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Heavenless AcresWhen her father announced that he was whisking the entire family off to Maine for 10 days of camping, the hot flames of adolescent rebellion flared instantly. She was a teenager, nothing would happen if she was left home alone. Didn’t they trust her? Camp OzanamA counselor at Camp Ozanam, the summer he was 13, was attracted to him. The man watched from the bench as the boy won the softball championship, the track championship, the talent show. The boy thought the counselor just liked winners, but he was wrong…. A Handhold on the Rocky MountainWhen night kicked in, they were off to a schedule of nonstop fun that left lesser men gasping for breath. The camp is on a hill, two miles outside of Woodridge, New York. Their evenings began by hitching a ride into town. The Shape of ThingsWhen his display was over, he turned to the girl and asked if she had any questions. “What do you do with perfect people?” she asked. He gave her parents his broadest smile, and told her he was sure they would find something for her to do. St. Elmo’s FireLooking back on it, he wonders if parents of the scouts knew teenagers were responsible for the health and education of their children. Even 14-year-olds were chiefly in charge of taking a troop of scouts on four-day backpacking trips into the High Sierra. Fitting InAt 12, the all-consuming quest of every young girl is to find that group of like-minds who accepts her unconditionally, because school is a battlefield, and a girl’s gotta have allies. It never occurred to her that others might pay for her selfishness. The Midnight ConcertShe sneaked out of the back window of the cabin, walked close to the trees, and finally arrived at what was called the Bowl. The biggest, blackest, shiniest grand piano she’d ever seen sat in the middle of that huge expanse, bathed in moonlight. Building BridgesCamp Cleveland was a place they could go for a couple of weeks in the summer to get away from the gritty environment of the inner city and their dysfunctional families. Unless their fathers were serving time in the county workhouse just over the hill. Silenced Each DayHe is just an ordinary old man, now in his 80s, living somewhere in New Jersey. But if you listen closely to the stillness in your own neighborhood you might hear the thousands of children who are silenced each day by ordinary people just like him. ForgivenAs she entered the room, she knew where he was sitting. She could hear his desperate breathing, each breath sounding like his last. She didn’t want to look at him, so she kept walking toward the kitchen, wanting to avoid an encounter.   |
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