Page 147 - WhyAsInY

WisH i May, WisH i MiGHt
both custom and hormones was, at least at first, quite a challenge. It was also a very helpful introduction to the ninth grade, and I came to see it as an opportunity, albeit one that I did not take anywhere near full advantage of.
There were “socials” at least twice a week, where the campers danced to a jukebox in the “rumpus room,” a place with a name that took on various meanings as the summer wore on. And the pressure mounted as the social life peaked in importance heading into the Senior Trip, where, toward the end of each summer, the older campers, boys and girls, at an additional cost to the parents, would board buses for over- night trips lasting two or three days, depending upon the ages of the young travelers. Much as was the case with Color War at Anawana, everyone knew that it was coming. The only question in this case, how- ever, was not when but where. But that hardly mattered either. It was all about the bus. The object in the second half of the summer was therefore to find someone of the opposite sex who wanted to—or, anyway, was willing to—sit with you during the long nighttime rides. Traveling thus became a broadening experience, to at least some degree, for one and all.
The other big social experience at Starlight was the “raid,” where boys would quietly slip out of their bunks after lights-out, sneak past the “O.D.s” (counselors who were assigned to stay on campus, to be “on duty,” until the rest of the staff returned at curfew), make it across a wooded area to the girls camp, and visit their girlfriends, who had been tucked in for the night and may or may not have been expecting the arrival. In my third and last year at Starlight, I pulled the brilliant move of going on a solo raid and getting caught in the process. That would not have been such a bad thing had I not had elected to pull my raid on the night before visiting day. Somehow, Mom and Dad were not proud of the skill and bravery that their son had shown by crawling through the woods alone at night; I think that they were less than pleased with the greeting that they received from the owner of the camp.
Of course, for the most part, all of the foregoing activities were quite innocent, but this was the beginning of teenage years, the begin-
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