The Adventures of Stevie #15
These stories were told to me by friends and other people. Some of them
are true. Some of them are only partly true. Some of them should have
been true. LOL
My first post about Stevie ("Call me Stephen!") was when he was 12 and
in summer camp and was told by another camper. This was from a time
before computers would fit on a desk and when people communicated with
friends in other countries by actual letters sent through the postal
service. When children did this those friends were called "penpals".
Carlos is Stevie's penpal in Argentina and knows English. This is a
fictional contrivance to enable Stevie to tell us his stories because
he isn't here in person. I think.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Stevie's school is for gifted children who don't fit in regular schools.
The stories may not be posted in chronological order.
Stevie is 11 in this story, in year 1 of summer camp.
The Adventures of Stevie #15 "Kittens and Privacy"
Dear Carlos,
Summer camp is not like I imagined. That is absolutely true because I
didn't try to imagine it before. Ha ha. I know a lot of new kids now I
didn't know before. They couldn't be more different from each other if
they tried. I think some actually did try. I am one of them.
I met my new friends first in a big building in the city very early
in the morning. There we got together and lined up to be registered for
the camp. There was a boy at the head of the line making a loud fuss
about everything. He said he was already registered, and if they
weren't nice to him his kittens would be hurt and he kept yelling about
cat's trading people. I thought that was strange, but I discovered
George is strange in a lot of ways, and it isn't good to ask him about
his strangeness. It just makes him louder. Sometimes he is very nice
too. I'll tell you more about that later.
Then we got on big busses and drove away on a very long trip. Our
suitcases were already loaded. Kids who were going to be in the same
cabins were on the same buss, two cabins to a bus. George was on my
buss, and the sticker on his shirt said he was in my cabin too. I
thought "Oh no!" Everybody talked to each other after we all introduced
ourselves. The names on our stickers were actually who we were! Ha ha.
Some of the boys had been to this camp before and told the rest of us
all about it. I think they weren't very good describers because it was
much better than they said. We stopped for lunch and then drove some
more. We got to camp and got our suitcases and went to our cabins and
chose our beds. They were all against the walls and had shelves for our
things. Our 2 cabins were stuck together at one end by a little
bathroom. Then we went to the dining hall to eat and be told about the
camp. I will tell you about it too.
The camp is in the woods on a not steep hill next to the ocean. The
boys part is closer to the ocean, and the girl's part is up the hill on
the other side of the main buildings and very big swimming pool, which
can hold all the campers in it at once in the shallow end. If we don't
eat too much. Ha ha. There are lots of activities we can do, and nobody
has to do something they don't like, but the counselors are very good
at convincing campers to try. They are too many to write about now. I
will do that for each one I do, so I can write more about the sports,
movies, social things, and arts and crafts. George wasn't the only
camper to make a loud fuss. I did it too, in front of the whole camp!
JEREMY IS HERE! He is a "Counselor In Training". A CIT. Each cabin
has a regular counselor and a CIT. He is not in my cabin or the one
next to us. As soon as I saw him in the dining hall, I screamed his
name real loud and ran up to him and jumped all over him. I must have
looked really funny to everybody. I didn't care. He said "Hi Stephen!"
and smiled. I told him how nice it was to see him again and told him I
had a problem I needed to tell him about after we ate and could I
please do it? He said it would be alright and he will tell his
counselor and mine to make it official. After we ate I told him about
my monster problem, which he already knew about because he saw it
already. I told him I didn't want the other campers to see it because
it is too big and they would never stop talking about it. He said I
would be very popular. I said that would be alright but not THAT way.
He agreed, and said he would tell the camp director.
After I talked to Jeremy, the camp director and his assistant who is
is wife got up on the stage and spoke.
"Welcome to our camp," he said, and shouted "I'm the Director and I'm
INSANE FOR BOYS." Then his wife shouted "I'm the Assistant Director and
I'm INSANE FOR GIRLS!" I wonder if they really are. Ha ha. They told us
all about how good the camp is and all the usual welcome stuff. Then we
all went to our cabins to unpack and settle in. Our counselor is a
college student and so is our CIT who is younger. The counselors sleep
in the same cabin we do but behind a partition campers are not allowed
to go into. Our CIT lives in the town next to the camp so he doesn't
sleep at the camp like the others but sleeps at home. We unpacked and
George made a fuss again because there wasn't enough space on the wall
to put all the pictures of his kittens on it. I wouldn't mind so much
about his fussing if his bed wasn't next to mine, but they are really
good pictures. I could almost hear them purr. Maybe that was George. Ha
ha. Mike is next to me on the other side. He looked sick. I asked him
what was wrong. He said he had a stomachache. I was sorry for him and
sat next to him on his bed to keep him company. I think nobody who is
hurting should be alone.
The camp director came in and talked to our counselor. I saw them
look in my direction a few times when they were talking. I could see
them over the top of the partition. Then he left and our counselor
asked me over to him and he explained the special arrangements they
made for me. I can change clothes in the counselor's area and use the
counselor's shower house. Not like the boys big open shower house, it
has separate stalls so I don't need to look at undressed counselors. I
didn't say I don't mind looking because I have seen everything in art
class that's possible to see about people. Mine might be bigger than
theirs anyway. Ha ha.
I changed into my PJs first in the counselor's area and then he told
the other campers it was time to change for bed. The boys who had been
in camp before didn't have any problem undressing in front of the
others, but the new boys were embarrassed. That made their monsters
wake up and they were more embarrassed. Red faced, too. The other boys
said don't worry about it and made theirs big too. Then they had a
contest to see who had the biggest. They had a lot of fun measuring
each other. Sometimes they took longer to measure than they really
needed to. Nobody minded. I was really sorry I couldn't do any of that
with them, so I didn't look because I might cry. Then we went to bed.
I think I was right to hide my monster, even though it makes me sad I
can't play monster-grab with them. Theirs are all so tiny, mine would
make me a freak to them. If they like me I want it to be about how nice
I am, not about how strange my monster is.
That was my first day a camp. I will have a lot more to write about
next time. We have to write a letter home every week, so I can do an
extra one to you without any bother. It's the write thing to do. Ha ha.
Your friend,
Stephen
--
Grant
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