Chapter 7

We loaded our gear after a breakfast on Sunday morning. Will and I loaded up our weights first while Andy carried our bags out to Will's car. Ed brought his things over while we were trying to load everything. The car was full last year when it was only Will, Ed and me. This year we had to squeeze Andy and his stuff in too. We filled the trunk with the heavy stuff. Ed and Andy climbed in the back seats. Will and I gave them two duffle bags to hold on their laps. The last duffle bag went in the front between Will and me.

We grabbed a lunch at the drive through window at the McDonalds near East Town Mall. We had to use the drive through because there was no way Ed and Andy were getting out of the car until we got to camp. It would take too long to repack things otherwise.

We got a surprise when we checked in at the camp office. Mr. Anderson, the camp director for the past six years, wasn't running camp this year. His replacement was a man in his mid-forties by the name of John Holloway.

The four of us carried our gear down to the staff site. Will moved into his usual tent. Jim Hardy was already there waiting for Will to arrive. Ed and I took the same tent as last summer.

Andy asked hopefully, "Do you have room for three in your tent?"

"NO! Go find someone to tent with Andy. There are lots of empty tents," I explained.

"I don't know anybody! Can't you make room for me?" Andy begged.

Ed answered, "Andy, don't act like a little kid. Pick a tent. You'll get a tent mate soon enough. Get to know him. You will make friends with the rest of the staff in a few days."

I watched as Andy wandered to the next tent. It was already taken. Andy met another scout who appeared about his age at the tent after that. The talked for a minute, shook hands and moved into the tent. I was happy that Andy found a friend quickly.

Ed and I spent the next half hour greeting our friends from last year and meeting some of the new staff members. Rob Young came through the staff site calling for everyone to meet in the dining hall in five minutes.

Will and Jim grabbed Ed, myself, Andy and Andy's new tent mate. Andy introduced his tent mate, Travis Hastings. Travis was also a counselor in training (CIT). He was a fourteen year old scout from Ephrata.

This season's camp staff assembled for welcoming comments and orientation in the dining hall. Trent Wilson spotted my crowd of friends and joined us at our table. Mr. Holloway, the new camp director introduced himself first. He's from Marietta, along the Susquehanna River. He spent ten years as scoutmaster of one of the troops in his town. He was school teacher.

Mr. Holloway introduced the key staff members. As I expected, Rob Young was the program director again. That made him my boss' boss. Joe Gieger was back again as the Aquatics Director (AD). I would be working for Joe this summer. Jim Hardy was assistant AD for the pool. Will as assistant AD for the boatyard again.

Jerry McMichael was in charge of the CIT program again this year. Andy would be working for him. The Pioneer Scout program area had a new director this year. Kevin Wallace, who worked that program area for the last three summers, was in charge of it this year. Ed was working with the first year scouts this year in the Pioneer Scout program. Trent and I were both on Aquatics staff.

Mr. Holloway reviewed expectations and duties of the camp staff. He reviewed the drug, alcohol and illegal drug policies for the camp. He also discussed staff members having girls in camp. Succinctly put, it was that we didn't get any of those things this summer. Any of that was an immediate trip home. It was OK. We all knew that before we signed up to work here this summer.

Mr. Holloway reviewed our weeks schedule with us. The first week of camp was always staff only. We needed to finish up set up that had been started this weekend by the Order of the Arrow. OA is an honor group of scouts and leaders who get together a few times a year to do maintenance work in the camp. They set up over half the tents, platforms and dining flies in campsites yesterday.

Mr. Holloway broke the staff into 25-30 person work groups on Monday and Tuesday and sent us out to finish setting up campsites. The work was hard. Joe, Will, Jim and Rob served as lifeguards for staff swims both afternoons when the work was done. Mr. Holloway and Rob Young presented training sessions in teaching techniques, leadership, and the Boy Scout merit badge program in the evenings.

The staff split up on Wednesday morning by program area. Joe Gieger met with the ten Aquatics staff members at the pool. Joe had everyone sit at the benches by the pool office. He said, "The first order of business is replacing Justin Finnegan at the boat yard. He has asked to work at the pool this summer. Any volunteers?"

No one spoke for about thirty seconds. Finally I spoke up. "I know I'm new but I'm willing to work with Will if you want me to."

Joe looked at Will. "What do you think, Will? Can you work with, Kyle?"

Will laughed and answered, "Sure. I can work with my LITTLE brother."

I added, "Shorty and I make a good team. We can work together." The rest of the group snickered at our teasing.

Joe, Jim and Will spent the rest of the day putting us through drills on the skills we would need to teach for Swimming and Lifesaving Merit Badges.

Wednesday evening after Mr. Holloway finished the evening training a group of us headed to the staff lounge to set up the two old computers that the camp had for our use. Andy and I hooked up one while two other guys hooked up the other. It took us a couple minutes, but then we were on line. I checked my e-mail first thing. I had a message from Julie. Her message said:

To: kmartin87@redroses-net
From: simpsonj@gmail-com
Time: June 18 15:21:24

Hi Kyle

Relax. Mom got me to the doctor this morning. We shouldn't have any surprises in our future. I expect things will be confirmed in 2 ½ weeks. I will let you know when it is definite.

Love

Julie

I know I was being paranoid, but that's how it was. Our accident was only a few days after Julie had her period. She had been taking her birth control for almost a month. It probably was safe, but I still worried about Julie getting pregnant.

I felt relieved that Julie had gotten the morning after pill. It was unlikely that Julie would get pregnant from our accident on Saturday, but it was nice to know we had some more insurance against this happening. Julie's period would be in 2 ½ weeks. She would let me know when she definitely wasn't expecting a child.

On Thursday the whole staff went down the boat yard to get everything set up. Joe and Will spent part of the afternoon reviewing rowing and canoeing skills with the whole Aquatics staff. Friday Will and I reviewed canoeing and rowing skills with the two CIT's who would be working with us next week.

Even though I was tired, I made time each evening to visit the staff lounge and check my e-mail. Nothing from Julie yet.

Saturday morning Rob had the staff prepare for the Sunday night campfire and the Friday evening campfire. When that was done we reviewed our jobs during check-in and check-out each week. Surprisingly to me, I wasn't going to check troops in and out of their campsites each week like last year. I would spend my Sunday afternoons helping run the swim tests. Saturday mornings would be reserved for cleaning the pool.

We spent Saturday afternoon reviewing the Cub Overnight Camping Program. We would have Cub Scouts and their parents come in every Saturday around 1 pm and spend the next day in camp. We had activities geared down to their age level. Will and I would have two CIT's to help us. We would give the kids row boat rides in the afternoon.

Mr. Holloway and Rob gave us Saturday night off. We played volleyball for awhile, goofed off, played board games and did a night swim. I found out one of the disadvantages of being on Aquatics staff. I spent part of the staff swim time acting as a lifeguard instead of joining my friends having fun.

The staff had more free time on Sunday morning. Ed, Trent, Andy and I headed out to the parade field to toss the football around. Andy and I took turns running pass routes while Trent tried to cover us. I made sure Andy got the majority of the tosses. I wanted my brother to get used to catching Ed's throws. Andy had worked almost exclusively with Jake Kring since he started football last year. Andy needed to get his timing down with Ed to give him the best chance at stepping up to varsity this fall.

At 11:30, the four of us went back to the staff area, showered and changed into our scout uniforms so we would be ready for the scout troops arriving after lunch. Andy and I reported to pool after lunch. We hung out until the first troop arrived for their swim tests an hour and a half later.

The whole Aquatics staff did swim tests for scout and leaders from a little after 2 pm until after 5 pm. It was totally boring but essential to making sure the scouts were safe at the pool and lake during the week. Joe switched our jobs every fifteen minutes and gave us breaks every half hour. I had to hustle to get back to my tent and get into uniform for camp wide retreat and the picnic dinner we had planned.

The staff set up in the parking lot after dinner to sign up scouts for their merit badge periods. Tanner Steffy, the CIT helping Will this week, and I took names for Rowing and Canoeing for the first four periods of the day. I ended up with between fifteen and twenty scouts for each of the periods. Will told me not to accept anymore than twenty in one period. At 7:30 Tanner and I gathered up our lists and headed back to the staff area.

I was in the third skit of the night. It was "J. C. Penny". It was an old skit but we performed it well. The audience howled when J. C. Penny appeared wearing only a towel around his waist. The six of us in the skit left to loud cheers. The rest of the campfire was enjoyed by the scouts and leaders. Ed and I headed to bed when the campfire was over.

I was up at 6 am so I could get over to the pool for the polar bear swim. Half of the Aquatics staff was on duty for the morning polar bear swim every day. This week I was assigned to cover Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings. After the guarding the swim, I showered and switched to my uniform for flag raising and breakfast. I switched back to my swim suit for the morning periods and headed down to the lake with Will, Tanner and John Wenger, the CIT who was helping me this week.

I was a little nervous before the first class started. When I got going, I felt fine. By the middle of second period, I felt completely natural teaching the group. Each class spent part of the period learning safety rules, parts of the canoe and the various strokes they would need to know to navigate successfully. The last twenty minutes was spent on the water practicing the strokes. Each of the classes seemed to do well.

After lunch Ed, Andy, Trent and I met on the parade field to run some passing routes. Andy and I took turns running the routes while Trent tried to cover us. Andy had enough speed to break away from Trent too, but I had Ed keep the routes short so Andy could learn to get separation from a good defensive back like Trent. It would help Andy in time to have something other than pure speed to use as a receiver.

The 2 pm class went as well as the morning classes. At 3 pm we switched to open boating. Scouts could come down to the lake and take a canoe or a row boat out on their own or with a buddy. Will, Tanner, John and I didn't have much to do other than observe and make sure no one got in trouble. I was going to enjoy working at the boat yard.

I managed to get a seat beside Ed in the dining hall for dinner on Monday night. I asked, "How do you like working on staff so far? Do you like working at the Pioneer Scout area?"

"Way cool! Jerry had me run the team building games a couple periods today. I'm going to like Pioneers. How did the boat yard go?" Andy answered.

"It's fun."

Ed asked, "No regrets this morning when you got up for polar bear swim? How early did you leave the tent?"

"That would be 6 am. I'll manage. It seems like Aquatics staff is on duty morning, noon and night. When dinner is over, I have to go over to the pool and help Joe with BSA Lifeguards. I get to play the victim." I explained.

"Hah! We don't have anything scheduled for tonight. The first year kids will be back at their campsites with their troop leaders." Andy crowed.

I smiled. "It's OK. I knew what I was signing up for last winter. I love the water. Aquatics staff suits me fine."

I spent and hour and a half in the pool Monday night. The would-be lifeguards practice reaching rescues and throwing rescues on me. I managed to pull one of the candidates in the pool when he reached for me with a pole without keeping his balance properly. The other five guys got the message. They reached for me after that with their weight positioned way back from the edge of the pool.

The first week flew by. Guard for polar bear swims every other day. Teach four canoeing classes each day. Supervise two periods of open boating. Help count laps Tuesday night for the quarter mile swim. Guard for the night swim on Wednesday. I finally had a night off on Thursday night.

Part of my routine in the evenings after I was off duty was to check e-mails and reply to Julie. Will, Ed, Andy, Trent and I lifted weights and ran three and half miles to the front gate of camp and back.

Sixty-two of the sixty-five scouts who started canoeing passed the merit badge. The other three skipped a couple classes and couldn't catch up in time to finish. I gave them partials.

Friday night we had a barbeque for parents and families and a big closing campfire. The staff had to serve the barbeque. It was a long evening. We fed over five hundred people the first Friday.

On Saturday morning the whole Aquatic staff reported to the pool to clean it and to prepare for our afternoon activities with the Cub Scouts. The rest of the staff checked the Boy Scout troops out while we worked.

The Cub Scouts arrived following lunch. Will, John, Tanner and I worked all afternoon taking cubs out for rowboat rides. We repeated the barbeque dinner for the cubs and their parents. The evening finished off with a campfire. The cubs did field day games Sunday morning after breakfast. They were headed for home by 11 am.

The staff had an hour of free time before lunch and the arrival of the next batch of Boy Scouts. My friends and I hung out at Trent's tent and talked. Free time like this was precious.

The second week of camp started off much the same as the first week. It was the Fourth of July week, so we didn't have as many scouts in camp, around 185. I ended up with 46 scouts in my four periods of Canoeing Merit Badge.

With the experience of the first week under my belt, I think I did a much better job teaching the merit badge. It was neat learning about the kids taking my badge. I had a real mix of scouts. Some were twelve years old, might measure no more than 5' tall and weighed half my weight. Some of the scouts were nearly my age and almost my height. Most were in between. This week I managed to help all 46 of the scouts to finish the merit badge.

Julie and I kept up correspondence almost daily. I had to remind Julie that I had no privacy when I read her e-mails. A couple of them were a little too sexy to be read in the staff lounge with other guys looking over your shoulder. I went back to my tent and jerked off to relieve my frustrations after I read those e-mails.

Wednesday Ed and I went in to talk with Mr. Holloway. We wanted permission to stay in our troop's campsite the way we did last summer when our troop came to camp next week. Mr. Holloway was very accommodating. It was all set.

That evening I received the expected news from Julie. Her period started today. I didn't have to worry anymore about Julie getting pregnant from our accident a few weeks ago.

The second week scouts went home on Saturday morning and were replaced with the next batch of cub scouts. We ran our cub program for them. We were hanging out at my tent before lunch on Sunday. Ed, Trent, Andy, Andy's tent mate Travis were talking. About football of course.

Ed asked Trent, "Have you had any college coaches try to recruit you, Trent?"

Trent smiled. "Yes. It kind of shocks me. I talked with five coaches in May. They are calling camp, leaving me messages to call them back to discuss attending their university."

I asked, "Yeah. Who's calling?"

"Some of the smaller, local colleges; Millersville, West Chester, Shippensberg, and East Stroudsburg," Trent answered. "The real surprise is the scholarship offer from the University of Delaware. They're Division I-AA."

"Are you going to take the offer?" I asked.

"I don't know," Trent answered. "I want to visit some of these schools and check them out."

Ed asked, "Have you considered any of the major colleges?"

"No. I'm realistic. I'm too short and too slow to play major college ball. If I tried to be a walk-on, the best I could hope for was to play on the scout team. I'd rather play for a smaller school and actually play in the game."

"You are selling yourself short Trent," I countered. "You are one of the smartest football players I know. I think you could do it."

"No. I can't even cover all the receivers in our league. The competition in our league is nothing compared to major college ball. I do as well as I do by studying a lot and making sure I'm in the right position to make a play."

"I guess that makes sense, Trent," Ed said.

"I think I might get a full scholarship offer from Delaware," Trent continued. "It sounds pretty interesting. They have a good program."

I said, "You know one of our players is starting at Delaware in the fall. Do you remember Andy Groff?"

Trent paused for a moment and then he said, "Groff? Yeah I remember him. Number 93, a defensive end, always hurrying our quarterback," Trent sighed. "Yeah. He had a big part in beating us in the playoffs last fall."

"If you go to Delaware, you'll like, Andy," Ed explained. "He is a good guy."

Trent asked, "What about you two? Do you know what you want to do for college?"

I said, "I have two more years of high school. I have no idea. I hope some major college is interested in me. I'll see."

Ed answered, "I know what I want. I have a list of colleges I want to check out already."

I said, "Oh yeah? Who's on your list?"

"Michigan, Florida, Miami, USC and LSU," Ed answered.

"Jeez! You're shooting for the top, aren't you?" Trent asked.

"Aim high. If you miss you've still done something good," Ed answered.

I asked, "I understand most of the colleges on your list. I have to ask, why LSU?"

Ed explained, "You have met my Aunt Ellie and Uncle Dave, right?"

"OK. What do they have to do with your choice of colleges?" I answered.

"Uncle Dave, uh, David Breaux is Louisiana born and bred. They live in Baton Rouge. My cousin Freddy has been telling me all about the Fighting Tigers since we were little kids."

"OK. I didn't know that Ed. I hope you make it to one of those schools."

Our gab sessions broke up because it was time for lunch. I was surprised when Will finished lunch with a song – for me! It was my birthday. I figured Will would embarrass me at dinner when all the campers were there too. This year he limited the celebrations to staff members. I accepted the mix of congratulations, teasing, well wishes with good humor.

After lunch I headed to the pool with the rest of the Aquatics staff. We had been hanging out at the pool, fooling around for about forty-five minutes when I saw her. Julie! Most of the Aquatics staff saw her. She walked to the pool to the sound of a few wolf whistles and cat calls.

"Guys! Behave yourselves. This is my girlfriend, Julie," I declared. We hugged over the fence. "God, I've missed you, honey."

Julie gave me a kiss on the lips, but a discrete kiss. "I've missed you too, Kyle."

I turned at yelled, "Hey! Joe, can I have a couple minutes with Julie?"

"Two minutes. The first troop should be arriving for swim tests any second. They left their dining hall orientation already and are headed here now." Joe answered. Joe had been talking to the dining hall on the walkie talkies when Julie appeared. We had them around camp to pass information back and forth.

I slipped out the side gate and met Julie at the rows of benches on the hillside beside the pool. We sat down and hugged each other. We kissed, not so discretely this time. Our tongues met and danced together. Julie's hard nipples were pressing into my bare chest. My cock engorged itself with blood and rose to full, totally embarrassing size.

"Ooohh God. I've only got a minute Julie."

"I know. Happy Birthday, Kyle," Julie said as she offered me a small gift wrapped package. I tore the package open, opened the small box and found a ring. It was gold with an amethyst stone.

"This is wonderful, Julie. Thank you. I love this." I said as I put the ring on my finger. We kissed again.

Joe interrupted, "Martin. Get back to work. The first troop is here."

I gave her a last kiss and said, "I love you, Julie. I've got to go."

Julie answered, "I love you too."

"Are you coming to the barbeque Friday night?"

"Probably not. Mom and Dad say we have too much to do," Julie answered.

I headed back through the shower and prepared to take my post for swim tests. I ducked into the bathroom for a short stop. I dropped my shorts and whacked off remembering her smell, her taste and the feel of her nipples pressing into my chest. I lasted about a thirty seconds before I exploded and shot cum all over the wall and floor of the bathroom stall. I hadn't had a chance to do that in four days, so it felt great to get relief. I tucked everything back in, cleaned up the stall and headed back to my post.

Julie was still sitting on the benches outside the pool when I took my position to guard for the swim tests. I waved and she waved back. The testing had started, so I had to pay attention to my job. I glanced over to Julie occasionally between scouts swimming by. She must have sat and watched me for at least fifteen minutes. Next time I glanced up, she was gone.

It was about 3 o'clock when my troop got to the pool. I was at the end of the pool starting kids on their tests when the first scout from my troop showed up in line. I greeted each scout as I recited my questions: "Can you swim?" "Can you jump in water over your head?" Every three seconds I'd start another scout when they answered "yes" to my questions.

My troop was the third troop to take swim tests. When Julie's brother W. J. stepped up to the edge of the pool I said, "Hi, W. J. I'm glad to see you, buddy. High five!" W. J. and I slapped our hands together. "Anything you need, anything at all, talk to me OK?"

"I know, Kyle," W. J. answered. "Julie told me that already."

"If you can't find me, talk to Ed or Jeremy. They will help you too," I explained. "Can you swim W. J.?" He said yes. "Can you jump in water over your head?"

"Yes, Kyle," W. J. answered.

"Swim. Take it easy, W. J. This isn't a race," I called as he jumped in the pool. Mark Good was behind W. J. Three second later I sent Mark off. Jeremy was standing behind Mark.

"Hi, buddy!" I exclaimed as I slapped him on the back.

"I see you're lounging around at the pool goofing off." Jeremy answered with a smile.

"Yeah, right! I start work tomorrow at 6:30 and don't finish work until 9 at night. Are you going to take good care of my troop this week?"

"Relax, everything is copasetic."

"Ed and I will be up later this afternoon before dinner. You saved us a tent right?"

"Stop worrying, of course we saved you tent."

"Swim, Jeremy. I'll see you in a couple hours," I answered. Jeremy jumped in and swam quickly away from me.

A few more scouts from my troop passed me. I noticed that the next troop was Trent's troop from Manheim. Trent's cousin and my friend, Christian Hunsecker, was at the head of the line.

Christian grinned as he stepped up to the edge of the pool. "Kyle! I'm glad to see you."

"It's good to see you, buddy." I said. "Are you still SPL?"

"No. I finished my term in March. I'm the Junior Assistant Scoutmaster now." Christian explained.

"Congratulations, Christian. I was elected SPL for my troop in January," I answered. Justin Finnegan interrupted us.

Justin said, "Joe said you need to take a ten minute break. I'll relieve you."

I said, "Thanks, Justin." I stepped away from the pool. "Christian, see me when you finish your swim test. We can talk some more."

I hung out at the other end of the pool where scouts finished their test. Christian and I talked for about five minutes while his troop completed the swim test. We agreed to meet after lunch on Monday to catch some passes. Christian was going to join our crowd for our three and half mile run in the evening too.

I didn't finish swim tests until 5:15. This was the biggest week of campers so far this summer. The head count was almost 400 scouts and leaders. I headed over to my tent in the staff area to change into my uniform. I found a note on my bunk. It said Ed had packed and headed up the hill to our troop's campsite already and he would meet me there. I packed my things and hiked up the hill to our campsite. I dropped my pack off at my tent and helped Ed, Jeremy and Hal round our troop up. We marched back down the hill to the parade field for retreat and dinner.

Ed and I explained to the younger scouts in our troop about merit badge sign-ups after dinner and then hurried to take our places for sign-ups. My brother Andy was assigned to the boatyard this week. He did the sign-ups for Will's Rowing Merit Badge while I took names for Canoeing Merit Badge.

Davie Mitchell, Cody Stevens, Tyler Lapp, Christopher Zimmerman and Ryan Kauffman, five of the six kids in my patrol last year, signed up to take Canoeing Merit Badge with me on second period. It was going to be an interesting period. These kids were good kids, but they were a handful.

Andy and I headed back to the staff area to get ready for the campfire. I did my part in the J. C. Penny skit again. I was assigned to do a cheer after another skit. I did the Lumberjack Cheer.

Ed and I went back up the hill to our campsite when the campfire was over. My troop sang Happy Birthday for me and had birthday cake for our bedtime snack. Ed and I sat in on the Patrol Leader's Council meeting. Jeremy ran the meeting since he was acting in my place for the week as SPL of the troop.

The next morning Ed and I marched to breakfast with our troop, ate with them and then checked in with Rob Young to get information about the day. We headed to our merit badge areas after that.

My classes went well, even second period. The guys from my old patrol were enthusiastic and full of questions. They listened mostly. They were more familiar with me than most kids I taught. Most scouts show me a little more respect, like you do when you are an overnight guest at your aunt's house. My guys treated me like a big brother, but they were definitely at home with me. They were socks off, feet on the coffee table, watching TV together kind of comfortable with me. No pretense of being on their best behavior. They joked around and teased me in a way the other scouts wouldn't. I was just Kyle, their friend from home, to Davie, Cody, Ryan, Tyler, and Chris. The other twelve kids in that class didn't know what to make of these five on the first day.

I headed to the dining hall to meet my troop after third period. Ed, Jeremy, Christian, Andy, Trent and I met at the parade field after lunch for an hour of passing.

Jeremy eyed all of us and said, "Shit! We got too many receivers. Trent and I can't cover three of you. What are we going to do?"

I answered, "I'm not going to run routes this week. I'll quarterback with Ed. Why don't I throw to Christian while you cover him Jeremy? Ed can throw to Andy and Trent can cover him."

"Ah, a new wrinkle for your team this fall, Kyle?" Trent asked, grinning.

"No, not really. My coach wants me to be our emergency quarterback this fall in case something happens to Ed and Jake Kring, our back-up. The last guy to do this graduated this spring. He was the emergency QB for three seasons and never took a single snap in a game. You'll never see me do this in a game," I answered.

We spent the hour running routes and catching passes. Ed helped me a little with my footwork and throwing technique. I felt pretty comfortable by then end of the session. I wouldn't embarrass myself if I ever had to do this in a real game.

Eight kids from our troop showed up sixth period, including the five from my second period class. They had a blast paddling around and splashing each other. Will had to yell at them once when they got a little too rowdy. Andy, the other CIT and I helped Will secure the boat yard for the evening. I headed back to the troop site to get ready for dinner.