“Camp Starfall was officially established on the banks of Lake Horicon in late July of 1919. The plot of land the camp started on was owned by factory entrepreneur and oil industry magnate Thomas Van DerMeer, who bought the land following his retirement in 1901 and built a summer home halfway up the slopes of Baldcap Mountain to the west.

Thomas Van DerMeer, a civil war veteran and amatuer astronamy enthusiast, chose the site as a getaway from the hustle and bustle of his work in New York City. His memoirs reveal that his family lived in the suburbs of New York City, but his father, Josiah, would take the family into the Adirondack Mountains for vacations when he was a child. Van DerMeer went on to state that “those trips were, perhaps, the happiest times of my life,” and returned to the area in order to recapture some of the magic of his youth (and no doubt to relish in the fact that light-pollution in the mountains was next to zero, allowing his stargazing to be done unimpeded).

Van DerMeer was an avid philanthropist in his retirement, using his fortunes for several social projects, including funding the creation of a school in the nearby town of New Painswick. He was later approached by the town government in early 1915 about the idea to create a summer camp for the youth of the area, and Van DerMeer was delighted to donate towards the cause. As plans were developed over the following years, he became so enthused by the idea that he apportioned some of the land he owned on the banks of Lake Horicon for the project.

In appreciation of his support, the camp was named according to his greatest enthusiasm, that of his love for astronomy. It was put into the charter that the names of the meeting halls and cabin sites would be astronomically-themed in honor of Van DerMeer, a tradition that has continued past his lifetime. The name of the camp, however, came directly from the man himself. While he never revealed his inspiration for the name, there has been speculation that it came while he was watching the passing of Comet Miskwà-Kìzis and the subsequent meteor shower in late 1916. Others point towards Van DerMeer’s insistence that a peculiar black stone found on the property near the lake shore is a meteorite, and that it never be moved from its resting spot (now in the current-day amphitheater).

Thomas Van DerMeer presided over the opening ceremony of the camp in the summer of 1920, and invited all who attended to visit him at his mountainside home. For several years thereafter, the Astronomy Club would meet at the Van DerMeer villa to utilize his array of telescopes and star charts. His exuberance for the topic overcame his increasingly obvious health issues as he aged.

Disaster struck in the spring of 1926, when the Van DerMeer villa burnt to the ground in the middle of the night of April 27th, killing Thomas Van DerMeer (81), his wife Julianna (80), and their live-in nurse. The source of the fire was never determined, and is still subject to some speculation to this day.

In remembrance, the administrators of the camp decided to dedicate the 5th week of each summer season, generally the last week of July, as a special remembrance of the camp’s founder. Festivities include several additional events beyond the normal camp programming that have changed over the years, however the tradition of a mid-week campfire at the amphitheater has endured and become the centerpiece of the celebration of Thomas Van DerMeer’s life and the legacy of the camp he helped create.”

-from the Introduction of “A Short History of Camp Starfall”

Brian sat on the steps outside the Administration building, staring at the parking lot, his mind a million miles away. The conversation inside between Mike, Xavier and the rest of his group had quickly gone sour as the details of what had happened were recounted, mostly by Mark and Oliver. The apologetic looks on their faces as they glanced at him only made him feel worse. Kevin had barely contributed at all, looking too shell-shocked at the whole ordeal to even talk.

The red-hot rage that had burned inside him had fled at his uncle’s arrival, leaving a simmering anger and frustration bubbling in his gut. If only he had been there for the entire confrentation, he was sure Xavier would have seen why he had to get up in Zeke’s face the way he did. Even just thinking about what had almost come out of the younger boy’s mouth made his stomach curl.

How had he missed it? They had shared a cabin for the past few days, participated in much of the same activities, talked near constantly amongst the group. How had his stupidly backwards ways of thinking not been immediately apparent?

Maybe that was part of the problem. Camp Starfall’s population, being in the rural parts of upper New York, practically mandated that the ratio of white people vs. all others was skewed heavily. A large portion of the staff were locals, and Brian knew that it wasn’t exactly cheap to send campers from out of state to the camp. And their scheduled activities were separated by cabin group, which made the mixing of genders rarer outside of free time. Most of Brian’s free time the past few days had been within their cabin group, so they hadn’t interacted too much with the girls of the camp, save for Mark and Oliver’s attempts to flirt with them.

Still, it wasn’t as though Brian was a stranger to people with those views. Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, he’d seen the division firsthand. Brian had been careful to make sure that the peers he associated with weren’t of that mindset, actively convincing a few of his peers in classes to educate themselves instead of taking the words of others and parroting them.

Zeke had surprised him, that was all. He hadn’t had any of the small warning signs Brian had gotten used to seeing before making that judgement call, in part due to the short time they’d known each other and the missed opportunities for those viewpoints to rear their ugly heads. Brian nodded to himself, the next time they talked, Brian would set him straight.

The door behind him opened, and Brian looked over his shoulder as his uncle exited the Admin building, shutting the door behind him. The older man looked at him for a second, his dark eyes inscrutable behind his glasses. Brian looked away as Xavier stepped forwards and sat down on the steps beside him. There was a long moment, listening to the faraway sounds of other campers enjoying the sunny afternoon as he waited for the inevitable.

“Brian, we’ve talked about this before. You’ve got to put a lid on that temper of yours before it gets you in more serious trouble. You’re almost an adult, reckless acts like that won’t be swept under the rug for much longer.” Xavier said, his gravelly voice harsh against Brian’s ears. Brian frowned.

“I wasn’t going to hurt him, and I had it under control. He’s the one who needs to change. He lunged for that girl before you arrived, and we stopped him.” Brian retorted.

“And then you escalated beyond what was necessary. She left, and you laid your hands on him again when he wasn’t being aggressive. That’s when you stepped over the line, son.”

“Don’t call me that.” Brian bit back. Xavier sighed, crossing his arms in front of him.

“Sorry, habit. Remind me too much of your father sometimes.” He muttered. Brian looked back at him, the older man’s eyes far away.

“Well I’m not my father, so stop comparing me to him. I never knew him, not really.” Brian trailed off.

“I know, not your fault. Died too young, my little brother did. Still, he gave at least one good thing to the world before he went. And I’ll be damned if I let you follow him to an early grave.” Xavier replied, steel in his voice. “Your father’s temper is what got him killed, Brian, and I don’t want to see that for you.”

“I don’t have anger issues, I was trying to get Zeke to stop mouthing off is all. I didn’t even realize I grabbed him till you showed up.”

“That’s part of the problem, then. You need to be more self-aware. Not being aware of your own actions in the heat of the moment.” Xavier shook his head. “I get it, I really do. Sometimes you get so focused on what you’re saying or doing that you don’t realize-”

“That’s not what I meant! He just….” Brian groaned, rising to his feet as he stepped onto the pathway, pacing back and forth on the cement. “I know he doesn’t really mean what he’s saying, he just got it from someone else and doesn’t know any better, he just needs to be told what the right way is!”

“And you’re the one to do it? You, who can’t solve your own problems first?” Xavier replied, also rising to his feet. “You’ve still got a long way to come before you can be lecturing others on right and wrong.”

“You can’t seriously be defending him! He’s being racist, and-”

“I’m not defending his views, Brian. I’m saying that your actions were uncalled for, and unless you stop and reflect on yourself, you won’t be able to help others do the same.”

Brian grimaced. He just didn’t understand. He hadn’t heard what Zeke had been saying, the way Zoe’s face had, briefly, been twisted with pain before being smothered by anger. Why couldn’t they see what he did?

“What do you like to do, Brian?” Brian blinked looking back at Xavier. His mind whirled.

“What? What’s that got to do with anything?”

“Have you got a hobby? Something you do just for the sake of doing something?” Xavier pressed. Brian frowned.

“What are you getting at?”

“Best way I’ve found to solve my own issues is to channel them into something constructive. So, what do you like to do?”

“I don’t know. What do you mean, constructive? Like building or something?”

“Doesn’t have to be building. You could make something or break it, doesn’t matter either way, so long as there’s a physical result in the end.” Brian furrowed his brow.

“I don’t follow.”

“I got into woodworking after the war. Something about using my hands to make something tangible, real, whatever I wanted it to be, instead of having my actions dictated by others. The docs said it’s meditative, helped me focus on myself instead of everything else.” Brian slouched, groaning.

“So you want me to do something to channel my supposed anger issues into? I told you, there’s nothing wrong. I just got caught up in the moment is all.”

“And I heard that out of your father’s mouth enough times to know that’s not true. You’ve got to do something with your life, something positive, with meaning, even if it’s personal, else you’ll end up just like him.”

“Dead?”

“No, worse. Lost. Lost for a long time before he died. Hurt me every day to see him like that.” Xavier replied, and Brian could hear a tremble in the older man’s voice that he had never heard before. Brian looked back at him again, Xavier’s eyes far away and clouded.

“Saw it a lot back then. So many young men with such fear and anger in them and no way to let it out afterwards. Some even wished they were still there, gave ‘em purpose when they couldn’t find it for themselves. They went to ‘nam and left a piece of themselves there.”

“You sound like you don’t like the military. You sure spent a long time in it for hating it.” Brian retorted. Xavier snorted.

“Military wasn’t the problem, the government was. Stickin’ their nose where they didn’t belong. Military does what they say, right or wrong.”

“The military protects us.”

“They protect the government’s interests, not necessarily the public’s.”

“The public elects the government, so they speak for the public.”

“Only if they keep them accountable, most of the government works for themselves, and the people are too blind to see it.”

“So you’re saying the government is forcing wars the public doesn’t want? The leaders of the military wouldn’t allow that.” Xavier looked at him, a harsh glint in his eye.

“What makes you so sure of that? I lived through that, fought through that, many men my age did.”

“That was then they wouldn’t do that now.”

“Don’t hero-worship them, they’re people, just like everyone else. They can, have, and will make mistakes, and in their position, that costs lives.”

“And yet they save more lives every day through their actions to protect us!” Brian shouted. Xavier frowned.

“You’re being awfully defensive over something you’re not even part of-”

“Well maybe I want to be a part of it.” The color went out of Xavier’s face. A surge of vindictive pleasure ran through Brian as the older man’s face drooped.

“You don’t mean that, son-”

“Don’t call me that-”

“You don’t know what it’s like, the military ruined your father's life and nearly did mine-”

“This are different now-

“Once it grabs hold of you, there’s no going back, no peace, no-”

“I’m going to serve our country and help people-”

“There are better ways than the military-”

“-and you’re not going to stop me from enlisting! You can’t tell me what to do with my life!”

“You’re making a mistake-”

“You’re not my father-”

“I WON’T LET YOU!” Xavier shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders. Brian glared at him, the older man’s eyes wide and glassy, then down at the gnarled hands tight on his shoulders.

“Hypocrite.” Xavier staggered, letting go and stepping back. The lines in his face seemed deeper than Brian had ever seen them. They both stood in silence, Brian’s pulse pounding in his veins as he watched his uncle collapse into himself, sagging against the wall.

“Is everything all right out here?” Brian turned, as Mike stepped out from the Admin building. He looked between the two of them, his eyes narrowing. “Xavier, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing, just a bit of a disagreement.” Xavier replied, his voice low. Mike stared hard at him, then Brian. Brian returned his gaze, defiant as his heart beat strong in his chest, tension coiling through his shoulders.

“You sure, Xavier?”

“Just a family matter, Mike.”

“If you say so. We’re done in here, Katsuki and Ruth are on their way.” Brian looked at him, his brow furrowing.

“Who are they? What do they have to do with this?” Brian asked. Mike turned to him.

“Well, you obviously didn’t think we were just going to let you go with a warning, did you? Both of you broke the rules, so they’re coming to administrate your punishment.”

“But I didn’t-”

“Brian, that’s enough. You want to stay, or do you want me to call your mother and explain why she has to come pick you up early? The choice is yours.” Mike interrupted. Brian frowned, looking down at his feet.

“Did I hear my name? My hearing isn’t what it used to be.” A wavering voice called, followed by a self-depreciating chuckle. Brian turned to see two people coming up the path to Admin: a young man with distinctly asian features, and an elderly african-american woman. Their pace, however, far oustripped what Brian thought a woman of Ruth’s age should be able to keep up with, and it almost seemed as though Katsuki was the one who was struggling to keep up with her.

“Thanks for coming, both of you. I’ve got some fine young volunteers for you for the rest of the afternoon and the next two days free time, I’m sure that they will both be very helpful in the agriculture garden.” Mike replied. Brian frowned.

“Zeke’s coming too?” He asked.

“Indeed. I figured he could spend some quality time with Ruth. She’s been asking for some help in the gardens this year, and this seems to be the perfect opportunity for some more hands.” Mike smiled slyly. Brian looked between the two, a slow smile spreading across his face. “Brian, you’ll be with Katsuki. You two can go on ahead, I’ll send Ruth and Zeke back in a bit, I need to have a chat with Ruth first.”

“You sure know how to butter me up, Mike. Y’all right there, Xavier?” She asked, looking past the two of them. Xavier nodded, standing tall once again, his face set in stone as he looked over the group.

“Never could tell what he was thinking, once he gets into one of his moods. You say something to him, boy?” Ruth asked, squinting up at Brian.

“Just a family disagreement, ma’am.”

“Well, don’t let it fester. Nothing good to come from arguments between family, god knows. Well, let’s get on with it, Mike. The faster we get to talking with the boy, the faster we get back to my tomatoes!” Ruth strode into the building without a second glance, Mike following in her wake, leaving Brian and Katsuki with Xavier outside.

“She’s going to knock the socks off of him.” Brian said to himself, wishing that he could see the look on Zeke’s face right now.

“She has that effect on a lot of people.” Katsuki replied, smiling genially. “Like a hurricane, that woman. I’m Katsuki, Team Leader of the Nature Center.” He held out a hand.

“Brian Clarke.” Brian took it. There was a thin layer of dirt packed into his palm that he obviously hadn’t had the time to clean off before coming over to the Admin building.

“Good to meet you, Brian. We’ve got a lot of work to do at the gardens and a few volunteers already going, so let’s go ahead and join them. From what I understand, Ruth and your friend might take a little longer. Shall we?” Katsuki motioned down the trail they came from.

“Zeke’s not my friend, just someone I happen to be in the same cabin as.” Brian glanced back at Xavier for only a moment before turning to walk down the path.

“Brian.” He stopped after a few steps. Xavier’s voice sounded like slabs of granite rubbing against each other. Brian looked over his shoulder. His face looked like granite as well. Xavier was silent for a moment as the breeze whispered through the trees.

“I’m sorry.” He said. Brian looked at him for a long moment, then turned to continue down the path. Katsuki caught up with him a few moments later as the trail turned and the Admin building disappeared behind the trees.

They walked in silence down the path towards the Nature Center, passing by the southern cabin sites and the archery range as they went. It felt good to be in motion again, instead of stewing around waiting for things to happen. Especially knowing that right at that moment, Zeke was getting up close and personal with someone who was pretty much everything he hated, and being told to follow their instructions for the rest of their free time for the week. It stung, being told he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the afternoons with his friends, but at least he wouldn’t have to interact with Zeke as much now.

“Here we are. Have you come by in previous years that I don’t recall? Or is this your first time to the Nature Center?” Katsuki asked as they reached the beginning of the fenced-in gardens. An area nearly twice the size of the football field had been fenced off, and rows of different crops were being tended to by a small handful of campers and staff.

“I’ve passed by a few times. I’ve never really been one for hiking or farming.” Brian replied.

“Not everyone is. It’s always been hard to attract campers to sign up for learning about sustainable farming during the program times, and the handful we get during free time frequently only come once or twice.” Katsuki replied. A wry grin overtook his face. “Not everything can be as fun or exciting as most of the rest of the camp. Between the farmland and the greenhouses, it’s a wonder we actually manage to keep everything alive.”

The two of them turned into the Nature Center, filled with displays of local wildlife and the harsh scent of stale mothballs. Katsuki stopped by a few of the terrariums as they passed through to the back exit to the gardens, adjusting heat lamps and checking water levels for the various animals within.

“We only have about another hour for free time today, so we’ll just get you started on some weeding for now. Tomorrow we’ll really dig into some of the harder work, but that will require some instruction time that we don’t have right now.” Katsuki handed over a pair of crusty old work gloves. “We’re fighting an invasion of horsetail weeds at the moment, they’ve been crowding out the subterranean crops in the back. Nastly stuff.”

“What’s so bad about it?” Brian asked as they made their way down the rows of vegetables, passing by a few other campers watering plants as they went.

“They don’t look like much on the surface, kind of like little ferns, or horsetails as the name implies. The problem is the roots. They dig deep underground, and make networks of themselves. If you just try pulling them out and leave some of the root system behind, it’ll regrow and spread itself underground as it does, making a bunch of new plants above ground. The roots systems are dense, and will starve out other nearby plants of space and nutrients.”

“Sounds like a hassle. How do you make sure you’ve got rid of it all?”

“We dig around each of the spots we find the plant sprouting from the ground and follow it back down to the roots. They dig down deep, but they don’t grow as fast horizontally, so digging about two inches away from the stem should get it. You’ve got to be patient and be careful when getting rid of horsetail, or else you’ll be right back in the same place doing the same thing in a week or so.”

They reached the end of the row, and Brian’s eyes widened. Among the orderly rows of plants, several square feet had been overtaken by a thick mat of stringy, bristly plants. A large pile of them, having already been uprooted, sat in a nearby wheelbarrow.

“That’s a lot of weeds, how the heck did it get this bad?” Brian asked. Katsuki laughed.

“Like I said, we’re shorthanded, and there’s a lot of different things to keep track of and do around here. It’s cropped up a few different times this summer, always in a different spot, and the campers don’t always know what they’re looking at. This patch was fine about a week ago, and it got to about twice as big as this before Yasmina noticed it. It’s also incredibly sneaky, it spreads out wide before it comes out of the ground, so even if we dig up where it starts, we could miss some further out and not even know.”

“Sounds like something out of a bad horror movie, invasion of the plant monsters.” Brian joked as Katsuki knelt down, grabbing a trowel and handing it to him.

“Well, hopefully these won’t grow legs and try to take over the camp. We’d have to burn the whole place down to get rid of them.” Katsuki grinned. “Still, I’ve seen these things growing this fast in previous years. It’s always been a problem, but not on this scale. Must be a good year for them. Here, this is how you do it.”

Brian watched as Katsuki dug up around the closest offshoot, digging the spade in a wide circle around the plant. He pushed his gloved hands into the dirt on either side of the new circle, uprooting the whole section before shaking it, letting the loose dirt fall off the plant. Brian’s eyes widened as the long root system came into view.

“Seriously? Those roots look almost a foot long!”

“Like I said, the roots of the problem run deep. And you’ve got to get the whole thing out, root and stem, or else it’ll just come back at a later date.” Katsuki had an odd look in his eye as he stared pointedly at Brian. Something about the statement seemed off to Brian, but he shook it off as he turned, looking back at the task in front of him.

“Well, nothing to it but to get started, I guess.” Brian dug his trowel into the dirt, and started the long, arduous task of getting rid of the weeds. Sure, it wasn’t going to be the most interesting or fun thing he had ever done at the camp, but the thought of hearing Zeke complain about the work, and the fact that there was now no way he had the free time to win his stupid bulls-eye bet, gave him a bit of spiteful joy.

Hell, it might even turn out to be the highlight of the entire week.