As I drove up the winding gravel road toward the summer camp, I started to recognize my surroundings and began to get excited. Coming back to work at camp every summer was like coming home. It was wonderful to be back.
The camp sign towered over the road as I rolled out of the trees. Before me was a low wood building that served as headquarters. To the left, the land sloped down to a small lake surrounded by pine trees. Hills rose up on two sides with the camp nestled in a wooded valley. To the right of the headquarters building was a large field. The dining hall was on the far side of the field and the main camp road disappeared behind the dining hall into the woods. The rest of the camp was hidden from view by the trees.
I parked my car in front of headquarters. The front door creaked when I pulled it open and then banged shut. I found the camp director in his small office just inside. Larry looked up and smiled as I knocked on his open door.
"Andy," he said as he stood up and offered his hand, "it's so good to see you! Welcome back to camp." He waved me over to a chair. "Wow," he said, "you look very different. Very fit."
"Thank you, sir," I said. "Actually I've been going by Drew lately, if that's ok."
"Drew? Sure, whatever you like. Forgive me if it takes me a minute for it to stick. I've known you several years as Andy."
"It's sort of a new leaf thing."
Larry considered that for a moment and shrugged. "I know you joined a volunteer fire department back home and got your EMT this year. It was on your application materials of course. Does that explain this transformation?"
I nodded. "I couldn't pass the physical or the fitness test. I had to work pretty hard at it, but I got there. It's been good for me, I think."
"Well, you do look very fit. And I'm sure you're still the good worker and kind person you've always been. I'm happy to have you in one of the EMT positions. You did a great job working at the pool for the last two years. It's a big step up in responsibility, but I know you'll be great." My face reddened.
Larry handed me the list of the counselors who would train as Wilderness First Responders this year. With only a retired doctor to run the clinic part time and serve as medical director, a nurse for sick call, and a pair of EMTs, the large camp relied on counselors cross-trained as first responders to add manpower to the full-time medical and emergency staff. Training them was part of my job.
My face lit up as I read the names. "Lilly!" I said with excitement.
"Ah, yes, Ms. Morgan," said Larry. "I understand she is a good friend of yours. She insisted on joining the first responders this year. I think you're move to EMT had something to do with it. Always good to have a familiar face on the team, right?"
"It sure will be," I agreed.
To call Lilly a friend was a massive understatement. She was my best friend at camp, which meant she was my best friend in the world. We kept in close touch throughout the year, but she hadn't mentioned joining the team. Her full-time position during camp was in the ecology department. She taught classes about earth science and led campers on field experiments. We had known each other as campers many years ago and had joined the staff together. This was our third year as co-workers.
Larry handed me another list of the rest of the camp's staff for this year. My supervisor was Karl, an experienced EMT who had worked seasonally in camp for several years. He was the one who encouraged my interest in joining a fire department and becoming an EMT.
Many of the other names on the staff roster were familiar, but there was one in particular I was looking for. I carefully contained my excitement when I found her. Robin was going to be the director of the camp store. She had been my camp crush for two years, although she hadn't given me much of her time before. Maybe this year would be different, I thought. Maybe now I would have the confidence to ask her out.
"The aquatic director arrived just before you," Larry said. "She's down in her office by the pool now. You might drop by there," he said. "She's new this year. As an EMT, you have to coordinate procedures with her, anyway. Maybe you can show her around too since you were an old hand in the aquatic staff?"
"Sure thing," I said.
After excusing myself from Larry's office, I walked down the hall to the medical station. The nurse was at her desk. She remembered me from years past. We made some small talk and I started to get my equipment and paperwork in order. I found my uniform waiting for me on my desk and I excused myself briefly to change out. Having shifted over, I took the keys for a camp truck off the pegboard by the door. Soon I was rattling down the main road into the back of camp.
I pulled up to the pool area and parked. I took a look around as I walked through the familiar squeaky gate and turned towards the aquatic staff office. The new director was going to have her work cut out for her to be ready in a week for the first summer season. None of the equipment had been hauled out of storage and everything needed a wash.
To my right, was the green-painted cinderblock building that housed the shower rooms and the aquatic staff office. The office was accessed from a heavy metal door in the center of the wall facing the pool. On either side were the entrances to the shower rooms screened by privacy walls.
I strode over to the building and rapped on the door. I heard a feminine voice from within answering. I tugged open the heavy metal door and went inside.
The new aquatic director was sitting at her desk surrounded by binders, clipboards, and sheaves of paperwork. She looked up as I came in. The back of the office was an equipment cage. At the moment, the gate hung open and the gear was in chaos.
"Hi there," she said with a friendly smile as she rose from her desk. "You must be one of the EMTs." She held out her hand as I approached. "I'm Erin," she said, "Aquatic director."
I shook her hand and returned the smile. "Pleased to meet you," I said, "I'm Drew. Did Larry tell you I was coming?"
"He did," she confirmed, "but I think I might have figured it out." Erin pointed to the star of life on the breast of my staff polo. The back of my bright red shirt also had "EMT" emblazoned in retroreflective letters.
"Oh, fair enough," I said with a chuckle.
"You look the part, too," she said.
"Is that a good thing?" I asked uncertainly.
Erin rather blatantly looked me up and down. "I'd say so," she said.
"Oh. Uh, ok," I said with an uneasy laugh. She sat back in her chair and I pulled up a chair from an empty desk for the expected meeting.
"Like I said, you look the type," she said, "short haircut, big muscles." She leaned over and squeezed my upper arm. I laughed nervously again. I was simultaneously intimidated and turned on by how forward and flirty she was.
Finding a new confidence to match the physical changes I'd made over the last year was proving harder than I thought. "Uh, thanks, I guess," I said. I shrugged. My instinct was to wonder if she was mocking me.
Erin was quite a bit older than me, which was not surprising for the director of the largest department at the camp. I estimated she might be about twenty-four. She was tall and a muscular herself, clearly an athlete. Today she wore a red polo with a lifeguard's white cross the over her khaki camp shorts. Her shirt buttons were unfastened against the summer warmth. Her shorts were very short indeed, showing off her toned and smooth-shaved legs and her lustrous brown hair was draped around her shoulder in a low ponytail.
She smiled and pretended to grimace. "Well, on the other hand, you seem to be missing the requisite massive self-confidence for that type." She considered me thoughtfully. "That's alright, maybe we can work on that. Anyway, that can be overdone."
"Maybe," I said lamely. I didn't know how to respond to any of that.
"Well, a handsome guy like you must clean up around here anyway. I think there are probably lots of hotties on the staff. You must get your pick."
I shrugged. Erin seemed like she was too sharp for me to bullshit, so I avoided the question. She saw through the silence.
