Paradise on Fire

Addy dreams of the apartment fire. She hides beneath the blanket with her doll. Pop collapses, and Mama pats the flames with a dish towel and her hands. Mama goes across the room. Addy sees that fire has blanketed Pop and is licking the ceiling and walls. Mama picks up Addy, and Pop is no longer moving. Her mother tells her to fly.

When Addy wakes, she is upset. She has never remembered her mother telling her to fly. There is still a memory missing, and she does not understand how she survived while her parents died. Jay joins her outside, and Addy tells him that she had a dream. He says that dreams are bad and that he dreams of the day his little brother was shot in a drive-by; he blames himself because he was home late and his brother was waiting for him.

Addy invites him to join her and Leo. Leo agrees, inviting him to join their plan to study a hillside. Addy realizes that she can understand what Jay is thinking from his eyes. Jay decides to join, and Addy is happy.

There are only a few more weeks of camp, and Addy feels like the trip is too short. Addy and Jay return to the main camp after a hike with Leo and Ryder and find everyone relaxing. Kelvin and A’Leia talk about their futures and plan to meet up when they get home.

Kelvin rides a mare, Blaze, as A’Leia, Jay, and Addy encourage him. Leo serves lunch outside while the group discusses foods from their hometowns. Addy feels uncomfortable about a discussion on home and begins to make a map of camp and include people. She realizes how much she will miss Paradise Ranch and her new friends when she returns home.

On Sunday morning, Addy, Jay, Leo, and Ryder go on a hike to explore a square mile in the northwest. They discover different animals and different animal tracks. Leo teaches them new information about those animals.

Leo and Addy stop to draw a map, planning to compare their maps via mail even after she returns home. Addy thinks that drawing beside Leo while Jay plays with Ryder is paradise.

The smell of smoke disrupts their day, and Ryder leads them to a campground with a pit. The campers left trash, including used cigarettes. The fire is still warm, and Leo tells them that a breeze could send a spark to the trees and start a forest fire because there has been a drought. Leo shows Addy and Jay how to safely put out a fire using water and dirt and then how to check that the fire is completely out. The mood turns dark, and Leo leads them back to Paradise Ranch.

The final adventure of the summer is graduation, which involves four days of hiking and three nights of overnight camping. Jamie brings s’mores ingredients as a surprise, and the other kids toast marshmallows over an open fire. Addy does not toast them because it is too close to the fire, but Jay makes her one.

Jamie and Dylan pour a bucket of water on the fire, and Jay insists on checking to ensure that it is not warm. Dylan sarcastically asks him if he’s an “expert,” and Leo says that Jay is since he taught him, which makes Dylan abruptly leave. Leo winks at Addy, showing her that he knows Dylan is not a great camp counselor.