Dear Mom,
Our scout master told us all write to our parents in case you saw the flood on
TV and worried. We are OK. Only 1 of our tents and 2 sleeping bags got
washed away. Luckily, none of us got drowned because we were all up on the
mountain looking for Chad when it happened.
Oh yes, please call Chad's mother and tell her he is OK. He can't write because of
the cast. I got to ride in one of the search & rescue jeeps. It was
neat. We never would have found him in the dark if it hadn't been
for the lightning. Scoutmaster Webb got mad at Chad for going on a hike alone
without telling anyone. Chad said he did tell him, but it was during the fire
so he probably didn't hear him. Did you know that if you put gas on a fire, the gas
can will blow up? The wet wood still didn't burn, but one of our tents did. Also
some of our clothes. John is going to look weird until his hair grows
back.
We will be home on Saturday if Scoutmaster Webb gets the car fixed. It
wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked OK when we left. Scoutmaster Webb said
that a car that old you have to expect something to break down; that's probably why
he can't get insurance on it.
We think it's a neat car. He doesn't care if we get it dirty, and if it's hot,
sometimes he lets us ride on the tailgate. It gets pretty hot with 10
people in a car. He let us take turns riding in the trailer until the highway
patrolman stopped and talked to us. Scoutmaster Webb is a neat guy. Don't
worry, he is a good driver. In fact, he is teaching Terry how to drive.
But he only lets him drive on the mountain roads where there isn't any
traffic. All we ever see up there are logging trucks.
This morning all of the guys were diving off the rocks and swimming out in the lake.
Scoutmaster Webb wouldn't let me because I can't swim and Chad was afraid he would
sink because of his cast, so he let us take the canoe across the lake. It was
great. You can still see some of the trees under the water from the
flood. Scoutmaster Webb isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad
about the life jackets. He has to spend a lot of time working on the car so we are trying
not to cause him any trouble. Guess what? We have all passed our first aid
merit badges. When Dave dove in the lake and cut his arm, we got to see how a
tourniquet works. Also Wade and I threw up. Scoutmaster Webb said it
probably was just food poisoning from the leftover chicken, he said they got
sick that way with the food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out
and become our scoutmaster. He said he sure figured out how to get things done
better while he was doing his time. I have to go now. We are going into
town to mail our letters and buy bullets. Don't worry about anything. We are fine.
Love,
Cole
P.S. How long has it been since I had a tetanus shot?