Last night for no apparent reason I had a dream about the time when I used to go to summer camps, it was a nice dream, I dreamt about the times we were swimming in the pool, talking until late in our bunk-beds and just in general having fun. But I also dreamt about this kid, he was shy and awkward, always quiet and as he was sitting outside the cabin, that was the time I woke up.
I remember we were 13, I remember that kid well, because he taught me a great lesson in life.
I don't remember his name, but I remember how he looked like, I remember his low tone of voice and the way he brought his hand over his mouth every time he smiled or laughed, he was a bit chubby and short legged, but even like that he could run like hell!
He was always the last one to be picked playing sports, and it seemed like he would have preferred not being picked at all, on free time, while everyone was trying to impress the girls or playing pranks to each other, he would just sit in the park alone or in a tree outside the cabin. We were going to be there 20 days and in 4 or 5 days I haven't seen him doing anything else, even at swimming pool he would be under the shade of the big tree alone. Sometimes monitors would go and talk with him, but after a few minutes, he'd be alone again.
Next day, when it was time to go swimming, I saw him sitting alone outside the cabin with his towel in one hand and a big tube of Hawaiian Tropic S.P.F. 50 sunblock on the other. I never talked with him before, but I felt the need to go and talk to him. I've never been the sociable type, so these things are usually hard for me.
I said hi and asked if he cared for some company, he nodded. I asked what he was doing there, to which he replied, he was looking at some ants working and how amazing they were. We sat there for 5 minutes barely exchanging a word and then I asked him if he wanted to walk with me to the pool, he smiled at me and nodded again.
We walked to the pool talking a lot (it was a good 500 meters away), about lots of stuff, he was a very smart and fun kid, he liked video games same as me, and same as me his favorite was 'Pole Position', a really bad game we both played in our Atari 800XL.
At the pool I introduced him to my friends and we continued talking, he told me he liked one of the girls, the same we all liked (as always the most developed one for our age) and that they went to the same school but never talked to each other, I told him I knew the girl and we could speak to her together, he said no need, so we didn't, and of course all the girls were at the other side of the pool, so I was kinda relieved he didn't call my semi-bluff.
We spent that summer camp sporadically spending time together, he kicked my ass at chess more times than I would have liked and he sat with me and my friends for lunch.
2 days before the end of the camp they had prizes, some chosen by the monitors, some by vote from the other kids. There was this prize called something like 'best friend prize', that it would be something like a 'Mr. Congeniality' award in a beauty contest, so we all cast our votes into the urn. When they were counting them, I got 1 vote, first time for me!!! everyone voted for the funny kid, the one who's friends with everyone, the one who would hurt himself doing belly flops at the pool, just to be noted, I think I may have voted for him myself, he was a cool kid and his dirty jokes were hilarious! So after I was the only one in our dorm who got a vote, my friends started teasing me that I voted for myself - hahahaha, at that time I was a bit pissed, but now that I think about it, it was quite funny... hahaha.
So, in the middle of all the jokes about me loving myself a bit too much and being my own best friend, this kid came to all of us and in his normal low pitch voice said "I voted for you", everyone was quiet, so I asked him why and he replied "because in all the years I came to this camp I never had fun, I was always alone and even though I sometimes spent more times with other kids than you, you were the one who reached out to me and introduced me to his friend" then he smiled without covering his mouth and raising his voice said "and shit I've had fun in this camp" we hug and I got a pat in the back from everyone in the small dorm.
Little I knew that such a small thing as a 'hi' and a small talk about ants would make his summer a much better summer, and even less I knew that what he said to me would made me feel so good and proud of myself.
Don't underestimate the value of helping, no matter how small you think it may be, you can make someone's day or even summer. In fact I'm glad I had that dream, it made my day!
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