Once Upon a Time: True Stories of an Aspiring Writer

23: The Summer Camp Rebellion of 2011

THE FIRST TIME I REBELLED at camp was when I accidentally stole a bagel. 

One day we decided to go on a mini field trip to Einstein's across the street. Midway through picking my bagel and chocolate milk, Christine, who did the program with me, asked to borrow a dollar. So I gave it to her, but I realized I would no longer have enough money for both items. But maybe she was borrowing it because she would pay for both of us? 

Either way, according to my mixed-up thinking, one of the following things happened:

1. I gave Christine money, which she was obviously using to pay for both our bagels---or so I thought.
2. They didn't ask for money, so I didn't give it to them. They must have just forgotten or just decided not to worry about it. 
3. I didn't notice the separate check-out counter. Even if I did, I realized that after giving Christine money, I couldn't pay for both the bagel and chocolate milk. 

So I sat at a table and enjoyed the food, mainly the rich chocolate milk, or at least I tried to. I was still relieved to throw the remains of my bagel away and go back to school. I was never stepping foot in Einstein's again. 

But that isn't what this story is about. This story is about the second rebellion at summer camp, which happened on purpose. 

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If there was any lowlight to my teen years, it was getting sent to social skills camp.

  I didn't know what I'd done to deserve the dishonor. I had friends--- hello, Christine and I were best pals at the time! And hello again--- I also had Holly, Emma, Samantha, Willa, May, Mari, Haley, and Adventure Princess girls.

 And there were other things to do over the summer, like celebrate the Fourth of July with Grandpa's fireworks show, going to the pool, and sitting in the cool basement typing up one-page stories. Or maybe I'd watch Spongebob...and the commercials. Nick commercials were always oddly entertaining, a combination of cereal mascots finding their missing cereals, the Charmin bear family, and infomercials you could verbally rip apart, scrutinizing how well the bottomless bags or plastic jar openers worked. Also, not too long ago, my sister had gotten Super Mario Bros 3 for the Game Boy Advance, and we spent many a summer night out on the glider playing it. That was our new favorite game, replacing Disney's Magical Quest. 

There were camps, too. I'd done many a summer camp in the past. Every summer, pretty much, since preschool. Many of the programs I joined were actually hosted by teachers at my school. Some were better than others, but we had a hard time finding one the summer before seventh grade.

OFFICIAL LIST OF SUMMER CAMPS WITH RATINGS

Kinderworks. This took place at a woodsy preschool not too far away. It was pretty standard: field games with Mr. Steve, swingset time, pool games (the hardest part being putting on my swimsuit by myself, though I always managed after a struggle), and playing with colorful transparent blocks at playtime. This gets points off for Science with Miss Cindy. We read a book about the Berenstain Bears going to space and cut out rocket ships. We were supposed to cut on the outside, but apparently I cut on the inside, and Miss Cindy was not pleased. Nor did she help me fix my rocketship. I subtly threw it away and hoped nobody asked. FINAL SCORE: 4/10

Writing Camp With Real Writer. This lasted a week and it was kind of fun. Little kids and big kids gathered together to write stories and create characters on lined notepads, the kind Christine and I liked. We even created our own little books. FINAL SCORE: 8/10

Mrs. G's Daycare Camp. One of the teachers at the Quaker school headed this offering. I name it this because it was almost literally daycare. I spent time trying to amuse myself by playing with the toy animals and making books out of Crayola's stamp markers. There was a craft in there somewhere, and a trip to the Crayola factory. That was about it. I still love you, Mrs. G. FINAL SCORE: 1/10