"Good work today boys," the troop leader said.
"Gee thanks sir! It was super duper fun getting to make fire and see animals and stuff! What're we doing tomorrow?" Billy said.
"Tomorrow we are going to work on identifying leaves."
"Like that'll ever help us in the wilderness," Rob grumbled under his breath.
"Now Robert, you never know when identifying leaves will help you in life! If you get lost they can help you. Or if you ever want to impress a girl," the leader chuckled.
"Itz Rob," he mumbled.
They continued to trek along the road until they came to the cabins.
"I would like to see you all dressed and ready for dinner at 7:45. Tonight's lasagna."
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As soon as the leader said lasagna Rob's stomach lurched. As he was taking his first step back into the house he remembered his grandmothers house. It was the day she had died and she had made her special lasagna for dinner that night. It had always been Rob's favorite. Well at the time Robert. His grandma always had called him Robert and he adored it. It made him feel grown up and special. He loved when people thought he was older. Part of the reason he had begun the boy scouts was so he could impress her with his knowledge of plants and survival. Every time he came to her home he would run to her and sit in her lap telling her every detail of what the troop had done that day. She would always be very impressed and whenever he told her something extra special, like the time he found the animal tracks that lead them to a doe and its mother, she would make him special lasagna. But his grandmother was dead now and he refused to be called Robert, eat lasagna, or be enthusiastic about any of the wilderness things anymore. The truth was, he wasn't grown up. He was just a young boy who had lost one of his best friends and had been forced to grow up too fast. His foot landed down on the welcome mat and he went inside.
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He gathered his things and headed to the showers, washed up and headed to dinner. He got food from the salad bar without a glance at the 'other food' and ran straight to his cabin. He locked the door jumped under his covers with a flashlight ate his salad and cried. It wasn't until he had woken up the next day that he realized he had fallen asleep. He braced himself for the teasing that might follow a boy sobbing himself to sleep but none came. It was another long day in the woods.
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