Dear Mom,

Scoutmaster Webb told us to write our parents in case you heard
about the flood and got worried. We're all okay. Only one of
our tents and two of our sleeping bags got washed away. Nobody
drowned because we were all on the mountain looking for Chad
when it happened. Oh yeah, please call Chad's mother and tell
her he's okay. He can't write her because of the cast on his
arm.

I got to ride in one of the search and rescue jeeps! It was neat!
We never would have found him in the dark if it hadn't been for
all 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? It was so cool! The wet wood still wouldn't burn, but one of
our tents did, and some of our clothes. Boy, Johnny is going to
look weird until his hair grows back!

We'll be home Saturday if Scoutmaster Webb gets the car fixed.
It wasn't his fault about the wreck. The brakes worked good when
we left. But he said with a car that old you have to expect
something to break down. That's probably why he can't get insurance.
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 15 people in the car. He let us take turns riding
in the trailer until the highway patrolman stopped and yelled at
him.

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. And Scoutmaster
Webb isn't crabby like some scoutmasters. He didn't even get mad
about us leaving the life jackets behind. He has to spend a lot of
time working on the car, so we're trying not to cause him any trouble.

Guess what? We 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 left over chicken. He said they got sick like
that with the food they ate in prison. I'm so glad he got out and
became our scoutmaster. He said he figured out how to do things
better while he was doing time.

I have to go now. We are going in to town to mail this and buy some
bullets and more gasoline. Don't worry about anything. We are doing
just fine.

Love,
Your son