I packed a pair of teal Umbros and my Sambas and set off for Kamp Kanakuk. I was ready for one week of wacky fun away from my parents.

After registration, I got settled in tee-pee 7 with the rest of my group. I was watching the commotion of high fives and listening to talk of who would jump off the high dive this year, when a peculiar kind walked through the door. He was short and skinny and had buck teeth. His hair was dirty blonde and had that kind of would-be-curly-but-his-mom-cuts-it-so-it-doesn’t-curl style.

Feeling slightly bored, I jumped down from my bunk and asked him if he needed help unpacking. Startled, he agreed to my proposition and said I could fold his underpants.

Unsure of what to do, I consented to folding his size small BVDs. Not wanting things to get weird, I proceeded to make small talk. He was a shy fellow named Sean who liked to talk a lot. He had a lisp thanks to his buck teeth and really liked science books. He had a rocket ship collection at home and a movie about dinosaurs. He had a hamster named Zinsser and a fish named Charlie Brown. He used to have a fish named Zinger too, but his mom set it free. His favorite musician was Amy Grant and his dad liked her too because he liked the way she held the microphone.

I agreed that Amy Grant had nice hands and tried to pull the subject away from whatever he was talking about.

I asked him if he was going to dive off the high dive and he said only if I went with him.

I asked him what he wanted to eat tonight in the mess hall and he said chicken and tomatoes, because his mom didn’t let him eat things that move, even if the wind moved them.

I asked him if he liked sports and he said yes. He liked water polo and batchi ball and he liked Jell-o too because it jiggles like his mom’s arm when she writes on the calendar.

As I finished folding the last pair of underpants, I agreed that Jell-o was nice and the jiggle didn’t hurt. I placed the pile of underpants in front of him, gave him one of those “you make me feel awkward” smiles, and went back to my bunk to fold my own underpants.