-with apologies to Dr. Seuss!

Every Loon down in Loonville liked RDC a lot

But the Grinch, who spent all his summers across the lake, did NOT!

The Grinch hated RDC!  The whole summer season!

Now, please don't ask why.  No one quite knows the reason.

It might be the sailboats, kayaks and hydrobikes

Or doing the laundry, which he really dislikes,

But I think that the most likely reason of all,

May have been that his heart was two sizes too small.

Whatever the reason, His heart or his hampers,

He stood there in summer, hating the campers,

Staring out from his cove with a sour, grumpy scowl,

At the happy-go-lucky swimmers, in their flip-flops and towels.

And what's happening with canoes!  He snarled with a sneer,

Going backwards, even swamping, with their hands trying to steer!

Then he growled, with his green fingers nervously drumming,

I MUST find some way to stop the campers from coming!

Because next Saturday, more campers would arrive,

They'd come with bicycles and racquets, from the west and east.

And then every night the campers would sit down to a feast.

And they'd feast! And they'd feast!  And they'd FEAST!

FEAST!  FEAST! FEAST!

They would feast on gluten free chicken parmigian, ice cream, and roast beast.

Which was something the Grinch couldn't stand in the least!

And THEN they'd do something he liked least of all!

Every Camper in RDC, the tall and the small,

Would go to the Playhouse, with fiddles-a-playing.

They'd stand hand-in-hand.  And then they'd start dancing!

They'd dance!  And they'd dance!  And they'd DANCE!  DANCE!  DANCE!  DANCE!

And the more the Grinch thought of this Summer Square Dance,

The more the Grinch thought, I must take a chance!

Why, for fifty-three years I've put up with it now!

I MUST stop next week from coming!  But HOW?

Then he got an idea!  An awful idea!

THE Grinch GOT A WONDERFUL, AWFUL IDEA!

I know just what to do!  The Grinch laughed like a rat.

And he made a quick RDC t-shirt and hat.

What a neat little trick! he said with a chuckle and laugh

With these cool clothes, I look just like Rec Staff!

Then he loaded some bags and some old empty sacks,

On a little golf cart he sped down the dirt tracks,

Toward the cabins where the campers lay asnooze in the beds.

All their windows were dark; quiet filled the crisp air.

All the Campers were dreaming sweet dreams without care.

When he came to the first house with a little lawn chair.

This is stop number one, the old Grinch hissed,

And he opened the door, empty bags in his fist.

He walked in the living room, the fireplace still aglow,

And he saw the puzzles, games, and books, sitting all in a row.

These bathing suits,he grinned, are the first things to go!

Then he slithered and slunk, up to no good,

Pranced around the whole room, and took everything he could!

Frisbees!  Racquets!  Laptops!  Fishing Gear!

Monopoly!  Chessboards!  Baseball gloves!  Even the beer!

And he stuffed them in bags. Then tiptoeing across the floor,

Threw all the bags, one by one, out the door!

He did the same thing to other Rock and Deep houses

Leaving crumbs much too small for the chipmunks and mouses!

It was near dawn.  Bell Tower hadn't rung, twas too early to start,

All the campers were still snoozing when he packed up his cart,

Packed it up with their goodies!  The gloves and the balls!

The kayaks!  Bicycles!  The playing cards and dolls!

A thousand feet up!  Up Mount Rattlesnake,

He rode to the tiptop to dump his huge take!

Pooh Pooh to the Campers! he said with grinchly gall.

They'll find out Squam Lake is boring, no fun at all!

They're just waking up!  I know just what they'll do!

Their mouths will hang open a minute or two,

Then the Campers in RDC will all cry Boo Hoo!

That's a noise, grinned the Grinch,That I simply MUST hear!

So he paused.  And the Grinch put his hand to his ear.

And he did hear noises rising over the trees.

It started in low.  It carried in the breeze.

But the sound wasn't sad!  Why, this sound sounded happy!

It couldn't be so!

But it WAS downright sappy!

He stared down at RDC!  The Grinch popped his eyes!

Then he shook!  What he saw was a shocking surprise!

Every RDC camper, the tall and the small,

Was having fun!  Hiking, swimming, singing, with no gizmos at all!

He HADN'T stopped the fun!  EVERYONE LAUGHED, THEY SMILED!

They were having a a blast, every man, woman, child!

And the Grinch, his Grinch-feet as cold as ice from the lake,

Stood puzzling:  How could it be?  Can't they give me a break?

There was no Journal, Globe or Times!

Not even the internet, ipods, or (like this poem) good rhymes!

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before!

Maybe joy at RDC,he thought, doesn't come from a store.

Maybe summer at Squam means a little bit more!

And what happened then?  Well in RDC they say,

That the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day!

And the minute his heart did't feel quite so tight,

He whizzed down Rattlesnake through the bright morning light,

And he brought back the games, kayaks, Frisbees“ quite a sight!

And all the breakfast for the dining hall the fruit salad, French toast, even hot chocolates

And he, HE HIMSELF!  The Grinch he prepared all the omelettes!

Poem by Andy Pugh for the RDC Talent Show, Augut 1, 2013.