Nature Trek:
Heartbreak & Healing 2
Camp Kensey
Two weeks into camp…
Once the yelling had stopped, and the frogs had been caught and contained, Dan and Jim stood facing five scowling young boys. Jim looked sternly at them, his green gaze lighting briefly on each one. “Well?” he asked. “Anyone have an explanation for this?” Silence. “Really?” he asked again, disbelief straining his voice. “Nothing?”
“It was mean,” Bailey blurted, his over-long brown hair flopping into his eyes. “I don’t know why they hate me, and I don’t care. It was mean!” He thrust out his chin defiantly, but the effect was lessened by the way his jaw trembled as he struggled to hold back his tears. Glaring at Brady, he asked, “What did I ever do to you, anyway?”
Brady smirked and Luis averted his eyes, and in that moment, Dan realized exactly what was going on, and what he and Jim needed to do to fix it. He moved closer to Bailey, placing his hand on the boy’s shoulder. “No one hates you, Bale,” he assured him. “I think this was just someone’s idea of a joke. Not a funny one,” he added, throwing a knowing look at Brady, “but just a prank. F.O.B. is toast, so why don’t you, Mike and Justice head down to the mess hall? Ranger, Brady, Luis and I will finish cleaning up the cabin and go free the frogs.”
Bailey nodded, brushing his hair out of his eyes. He lifted his head high and walked out the door, the other two campers close on his heels. As the door closed behind them, Dan turned to face the accused culprits, Jim stepping back so they stood shoulder to shoulder. “What exactly are you two trying to do?” Dan asked.
Brady glared at him. “We ain’t doing nothin’, Cowboy,” he spat, his eyes shooting sparks.
“Bull,” Dan replied in a tone that brooked no chance for discussion. “In case you think we haven’t been keeping score, there have been a series of pranks pulled this week. Someone filled Mike’s pillowcase with pinecones. Justice woke up with a maple syrup mustache, and now, frogs in Bailey’s bed.” He ticked off the offenses on his fingers. “Not to mention that socks and underwear from this cabin mysteriously found their way to the mud hole at the back of the pasture, tied together and left to soak.” Dan shook his head. “Neither of us is stupid enough to notice that the only campers in this cabin to escape these pranks are the two of you. We know that you two are doing this, and I think I even understand why, but it stops now. Do you hear me? Right here. Right now. It stops. This camp is a safe place. This cabin is a no-bully zone.”
Brady looked away. Luis continued to stare at the floor. “It was just some jokes, Cowboy,” Brady muttered. “Nobody got hurt.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s what those guys who hurt Kris thought, too,” Dan stated flatly.
Jim frowned. “Dan,” he warned in a low voice, but Dan shook his head. “No, Jim,” he said. “They should know. Maybe then they’ll understand.” Dan pointed to Luis’ bed, and both boys sat, their faces uncertain and wary. Dan sat down on Mike’s bed, facing them, a reluctant Jim next to him. “We didn’t tell you the whole truth about Kris,” he admitted. “We knew that hearing he was gone would be hard enough, so we--Ranger and Ted and I--decided not to give you the details.”
Dan looked at Jim, and Jim continued the story. “Maybe we were wrong,” he told them, “but we were just trying to make it easier. The truth is--there were some guys who were bullying Kris at school--playing pranks on him. Jokes. You know how Kris was.”
Luis nodded, finally raising his damp, dark eyes. “He wouldn’t have got that. He didn’t understand stuff like that.”
“Exactly.” Dan took a moment to meet the eyes of both his charges. “But they went too far. The joke stopped being funny, but they didn’t stop. That’s how Kris got hurt, and that’s why he died. I know that Mike, Bailey and Justice didn’t know Kris, so they don’t understand why you miss him, but by tormenting them, you aren’t honoring Kris. You’re acting just like the people who hurt him.”
The tears fell, then. Luis let his roll, streaking his cheeks and dropping onto the floor. Brady fought it, as Brady always would, brushing at his eyes with fisted hands. “It isn’t fair!” he choked. “Nothing’s the same.”
“What do you mean, Brady?” Jim asked, his voice gentle.
“Last year was…” Brady couldn’t finish his thought. “Last year, we was…”
“Last year was special,” Jim admitted. “The eight of us had a bond, because we went through some tough times together.”
“Yeah,” Brady agreed. “We was…were…brothers. Now Sam’s in another cabin, and Mark and Denis didn’t come back, and Kris is… Kris is…”
“…never coming back.” Luis finished the sentence, his round face streaked with tears and wrought with sorrow. “It’s all messed up.”
“It is different,” Jim argued, “But different doesn’t have to mean bad.” Luis looked skeptical, so Jim continued. “Last year, Cowboy and I were here, and Vulture was the assistant cook.” He made a face that drew a small smile from the boys. “This year, we brought our friend, Shakespeare. That’s different, right? But Shakespeare is a great guy, so that difference is a good thing, right?”
Luis nodded, and Dan waited, watching as Jim searched for another example. When nothing was forthcoming, he took over. “Look. You guys know that Ranger and I lost our parents when we were kids. We told you that last year. We were both only children with no brothers and sisters. Now we both have different families, new parents, and friends who are like brothers and sisters. Those differences are good ones, too. It doesn’t mean we love our original families less; it’s just different. Understand?” They did. He could see it in their eyes, in the way their faces relaxed slightly. “Things change. You know that. Around here, counselors come and go. Campers move up and move on. Nothing stays exactly the same from year to year, but it’s up to you–and us–to make the best out of what we get.” He leaned forward, looking intently at the both of them. “Last year was special, and there will never be another year like it. But that doesn’t mean Mike, Justice and Bailey can’t be like your brothers, too. Maybe you should give them a chance, get to know them, let them get to know you. What do you think?”
“It won’t be the same,” Brady argued.
“No,” Jim spoke up, agreeing. “It won’t be the same. But it could still be good, right?”
“Yeah. I guess.” Brady looked at Luis, who shrugged. “Luis didn’t want to bring in the frogs. I guess I bullied him, too. I’m sorry, Luis.”
“S’okay, bro,” Luis said. Looking at Jim and Dan, he asked, “Do you think, maybe, if we apologize, that they other guys might want to hear about last year? About Mark and Denny and… Kris?”
Jim grinned. “I think there is a definite chance that they might. Cabin Three is legendary now, didn’t you know that?”
Brady snorted. “Everybody knows that, Ranger. Where you been?”
Jim laughed. “I’ve been chasing frogs and washing bedding and muddy clothes,” he reminded the prankster. “Speaking of which…”
“Okay, we’ll take the frogs back to the creek and apologize to the guys.” Brady smiled at the counselors. “How’s that?”
“I think it sounds like a good start,” Dan told him. “But you’d better hurry. The dinner bell’s going to ring in about fifteen minutes.”
Luis grabbed the box holding the frogs. “We’ll go fast,” he told them, heading for the door. “Save our seats!” He headed out the door, but Brady took a minute to face Jim and Dan. “Thanks,” he said solemnly. “Thanks for telling us about Kris. I… I’m sorry for being a jerk.” He scurried outside, leaving them no time for words.
“Well, that was fun,” Dan said, stretching as he rose from the bed.
“How do you do it?” Jim asked.
“Do what?” Dan looked around the room, trying to figure out what exactly he had done. “What are you talking about?”
“With the kids,” Jim said. “How do you always know what to say to them?”
Dan dropped down to sit on the bed facing Jim. “I don’t,” he admitted.
“You do,” Jim countered, his hands automatically reaching to straighten the pillow on Mike’s bed. “You always know exactly what they need to hear. You did it last year with Mark. I would have given up on him. Heck, I had given up on him. Not you. You kept at it until you finally got through to him. And just now, with Brady and Luis, I was struggling to think of examples, and you came up with the perfect one to make them understand. How do you do it, and why can’t I?”
“You did fine, Jim.” Dan looked at his friend, perplexed by Jim’s sudden lack of confidence. “You came up with the whole ‘different isn’t bad’ idea.”
“Yeah,” Jim snorted derisively. “And the only example I could come up with was replacing the Vinnie the Vulture with Mart. Whoopie for me.”
“Well, Mart is definitely an improvement over Vinnie the Vulture,” Dan joked. “You got that right.” He sobered when he realized Jim was serious. “Look. You and I are partners here. A team. There isn’t a competition to see who comes up with the best thing to say. We work together to help the kids. You know that.”
“Yeah.” Jim looked down at the floor, his fingers smoothing the bedspread in precise, concentric circles. “I know. It’s just that sometimes, sometimes I just wonder if I…” The dinner bell clanged in the distance, cutting off his words, and, evidently, his moment of true confessions. “Dinner.”
“You wonder what, Jim?” Dan asked.
Jim shook his head and rose, reaching back to tug the wrinkles out Mike’s blanket. “It’s nothing. I’m going to meet the kids. We can talk about this later.” He hurried out the door, leaving Dan watching his hasty retreat.
“Yes, we will, Ranger Jim. You can bet on that,” Dan muttered as he, too, rose and headed out to dinner.
Dearest Diana, queen of my heart,
I’m glad you are enjoying your trip. I can only imagine what you are experiencing, but your perspicacious nature is such that something with the level of intensity of the Pearl Harbor Memorial would be certain to affect you.
I enjoyed your letter. You are quite loquacious when you write. I felt as if I were with you. In the interest of time and space, I will set aside my dictionary and try to be succinct. The palace sounds fabulous. I’m not much of an expert on quilting, but the Queen’s quilt sounds amazing. And I can just see Tessa all flustered about that surprise ceremony. I can imagine how horribly embarrassed she must have been by the whole thing. I wish I had been there with you, though. It sounds like you had a lot of fun.
Camp is interesting. They built me a garden, my darling Di--a full garden! I’ve been using it to teach the kids about growing food. One of them, Sam, has really taken to it. He spends almost all of his spare time out there with me. He has good hands, Sam does, and a real feel for the soil. Dan says I’m Sam’s mentor, but I think I’m better suited to just being his friend.
Dan and Jim started out a little rough. One of their campers from last year died over the summer. It was hard for them to deal with the news, probably because they have already suffered so many losses in their lives. I think they’re doing okay now, but I don’t spend enough time with them to know how much is real and how much is a front. I know that Dan has probably told Tessa everything, but maybe you could ask Trixie what Jim has told her. I want to help them, but I don’t know how. If the girls think there’s anything they need, I trust you to discover it and relay it to me.
I need to go start working on dinner. It does my heart proud to see how much these kids eat. Fortunately, the camp has an industrial strength dishwasher. I miss you my amethyst-orbed, dulcet darling. Be safe and have fun, and don’t worry so much about meeting Tessa’s friend Lili. Just be yourself, and I’m sure she will love you almost as much as I do.
Your Knight in Farmer’s Armor,
Mart
Author’s Notes:
A huge Thank You! to my editors. Ladies, you rock.
Readers, as always, I thank you for your patience and support.
Next stop: Maui.
