Six Flags and Camp Meeting

 15 years old

"Where are you going?, " asked the teen.

"Your brother, sister and I are going to Six Flags with the youth from church.  YOU are NOT going. You are a bad influence on the kids from church," her mother answered. 

Funny, she thought. The pastor's son is having sex with the girl at church that her mother wanted her to be like. In fact, half the kids at church are having sex in the church basement.  And, the girl....was still a virgin. But yet, she was somehow a bad influence on THEM. 

The summer of 1980 in Peoria seemed like the summer of hell to the young teen. The constant accusations.  It was continual!  

According to her mother she was basically a whore. Boy crazy. On drugs.  Smoking.  A fighter, constantly beating people up. Just an all around bad kid. A bad influence on anyone she was around.  Before the summer was over....the teen started to fulfill and become the things her mother constantly accused her of. Except for fighting. The girl never hit anyone in her life. Ever. 

During the summer of 1980 her mother and siblings went to the church camp ground for camp meeting.  

This particular year they didn't set up a tent. The kids all stayed in dorms with the other kids.  That was a foolish idea on someone's part. The boys all in one dorm with a door opening into the dorm where the girls were staying in. 

The teen was a loner. She didn't fit in well and stayed to herself. So, while all the kids were in their dorms the girl took a walk around the grounds and into the woods.  She loved nature. 

As she wandered around she ran into two boys about her same age. They were just kind of hanging out and were working on building a little camp fire. They weren't part of the church.  

They looked up as she stumbled up on their camp.  One of them spoke up and introduced himself as Charles.  He asked her if she would like to smoke some pot with them. She declined. But she did accept a cigarette. 

They spoke for a few minutes and then she headed back to the dorm. 

As she approached someone hollered out to her....your mom called your dad and he is on his way here!!

Terror struck her heart. She ran in and fumbled through her bag and pulled out a tube of toothpaste and quickly squeezed out a long line of it into her mouth to kill the smell of tobacco on her breath. 

She looked around.  WHAT is going on here?  A room full of girls of all ages and on the top bunk of one of the bunk beds was the pastor's oldest soon spooning with the girl her mother admonished her that she should be like.  The girl was a virgin but she felt sure that those two were having sex right there in front of everyone. Unbelievable.  

Then someone informs her to come outside. Her dad was there. 

He was in a good mood it seemed. He asked her where she went. She told him about Charles. She told him about them offering pot. She told him that she said no. She DIDN'T tell him that she had smoked a cigarette.  Heck, she didn't even know how to inhale.  He was satisfied and he left. 

She returned to the dorm where the teens who were such good influences on the kids and who the adults believed were so admirable continued to grind under the blankets while looking dully down at the kids below as if nothing in particular was going on up there. 

The teen was saddened.