Summer Nights

Eventually

Silas walked slowly to the counselor meeting, Will had left earlier so he had no reason to walk at the same rate of Will's fast paced stride like he normally did. He grumbled about said freckled blond the whole way, until he opened the door of the counselor meeting cabin. There were counselors running around like the kids they had volunteered to watch. The sight made Silas's inner child want to join them, but also made the larger part of him want to punch something in frustration. There was 5 or six counselors acting like normal people, sitting in their chairs, Silas noticed a certain Wilbur Smith wasn't one of said normal people. 

Silas sat down in a chair, and put on his headphones until the presentations started. Otter- a.k.a the camp founder who was super into sea otters- had made an excellent Canva presentation. His artists eye could see that clearly, but he made sure not to let it show on his face. 

"Alright counselors settle down. I'm assuming y'all still have your camper lists?" Otter asked, their voice loud but obviously friendly. 

Most of the counselors nodded. Will didn't, Silas sighed at that, of course the idiot had lost his sheet.

"Well, everyone who doesn't have theirs has a co-counselor with a sheet, so it isn't that big of a deal. This meeting isn't about your papers though, it's about the real children on those papers. We need to have a talk with you counselors. You. Need. To. Set. An. Example." Otter punctuated their speech with claps of their hands. "These kids need positive role models...but they also need emotional support. Yes, they will cry at some point during this week. They will bust up their knee, or fall off their horse, or lose at soccer. So I need every single one of you to put aside your 'crying is for the weak' ideas aside and say to them that it is okay to cry and that you are there for them." Otter said, their voice conveying their message well.

Silas understood what Otter was saying, he took it in, and stored it in his brain even though he knew he would still be shitty at managing a crying kid. 

Otter kept talking. "And, I want you to get to know your kids. There will be queer kids, kids of color, autistic kids, kids with ADHD, kids from poor families, kids from the country and many other kinds of kids. So get to know them. With all that aside, your kids are going to be arriving in two days, and nothing else needs to be done so i'm letting y'all off the hook. Do adult things, get it outta your system before they get here. Alright? Okay. Have a good two days."

Silas rubbed his eyes and stood, grabbing some coffee from the stand before it got crowded, and leaving. He walked out of that meeting cabin faster than he remembered being able to...until he was running, laughing into the forest. He was 11 years old again, climbing logs and running with Dakota, sharing secret touches in the large Pine tree in the "big woods". He breathed in happy gasps, and when he calmed down, sipped his coffee in the peaceful forest, hoping not a single soul found him. 

He'd come out eventually.