The Giant Forest

Story by Mia Belew

| AUTUMN 2019 ISSUE | FICTION

chapter 1
FEELING BETRAYED by DAD

Aimi’s dad had never been this wrong before. Her dad had promised her that she would be okay.

“Nothing could possibly go wrong at church camp,” he had told her. "Kids have been going to camp here at Mt. Hermon for more than fifty years. Mt. Hermon is one of the safest and most fun places around. The worst that has ever happened is someone getting a rash, a scratch, a cut, or a broken bone.” Her dad had ALWAYS kept his promises… until now.

This year’s camp experience was going to be something even he could not have anticipated.

Aimi's dad was different from her friends' dads. Aimi once teased him, “Were you here when Mt. Hermon was created during the 1849 Gold Rush?”

“No. But my grandpa…” Her dad had ping-ponged back with a story, as he always did.

Aimi's dad was old enough to be most of her classmates' grandfathers! 

"How come your dad is so old, Aimi?" her friends would ask, only half joking.

"I dunno. How come your dads are so young?" Aimi would retort. Aimi didn’t allow the joshing of others to get to her easily. Young as she was, she could get almost direct wisdom from three different centuries. She was born in the Internet Age of the 2000s, her dad was born in the industrial age of the 1900s, and he had sat on the laps of his grandparents, who were born in the 1800s—the post-Civil War age. When Aimi heard her dad start up with a “my grandpa used to say…”, she knew that she would most likely be hearing something from the time Mt. Hermon had been built.  

"My dad's been around long enough to raise kids that are older than your parents. He probably ain't right all the time, but he's definitely experienced more than your dads have." Aimi never said that last part out loud to her friends. 

In fact, Aimi had two big brothers who were older than some of her friends' dads. She didn't mind at all having a grandpa for a dad. Or was it the other way around?

Aimi stopped listening to her dad after she heard the word ‘fun’. Instead, she started daydreaming. She hoped to meet some new people, some more people like her. Some people she could bond with. She had become pretty good at making friends in new places. A couple of summers ago, it seemed like she was going to a different camp or VBS (Vacation Bible School) every week. “No worries,” she’d say. “I’ll look for someone else standing around by themselves and strike up a conversation. They probably want a friend, too.” 

Her old daddy taught her that trick. "You can be pretty sure that in any large group there is another person feeling the same as you—even feeling out of place or alone. Find that person."

Aimi tried and was usually successful. She had learned to not be afraid of new situations. Her experience this year at camp, however, was going to thrust her into new circumstances she had never experienced before. 

She didn’t mind at all having a grandpa for a dad. Or was it the other way around?

"Why didn't dad tell me something like this might happen?" she would ask herself over and over again. 

Aimi loved to read. She could read a chapter book of five, six, or seven hundred pages on a weekend. Sometimes she could read the whole book on a long Saturday. She would only stop to munch on lunch, and only because her mom wouldn't let her read and eat at the same time. Her dad didn't mind. He would read and eat at the same time if he could, too. Her favorite books were fantasy. She especially liked it when characters crossed over from one story into another. It never occurred to her that she might mysteriously cross over into another story as well.

Fantasy characters would go on adventures to find treasures, slay dragons, and discover hidden truths. It never occurred to Aimi that fantasy characters might enjoy reading books about the adventures of real boys and girls. Aimi liked reading about Princess Ota. She started wondering what it was that Princess Ota liked to read about.

"What's so interesting about my life?" Aimi pondered. Her thinking changed after her first year at church camp. Mt. Hermon has a way of making you reevaluate the way you see and experience life.

Aimi was the tallest girl in her class. She might have been the biggest kid in her entire school. She never worried about being big. She loved to skip, jump, climb, hop, kick, and run. And she did often. She liked to pretend she was a ninja in a sports competition. She even realized she probably could become a ninja if she practiced enough.

Aimi's long, pitch-black hair faded from dark brown to medium brown to dirty blonde and finally to bleached tips as a result of her biweekly swim sessions. She liked to cut it short, then let it grow down over her shoulders. Aimi realized her hair was just long enough to touch her shoulders as she looked out the window in her daydream-like daze on the drive to Mt. Hermon. 

“Maybe I should get my hair cut,” she mumbled.

“Huh?” her dad asked.

She didn’t bother to respond, and he didn’t ask again.

On the daily camp schedule posted on the camp’s website, there was pool time and beach time. Aimi dreamed of swimming at camp, in the pool and at the beach.

"Aimi? Do you know how to tell when we are almost there?"

"Yeah, dad," she moaned. "We start making stops and turns more often."

"We’re here!" Daddy shouted in his usual goofy upbeat way.

Even silliness can be reassuring when it comes from someone you love and you know loves you.

Aimi had never doubted her daddy's love... until this Mt. Hermon experience.

discussion questions

1. Have you ever been betrayed by someone you trust?

2. Have you ever betrayed someone who trusted you?

3. Who do you consider the most reliable person you know?