“Dear Mom and Dad,
Here “’s a letter we” re writing at our youth leader “’s request to reassure you, in case you” ve seen the news about the flooding. We “’re all doing fine here. Only one tent and two sleeping bags were washed away. Fortunately, no one drowned. During the flood, we were actually on the mountain, looking for Dennis. Could you call Dennis” s mother to tell her he “’s doing fine? He can” t write a letter himself because he broke both arms.
Excitingly, I got to ride in the rescue workers’ jeep! If it hadn’t been lightning so strongly, we might never have found Dennis. The youth leader was somewhat angry at Dennis for going into the mountains alone without saying anything. He had tried to tell him, but the youth leader was busy putting out a fire at the time, so he probably didn’t hear him.
Let me tell you – did you know that a gas cylinder explodes when you throw it in the fire? The rain made the trees too wet to burn, but one of the tents and some clothes caught fire. Davy will look a bit strange until his hair grows back. If the youth leader manages to repair the minibus, we’ll be home Saturday. The accident wasn’t his fault; the brakes were still in good condition when we left. The youth leader says it’s normal for such an old car to break down sometimes, which is probably also why he couldn’t get insurance. We love the bus though, especially because the youth leader doesn’t mind if we make it dirty.
Plus, there are ten seats in the bus, but we can fit twenty if we take turns riding. The winding mountain roads make it extra exciting, although it was unfortunate that the police stopped us just when I was driving. The officer said he wanted to talk to you. But don “t worry, we” re in good hands.
Morning came and everyone went swimming in the lake, but I wasn’t allowed to join because I can’t swim. Dennis couldn’t go either because of his broken arms, but we were allowed to use the canoes. From the canoe, you can see the submerged trees, a result of the flooding. Our youth leader is much more relaxed than last year’s. He didn’t even get angry when we forgot the life jackets.
Even better, we had a first aid course. When Katharina got hurt, we learned how to apply a tourniquet. That was quite shocking, and some of us threw up, but according to the youth leader, that was because of the bad chicken we’d eaten. He said it tasted just like in prison. It’s nice that our youth leader wants to better his life and is now at camp with us. He promises he’ll do everything better from now on.
Incidentally, what’s a pedophile? I’m going to stop writing now. Later we’re going to town to post this letter and buy vaseline. According to the youth leader, we use that for games. Don’t worry, we’re doing fine.
Yours truly, Bartje.”