Evan was doing it again. Arms folded, face scrunched, shoulders drooping, we had only made it past breakfast and he was done for the day. It only took one look for his best friend Peter to do the same. We stood there on the cement patio of the dining hall as the rest of the campers made their way back to our cabin along the bark path.
“I just wanna go home,” Evan said.
“Give it a little more time Evan, there is so much to do here, we have a pool, go-karts, a giant field, what would you do if you were at home?”
“Play Call of Duty all day,” he pouted.
“Well Call of Duty can wait, why don’t we try something new?” I placed my hand on his back and guided him to follow the rest of the group. He quickly shrugged it off.
“I don’t wanna try something new I just wanna go home.” I opened my mouth and closed it again. With a few nudges we eventually made it back to the cabin.
“I wanna go home, you can’t keep me here.” Peter was upset now too.
“C’mon now, Peter, there are some awesome things planned for this week. We have archery and go-karting, and a bunch of other stuff, are you sure you wanna miss out on that?”
“Yes.”
“Really? All that?”
“YES! Just let me go home!”
“Give it some more time, Peter, we can make a “for sure” decision later. Alright everybody, get your camp shirts on, we are going to the big field to take a picture!” Each camper began digging through their suitcases.
“Hey, when are we going to do go-karts?”
“Is archery open for free time today?”
“When will we be done with the picture?”
“Do I have to go?”
“I can’t find my shirt!”
“What if I went shirtless? Ha ha ha ha!”
“Okay! Meet on the porch when you have your shirt on and you are ready to go! Make it fast, you have 3 minutes!” I held the door open as campers filed out. The last two out were Peter and Evan.
“Here we go, we are headed to the field, ready? March!” I stuck my fist to the sky and gently made my way to the front of the mob. Within five minutes we had reached the field.
“Okay everybody! Here’s what we are going to do.” The megaphone should have been helpful, but when 400 elementary school kids get together in one area, it only makes things louder. Rafiki, the photographer, had given all the instructions through the megaphone, but only half of it was heard, if that. I found that the only way to get the kids to sit was to do so myself first, and instruct them to follow after. Most of the cabin was content with this decision, but not Evan and Peter.
“This is stupid!” Shouted Peter through the uncontrollable noise.
“Excuse me? We are not using that kind of language here!” I responded.
“Well it is!” Evan shouted.
“Well, you may think that but you can’t be saying those things out loud, guys, it’s disrespectful.”
“Ugh, why can’t we just go home?” Evan plopped down on his butt, followed by Peter.
“Hey, let’s try to have a better attitude about all this okay? How can you know if you like something if you never even give it a chance?”
“Because it’s stupid!” Peter shouted.
“Peter, you can’t even say that, the week just started!” He sat in silence, and I gave up the round. Once the kids were seated, the megaphone, along with Rafiki and a big camera, made their way up on a lift to take an aerial shot.
“Okay everybody,” said the megaphone, “here we go.”
“Shut up!” yelled Peter.
“Peter!” My eyes widened, staring at his scrunched face.
The megaphone continued, “You guys all look great!”
“You look ugly,” Peter shouted.
“Peter, stop it!”
“On the count of three, say cheese! One! Two! Three!”
“I hate you!” I looked up at the camera and smiled. The camera clicked and my eyes turned immediately to Peter.
“You—“
“One more,” Rafiki yelled, “here we go! ONE! TWO! THREE,” I turned to the camera and smiled. As soon as the campers began shifting around I moved away from the group, staring at Peter.
“Peter, Evan, come here right now!” Arms folded, face scrunched, eyebrows inverted, Peter made his way over to me alongside Evan. “What are you guys doing? That is completely inappropriate, you know I can’t just let you get away with that kind of behavior. Stay here I’m coming back with Fidget.” I made my way over to the head male counselor and told him of the events that happened. He took the boys aside.
“And what does that kind of behavior do, Peter,” Fidget asked.
“It makes people mad, I guess,” Peter shrugged, face still scrunched.
“So we should stop doing it then shouldn’t we?”
“NO,” Said Peter.
“No? Because we don’t want to have to call your parents and tell them how you have been acting,” I hadn’t thought of that move, it would have to work.
“I just wanna go home,” Evan barged in.
“Okay, well how about Phoenix and I give your parents a call and see what they have to say. Maybe they can help you guys decide. How’s that sound?” Fidget looked at me. I nodded.
“Okay,” Evan said.
“Okay,” Fidget took them to the nurse’s office, the only location with a phone. He handed me a clipboard full of contact info and had me search for their names. The two campers sat on a picnic table on the wooden porch. Peter was first to call home.
“Okay,” Peter sighed, “sure.” He handed me the phone and Peter’s mom came on.
“He’s just a little homesick,” she said. “This is part of why we had him go on this experience. He should be good, but if he needs to talk to us go ahead and give us a call. He agreed to try a few more days.”
“Awesome, well we will work with him, I’m sure he will come around,” I said. "Thanks so much, you have a great day.” I hung up the phone and we found Evan’s information.
“Hello, sir, my name is Tyler, I am your son’s camp counselor here at Trout Creek, he’s fine, but he has been having a rough time so far, he would like to talk to you if that’s alright.”
“Uhm… I don’t know that I can help,” he said, “but sure.”
“Alright, here he is.” I handed the phone to Evan.
“Hello,” he said shyly, “I just wanna come home… no, no… I just wanna come home, dad. Please,” his tone was getting louder. “NO, DAD, I JUST WANN—“ Evan threw the phone on the table, buried his head in his arm, and didn’t make a sound. I stared at the upside down phone for what seemed like 5 minutes.
I came to my senses and snatched up the phone, “Hello, sir?” The phone cut out to a dial tone. I saw the hope in Fidget’s eyes drain away as I shook my head and lowered the phone. He turned to Evan.
“Evan…” Fidget offered. No response. “Evan, did he hang up on you?” Evan nodded.
“Evan… I’m so sorry bud…” Fidget placed a hand on Evan’s shoulder. It was fifteen minutes before we saw Evan lift his head from his wet arm, lip quivering under his bloodshot eyes. It was a quiet walk back to the cabin.
It was around noon and Peter was playing arena dodgeball with the rest of the cabin. Evan had picked up a basketball and was dribbling around by himself in the corner of the gym. It had been three days, and Evan still hadn’t gone home. I made my way over to the corner.
“You play basketball?” I asked.
“A little… just for fun though.”
“Just for fun huh? Well let’s see what you got!” I bent my knees and spread out my arms between him and the hoop. He dribbled the ball a little and shuffled to the right, then the left. He had probably double dribbled about five times already, but he was still going. I shuffled in defensive stance, following his moves.
I put on my announcer hat, “Evan moves to the left, oh, the switchback!” He started making a drive to the hoop. I stepped lightly to the side and pretended to stumble back a bit as he brushed by.
“Oh he just blows right by the defender!” He took five big steps and made his way to the hoop for a lay-up and the ball dabbled in.
“Evan Bauman for two! The crowd goes wild! HHAAAHH.”
I watched him run after the ball he had just scored with. He stopped it with his foot, picked it up, and began making his way back to the top of the key. He looked up at me and grinned.
Bret sat on the nurses bed while I talked to his parents.
“I just can’t believe he wants to come home,” his mom said, “that’s just astounding to me. My husband wants a word with you, too.”
“Yes of course, I can understand that.” The heavy silence was accompanied by the crackle of a shuffling phone.
“Hello?”
“Hello sir,” I replied.
“You are my son’s couselor?”
“Yes, sir, that’s me.”
“Listen, what I don’t understand is how bullying could possibly go on at a Christian institution like this. And now it has ruined my kid’s experience at camp. I shouldn’t be the one having to come in there and pick my child up, this Evan or Peter or whatever his name is should be sent home, not my son. This isn’t fair to him or to me, I paid the full price of camp, you know. I just don’t understand.”
“Sir, from what I have gathered, this all happened outside of my supervision. I have talked multiple times with these boys about this kind of behavior and,”
“That is why they should be sent home!”
“I understand sir. I’m sorry it has come to this.”
With our camp shirts on, all the counselors sported a false sense of energy on Saturday. A parade of parent’s cars was making its way down the one car drive way. Camp staff directed cars into parking spots on the field while the campers piled their luggage in their indicated cabin spot in the gym. Everywhere I looked there were adults hugging children and smiling. Some even had tears, though it had only been a week. My campers were slowly being picked off one by one.
“Thank you so much, it sounds like he had a great time.”
“Oh you’re welcome, don’t forget to check the lost and found before you head out,” I said. Soon almost everybody had left, except for Evan and Peter.
“I’m going home with Peter,” Evan said.
“Did you guys get approval for that?”
“Yeah we did, Fidget approved it,” Peter replied.
“Okay.”
Peter’s parents showed up in a shiny new Escalade and clothes that looked like they had just been plucked off the shelf. Peter ran up and hugged his parents both one after the other. Evan followed his friend with halfhearted side hugs. I watched from a bench at the edge of a field as they made their way to the gym to pick up their luggage. I fumbled with my nametag hanging around my neck.
Phoenix
Guys Counselor
Three extra-large suitcases, two sleeping bags and two pillows accounted for the luggage of both Evan and Peter. How his parents could carry it all on their own was a mystery. I watched Peter and Evan climb into the Escalade with a motivation I had not seen for the past week. I lifted my hand to a wave with slamming doors as a response. Peter’s dad hopped into the driver’s seat, his mom in the passenger’s. The Escalade then hummed to life and all I could see through the tinted windows were two shadows of heads moving vigorously about. I caught the eye of Peter’s father and my hand slowly lowered. I lifted my nametag over my head as the silver cage lurched forward and made its way down the exit path and out of sight.
