Before
I get into defending our camp from the now-onto-us angry mob I need
to remind you of my crazy friend Justin who was quite violent. Well,
he was on the trip with us as was his equally violent older brother
and pater familias of the whole crazy
clan was in his stove warmed wall tent having a nice relaxing evening
when we came running back in to camp in a panic. We were about to get
a little mob justice and the mob was not far behind us. They
surrounded our camp and started throwing snow balls and yelling
threats but they made the mistake of hitting Justin's dad's tent. He
shot out in a rage demanding to know exactly what in the blue hell
was going on. Someone from the crowd yelled that they were there to
exact revenge for our assaults. He told them they would not be doing
any such thing and to piss right off. They emboldened by their
numbers and the darkness said he should shut up. Then like an idiot
someone threw a snow ball and hit him right in the mouth. Well, they
thought that they were dealing with a normal rational human being
that might have retreated or fought back in kind. They had no idea
that this was a old mountain man who would much rather pick up a
shovel and chase after the kids and try to bash them. So he did. He
smacked a couple of kids before the crowd new what was happening and
he started picking up other kids and chucking them down the hill and
into trees. I guess it was his way of letting them know that we would
not be negotiating with terrorist and our camp would not be getting
trashed like those ersatz bandits from the framed up troop up the
hill. He grabbed one kid by the neck and when the kid punched him in
self defense it drove him mad with rage and he punched and kicked the
kid a few times. Everyone cleared out and didn't come back and we
were settling down around the fire when a ranger and police officer
and some of the adults from other camps came to have a chat about why
there were so many battered boys claiming that we had something to do
with it. Justin's dad told them that they had come to our camp
threatening to do us bodily harm and he acted in self preservation.
Well, that was kind of true. The officer said that they would not be
pressing charges but that we had to stay in camp and if he had to
come up the canyon a gain someone was going to jail. Fair enough I
say. We stuck with campfire ribaldry for the remainder of the
evening.
