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. He was in for being something called a paedophile?

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.  He is going
to let me sleep in his tent tonight, isn't that great..

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,

Your son, Cole