Chapter 12

The boys were super eager all week preceding their weekend of Cub Camp. Noah and Connor were so excited that they started packing Wednesday evening. I let them pack away. Friday night we repacked their gear, along with Hunter’s. The boys argued over whether Otto and Willis, their identical stuffed panda bear toys, should go to camp. The boys thought at first, they should act like big boys and leave the stuffed toys at home. Noah always took Otto to bed at night. Willis was Connor’s constant bedtime companion. Stuffed toys were not “cool” for Boy Scouts at camp, but I was certain a group of 6-10 year-olds would provide Otto and Willis with plenty of stuffed company. After further consideration and to their relief, Otto and Willis would go. Hunter’s Monkey, a stuffed sock monkey, was going, no discussion needed. Of course, Hunter wouldn’t face ridicule sleeping down at Will’s cabin with Will, Abby, Rose, Rose’s stuffed unicorn, Magic, and Danny.

Heather and I had a long talk Friday night after the boys went to bed. We agreed that she would meet us Sunday afternoon at our house. We would all go out to lunch together after we got home and cleaned up from camp.

I made the boys cheese omelets, home fries and bacon for breakfast Saturday morning. The boys would need plenty of fuel for their bodies to keep them going through a long day at camp. We loaded up my car and headed north for camp around ten o’clock. Fifteen minutes from camp I called Will and warned him we were almost there. I drove over to Will’s cabin when we got to camp. Will helped Hunter unload his gear into the cabin. Will and Hunter headed for the pool while my boys and I joined the chaos in the main parking lot. We found the tree with a sign saying “P-312” on it. I parked and the boys and I hauled our gear over to the tree to meet our pack.

Jon, Ben and Brian Miller along with a couple other families were there ahead of us. Jon directed us where to put our gear. He handed me a roster of Cubs and parents to check off as they arrived. Jon continued directing arriving families. Over the next twenty minutes our 42 parents and Cubs dribbled in. Jon had our staff guide get a Ranger or his assistant to haul our gear up the hill to our campsite.

We were staying near the top of the hill above the pool, directly in the opposite direction from where my old Scout troop always stayed. Jon assigned each den to a circle of four or five tents. Brian was sent to share a tent with his brother. Noah and Connor ended up in the tent nearest the camp leader’s tent, where Jon and I stayed.

We had to hustle down the hill again to make our 12:30 lunch at the dining hall. My boys were delighted when Uncle Will led the concluding song at the meal. Activities were scheduled by dens. Bill Aument took charge of getting our Tigers to their proper destinations.

The afternoon was divided into five, forty minutes periods with five minutes to travel from program area to program area. Hunter joined our den for the afternoon. Our group went down to the archery range first. The boys had fun shooting bows and arrows. We moved on to the rifle range next, where they learned gun safety and then shot BB guns.

Periods 3 & 4 were at the pool. When we got close to the pool, Noah gave a shout, “Hi, Unka Will!” Will, who was busy working with some Cubs, ignored my boy. “Unka Will?”

“Your uncle is busy teaching,” I explained. “He has to give the boys in the pool his full attention. He is responsible to make sure everyone is safe in the pool. Don’t worry, he will say hello when he has a moment free.”

A staffer directed our group to sit down on the seats on the hillside overlooking the pool. Another staffer who looked to be about twenty joined the first.

“Hi everyone! I’m Lucas Pfeiffer and I am the pool director this summer. IS EVERYONE READY TO GET WET?”

The fifty or so Tigers yelled back, “Yes!”

“I have some important rules you have to learn before I can allow you into the pool,” Lucas continued. He went over the rules of operation at the pool. I could almost have repeated them from memory from my two years working here. I looked at Lucas as he talked. He looked vaguely familiar, but I couldn’t place him.

Our Tiger Den and the other Tiger Dens in our group filed into the dressing area at the pool. Cubs and our Den Chief Boy Scouts to the left side and parents to the right. We met the boys outside the pool gate a few minutes later.

Lucas waved me over. He extended his hand as he remarked, “It’s good to see you again, Andy.”

“My resemblance to your boss gave me away, didn’t it?” I joked.

“No, I would have recognized you even if Will wasn’t my boss,” Lucas answered. “I remember you from when you taught me Swimming Merit Badge when I was a first-year scout.”

“Lucas?” I commented as we shook hands. I searched my memory. While he looked vaguely familiar, I still couldn’t place him. I taught something like 40 kids a week for nine weeks a summer for two summers. There were too many names and faces.

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’m drawing blank. It’s been too many years.”

“I understand,” Lucas said. “I get the same thing from kids who took my merit badge two years ago. There are just too many to remember everyone.”

“It is good to see you again, Lucas,” I said. “I guess you took to swimming.”

“I love it,” Lucas agreed. “It’s good to see you again too. I guess I better get back to work.”

“That’s a good plan,” I commented. “Tiger Cubs left on their own tend to come up with creative and scary things to do when they don’t have direction.”

The boys filed into the pool area. Half the pool was roped off and empty. The other half was being used by the Wolf dens for their second period at the pool. Lucas got the swim tests going for the Tigers. My boys’ den did well. Every one of the boys made the swimmer classification.

The Tigers were divided into three groups based on swim classification. Will and three other staffers worked with the non-swimmers to teach them to swim. The beginners worked in the middle section of the pool with more pool staffers to improve their swimming skills. The staffers working with the swimmers taught them safe swim defense and non-swimming rescues.

The instruction continued through the first, forty-minute period. Our side of the pool turned into the free swim area when the 3rd period ended. Staffers explained the buddy board and what a swimmer did for his buddy. The boys signed back in. Parents too. We had time to get wet and enjoy ourselves in the 4th period.

Will and I got a few minutes to talk while I was there. He let me know we would be seeing Eric Connell’s brother Zac when we went down to the lake. Zac was Will’s lake director. Zac being twenty-one made it much easier to run the lake operation, since the camp didn’t need have another adult down at the lake all the time.

Our group went to scout craft for the last period of the afternoon. The staffers taught the boys about fire building. The boys weren’t successful. Everyone hustled up the hill to our campsite after fifth period. We got into uniform for dinner and returned down to the parade field.

The staff was in full Class A uniform for the flag lowering ceremony. Packs reported their attendance and then the staff brought the camp flag down. I didn’t know who the camp bugler was this season, but he was good. Much, much better than the kid who did it when I worked at camp.

Campers and parents sat by dens at the tables for dinner. The camp cook did as good a job as I remembered with the meal. It was tasty and there was plenty of it. The meal concluded with a song.

Our den headed to the lake after dinner for a forty-minute session in row boats. Parents rowed and kids sat and enjoyed the ride. Noah, Connor and Hunter were pleased to see Zac Connell running operations at the boat yard.

Our final program for the evening was at the Nature area. The staff sent the boys off on a nature scavenger hunt. The boys ran around the woods looking for leaves, rocks and feathers. They were getting tired by the time event ended at 8:00 PM. We hiked back to the campsite and changed into uniforms for the campfire that evening.

The camp staff put on a nice campfire for the Cubs. We did lots of singing and shouting out cheers. The skits were ancient for us adults and ex-staffers, but they were fresh and funny for the young kids. The campfire coordinator did his job well, rousing the kids at the start, building to a crescendo and then quieting the kids down before a serious ending. The boys were ready for bed by the time we hummed Taps as we exited the campfire circle.

Sunday morning was easy. We got the boys up, packed our gear and then headed down to the dining hall for breakfast. After breakfast, a staffer checked us out of our site and we headed for home.

I asked the boys what they thought of camp on the way home. Noah summed up their feelings best. “Camp was great,” he declared. “I wanna be like Unka Will and go to camp every year for as long as I can.”

“Did you know I was only a year older than you guys when Uncle Will started working at camp?”

“Really?” Noah asked.

“That’s a long time,” Connor added. “Cause you’re really old, Dad.”

“Thanks, kid,” I teased. “There goes Connor’s inheritance when I die.”

“You’re not as old as the other dads,” Connor responded.

Heather met us around 12:30 PM, after the boys and I had time to shower and put our camping gear away. We headed to Gap for a late lunch at Aunt Jenny’s Diner. They served good diner food and plenty of it. The boys all took home doggie bags with enough food for two more lunches.

Heather’s work kept her busy weekdays, until late. We usually made time for a phone call each night after the twins went to bed. I took Heather out the following Saturday for dinner and a show at the American Music Theater on Lincoln Highway East. Mom and Dad agreed to Heather and me sleeping downstairs in the basement bedroom Saturday night. I remembered to lock the basement door this time so the boys didn’t catch us au naturel again. We took the boys out for Sunday lunch after church the next morning.

I spent my days working out and studying the additions to my playbook, as well as studying video from next season’s opponents. The evenings were my time with my kids. We went for bike rides. We played catch. We had fun together.

Heather and I pissed off the twins when we decided that they didn’t need to go to Heather’s company picnic. The affair was meant for families, but Heather and I felt the two of us didn’t need the distraction of watching after two seven-year-olds while we got better acquainted with Heather’s co-workers.

Stephen Segal, the managing partner at Street, Nicholson and Segal, was hosting the picnic at his expansive house on the West Shore of the Susquehanna River, opposite Harrisburg. His neighborhood of Lemoyne was well to do. I guessed his large mansion probably would sell for a couple million dollars, if it was on the market. Obviously, architecture had been very good to Mr. Segal.

Heather helped me navigate from I-83 over to the Segal place. We stopped in front of the house at the sign that said, “S.N.S. Valet Parking.” I handed the keys to my Honda over to the valet. Mr. Segal had arranged the valet parking with a nearby school so he wouldn’t inconvenience the neighbors. Heather and I held hands as we walked up the long driveway towards the big house.

“Excellent!” a voice boomed ahead of us. “My favorite young architect made it to the party. Welcome, Heather!” A tall man with a slight paunch greeted us. He looked to be in his late fifties, with a ring of grey hair around his bald crown. He wore a carefully trimmed goatee.

“Thank you for hosting the party, Mr. Segal,” Heather replied.

“I am so glad you could make it,” Mr. Segal replied. “I assume this must be the infamous boyfriend you haven’t introduced to anyone yet. Andrew, is it?”

“Andrew Martin,” I confirmed.

“It is very nice to meet you, Andrew,” Mr. Segal continued as we shook hands. “I am Stephen W. Segal, managing partner for Street, Nicholson and Segal. Heather has been tight lipped about her new boyfriend, other than allowing that the two of you knew each other from middle school.”

“Actually, we go back further,” I answered. “Our families attend the same church. We probably knew each other back to elementary or even pre-school. We dated for a while in middle school and the start of high school. We broke up because I was a typical fourteen-year-old – thoughtless and interested in all the wrong things.”

“Boys will be boys,” Mr. Segal agreed. “He does better now, Heather?”

“He does,” she agreed.

“Are you still in school or are you gainfully employed, Andrew?” Mr. Segal asked.

“Both, actually,” I replied. “I started work on my MBA last semester, though I am gainfully employed.”

“What line of work are you in?” Mr. Segal asked.

“I catch footballs,” I answered. “I am a professional football player.”

“Really?” Mr. Segal murmured. “A professional football player? Which team?”

“I play for the Rams,” I explained.

“You aren’t going to try to steal Heather away from us and spirit her off to California, are you?” Mr. Segal asked.

“Well ... uh...” I stammered. This was one of the remaining sore points between Heather and me.

“Heather don’t follow him unless you really, truly love this man,” Mr. Segal counseled. “You’re going to be a really great architect. I can see it already. If you do love this man, go with him. Let me know too. My college roommate moved west to southern California soon after college. He has a good architectural practice out in some town called Brentwood, part of Los Angeles, I think.”

“I know Brentwood,” I said. “It is off the I-405. I’ve passed it on the way from the airport to Thousand Oaks, where my team trains.”