Oak Ridge

tuesday. june, 18

"Okay everyone," I get the campers' attentions. I wait until they're mostly quiet and continue. "Thank you for choosing dodgeball as your activity today! I see some familiar faces so I'm glad to have you all back with me. I think you all pretty much know the rules to dodgeball and if you don't then you'll catch on. So if I could get some people to set up the balls in a straight line."

A few guys and girls come and get the rubber balls out of my yellow netted drawstring bag and place them in a line on The Field. When they come back, I split the large group of kids into two on opposite sides and I climb up into the lifeguard style chair to watch. Once I decide we're ready, I blow my whistle and let them play.

When Eric assigned me dodgeball as my activity, I didn't complain like I usually would have. I figured that since it's my last year and I'm gonna have to go out and be an actual adult soon I might as well take whatever life throws at me. Dodgeball really isn't that bad! The chair I sit in has an umbrella and I can just sit here and monitor The Field.

Soon, all the players but one have been hit and I declare Josh the winner. They set the balls back up and I make them switch sides before I blow the whistle again. This time I watch a little closer as I notice a sad pattern of older boys absolutely nailing some sixth grade girls. I make a mental note to inform Myles about his guys. I'm not that good at the whole discipline thing.

"Lets be a little more gentle, guys!"

One of them nods back and makes an effort to throw a little softer. Proud of my efforts, I sit back in my chair. I look up at the sky and notice a few dark clouds mixing their way into the white ones. Deciding to wait a little bit before I call the activity off, I let the game continue until I feel the wind pick up.

"Okay y'all, I think it's about to start raining pretty bad so let's wrap this up," I announce and get down from my chair. The campers help put the balls back into the bag and as soon as I close the drawstring, I hear a crash of thunder and the rain starts pouring. "We need to get off this field pretty fast so go as quickly as you can without falling and killing yourself!"

The campers take off across the grass back to the path. The netted bag bangs against my legs as I run back to some kind of shelter. Of course it would start pouring rain during free time during which I'm in the place farthest away from the main campus.

At some point, one of Myles' boys comes and takes the bag from me so I can go a little faster. Soon enough we reach the Mess Hall and we burst through the doors, interrupting Penelope's tie-dying session.

"Oh wow," she says, taking in my appearance. "Do you want a dish towel or something?"

I nod and she shouts for Johnny from the kitchen to get me a towel for my hair. My poor hair. He brings one out for me and I start getting the water out of my hair which is sure to frizz up in a minute.

As the rain continues to fall, I think of the other outdoor activities. The basketball and volleyball courts are pretty close to The Shack where the lawn games are so thankfully, Princeton, Mallory, and Blake has somewhere to go. Then I think about Myles and his group on the lake. Knowing him, they all got out pretty quickly; the clouds looked like they were coming from that direction anyway. The only shelter around the lake is a tiny little shack where Mary Anne makes her bracelets. Hopefully they're all okay down there.

When activity time finally ends and time for our second challenge rolls around, the rain has slacked off to a light sprinkle. I help Penny pack up her stuff and put it away so I can go meet my group of girls by the Oak Ridge sign. On the way there, I pass by the Scotch Pine cabin and see Cameron sitting on the porch.

"Hey, man," I call out to him from the path. "You feeling any better?"

"Yeah, I've been taking it easy today. I thought it'd be nice to sit out here for a while since it's not so hot right now."

"Glad to hear it, dude. Feel better!"

I continue on the path to find my girls standing by the wooden posts of the sign. I make sure they're all there before filling them in on our challenge for the afternoon.

"I hope you all didn't get too wet during your activities but our challenge this afternoon is still outside. I'll give you time to grab your rain jackets before we head out," I assure them. "Today we're doing an egg relay so Princeton's team will be bringing a few dozen eggs to The Field. I need two girls for the egg toss and three for the egg-on-a-spoon race. The rest of you will still be throwing them."

I get my volunteers and we head on up to The Field. Princeton and his boys arrive shortly after us with some cartons of eggs and a pack of plastic spoons. We collect our volunteers and continue to explain the rules.

"Boys on the left, girls on the right," Princeton announces. "In this middle space between the two lines were gonna have the race so I need the six campers who are doing that to line up here where I'm standing and I'll give you the spoons and your egg. My egg toss people need to step back from the line a bit."

The four kids look confused, but step back anyway. Instead of throwing it straight to each other, they'll be tossing the egg over the two line of campers and the racers to someone on the opposite team. After a bit of explaining they understand.

Every person on the line gets three eggs to throw at the racers as they please. If the racer falls or drops the egg, they have to go back to the starting line and start over. Whatever team has the most eggs in their bucket at the end of the line wins.

"Now you guys that are tossing the eggs," I explain, "if the egg is coming towards you and you drop it, that's minus one score for your team."

Everyone gets the game and stands in position, waiting for Princeton to blow the whistle. Once he does, eggs start flying and I know that these kids are gonna have a fun time showering tonight.