3 minute read

No Girls Allowed

By Erin Haworth Art by Teresa Villalobos

Her flashlight swept over the dirt path,

illuminating the way to her cabin. The chirp of unseen insects surrounded her as she looked

up through the silhouettes of trees towards the sky — no — a river of stars. She closed her eyes to take in the moment as a cold breeze swept by her.

Turning toward the entrance of her cabin, she was met with a small figure sitting on

the short steps of the cabin with a trampled sleeping bag in the dirt beside him. Even with his head nestled into his elbows, his mop of bright, blond hair gave him away. Sam was

one of the youngest in her group, a kind and quiet boy.

As she made her way closer to the boy, the

soft sounds of sniffles could be heard. “Hey

kiddo, what’s the matter?” she asked. Sam

tensed, but with a slight turn of his head he was relaxed again.

The once brightly colored bag, covered in tiny cartoon pandas and cherry blossoms, was laying limp in front of them.

“Please don’t be mad,” he mumbled into his

knees.

“I promise I won’t be,” she said. “But you have

to tell me what’s going on.” She reached out for a gentle handshake, “Deal?” He wiped his cheek and gave her a small smile, his face still blotchy from crying, and extended a pinky. She smiled back, shifting her gesture and gave him a delicate pinkie promise. “Now a deal’s a deal,

what happened?” she said. He looked down, tears welling up in his eyes again.

“Kyle made fun of my sleeping bag again,” Sam’s voice began to shake. “He said only girls were allowed to like pandas.” The cheerful chirps

that had surrounded them sounded like they had gone out of tune.

The first few days of camp had been filled with

Sam ecstatically showing off his new sleeping bag to anyone that would listen. The once brightly

colored bag, covered in tiny cartoon pandas

and cherry blossoms, was laying limp in front of them. Footprints covered the whole thing, having ground dirt and pine needles into the smiling faces that now stared back at them in the moonlight.

“Sam, I want you to be honest with me,” her voice was stern. “Did Kyle do this to your sleeping bag?” Her words were followed by a hollow pause, not even the crickets dared to be heard.

The silence was broken by Sam’s timid, whispered, “No.”

protect him,” her voice was

beginning to grow louder.

“If he did this—” Sam’s

timid hand on her arm

stopped her.

He looked up at her with

regret, “I did it.”

The shock hit her first,

crushing the words in her throat. He didn’t have to

say any more, but it didn’t hurt any less. She reached over, pulling him into a hug.

After the tears had slowed, she stood up

and grabbed the trashed sleeping bag. Taking his hand in hers, the two made their way toward the main lodge. Once there she began the work to bring the sleeping bag back to life. First, she tossed it into the camp washing machine, and 20 minutes later, it went into the old dryer. All

the while Sam sat in the main office, staring at his hands, at the cracked concrete floor, at the overflowing binders piled on the desk.

He hadn’t said a word in the hour it took

to clean his sleeping bag. She’d been talking

though, telling him that everything will be alright

and just 10 more minutes and don’t worry about what Kyle said, but not a word back to her.

“I present to you, your freshly cleaned and adorable sleeping bag.” She presented the panda covered bag, folded, to Sam. He looked

at it, defeated. “I can’t use that, it’s for girls.” His voice had become dull, numb. The vibrancy he had exuded had been extinguished with a single idea.

“I know what Kyle said but—”

“I don’t want it anymore,” Sam said. He then motioned to a couple of extra sleeping bags that sat, covered in dust, in the corner of the room. “Can I use one of those instead?”

She let her head fall, a cold sort of dread filtering through her veins. “Sure.” She sighed, “Grab one, and I’ll walk you back.” Placing the still warm sleeping bag down on a nearby table, she led him back into the night, the eyes of the pandas watching them all the while.

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