Date: Thu, 3 Mar 2016 12:02:16 +0100
From: Nick Brady <y2kslacker@mail.com>
Subject: Marco, Marty and the Twins - Part 22

Marco, Marty & the Twins – 22

This is a continuation of Marco in the Park, originally published in Nifty
as http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/marco-in-the-park/

This is the story of a young gay couple raising a rambunctious pair of
adopted twin boys.

Please end your feedback to y2kslacker@mail.com and don't forget to support
the Nifty archive with your contributions.

Copyright 2015-2016 by Nick Brady, all rights reserved.

-------------------------------------------------------

At eight o'clock Marco tapped on the connecting to to the room full of
boys. "You guys want some breakfast?"

In the next room two pairs of sleepy boys began to stir and untangle
themselves. Recalling that they were still at Silver Dollar City they
crawled out of bed and started looking for a change of clothes. There were
more rides to ride and things to do.

The hotel had a breakfast buffet that was part of the package and the
waffle irons were a novel treat. Once refueled, they assembled at the
entrance to the park.

"If you guys can stay out of trouble, we will let you go off by
yourselves," Marco gave them their instructions. "Stay together and we will
meet back here at two, OK?" Solemn oaths of good behavior were taken and
the boys skipped off smiling.

The park had a number of roller coaster rides and they tried to ride them
all. The Outlaw Run was a classic wooden ride which found them upside down
at several points. Riverblast armed them with soaker pistols which they put
to good use and got wet in the process. There was a giant swing and the
Electric Spin where they were able to dry off somewhat. They chased
themselves around in Grandfather's Mansion with its uneven floors and trick
mirrors. They were noisy but managed not to get into any serious mischief.
They knew how to have a good time

Marco and Marty contented themselves with a long ride on the old steam
train and enjoyed the many artisans. They watched the blacksmith, the glass
blower and the woodcarvers, then sat and listened to old timers play
traditional music on guitars, banjos and fiddles. Marco considered buying a
mountain dulcimer but decided it would be too much trouble to carry
around. They had a good time too, but at a more relaxed pace than the rowdy
boys.

At two they met as agreed and ate lunch at Molly's Mill. The big buffet
featured fried chicken and catfish, corn on the cob and home made
bread. They definitely got their money's worth.

Back in the car, Marty drove them home with Marco as his navigator. The
weary boys piled in the van and slept most of the way home. It had been an
interesting twelfth birthday.

Brian was working full time at the bike shop and the boys were playing
baseball. In between the twins worked at completing the requirements for
First Class scout, and Brian worked on his Eagle. Soon after the birthday
trip to Silver Dollar City they went to the weeklong Scout camp down at
Camp Tom Hale. Brian was the Senior Patrol leader and needed to be there so
he managed to talk Wayne into letting him have the week off and joined
them.

Sam and Ben figured Scout camp would be a blast and should provide them
with the opportunity to work off a lot of their requirements. Paul Marshall
the scoutmaster had pleaded with the dads in the troop to join them for
camp to provide additional adult leadership and Marco had agreed. This
would be his first experience at a scout camp and it was not difficult to
persuade him.

Tom Hale is a beautiful old camp. Set in Southeastern Oklahoma in the
Kiamichi Mountains, it is a paradise of tall pines and wildlife, and the
twins thought they were in heaven. They had already been on a number of
campouts both in Cubs and now with the Boy Scouts. The cooking requirements
were easy for them as Marco and Brian had walked them through many of the
details of proper tools and food sanitation. At the summer camp they were
able to sign up for a number of classes in first aid, pioneering and
orienteering.

"What's orienteering?" Sam wondered as they looked over the signup sheet.

"That's your map and compass work," Brian explained. "You have to lay out
and run a one mile compass course."

"But we don't even have a compass," Ben pointed out.

"You can buy all that stuff at the camp store," Brian told him. "They have
more in there than just pop and treats."

"Daddy gave us some money. Let's go check it out," Sam suggested.

The camp store was in a little shack on one side of the main camp area and
they found it was a treasure house of cool stuff. Almost everything they
would need was there as well as all kinds of leather working and lacing
kits, even a small loom for beadwork.

"Cool! We could do some bead work for our regalia," Ben told Sam.

"Look at the tubes of colored beads. That would be fun. But maybe we should
wait until the end of camp and see if we have any money left," Sam
suggested. "Daddy didn't give us all that much."

Ben looked longingly at the little loom. "I know you're right, but that's
really cool."

They bought a pair of nice Silva compasses and a few other necessities then
left for their first meal in the big dining hall. There were long rows of
tables with chairs neatly placed alongside. Down one wall were windows that
looked back into the kitchen and provided a serving line. It was warm and
steamy inside and smelled good. They filled their trays and found the other
members of their troop to sit together. Sam and Ben found a chair next to
Tyron and Bobby, Brian sat with his friend Luke. The food wasn't fancy but
it was plentiful and boy friendly.

"This is pretty good," Bobby decided.

"It helps that we're really hungry," Tyron pointed out.

"Chow down and don't spend your money on junk food at the camp store,"
Brian advised.

"Will we need stuff for Pioneering?" Ben asked.

"No, they will have rope for knots and lashing you can use," Brian told
them. "All you need right now is your compass for Orienteering. Do you have
that?"

"Yes, we got those at the store," Sam said.

"You're set then," Brian smiled.

The four friends had signed up for mostly the same things so they could
stay together, and the first session was Orienteering. They walked down to
a shaded area and sat down on the grass with some boys from other troops
who were there. This was fun and they hoped to make some new friends before
the week was over.

An older boy was serving as the counselor and opened up a big flip chart on
an easel. "Hello, I am Robert McManus," he introduced himself, "and I'm
going to teach you about Orienteering. Who needs this for First Class
scout?"

About half the boys raised their hands. Robert looked them over. "By the
time the week is over you should have all the requirements completed if you
will do the work. You can't do everything in class so be ready to work
together on some of this. Got it?"

They looked at each other and nodded.

Although Ben didn't know what Orienteering was before he signed up, he
decided quickly that this looked pretty interesting. The nifty compass they
bought in the store had more on it than they realized. There were markings
on the flat surface around the compass itself, and a little magnifying
glass on the bottom. Robert unfolded a big map of the camp area and told
them how to read the curving lines and how to position their compasses so
that it corresponded to the map. On the rotating dial of the compass itself
were markings that let them determine an exact direction. Sam and Ben
thought this was pretty cool.

After some basic explanation Robert pointed to a tree off in the
distance. "Line up, and we will show you how to determine your pace. Walk
in the way you normally would and count your steps as you walk towards that
tree. Got it? Now walk single file and remember to count your steps. Go!"

When they all got to the tree, Robert had them count their steps again as
they walked back to where they had started.

"OK now, how many steps did you count?" he asked.

Sam was a little surprised to realize that they didn't all have the same
number, although he and Ben's were almost the same. Several taller boys
including Tyron, had a smaller number of steps.

Robert smiled at them. "See, your individual stride is not the same,
because maybe you have longer or shorter legs, and maybe because the way
you walk is a little different. So take the two numbers you counted going
in each direction and average them. That means add them up and divide by
two, got it? Use your pencil and the little note book that you are all
supposed to have, right?"

Not every scout was prepared with pencil and note book and some borrowing
was required. "You are supposed to have those guys. If not, you can buy a
notebook at the scout store," Robert advised them. "You will need those for
all your classes this week."

Sam and Ben were prepared.

"Now that you know how many steps it took for you to walk to the tree, I
will tell you that the distance to the tree is one hundred feet. If you
divide one hundred by your average number of steps, then you will know how
long each step is. That is your pace and you can use that to determine
distance, got it?"

Not all of them understood, but after some simple discussion of arithmetic
the idea got across and with some coaching, they all knew their individual
pace.

"That's all the time we have for today," Robert told them, "Tomorrow we
will learn how to determine direction using your compass. If you don't have
one the scout store sells them. See you tomorrow."

"That was kind of interesting," Sam said. "What's next?"

Ben looked at their schedule. "Pioneering."

They went to a cleared area where some boys were already gathering. There
was a stack of wooden poles and a big spool of rope waiting for them.

A tall boy intruded himself, "Hello, I'm Danny Beaver and I am going to
teach you how to make stuff out of poles and rope lashing, Sit in a circle
around me."

Each boy was given several lengths of quarter inch hemp rope and a short
wooden pole. Danny proceeded to show them how to wrap the ends of their
ropes with some string, then how to use those to tie the knots and lashings
they would need to construct some useful items for their campsite.

Danny began by showing them how to tie a clove hitch and a timber
hitch. "These are the two most important knots for lashing poles for a lot
of useful camp items," he told them. "You have to know how to tie these
before we can really make anything. Before the week is over you will know a
lot more knots and how to do square, shear, and diagonal lashings. With
those you can make all kinds of things. Watch closely."

The boys tried to imitate what they were shown while Danny and another
older scout went from boy to boy until they were satisfied that they all
knew how to do this correctly. "That's right, pull them up snug, there you
go."

The scouts were paired up and each pair was given three short poles and
more rope. "The first thing we will make is a simple tripod," Danny told
them. "Watch as I do one and you do the same."

Beginning with a timber hitch, Danny secured a length of rope to one of the
poles then lashed the three poles together at one end, finishing with a
clove hitch to hold it all together. The final result was a tripod that
opened out to stand rigidly with the bound end at the top.

"You can use this for all kinds of things, to hang a cooking pot over a
fire, and a stand for almost anything. When you are through, you can fold
the legs back together and save it to use again."

Some of the boys did pretty well and others found their project falling
apart. "Tie them tight," Danny instructed them, and assisted their efforts
until they all had usable tripods.

"Leave this stuff here," he said, "and tomorrow we will learn how to make
some other things."

"That's harder than it looks," Bobby admitted.

Tyron grinned. "It was easy – the third time."

The next session was at the swimming pool. They were pleased to see that
Brian was one of the older boys who were there to assist.

The very first thing they stressed was the buddy system. First rule: never
swim alone. They paired the boys up and stressed that they were to keep
track of where their 'buddy' was at all times. There were some elementary
rules for safety, then they all had to pass the swimming test to determine
who could swim and who could not.

"All we have to do is swim seventy-five yards out and twenty-five
back. That's easy," Ben said to Sam.

"And float on our backs, that should be easy too," Sam said to Ben.

For their First Class requirements Sam and Ben also had to learn a simple
procedure for helping someone back to shore who was in trouble. They took
turns on each other. Since Tyron was a non-swimmer, Bobby teamed up with
Sam who agreed to be rescued again. They did fine.

Bobby was in his element and he, Sam and Ben passed their test easily,
although lacking any body fat they all three had trouble floating on their
back without sinking. Tyron was sent with some other boys to receive basic
swimming instruction. Brian worked with him to improve his skills. While
the non-swimmers were being coached, those who had demonstrated they were
swimmers were allowed some time for a free swim and began to frolic in the
water.

Every few minutes a whistle was blown and the leader called out "buddy
check!" Each pair of boys were to quickly move together and raise their
hands to show that they were with their swim partner. If a pair took more
than the count of five to raise their joined hands they had to get out of
the water until the next buddy check. Swimming accidents at scouting events
are extremely rare.

Those boys who were working on their swimming merit badge had to
demonstrate their proficiency at different strokes and distances while the
others enjoyed the swim time.

"I can swim, but I don't know all that other stuff," Sam admitted.

"We will need to learn how to do that," Ben reminded him. "Swimming is one
of the required merit badges if we are going to get past First Class."

The whistle blew and it was time for lunch. There was no grumbling about
that. On the walk up the hill to the dining hall Sam, Ben and Bobby walked
together. They saw Tyron walking in a separate group of boys who had been
receiving additional swimming instruction. Tyron was walking with his head
down and another boy was talking to him. Something about the way Tyron was
walking didn't look right to them.

Once in the dining hall they went through the chow line and sat with the
rest of their troop.

"How is it going so far?" Mr. Marshall asked them and listened as they
shared the morning's experiences.

Ben decided that he liked Orienteering the best. "I want to know how to do
a compass course."

"I liked Pioneering," Sam said. "I want to know how to make stuff out of
ropes and poles."

Bobby grinned. "I love to swim. I think maybe I'll start on my Swimming
merit badge."

"You should," Ben told him. "You are already a good swimmer."

"I took lessons at the YMCA last year."

Tyron seemed unusually quiet. "What did you like?" Sam asked him.

"It was all pretty fun," he said. "Maybe I can learn to swim better."

"What did they have you do to learn to swim?" Marco asked.

"Mostly I had to hang on the edge of the pool and kick my feet," Tyron
replied.

"Who were those guys you walked up the hill with?" Bobby asked. "Did you
make some new friends?"

Tyron looked down at his plate and shrugged. "Not really."

After lunch they had some free time and walked down to their campsite. The
camp had issued them some simple military surplus tents to shelter them
from the rain and the various creatures that might fall from the tall pines
that made a canopy over them. There was space in each tent for two
boys. Some of the boys had brought cots for comfort, the rest threw their
sleeping bags on a foam pad and slept on the floor of the tent. As might be
expected, Sam and Ben shared a tent, as did Bobby and Tyron. Brian and Luke
were the two senior scouts and shared a tent together. Marco and Paul
Marshall shared a tent. They brought cots. There was some rustling and
giggling from the boy's tents which Marco ignored. He slept well despite
Mr. Marshall's snoring.

Everything about this place was an adventure for these young boys. Most of
them lived in the city so being constantly outside in a pine forest was an
adventure in itself. There were birds of all varieties, some seen flitting
through the trees, some known only by the sound of their calls echoing from
above. There were interesting butterflies sailing by and large beetles
making their way across the forest floor. Bobby found a large 'walking
stick' which calmly perched itself on Bobby's cap as he walked down the
trail. Squirrels abounded in the treetops and other mysterious animals were
seen scooting out of sight as they approached.

They spent some time straightening up their camp which had been hastily
thrown up the evening before. Now they raked their area free of leaves and
strung lines between the trees on which they could hang wet clothing. There
was an informal competition between the many troops at camp on any given
week. No prize was awarded but newly made friends were invited to "come see
our campsite – it's really neat."

When their break was over it was back for some instruction. The friends
Sam, Ben, Tyron and Bobby had agreed to say together and it was now time
for First Aid. This was another skill required at various levels for each
rank, and the First Aid merit badge was required for Eagle Scout. Sam and
Ben had already prepared a personal first aid kit with Brian's help and
brought it with them. They wanted to complete the merit badge before the
week was over. Brian went with them and they discovered he was quite
knowledgeable in first aid.

"Gee, there is a lot to learn," Ben said.

"There is, but I can see this being useful," Sam pointed out. "Brian knows
everything!"

"Brian's good at a lot of stuff," Ben agreed.

The first aid training was very thorough and they were told what to do in
case of everything from burns to broken bones. They learned about CPR, and
Bobby was secretly hopeful that he would get to practice the mouth-to-mouth
on his partner Tyron, but was disappointed to see that there was a life
sized dummy for that purpose. The class would continue for another day and
they all agreed it was very interesting.

There were other merit badge classes offered later in the afternoon. There
was no lack of things to do.

Brian wanted to complete his Archery merit badge and left to work on
that. The four friends decided that it would be fun to do some crafts and
had signed up for Basket Weaving.

"Basket Weaving has to be the most puddest merit badge of all time," Ben
laughed.

"I don't think so," Sam argued. "It's fun and we will end up with a basket
to show for our time. Besides, basket weaving is a Native American craft
and that's us."

Ben shrugged and grinned in agreement. Bobby wanted to do Canoing and had
signed up for that later in the week. Bobby loved anything that happened in
the water. Ben and Sam wanted to work off a merit badge that was required
for Eagle while they had the chance. They looked at Environmental Science
and Emergency Preparedness.

"Wow, these are a lot of work," Ben sighed, "and there is stuff that we
will have to finish when we get home."

"These aren't Basket Weaving, that's for sure," Sam agreed, "but it looks
like we can get most of Environmental Science while we are here. Maybe that
makes it easier than Emergency Preparedness."

"OK, let's do that," Ben agreed. "We can do most of Swimming and make a
good start on the other one. That's two Eagle badges out of the way.'

Sam looked at Ben. "Are we really going to go for Eagle Scout? I mean after
seeing how much work it is?"

Ben grinned at Sam. "Yes. Not just yes, but hell yes. You coming with me?"

"I will if you will," Sam replied.

Later at the dining hall they discussed the day's activities.

"How are you doing with the swimming?" Bobby asked Tyron.

"Better. I think I'll be a swimmer in another day or so. Brian was helping
me," Tyron smiled at Brian.

"He's doing pretty good, I think he will make it." Brian agreed and looked
at the others. "How are you doing with your merit badges?"

Bobby grinned, "I'm going to get Swimming and Canoing. That is so cool!"

"You should do one of the Northern Boundary treks. You would love that,"
Brian suggested.

"What's that?" Bobby asked.

"That's where you go up to the boundary waters between the US and Canada
and canoe through the Northern wilderness." Brian told him. "I've always
wanted to do that. It's supposed to be really fantastic."

Bobby's eyes lit up. "Yeah, I want to do that!"

"We are going to get Swimming and I think try to do Environmental Science,
or at least the part we can do here," Sam spoke for himself and Ben. "It
would be cool to finish the Pioneering and Orienteering badges, but even if
we don't complete that here, we will learn enough for First Class."

"Even if we don't finish all of this stuff, we will have a lot of the
requirements complete," Ben reminded him.

"That's smart," Brian told him. "You want to get your Eagle required badges
as soon as you can. When you get a little older you will find yourself busy
with other stuff and short of time. Don't be like me. I have put off my
Citizenship badges for last and now it's going to be a hassle to finish
them."

"Don't they offer one of them here at camp?" Bobby asked.

Brian nodded. "Citizenship in the World, and I am signed up for that. But I
will have to do some of it after we get back home."

"Right, that's true for Environmental Science too," Sam told him.

"We'll have to work together on those," Brian smiled.

The idea of working together with Brian sounded good to the twins.

They finished their supper and prepared to leave. As they were making their
way to drop off their trays, Tyron stumbled and dropped his, making a lot
of noise.

"Clumsy shit," a boy sneered at him.

Tyron cleaned up his mess without comment and deposited it to follow his
friends out of the dining hall.

"What happened to you?" Marco asked him.

"That guy tripped you," Bobby said to Tyron. "Wasn't that the same guy who
was talking to you on the way back from the water front?"

Tyron shrugged, "Yeah, he's kind of a jerk."

They made a stop at the camp store and looked over the things for sale. Sam
and Ben bought a pair of basket kits and looked over the assortment of Camp
Tom Hale T-shirts.

"We need one of those," Ben said.

"They will be here tomorrow," Marco told him. "Save your money." They all
bought an ice cream bar and ate them on the way back to their campsite. He
didn't tell them that Mr. Marshall intended to buy each boy a camp T-shirt
out of the troop money.

Once back at their campsite they all laid around for awhile, then at
Brian's encouragement began working off some of the written work for their
merit badges and put it in their notebooks.

The next day their activity continued with Tyron almost swimming the
seventy-five yards to qualify as a swimmer. He did manage to do the back
float.

At lunch time they chowed down on some decent hamburgers and agreed that
they were making progress. Mr. Marshall left early leaving Marco in
charge. When they got up to leave, the same boy pushed his chair back and
tried to trip Tyron again.

"Hey, watch it!" Tyron exclaimed, obviously annoyed.

The bully stood up to face Tyron and said under his breath, "What you gonna
do about it, nigger?"

Without a moment's hesitation Tyron punched the boy hard in the face,
lifting him off the floor and sending him sprawling.

To those who didn't hear what the boy had said, it looked like Tyron had
started a fight. One of the adult camp staff called out, "Hey, we will have
none of that!"

Marco had heard what the bully said, and grabbed Tyron. "This is one of my
boys. I will handle this," he said loudly and hustled Tyron out of the
hall.

Once outside, Tyron was flustered and tried to explain, "He called me a
name!"

"Let's go to our campsite boys," Marco said and quickly walked them down to
where they were camped.

Back at their tents, Tyron was almost in tears. "I didn't start that," he
sputtered.

Marco was pissed. "I saw exactly what happened Tyron. That kid deserved to
get decked. Good job!"

It took a second before Tyron realized what Marco had said. "Really?" He
looked relieved.

"Really. You aren't in trouble with me, I'm proud of you. That bully has
been hassling you all week. He had it coming."

Tyron looked a little scared. "But I guess it looked like I just punched
him for no reason."

Marco shook his head. "Don't worry about it Tyron. I'll see to it that the
staff knows what really happened. I think they need to send that kid home."

Tyron's face broke out in a smile. "Thanks. I guess I really shouldn't have
punched him like that, but...,"

"If it was me, I would have kicked him in the nuts. You did what you had to
do. Don't worry about it, OK?" Marco smiled at him.

The boys in the troop gathered around as Ben explained what the bully had
said. In their minds Tyron was a hero, and they pounded him on the
back. Tyron was normally a quiet pleasant sort of a boy, but he was no
pushover, and certainly was no coward.

While they talked about the unexpected excitement, Marco went back to the
dining hall and talked to the staff there. The bully was identified and the
staff promised to deal with him. Later in the day he was seen loading his
gear into a parent's car to be taken home. Justice was done. Case closed.

The next day was spent learning to lay out a compass course. Using the
compass for direction and counting their steps for distance, they created
instructions to go so far in this direction, then so far in another, making
several turns and ending back at the starting point. The total distance
covered was just over a mile. At each turn they placed a marker of some
kind. When the courses were laid out by one group of boys, then another
group had to follow the instructions and write down the name of the markers
placed at the turns. They had a lot of fun with this.

Throughout the week the boys got a lot done.  While they didn't have time
to do everything for their Pioneering merit badge, they did learn to tie
many useful knots and worked together to lash up a tower with a platform on
top, and took turns climbing to the top and enjoying the view. What
remained would be accomplished later.

The last night of camp was a big campfire and each of the troops
contributed a variety of skits and stunts. On the walk down to the campfire
Brian called Sam, Bobby and Tyron aside and whispered instructions for an
easy skit. They laughed and joined the others.

The entire contingent of Boy Scouts and their leaders were assembled in an
arc of benches around three sides of a big fire pit in which was a tall
stack of wood. Off to the side a flashlight was shone on a tall boy dressed
in buckskins and a full Indian headdress. He dramatically raised a bow and
arrow. A second boy struck a match and lit the end of the arrow which burst
into flame. The boy pulled back on the string and let the arrow fly
straight and true into the center of the woodpile. There was a moment of
suspense and the fire caught, quickly blazing into an intense flame which
illuminated the faces of those present. It was dramatic and very
effective. It was not obvious to the crowd that the arrow had been affixed
to a wire leading from the boy to the fire pit, assuring his accuracy. Nor
did it matter that the center of the stack of wood had been prepared with
rags and kerosene. It was a great opening and was greeted with a loud
cheer.

The camp director made a very brief and funny speech then turned things
over to the scouts. Each troop, sometimes by individual patrols, got up to
contribute some sort of entertainment, a skit, a goofy song, or a joke. In
general they met the three standard criteria: Short, silly and funny.

When it was their turn, the three boys walked out in front and began
Brian's skit.

Bobby stepped up to Sam and said in a loud voice, "I don't know what's
wrong, but everything I touch hurts real bad." Bobby pushed his finger
against his head, "Ouch, that really hurts." He touched his stomach, "Oh
man, that hurts too." He stuck his finger in his ear, "Wow, that is really
painful!"

Sam listened sympathetically, "Let me look, maybe I can see what's wrong."
Sam looked carefully at Bobby's head, then his stomach, finally putting his
eye up to Bobby's ear and waving his fingers on the other side of his
head. "I don't see anything," Sam said, "Maybe you should go see the camp
doctor."

Bobby turns and walks over to Tyron who is pretending to read from a
clipboard. "Excuse me doctor but everything I touch hurts real bad. Can you
help me?" Bobby repeated the demonstration, touching his head, his stomach,
and his ear, crying in pain each time.

Tyron pretended to examine him, looking at his head, stomach and ear
finally snapped his fingers and said, "I know what your problem is." Tyron
whispers in Bobby's ear and Bobby returned to Sam.

"What did the doctor say?" Sam asked him.

Bobby holds up his finger and announces, "My finger is broken!"

This got a big laugh and the three boys returned to their places with their
troop.

Several other skits were done by other groups of scouts, then a small boy
came out and stood in front of the campfire. He was very thin and wore
thick glasses. He stood up very straight and took a deep breath as if about
to sing.

A ripple of laughter came out of the crowd of boys. "Look at that dweeb," a
boy was heard to say.

Brian looked around and held up his hand to silence them. Then the boy
began to sing in a pure sweet soprano.

"I love a parade, the tramping of feet, I love every beat, I hear of a
drum.
  I love a parade, when I hear a band, I just want to stand, and cheer as
they come."

The small boy's clear voice rang out over the campfire. He looked proud and
his voice carried out into the night. He sang the rest of the song,
gesturing with his hands at all the right times. The laughter quickly
subsided and a hush fell over the boys as they listened to this small scout
sing his heart out. He had a beautiful voice and he was not afraid..

When his song was over he bowed as he had been taught and began to walk
away. There was a moment of silence then Brian began to clap. He was
quickly joined by all the others and the sound of loud applause followed
the little boy as he took his place with his troop.

"Wow, he can really sing," Ben said.

"He sure can," Sam agreed. "And that took guts. I couldn't have done
that. That Scout is brave."

Not long after the singer the campfire was concluded and they walked back
to their tents. It had been a nice experience for a number of reasons.

It was a great week. Tyron passed his swimming test, Sam, Ben and Bobby
completed their First Aid merit badge, their Swimming merit badge, their
Orienteering merit badge and all the requirements for the others that they
could work off while at camp. Brian did the same for his Citizen in the
World badge and Archery as well. Sam and Ben took home some nifty baskets
and a cool camp tripod. It was a great week.


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To be continued –

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