A Silence to Remember (manxman)

Chapter 1

Dominick

We met at Boy Scout camp in 1990, years before the internet and Amazon took over the world. This was my last summer as a Boy Scout. Three years into adolescence, and I had yet to see any evidence of it until that summer, the summer before high school, the summer that marked the end of childhood and innocence. To some, the end of elementary school marked this transition, but not for me. I was a late bloomer, as my parents said.

People called me Dom, which I hated. I didn't like my real name, either—Dominick. I was always a pushover, so I sat back and let everyone call me Dom. Whenever I spoke up, my embarrassing stutter took over. It was better if I kept my mouth shut, so I settled for Dom.

Most of us had been going to this camp for years, since we were Webelos. We came from all over the state, but I hung out with scouts from my own troop, not that I was close friends with any of them. None of us planned on continuing scouts in high school. For many, football and girls would take precedence over anything else. I was a football kid, but I wasn't as crazy about girls like my teammates were. I never understood why.

I'd never seen the boy with the mousy brown hair before, the one with the big gray eyes. In reality, they were blue, but they looked gray from where I stood. On the first day, as we waited for our cabin assignments, the boy was alone, staring at the ground, almost oblivious to everyone and everything around him. Occasionally he looked up and his eyes wandered around the campground, but he seemed indifferent to everything. Our eyes met for a second, and he smiled before looking back down again. Maybe he wasn't so indifferent, after all. His name was Joshua Morgan, the only one who didn't respond to his name when called. Everyone snickered, gawking at him, as Scoutmaster Steve raised his voice, practically screaming his name. Inches from his face, he repeated his name for the hundredth time. Finally responding, he lifted his chin.

"Josh," he said. "My name is Josh."

Scoutmaster Steve had called him Joshua, but he preferred Josh, just like I preferred Dominick, despite my hatred for the name. My middle name was Leonardo, which I hated even more than Dominick. Leonardo di Caprio wasn't a movie star yet.

"Josh," Damon attempted to mimic his voice. Josh's voice had a distinct timbre that was unlike anyone else's. Damon exaggerated, making him sound mentally challenged. I felt sorry for him, this painfully shy boy who knew no one, who probably didn't even want to be there.

"Where are you from, Josh?" Scoutmaster Steve asked him.

"Cape Cod," he answered.

"Where on Cape Cod?"

The group of boys waited anxiously for him to respond, but no response came. Most of us just wanted to get our cabin assignments.

"Where do you live on Cape Cod?" the scoutmaster asked again.

"Wellfleet," he finally responded.

My parents had a house in Cape Cod where we often stayed during the summer. It was in Chatham, though, and not in Wellfleet.

"Are you the only boy from your troop here?"

He shrugged, something I noticed he did a lot.

"Well, we're glad to have you here."

Usually four boys shared a cabin, but that year there were only two left after the cabins were divvied out. The last two boys were Josh and I. For the first time ever, I didn't have to fight for the top bunk because we both got our own.

"Ha-ha," Damon teased me as Josh and I headed to our cabin. He was probably the worst Boy Scout whoever existed, a spoiled brat who got his kicks from being the classic bully. He put on a good show. To adults, he was mild-mannered and polite. I wasn't friends with him... merely acquaintances since we belonged to the same troop. He never wanted to be a Boy Scout in the first place. His parents made him. "Have fun with the retard."