I slammed the gavel as a resounding "NOT GUILTY" echoed through the courtroom. Damon Gant was led away, and I couldn't help but wonder how we got here. Together once again in this very room, but for a very different reason. He is not the man I used to know…

I can't help but look back to the summer we first met. I had hair back then. It was thick and sandy blond, but still cropped short. I was strong and athletic, and I wanted nothing more than to be outside, so my parents sent me to summer camp. They kissed me goodbye, and I boarded a bus that was taking me to my summer paradise. I was alone on that bus until it stopped in a small town in southern California. A parade of kids marched into the bus, leaving the seat next to me still empty. The bus was about to leave when a tall boy in an orange t shirt came sprinting around the block, waving his arms and yelling. When he finally caught up to the bus, he was panting and searching the bus for an empty seat. The one he found was the one next to me.

"Hey Blondie, can I sit here?" I nodded, shocked by the immediate nickname I was given. I looked him up and down again, shock of black hair, green eyes, more tan than the surfers in Venice beach.

"I'm Gant... Damon Gant."

"I'm.."

"It doesn't matter, I'm still gonna call you blondie."

"Uh...Okay…um" I wasn't sure what to say.

"Is this your first year going to camp?"

"Yeah, my parents wanted me to get out of our small town and live a little."

"Wow, that's a high expectation...You should just try to have a good time."

"Have you been to camp before?"

"Every year since I was seven. I like to swim, and there isn't a pool or anything in my town, so my dad sent me. Later I found out that he was really sending me away so he could desert my mom without me knowing. He ran off with this woman, I think her name was Wanda, or Wendy, or something...Anyway, I had no idea, and I came home and it was only my mom in the house. I was furious. I never wanted to do anything ever again. But the next summer came around, and I went back to camp. It was more of a home to me than anywhere else."

I wasn't really sure how to follow that up, so I sat in silence. The bus sped down the road and then turned onto a dirt road surrounded by a pathway of trees. As we bumped across the rocks, tree branches seemed to reach across to replace the golden sunlight with jade green beams. The road wound down into a clearing, and I saw one of the most beautiful places I have even seen. The green grass waved in the breeze and rippled like the ocean. Kayakers took their bright boats down a clear stream that lead down to a pond. Platform tents dotted the treeline, and groups of hikers marched up and down the dusty trails. In the center was a lodge with tall colorful flags waving over it. Counselors in dark blue t shirts came towards the bus with large wagons, ready to help us load our stuff into our summer home.

Gant and I bunked together that entire summer. We laughed and made fires and hiked, but most importantly, we swam. There was a small pool near the edge of the property, but the lake was so much better. The water was cool and clear, and there was a raft in the center with a lifeguard chair and towels on it. That never made much sense to me because who needs a towel in the middle of the lake, but I never questioned it otherwise. It was a great summer, and I never forgot it.

A few years later, we were both old enough to be counselors. That meant life guard and safety training, first aid and fire building. We were ready, although Gant joked around almost the entire time. Most of the summer was uneventful, but that was about to change.

"Hey, wanna go swimming."

"Gant, it's 4 AM, nobody wants to do that!"

"Come ON!" He dragged me off of the top bunk, and my blanket fell to the ground. He was already in his red lifeguard swim trunks and carrying a fluffy white towel.

"God Gant, you're gonna wake up the whole camp."

"Shut up and get dressed Blondie."

"No, it's against camp rules! We could get fired! Do you really want that? Does NEVER COMING BACK sound good to you?" He chuckled uneasily.

"Most of the other lifeguards are already there…" Ulp, that wasn't helpful to my case. I didn't want to be a downer. What could possibly happen? I grabbed my trunks out of my bag and pulled on a white t shirt. I followed him through the lodge and out to the lake. It shimmered in the dark, and other lifeguards were already there, their bodies streaking through the water. Some people were resting on the raft.

"Hey, we should try jumping off the raft!" Gant was already perched near the side, and smoothly dove into the lake. I could tell he was trying to impress the new girl by the way that he only jumped off when she was looking. More boys were on the raft, doing even more impressive dives than him. Attention was turned away from him. He was getting annoyed. So he dove off of the lifeguard chair and into the water. The next kid followed him. After a long string of kids jumped off, the girl decided to give it a try. She leapt off the precarious chair, and hurtled through the air.

CRACK.

I jumped off the side and pulled her out of the water. He head rolled over to the side, and blood was soaking the white towels that covered the raft.

"Somebody! Get help! Hurry!" I whipped my head around and everyone was suddenly gone. Except for Gant. He was on his knees sobbing.

"Gant, you have to go get help! Now!"

"I caused this...this was my idea…"
"We don't have time for this! GO!" He was shaking furiously. "Oh, never mind, just stay here and try to keep her alive!" I jumped off and swam as fast as my arms and legs would take me. I ran into the lodge and told everyone, and called 911. There wasn't much else I could do, considering we were at a camp in the middle of nowhere. My heart was leaping out of my chest and I was soaked head to toe in water. I ran back towards the lake, this time taking a boat so we could try to move her to shore.

Gant was sitting on the raft cradling the girl in her arms. He was apologizing to her and crying, two things I had never seen him do.

"This was all my fault-swimming was all my idea-I'm so sorry-I shouldn't have-And now you're bleeding in my arms-I was only trying to impress you-I'm so sorry-Jumping was a stupid idea-Keep breathing-Please."

"Let's put her in the raft, Gant. Let's get her to shore okay?" Her breathing was getting shallower and shallower, and the towel wrapped around her head was becoming more and more soaked. We lifted her into the canoe, and we rowed to the shore as fast as we could. By then the police and the ambulance were there, and they rushed over to try and take care of her. We found out later that it was too late for her. When the police came over to take our statements, Gant disappeared.

Camp still continued, but Gant never set foot near that lake again. He tried to block the incident out of his mind. Any mention of it brought him close to tears. The next year, I went to camp alone.

Gant wrote to me. But I never saw him again until I was a judge. He came into the courtroom. By then I was bald, with little hair left.

"I guess I can't call you blondie anymore can I."

"No. You shouldn't. I go by Your Honor now…"

"Thats too serious. How about Udgey?"

"No…"

"I'm still calling you that anyway." I couldn't stop him. He was now a brilliant detective, and a good friend. I knew he would never be the same after that summer. He was colder, and more calculating, like thoughts about that morning were still circulating through his head.

He asked me to go swimming with him once. He never swam. He just sat and looked at the people swimming, and at the cool water splashing as people jumped off of the diving boards.

He is no longer that man.