Date: Mon, 27 Nov 2017 10:29:24 -0500 From: The Paternal Watcher Subject: Scouting for boys, chapter 2: first campout I learned a lot more from my involvement in the Boy Scouts than would ever be put into the handbook. There were simply no skill awards that taught pitching tents and truth-or-dare, or merit badges for group showers, staying up all night, and anatomical explorations. If there were, I'd have been a double Eagle. I joined up right out of Cub Scouts, at the tender age of eleven, and no clear idea what my tiny tool was actually built for. Boy, did I ever have a lot to learn! I had no idea how ignorant I really was, because I was a smart kid, I read a lot, and I used a lot of big words. Our weekly troop meetings gave me no indication of what was in store, though; that wouldn't become apparent until my first camporee. The tents we slept in were quite large and really heavy. They were made of canvas, erected with two-by-fours, and were so big when rolled up that I could barely fit my arms around one. I knew that for a fact, because as one of the newest kids I had to carry one all the way to the camp site, while the bigger kids hauled in other gear that looked way easier on the arms. How fair is that? By the time dinner was eaten and the dishes cleaned, I was about ready to go to sleep, but all the boys gathered around the campfire for stories and jokes and singing songs that were almost naughty, but not quite. There were only a couple of new kids my age, and the leaders split us up into separate tents. I didn't know the other kid anyway. I kind of expected to just be able to go to sleep, but the other three in my tent seemed pretty hyper still and since I had an older brother, I knew it wasn't a good idea to be the first one to conk out. That was just a recipe for magic marker face, or worse. "You sleep in the raw?" one of them asked me. I thought his name was Vinny, but I wasn't sure, and didn't want to look stupid by getting it wrong. There were a lot of names to remember in our troop, and it was good that only about a third of the 60 boys were on this trip or I would have had no chance at all. "No," I squeaked. "Why would I?" "It's actually warmer," he said, his tone suggesting worldly experience about such matters. "Yeah, right," I replied, not ready to be made into a fool by the big kids. Vinny got into his bag and rustled around, clearly pulling off his pants in there. "Suit yourself," he said. "Don't listen to him," said Mike. "Vinny just likes to get naked because then he can't lose at strip poker." All of us laughed, but I quietly disrobed in my own bag to see what would happen next. Once we'd been checked on a couple of times by leaders (the Scoutmaster and the senior patrol leader), the coast was apparently clear for shenanigans to begin. As if being naked in my sleeping bag wasn't shenanigans enough! I soon found myself involved in my very first game of "Truth or Dare." A word to the wise: if you're going to play that game, don't start out naked. It can put you at a bit of a disadvantage. Truth or dare isn't technically a stripping game, but when kids play it -- boys or girls -- stuff like that is bound to happen. I was young, and I didn't know. Something else that I didn't realize is that no one is actually interested in the "truth" part of the game. That's just to make it seem legit: oh, you don't have to do dares, you'll just have to tell the truth! First they'll make fun of you for your answers ("you've NEVER kissed a girl?"), then they'll cast doubt on them ("no way are you that big!") until finally, either out of shame or as a point of honor, it's dares all the way down. Funny thing about dares: do enough of them, and they always involve taking clothes off. Always. They made me pull my underpants down to my ankles and spin around ten times without falling. I didn't make it, but they all said I did a good job. Later, I had to pull them down in my sleeping bag and Mike lay down on top of me and wiggled around like he was an inchworm that drank too much coffee. That was weird. Maybe weirder was that I kind of liked it. I saw a bunch of dicks that night. Some were hard. Vinny had the hairiest. I wasn't the only one with no hair at all. One kid actually had to let another kid draw a smiley on the end of his. It was crazy. I was hard when they saw mine but when they laughed it didn't seem mean. I was hard almost the whole night until we finally went to sleep. The next morning I was peeing near one of those kids and he leaned over and said to me, "You have a nice dick." I said thank you because I didn't know what else to say. It was awhile before I figured out what he meant, and he stopped going to scouts before I did. I didn't figure that much out, but my first time camping I sure did go home with a lot to think about. --------------------------------------------------------------- If you enjoyed the preceding work of fiction, please consider donating to Nifty. Every dollar goes a long way. I am delighted to be listed as a prolific net author; you can find a current list of my Nifty contributions by visiting https://www.nifty.org/nifty/authors.html#paternalwatcher. Here's a list which is current when this was published: - Adult-youth - Are you? http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/are-you - Appreciating the arts http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/appreciating-the-arts - Birthday boy http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/birthday-boy - Can I help with that? http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/can-i-help-with-that - Coffee shop boys http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/coffee-shop-boys - Eclipse http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/eclipse - Hot summer http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/hot-summer - Hungry for love http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/hungry-for-love/ - Just being friendly http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/just-being-friendly/ - Overalls http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/overalls - Pillow fight http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/pillow-fight - Tutu http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/tutu - War boys http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/war-boys/ - Whatever happens https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/adult-youth/whatever-happens - High school - Suspenders http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/highschool/suspenders - Young friends - Junior High series http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/junior-high-series/ - Scouting for boys https://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/scouting-for-boys-series/ - Summer homework http://www.nifty.org/nifty/gay/young-friends/summer-homework