The Main Character

My parents sent me to summer camp this year, despite being sixteen and way too old for this crap. They’ve never sent me to camp before this either. It’s going to be so embarrassing to be the oldest kid in the room amongst prepubecent children. Little kids freak me out also. They have no filter on whatever thoughts pop into their brains, and I know I’m going to be judged madly. This is going to be a long three-hour drive to camp. The groans escape me and my parents have already warned me to cut it out. I want to push my luck, perhaps avoid this camp altogether, but I know my mum and dad better than that. 

I arrive to the campsite, and expect to see parents sending their children on their merry way. The driveway is empty. Crap! My parents really are just getting rid of me. It’s that simple. I may have had an attitude from time-to-time, but what teenager doesn’t? I didn’t think I was so poorly behaved that I would be kicked out of the family. 

I turn to my parents in the front seats of the car, the panic instantly taking over. I’m ready to make my final pleas to escape. 

“Please don’t send me away! I’ll be a good kid from now on. I love you both. I’m sorry I whinged and bitched about going on this camp. And I’m sorry I snuck out to a friend’s party six months ago! I’ll be good, just please give me one more chance. Mum? Dad? Please don’t send me to camp!” My pleas become full wails and cries of help. My parents look at me, look to each other, then burst into laughter. My cheeks are dripping in my own teardrops at this point, I don’t see how this is funny. 

Dad grabs my arm with one hand while the other maintains control of the car. He assures me that I’m not being punished. 

“Son, this is a special kind of summer camp, but I can’t enlighten you on the details. You will have to learn for yourself. This camp will change your life, the way it did mine your age. And your mother’s life. This camp is an exclusive invite list, and you could only get in as soon as you did, because you are a camp legacy. Cheer up, son. It will all make sense soon.” 

He sounds calm and sure, which freaks out more. My mother warmly smiles no different than usual. A summer camp is out of the ordinary, but they are treating it the same as the sky being blue. None of this is normal.I hate to be saying this, but I would prefer to work on some routine homework for classes than be left in the dark about this mystical summer camp. Gross! I’m siding with homework and study over fun and adventure. Who am I?

There’s nothing left for me to do but walk in. My parents are definitely not taking me home and there’s no one else around to delay the inevitable. Guess I need to bite the bullet and get this over with. The sooner it starts, the sooner I can leave. 

I walk through the doors into the communal hall, to see excited adults buzzing and mingling. I introduce myself to the first person I can catch up to. “Hey there, I’m Thomas. It’s nice to meet you. I’ve never been to summer camp before.” The nerves are taking over my body and I awkwardly smile until the stranger introduces themselves.

“The name is Burt. I travelled from 1839 to be here. What era are you from, sir?”

That is ridiculous! It makes no sense and can’t be true. 1839 was over two-hundred years ago. What era? What a strange gentleman. 

“Ummmm,” I hesitate to find the words needed to answer Burt. “I was born in 2081. I’m sixteen now in the current year – 2097. I came from the carpark…”

“…You are the one and only gentleman from the present era!” The excitement in his eyes and expression show me he hasn’t seen someone my age for quite some time. “We do not get to see a current era fellow at these gatherings very often. Welcome, sir.” He takes my hand and firmly shakes it. 

I have no clue what he is going on about. I ask the only question clear enough in my mind, amongst the swirling chaos, “Who are all of you if I’m the only ‘current era’ person here?”

Burt now puts the obvious into words, with the benefit of hindsight. “My boy, we are all time travellers. We travel from different times; some from the past, some from the future, and the rare present people. Our goal is simple – we communicate and collect history with other lonesome time travellers. It can be tiring to jump around the space of time alone. We all find humanity in events such as this one, to prevent us from going completely insane.”

It makes sense why my parents couldn’t tell me about this place. I would never have believed them to be time travellers. That’s way too badass for my boring parents. 

I see the old, frail camp counseller enter the room. She looks familiar and I know I’ve seen her before. She has a name tag that says ‘Edith Murrary’ – that’s my mum’s name. It’s my mother, plus another thirty years of life to her form. My parents met each other at this camp. 

But both my mum as I know her, and Edith in her nineties exist in the same timeline at different ages. Brooo! This time travel stuff really makes my head spin. I don’t understand anything about this place. I don’t wish I was doing homework anymore. I have the next two months to figure out all this time travel nonsense and become a traveller myself. I’m glad my parents sent me here now. I have more questions than answers, but I know they are trying to set me up for an extraordinary life ahead (and behind) me. 

Bring summer camp on!