BROKEN

Best of Times

Chapter 5

After our working camp during spring break, school took on a frantic pace as the year wound down. Summer was coming.

I asked Doug what Rainer was on the rag about. He told me not to worry about it but it bugged me. Things were wrong between us somehow. Rainer became suspicious and hypercritical of everything that I did.

I talked to my Dad about it. He told me that a lot of times people like bosses or coaches came down harder on people that they expected more from. It made sense to me so I resolved to pay better attention to my responsibilities.

After that magic night with Scotty at Confederate Ford, things changed between us. We got even closer than we had been before. We found every excuse that we could think of to be together.

The school’s annual science fair came up in April. Scotty and I teamed up to do an exhibit on local fossils, which we had been collecting for some years. It gave us a really good excuse to go on some field trips to dig. We put a lot of work onto it and came up with a rather impressive display- good enough for first place in the sixth grade class and a trip to districts at Mississippi College.

The district science fair was held on a Saturday so the school sent our winners on a van with our exhibits. We set our project displays in the auditorium Friday night and Mississippi College put us up in dorm rooms over night.

That night we had pizza for supper and retired to our room. We were tired but there was something electric in the air. We had not had the privacy to further explore the new frontiers that we had discovered during spring break.

We took off our clothes and spent that night in each other’s arms. The feel of him, his touch, even his smell was intoxicating and powerful. We weren’t exactly sure exactly what it is that we were doing but we figured it out together in sublime innocence.

The next morning we put on our best suits and presented our science project from 9:00 until 11:00. We broke for lunch and a tour of the campus and returned at 1:00 to find a red second place ribbon on our project. Only the first place finalist would advance to state but we were pleased to be taking home a ribbon and a trophy for our school.

 



 In Scouts we began to get ready for our annual week long camp out and development workshops at Camp Kellum in June. Scotty and I spent a great deal of time deciding which merit badges classes we were going to attend and weighed them carefully against promotion requirements. We decided on life saving, environmental science and canoeing.

We made a couple of trips in early June. The first was down to the coast to go shrimping with my Uncle James. Scotty, Dad, Uncle James and I went out on the Gulf before dawn and pulled the nets over the sea bed until our hold was full of shrimp, crabs and other sea critters unlucky enough to get caught in our net. Then the real work began- cleaning and packing the spoils of our trip. As the crab wouldn’t keep, my aunt had a huge crab boil and broiled some flounder for us as we processed the three hundred or so pounds of our catch. It was a feast worthy of a titan. We took home seventy pounds of shrimp, which we split with the Michaels.

The second trip was a long weekend to Greenville to visit my Grandmother with my Mom. On the trip down Scotty and I were listening to the radio when the news came on. The announcer said something that Scotty and I didn’t understand.

“Today homosexuals marched in New York...” My Mom quickly changed the channel.

Scotty asked, “What’s a homer-sexual?”

My Mom hissed in a voice that I had never heard out of her before, “Ohhh, I hate those people. They’re all sick perverts that need to be locked up. What they do is an abomination according to the bible and they hurt little boys.”

I asked, “What do they do?”

My Mom growled, “Never you mind. Suffice it to say that they are nasty.”

With that we agreed that homer-sexuals must be terrible, awful people.

My Grandmother was delighted to get good, cheap labor that could so easily plied with chocolate chip cookies. We did a big spring clean up for her lawn and garden. My Grandmother could grow anything but in those days she needed help with some of the heavier work. Scotty and I were delighted to do it because she taught us so much about the plants and how to care for them. Her day lilies and irises were stunning to behold in the rich, black delta soil.

 



Finally the day came for our trip to Camp Kellum. Our scout troop gathered in the church parking lot at 8:30 and started loading. Most of us were floating about a foot off the ground. The trip over took about an hour and a half as the bumpy, smelly old school bus rolls. Clumps of excited kids were yakking it up. Music was playing. We were ready for some good times.

The bus finally rolled into camp about 11:00. Mr. Rainer and the patrol leaders gathered in the Administration Building to get our assigned camping areas. Once we had our assigned campsites, our bus drove around the ring road and parked. We swarmed out of the bus like angry ants and set up our campsite.

Each campsite at Kellum had 14 two person tents on a raised wooden platform. Thankfully, the tents were already set up so all we had to do was move our gear into them. There was also a small building with a latrine and showers. Camp Kellum wasn’t overbooked like they would be later in the summer so both of our patrols got a campsite of their own. That left us with vacant tents and breathing room.

Scotty and I got in a tent just across from the Nick Turner and Brian Edwards. Mark and Clay Hudson weren’t far. Doug Edwards picked out a tent all to himself. Can’t say that I blamed him- I know we had to get on his nerves sometimes but he was good enough not to show it. After getting settled in to our campsite, our patrol took the short hike to the mess hall for some lunch.

After lunch, our first day consisted of an assembly with a short orientation session. We then had to sign up for the merit badge classes that we wanted. After all the serious official hoo-ha, they the let us go swim for the rest of the afternoon.

It was hot but the lake water was still a little chilly. It wasn’t hard to get used to it after ninety something temperatures and Mississippi’s infamous humidity. Swimming was a little difficult for me too enjoy. I was worried about Nick, as he wasn’t a strong swimmer. I spent most of the time in the water keeping an eye on him. He was delighted with the attention as usual. Nick got a real kick out of me grabbing his foot like a stirrup and flinging him hooting high in the air to noisy splash down.

We got to meet a lot of new kids that afternoon. There were troops from Natchez, Vicksburg, Clinton, Port Gibson and Jackson. When we were getting sunburned and ready for supper we gathered in a clump with some kids from Vicksburg who were headed to the campsite just past ours.

A tall blond beanpole of an older kid shook my hand and said, “Hey, I’m Travis. How do you get along with your little brothers so well? Mine drive me crazy.”

I chortled and replied, “Scotty and Nick? People make that mistake all the time. We’re not related. Scotty is 13; I’ll be 13 in July. Scotty is just shorter than I am. Nick is 11. Scotty and I have been best friends since second grade.”

Travis raised an eyebrow, “You’re just 12? I figured you for 14. You and Scotty look so much alike. I just figured...”

“Everybody thinks that. Scotty is a few months older than I am.”

“That’s weird. You’re almost three of him.”

About that time Scotty and Nick came running up behind us. Scotty said conspiratorially, “You talking about us again?”

I grabbed Scotty in one arm and Nick in the other, hoisting them wiggling, squirming and giggling onto my shoulders. “Yeah, Travis here was asking me how I put up with my two little brothers.”

Scotty snorted, “I’m 8 months older than you are ya big ole beast and I hope I’m not ugly enough to look like we’re related!”

I shook them both and said, “That’s big friendly Beast to you two!”

Nick and Scotty squealed, “Oh no!” Then I put them down gently with a friendly squeeze.

Travis smiled and shook his head. “Looks like you’ve got your big friendly Beast well trained.”

I said, “What!” in mock exasperation and chased Travis a short way up the trail.

Scotty and Nick caught up with me and tried to tackle to me squawking, “Heel Beast.”

Travis was laughing so hard at our foolishness that he fell over a tree root. Of course that only made us all laugh harder.

We gathered ourselves and decided that we would have to get together after supper for some more foolishness.

 



 After supper our camp turned into a zoo. The Wolverines plus a few new friends we had made from the Clinton troop clumped into four or five groups and began to socialize. One of the Hudson boys had a jam box the size of a station wagon and a respectable collection of cassettes and was playing some Jimi Hendrix.

Travis and a couple of his friends joined Scotty, Brian, Nick and myself to joke around and tell stories. Before too long Doug joined us and instantly hit it off with Travis. About 9:00 Nick ran off to his tent and saved the day when he came back with a family sized pack of cookies which we demolished in nothing flat.

Sometimes it doesn’t matter how old the jokes are or if all the comforts of home aren’t there. It is all about enjoying each other and we were having a ball.

About 10:30 the adults came around and shooed us into the tents. Scotty and I stayed up another hour chatting silently. We went to sleep arm in arm.

 



 The next morning burned brightly with the promise of a hot June day as we got ready for the merit badge classes we were taking. As luck, and good planning, would have it, Scotty, Nick, Brian and I ended up having most of our classes together. Travis ended up in a couple of them and Doug ended up in our environmental science class.

The classes were all fairly serious. In each one we were received a workbook that covered all the key points for our qualification tests. Classes started on Tuesday and ran to Friday. We would get our grades Saturday morning and then head home.

Of the classes that I was taking, I could not pick a favorite. They all had something about them that made them unique.

Canoeing was fun but not real challenging. Life saving was a physical challenge and there was a lot more too it than I thought. I spent most of my time on Environmental Science as it was a lot of work and took some study. Since we were all in the same classes, the gang got together every night to study and coordinate our environmental science projects.

Travis was cool. I enjoyed hanging with him. He was older but he treated me like an equal. We spent a lot of time studying together after dark.

I got the distinct impression that he was watching the way I interacted with Scotty and Nick. I began to bug me a little. I was curious and when we had a moment of privacy asked, “Travis, why do you watch Scotty, Nick and me?”

His mood changed instantly and his eyes went to the ground. It was like the air had been taken out of him and there was a tense pause before his answered. He then said in a voice that I hadn’t heard out of him before, “I have two stepbrothers their age and we fight all the time. I try to be nice to them but they hate me for no reason. It really gets to me. I’ve been watching you guys because... I want it.” His voice cracked, on the verge of sobbing. “..to be better, like it is with you guys but they don’t want me around. They hate me and they hate my Mom.”

I instinctively put my hand on his shoulder but he turned and ran up the trail. Something told me not to leave him so I followed. Crashing down that trail in the dark, he tripped and went sprawling.

When I got to him he was rolled up in a ball sobbing. I couldn’t believe it. Travis, tall, blond, handsome, funny, smart, articulate Travis was laying there in the dark wreaked. I didn’t know what to do. I just sat down beside him on the ground and put my arms around him as he sobbed.

He choked out, “Go away. I don’t want anyone to see me like this.”

I just squeezed him harder. “I am not going to leave you out here like this. Your stepbrothers must be stupid or something not to want you as a big brother. You’re a great guy.”

“How do you know? You just met Me.” he challenged bitterly.

“I know all I need to know that I like you.”

“How?” he sniffed as he sat up.

I shifted and put my arm around his shoulder. “It’s because of the way you treat Nick and Scotty. They are little and it seems like everybody picks on them for it. Heck, I may be big but I’m only 12. It doesn’t matter to you. You treat me fair and you treat my friends fair. If I had could choose a big brother, it would be somebody like you or Doug.”

Apparently, I said the right thing. Travis hugged me so hard I could barely breath. We sat there in the sultry June night talking quietly and I learned a lot. Tall, handsome, smart and funny Travis was miserable. His parents divorce and his Mom’s second marriage was a little slice of hell for the poor kid. His stepbrothers were angry at the world and wanted their Mom back. Their way of trying to get their Mom back was to try to drive Travis and his Mom away.

Some things you just can’t fix as much as you would like too. No super hero can show up and make it better. No magic can undo the damage done. All that a friend can do is be there and listen, help the fallen get up, dust themselves off and find their way back into the light from the darkness.

Later that night I told Scotty what had transpired. It was troubling to us both that someone that we had both taken a liking too was hurting like that. We resolved to stay in touch with Travis. He was one of the good guys and we needed to stick together.

Before we went to sleep Scotty gave me a big hug. I asked him what it was for. He said because you are who you are.

 



 The next few days went by in a blur of frantic activities. Classes, fun and friends: things didn’t get a lot better than that when you’re 12.

The nights alone with Scotty were amazing. We had a secret world of tenderness and innocence that was ours and ours alone. Thursday night I figured out what it was I was feeling towards him. I told Scotty that I loved him and would never leave him.

As all good things must come to an end, our time at Camp Kellum passed far too quickly. We exchanged phone numbers and addresses with new friends and said our good-byes.

I found it hard to say goodbye to Travis. When the time came he saw that I was about to cry he gave me a big hug and said, “Don’t worry little bro. We’ll have next summer.”