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
--Unknown; found circulating in email.
