"Who's ready for the best time of their lives!" Martin roars, and 250 people cheer in response.
I add my voice to the throng, pumping my arms in the air and doing the most idiotic dance possible. A group of eleven-year olds, distracted from their cheering, eye me warily.
"Give it a day or two guys, you'll be dancing right along with me." I say, smiling.
"Yeah you will!" Christy screams, jumping next to me. We jump in a circle together in front of the bemused kids, the ones who will be following our lead for the next two weeks. All around us other counselors act in a similar fashion as their new campers mill about in uncertainty, unsure of just how much too let go on this, the first day of the summer.
Martin Jones, camp director of Rivermount for fifteen years, leaps up.
"This time will go by fast, so I won't waste any more time talking. I'll see everyone at dinner!"
He runs off and everyone cheers again. Me and Christy, co-counselors, bump fists before turning back to our campers.
"Alright everybody, first up is the swim test. Everyone in bathing suits, everyone have towels?"
Some nod, some stare at the ground, three girls who arrived together giggle in the back.
"Good enough, to the swimming pool!" Christy, a never-ending ball of energy, leads the way, and I fall into step next to her.
"How am I doing so far?" I whisper.
"Great!" She slaps me on the arm. "I told you there's nothing to it. You are the coolest person these kids have ever met. You're the cool older brother, uncle, and dad all rolled into one. After a day or two, you'll feel like you've been here as long as anyone."
She smiles again, and it's impossible to not return it. Someone taps me on my arm. I turn and see one of my campers.
"What's up bud?" Names will come later.
"Mr. Kyle, is there a bathroom by the pool?"
"Yeah man," I laugh. "And no need to call me 'mister.' Kyle is just fine." I turn to the rest of our group. "Everyone else hear that? I'm just Kyle."
"But I'm Queen Christy!" Christy yells turning and walking backwards, with a few bounces between each step. "Make sure everyone remembers that!"
A couple of her girls giggle. Most of my guys can't stop staring. I can't blame them. Christy told me during staff training the week before that she's grown up in gymnastics. She certainly looks the part, her body short yet lithe, her breasts pronounced on her slim frame. She spins around again, her blonde ponytail whirling through the air.
"Everyone walk like a dinosaur!" I roar and join in, and we arrive at the pool doing our best impression of a t-rex. We scream and high-five and turn to face our kids, who are slowly walking twenty steps behind us.
"Ah well," Christy sighs. "First day. We'll wear 'em down."
"I hope so."
"Wait until day three." She whispers. "You won't even recognize this bunch of mopers."I grin, then take the initiative when they catch up to us.
"Behold, my new friends, the Rivermount swimming pool!"
I throw my arms out to either side in a grand display. The kids stare past me, their uncertainty growing.
What goes by swimming pool here could much more accurately be called a 'swimming hole.' A large, chlorinated man-made pond wreathed by reeds, with a, H-pier, floating docks, and inflatable toys dispersed throughout.
"Is it safe?" One of the girls asks.
"Safest place you can go swimming anywhere around."
"I thought it's the only swimming place around." One of my guys. I point him out.
"That is a solid observation, and I appreciate it. But look at all these lifeguards!" I throw my arms out again, pointing to the numerous guards walking the pier and docks. "Everyone will be fine!"
My words aren't even needed. Christy, showing her experience, has already stripped down to her swimsuit and is charging along the pier to the water.
"Everyone with me! But... no one run!" She jumps in, and the kids hasten to catch up to her. I throw off my shirt and follow behind their cautious stampede, counting heads as we go. Safety first, right?
A burly guy stops us at the water's edge. Greg, the head lifeguard and a good guy.
"Hold on now, you guys here for the swim test?" 14 heads nod, doing their best to appear calm. Greg smiles at them.
"There's nothing to it." He begins explaining the rules as I jump into the water near Christy. We tread in slow circles as we await our campers.
"Best idea you ever had, Kyle, working here for the summer?"
"Oh yeah? How long have you been here again?"
"Been working five years, started as soon as I was sixteen. I was a camper for the ten before that."
"About the only one who's been here longer than me," another voice says. I turn and grin, because my favorite part of the pool just swam over on her lifeguard tube.
"Hey Heather!" Christy says. I repeat the greeting. She smiles back, a beautiful sight beneath her still dry, salt-tousled hair.
"How're your kids?"
"Not bad." Christy shrugs. "They're here for two weeks, they'll be begging to stay before they leave." She jerks her head at me. "Just as long as this one survives, we'll be fine."
"Come on Kyle! It's your first day, you big dweeb." She smiles as she says it, and I have a hard time finding the words to respond.
"I'm fine! Christy here is doing a good enough job for the both of us, anyway."
"Not for the last time either," Heather says, and Christy smacks her exposed shoulder. A shrill whistle pierces the air, followed by fourteen screams and splashes. Our group surrounds us in the water.
"Against the dock!" I yell above the chorus of sound. "Let's get this thing done!"
-
Two days later I'm up with the sunrise. I should have been here yesterday, but opening day wears on everybody. I made sure not to miss it today, however, and I jog from my cabin to the main road in silence. A quick warm-up once I reach the pavement, and I'm moving.
I'm no championship runner, but it's time to myself and my thoughts. Something often missed at college, and even harder to find at a summer camp. I settle into my gait and near the main gate just in time to see another body round the curve ahead of me. Curious as to who would be out here as well, I speed up.
I round the corner seconds later and do a quick jig. Some hundred yards ahead of me is the body that the pool water had hidden from me two days earlier. Long legs, lean and tan, their intersection hidden by pink cotton with black spandex peeking out beneath. That look drives me wild. I increase my speed again. Hips that jut just enough before curving back in at the waist, a tanned torso covered only by a lime-green sports bra. I'm closing in fast. Her hair, light with streaks of blonde, bobs before me in a ponytail.
I slow twenty yards back, before dropping back further. The last thing I need is Heather thinking me a creep. I drop back a healthy distance and drink in the view as we move along the road.
She turns two miles down, smiles when she sees me. I return it and wave. We pass with no words spoken, and I give her some extra room before I turn.
She turns into the camp well ahead of me, and is stretching by the pump house when I see her again. She straightens as I run by and says something. I pull out my earbuds and stop.
"What's up?"
"I said, do you run every morning?" I shrug.
"That's the plan. Didn't make it yesterday, I was beat." Her smile is sympathetic.
"First day is rough on you counselors. Glad I'm a lifeguard." She stretches up and the muscles of her stomach pull tight, her breasts rise. I try to disguise my stare.
"Must be hard life, lazing by the pool all day, saving enough energy for a long morning run." She glares at me over a mocking smile.
"Wake up earlier and you might catch up to me next time."
"So... you do this every day?" She laughs.
"That's the plan, especially with the food they serve us. It's honestly delicious, right?"
