KitKat Story

Here is some context for the story I’m going to tell you. Every year I go to this camp in northern Minnesota for a week in the middle of June. The camp is for people who are going into 7^th-12^th grade. The camp is associated with my religion, Unitarian Universalism. Unitarians come from all over the country to come to this camp.  The camp is on an island in one of the many lakes that Minnesota contains.

This year was my 5^th year of going to this camp, I only have one more left. The camp does an excellent job of keeping the same group of kids together throughout the years, in order for us to create a special bind that is hard to explain to others. My cabin, the juniors, had a big responsibility this year, we had to run most of the camp. We organized canteen (Snack in the middle of the day), and run the talent show at the end of the week. It was during canteen when this story starts:

It was Friday the last full day of camp before the campers headed back the next morning. This is a very emotional time for the campers. The Junior class was organizing the canteen in unique shapes to make it interesting but it was hard because throughout the week they were running out of candy and drinks to give the campers. There were half stars of Snickers, unfinished pyramids of Nerds, and other variety of candies scattered around. Campers were already lining up anxiously, hoping that they were get something to eat. One camper came up to one of the Juniors and asked him to save her a KitKat. Those two had a connection throughout the week but never did anything about it. The Junior said he would, so he snuck a KitKat into his pocket and hid it from others.

After all the candy was scavenged and picked to the bone all the campers had to head to their cabin and begin cleanup. Sometimes campers keep their candy to give to the inspectors who come by to make sure the cabin is cleaned up. The Junior who had the KitKat in his pocket forgot about it as he was cleaning his cabin with his cabinmates. He only realized it was still in his pocket when felt the squish of melted chocolate in his sweatpants pocket. He decided it would be best to put it in the freezer to try and solidify the chocolate. He left it there to freeze over dinner and the talent show.

After the talent show and the cabin meeting the junior went and fetched the KitKat from the cabin. He then went in search of the other camper. He first went to the cabin next door which was full of people but he couldn’t find here there, so he went down to the dock. The dock was barren, cold, and slightly intimating with the cry of the loon out in the water. He decided to head back to the cabin and hang out with friends assuming that he would meet up with her sometime during the night. The special thing about the last night of camp is that there is no curfew the campers were allowed to go anywhere and stay up all night.

Each year the seniors of the camp have a project they work on. Like fixing up the sidewalks, building a shelter of some kind. This year the seniors fixed up the rotten gazebo. The repainted it, built new benches for it, and even put lights in it. They finished it earlier that day, the Junior was eager to see it but he didn’t want to go alone, so he went he asked the group of people if anyone wanted to go with him but only one person said they wanted to. The person who answered was the girl. The one who had asked from the KitKat. They went down together, tripping in the dark, running into spider webs, but they finally made it.

In the Gazebo, they struggled to find the light switch and see how beautiful it actually was. They had both failed to bring flashlights, and then decided to leave and grab on of the lantern that was staked into the ground and used it as a torch. After fumbling around, they found the switch for the Gazebo and stood in awe of the lights and the newly refurbished building. It was at this time that the Junior decided it was an appropriate time to give her the KitKat. Granted it had been in his pocket for an hour so it had started to melt again.

Skip through the night they stayed up all night walking through camp talking and really having enjoyed themselves. In the end both of them succumbed to need to sleep and fell asleep on the dock. They woke up to the sun rising, turning the water to an orange color. They parted one went to Kansas and the other home.