A few minutes later, Mr. Pratt and Ms. Whitney join us at the table.
“Hello, Cassandra. My name’s Kelly Whitney, and I’m the girls’ counselor for the camp. I’m sorry for the confusion with your cabin. I have a place for you in cabin number five. I’ll show you there, now.” She starts to walk away, but turns back to Simon. “Mr. French, please wait for us here. Although parents are allowed back in the cabin area, we like to try and begin the separation up front so there are no emotional memories built back where the girls stay.”
Simon nods and hands me my bag. I follow Ms. Whitney down the dusty, gravel-covered road to the cabins.
“You may call me Kelly. We like to be informal around here. It helps build trust which in turn allows us to understand your strengths but also your weaknesses, so we can make you into the leaders of tomorrow.” She sounds like a brochure for the place.
“Cassie. People call me Cassie. I’m only called Cassandra by the authorities. I’ll be frank with you, I don’t know much about your camp. I was only just informed I would be attending two days ago. I have the packet of instructions from Mr. Pratt, but I haven’t had a chance to read them yet.” What is this place? I wish the camp sent out the material in the packets before we arrived on site. Kelly’s young; I wouldn’t place her as someone in charge of people a few years her junior.
“Well, Cassie”—the brightness in her voice, followed by a wink, gives me the impression she thinks I’ve let her in on a secret—“Camp Odysseus started more than a hundred years ago to help educate future generations to be open to new ideas, to think through existing problems and find solutions, and to help lead the government and businesses. The camp is named for the same Odysseus that you may have read about in a mythology class. He was an excellent strategist. He overcame adversity. Most importantly, he was the hero to many. Those are the qualities we look for in our students.”
“I don’t think I belong here,” I blurt out.
I take a few deep breaths to calm myself. This place throws me off my game. I usually control what I say or how I react in situations, but not here. Based on her assessment of the camp, I don’t meet any of the qualities they seek in their participants.
“Why would you say that?” When she stops in the middle of the road, I almost run into her.
Softly, I sigh to myself. I’ve done it now; although, maybe if I tell her, they’ll kick me out. “I’ve gotten into fights at school before. I’ve broken into houses. I’ve stolen—”
She cuts me off before I can finish my resume. “You were protecting a young girl from a bully when you fought the last time.”
How does she know that? “Yes, but—”
She interrupts me, again. “When you broke into the house, you were checking to make sure the boy that lived there was being fed.”
This is crazy. “Yes, but—”
“You stole food to give to a homeless man that lived in the back of the park.” Her hands move to her hips, and her eyes widen, waiting for my response.
“Where did you get all of this information? I was told my records are sealed because this all happened when I was underage.” At this point, I’m not sure what I’ve gotten myself into because not even Simon knew all those things.
“Cassie, this camp is funded so we can find people that need some direction. Your name came on the list, so the invitation was sent. We know you are quite intelligent, you have a big heart, and you feel all alone. We can help with each of these things.” Kelly’s speech makes me fidget. Does this place brainwash kids or manipulate them into helping bad people?
“Since Simon is insistent I stay, I will, but I’ll reserve judgment until I know more. Is there a rule about leaving early if things don’t work out?” Despite the question, I know leaving is no longer an option. Besides Simon wanting me to be here, my curiosity is peaked. I need to figure out what this place is.
“No one will force you to stay. We’ll encourage you to stay. We’ll help you work through any issues, but in the end, we want positive attitudes. We can’t accomplish much if everyone is unhappy.” Kelly spins and continues up the path.
The gravel path leads gradually up the side of the mountain. The trees lining our way box in the view of what's to come until it opens up into an area with a large building on our right. To our left, the jagged rocks of the mountain jut out where the earth was cut away to clear the path.
As we continue, the cuts into the mountain move back to leave room for identical, dark brown cabins, spaced far enough apart that another cabin could be put between them.
Kelly gestures to the cabins on the left. “This side is where the girls will stay. We have sixty girls enrolled this year. Since the cabins hold twenty, we split people among the five cabins.”
Kelly directs me to the cabins on our right. They have little space behind them as the land slopes down the mountain and deeper into the woods. “The left cabins hold the boys. Eighty-four boys are signed up, so they’ll have less space than the girls.
“The campers come from diverse backgrounds and locations, and every student is on scholarship to keep the field even. Tomorrow, you will be placed on a team. That team will be the group you work with for the duration of your stay. We’ve found that keeping a unit together results in higher performing individuals than when we switch teams every week or task.”
She waits for me to acknowledge her explanations with a nod before she continues, “Our youngest attendees are thirteen with our oldest about nineteen. The recently graduated seniors will be the cabin and team leads. This will be their last chance to win, so we allow them to use their knowledge of the camp to their advantage.”
“Teams are the building blocks of the camp. Each team is designed to maximize learning by matching you with others with diverse backgrounds from your own. Over the years, we’ve found that dissimilar qualities help build individual strengths because the team relies on that person to complete their part. You’ll still have some traits in common which can be used, but your main traits are individual to the group.”
Simon must have told her about my photographic memory because I’m not sure I have many other positive traits. I could be wrong, though; maybe, they’re looking for someone who can pick a lock in less than thirty seconds.