Two Sticks, a Pine Cone, and a Rock
One-shot.
The fire was still burning, and it was approaching midnight. Like most of the campers, I wasn’t tired. Tomorrow was Saturday and the end of camp, all of us wishing that camp wasn’t over quite so soon.
Roger had decided to have one more round of two sticks, a pine cone, and a rock before he sent us back to our cabins. He walked a few feet away, with his back towards the fire. With a gentle push from Kristen I made my way to the other side of the flames, and bent down. Taking the sticks, I put one on either side of the rock to form a line. I picked up the pine cone and tried to place it across the rock horizontally so it lined up with the sticks.
The uneven surface of the rock made that difficult, so I moved the pine cone from the slanting rock and laid it vertically next to the rock on the right side, on top of the longer of the two sticks. I quickly made my way back to the wooden bench I had been sitting on, with Kristen to my right and my counselor Jamie to my right. My posture returned to its regular slouch, and my left leg began to bounce slightly like it had been all evening. The wind shifted, and the smoke from the fading fire caused my eyes to water slightly as the campers told Roger to turn around.
As the head counselor turned, Kristen muttered under her breath, “Just act natural.” I nodded, my face keeping the interested look it held every time Roger had used his observation skills to tell us who had arranged the objects. The game had been played on two occasion, three times on the first night in the same spot a week before and my arrangement making eight for that night.
“I’ve had a whole week to get to know you,” Roger began, looking around at all the campers, “and I think I know you all pretty well. This is why it was so easy to tell that Jaycie did this one.”
The campers looked amazed, because once again he took only seconds to figure out which of us had arranged the four objects. As I felt my eyes drift back to the fire, I wondered again how he did it.
Roger had decided to have one more round of two sticks, a pine cone, and a rock before he sent us back to our cabins. He walked a few feet away, with his back towards the fire. With a gentle push from Kristen I made my way to the other side of the flames, and bent down. Taking the sticks, I put one on either side of the rock to form a line. I picked up the pine cone and tried to place it across the rock horizontally so it lined up with the sticks.
The uneven surface of the rock made that difficult, so I moved the pine cone from the slanting rock and laid it vertically next to the rock on the right side, on top of the longer of the two sticks. I quickly made my way back to the wooden bench I had been sitting on, with Kristen to my right and my counselor Jamie to my right. My posture returned to its regular slouch, and my left leg began to bounce slightly like it had been all evening. The wind shifted, and the smoke from the fading fire caused my eyes to water slightly as the campers told Roger to turn around.
As the head counselor turned, Kristen muttered under her breath, “Just act natural.” I nodded, my face keeping the interested look it held every time Roger had used his observation skills to tell us who had arranged the objects. The game had been played on two occasion, three times on the first night in the same spot a week before and my arrangement making eight for that night.
“I’ve had a whole week to get to know you,” Roger began, looking around at all the campers, “and I think I know you all pretty well. This is why it was so easy to tell that Jaycie did this one.”
The campers looked amazed, because once again he took only seconds to figure out which of us had arranged the four objects. As I felt my eyes drift back to the fire, I wondered again how he did it.