To Be A Counselor: Week Two

Week Two, Day One

All the counselors got one day off in between sessions. Most of the counselors slept or played games that were inappropriate for when campers were around, but Emma spent the day in the craft Coop, organizing all of the supplies by color. For her, it was a day of bliss before she went back to being Taz, in charge of a whole new group of campers.

She was working with Razzle this week, which would be fine if Razzle wasn't upset about not getting to work with Kiki and “why do Bear and Beta always get to be together,” so her week was already going to be a struggle. As the campers arrived, the other counselors that were standing with Taz handing out colored t-shirts reacted negatively to almost every camper that was assigned to her group, with lots of “good luck”s being shared.

The campers all seemed pretty high-energy while they went through some of the icebreakers with another group, very friendly and chatty during dinner, but when the group got to the amphitheater for the evening program it was as though the floodgates had opened on a whole new level of misbehavior. Taz and Razzle had to participate in the skits that the counselors put on to demonstrate some of the camp rules, which meant that neither of them was there to directly enforce the necessity of quieting down and paying attention. When they returned to their group, Misty, who had been sitting with her own group near Taz and Razzle’s rambunctious group, pulled Taz aside.

“You need to do something about your campers. Now.”

“What?”

“I had to tell your campers to stop talking and settle down at least a dozen times. This is not gonna fly throughout the week, Taz.”

“Well I’m sorry, Misty. Razzle and I were both in the skit so we couldn’t really do anything about it from there and-”

“So you need to establish your control and authority better during dinner. You were just letting them be as chatty and disruptive as they wanted to be. You need to lock this group down by tomorrow or else you’re gonna make this whole week suck for everyone else too. See, look. Those two boys are back at it again. Go.”

Sure enough, when Taz looked at her group of campers, a couple of the boys were starting to cause a scene of their own off the stage, causing a number of looks to be thrown towards their group.

It was sure to be a long week.

Week Two, Day Two

“Okay, so, make sure you double knot it so that your necklace or bracelet doesn’t…. Snap. And spill beads everywhere. Here, Charlie, can you please help pick-”

“No!”

“Why not?”

“Because I don’t want to.” He crossed his arms, a perfect image of the stereotypical 11-year-old boy.

“Charlie, come on. We can’t just leave the Coop a total mess. You’re going to need to pull your weight in picking up, you can't just leave it here for someone else. No, stop, Charlie, do not - please put down - Charlie.” The bouncing of a box full of beads filled the otherwise silent arts and crafts cabin. Razzle looked up from the necklace she was helping knot for one of the other campers, and gave Taz a look that basically said that it was her turn to learn how to deal with disciplinary measures.

She heaved a big sigh so she could calm down for a second and regain her composure. “ Charlie. Let's go outside and talk quick.” It took her 30 seconds of the disappointed stare that mothers are so good at to finally get him to slowly drag himself out of his seat with his friends to the front porch of the cabin. “Alright. I'm not mad about you breaking your bracelet. Things happen, that's okay. What I am upset about is you refusing to pick up the beads, and then dumping more of them on the floor. Do you understand why that makes me unhappy?”

“No.” He looked down at the ground, almost disinterested, but obviously aware of the problems he was trying to cause.

“Because that means someone has to clean up all the beads that are all over the floor of the coop. And that someone is probably going to be me. Also, when you waste all those beads, then that means other kids don't get to do the same activities as we do, because we won't have the supplies. Does that make sense?”

“Yes, but I don’t care.”

“Why don’t you care?”

“Because you can just buy more, that's what my mom told me. She said that I can do whatever I want, and you're not my mom.”

“I'm not your mom, but your mom put the camp in charge of you. And then the camp put me and Razzle in charge of you. So your mother gave us permission to tell you what to do. So I'm telling you that you're going to help pick up some of the beads, and then we'll be okay. Sound good?”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because I didn’t do anything wrong.”

“ I told you not to dump beads on the floor. you did anyways. I'm not playing this game anymore. We're going to go back in, you're going to help me pick up the beads and put them back properly, and then we're going to move with the rest of the group to capture the flag. end of discussion.”

They went back in to even more of a mess than it had been in when they had left. Taz realized her one day off this week was not going to be relaxed.

Week Two, Day Three

Taz had somehow managed to forget about the fact that her own two little tormentors were at camp as well. Her mother had decided that her twin little sisters needed to experience summer camp, and since their big sister was going to be working at this one anyways, it wasn't too risky in case anything went wrong.

Fortunately, Ace, the head counselor and leader of camp, knew better than to put the girls in Taz’s own group, or any group that had many activities with her group.

Unfortunately, meal times were all communal, so she couldn’t escape.

Taz and Razzle’s group ended up being late to dinner, and when they finally entered the mess hall, it was truly living up to its name. There was pasta sauce dripping down the walls, long tendrils of spaghetti mixed in to make it look like some bloody and grotesque murder had happened against every wall. The rounded tables were on their sides to try and act as shields, although if a bolt managed to hit at the right angle, it would send a group of campers screaming and scrambling to regain their cover. A plastic juice pitcher just narrowly avoided flying through the now open door as their group arrived.

“Taz. Razzle. Do either of you know what is happening?” Ace was standing behind them, eyes wide at the sight of the chaos that reigned over the room.

“No, Ace, we actually just got here. We ended up running late with an overturned canoe and -”

“Sissy!” cried out the twin voices, the girls more indistinguishable than usual, hair matted with pasta sauce and curled around breadsticks.

“Emery. Emily. What happened here?” Taz’s face was very flushed, she couldn't believe that her sisters looks like this, and she knew that whatever they were going to say, she was going to wish she could deny any relation to them. The mess hall had died down as well, everyone realizing that Ace was looking around, trying to find the counselors who had let this battles ensue.

“Well, you know that movie you showed us a little while ago?”

“The one where they have a massive food fight to keep the boy from moving away?”

“You know how they just sort of yell ‘Food Fight!’ and it works?”

“We wanted to try it and see if it actually worked.”

“And it did.”

Ace turn his face toward Taz, clearly coming to the worst conclusion. “You showed your sisters a movie about a massive food fight before they went to camp?”

“No no, this was like three or four months ago! I didn't even know if I was going to be working here yet! I had no idea they would-”

“Never show younger siblings movies with revolution. Rule number one of dealing with anyone younger than you.” Ace seemed very displeased, and the other counselors seemed to also be coming to the conclusion that she could almost directly be blamed for the disaster that presented them.

“It was on late at night, I didn't think they were up….Just….Take the campers, I’ll clean up the mess hall.”

----------------

She got nasty looks from all the other counselors as they left with their campers, and she stayed to clean. Once the kitchen staff were done dealing with their own mess, they helped Taz out with cleaning, but they didn't get done cleaning until after lights out, which came extra early after the fiasco of dinner.

When Taz finally got back to the counselor cabin, she wanted nothing more than to shower and pass out without talking to anyone. But instead, all the other counselors seemed determined to berate her for her inability to be a good counselor or a good older sister. She barely listened, showered quickly, and by the time she had returned, the silent treatment had already begun to set in from the other counselors.

The week couldn’t end soon enough.

Week Two, Day Four

The hostility from the other counselors prevailed through the rainy fourth day. Taz would have been fine, had she not been cooper up with all the other counselors and their campers all day.

Even Taz could realize that when the campers themselves started to go easier on her and stop tormenting as fiercely, all of her problems were as obvious as the rain that was pounding on the windows.

Week Two, Day Five

It was another rainy, hostile day. But Taz decided that during “Me Time” while the campers were all hanging out in the cabin, she was going to make use of it and try and put herself at least slightly more in the good graces of her fellow counselors. She pulled on her rubber boots and rain jacket and walked towards the Coop, relishing in the momentary absence of noise from the campers and the soft patter of rain across the canopy of trees that lined the paths of camp. The trees helped feel more apart of nature, even if the reality was that they were about an hour away from the city, and only just past the outer ring of suburbs. It helped the camp to feel like they were actually adventuring through nature, purpose behind their different adventures.

When she opened the front door to the Coop, the evidence of a day and a half’s worth of crafting showed. It was as though a bomb of color and texture had exploded across the entirety of the cabin. There were skeins of yarn unraveled across the entire room, paint that had been left to dry in puddles on the tables and chairs as well as the floor, small beads that had been missed in the cleaning from earlier that week, paint brushes stuck in random places like an Easter egg hunt. The bin for scrap pieces of paper was overflowing, and the shelves where papers were supposed to be organized looked like a rainbow had puked all over.

By the time Me Time was nearing finishing, the scrap papers bin had its bag replaced, the paint brushes were back in the appropriate containers to sort them by size, and the yarn had been rolled back into organized balls, sorted out by rainbow order. As she was finishing sorting out the shelves of paper, she heard the door to the Coop close. She turned around to see Ace standing there, looking around, impressed.

“I figured you might be in here, the other counselors said they had seen you walk off towards this way. This place looks amazing,” he said, crossing towards the shelves where she sat on the floor, surrounded by piles of differently colored papers. “I honestly don’t know if I’ve ever seen the Coop look this good.”

“Oh, I’m. Really?” she looked up at him, watching as he took part of the stack of mismatched papers and began to sort them into the piles she had already established. “I just. I feel like everything I’ve been doing this week has made it more chaotic, like this entire week has been messy. I feel like nothing has gone right this week, and the Coop is the one part of camp that I feel like I can actually do something about.”

“Let me guess. The little sisters?” She nodded in response. “Being a big sister is tough, I’ve got two little brothers, a couple years older than your sisters. You’re just starting the truly annoying years.”

“Oh god, I imagine brothers are even worse.”

“About as messy as this cabin was to start out I’m guessing.” They both laughed. “Look, Taz, I know you feel like you’re screwing everything up, but you’re really not. I talked to the other counselors already, they’re all really impressed with the way you’re handling everything, and they think you’re being a bit too hard on yourself.”

“But I haven’t been able to keep a hold on like any of the campers. Everything has been falling apart.”

“Except in reality? Camp is always falling apart. It’s not your fault. Campers are away from their parents, they’re going to do whatever they want, whenever they want. Don’t feel like you need to control them all, even their own parents can’t.”

“I mean, I guess.”

“And also, the other counselors? They’re really impressed. You’re taking way more responsibility than any of them were expecting, don’t worry about them. Although, Me Time is just about over, so you might wanna head back towards the small devils. I’ll finish up with the papers.”

“Are you sure, Ace?”

“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”

“Okay then. And thanks, Ace. I need this.”

He waved her off, a smile on his face while he turned back towards the stacks of paper, letting her leave back into the outside world, beginning to come alive with the sounds of children as they emerged to a few rays of sunshine peeking out between the clouds.

Week Two, Day Six

The week was finally ending, and Taz could not be happier. The week had been a trial of everyone’s patience, especially hers, and she was ready to go back to the rest of her summer without her sisters. After the day before with her talk with Ace, she felt more comfortable, like her other counselors actually wanted to interact with her. The campers were back to acting the same amount of crazy as they were before, now sure that they weren't going to be causing more problems that would negatively impact them. As camp began to wind down, and the parents began to show up for the closing ceremonies, the campers began to show that they actually had enjoyed their week in the woods, and that they might actually be interested in coming back, which the counselors did an excellent job of faking enthusiasm for. Seeing as Taz had only had to say goodbye to one group of campers so far, she was beginning to feel the real counselor emotions of the end of a week of camp: excitement on the surface, sadness being actually shown, and sadness being actually felt deep down, realizing that throughout the week they actually managed to teach these kids something. What the counselors didn't notice they felt was that the campers managed to teach them something as well: the campers managed to teach them that even when they’re surrounded by problems, they’re always able to overcome them. Taz thought about something like this, but nothing quite like what she knew deep down. She knew that the next week was going to be full of a whole new group of challenges, and -

“Taz!” She turned towards the voice that had called her out of her thoughts. “Taz, I’m sorry for being a brat. You’re pretty cool.” Charlie handed her a friendship bracelet, unevenly knotted, the result of day two’s art time in the Coop.

“Oh, Charlie, are you sure? Are you sure that you don’t wanna give it to another one of the group members? Jack, maybe?”

“No. I already gave him one. I had two left over, my mom said I should give them to you and Razzle.”

She laughed as the truth came out. “Alright then. Thanks, Charlie! It was a super fun week, I hope you come back again!”

He made a face that can only truly convey meaning when it comes from an 11-year old boy, and turned to follow his mother back towards the parking lot.

She looked down at the bracelet she now held in her hand, purple and black, likely the result of being the last one to grab thread. She felt someone poke her sides, and turned around to see Misty, smiling. “You got a camper bracelet?” she asked excitedly, a couple of the other counselors nearby turning a little to view the interaction.

“Yeah, I guess I did.”

“Sooooo…. Are you gonna be an ankle or a wrist person?”

“What?” Misty stuck out her right ankle, crowded with bracelets. Razzle came over and showed off her right wrist, also filled with bracelets. “Well. I guess ankle?” Half of the counselors cheered, all glad that there would be a new member of #TeamAnkle.

Taz decided that maybe these were people she really would get along with throughout the summer. Maybe she wouldn’t have to spend every off day holed up in the Coop.