The Road Trip

         Fr. Jubal Early had been the camp director for twelve years by the time that the summer of 1980 had rolled around.  In that time, Camp Van Dorn had become wildly popular so Padre extended the camping season from six to eight weeks.  The camp season consisted of four weeks on, then a one week break, then on for three more weeks.  The week off provided a well needed beak for the counselors.  They were young, full of energy, and wanted to do something fun together during the week off so a group of five of the counselors planned a trip to Six Flags Over Georgia and then continuing south to the beaches of Pensacola.

   All of the campers had left Van Dorn by noon on Saturday.  To avoid having to pay for a hotel room, the counselors agreed to be in the car and drive off by 5:00 am on Sunday.  It was a three hour drive to Six Flags so if they left early then they could stop off and get some fast food before they entered the park.  The counselors knew that the food inside of Six Flags would be expensive so they wanted a full stomach at the beginning of the day.  Their stomachs were wrought iron strong when they were 18 years old so they didn’t have to worry about throwing up after getting on the really intense rides.  Because they were so young and strong it didn’t even occur to them to bring aspirin or any other medications on the road trip.  Even stopping off at the water fountain seemed vaguely unmanly.

   The only rides that they did was the scary rides.  And not just once!  As soon as they got off the biggest and meanest roller coaster they got right back in line to do it all over again.  After a bathroom break at mid-day, they got right back into line.  George suggested that hey do something different like to go and see one of the shows.  That brought on a chorus of “Pussy!  Pussy!  Pussy!”  Rather than endure another round of good natured grief from his fellow counselors, George didn’t bring up wanting to see a show again.

   The great thing about Danny was that he had such enthusiasm for his little jokes.  Throughout the day at Six Flags he would suddenly put his index finger to his lips and and yell out, “Shush!”  The other four guys were expected to follow suit and put their fingers to their lips and chant, “Shush!”  Then, dramatically, Danny held up his hand as a signal for the four to stop “Shushing” and he said, “Did you see that?”  He loved that joke.

   Only after the sun was beginning to go down did George decide that he had enough.  When he suggested that it was time to go he was met with another chorus of “Pussy!  Pussy!  Pussy!”  Annoyed at this over worked insult, George said, “No, really.  It had been a long day and I don’t want to get back in line.  The others were genuinely unsympathetic.  “I see,” said George.  “A friend in need is a pain in the ass.”  That brought a guffaw of laughter and all of the counselors agreed that it was time to go.  Besides, the McDonald’s breakfast that they had in the morning had worn off and they were ready to go back to the same restaurant to fill up for dinner.  No one suggested that they hang around for the fireworks as that would mean another three hours at the and to stick around just to “see something pretty” would violate their male ego sentimentalities.

   They got their money’s worth from Six Flags and McDonalds.  No one bought any souvenirs or even took any pictures.  Such false sentimentality would not do for the counselors.  They wanted to live in the moment and not worry about remembering their adventure at a later date.

   The second part of their trip was to drive to Pensacola, which is about five hours from Six Flags, so they had to pay for a hotel.  To save money, the five counselors packed everyone into a single room which meant that one person had to sleep on floor.  Bill volunteered.  That left four guys sleeping on two beds and there was no way that they were going to slide under the covers and sleep with another guy.  No one even made any homophobic jokes because it would be wrong to even suggest to the other guys that you were thinking in that direction  Since they knew that they were going to sleep on the floor once they got to Zolo’s sister’s apartment, they all had brought sleeping bags and a pillow and used them in the hotel room.

   Zolo’s older sister had moved to Pensacola to be with her husband, who was a lieutenant in the Navy.  She lived near the beach and invited her brother to come down for a visit but never dreamed that he would bring four other boys with him   It was just a one bedroom apartment so the counselors slept on the floor in the living room and dining room.  All that they want to do was to spend two days at the beach and then drive home on Thursday so that they could be back at camp on Friday for the long anticipated trip to Pickett’s Cave and a massive game of “Risk.”

   They envisaged playing volleyball on the beach while showing off for all of the girls who would naturally be admiring their athletic skills.  Dreams of bikinis danced in their heads.  And yet, these were teenage boys who were not used to taking precautions so nobody brought sunscreen.  The thought was that they didn’t sunscreen out at camp so they would need any at the beach.  They were young and invincible.  And yet, unlike Camp Van Dorn which was lined with trees, there was no shade to provide relief from the sun when the boys took off their shirts.  Also, it was during the week in the middle of the summer so not only was there no volleyball, there were no girls.  The very white skin of the boys began to burn, and burn badly, even before the sun reached its high point in mid-day.  Not only did they decide to leave the beach early, they decided to leave Pensacola a day early because there skin turned bright red and painful to the touch.  It took days, and a lot of lotion, to make the red skin turn white again and weeks before their skin stopped peeling.

   LaFayette McLaws was Zolo’s brother in law’s name.  It was a funny name and it was only given to him because his family was from a Cajun section of Louisiana.   Ever since he could remember, everyone just called him Larry.  Their time at the beach had gone badly so the five counselors tried to salvage the day by going to Larry’s softball game.  It wasn’t on the itinerary but Larry agreed to buy them beer as long as he was the only driver.  Everyone piled in the van, looking forward to a game and some suds.

   Softball is a fun game if you are playing but incredibly boring if you are merely a spectator.  The boys became restless almost instantly.  At the ripe age of 18, they did not think ahead, so there were no chairs to sit on.  Fortunately, there was a large tree next to the field and, ever-conscious of their sun burns, the five stayed in the shade while sitting on their butts in the grass.  The only distraction that they had was to cheer for Larry whenever he was at bat but that didn’t happen often enough.  So after a couple more beers, the counselors decided to sing some of Camp Van Dorn’s songs.  Their alcohol fueled singing was horrible but they sang with such gusto that the softball players from both teams were entertained.

   If the trip could have ended then and there then everything would have been fine.  However, they still had an eight hour road trip back to Camp Van Dorn and they had to stuff themselves into George’s small car.  It was agreed that they would get on the road early but that was before all five of them woke up with a hangover.  Also, Zolo’s sister had agreed to let them spend Monday and Tuesday nights with her but she wasn’t going to be responsible for feeding them.  The time and the expense was too much for her so all five left the apartment hungry and in a dark mood because their time in Pensacola wasn’t nearly as fun as they thought that it would be.

   Bill started to complain that he was hungry as soon as soon as they got into the car.  The mood was immediately set when Danny almost yelled in Bill’s face, “You are being a little girl!”  It didn’t make a lot of sense but it was the only thing that Danny could think of to silence Bill.  Now that he had opened the door to voicing any dissatisfaction with any of the other travelers, the flood gates were open to carping all of the way back to Camp Van Dorn.  Added to the time on the road, the frustration of a bad trip to the beach, the sub burn, and the lack of sleep; the air conditioning in the car barely worked so the five baked in the hot Florida sun.  Everyone’s nerves were frayed.

   For the rest of the summer the moment would be referred to as “The Incident.”  Zolo and Danny had been in a competition with each other since their tribes played each other in softball at Camp Van Dorn.  The two counselors had been picking on each other during the summer and this back and forth bickering continued on the road trip.  It was just needling, nothing really that bad.  “The Incident” was when Danny, who was in the front passenger seat, turned around and grabbed Zolo, who was sitting in the back seat.  The two were in a face to face confrontation when, suddenly, Zolo spit in Danny’s face to make him let go.  It was like a bomb went off in the car.  Instead of spitting back at Zolo, Danny simply let go of the shirt and turned around, a dark expression on his face.  Everyone agreed, except for Zolo, that he had gone too far.  Any good natured ribbing was gone now as nothing was funny anymore.  Zolo tried to defend himself by saying, “I wouldn’t have a chance against Danny if I didn’t play dirty.”

   The vibe in the car totally changed.  Instead of the constant complaining, there was silence.  When they reached Chattanooga, just under two hours away from camp, Zolo suggested that they stop for dinner.  “You can just wait,” snapped Danny.  That ended any talk of going to a restaurant so the boys just bought candy and a soft drink when they stopped for gas. 

   The five exhausted, sun burned, and hungry counselors arrived back at Camp Van Dorn well past dinner time.  A couple of the other counselors were there and they remarked, out of earshot from the five who went on the road trip, how different their moods were from when they left camp to the time that they returned.  The five weren’t ready to talk about it.  Only as the days went by and they put a little distance between themselves and the road trip did the five lighten up. They were happy to talk about Six Flags but no one mentioned Pensacola or “The Incident.”  Danny didn’t like being tagged as the victim and Zolo knew that he was wrong and didn’t want to admit it.