After what seemed like days instead of mere hours from the airport, the old, rust-dappled van finally came to a stop. “We’re here!” announced the driver, a young man with a baseball cap pressed down backwards over his shaggy red hair and sunglasses covering his blue eyes. The van’s only passenger looked up from the screen of his phone where he’d been playing a game to stave off the crushing boredom and peered out the window at the sight before them. It was an sturdy little ranch house with a stable tucked next to a corral beside a grove of elm trees. Alongside the opposite end of main house was a row of small, evenly-spaced cabins. A faded wooden sign out front of the wrap-around porch of the main house was proudly emblazoned with the words “Wild Canyon Ranch and Summer Camp: Guiding America’s Youth Since 1966.” Bart gazed quizzically at the campus, squinting in the bright New Mexico sunlight. He had been less than ecstatic about the whole ‘summer camp’ situation from the beginning. Two weeks ago he’d been happily strolling away from the steps of Central City High School and looking forward to an entire summer of nonstop video games when his cousin Wally had dropped this nonsensical idea on him like a bomb. “Summer camp will be good for you, Bart.” He’d said, “You’re sixteen now. It’s time for you to learn some responsibility. Gain some independence and start acting like an adult. Besides, it’ll keep you from just playing video games all summer.”
"How is making sure that I waste my whole summer at a lame camp supposed to teach me about responsibility?” Bart had argued, scowling. Wally was always butting into his life uninvited with awful ideas that made him suffer. Wally called it 'building character.’ Bart called it obnoxious.
"Actually, Bart, I think summer camp is a good idea.” His grandpa Jay piped up. His grandma Joan nodded encouragingly as well. Bart tried not to look betrayed. They’d adopted him when he was little after his parents had died and raised him like their own son with occasional help from Wally. Bart loved them dearly and he knew they meant well, but sometimes he felt like he was being micromanaged by a team of out-of-touch senior guidance counselors. "I think you’ll be surprised by how much fun you can have when you spend some time in the real world and not in World of Warlocks.” Wally chipped in, issuing a frustrated groan from Bart.
"It’s World of Warcraft, dude! And I’ve spent plenty of time in the 'real world’! That’s what school is for!”
“Well, you haven’t been getting any high scores there, either.” Wally countered. “Joan showed me your report card.” Bart gave him a dirty look.
“Bart, honey. Why don’t you just give it a try?” Grandma Joan said, stepping forward and taking his hands in her own. “Just try it for a week and if you don’t like it then give us a call and we’ll send you home. And if you end up loving it you can stay there for the summer.” Bart considered the option for a moment in silence. He couldn’t say no to Grandma Joan. And it was only for a week. Surely seven days of summer camp wouldn’t kill him, right? And then he could just call home and come right back and spend his summer doing what he really wanted to do without his family hassling him.
And so Bart agreed to the deal and had been promptly shipped off to Wild Canyon Summer Camp two weeks later.
Now, as he looked out at the modest ranch in the actual middle-of-nowhere New Mexico, he was beginning to regret that decision. “Looks awesome, right?” The driver prompted, turning to Bart with an honest grin.
“Ummm, sure?” Bart replied, only because he didn’t want to upset the guy. He was so friendly and he had one of those sincere faces that made you think twice about lying to him. “It looks… different?” Bart offered, glancing at the name tag pinned to the guy’s chest. 'Roy,’ it read. He’d introduced himself when he’d picked Bart up at the airport, but Bart had already forgotten it sometime during the drive.
Roy laughed. “You got that right! Trust me, there’s no other place on earth like Wild Canyon. It’s one of a kind. C'mon, grab your bag and I’ll give you the tour!” He said, clapping Bart on the shoulder before jumping out of the van. Bart stifled a sigh and followed suit, pulling his duffel off the back seat and following Roy up the gravel path to the main building. He couldn’t see them, but he could hear cows lowing somewhere in the distance. The smell of hay, dust and manure assaulted his nose and made him sneeze.
“This is the main house, but we all call it 'The Tower’ because it’s the only building on the grounds that has two stories. Upstairs is lodging for the staff and counselors, and downstairs is the kitchen, mess hall, showers, rec room, and office.” Roy explained, clomping up the porch steps in his cowboy boots and reaching for the door knob. No sooner had his fingers touched it than it swung open from the inside. “Hey, Uncle Jim!” Roy greeted the man inside cheerfully, who returned it with equal enthusiasm. Bart could see the family resemblance. Jim looked like an older version of Roy with a beard and a reasonable haircut. “Hey, kid! You must’ve made good time from the airport. Feels like I just saw you leaving only a minute ago. Guess we don’t call you Speedy for nothing, huh?” He laughed. Bart raised an eyebrow. So that explained why they’d seemed to pass every single car on the highway coming here. He might’ve thought more of it at the time if he wasn’t so used to Wally’s driving, which was hair-raising to say the least. As it was, the ride had still seemed to take forever in Bart’s opinion, but he kept that to himself.
“You must be Bartholomew!” Jim said, jerking Bart out of his thoughts as he reached out to shake Bart’s hand.
“Yeah, that’s me. People just call me Bart, though.” He said, trying not to wince as his fingers were nearly crushed. Jim had a very firm grip.
“Bart it is!” Jim replied with a laugh. “Welcome to Wild Canyon, Bart. You can give me your bag there and I’ll put it in your cabin for you while Roy shows you around. Dinner’s in an hour. I’ll see you both then!” Jim said, slinging Bart’s duffle over his shoulder and giving them both a wave before closing the door behind him.
“Uncle Jim’s been helping run this place for years. I actually grew up on a Rez not far from here. That’s where he found me and we reconnected. I remember coming here when I was a kid. I mean, I wasn’t ever a camper in the program, but the ranch was so close and I just wanted to play with the other kids. Nobody ever seemed to care. I was always welcome here whenever I wanted. This place was almost going out of business by the time Uncle Jim found me, but when he saw what a great place it was and how much it meant to me, he decided to do everything he could to help save it. Even scored some recent funding from Queen and Wayne Enterprises if you can believe that! Don’t ask me how, because I still don’t know. The Rez even granted us an easement and we were able to expand a bit with the shared land, so now this place is doing better than ever. I mean, there’s always some fixing up to do, but we put most of the funding into the programs for the campers like you.” Roy told him. Bart half-listened as he looked around the place. The inside was actually pretty nice compared to the grounds outside. He could tell it had been recently remodeled. It was even air conditioned, which was more than he had expected when they first pulled up. At least he could be reassured that he wouldn’t die of heat stroke if boredom didn’t kill him first.
For the next half hour Roy showed Bart around the rest of the ranch. They saw the kitchen where a beautiful red-haired woman named Kori was making dinner for the camp. The food looked questionable, but Bart hardly noticed as he was too distracted by her eyes. They were the brightest shade of green he’d ever seen, and he would’ve been instantly smitten if only he hadn’t seen Roy steal a kiss from her on their way out. Damn.
After seeing the rec room and showers they stopped by the office to take care of Bart’s program registration. They were met there by another young man about Roy’s age named Dick, who assigned Bart to cabin number four and invited himself along for the tour immediately after Roy mentioned that they were heading to the stables next. Roy didn’t seem to mind, and Bart didn’t either. The two seemed to be good friends, and Bart was entertained by listening to them banter back and forth with each other as they walked.
They moved on to the stables where a woman named Barbara was teaching a riding lesson in the corral. A small group of campers watched in awe as she expertly navigated her horse around some barrels and fences. Bart noticed that Dick looked especially fascinated, although he somehow doubted that it was because he was interested in riding technique. They watched together for a few minutes before Roy led Bart onward towards the pasture. Dick, to no one’s surprise, opted to stay behind.
The pasture was occupied by about a hundred cattle. Among them was a green-haired boy about Bart’s age who was napping under a tree. “Shhh-” Roy pressed a finger to his lips and crept towards the tree, motioning for Bart to follow him. Roy grinned mischievously as he dropped to a crouch and reached his hands out towards the boy, who appeared to be completely asleep and totally unaware of the danger about to befall him. Suddenly, Roy grabbed the boy’s shoulders and shook him hard, shouting in his face. “AAAAH! EARTHQUAKE!!!” Roy bellowed. The boy woke with a loud yelp, his green eyes wide with confusion and terror for all of a second before he figured out what was happening. “Dude!” He exclaimed indignantly, shoving Roy away who collapsed onto his back in a fit of laughter. “You’re gonna spook the cattle!” But Roy seemed unperturbed as he regained his breath, smirking at the boy’s concern.
“No, I’m not. Because you’re here, Gar.” He said, sitting up and readjusting his baseball cap. “You’re the animal-whisperer! They’re always calm around you no matter what.” Bart looked around. True enough, the cattle seemed just as content and unconcerned about the disturbance as they had been when they’d arrived.
“Fine, but you’re still a dick.” Gar grumbled, sitting up and stretching his arms.
“No, Dick’s over by the stables.” Roy countered, and Gar swatted him then laughed.
“Shut up, man.” He snickered. Bart liked him already. He seemed laid back and had a good sense of humor, which Bart always appreciated. “Oooh, is this another newby?” Gar asked as he noticed Roy wasn’t alone.
“My name’s Bart.” Bart introduced himself, offering Gar a hand up.
“Garfield.” Gar replied, accepting Bart’s hand and pulling himself to his feet. “But people just call me Gar.”
“Gar was actually a camper like you last year.” Roy said, getting up and brushing the dirt off his hands. “But when we saw how good he was with the cows we decided to keep him on as a ranch hand. Sometimes we even pay him.” He joked.
“Not enough to put up with you, though.” Gar shot back. They all laughed at that.
“Hey, where’s Jason?” Roy asked, “I thought he was out here with you today?”
"He said he wanted to go for a trail ride and that he’d be back for dinner.” Gar said, shrugging nonchalantly. “I already got dibs on his dessert if he’s late, so don’t even try.”
"Fat chance, green bean. Speaking of dinner, we should head back." Roy said to Bart, turning back towards the main house. They both waved goodbye to Gar, who waved back and said he'd see them later.<\p>
"Looks like you got to meet almost everyone already! And don't worry, the ones you didn't you'll get to see later tonight at the bonfire. We always have one when we get a new camper so we have a chance to get to know you better." said Roy. Bart perked up at that. At least a bonfire sounded like fun. Maybe his week long banishment here wouldn't be so bad after all.
"Sounds great!" Bart replied, following Roy onward to dinner and the rest of the full week ahead of him.
