Campfire Stories

I went to camp for two summers when I was in middle school. The camp had two tribes and all attendees were put into one or the other. Towards the end of the session there was an event where the tribes battled against each other. (Probably for who got to eat ice cream after dinner.) The battle was played at night, and there was a central tower all lit up, surrounded by team B. Inside the tower was a representative from team A. The rest of team A was spread out in the surrounding fields. The point was to get through the adversary team to meet your rep in the tower and collect a chip. However you could get caught and held hostage by the other team. After a period of time, the teams switched places. At the end, the chips were tallied and the team with the most chips won.

The first year I played, I spent the entire time crawling with two colleagues through the grass. We never made it to the tower, but we didn’t get caught either. We slowly stalked and crawled the entire time... stealthy, but not actually reaching our goal before time was up. The first year, I was disappointed that I didn't get in on any of the action. I think my team won, but I didn't really feel like I contributed much to it.

The second year I was determined to act differently. I made sure I was up in the front and I took as many risks as possible. I was untouchable. I got through the other team's line over and over and collected many chips. I would return to my team leader with a chip and immediately go back out. I'd grab colleagues and take them to the tower with me. I think I ended up bringing in the most individual chips. I was completely and utterly unstoppable. My team won again, but this time, instead of crawling through the grass, I brought home the trophy.