Ava Lambo

Mr Jockers

Period 3 ILA

February 2,2018

 

Camp Fire(d)

The whole camp had changed, everyone was upset kids were crying

(1 day earlier)

Over the summer I went to Camp Berger with some of my best friends Keely, Hannah, Jenna, and Samantha. It was my first time at a sleepaway camp and I was very excited. All the counselors were nice but there was one counselor that was everyone’s favorite. His name was Tom. Tom was everyone’s favorite counselor because he was funny, nice, and pretty easy going. Tom hosted activities such as fishing and nature hikes. One day at camp my friends decided they wanted to do arts and crafts. It was a hot day, the sun was shining and the birds were chirping. I decided to do my own thing and do another nature hike. I had so much fun the previous day I could have fun with or without my friends. Plus I already had enough friendship bracelets to last me a lifetime.

 

The nature hike was very fun even though I did not have my friends. When we were on the hike we walked past the camp next to us. It was a very nice camp that was very expensive and had TVS in the cabins and blow up slides on their side of the lake that we were not aloud to use. So I guess you could call it a hotel. Our camp was under $400 with no light in the cabin and if you wanted to go to the bathroom be prepared for a hike. But we would not have it anyother way. I’m happy I decided to do my own thing and go on the nature hike because that was Tom’s last nature hike.

 

He was fired a few hours later. With no goodbye, no one knew why he was fired or if he just left. “ All his stuff is gone! ” a boy named Ethan cried on the verge of tears. The whole camp had changed. Everyone was upset. Kids were crying and making Tom shrines by writing stuff on rocks like “Watch out for my waffle stompers”  a classic Tom quote. Later in the week on the second to last day of camp we had a dance. Everyone was still sad except cabin 22. Cabin 22 was a cabin filled with indubitable irritating, incontestable, individuals that were very annoying, mean and will threaten to sue you if you throw a rock at their cabins door. Trust me we learned that the hard way.

 

At the dance everyone looked depressed. Especially the younger kids. Most people were just sitting on the sidelines. The counselors tried to get us to do a snowball but everyone was too awkward for that so it kind of failed. There was some dancing that went on and it was fun while it lasted but everyone was just so confused and no one could think of a reason to cause Tom to get fired. But then again you never really know what goes on behind closed doors or when no one is watching. Everyone started chanting “ We want Tom, We want Tom!” The camps leader response was to turn the music up. Their attempt to get us to be quiet backfired because everyone just got louder. I imagined they would have stopped the music and told us to shut up but this worked too. I decided to try to have some fun and start dancing with my friends so the night was not a total waste. As I’m wondering around the cafeteria I look out of the corner of my eye and I’m not surprised. Intrigued, I follow my eyes. I go over to see my camp CIT Jill, and a bunch of kids sitting on the floor in a circle looking like they were plotting. I decided to sit down and see what was happening, and join in on the fun.

 

When I go over everyone is sitting because they are too sad to dance. “ We want Tom back everyone cried!”Before I knew it the circle kept growing and growing. We all came up with the idea to start a protest. In no time everyone in the circle chanted ”We want Tom!” repeatedly. (Yes, I know this sounds stupid but it made sense at the time). Even some of the counselors were chanting with us. Soon the music died down. We were all thinking the same thing. What is going on? Are we in trouble? Are they going to tell us why Tom was fired? We all look up to find the head of the camp Chris looking down at us. “The dance is over and you are all not invited to scary stories.” (except cabin 22 of course.) Everyone walked about happy and with their heads held high. To be honest nobody wanted to go to scary stories and we just created an amazing memory. Also we would much rather stay in the cabin and have our own fun.

 

I would be lying if I said the thought of crashing scary stories did not cross our minds, but we all came to realization that we have caused enough mischief for one night. Later in the night we go outside to see Lynn and Chris sitting on a bench outside. Everyone approaches them and asks the million dollar question. “Why was Tom fired?” Some of the counselor gave us some details but we did not fully understand. Plus we have already done this much, we might all know what it was for. Everyone went to go huddle around their table.

 

“Why was Tom fired?” Some of the counselors briefly told us before that he pushed another counselor, but we wanted to be sure. Lynn and Chris explained to us “We have a zero violence policy!” The counselor also mentioned it was more of a friendship push, but she was the daughter of Lynn and Chris so I was not surprised. We also wondered if they were so against violence how come they did not send home the kid that threw a shoe at Hannah’s head. Satisfied that we got an answer, we went back to cabin 15.

 

Even the next day everyone was still shocked. Since Tom left the activities he hosted were no longer available which was sad. The little kids put Tom shrene #2 up. This really shows you how much someone can impact a person in just a few days.