I wished myself away joining my friends in camp. As usual I was in the city for the first half working to contribute to my stay in camp second half. I sometimes felt so jealous of all my friends who whisked themselves up to the glorious mountains enjoying the blissful days of fun water and trips. Unlucky me. I grumbled. Here I am stuck in the sweltering city while my friends live it up in camp. My mind wandered back to the day camp where I worked. Wiping runny noses and changing children into swimming gear was not my idea of fun.

Here I was in the middle of the night with no dreams to escape to for any fun. I was stuck fighting the Battleof the Blood. Mosquitoes versus me. Hey my friends get to fight in a color war and I’m stuck in mosquito territory always losing…. At least all of us weren’t sleeping through the night. I couldn’t help but wish I was singing myself hoarse through the night with lots of companionship. There are definitely better ways to spend a night awake.…

Wham! Gotcha! I laughed smiling at the pesky little mosquito I caught between my hands. An annoying buzz interrupted my victory laugh. The mosquito fluttered above my drooping eyelids in a victory twirl. Its message was quite clear. We were destined to share this night together. And of course my blood was on the menu.

The silence of the night had me waiting for daylight tossing and turning in my bed. With sleep on the opposing team all I could do was busy myself with smearing Calamine lotion. After a dose of that I tried After-Bite. But the relentless itching wouldn’t let go. And so I scratched. And scratched. And scratched. While the rest of the world it seemed slept. And slept. And slept.

Boom! A low sound jolted me in the midst of Operation Itch. I drowsily ignored the sound thinking it was nothing. No one in my family seemed to have budged as the house slept on. I figured it was just my overactive imagination looking for excitement. I twisted and turned trying to find a comfortable position.