夏令營簡訊是我家童少向家人介紹暑假生活的一種日記方式。自五歲學前班老師要求報道流水帳開始，到如今九歲三年紀純粹滿足家長好奇心為止，無論悲喜憂樂，還是趣聞軼事，他都以迅雷不及掩耳之勢快速概括過目煙雲。做家長的我們也從字裡行間潦草的筆跡和生硬的語句中練就出一套連蒙帶猜的過硬本領，進而有幸品味與自己完全不同的童年經歷。

Mon., July 16, 2012

      The first thing that we did this morning was to learn how to dance "Wells Fargo Wagon" in "The Music Man Jr.". Well, it wasn't really dancing. I felt more like walking around in the right style, which was lame, boring and dull. The only significant thing was that I sang with my pals in trio. We did that all morning long.

      Break passed so swiftly that I had to gallop to Room 150 to practice "Ice Cream". Three minutes later, we were called to the theater for "Rock Island". After the junior camp saw it, they sat there gaping in awe.

      Before headed for home, I saw a script left in a seat of the theater. There was a picture of Marian who played Zaneeta Shinn, an older daughter ofRiverCitymayor inMusicMan.I ran and caught her opening a locked door to the Cafeteria.

星期一，二O一二年七月十六日

      今早，我們要做的第一件事便是學跳少兒劇《音樂人•富國馬車》舞蹈。這算不上跳舞，只不過來回走步而已，說起來真有點鬆散、單調、乏味。唯一提神的當屬三重唱小段，整個上午我們沒再干其它事情。

      中途休息得很短，以至於我不得不匆匆忙忙趕往150號教室練習《冰激凌》。三分鐘過後，我們又被招呼去劇院準備《石島》歌舞。小班營員見此狀況，竟緊張得目瞪口呆。

      臨回家前，我發現有一劇本落在劇院的座位上，裡面夾着瑪麗安的相片，她在這齣百老匯劇目中扮演瓚尼塔•西恩──“河城”鎮長的大女兒。這時只見瑪麗安恰好推門去餐廳，我趕緊跑過去把劇本給了她。

Tues., July 17, 2012

      This morning it was extremely exciting and exhausting. We played from "Iowa Stubborn" to "Till There Was You". In the meanwhile, we had to learn the chase scene. It was really complicated. The cast was running at the top speed in pell-mell direction.  It seemed to go on for ever. The director called it organized chaos.

      Finally we had break which looked as if it would never come. My bag of SunChips tasted more salty than I usually expected it. That was why I drank half of my water bottle in one breath.

      I went inside to see the people in the costumes. My favorite was Ivy who played the conductor on the train to "Rock Island". He wore a oversized blue leather coat with a black shirt inside. Two rows of gold buttons (fake) down the side. His black pants covered his shoes completely.

      I didn't do much after the costumes. Instead, I just sat back stage. But when Marian, main actress and Harold, main actor KISSED, everyone cheered so loud that it hurt my eardrums. We were lucky that the junior campers didn't see us.

星期二，二O一二年七月十七日

      今早我們興奮得過了頭，結果人人精疲力竭。我們從《愛荷華本性》排演到《相愛》結束，期間還得學會舞台串場，真不容易。全體演員拉開陣勢跑來跑去，看來一時半會兒難以消停下來，導演認為我們這是趁機起鬨。

      好不容易輪到盼望已久的休憩，我覺得太陽牌玉米片吃起來好像格外咸，這也是為什麼我一口氣喝下了半瓶子水。

      我跑去看同伴們試穿服裝，最喜歡扮演開往《石島》列車乘務員阿維穿的那身：白襯衫配超大的藍色皮外套，雙排金扣(假的)吊掛在兩旁，黑褲子把雙腳遮得嚴嚴實實。

      看完試裝後，我坐在台上無所事事。當女主角瑪麗安和男一號哈羅德排演接吻時，全場頓時群情激昂，哄鬧聲震耳欲聾，幸虧小班演員不在現場。

Wed., July 18, 2012

      The teacher asked us to run Act 2 of "The Music Man Jr.". It was extremely slow. Once I had to sit back on stage, my legs couldn't sustain my weight anymore. Unfortunately, the scene changed. The thing I was sitting on was a prop. It was moved onto the stage afterwards.

      By the time the break came, I was staving to death. I gulped down with my bag of SunChips. Then I had plenty of time watching Jason on his iPhone.

      It was awesome when we saw Bill do the side effects during practice. Although a few of mistakes happened, there wasn't anything that could spoil this day!!

星期三，二O一二年七月十八日

      老師要求我們試演少兒劇《音樂人》第二幕，節奏實在太慢。我一屁股坐了下來，兩條腿簡直支撐不住身體的重量。不巧，場景有所變化，我坐的東西要被挪到舞台上去。

      休息時分，我餓得要死，狼吞虎咽帶來的太陽牌玉米片。剩下大部頭的時間，我一直盯着傑森撥弄他的“蘋果”四頻段全球移動通信系統手機。

      排練期間我們有幸觀賞比爾調試劇場燈光，儘管出了些差錯，但絲毫沒有影響我們賞心悅目！！

Thurs., July 19, 2012

      I got there almost 20 minutes early this morning. When our camp started, I had already read my whole script and made a paper cup for fun.

      Today we ran Act 1 of "The Music Man Jr.". "Rock Island" was my favorite. I was exhausted and my legs got more painful every step I took. It was because we were on a train when played in "Rock Island". On the train, it's supposed to be bumpy. So we had to bounce the whole time. Not until the break in 10 minutes later, the teacher made us to keep doing it over and over again, except "Pick-a-Little" ladies.

      After break, we learned the bows. People were split into 9 groups. The most important went the last. I was in the 4TH group.

星期四，二O一二年七月十九日

      早上，我提前了將近20分鐘來到夏令營。因此當正式排練時，我已經讀完了整個劇本，並做了一個紙杯子自娛自樂。

      今天我們排練少兒劇《音樂人》第一幕，《石島》是我最喜歡的節目。我累極了，只要一抬腿就痛得厲害。這歸咎於排練《石島》時，我們得假裝坐在正在行駛並且搖晃不止的火車裡。除了扮演《都市欲望》的女士們例外，我們需按老師的要求反覆練習，直到10鍾休息為止。

      休息過後，我們開始學習鞠躬謝幕。大家被分成9組，最後離開舞台的都是劇組頂梁級重要人物，我屬於第四梯隊。

Fri., July 20, 2012

      It became a damp, pouring and rainy day, the worst way to start our first run. I was soaking wet and dripping with rain drops. However, my brand new shoes were not ruined. To my relief, they behaved like a pair of water-proof boots and weren't as soggy as me. There was a delay this morning because the councilors came all late.

      We had a 5 minute break listening to Beth, our stage director. He told us to bring a towel for the show. So when we ate snacks, the towel protected the costume from crumbs that wouldn't get to touch it directly.

      We finished the run 10 minutes late. So people in Pick-Ups were dismissed first, which was very rare. The councilors thought wrong about being late. As a matter of fact, we were released even earlier than usual. Mom surprised to see us all waiting outside for pickup. It was 6 minutes ahead.

      Before we left, we all said goodbye to one of our councilors, Eric who was leaving for good. He used to be a leader in logistics and always carried his laptop to work on.

星期五，二O一二年七月廿日

      今天烏雲密布，大雨滂沱，頭一回整場練習竟碰上這麼惡劣的天氣。我被淋得像只落湯雞，好在剛穿在腳上的新鞋完好無損，如同防水雨靴一般，不像我渾身上下淋得不成樣子。早上排練推遲了好長一段時間才開始，因為所有的工作人員全部遲到。

      我們花了5分鐘休息時間聆聽舞台導演貝斯訓話。他要我們每人帶來一條毛巾，每當演出期間吃零食時，一定要把毛巾鋪在演出服外面，以免掉下來的食物喳子弄髒衣服。

      10分鐘後我們結束排練時，等待接送直接回家的營員反倒首先放行，這可是極為罕見的事情。工作人員以為晚點，實際上根本沒有。結果待媽媽卡着點來到營地門口的時候，我們早已提前了6分鐘站在外面等候。

      臨行前，我們與其中一位名叫艾利克的工作人員道別，今天是他最後一天與我們相處。他曾經負責後勤，常常手提電腦工作。

(二O一二年七月廿一日)