Sunday, November 19, 2006

The Turkey Man

When we got out to the campground last night, the boys and leaders kept talking about the Turkey Man. After we'd heard about it three or four times, Drama Queen began quizzing me on what they were talking about. I had no idea and sent her to The Hubster. He never answered her (which should have been a clue), so I asked Karate Kid. He pulled me to the side and told me that it's a prank they pull on the new/younger boys every year. They talk about the Turkey Man all day, trying to set the mood. While we were there, Karate Kid and another boy went off and pulled a section of a thornbush off. They came back saying it was a claw from the Turkey Man, and that he must be nearby since they had found several of them.

The stories continue for the entire day. That night they take the boys on a night hike to look for the Turkey Man. Somehow they drop a scarecrow out of a tree that they put there earlier in the day, scaring the snot (and other bodily fluids, I'm sure) out of the boys.

That's all well and good...except that my daughter was standing there listening. She never gave me any indication that she was scared, so I had no idea. As soon as dinner was over, she started asking me when we were leaving. We just got a portable DVD player today, and she had been watching a movie on the way there. At first she told me she wanted to watch her movie. When that didn't work, she started telling me she was tired. That didn't work, so she finally pulled me to the side and told me she was scared.

As we were going walking to the bathroom (the permanent port-a-potty--fun!), she kept talking about how scared she was. I told her that it was all pretend. She didn't believe me because her brother had found a claw and another boy had been "scratched by the Turkey Man." To top it all off, The Hubster started scratching on the small window in the bathroom while we were in there, setting her off even more.

Once we got back to the fire, I decided we better go since she was scared. Once we were away from the others, The Hubster and I both told her again that it was all pretend, but I don't think she believed it until her brother came over to the car and told her the truth and told her what the "claw" really was.

On the way home, Drama Queen cleared up another little mystery for me. She had politely declined turkey at dinner, which is very unusual for her. While we had been sitting around the fire, waiting for dinner to finish cooking, someone commented that the Turkey Man would probably really come out because we were eating some of his kin (the turkeys they were frying for our dinner). Drama Queen was determined to do everything in her power not to be killed by the Turkey Man, so she refused to eat his relatives.

Poor girl. Sometimes I forget how scary life can be for a 9yo.

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Posted @ 3:20 PM ~ 6 comments

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