"Scouting" Around (Part 2)

Instead, we camped in such wilderness locations as Farmer Ed's field, or the Litchfield fair grounds. It must have been a good ten minute stroll to downtown. So there we sat in the rain (of course) huddling around sputtering fires, trying to keep warm. It was hard for me to discern what lesson I was learning. And then I realized it was probably that I should know enough to come in out of the rain. So I went home.

The leaders, meanwhile, were sitting warm and dry in front of their kerosene heaters under the huge awning they had put up (a restricted area where no Scouts were allowed), eating steak cooked on their gas barbecues, and staying up late drinking beer by the light of their
kerosene lantern.

They thought the campout was going great, except that they had to keep pushing sopping-wet, teary-eyed twelve-year-olds out of the leaders' area and back into the rain. "A little rain never hurt anyone, you wuss!" they declared loudly. Yeah, step outside and say that.

It was shortly after this performance that the unnamed parent who was making me be in Scouting (who happened to have been a Boy Scout) decided I could quit if I wanted to. Surprise, I did.