Chapter One; Camp Clearwater
Mrs. Bellows entered the living room and walked over to Jeannie's bottle before she peered down at it and beamed brightly. "Hey Jeannie, are you ready to go camping with us?" she questioned her before Jeannie smoked out of her bottle and smiled back at her.
"Yes Mrs. Bellows!" she exclaimed excitedly before she folded her arms and blinked her eyes making a suitcase appear in front of her. "I'm all packed!" she announced.
"Well that's marvelous Jeannie but don't you think that you should, you know, change first." Mrs. Bellows said when all of a sudden Jeannie let out a horrified gasp before she folded her arms and blinked her eyes again instantly and magically changing her harem outfit into a short sleeved white top with a heart in the center of it and a pair of blue jeans and black hiking boots.
"How's this Mrs. Bellows?" she asked her before she bobbed her head and blinked a third time making a black ponytail holder appear inside the palm of her hand.
"That's a very cute outfit Jeannie, you definitely look like you're ready to go camping in the woods." Mrs. Bellows told her while she started fixing her hair up into a ponytail.
"Uh Mrs. Bellows, I hate to bring this up, but they're aren't bears or any other wild animals where we're going to be staying are there?" she asked her.
"Well take a look at it this way Jeannie, if there are you won't have anything to worry about because you can just blink them away or turn them into something else." Mrs. Bellows replied before her husband walked out of the bedroom with a backpack around his shoulders.
"Ah, good morning ladies. I see that you're all ready to go on our camping trip." He said with a grin.
"Oh yes, I can't wait until we get there! I'm looking forward to going hiking, canoeing, swimming and fishing." She said.
"I know, but the thing that I'm most looking forward to doing is going horseback riding." Mrs. Bellows said while she turned to look at her and grinned.
"Horseback riding?" Jeannie questioned her back anxiously.
"Yes. What's the matter Jeannie don't you like horses?" Mrs. Bellows asked her.
"Well in all honesty Mrs. Bellows, no." Jeannie told her with a shake of her head. "I've been afraid of horses ever since I was a little girl. And I'm over two thousand years old so that was a very long time ago." She said nervously and adamantly.
"Don't worry Jeannie, you don't have to go horseback riding if you don't want to. You can stay back at our campsite with Spot. Speaking of which where is he? Is he all ready to go?" Mr. Bellows asked her.
"Yes I already fed him and let him outside to go to the bathroom so he's already in the backseat of the car waiting to go. But he doesn't like to be left alone for an extended period of time. Otherwise he'll start barking and howling and I don't think that your neighbors around here would like that very much." She replied.
"No they wouldn't. So I think in that case we better get going then." Mr. Bellows said before all three of them turned around and started heading towards the front door.
….
Mr. Bellows pulled his van into the gravel parking lot before he stopped the car and turned off the engine. "Well this is it ladies," he began as all three of them threw off their seatbelts. "Camp Clearwater. I haven't been here since I was a boy and it sure does bring back memories." He said while all three of them climbed out of the car and Jeannie removed Spot from the backseat and hoisted him up inside her arms.
"Look Spot, there's a whole lot of room for you to run and play, and you'll even be allowed to go swimming in the lake with us." She told him.
"Yeah and not to mention there will be lots of sights, sounds, and smells for him around here." Mrs. Bellows began. "And of course thousands of trees for him to mark." She said with a little laugh before Jeannie sat Spot down in the ground in front of her and all of a sudden his ears perked up while he caught sight of a squirrel and then he started to bark and run after it.
"Well, we better go ahead and pitch our tents now." Mr. Bellows said while Spot continued to bark and chase after the squirrel.
"I could do it for you if you want me to Mr. Bellows." Jeannie said.
"Oh that's alright Jeannie, Amanda and I've got everything handled. Why don't you set up your tent and gather together some firewood. Later on we can grab our bathing suits and go swimming." He told her as Jeannie nodded at him.
"Yes Mr. Bellows." She told him before she took a deep breath and heaved a heavy sad sigh and then turned around and started walking away before she crossed her arms and bobbed her head making a rather large purple tent appear in front of her.
"Are you alright Jeannie?" Mrs. Bellows asked her.
"Yes Mrs. Bellows I'm fine. I was just thinking that this trip would be even more exciting if Anthony and Roger Healey were here." She told her.
"I know how you feel." Mrs. Bellows began. "But come on Jeannie, it's not like you haven't been camping with them before." She told her.
"I know." Jeannie began before she crossed her arms and bobbed her head again this time blinking a bunch of firewood into the fire pit.
"You know Jeannie, I mean this in the nicest way but I don't think that it's such a good idea for you to do magic around here. After all, what if somebody sees you?" Mrs. Bellows wondered before Jeannie nodded.
"You're right Mrs. Bellows, it's better to be on the safe side. Besides, in a few months I won't be able to do magic at all anyway so I better get started used to it." She said.
"Why?" Mr. Bellows asked her.
"So it'll be easier that way. I could use the practice." She told him.
"No, I mean why won't you be able to do magic in a few months?" he asked her.
"Oh that, well that's one of the unfortunate side effects that happens when a genie is pregnant. It protects the baby that way so it won't inhale the magic gas inside her blood." She explained.
"Ah." He replied.
"Anyway, I think I'll go ahead and go for a walk." She told them.
"Alright Jeannie, just make sure that you're back here in about half an hour so we can all head down towards the lake together and go swimming." Mrs. Bellows told her before Jeannie turned around and started walking away and then patted her leg to call her puppy to go with her while the Bellows finished pitching their tents.
