part 2:
Stormy Weather at Camp Moses
by Matthew Atanian
©1997 by Matthew Atanian
Stormy Weather at Camp Moses
by Matthew Atanian
©1997 by Matthew Atanian
The waterfront staff member was about to shove Matt in when a distant crack of thunder sounded, closely followed by a louder, closer one. Matt looked up and noticed the storm clouds hanging above his head.
The waterfront director began closing down the waterfront and Matt and the others were saved.
For the moment…
The five of them sat around the picnic table in the centre of Crown Point, the campsite that Troop 192 had been using at Summer Camp for a few years now. It hadn't yet begun to rain but the sky had darkened considerably. Matt didn't need to remind the others to wear raincoats. Like him, they were already in theirs, taking no chances.
"Tonight, I'll sneak down to the waterfront and colour in our buddy tags," Matt told the others, advising them of his plan. "That way we won't have to take our swim tests later. I'd like a volunteer to come with me and watch my back."
"I'll go," Aaron said.
Aaron looked away from the book he was reading and glanced at his watch. It was a few minutes before eleven. He put the book down and began putting on his shoes.
"Almost time?" Mike asked from his cot. Aaron looked up at his tent mate and nodded.
A moment later, a twig snapped outside their tent.
"That you, Matt?" Aaron asked.
"No other," Matt answered. "You decent?"
"Come on in," Mike responded.
Matt pulled up the tent's flap and walked in. Over his uniform he was wearing his trademark black trench coat which fell to his knees and made for excellent night-time concealment. Also, he had traded his Boy Scout hat for the trench coat’s matching fedora.
"It's Inspector Gadget!" Mike said, laughing.
"Shut up, squirrel boy," Matt responded.
Aaron pulled on his black leather jacket. Since he didn't have a trench coat (although he someday wanted a dark green one), he had changed from his Boy Scout pants into some dark jeans.
Matt took off his fedora briefly and nervously ran his hand through his dark hair. He flipped his hat back on and said to Aaron, "Ready when you are."
"Let's go," Aaron responded.
The two of them cautiously approached the buddy-board at waterfront where all of the buddy tags were hanging. They almost jumped out of their skins when laughter emanated from one of the nearby tents that housed the youth waterfront staff.
"They're still awake," Aaron said.
"Then we'll do this real quiet like," Matt whispered back. He took out his mini-Maglight. As he turned it on and pointed it at the buddy-board, a drop of water which he assumed was sweat fell upon his hand.
The flashlight's beam made it's way across the various titles on the sections of the buddy‑board: Fallen Timbers, Ethan Allen, Pynchon. Finely, Matt found Crown Point.
Matt pulled the red and blue markers from his coat pocket. Then the heavens opened up and disgorged an ocean-full of rain upon them.
"Well, I got’ta get going," Dan said. Dan Wellington was one of the Dynamic Wilderness Challenge instructors, and was therefore tenting in the Scoutcraft area, but was visiting some friends at waterfront. "Early day tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Dan."
"'Night."
Dan backed out of the tent and turned around and saw his friend Matt at the buddy-board. An instant later, he realized it wasn't Matt. Whoever it was was a head too short, had red hair instead of black, and was also, Dan realized after a closer inspection, a woman. Not even a baggy trench coat that fell to her ankles could completely hide her remarkable figure. Dan smiled as he walked toward her, a plan forming in his mind.
Dan stopped as he noticed two odd things. The first was the white duck that was standing atop a rumpled pile of clothing next to the woman. The second was that the woman was tampering with the buddy tags.
"That's the last one," Matt said, putting the tag back on the board. Aaron suddenly started quacking furiously and batting Matt in the leg with his wing.
"What is it?" Matt asked, looking up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Dan angrily asked, briskly walking towards them. He removed from his pockets a Zippo lighter and a can of bug repellent and aimed them at Matt.
"Oh, um, Dan?" Matt stammered.
Dan came to a halt. "Do I know you?"
"Yes. No! Uh, sort of."
Dan lowered the bug spray, and Matt breathed a sigh of relief. Matt had decided long ago that he never wanted to be on Dan's bad side while he had flammable materials.
Aaron quacked. Matt stooped to pick up Aaron's clothes.
"Who are you?" Dan asked.
"Tomorrow, when's your earliest free moment?"
A puzzled look crossed Dan's face.
"When are you done with your courses for tomorrow?"
"Um... After lunch. Why?"
"Meet me out at Cabin III an hour after lunch tomorrow." Matt turned and began walking away. Aaron flew after him. "Come alone."
Dan watched, standing unprotected in the rain, as the mysterious short red haired woman walked away. He remained standing in the rain long after she had disappeared into the woods across the street. Come alone? Dan wondered. Was she making a pass at me?
He turned and looked at the buddy-board, using the Zippo to see. The area that the woman had been tampering with contained the buddy tags for Crown Point. A familiar name met Dan's eyes: Matthew Atanian.
At lunch the next day, Dan walked up to the empty piece of bench next to Matt at one of Troop 192's tables in the Dining Hall. "Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"Not at all, Dan," Matt said. "Go ahead."
"Hey, Chicken Guy," Billy said, referring to the Chicken named Boo that Dan had brought up to camp the previous summer.
"Hi," Dan said, cheerfully. Dan was usually in good spirits, but even when mad he always seemed possessed with a certain vigor, as if he was constantly high on life. He turned to Matt.
"So, what's up, Dan. Anything interesting happen lately?"
"You could say that." Dan lowered his voice so that only Matt could overhear him. "Last night when I was leaving waterfront, I saw this beautiful woman tampering with the buddy tags for Crown Point. She wore a black trench coat and a black fedora. Do you know anyone staying in Crown Point who wears a trench coat and fedora?"
"Only myself, Dan. And as you can see, I am not a beautiful woman. The only woman staying in Crown Point," Matt said, pointing to the next table over, "is Joan McGraw."
Dan looked. Joan McGraw was a short, dark haired woman who looked somewhat boyish except for her wrinkles. "That is definitely not her," Dan said.
"I'd like to help you on this one, Dan," Matt said, "but I don't know who she is. If you find her and things don't work out, send her my way. You know how desperate I am for a girlfriend."
Dan laughed. "I saw her first."
Matt laughed back, but inside he felt vaguely ill. His mind was made up. He'd have to tell him.
Dan arrived at Cabin III shortly forty-five minutes after lunch had been let out. "You're early," a voice said from within the storage area attached to the cabin.
"Matt," Dan said as his friend emerged from the shadows, "what are you doing here?"
"You were told an hour after lunch," Matt repeated. "You're early."
"You do know her," Dan said. "Where is she?"
Matt picked up a bucket of cold water that was at his feet, lifted it up, and turned it over onto himself.
Now it was Dan's turn to feel vaguely ill, as he recalled the many interesting little thoughts he had had last night about himself and the mysterious short red haired woman. "Matt?" he said.
The woman nodded her head. "Yes, Dan. It's me."
"I think I'm going to be sick."
Billy was getting revenge for the game of Magic they'd played at Jusenkyo. He, Bill, Mike, and Aaron were all sitting in Mike and Aaron's tent, the bunks pushed together and the mattresses removed to make a large gaming table. He tapped all of his creatures and looked over at the creatureless Bill Hughes. "I'm attacking you."
Bill cursed and took the damage.
Billy then tapped all of his lands, putting thirteen mana in his mana pool, and used it to Lava Burst Aaron.
"You're going to pay for that," Aaron said.
"I'm done," Billy said. He turned to Bill. "Your turn."
"I know, I know," Bill said, depressed over the way the game was turning out. He stood. "I'll be right back."
"Where're you going?" Mike asked.
"To the bathroom, if that's all right? Don't look at my cards while I'm gone."
The lone figure trudged though the forest, his backpack weighing heavily on his shoulders. The weight didn't bother him, however, He was strong, and to him it felt like nothing more than a feather or two.
He stopped for a second to tighten his yellow bandanna. By his reckoning, it was almost two in the afternoon. He had walked through the night and through most of today on his long and toilsome journey.
Just where was he, anyway? He thought he was near Kumamoto, or maybe Yatsushiro. Of course, he had been wrong before.
He came into a clearing and in the clearing a group of canvas tents were set up on platforms. A figure was emerging from one of the tents and he decided to ask for directions.
Bill was backing out of his tent to go and find a tree to make friends with when a hand fell upon his shoulder and spun him around. Bill was surprised to see before him a young, dark haired Asian man dressed mostly in yellow, complete with a yellow bandanna tied around his forehead. The young man was also wearing a heavy looking backpack with a bamboo umbrella atop it.
"Uh..." Bill said.
"Furinkan Koukou wa doko da?!" the Asian man asked, practically shouting.
"What?" Bill asked.
"Nani?" the man asked.
"Can I help you?" Bill asked.
"Um... English?" the man said slowly. "You speak English?"
Bill nodded.
The man tightly gripped both of Bill's shoulders and shouted, "Tell me! Where is Furinkan High School?"
The waterfront director began closing down the waterfront and Matt and the others were saved.
For the moment…
The five of them sat around the picnic table in the centre of Crown Point, the campsite that Troop 192 had been using at Summer Camp for a few years now. It hadn't yet begun to rain but the sky had darkened considerably. Matt didn't need to remind the others to wear raincoats. Like him, they were already in theirs, taking no chances.
"Tonight, I'll sneak down to the waterfront and colour in our buddy tags," Matt told the others, advising them of his plan. "That way we won't have to take our swim tests later. I'd like a volunteer to come with me and watch my back."
"I'll go," Aaron said.
Aaron looked away from the book he was reading and glanced at his watch. It was a few minutes before eleven. He put the book down and began putting on his shoes.
"Almost time?" Mike asked from his cot. Aaron looked up at his tent mate and nodded.
A moment later, a twig snapped outside their tent.
"That you, Matt?" Aaron asked.
"No other," Matt answered. "You decent?"
"Come on in," Mike responded.
Matt pulled up the tent's flap and walked in. Over his uniform he was wearing his trademark black trench coat which fell to his knees and made for excellent night-time concealment. Also, he had traded his Boy Scout hat for the trench coat’s matching fedora.
"It's Inspector Gadget!" Mike said, laughing.
"Shut up, squirrel boy," Matt responded.
Aaron pulled on his black leather jacket. Since he didn't have a trench coat (although he someday wanted a dark green one), he had changed from his Boy Scout pants into some dark jeans.
Matt took off his fedora briefly and nervously ran his hand through his dark hair. He flipped his hat back on and said to Aaron, "Ready when you are."
"Let's go," Aaron responded.
The two of them cautiously approached the buddy-board at waterfront where all of the buddy tags were hanging. They almost jumped out of their skins when laughter emanated from one of the nearby tents that housed the youth waterfront staff.
"They're still awake," Aaron said.
"Then we'll do this real quiet like," Matt whispered back. He took out his mini-Maglight. As he turned it on and pointed it at the buddy-board, a drop of water which he assumed was sweat fell upon his hand.
The flashlight's beam made it's way across the various titles on the sections of the buddy‑board: Fallen Timbers, Ethan Allen, Pynchon. Finely, Matt found Crown Point.
Matt pulled the red and blue markers from his coat pocket. Then the heavens opened up and disgorged an ocean-full of rain upon them.
"Well, I got’ta get going," Dan said. Dan Wellington was one of the Dynamic Wilderness Challenge instructors, and was therefore tenting in the Scoutcraft area, but was visiting some friends at waterfront. "Early day tomorrow."
"Goodnight, Dan."
"'Night."
Dan backed out of the tent and turned around and saw his friend Matt at the buddy-board. An instant later, he realized it wasn't Matt. Whoever it was was a head too short, had red hair instead of black, and was also, Dan realized after a closer inspection, a woman. Not even a baggy trench coat that fell to her ankles could completely hide her remarkable figure. Dan smiled as he walked toward her, a plan forming in his mind.
Dan stopped as he noticed two odd things. The first was the white duck that was standing atop a rumpled pile of clothing next to the woman. The second was that the woman was tampering with the buddy tags.
"That's the last one," Matt said, putting the tag back on the board. Aaron suddenly started quacking furiously and batting Matt in the leg with his wing.
"What is it?" Matt asked, looking up.
"What do you think you're doing?" Dan angrily asked, briskly walking towards them. He removed from his pockets a Zippo lighter and a can of bug repellent and aimed them at Matt.
"Oh, um, Dan?" Matt stammered.
Dan came to a halt. "Do I know you?"
"Yes. No! Uh, sort of."
Dan lowered the bug spray, and Matt breathed a sigh of relief. Matt had decided long ago that he never wanted to be on Dan's bad side while he had flammable materials.
Aaron quacked. Matt stooped to pick up Aaron's clothes.
"Who are you?" Dan asked.
"Tomorrow, when's your earliest free moment?"
A puzzled look crossed Dan's face.
"When are you done with your courses for tomorrow?"
"Um... After lunch. Why?"
"Meet me out at Cabin III an hour after lunch tomorrow." Matt turned and began walking away. Aaron flew after him. "Come alone."
Dan watched, standing unprotected in the rain, as the mysterious short red haired woman walked away. He remained standing in the rain long after she had disappeared into the woods across the street. Come alone? Dan wondered. Was she making a pass at me?
He turned and looked at the buddy-board, using the Zippo to see. The area that the woman had been tampering with contained the buddy tags for Crown Point. A familiar name met Dan's eyes: Matthew Atanian.
At lunch the next day, Dan walked up to the empty piece of bench next to Matt at one of Troop 192's tables in the Dining Hall. "Mind if I join you?" he asked.
"Not at all, Dan," Matt said. "Go ahead."
"Hey, Chicken Guy," Billy said, referring to the Chicken named Boo that Dan had brought up to camp the previous summer.
"Hi," Dan said, cheerfully. Dan was usually in good spirits, but even when mad he always seemed possessed with a certain vigor, as if he was constantly high on life. He turned to Matt.
"So, what's up, Dan. Anything interesting happen lately?"
"You could say that." Dan lowered his voice so that only Matt could overhear him. "Last night when I was leaving waterfront, I saw this beautiful woman tampering with the buddy tags for Crown Point. She wore a black trench coat and a black fedora. Do you know anyone staying in Crown Point who wears a trench coat and fedora?"
"Only myself, Dan. And as you can see, I am not a beautiful woman. The only woman staying in Crown Point," Matt said, pointing to the next table over, "is Joan McGraw."
Dan looked. Joan McGraw was a short, dark haired woman who looked somewhat boyish except for her wrinkles. "That is definitely not her," Dan said.
"I'd like to help you on this one, Dan," Matt said, "but I don't know who she is. If you find her and things don't work out, send her my way. You know how desperate I am for a girlfriend."
Dan laughed. "I saw her first."
Matt laughed back, but inside he felt vaguely ill. His mind was made up. He'd have to tell him.
Dan arrived at Cabin III shortly forty-five minutes after lunch had been let out. "You're early," a voice said from within the storage area attached to the cabin.
"Matt," Dan said as his friend emerged from the shadows, "what are you doing here?"
"You were told an hour after lunch," Matt repeated. "You're early."
"You do know her," Dan said. "Where is she?"
Matt picked up a bucket of cold water that was at his feet, lifted it up, and turned it over onto himself.
Now it was Dan's turn to feel vaguely ill, as he recalled the many interesting little thoughts he had had last night about himself and the mysterious short red haired woman. "Matt?" he said.
The woman nodded her head. "Yes, Dan. It's me."
"I think I'm going to be sick."
Billy was getting revenge for the game of Magic they'd played at Jusenkyo. He, Bill, Mike, and Aaron were all sitting in Mike and Aaron's tent, the bunks pushed together and the mattresses removed to make a large gaming table. He tapped all of his creatures and looked over at the creatureless Bill Hughes. "I'm attacking you."
Bill cursed and took the damage.
Billy then tapped all of his lands, putting thirteen mana in his mana pool, and used it to Lava Burst Aaron.
"You're going to pay for that," Aaron said.
"I'm done," Billy said. He turned to Bill. "Your turn."
"I know, I know," Bill said, depressed over the way the game was turning out. He stood. "I'll be right back."
"Where're you going?" Mike asked.
"To the bathroom, if that's all right? Don't look at my cards while I'm gone."
The lone figure trudged though the forest, his backpack weighing heavily on his shoulders. The weight didn't bother him, however, He was strong, and to him it felt like nothing more than a feather or two.
He stopped for a second to tighten his yellow bandanna. By his reckoning, it was almost two in the afternoon. He had walked through the night and through most of today on his long and toilsome journey.
Just where was he, anyway? He thought he was near Kumamoto, or maybe Yatsushiro. Of course, he had been wrong before.
He came into a clearing and in the clearing a group of canvas tents were set up on platforms. A figure was emerging from one of the tents and he decided to ask for directions.
Bill was backing out of his tent to go and find a tree to make friends with when a hand fell upon his shoulder and spun him around. Bill was surprised to see before him a young, dark haired Asian man dressed mostly in yellow, complete with a yellow bandanna tied around his forehead. The young man was also wearing a heavy looking backpack with a bamboo umbrella atop it.
"Uh..." Bill said.
"Furinkan Koukou wa doko da?!" the Asian man asked, practically shouting.
"What?" Bill asked.
"Nani?" the man asked.
"Can I help you?" Bill asked.
"Um... English?" the man said slowly. "You speak English?"
Bill nodded.
The man tightly gripped both of Bill's shoulders and shouted, "Tell me! Where is Furinkan High School?"
To be continued...
Disclaimer:
Certain aspects of this series are inspired by Takahashi Rumiko's Ranma ½. The character at the end inquiring as to the whereabouts of a certain high school was used without permission.
Members of Troop 192 are based on real people, as was Mister Pyro himself, Dan Wellington. (Dan, I'm sorry for putting your character in the position of lusting after the mysterious woman you found at the buddy board who turned out to be the character based on me. Believe me, I don't like the thought of you lusting after me any more than you do.)
This story was written without the consent of the Boy Scouts of America, and in fact if National ever found out about these stories, they'd probably ask for my registration card.
Members of Troop 192 are based on real people, as was Mister Pyro himself, Dan Wellington. (Dan, I'm sorry for putting your character in the position of lusting after the mysterious woman you found at the buddy board who turned out to be the character based on me. Believe me, I don't like the thought of you lusting after me any more than you do.)
This story was written without the consent of the Boy Scouts of America, and in fact if National ever found out about these stories, they'd probably ask for my registration card.