well, becca was the one forced me out of bed that morning...i could conceivingly blame her for the bad start. but then again, she and i shared the same terrible day. pointing fingers would do me no good.
since my girls were senior campers (15 yrs old), we didn't hold them to strict "lights out" rules, like many of the other campers. this had its ups and downs. i got to stay up as late as i wanted...but because we had such a long walk to the rio (dining hall), we had to get up extra early. i'll admit, i was sometimes jealous of the a-compound counselors...their kids went to bed by 9 every night. but anyway, back to my point, which is that i was always low on sleep and any precious minute in my bed was sacred.
but on this particular morning, i would not get the remaining 86 precious minutes i needed. i awoke to a hand shaking my side and a voice whispering in the dark:
"beanie. i don't know what to do. kim didn't show up to early morning and the guys didn't show up and i have no clue what i'm doing. please come with me!"
it was becca. i'm sure that doesn't make any sense to you, so let me clarify. early morning is this wonderful job that the waterfront staff had to do every day. we had to take this beat-up ford stick shift truck down the hairpin turns of the mountainside to the lake. when we arrived there, we had to gas up, run, and wipe down the boats, fill the jet skis with gas and oil, and then take them out to warm them up. it was not an easy job. two people are assigned to the job each morning, but there were these 3 guys who always wanted to do it (after they finished they would take a boat out and wakeboard). they told becca the night before that they wanted to meet at 5:30 am at the arch. but neither her partner, nor the boys showed up.
i rolled over, squinting my eyes to see her face in the pitch black.
"what time is it??" i moaned in protest, trying to pull off the most pitiful tired voice i could to discourage her begging.
"5:48." are you kidding me? "please? i don't know what to do!"
becca got lucky first term. she never had to do it. i had already gone through the motions twice and was reluctant to do it again. for one, it was way too early and i was exhausted. second, my co was on her 24-hour break and i was the only counselor in the cabin. leaving your cabin without supervision is a big no no. but i knew it would take her another 30 minutes to find someone else willing to do it and it would be cutting time way too close. after debating on which was the right thing to do, i decided that they were old enough and responsible enough to get themselves up and to breakfast on time. i wrote a quick note to tell them to be sure to make it to flagpole and headed off to my worst day at camp.
i should have known right then that the day would not be pleasant. when we got in the truck, it wouldn't start. it was just past 6 am and time was ticking. after about five minutes of fighting with the clutch, we got the rickety thing rolling and started our descent down the mountain. two stalls and ten minutes later, we arrived at the lake.
i briefed becca on what all needed to be done and we set off to our separate duties. she gased up the boats while i delt with the jet skis. as she pulled the hose onto the dock to fill up the tanks, she let out a scream. i looked up to see her leaping up into the air and then start to tear up. she had been stung by something. she toughed it out, though, and continued in frustration with her job. i went to get the oil out of the locker....but totally couldn't remember the combination. after a lot of concentration, it finally came to me. whew.
things were running smoothly (aside from the gas that overflowed from the jet ski into the lake) and we were getting close to finishing when i realized we had forgotten the pontoon boat, which was anchored to a bouey about twenty feet from the dock. the hose isn't long enough to reach it from there, so we had to swim out to it, unhook it and pull it closer to shore. i felt bad for becca, so i did it. the wind had begun to pick up, so it was difficult to maneuver it back to its buoey. i distinctly remember cliping it to the buoy.
finally finished with the hard stuff, it was time to have some fun and warm up the jet skis. the problem was that the lake level had fallen once again and they were stuck in the leech infested mud. we pulled and pulled, trying to get them out. it was almost impossible. it literally took us about fifteen minutes. we let out sighs of relief when we finally pulled them free. however, as i climbed onto my jet ski, i noticed that there was no pontoon boat next to the floating red buoy.
oh crap. i frantically looked around. there it was, drifting to the right into the cove...about 100 yards and counting. i jumped off my jet ski and shoved it back into the mud where it had just been liberated from. then i swam as fast as i could, as if rescuing a boat is what i had been trained for just weeks before; it was a passive victim.
becca and i finally caught up to it and dragged it against the wind to its buoy. it remains a mystery as to how it got away. and in the end we didn't have much time to ride the jet skis.
by the time we made it up to breakfast late, we were in miserable moods. and of course, we would return in just an hour's time. within ten minutes of finishing breakfast, we were herding a passel of kids onto the buses heading back to the lake. we were both assigned to tubing that morning. i got on a jet ski; becca was on the pontoon boat (which served as the loading/unloading spot for the kids).
yet the terrible day would continue on. things were okay at first. but then skulley got on my tube. skulley was one of the more difficult kids at camp. he was the kind of kid thats almost impossible to be around and not get frustrated. he picked on kids, mocked counselors, threatened to stab others with shards of glass...all in a days work. on a side note, (which is very important to fully understand the story) skulley was a large, large guy. this may have factored into his natural obnoxionality.
anyway, skulley and these two other boys got onto my tube. they were, of course, being boys. loud, hitting each other...you get the picture. i can deal with it. but disrespect, i can't...especially on that kind of day. they kept telling me to go faster. we're only allowed to go so fast (which i was already going over) because of safety reasons. when i refused, they started calling me names and criticizing my driving and all. i eventually threw them off the tube on this super sweet wave i managed to conjure up. but much to my regret. the other two could get on just fine. skulley, however, could not. he was trying to get up wrong and every time i tried to instruct him how to get on, he'd yell at me. his friends tried to pull him up, but couldn't do it.
after a few minutes of failures, he demanded i let him get on the jet ski so he could climb on the tube. i don't know what made him think that it would be easier to get on a jet ski than a tube, but campers aren't allowed on the jet skis anyway. i told him no over and over again. then he began to cry. bawl. scream. throw a temper tantrum. i nearly lost my nerve, but grace and poise remained with me.
finally, and i mean finally, he somehow got on. but shortly after starting up the engine, he fell off. on purpose. they were playing that game now. i hate that game. of course, it took some time to get him back on again. then, it was time to change out tubers (amen). but they were in the water and wouldn't get back on. they wanted to be dragged back. ready to be rid of them, i tried to do it slowly. but it only looked like i was drowning them and we weren't getting anywhere. i told them to get on, fought with them some more, endured more name calling, and finally gave up.
once i got close enough to the pontoon boat, i realized things weren't going well there either. boys were sprinkled throughout the water, swimming away from the boat as becca stood there, eyes watering. through tears, she explained to me how they wouldn't get back on the banana boat (long, yellow 8-person tube) because she wouldn't go faster than 15 mph.
i don't know why, but i was burning mad. i coudln't believe they would disrespect her like that. i yelled at all the boys in the water (yet grace and poise remained) and told them they were to get back on the pontoon boat or they would sit on the buses for the rest of the morning. i got all the boys back onto the boat and sent becca back to the shore to get the other jet ski driver (who had managed to pop his tube). when he arrived, i told him what happened. he rebuked them, telling them they needed to respect the girl counselors, yada yada. but then, to my amazement, he let them back on the banana boat and that was the end of their punishment. and he joined them. so i was stuck, yet again, with skulley on the boat (breaking things/messing with the fish finder) while he went out and played "don't get eliminated" with the boys; i had to drive in circles to pick up the boys who were shoved off.
the day would continue to drag. we had a counselor's meeting that afternoon. counselor's meeting = no recharge = no nap = continuing to be exhausted. the afternoon shift at the lake went better.
but that same evening, i forgot that i was c.o.d. (counselor on duty. ie, paper work/ answer phones). i was an hour late (which was the second time i was an hour late for c.o.d.) and hating life. so that was pretty much the crappiest day of camp. actually, it was really the only crappy day of camp.
additional camp stories: 8 legged freaks, dance with me?
1 comment:
i respect you even more for getting through that day. i think i would have cried.
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