Help ID a short story

Cafe Society
1

I read this short story in an anthology perhaps ten years ago. No memory of the title or author.

It’s told in the form of a series of letters and emails. A boy at camp, obviously an obnoxious brat, it telling his parents about his camp stay. At first he hates it, but then finds it fun when the robot counselors let the kids do anything they want.

But then, one by one, the kids begin to disappear, in a series of accidents. One kid saw another drawn into the pond by a tentacle, and there are reports of a T-Rex. The kid goes from enjoying himself to getting more and more scared, and begs his parents to bring him home. His last message is cut off mid-sentence.

Later his parents recieve a message from the camp, congratulating them on their son’s successful camp trip, and they mention that next year they are opening a girl’s camp as well.

I remember all of the above, but not the book, author or title.:frowning:

2

That’s Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh: The True Story. Allan Sherman failed to mention the real reason that the kid suddenly changed his story at the end of his letter to his parents.

It’s not that things suddenly got better just before he finished his letter home. It’s because he went down to the lake just before completing it. A tentacle reached out and grabbed him and pulled him in. He was then replaced with a pod person version of him. The pod person went back and finished the letter so that his parents wouldn’t know what happened.

3

I’m sorry I don’t know what it is but here’s a warning: do NOT Google “Camp Story Tentacle”. Our world is very disturbing sometimes.

4

Was it Goosebump’s Welcome to Camp Nightmare? It’s not a point for point match (and the ending is definitely different), but it’s pretty close in concept.

5

Wendell Wagner, it wasn’t a song, sorry. And Jragon, it wasn’t a Goosebumps book, it was a short story in some anthology I read.

This is driving me nuts. How can I remember so much, but not the title or where I read it?

Off to search some more. Thanks for your help.

6

I was joking.

7

And it was a mighty fine joke.

The story sounds like something Bradbury would have done.

8

I’m going to give this the one bump. Anyone?

9

Happens to me all the time.

10

Did the anthology have a theme, like “stories about camp” “stories about brats” etc.?

11

I don’t remember other such stories, so I don’t think it was themed. I love seeing “brats” get their comeuppance, so if there were more I’m hoping I’d have remembered them too.

12

Is this it?

Letters from Camp

13

I bet that’s it. Here’s a list of anthologies it’s been in http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/title.cgi?93675 - I should have guessed it’d be in Space Mail II (a collection of stories told through letters).

14

Letters From Camp it is! I knew I could count on Dopers! The only thing that isn’t there, in the last message to the parents, is telling them about how they will be opening a girl’s camp as well next year. Maybe it got snipped somehow, but I’m going to keep the author’s name and search for other stuff by him.

15

Baker, I too thought the story was over, but it does continue to the next page and reads:

May we take this opportunity to inform you that, due to the success of our first camp, we are planning to open a new facility for girls next summer.

We hope we might be of service to you in the future.