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Wyatt

“ H ow’d it go?” Drevon whispered as I moved past his bed. I walked over and sat on the floor because I definitely wanted to share.

“It was amazing. He brought some snacks and, Drevon, the stars were amazing. You and John have to go up there one night. It’s so worth it.”

“Did you show him the constellations I showed you?” He leaned up on his elbow to listen.

“Yes, and he said that in a month or so the Northern Lights might be visible here.” I was so excited at just the idea, even if I really didn’t know what to expect.

“Whoa, I hope it happens while we’re here. John, did you hear that?” Drevon whispered louder over my head.

“Yes, because the two of you are not nearly as quiet as I know you think you are,” John groaned, and we both laughed.

“Sorry, I’ll let you get back to sleep. We have another big day tomorrow.” I was excited. Truly excited to find out what we’d do next, and I didn’t hate it at all.

“Okay, everyone. Today we’ll be learning how to start a fire the easy way and the hard way,” Gavin said.

“I vote for the easy way,” Sal said, as he raised his hand.

“I second that,” Bobbie said.

“We’ll do it the easy way first,” Gavin said with a bright smile.

He loved this. Every part of it, and it was written all over his face.

“You’ll find in the pouch you’ve been given, a Firestarter.

” He took out what looked like a stick of some dark metal with a handle and a small strap attached to it.

There was also another flat piece of metal.

Everyone held them and tried to figure out how we’d use them to start a fire, but no one seemed that confident.

“Does this part light?” someone asked.

“First, you’ll need to gather some kindling.

I want everyone to gather a small pile of dry leaves and small sticks,” Gavin instructed, and stood there while we all rushed off to get what we’d need.

We were in a forest, so it wasn’t hard to find and within a few minutes all of us were back and waiting for the next instruction.

He squatted down near his own small pile.

“You’ll want to stack it loosely so you can get some oxygen in there then you’ll use the flat rod to scrape off a small amount of magnesium from the other rod onto the kindling.

You won’t need much, it’s very flammable.

” He watched as we scraped. There were two other instructors that walked around and made sure everyone was doing it correctly and didn’t add too much.

“When you’re done, we’ll all try to light our kindling.

” A few took a little longer, but the rest of us encouraged them and it didn’t take long until we were all ready.

“Now point the magnesium stick at the fire and use the small metal rod to strike a spark. If you’ve done it right, it should start.” He flicked a few sparks into his small pile and soon a small plume of smoke appeared before he bent closer and blew on it making it all flame. “Your turn.”

Everyone got to work flicking sparks into the kindling or at least trying to. “I can’t get it to spark,” I mumbled to myself.

“Here, let me help,” Gavin said and knelt right next to me. “You’ll want to hold it like this, then flick it right into the little pile of magnesium.” He leaned in close as he showed me which I did not mind one little bit. “Now you try it.”

I took the Firestarter from him and this time I did it—and flicked a small spark right into the middle of the magnesium. “It worked!”

“Now blow on it so you get it going a little better.” I leaned over and blew until small flames caught and I realized I’d done it. “Great job.” Gavin patted my back while I knelt and made sure it kept burning.

“That’s amazing, thank you.”

“You’re very welcome,” Gavin said and moved to help someone else who was struggling.

Dani looked over at me with a grin before looking back at Lyn and helping her figure out how to strike a spark.

“Never would I ever have thought this would have been fun,” I mumbled.

Gavin glanced at me and beamed. I definitely wouldn’t have guessed I’d find a hot camp leader who smiled at me like I was something special.

“Now that everyone is able to start a fire the easy way, we’re going to learn how to start one the hard way,” Gavin said and took out a stick, a block of wood about the size of a deck of cards, another larger piece, and a length of rope.

“Guys, I’m not gonna lie, this is not easy, and many people cannot start a fire this way, but I wanted you to try it. ”

He demonstrated how to put the larger piece of wood on the ground, found a stick to use with the rope to make a bow, and held the other stick with the small piece of wood on top of it.

Then he knelt down and after looping the bow around the stick that rested in the large piece of wood, he started sawing away.

Only he wasn’t sawing, he was using the rope and bow to spin the other stick.

Sweat ran down his forehead, but he didn’t back off until finally a small puff of smoke appeared where the spinning stick rested on the larger piece of wood.

“Whoa,” a few people said as he scrambled for his kindling and gently scooped the small ember he’d created on the larger piece of wood into it.

And after blowing on the ember, smoke started to waft through the kindling.

Everyone clapped because it was obvious it was not a small accomplishment.

Gavin stood and took a bow while holding the smoking bundle in his hand.

“If you want to give it a try, you’re welcome to,” he said and looked right at me making my hand shoot up before my brain caught up to what it was doing. “Okay, Wyatt, get over here.”

I tried. Sweat also ran down my forehead and I blew my hair up off my face as I continued to make the sawing motion, but no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t get it to the point of making an ember.

A few more tried but only Lyn was able to do it long enough to make her kindling smoke.

“Great job, Lyn,” Gavin said. “After lunch we’re going to have a little competition so be prepared and bring your Firestarter’s. ”

“What do you think it’ll be?” John asked.

“I have no clue but I’m glad we won’t be using the hard way again,” I said. “Let’s go eat.”