This was Lydia's first summer job. She had been nervous about traveling far from her family to spend her summer with a camp full of people she didn't know. Lydia had a shy personality and had a hard time putting herself out there with new people. She found herself lost in the crowd during the day and stayed in her cabin at night when the other staff members took part in racy staff rec activities like ricky ticky and after hours charades.
After weeks of little social interaction and too many nights cooped up in a cabin with annoying little brats, she broke free and went for a solitary moonlight walk around the camp acreage.
Lydia walked down the gravel path from her cabin and onto the dirt trail that led through the ropes and challenge course. She tipi-toed along a log balance beam and swung across a ditch on a hanging rope. She continued on to the amphitheatre which looked vast and empty in the moonlight. She sat down on a bench and looked at the stars. They were so much clearer at camp than back home.
"The milky way is really vibrant tonight isn't it?" came a voice from the darkness behind. Lydia turned around startled, to see who had snuck up on her. She didn't know his name, but he looked like one of the trippers. They weren't around much at camp because they spent most of the summer on interior canoe trips with the kids, but they were the only people at camp with beards so she was sure he must be one of them.
"Oh, ya, the sky is great out here." She turned back feeling stupid and weird and awkward.
"Can I sit with you?" he asked.
"If you want" Lydia replied. They sat in silence looking at the stars together.
"Your name's Lydia right? I've heard talk about you from the guys. I'm Forrest; I just came back from a two weeker, so you probably haven't seen me around at all."
"What are people saying about me? I knew I didn't fit in at all."
