting.
REBECCA:
Come sit for a second.
(Brianna does.)
Brianna, how old are you?
BRIANNA:
Seven and a half.
REBECCA:
How old is Annie?
BRIANNA:
I don’t know.
REBECCA:
She’s only six. She’s one of the littlest girls in the cabin.
BRIANNA:
Oh.
REBECCA:
So I’m sure if you ask her, politely, to let you and Caitlin into her game, she’d be excited to play with a big girl like you! OK?
BRIANNA:
OK.
Brianna runs back to Caitlin. Annie and Danielle, are sitting solemnly in front of the tree, trying to make some sort of structure out of sticks.
DANIELLE:
You see? You must push the sticks into the dirt to make them stand up straight!
Danielle has created a pretty sophisticated little structure out of sticks. Annie’s is a big mess. Annie tries to imitate what Danielle is doing, but she lacks the fine motor skills.
ANNIE:
I like the way mine looks!
(She pushes the sticks around into an even bigger mess, just to make her point.)
The goddess of the forest queens will love it even more!
DANIELLE:
But look at this! A small animal or a fairy could live inside here!
Annie stares at Danielle, her face suddenly filled with rage.
ANNIE:
The goddess of the forest queens hates fairies!
DANIELLE:
But… I like fairies!
ANNIE:
Ok. The goddess of the forest queens will like what you made.
(There is a dramatic pause.)
BUT WHAT IF IT’S OPPOSITE DAY?!?!
Annie stands up and bolts away from Danielle. Danielle, left dirty, insulted, and alone, bursts out into tears. Kristen, the closest counselor, sees this and calls her over.
KRISTEN:
Hey Danielle? Come on over here with me!
Danielle, still hiccup-crying, walks over.
KRISTEN:
Can I ask you a question, kiddo?
DANIELLE:
What (hiccup) kind of question?
KRISTEN:
Why do you have dirt all over your face?
As Danielle talks, Kristen unties the bandana from her Mason jar and uses it to wipe the dirt off Danielle’s face.
DANIELLE:
Annie and I (hiccup) were playing secret forest queens but then (hiccup) we were making stick houses and Danielle said it’s opposite dayyyy!
(She bursts into tears again.)
KRISTEN:
Hey hey, listen to me. I’ll tell you a secret.
DANIELLE:
Oh-kay.
KRISTEN:
The secret about opposite day is that it can never be opposite day!
DANIELLE:
What do you mean?
KRISTEN:
Well, if it really was opposite day, you would have to say that it’s not opposite day, because that’s the opposite of it being opposite day! And if it really was the opposite of a day, it wouldn’t even be a day! It just wouldn’t exist. So there’s really no such thing as opposite day.
DANIELLE:
Really?
KRISTEN:
Really. Now go wash your hands, ok, because we’re going to lunch soon.
Danielle runs away, happier. Rebecca and Kristen, momentarily alone, look at each other.
REBECCA:
Well?
KRISTEN:
Looks like it’s about time.
REBECCA:
CHEROKEES! Time for lunch! Get lined up in front of Kristen!
KRISTEN:
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six— Melanie, your other shoe is right there— five, four, three-- great!
They start to lead the line of little girls away from their cabin.
REBECCA:
Hey Cherokees… look at the sky! Doesn’t it look like it’s about to be…
REBECCA and KRISTEN:
A FLASH FLOOD!
On cue, all the girls jump up onto a higher surface— picnic tables, rocks, tree stumps, logs, whatever is around— as though an imaginary flood is coming to swallow them up.
KRISTEN:
Is everyone safe?
(She looks around.)
No one drowned? Awesome job, Cherokees! Flood is gone! Let’s go eat lunch!
The girls come down from their posts and skip/run/jump away from the cabin.
CAITLIN:
Is it grilled cheese day?
REBECCA:
Nope, Wednesdays are tacos. Grilled cheese on Friday, kiddo.
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