Sunshine Days - Chapter 3
Jonathan had to get away from David. He was starting to feel suffocated by the pup's constant presence, his perpetual exuberance, and the uncomfortable intimacy that was imposed on him. It was only his second day at the camp and his patience for David was already wearing extremely thin. He didn't have the heart to approach him about it though. Between the fighters and flyers of the world, Jonathan was practically avian when it came down to confrontation.
Sometime after breakfast, Jonathan decided to ditch out on David. He excused himself to the bathroom and left David talking with a couple of the other guys from the cabin. He hid in one of the stalls for a while, savoring the moment and enjoying the peace that came with the privacy. He never realized how much he took silence for granted.
He snuck out of the bathroom and went around the outer edges of the camp, behind the cabins. He could still see David talking to the guys in the distance. The pup occasionally looked over his shoulder at the bathrooms. He felt a little bad for ditching out on the one guy who gave him a warm welcome but darn it, he needed his space. He needed to be alone for just an hour. A minute at the very least.
He wandered around the area behind the cabins and at the edge of the woods. The quietness was almost startling, like it was in a completely different realm or dimension from the chaos of the camp. He couldn't hear anyone or anything. There was only the sound of birds chirping and pine needles rustling with the wind.
Jonathan found a rusted, wooden bench behind Cabin B that looked like it had once been frequently used in the past but was now thrown forgotten into the brush. He gave it a brief inspection for spiders and snakes before sitting down. He fished his iPod out of his pocket, slipped the ear buds awkwardly in his ear, and hit shuffle. The opening guitar riffs of "Smash Hit" by All Star United started and he smiled, leaning back in his new seat and enjoyed some good old Christian Rock while he admired the scenery.
Jonathan still listened to the Christian rock bands he had before exchanging his walkman for an mp3 player. Sentimental attachments aside, he held on to those old bands because he identified more with them than the current 'hits' that could be heard on any non-secular radio station. One opinion that old-timers and teenagers like Jonathan shared alike is the notion that the music of their generation is better than the music of today. He felt that as time went on into the 2000's that the Christian music industry had become bland and manufactured. That artists focused on meeting some imaginary "Jesus-per-minute" quota and competing to see who could say they loved Jesus more. Most of his favorite bands had either broken up or turned into mediocre 'worship zombies' as he clandestinely described them.
As much as he loved God and Jesus, he was growing disenchanted with not just the music but the folks around him. Every trip to the mega church his parents dragged him to every Sunday (and Wednesday for potluck and Saturday for movie night) left him feeling more jaded and cynical. He was disturbed and repulsed by the humorless, holier than thou zealousness of his parents and their peers. How they raised their paws up in the air and closed their eyes in ecstasy during hymns. People wearing their faith on their sleeve and on the bumpers of their vehicles, attributing everything good in their lives to God, and the soulless merchandise that could be found in the bookstore downstairs next to the café and children's Sunday School rooms. He desperately wanted to love God and have a relationship with him, but he was slowly being driven away by the religion.
He quietly contemplated these things as the song played:
"This Jesus thing, it's a smash hit It's packaged right All stocks have split, it's a smash hit, It's gone worldwide
Join His name to any cause Drop His name to get applause They never get enough Nothing here to be ashamed of
Those ever loyal fans They wanna get their hands On His newest merchandising Ignoring overpricing..."
The song ended and moved on to a Newsboys song. Jonathan was content to stay in his own little world, worshiping his God how he pleased; Good music and taking in the wonder and tranquility of His creations.
A bright flash brought him rudely out of his meditations and he nearly jumped out of his seat. He looked up at the source of the flash. David stood there smiling his goofy smile, holding an old Polaroid camera that was spitting out a black image that would show Jonathan prior to being interrupted. Jonathan scowled, his annoyance at having his peace disturbed turned into silent rage. He wanted to tell David to buzz off and leave him alone but again he couldn't bring himself to do it.
Jonathan yanked an ear bud out as David was shaking the image. "Hey! There you are!" he said, inviting himself to sit down next to Jonathan, "I was wondering where you were!"
"I just needed a little time to myself," Jonathan said softly and curtly, pretending to tinker with his iPod.
"That's cool, that's cool," David nodded, looking off into the woods.
"How did you find me here?" Jonathan asked, trying not to sound accusatory.
"I come out here sometimes," he said, smiling far away, "I always have a quiet place to go. It helps me slow down my thoughts and stuff. Like, sometimes they get all out of control and I can't focus on anything. So I come out here and...it just stops, you know? Like, I can feel my brain just slow down and...yeah." He drifted off, looking into the woods with a relaxed grin on his muzzle.
Jonathan nodded, sort of understanding where David was going. Another brief pause passed between them, only punctuated by the sounds of the natural world around them. He could see how someone like David, who always seemed boisterous and hyperactive, would need a quiet sanctum to pull their thoughts together.
He noticed that David wasn't bothered by the silence this time.
After a moment, David pulled his focus away from the woods. "Whatcha listening to?"
"Just some Newsboys," Jonathan said, still absorbed in the serenity.
"Oh cool, I listen to them too. I got most of their older stuff but their newer albums..." He turned his thumb down and blew a raspberry. Jonathan smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I don't like their newer stuff much," Jonathan replied.
"Yeah? I liked Going Public and Not Ashamed myself. That was before their lead singer got addicted to cocaine or something."
"What?" Jonathan said, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah! That's why Peter's been the lead singer ever since. James got addicted to cocaine or something and quit the band."
As much as Jonathan had loved the band, he had failed to notice the change in band members between albums. He wasn't sure what shocked him more; that a Christian Rock singer could be a strung-out druggie or that he was actually having an enjoyable conversation with David.
"Hey, have you heard of Five Iron Frenzy?"
"I think so," Jonathan replied, "I don't think I've heard any of their stuff though."
"Really? Do you like ska?"
"It's alright," Jonathan shrugged.
That seemed enough for David. He stood up quickly and said, "Come on! I brought a couple of CDs."
Before Jonathan could respond, he was whisked away once again by Hurricane David. The pup held Jonathan's paw, pulling him back around the cabin and taking him inside.
David dug around in his bag and pulled out a couple of CDs featuring the band.
"You still carry around CDs?" Jonathan asked.
"Sure," David said matter of factly, "For my CD player."
Jonathan didn't press any further, figuring there was probably a financial reason that David still had a Discman rather than an mp3 player. Or maybe that David was more old-school than Jonathan was when it came to Christian rock and pop.
David handed him the CDs.
"Oh," Jonathan said, trying to find a polite way of putting it. "I don't have a Walkman anymore..."
David smiled, "That's okay. You can keep them."
Jonathan raised his eyebrows and his jaw fell open a little, speechless.
"I got a library back home where they got all the albums. I can just listen to them there."
"Th...thanks," Jonathan said, still speechless by David's generosity and by his own preconceived judgment of David's character. Suddenly, he felt like one of the hypocrites and zealots at his church and he felt awful.
~~~
The boy's locker room came alive with the noise of cubs coming in from a game of volleyball. It had been a game between the Cabin B boys versus the Cabin D girls. Despite the taunts from several of the members on the boys' team (Avery had quipped, "Cabin D? More like Cabin A cups!") the female team came out victorious.
For most of the cubs, the game had been in good spirits and everyone was made to congratulate each other as per good sportsman (and woman) ship. The only two who seemed to take the game a little too seriously and the loss a little too hard was Avery and Henry, an acquaintance of his. Avery stalked into the locker room behind the others and kicked the side of the lockers, silencing everyone with a metal shock.
Everyone stopped and stared at the angry little Rottweiler making a scene.
"We lost! I can't believe we lost to a bunch of girls!" he shouted, as if the greatest insult to his unconvincing masculinity was being one upped by members of the opposite sex.
Henry, who seemed more annoyed than angry, added, "We probably could have won if it hadn't been for fatty over there, hitting the ball into the net all the time!"
Henry directed his snide remark at the overweight dalmatian pup named Andrew. He was standing at his locker looking hurt by the comment. He turned his back on the two, his face still red from exertion and from humiliation out on the court.
"Yeah, I thought dalmatians were supposed to be athletic!" Avery added, coming up behind the stooping pup who was doing his best to ignore the taunts. Avery grabbed a roll of Andrew's belly fat and squeezed, causing the dalmatian to yelp painfully and slap the paws away. Avery and Henry burst into loud, raucous laughter.
This caught the attention of Jonathan and David, who were both changing around the corner. David had acquainted Jonathan with Andrew, who was relatively new to the camp as well. He had also come up from the southern part of the state. He had come to visit his uncle Lars for the summer, who was one of the Camp Leaders. David had looked between the human and the dalmatian and said, "I don't see the resemblance..."
David stepped between Andrew and Avery, towering over the smaller Rottweiler. "Hey! Leave him alone, Avery." He said boldly, standing in defense of the pup behind him.
"Stay out of this, you egg-headed faggot," Avery growled, leaning up into David's face.
"Yeah, why don't you go back to your geeky, four-eyed, bed wetting boyfriend over there," Henry sneered.
A crowd of spectators had drawn in, sensing the brewing storm between the two canines. They were looking for a fight the way vultures look for a fresh kill. David and Avery stared each other down. They were about to butt heads when an ear piercing whistle quickly silenced the commotion. It was loud enough to make Jonathan's ears ring even after it had stopped.
Camp Leader Eddie stood in the doorway, his brow furrowed in annoyance. "What is going on in here?" he bellowed, his voice echoing off the walls.
"David started it!" Avery said in a high voice, "He was gonna hit..."
"That's enough!" Eddie said, cutting him off, "I don't care who was gonna hit who. I want you both to apologize right now."
David stood back, still standing tall over Avery. Avery brusquely apologized, "Sorry..."
David gave his own half-hearted apology, "I'm sorry." He offered out his paw but Avery ignored it, walking away to his locker.
"Alright, I want everyone to shower and dress in silence. Not another word!" With that, Eddie stormed out of the locker room and the other cubs who had gathered around to witness a fight left disappointed.
"Hey," Andrew said softly to David, "Thanks for sticking up for me, man." He kept his voice low.
David smiled and shrugged, giving Andrew a pat on the shoulder. "Ignore him," he said, "He was too short to even hit over the net at all."
Andrew and Jonathan smiled, relieved that the situation was defused and that they had at least one good guy in their corner.