(Author's Note: This story is based on characters and situations introduced in the novel-length series of stories: Camp Torowa Falls.
You should read that fifteen part story first!)
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"Welcome to Pennsylvania" read the sign as the car left the bridge over the Delaware River, continuing west on Route 22 - a four lane divided highway - through the small city of Easton. Corey Lane was the only person awake in the back seat to read the sign. And that was a near thing - it was after 10 o'clock at night and it had been a very long day.

Corey yawned as he shifted in his seat - he hated "riding the hump" - sitting in the middle of the back seat of his father's car. He looked to his left - his kid sister Becky had been asleep since before they had even reached New Jersey. At least Becky sleeping was a lot better than Becky singing "It's A Small World After All", the incredibly stupid song from her favorite ride at the 1964 New York World's Fair. She had been singing or humming that song for hours until she finally fell asleep, a good thing for her since Corey had been ready to strangle the little brat.

Corey looked to his right and smiled as he watched the 13-year-old boy slumped over against the rear passenger side door sleep. Jerry Farnham was Corey's best friend in the world, so it was only right that they had met again that day at the World's Fair. Of course it hadn't exactly been a chance meeting.

Jerry and Corey had been threatening to become pen pals for years, but had finally started writing to each other regularly after leaving camp the previous summer. Corey had really wanted to visit Jerry at his Aunt and Uncle's house in Elmira, New York, but couldn't make that happen. Well, Jerry coming to spend part of the summer with Corey's family was a whole lot better than nothing!

The biggest problem had been logistics. It was nearly a 200 mile trip from Jerry's home in the Chemung Valley of New York to Corey's home in the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania. The Northeast Extension of the Pennsylvania Turnpike only went as far north as Wilkes-Barre - less than half the distance. The rest of the trip would be on narrow two lane roads through small towns.

They were talking about at least a four hour trip each way. It would realistically take an entire day to drop one of the boys off at the other's place and return home. Neither Corey's father nor Jerry's Uncle Owen had been the least bit interested in going through the time or expense involved.

Corey had been despondent, thinking that it wasn't going to happen. True, the trip only had to happen once a summer, since the visiting boy could accompany the host family up to Camp Torowa Falls for the summer session and be picked up from camp by his own family at the end of the summer. But that fact didn't really help anything if the original delivery could never be made.

Amazingly enough it was 11-year-old Becky who had figured out the solution to the puzzle. She knew that their family was planning to attend the New York World's Fair during the summer of 1964, and Jerry had mentioned in one of his letters (which Becky had a bad habit of reading if Corey was careless about where he left them) that his family was planning a trip to the World's Fair that summer as well.

"So what?" had been Corey's initial reaction to his little sister's revelation of this coincidence. Becky explained in her most exasperating tone of voice that all they had to do was to arrange to have both families visit the fair on the same day and then Jerry could come home with them. Corey had been so happy when he realized it could probably work that he actually hugged his little sister - and meant it for a change.

Of course nothing in Corey's life was ever really that easy. It turned out that Jerry's family had been planning to visit the fair in late August or even on Labor Day weekend - after the summer camping session. They did offer to meet the Lanes at the fair on Saturday, July 4th. But Corey's parents were adamant about not visiting the fair on a holiday. They felt it would be crowded enough on any summer weekend. Plus his Mom's family had an annual picnic on Independence Day that they just couldn't miss.

Corey had nearly given up in disgust when he received the best letter he had read up until that point in his life. Jerry had somehow managed to convince his Aunt and Uncle to attend the fair on Saturday, June 27th, the date Corey's parents had been planning for originally, before all the coordination talk began.

Corey had tried not to get too excited as the school year ended, convinced that something would go wrong to spoil his well laid plans. But incredibly it had all worked out, and now his best friend in the whole world was coming home with them.

Corey and Jerry would have almost the entire summer of 1964 to spend together. Jerry would be staying with Corey's family from June 27th until July 22nd, when the boys would be dropped off at Camp Torowa Falls for the second summer session. They would be camping together until August 22nd, when they would be picked up and taken back to their respective homes to prepare for the new school year.

As always, Corey was saddened to think about the end of summer. But the good news is that it was still June and they had many weeks of fun ahead of them. As the lights of Easton faded behind the speeding car, Corey decided to think about something else, something happier.

Corey had finally attended a World's Fair. He had campaigned to get his family to visit the 1962 World's Fair in Seattle. But his parents had stubbornly refused to transport the family 3000 miles across country so their 11-year-old son could see the Space Needle. It hadn't helped matters that 9-year-old Becky wasn't the least bit interested either. She usually got what she wanted.

But at last, just 12 hours before, Corey had finally arrived at his first World's Fair. The only fair that Corey had ever visited before was the Great Allentown Fair, which didn't seem nearly as great after today. It had been a long day, and the Lanes had barely scratched the surface of the huge fair. According to the official fair program it occupied an entire square mile of Long Island. There was no way to see everything in only one day.

Corey's father was already talking about going back one weekend in September. Plus the fair was supposed to be open again the following summer, so they might be able to make one or two more trips then. Corey had wondered why they just couldn't leave the fair open every summer indefinitely. His Mom had pointed out that all those "World of Tomorrow" exhibits wouldn't look very futuristic after ten or twenty years.

Corey thought the "Futurama" ride at the General Motors Pavilion had been quite interesting, but probably wouldn't age very well. The one thing Corey thought would age well had been in the Ford Motors Pavilion - the 1964 Ford Mustang. Corey had long wanted a Ford Thunderbird as his first car some day, but that wasn't very practical - the T-bird was an expensive car. The new Ford Mustang might just be within his reach.

Well, maybe not a new Mustang, but perhaps he could find a used 1964 model for a reasonable price by the time he got to high school (and his driver's license) in a few years. At least it was a reasonable dream.

Corey yawned again and attempted to stretch his back in the cramped backseat. "Quit it, Corey!" complained Becky, as she was awakened by the movement.

"I didn't do anything," said Corey automatically. How many times had they had that exchange in the last eleven years?

"Are we there yet?" said Jerry, who had also woken up.

"Not yet," said Corey

"We'll be home in about a half hour," said Corey's Dad from behind the wheel.

"Good," said Jerry, who promptly went back to sleep.

Becky grumped about for a few seconds, shifting her position, then she fell back to sleep as well. Corey could see that his mother was sound asleep in the front passenger seat. He and his father were the only ones awake in the car. Dad better stay awake, Corey thought, or we're all in a lot of trouble.

Except for the lights of other cars there was nothing to be seen outside the car windows. There wasn't much along this part of Route 22 - in fact Corey knew there wasn't any sign of civilization again until they got to Airport Road, and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton airport, known commonly as A-B-E. He decided to close his eyes and try to take a nap. They still had to drag all of Jerry's gear into the house before they could go to bed.

That had been another fun bit of logistics. They had to get Jerry's luggage from his Uncle's car into the Lane family car. Mercifully both families had ended up in the same parking lot. But the lots were so big that there was still about a half-mile drive involved when they made the transfer.

Corey liked Jerry's uncle - Owen Jones. He seemed like a nice man with an interesting job - he built fire engines at the American LaFrance Company in Elmira. Corey didn't much fancy the idea of working in a factory, but if he had to do that kind of work, building fire engines seemed like a really cool factory job to have. In fact one of main reasons Corey had tried to engineer a stay with the Joneses in Elmira this summer was because he hoped to get a tour of the American LaFrance factory. Oh, well. He could always try again next year.

Jerry's Aunt Betty was a bit of mystery - Corey hadn't met her before today - she never came to Camp Torowa Falls to help drop off or pick up Jerry. Corey's first impression was that she was nice enough - in a straitlaced and severe kind of way. Jerry had always remarked about how Aunt Betty never thought the boys - Jerry or his cousin Robby - got whacked enough.

She certainly seemed to be watching them intently all the time the two families were together today - a bit like a spider watching a group of flys cavorting around her web. In fact Mrs. Jones - as Corey and Becky referred to her - had pounced on her son Robby twice during the day, giving him a few healthy swats of her open hand on the back of his bermuda shorts, causing the 9-year-old to yelp loudly.

Corey had first met Robby Jones the previous August when his father brought him along to pick up Jerry at the end of the camping session. Mr. Jones had wanted Robby to have a chance to see Camp Torowa Falls, since he'd be attending camp for the first time this summer. At the time Corey had thought Robby a bit puny, even for an 8-year-old. But it looked like the lad had grown an inch or two over the winter and even filled out a bit - he just might cut it in one of the junior cabins this summer. That was a good thing since Jerry and Corey would have to try to keep him out of trouble.

A good first step would seem to be keeping the little guy away from sweets. The worst swatting Robby had received today came after he got tanked up on some red, sugary soda called "Tahitian Treat" and started running around like a little maniac when they were supposed to be waiting in line for an attraction.

And Robby wasn't the only one. Corey couldn't help but notice that most of the kids he had seen swatted at the fair that day showed signs of having recently downed sugary soda, ice cream, or candy. He wondered if there really was a connection.

The worst part about a spanking at the World's Fair was that everywhere you went, hundreds of people were waiting in line for various rides, pavilions and other attractions. So whenever a spanking broke out, nobody in the area had anything better to do than to watch the free show. The other kids were particularly fascinated - Corey had always enjoyed seeing other kids get spanked - provided, of course, that he wasn't waiting his own turn to get it.

Most of the punishments Corey had witnessed that day were garden variety - a cuff to the head here - a swat or three to the back of the shorts or skirt there. But two unlucky lads had the misfortune of having their shorts lowered by angry parents, and had received their spankings on their underpants, which were displayed to everyone in the area.

Corey had been spanked on his underpants in front of other people after church on two occasions the previous summer, but at least it wasn't in front of a whole midway full of people of all ages - almost all complete strangers. Corey would have died of embarrassment. At least at Camp Torowa Falls the campers, staff and their families were like a big extended family.

One really unlucky little brat about Robby's age had a good reason to die of embarrassment today - his Dad pulled down his jeans and undies, and gave him a thrashing with his belt. The boy's howls could be heard a block away and caused everyone in the vicinity to stop and watch his suffering. The poor kid yanked up his briefs as soon as his Dad released him, but his face was bright red with shame. Possibly even redder than his wounded backside, still visible through two small holes in the seat of his briefs, the thin white cloth of which he desperately massaged in an attempt to ease the pain in his damaged cheeks.

Corey's disciplinary reverie was broken when he felt the car slow down and begin to turn. He opened his eyes. Yep, they were on the ramp from Route 22 to Airport Road. They'd be home in about ten minutes. Soon the car was tooling up the road past A-B-E airport.

Corey hoped to take flying lessons there when he was old enough. Of course he planned to fly jets for the Navy some day and eventually become an astronaut. So did half the boys in America, he knew. The other half wanted to fly jets for the Air Force or Marines and become an astronaut. But Corey Lane would really do it, of course!

Trouble was...at the age of 13, Corey hadn't even been up in an airplane yet. There had been persistent talk of flying to California to visit Aunt Ernestine, his Dad's younger sister. But nothing had actually happened as yet. Too bad Aunt Ernestine didn't live in Seattle - then maybe Corey could have seen the Space Needle back in 1962.

As the car drove north through Catasauqua they passed Willowbrook Golf Course, and were less than a mile from home. Corey's friend, P.J. Frey, had just started caddying at Willowbrook this year. Back in March P.J had turned 14, the minimum age for caddys at Willowbrook. Corey's Dad golfed, but Corey hadn't found the game that interesting, despite the lessons his father got him a couple years back. He preferred swimming, diving or sailing.

Finally! Corey's Dad turned into the alley behind their house - all the homes in their neighborhood had detached garages opening on to alleys behind the home. Corey sighed - there is nothing in the world quite like the sight of home after a long journey - it was one of his Dad's favorite sayings. Corey shook Becky and Jerry awake. He was dying to stretch his limbs and back - plus his bladder was getting close to bursting. Apparently he had one too many iced teas to drink at dinner.

His Dad handed Corey the spare key to the garage. Corey and Jerry scrambled out of the car and Corey moved to unlock the garage doors. The boys opened the twin doors so the car could be pulled into the garage. Once the car was safely parked and turned off, it was time to get Jerry's luggage out of the back.

All three kids were complaining about urgently needing to use the bathroom, but Corey's parents were adamant about carrying the luggage inside immediately. They did relent on the matter of the the camping equipment. Jerry had brought his genuine Marine-issue pup tent so the two boys could camp out in the back yard, or maybe even further afield. But the tent could stay in the back of the station wagon until the next morning.

Corey and Jerry each half-carried, half-dragged a large, weatherbeaten suitcase. Becky carried Jerry's backpack - complaining all the way. The two adults carried the standard Lane family day-trip travel gear - stowed in a couple of old totebags emblazoned with ads for Wildwood and Cape May, New Jersey.

As soon as she got inside the kitchen, Becky dropped Jerry's backpack and sprinted up the back stairs to make urgent use of the single upstairs bathroom. Corey told Jerry to follow him - they abandoned the suitcases, rushed through the kitchen and stormed downstairs to use the powder room in the basement.

The two friends were too tired and desperate to even bother playing with their streams as they simultaneously emptied their aching bladders. "I can't believe the day we just had," said Corey.

"I'm with ya there, buddy," said Jerry. "But this summer's gonna be worth it - dont'cha think?"

"It sure will be!" said Corey, smiling brightly with happiness and relief.