Jesse smiled at Pearl a little apologetically. She smiled back and faced the front again.
Getty got to Jesse's name and chuckled when a girl at the back wolf-whistled. "This is Dr Murray. He's our medic on camp. But," she said sharply, cutting off whispers, "I don't foresee too many ailments. And if you're too shy to talk to the doc, you can see me or Pearl- or Ally- about girl issues."
The girls laughed, effectively releasing some of the excited energy his appearance had triggered.
"Your leaders will assign dorms now then we'll assemble right back here in five minutes."
The first night of camp had been so interesting for Jesse. From introductions to contracts of commitment and group rules to the girls having to prepare their own first meal, he was impressed with how it had all flowed.
The following morning, Jesse was woken up by a gentle knock on the door. Then he heard Pearl's voice.
"Jesse!"
"I'm up Pearl, thanks."
"Ok," she said through the door. "See you in twenty minutes."
That was ample time to shower and change into the Thursday uniform. Hunter green t-shirts and more khaki. He was just thankful there were no ridiculous hats and scarves or handkerchiefs to go along with it.
Jesse sat down on his bed and read through the day's program. Today was all about communication and developing the girls' interpersonal skills. He figured it would be another engaging day.
There was a knock at his door just as he put the program down.
When he opened it, he found Beth smiling up at him. "Good morning!"
"Hi Beth, how are you today?"
"I'm raring to go!" she said, evidently hyped.
He smiled that beautiful smile of his and Beth almost had to shake her head to remember what she was there for.
"The girls are showering now but everyone else is hanging by the fire pit in the amphitheatre."
"Let me not be anti-social then." He exited his cabin, closed the door and fell into step with Beth.
"Did you sleep well?" she asked.
"I did thanks. It was a bit longer than usual until I dozed off but it ended well."
"Thank God," she said with a smile. Pause. "Do you think it was because of the mattresses here?"
"Probably," he laughed. "The mattresses and the crickets and frogs!"
Beth laughed too. Pushing strands of her loose hair behind one ear, she gave him a quick look over but he didn't notice.
Going down the amphitheatre stairs, the area Jesse had seen between the girls' dorms and the cottages, his eyes sought out Pearl.
There she was in khaki and green just like everyone else, her dark hair pulled back into a pony tail, her face devoid of any make up besides nearly colourless lip gloss, her eyes as bright and beautiful as ever. Beth was pretty sure there wasn't a person in the world who would see otherwise.
"Good morning, Jesse," she said when she caught his eye.
"Good morning, Pearl." Then he turned to the others. "Good morning, everyone. How are we this morning?"
The responses ranged from 'fine' to 'blessed and highly favoured'. He grinned and sat down next to Ally who high-fived him. Beth sat down on the step just below them.
Now that they were all present, Pearl chose to run through the morning's program. Then she asked Beth to pray for the day and their program.
"Me?" came the squeaky response.
"Yeah, go ahead," Pearl encouraged her.
Beth got through a quick prayer without much trouble and the basketball players clapped it up, causing the red head to breathe a sigh of relief. Soon after that Ethel stood up as Ally looked at her watch, minds already geared for the next activity of the day.
"Good one, Beth," Getty said, sounding like a coach congratulating a basket made.
Jesse smiled.
Beth had told him on the drive to the campsite that she was still a 'young' Christian in terms of her personal walk of faith, having shifted perspectives after leaving her hometown and the rigid, more traditional Catholic parish she used to attend, a few years ago. Most of the people she worked with were 'veterans' and that made her shy sometimes although they never made her feel like less than them.
In due time, Ally blew her whistle and shrieks were heard in the dorms. Seconds later, they came running out to look for where the sound had come from. A few cries of 'wait for me!' could be heard but they all seemed to make it to the meeting point on time.
Soon after breakfast, however, Jesse noticed a group of girls lagging behind as the rest of them went to put on the correct shoes.
"Is everything ok?" he asked.
"Dr Murray," one of the three said, "Susie sprained her ankle."
"I'll assume Susie is you?" he said pointing to the girl who had her arm around the shoulder of the one who'd spoken up.
She nodded in confirmation, biting her lip.
"You want me to take a look at it?" he offered, already gesturing to a nearby bench.
She nodded again.
"Take a seat and tell me what happened."
"I think," she began softly, "it happened when we were running last night. I felt a bit of pain when the whistle went this morning and we had to run again."
"Left or right?" he inquired, crouching down.
"Right."
Her friends watched on silently as Jesse loosened her shoe laces and slipped the running shoe off. After gently prodding her foot and asking questions, he declared that it was minor and she'd probably be able to walk it off.
He suspected that she played it up a bit to get attention but he didn't confront her.
"If it persists- get worse," said Jesse, "come to me and we'll take another look."
"Ok. Thank you."
"No problem," he smiled at her.
She beamed back and turned to her friends. The one who'd spoken for her moved forward and she put out her arm for support. The other girl reached out and kept her hand near Susie in case she needed the extra support suddenly.
Jesse stifled a chuckle and turned when he heard Pearl say, "Is everything okay?"
"Yeah," he assured her. "Susie twisted her ankle a little bit but she'll be fine."
He laughed outright when he saw the doubt on her face. "Come on, Pearl. It was genuine! Minor," he conceded, "but genuine."
She shrugged and said, "Okay. If you say so. Did you notice the stir your face caused yesterday?"
He smiled down at her. "Ah, so that wasn't the normal reaction to meeting the medic?"
She laughed out loud. "No. She's normally a forty-year old soccer mom with her own practice on the bay."
"So it was going to be all female?"
"Yes. All female."
Jesse put his arm around Pearl's shoulder as they headed after the four groups. "Are you glad I'm going to spice up the program?"
"Better you than someone I don't even know," she said drily as they moved to where Ally had blown the whistle. The place was called the Assembly Point.
After Brittany taught the girls a camp war cry, they dispersed to do group activities. Jesse moved with Pearl mostly, a first aid kit slung over his shoulder for emergencies.