Supratentorial Dust Storms and Tumbleweeds

Summer Camp (#liquid)

A pungent smell emanated from the bottom drawer of the bureau. Hesitant but curious, Susan knelt down on the dusty wood floor of the platform tent she shared with two other camp counselors for the summer. She noticed a liquid had seeped through the bottom of the drawer onto the floorboards below. Bracing herself, she slowly pulled at the knobs and drawer protested with a squeak on its rusty slides. She screamed and slammed it shut.

"What is it?" Tracy and Dana ran to Susan's side. Susan had stood and taken a few steps back. Dana squatted down to take a peek and promptly shut the drawer again.

"Gather the girls," said Dana in a calm, authoritative voice.

Five minutes later twenty Girl Scouts had dutifully assembled in front of their counselors' headquarters. 

Dana, paced silently back in forth like a drill sergeant in front of the girls for a half a minute. Susan and Tracy stood grimly behind her. The girls sensed they were in trouble for something and shifted uneasily but didn't say a word.

"We told you girls that candy was forbidden in the tents," said Dana sternly. "Yet some of you brought it anyways." She allowed a few seconds to tick by for dramatic effect. "Each week we have confiscated candy bars, gummy bears, and other sorts of sweets." 

Dana stopped in front of a tall girl named Betsy, always an instigator. "Do any of you still have candy in your tents?" she directed the question at Besty. 

"No," said Besty. 

Several other murmurs supporting Besty's denial could be heard. "Honest Counselor Dana, we handed it all over to you," said another girl in the back.

"Girl Scout's Honor?" asked Dana.

"Girl Scout's Honor," muttered the girls holding up the three middle fingers on their right hand–the Girl Scout sign. 

"Ok then," continued Dana, "we gathered you here to show you why you shouldn't have candy in your tents." She nodded to Tracy who beckoned the girls to gather around the dresser drawers. When they had all bent down and huddled closely around her she slowly opened the drawer. 

There was a scuffling sound amongst the candy wrappers and numerous pairs of frightened eyes looked up at Girl Scout Troop 314. The whiff of mouse droppings stung their noses.

The girls screamed and ran back into the forest to their tents. Less than a minute later they returned carrying handfuls of sugary contraband which piled up on the steps of Dana, Susan, and Tracy's tent.

The counselors didn't say a word, and no further punishments were dealt.

Afterward:

Fifty-seven years later Susan relayed this story to her grandson as he packed for summer camp. But much to the astonishment of Susan's daughter–who had heard this story all her whole life– she told her grandson to bring candy to camp, even though the packing list explicitly forbid it.

"It's great for trading," she said.