Original Date: 6-17-97

It was the second week that I had attended the Day Camp. Day Camp was fun. I got to meet many of the kids from the area and I got to hang out with someone else other than Paula. I was always hanging out with Paula. Kourtnee was always busy doing something that was related to the company. I think Kourtnee often abused Paula's friendship, but I don't think Paula minded much or she was just good at hiding it.

Paula drove me to Day Camp as usual. She was late of course. Paula was always late. Kourtnee once said, "Paula would be late to her own funeral." Paula talked the whole way.

When we got to the plant, the kids were already there, playing and hanging out. As we drove up, someone's CD player was blasting Brilliant the Rapper. Kids were standing around listening and dancing. When I got out of the car, I ran over to the music. Shauna saw me and came over. LaVelle and Dakini soon followed. I asked, "Whose CD player is that playing?" Dakini said, "That fool T-Mark brought his boom box to show off!" I suggested that we move to the front of the crowd. I wanted to be where the action was. T-Mark and Kavon were standing in front of the group dancing. I had to admit that they were good.

After about ten minutes, T-Mark stopped the CD player and asked if anyone thought they could dance better than him and Kavon. For some strange reason, LaVelle pushed me towards Kavon. Kavon looked at T-Mark and said, "The new girl thinks she can dance better than us. Go figure that." I turned and gave a glaring look at LaVelle. T-Mark grabbed me and said, "Come on, baby. You got to prove that you can dance." Stefun went to the CD player and put in The Shades. T-Mark and I started to dance when the music began to play. When the song was over, T-Mark said, "Looks like the girl can dance. Let's see if her friends can. Yo, Stefun put Honey Gill in since the girls like her." He walked over to Dakini and grabbed her. She didn't want to, but T-Mark smiled and said, "Girl, you better come on." Stefun grabbed me. Kavon grabbed Shauna. A guy named Quad grabbed LaVelle. We were dancing like crazy. All the kids were dancing. Charles was even dancing. It was a big old party. We were having so much fun that no one noticed that Kourtnee had walked over to the CD player.

The music had stopped. Everyone turned and looked over to where the CD player was sitting. Kourtnee had the meanest look on her face. She looked at Charles and said, "What time is it?" He looked at his watch then at her and said, "It's 9:45." She said, "What are you supposed to be doing?" Charles looked at T-Mark and said, "T-Mark get your radio. All right everyone let's get into the classrooms." Kavon asked me, "What's up with ole girl? We weren't hurting anyone." I just said, "I don't know."

I walked over to Kourtnee. She looked at me with a frown. I said, "It wasn't my CD player that was playing. I was just dancing." She said, "I can't believe this. You were in the middle of the whole thing." I looked off and then said, "We were just dancing and hanging out. Isn't that what the day camp is for? A place where the kids can hang out and learn stuff." I must have made Kourtnee mad. She harshly said, "I know why I started the day camp. It was not so ya'll could stand around and watch some other kids gyrating around." She walked off. I mumbled, "What are you yelling at me for?"

Kourtnee was in charge of the film class today. When Shauna, Dakini, LaVelle, and I got to class, I almost wanted to leave. Kourtnee was standing in the front of the room. Kourtnee didn't pay much attention to me. The film was entitled "My Allowance, My Allowance, My Allowance." It was about two brothers who always seemed to deplete their allowance before the day was over. After we watched the film, Kourtnee lead a discussion about the movie. It was time for us to leave. As I was walking out the door, Kourtnee stopped me. She said, "I'm sorry I yelled at you this morning. It wasn't your fault." I smiled at her and said, "It's okay."

The day was finally over. It was time to go home. I was glad. Charles got us together and began to tell us about the picnic that was going to be held at the end of the Day Camp Season. He told us that the picnic would be on a Saturday. All the kids who were involved with the Day Camp could attend. Each person could bring two guests. We were given an RSVP slip that we had to bring back the next day. Charles told us that we could leave. We hung out for a while then everyone went home.

I had finally gotten to see Kourtnee mad. I had only done enough to agitate her, but I had never done anything to make her mad. I still hadn't done anything. Today wasn't my fault. I have a problem with people yelling at me and I haven't done anything. It hurts me and it makes me mad. I called Mrs. Johnson, the cook at the Madkinia Orphanage, and talked to her about it, she told me to talk to Kourtnee and tell her how I felt. I grunted. That was a bad move because my grunt sent Mrs. Johnson on a ten-minute tirade of which I only heard the last three sentences. I will never forget those sentences.

"Baby, God has placed new people in your life. It is time for you to depend on and learn from them. I won't always be in your life."

That last sentence gripped me. I wondered what it meant.