The Plant Whisperer

Chapter Three

Jackson sat at the pavilion that the camp had gathered at. He followed his cabin mates down through the winding path, but left then in favor of his own company and sat in a seat seat at the far corner. Raina was perched in a chair atop a porch connected to the cafeteria cabin with two other counselors on either side of her. She held a microphone and once everyone was seated, she began speaking.

"Hello campers! You've already met me, but for those who have already forgotten my name, I'm Raina, and these folks beside me are the other camp counselors. This old man to my right is Jay, he won't bite. Probably. And this lovely lady beside him is his wife Aria, and she's much more friendly." She added with a wink. "This young lady beside me with the blue hair is Grace, she's here as a job for college, and the man beside her is Rufus, he's here for community service. He might look like a brute, but don't worry, he wouldn't hurt a fly." Jackson doubted that. What had he done to get community service if he wouldn't hurt a fly? "Now that you're familiar with the other counselors, Jay here will explain the camp rules and expectations!" Raina finished. She passed the microphone to the gray haired man and he put it to his mouth wearily.

"Rule number one!" He sounded like a drill sergeant, his voice was loud and intimidating. Jackson wouldn't want to get on his bad side, that's for sure. "No food in your cabins. Unless you want rats, or worse, bears, to trouble you in your sleep. It's your choice. Rule number two, you are not to leave your cabins from ten PM to five AM. A violation in this rule will land you scrubbing the toilets. Rule number three, you must attend a minimum of five camp activities per week, and yes, we are keeping track. A violation in this rule will land you on kitchen duty for a week. Rule number four, no fights with anyone. A violation in this rule will land you forced to bunk in the empty cabin with whoever you fought with for two weeks. Rule number five, boys are not allowed near the girls cabins, and vice versa. Violation of this rule will end in a call to your parents. Finally, rule number six, if you are found with illegal substances, weapons, or anything that may pose a threat to your health or other's health, you will be punished accordingly to how dangerous the item in your possession is. For example, if we found a gun, we would call the police. Understood?" The whole camp sat still. Nobody wanted to challenge this guy.

"Good. Now, Aria will explain the way certain duties will be spread amongst campers." He passed the microphone to Aria. Her personality was a sharp contrast to her husbands and she dressed and looked like a sweet old woman who baked in her free time.

"Now, I know we all groan to think about kitchen duty, or cleaning duty, or especially, bathroom cleaning duty, but unfortunately someone has to do it. You've all been sorted into different color groups posted on the bulletin board next to me. Certain groups will have different tasks each week, however, a group may get out of a task if someone gets in trouble. The bulletin board also says the schedule for who's doing what task when, so make sure to come look at it." Aria passed the microphone back to Raina, who, in turn, passed to to Grace.

"Hello!" Grace was different from the other counselors. She was soft spoken, Jackson could instantly tell, and she stood awkwardly. "I will be explaining the activities we'll be having. Each day, we'll host two separate activities. There will be a total of fourteen each day, so attending five should hopefully be a walk in the park. They'll consist of one physical activity and one mental activity. Today, there won't be any since we're getting settled in, but tomorrow we'll be hosting two like usual so you can get a feel for how things are going to go. There's a weekly activity schedule posted on the bulletin board." She quickly passed the microphone to Rufus, who Jackson planned on avoiding any and all contact with.

"Um, hey." His voice was deep, but he almost stood as awkwardly as Grace and just looked like he wanted to leave. "The kitchen serves food only at breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but there is a vending machine in the cafeteria cabin if you need a snack. Your limited to one snack per day. As for water, drinking fountains are around and there's a water bottle refill station....somewhere around here. I think it's on the map. Anyways, no hoarding food or whatever. Yeah." And then he passed the microphone down to Raina, who was glaring at him.