The oldest a camper can be at Camp Campbell is fourteen. Max is fourteen, hanging by a cliff's edge until next Monday: tomorrow. Ironically, Monday is also a week before Camp Campbell's Camp Camp wraps up for the upcoming school year. In layman's terms, Max has a week and a day left of suffering through idiotic tasks, imbecile campers, and excruciatingly annoying camp counselors. Especially David. Oh, how Max itches to see David left behind in the dust. All these summers come and passed, and it's finally here: Max's ascension from hell.
That's when a car pulls in front of the mess hall. Max startles when Nikki — who previously sat to the right of him and Neil — leaps from her seat and onto the table.
"Fuck, Nikki," Neil's thick, brown eyebrows bunch together to create a bird's nest below his forehead, "your poop-covered shoe is mashing my potatoes."
"I wouldn't worry about it," Max says through a mouthful of food, "with how it tastes, I wouldn't be surprised to find the Quartermaster crapping on our food before serving it. Call it leftovers."
"My mom is here," Nikki shouts, sending Neil's tray crashing to the ground as she bolts forward.
"Great. Just, wonderful," Neil flails his twig-like arms in the air as Nikki disappears behind the mess hall door. "Why do my lunches always end up on the floor? I know I'm a man of science, but come on. It's the twenty first century; shouldn't there be more creative ways to burn off one's bottled aggression?"
"Oh my," David exclaims, popping up from behind Max and Neil out of nowhere, "Nikki's Mom is here already? But we still have another whole week left of camp."
From outside, Nikki's Mom honks her horn. "Nicolette, I have a surprise," she hollers through her wound down window.
Neil stands. Max grabs his arm. "Where do you think you're going?"
"Nikki is leaving. Maybe for good. Don't you want to say goodbye too?"
"I'm better suited for the indoors."
Neil rolls his eyes and clicks his tongue. "Of course not. You're Max. I forgot who I was talking to for a second. All these years, and you haven't changed for shit."
Neil breaks free from Max's grasp and joins his other friend outside. Max pouts as David cups a hand over his shoulder. "Don't worry, Max. Neil seems... agitated today, but that's only because he's sad to see Nikki go."
When Max doesn't respond, David frowns and leaves him alone at the table. When everyone is outside, Max sighs. Through all these pain-filled years, only two campers have stayed with Max through it all. Not Space Kid, not Nerris, not Harrison. Those kids abandoned him ages ago. It has been Neil and Nikki, the only two Max could remotely bare. And now Nikki is going. And soon Neil will follow her.
Max finally gets from his seat to step outside. There, he is greeted by a horrible sight. Nikki's Mom with her arm tight around Neil's Dad's waist. Nikki's Mom is dressed in a lavish, white gown and Neil's Dad sports a handsome, black suit. Behind them, a limousine. Trailing its rear are tin cans held by strings. "Oh, hell no," Max says, stepping between the equally horrified children.
"Well, hiya Neil. We have great news," Neil's Dad raises his hand, where a golden ring gleans on his ring finger.
"We're getting married," Nikki's Mom squeals, wrapping her arms around her husband's shoulders.
"Oh, hell no," Nikki says.
"Oh, hell no," Neil says even louder.
"You two are brother and sister now. Isn't that wonderful?" Neil's Dad announces, hand on his hip. The head of his sock puppet hangs limp from his suit pocket.
"We're taking y'all home for our wedding day," Nikki's Mom strokes her husband's chin scruff, "Honeybun here booked us a beachside view in New Mexico."
"Dad, New Mexico is a landlocked state," Neil says.
"Ever heard of White Sand?" Neil's Dad nestles Neil's hair, and Neil swats his hand away.
"This is wonderful," David tosses his hands in the air, his grin reaching from East to West. "You two are going to be siblings. Now you won't have to be apart."
David wraps his arms around the two kids and pulls them in for a hug. Neil groans and Nikki scratches her head.
"Man, I'm going to miss you guys," Max sees a tear roll down David's cheek. "Promise not to forget me when you're gone."
"I don't think that's possible," Nikki says, causing David's single tear to multiply.
"Oh, have a great time in New Mexico," David lets go of Nikki and Neil as their parents drag them to the car, "Write me letters every week. Don't forget what me and Gwen taught you when you're out there in the wild world."
Neil and Nikki reluctantly climb into the back seat of the limo. Nikki looks through the shaded window with sad eyes as her mom begins to pull away.
Max keeps his hands in his pockets as dust picks up from behind the back wheels. He blocks out David's boisterous goodbyes as the car disappears in the distance. When they are gone, Max feels this peculiar, encompassing emotion. He doesn't like it, so he buries it below his feet, far into the ground.
"Isn't this just perfect?" Max rams his heel into the gravel.
"Max, are you—"
Before David can finish, Max storms off toward the tents. David dares not another word as he feels his body pull in two separate directions.
ooo
"Max has been hiding in his tent all day," David makes over exaggerated arm gestures as he weathers a ditch in the councilor's cabin floor with his pacing.
"And that's a surprise, how?" Gwen asks from her reclined position on her bed. She watches her twelve-inch screen and meticulously covers her nails with a layer of blue polish as David continues.
"There has to be a way to cheer him up. It's his last week of camp. It's his fifteenth birthday tomorrow, for Campbell's sake. He deserves the best goodbye present love can create."
"Max isn't the type of kid who enjoys being praised with love and sweet farewells. Getting out of camp is present enough for him."
"Nonsense," David grins as a thought crosses his mind, "I know the perfect gift for Max that'll turn his frown all the way around."
"Please don't tell me you're getting him another broken tribal-staff."
"Just you wait, Gwen. Come on. We have a lot of preparation on our collective hands for tomorrow's big day."
Gwen rolls her eyes as David pulls her away from the tv.
ooo
Max trudges into the mess hall the next day with heavy bags weighing his eyes, his mind discombobulated. He doesn't notice David or Gwen until he hears the pop from their party cannon.
"Happy Birthday, Max," David cheers, a pointy hat a volcano of streamers atop his head.
"What the—"
"Come sit," David usurers Max to a table in the center of the room and sits him on the bench.
Max looks up and sees blue and yellow streamers hanging from the rafters above. There is confetti scattered across the ground and table, and a small, wrapped present just to the right of Max on the table.
David straps a party hat to Max's head, identical to that of his and Gwen's. "And this is not even the best part. Quartermaster."
The Quartermaster then emerges from the kitchen, a plate balanced in his one good hand. On it, a cupcake with a burning candle in the shape of the number fifteen. The Quartermaster places it before Max on the table and staggers away once more. Max looks at the plain, vanilla cupcake and sneers.
David reaches under the table and pulls out his guitar. With a grin and wink, he begins playing a familiar tune — though slower than is usual.
"Oh...
There's a place I know that's tucked away.
A place where Max and friends did stay.
Where we went to laugh and play.
And have cake for Max's b-day.
I know it's hard to believe, but guys and gals it's true.
We're throwing a birthday party just for you."
David sits beside Max and smiles. "Now, make a wish."
Max looks at him, then at his candle. The blue wax drips as the flame flickers softly. Max can feel David and Gwen's eyes on him as he sits stationary, quiet swelling around them. Finally, Max gets up and turns to the exit.
"Max, wa—" David tries, but Max is already gone.
David and Gwen are left alone in a room of blue and yellow sheets of paper, silence, and an ever burning candle.
"Told you," Gwen sighs and leaves David alone in his party hat.
"I just wanted to make him happy," David whispers as he feels the passing of another moment of his life.
ooo
That afternoon, David finds Max skipping rocks at the dock's edge. Stars shine in the sky and in the water's reflection as Max drags his bare toe across the lake's chilly surface. David readjusts his scarf and takes a breath in before approaching him.
"Can we talk?" David asks, stopping just behind Max.
Max doesn't turn or say anything. Instead, he grabs another rock from the pile beside him and chucks it at the moon. It rockets up a few feet, then curves back downward, landing in the inky, black water with a plop.
"I was just thinking," David speaks to the wind, "after all these years, maybe this is the way to say goodbye. To throw a party. To give you presents. But... that's what I would've wanted, not you. I was wrong. Sorry."
David sees Max's head lift, his face still forward, expression hidden.
"I know you're upset because of Neil and Nikki. I know you're sick of seeing all these people in your life come and go, and come and go, and you're stuck in the same place you've always been summer after summer," David touched his yellow bandana and closes his eyes. He feels a breeze on his face and in his hair, the same as it was back then. But this wasn't like back then. No. Times have changed, David's wise enough to know this.
"And I know you deal with goodbyes differently than how I do. I was only blinded by this truth because — well, I was scared," David opens his eyes and smiles a sad smile. "Can I sit?"
Max is still for a moment. Then he nods. A tiny nod, unnoticeable if one was not paying attention. But David saw, and so he sat.
"I just... I'm terrified, Max. Even after all this time, I'm still frightened. To see Neil and Nikki go. To see Dolph, Ered, Harrison, Preston, Space Kid, Nerris, Scotty, even Nurf go. I can't imagine losing all of you. It's like an unreal truth I can't begin to comprehend. I know you don't feel the same, but I'm going to miss you... all of you."
"I don't want to grow up," Max murmurs, barely audible above the birds and crickets.
David turns and sees Max's face red and soaked with tears. Max looks down and wipes his cheek with his sleeve.
"Neither did I, kiddo," David says trough blurry eyes, "neither did I."
ooo
A week later, Max is about to get on the bus when David stops him. Before Max can ask, David hands him the present from Monday.
"Forgot to give you this," David says, placing a hand over Max's shoulder, "sorry it took so long."
Max looks down at the badly wrapped present and shakes his head. He then tares the paper away to reveals a yellow, Camp Campbell shirt beneath.
"Just like mine," David takes the yellow scarf from around his neck and holds it up for Max to see, "I got a shirt like this when I was a camper. It's a little small for me now, but I like to keep it close to me always."
Max takes the shirt under one arm and looks down. "Thank you."
"No, thank you," David gleans.
That's when Max hugs David. It was so quick, David didn't have a chance to react.
"Not a word," Max sneers as he stomps back onto the bus.
"Got it," David smiles softly, "see you soon."
Max pauses at this, but brushes the words away. When the door closes behind him, he gets in the very back of the bus to take his seat. From the back window, he sees David and Gwen waving as the bus drives off and down the dirt road.
After a moment, he turns back around and looks down at his present. He smoothens the yellow fabric, then unfolds the shirt. To his surprise, a piece of paper falls from the inside and lands on his lap. Max picks it up to inspect it.
Its a newspaper clipping, small and not wordy. All it says is: "Junior camp counselor needed. Ages 15-18. Call 555-123-709 to apply."
Max stuffs the sheet in his pocket and leans his head against the window.
"A place I know that's tucked away," Max begins,
"A place where you and I can stay.
Where we can go to laugh and play,
And have adventures everyday.
I know it sounds hard to believe, but guys and gals it's true.
Camp Campbell is the place for me and you."
The End