Chapter 11

Ziggy woke up really needing to pee because the two soft drinks he slugged down before bedtime hit bottom all at once. As he shuffled sleepily between his bed and the cabin door, it dawned on him that half the beds were empty.

He stopped and looked around in confusion. “Where the hell has everybody gone?”

He continued to the bathhouse to relive his bladder and returned. He hadn’t seen anybody along the way and his curiosity was getting the best of him, so he stopped at Ramon’s bed and shook his shoulder.

Ramon rolled over and looked up at him. “What? Jesus, let me sleep, man!”

Ziggy asked, “Where is everybody?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Half the guys are gone. Do you have any idea where they went? Are we missing out on something?”

“How the fuck would I know? They all took off a few minutes after lights-out. Go ask Kenny.”

Reluctant to wake the boss, Ziggy nevertheless headed to the far end of the cabin to Kenny’s door and tapped lightly. No answer. He tapped a little louder. No answer. He tried the doorknob. It opened. Kenny’s bed was empty as well.

“Shit, what’s going on?”

He went back to Ramon’s bed and said, “Kenny’s gone, too. There must have been something planned that we didn’t know about.”

Ramon sat up in his bed rubbing his eyes. “Look, man, I don’t know where they are, and I don’t care. Fifteen minutes after lights-out, J.J., Danny and Jackson snuck out the door. A few minutes later, Jimmy followed carrying a bag of stuff. I don’t know where they went, and I don’t know what they’re doing. All I know is that I’d like to get back to sleep. So, take this hint. Good night!”

He flopped back onto his pillow and rolled over. This conversation was over.

Ziggy gave up and went back to his bed. But he couldn’t sleep, and now that he was fully awake, his mind started wandering, thinking about things. The thought he zeroed in on for the hundredth time was about something he’d overheard a couple of weeks back. In fact, he hadn’t just been thinking about it a lot, he’d been fantasizing about it. He’d even had dreams. Several times, he wanted to say something to Ramon, but each time he stopped himself. He was a little afraid of how the guy would react. If he stuck his nose and his feelings in where they weren’t welcome, he might even get his ass kicked. He knew Ramon was a powder keg.

But this time, tonight, that fear, real as it was, was outweighed by the aching crush Ziggy carried for his cabin mate. He had been powerfully attracted to Ramon from day one, but the guy came off like a macho homophobe. But now, Ziggy knew different. He knew the truth, and he’d heard it from Josh, himself, when he listened at Kenny’s door that night.

He looked over at Ramon’s bed and lovingly regarded the silhouette etched in the dim moonlight. It was the body he craved ... no, it was the person he craved. If he could explain what he knew, maybe if Ramon understood that Ziggy understood, he’d relax, be more honest with himself, more accepting of what he was. What Ziggy was.

He sat up and looked down to the end of the room to where Eric and Scott were curled up under their blankets. Those guys slept like the dead, and you couldn’t wake them up with a bugle blast.

Ziggy knew he might never have a better chance to talk to Ramon. There were less than three weeks of camp left, so if he was going to say anything, make any kind of a move, it would have to be soon. Now.

Slowly, tentatively, Ziggy edged over to Ramon’s bed, sat on the side and shook him gently.

“Ramon?”

Ramon looked up, sat up, and clearly exasperated, said, “Yes, Ziggy, please tell Father Ramon what’s on your mind? Make a good confession, son. Your burden must be a grievous sin, or you wouldn’t keep waking me up out of a sound sleep.”

Ziggy looked away to hide his grin at the sarcasm, then he looked back and said, “This is serious, Ramon. Um, you remember that night when Kenny had us all come into his room, when he did that thing about big dicks?”

“Yeah, I remember. What about it?”

“Well, you remember that Josh came in later and they talked about some stuff?”

“Yes, I remember that too. Is this going somewhere, Ziggy?”

“Well, um, I hung around outside the door while they were talking, and I heard some stuff. Stuff I wasn’t supposed to hear. They, um, were talking about me ... and you.”

Ramon squinted his eyes in the dim light and peered suspiciously at Ziggy. “What about you and me? What did they say?”