Today at lunch the girls in the kitchen were strangely
quiet. It’s been this way across the campground wherever staff is found. Tired
machines creak quietly through repetitive tasks. Lights flicker on in the morning
and off at night, and all goes on as before. But the energy is missing.
Miss Charity types and answers phones in the office. Aunt
Carol wipes lunch tables between “cool downs.” Mr. Ramsby tinkers with the dryer. One of the kitchen girls takes a siesta at the lunch table
before clean-up, while another mumbles, “I'm so tired” on her way back to the
kitchen. In the Snack Shack, Ruth prepares for hungry high school campers, and somewhere on the grounds a lawnmower is heard.
It’s Thursday of the first school camp. Summer camp is over. Our
summer staff has gone home to school and to college while we stay behind to keep on
keeping on. You might wonder how we do it. So do we.
Then…a light breaks. Actually, it’s just the sun setting
behind a line of trees. But there's something else. Even before the sun goes
down, strange things begin to happen. Noises. The sound of laughter and
chasing. Too much sugary caffeinated beverage is being consumed. Aunt Carol can’t
hold her drink, even if it is only iced sweet tea.
Peanut butter is found in the strangest faces…er…places. Wet
towels crack and wounded staff howl. Soap suds become a threat and chip
bags a defense. Everyone is smiling. If you were to ask what happened to the
formerly fatigued staff, someone would answer with a laugh (and a wet dish
towel), “We're still tired, but now we're Giddy!”
