“I’ll make sure the bosses know how well you interact with the campers,” Mindy said.
I smiled and was about to say something when one of the girls tried to get my attention by standing and was smacked bythe boom, which sent her flying overboard. The other three girls tried to help her and ended up capsizing their Sunfish. Trying to quickly maneuver myself out of the kayak, I ended up tumbling into the lake and swimming the short distance to where they were bobbing in the water. Thank goodness for life vests. Brittany was rubbing the back of her head where the aluminum had hit her.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
She looked at me, and I could tell she couldn’t decide whether to cry or not. Her dunked shipmates were giggling so she opted to join them. That was a relief, but I would still have to call her parents that evening to let them know what happened.
Carrie, one of the Cub counselors, and a sail lifeguard swam over to instruct the girls on how to right the craft and get back in. After several attempts they were safely back in the boat.
As we treaded water, Carrie asked, “Do you think I’m not capable of doing my job?”
“What? Yes, I mean no, wait. I think you’re doing a great job. Why?”
“I saw what happened, and I was all over it. You didn’t have to jump in, especially when the head of sail was watching.” She looked over her shoulder in the direction of Di on the sail dock.
I waved to Di and shouted, “Carrie’s doing a great job!” I egg-beated my legs as firmly as possible to push my torso up and gave her two thumbs up. To Carrie, I said, “My jumping in was in no way a negative assessment of your abilities—it was my maternal reflexes. You’re doing a great job in the bunk and here.”
I always looked over my shoulder, worrying about what the Bergers thought about everything I did. I should’ve realized that their abysmal management style trickled down to the waterfront.
Carrie looked askance when she said, “A bunch of the Cub counselors and I were talking about how you think we’re all useless.”
I gasped. “I think you all have the hardest jobs, working around the clock with no rest and having to sleep with the campers. Counselors are underappreciated and underpaid. I am truly sorry if I made you feel disrespected in any way. I am figuratively,” I panted, “and literally treading water to keep myself afloat. Please accept my apology if I haven’t let you know how much I appreciate all that you do for campers and for me.”
I reached out to hug her, and she hesitated for a second but then she let me.
“We good?” I asked.
“Yeah.”
As I swam toward Mindy, I was thinking that I’d need to make sure to meet with each counselor one-on-one to tell them how much I appreciated how hard they worked—even Jasmine.
Mindy held the Funyak for me, and after two failed attempts, I managed to clumsily squirm into its well.
Mindy looked horrified. “Oh crap, you jumped in with your radio.”
I looked down and sure enough the radio was clipped onto the vest, where I’d been instructed to attach it at the beginning of the summer, so that I could be reached on the lake. “Why do you look so distraught—because I fried it?” Jack would probably misconstrue my waterlogging his radio as yet another screw up. “They must have backups.”
“It’s one of Jack’s pet peeves. He goes bonkers when someone breaks one of them.”
“Even when the person went diving into the lake to fish out one of hispayingcustomers?”
That night I sat on my bed thinking about Teddy. I heard three low whistles. Outside I followed the smell of tobacco and the faint glow from his cigarette. As I rounded the corner, I saw Teddy leaning against the laundry shack.
“Let me get that for you.” He lit my Winston with precision.
After a couple of drags, I said, “I enjoyed watching you coach the boys this afternoon.”
“I was surprised to see you, especially out of uniform. You looked like a mirage in the middle of a hot, sweaty afternoon.”
“You were so good with them. I admired how quickly you got those boys up off the ground and playing. I could use some tips on how to motivate my campers. Sometimes I think they pretend to be injured just so they can sit in the shade.”
“I find it hard to believe that you have trouble doing anything you set your mind to. From my vantage point, you’re smart, competent, and resourceful.”
Over the weeks I’d come to appreciate Teddy’s perspective. He always managed to turn my negatives into positives. Ronnie enjoyed throwing my shortcomings in my face.
“Thanks, that means a lot coming from a veteran.” I took a drag. “You know soccer wasn’t invented when I was growing up.”
“That’s ridiculous, people have been playing for centuries. Where I grew up, you could kick a soccer ball before you walked,” he said.
