Page 3

Chapter Three

After choosing the end bunk on the row of the southern wall of the cabin, he stowed his bags under the bunk, though one wouldn’t fit.

That one he set next to his bed, first placing it between his bunk and the next closest, then he decided against that.

He did not know if that would signal someone that it was open for them to take from.

The bunk itself was hard as steel and squeaked when he sat on it. Jovian needed a mirror, a gin and tonic, and a day at the spa. All things he had to look forward to the second he was released from his prison.

Two people came into the cabin, loudly, laughing and chasing one another. One was taller than Jovian by a foot, which wasn’t hard. He’d only reached five feet, five inches in any of his latter growth spurts, if anyone could call them that.

The other was a beefy African American man, in his forties, at least, and whose laughter boomed throughout the space. “Beat you bad, admit it,” he accused the other, who looked to be a trans woman of maybe thirty.

“You cheated, you ass!”

“Did not! You with those long legs, I had to do what I had to do.”

“Mike, we have guests,” she said, nodding to Jovian, who’d tried and failed to sink into the bunk to be unseen.

“Oh, hell! Sorry, didn’t see you,” the man obviously named Mike said as he crossed the space with his hand outreached. “I’m Mike, he/him, and this is Kathy, she/her,” he said as Jovian stood and took the man’s hand.

“Hello. I’m Jovian. Oh, and he/him.”

“What a pretty name,” Kathy said as she stared down at him. “Is this your first time?”

“Yes, and my last, hopefully.”

They exchanged confused glances before Mike asked, “You…didn’t want to be here?”

“A crass bartender blackmailed me and two…two drag queens. At least I assume they’re in on it.”

“What queens?” Mike asked.

“I don’t know, two named after woman's parts.”

Kathy sniggered as Mike huffed in exasperation. “Well, welcome to camp. We were just heading to the Mess. You are welcome to join us. They’re serving snacks until more come, then they’ll serve dinner later.”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

“Suit yourself,” he said, and the two of them left the cabin.

Finally alone, Jovian looked through his makeup case for his lip gloss, already feeling the effects of the air. His lips dry, his hands too. He liberally applied lotion to his hands, arms and neck before stashing his makeup under the bed again.

Lou came back into the cabin, a young woman by her side, actually flirting. “I’ll catch you at dinner?” the girl asked.

“You’re trouble. You’re gonna get me in hot water, Farrah.”

“Don’t tease me with a good time,” Farrah said back to her.

“Should I leave you two alone or be an ass and ask you to get a room?”

Smirking at Jovian, Lou said, “Shut up. You ready for your tour?”

“What is there to look at, really? More huts in the wilderness?”

“Yeah, more huts, but you’d like to know which hut to take a squat in to shit and which hut you’ll need to find when you’re asked to do a work detail, right?”

“Work detail? What are you on about?”

“What, are you British now?”

As Jovian revved up to scream, she laughed, and it took him completely off-guard. “Are you insane?”

“No, and I don’t think you are, either. Tell me something, though. Didn’t you actually read the brochure? It’s all written there, how you’ll be expected to help, do work assignments, go on survival hikes…”

“Excuse me? Survival hikes?”

“I suggest when we get done with the tour, you read it over and then we can hash this out. Right now, I have a ton more campers coming.”

It just kept getting worse, and Jovian was on the verge of tears, but he refused to give any of them the satisfaction of his tears.

They took off into the larger camp, and he found where the shower rooms were, along with the restrooms first. “This is the first place everyone needs to find,” Lou said.

“They’re all co-ed. We don’t have gender specific restrooms here, for obvious reasons.

If you want privacy from anyone, you can schedule a time to be in here, but know that the more that do that, the less time we all have for showers and such.

And you can’t take over ten minutes, whether or not you’re here alone. ”

“Ten minutes? Who can take a shower in ten minutes?”

“You will, believe me. Try to take one minute longer, and you’ll be in for a very nasty surprise. The hot water stops after ten minutes.” She turned around and smirked again as she confessed, “We had to get timers after a few princesses tried to use all the hot water in the camp.”

He felt that was directly pointed at him. “Well, I’ll try to remember that.”

Next, he was shown the offices, the boathouse and the Mess Hall, then to the edge of the lake where a few of the campers were swimming. “See the buoys?”

They were hard to miss, big orange things with orange rope connecting them to make a large square. “If I didn’t, I guess I’d have to be blind.”

“For your information, we have three people legally blind here. I ask the same questions of everyone, so no one feels targeted.”

“Sorry,” he said without a bit of remorse.

With more exasperation, she pointed to the buoys in turn.

“From the shore to that one, across to that one and back to the shore is swimming. Anywhere else is off limits. This used to be a town under this lake, so there are dead trees, all kinds of things that could snag you and help you get a lungful of water.”

Believe me, when I swim, it’s in a pool, with chlorine and disinfectants. I won’t be swimming here.”

“Right. Well, if the urge ever hits, you know where you can and cannot take a dip.”

Back at the Mess Hall, he found rows of tables, at least seven or eight feet long, some people sitting, chatting together, eating the chips and salsa they had out for the snack.

Jovian didn’t eat chips and salsa. “Is there food that…that won’t add forty pounds to my ass?”

“Sure, we have food for all dietary restrictions, but I promise you, you’ll want a few carbs. The work is taxing and so are the hikes. No, not everyone has to go on the hikes, but it’s highly encouraged.”

Jovian felt all the blood drain from his face. “Highly encouraged?”

Triumphant with her smile, Lou added a wink for fun. “Yeah. I’ll let Coach Dixon haggle you on that. You’ll meet him soon.”

As she walked off laughing, Jovian was left on his own to grab a bottle of cold water and sit at one table.

Observing the others that were in the Mess Hall, he saw they were all in groups. No one was sitting off by themselves except for him.

That, well, he was unfortunately used to. No one had ever much liked him. From the time he’d left his parents and descended into the depths of hell that was public school, he’d found jealousy and hatred.

He was small, so everyone picked on him for that, but it hadn’t bothered him.

His mom would take him shopping and tell him all about how much they were envious of him.

No one had better clothes, and the lunches he brought were gourmet foods purchased fresh every morning from the organic grocery store.

Sitting at that table in the Mess Hall, he was reminded of those days, alone in the lunchroom at school. Sure, he’d felt lonely, but he was fine with it. Really. He was fine.

Mike suddenly sat beside him, and Kathy across from him. “Hey, Jovian,” she said, smiling, and he blanched when he saw pink lipstick on her teeth.

“Kathy, your teeth are pink.”

“Again?”

He was laughing and Jovian watched her, expecting her to get upset, but she didn’t. She ran a finger over her teeth while she laughed.

He would have died of embarrassment.

“You gotta tell her. She wears cheap lipstick, and it always rubs off on her buck teeth.”

She reached across and slapped Mike’s arm playfully. “So cruel!”

“Well, it’s true.”

Jovian had been mean about those things in the past, but for some reason, he gave advice instead. “There’s a good line of lipstick that isn’t terribly expensive. I could write it down for you.”

“Really? Thanks!”

“See? Stop buying your makeup from the dollar store.”

“He’s very mean to me, only because he can’t decide if he’s trans or not.”

Jovian’s neck nearly broke as he turned to Mike. “You’re…?”

“No! I thought so about two summers back. I mean, I like my…you know, dick, but I was really into women’s clothes, but then, I found some friends that helped me. Now I do drag.”

“You? You don’t…seem the type,” he said, realizing that sounded meaner than he’d meant.

Mike simply nodded. “I know. I didn’t think so either, but I like it. I’m still learning. There’s a lot more to it than throwing on a dress, ya know? You ever…?”

“Have I done drag? No,” he said, almost offended. “I like makeup to accentuate the better parts of my face, that’s all.”

“It’s a handsome face, and your makeup’s on point.”

For Jovian not being exceedingly nice to them, he couldn’t believe they were trying to befriend him. “Thanks.”

“Give me some tips?” Kathy asked.

“Yeah, sure, when you get some decent makeup,” he said snidely before he realized he was going to.

Neither of them seemed to notice. They both laughed as they agreed with him. Mike pointed and said, “See!”

“So mean!”

Jovian lied, “I didn’t mean to be mean.”

“Well, it’s fine. You can help me pick out some things.”

Before he could answer with a resounding no, the Mess Hall filled up with people, all coming in large groups, talking, laughing, shoes scraping on the rough wood of the floors.

“It’s all starting,” Kathy mused as she waved to a few people. “Another year.”

“Yeah, gonna be special. I can feel it.”

“You say that every year, Mike.”

“And it is, every year.”