City of IF

[Ingrothechundyer]

And of course "honor" being the hardest to write you would all choose it ;)

The previous story was fact as far as I know (I went to bed before the events of the night were over and so some of it I heard from the folks who stayed up the next morning)

It was only the second night of camp and most years the older scouts don't go to bed till 3. Of course they have a really hard time getting up at 7 the next morning too.

I did see them jumping over the fire and blowing up the bamboo while people were jumping.

I heard the "M-80" go off and heard that it was a M-80.

[jnmrcs]

Well, that surprise. But anyway that's how kids are and sometimes they do as they please.

[Ingrothechundyer]

Well SM Bob I see that you told a good tale and the voters are wondering what you have to say about honor tonight.

Wall you see this story follows four or so years of going to summer camp and our troop was fairly well known by all the commissioners and staff.

Yah fter jnmrcs an chinaren played jungle gym on the camps nice new dining canopy and busted alf the poles dat der commissenor was real mad at our troop.

Wall now Jimbo it didn’t really help that they also decided to play basketball with the tents and cots.

At least chinaren paid for his share of the damage but it is a shame that jnmrcs’s parents decided to pull him out of the troop. He was so much fun to be round.

Yeah I never did see dem havin so much fun knockin holes in dem leetle kids tents. Why dey even busted up three cots and barely missed one of dem leetle kids.

Yeah what a shame that I missed that kid. He thought he could tease me but I almost taught him. As it was he just laughed at me.

It’s a very good thing you missed him jnmrcs. We’ve had a lot of fun together before your parents pulled you out of the troop but you could have seriously injured him. You shouldn’t have been throwing rocks in the first place.

Besides that was bout our third year at camp. I want to start from the beginning. Now as I was saying out troop has earned quite a reputation at camp…

Yeah remember that canoeing instructor? He sure remembers us.

Yes he does cause ya’ll keep calling him by your nickname whenever you see him. The rest of the staff really doesn’t appreciate it.

Yes but he asked for it.

As I was saying the first year we started establishing our reputation for campsite cleanliness.

You call that clean! We have inspections every day and our troop created a song to sing when we didn’t come in last place! Why you would think that they were proud of how messy they kept camp. The older scouts did nothing in the morning but sleep, cut classes, and eat snacks (throwing the rappers around camp). And the young scouts did a great job of following their example.

Mr. Phang kept all our records and did his own inspection of the camp and boy was he strict. The patrols competed to see which one had the least messy part of camp. Some of the younger scouts actually picked up some and it was thanks to them that we didn’t place last every meal. Since meals are eaten in the order of your inspection scores the older scouts complained about how badly they did at picking up.

Standing in that field was no fun and my tent was always perfect till jnmrcs and chinaren dumped all their trash around it one day to make me fail. They said it was a joke!

Simmer down Ben I’m sure it was a joke. You have to give them credit for coming up with that song. It is always fun to watch them singing, so proud to have a great song. And don’t forget the camp loved it when they do a song for the Family Night Campfire. See things aint all bad.

Our troop might not be as strict and stuffed up as them city slicker troops but we sure have more than our share of fun.

Hmm I remember the third year we had a bomb threat in the dining hall and the jnmrcs and Smee took turns racing past the staff towards the dining hall. The camp commissioner was not happy. If I remember correctly he yelled at them and they raced back to camp extremely scared of what he would do to them.

Ben they were just messing with the staff. Sure they shouldn’t and I had to talk to the commissioner later bout it but it was all in good fun. They didn’t realize the seriousness of the situation.

Now back to the subject at hand our troop has earned quite a reputation at camp and

You mean like the time you had to arrange for an ASM to sit in class with chinaren me and Smee cause the teacher said we disturbed the class too much.

Yes jnmrcs that contributed to our reputation since the class was taught by the Nature Lodge Director who reports to the camp commissioner. They almost kicked you fellows out cause I couldn’t be there the entire week but we eventually worked out a deal.

now back to my story!

Err SM Bob maybe if you tell me where your going I can fill in the blanks and then you can take over again?

Ok I’m telling about the year we won the Honor Troop award.

Ok *turns off all mikes and starts typing*
At the camp Troop 88 goes to every week there is an award that is handed out to the troop the Camp Commissioners feel is the most honorable troop that week.

Criteria for being selected for this award are as follows
Service to the camp
Perception at all camp events that week
Camp site inspection scores
General good and honorable behavior displayed by all scouts in the troop

Ok that cover it SM Bob?

That’ll work. It’s awarded at the Closing Campfire so every troop can know who the honor troop was and the troop that wins it is extremely proud for the rest of the night. It’s mostly won by a troop from Out of Council (usually Florida) Of course since Troop 88 fails every one of those categories every year we go to camp I never thought we’d get the honor troop award but I was due for a surprise.

The year I went to the National Scout Jamboree most of the troop decided not to go to Summer Camp. I left my dad Mr. Phang in charge of the troop for most of the week and figured with only 20 scouts he shouldn’t have much trouble.

That year Ben was the SPL and he had two of the most responsible scouts in the troop as his ASPL and Quartermaster. The Quartermaster is an especially vital job at Summer Camp where he makes sure the guys with latrine duty finish the job and he fights with the camp Quartermaster to get supplies.

I recon I should let Ben tell you bout it since I wasn’t there that week.

Well as SM Bob said that week was a hard week but I’m a boy that can make the troop listen to me and I had a good staff that year. The first thing I did was make it clear to them that this year wasn’t going to be like any previous year. I brought 200 feet of rope which we set up around our camp and made a rule that no trash was allowed outside of the rope.

The next thing I did was let those scouts know that any scout sleeping the next morning would do a service project around the campsite that afternoon and boy did I have some service projects for them. Our campsite has a major erosion issue and needed a lot of half buried logs put across camp to break the water to the creeks on either side of camp.

I made it clear that any scout giving a staff member a hard time would have KP (the folks who have to clear the table then sweep and mop the floor and wipe down the tables. A very hated job in the hot dining hall) for the entire next day.

We would do a trash sweep in the morning and anyone who didn’t help would get latrine duty (Clean the outdoor bathrooms which stank. The most hated job you could get a camp) and folks not taking a class before the inspector came just “volunteered” to help clean up camp.

The difference was amazing. We were always on time to every camp function and were consistently in the top ten on inspection scores. There were no complaints from the staff members and class skipping was greatly reduced. We sure got a lot of service projects done around our campsite as the folks who couldn’t wake up after staying up till 3 or later “volunteered” to help out around camp that afternoon.

After the Friday night campfire the Camp Commissioner called me and my ASPL over and said that he was impressed with how much our troop had improved from previous years. He handed me a manila envelope and asked me not to flash it around since he was afraid it would make the Out of Council troops jealous and make them feel that they didn’t have a chance to win it.

After he left I pulled it out of the envelope and saw that I had just been handed the honor troop award. I announced it that night at our troop’s campfire and the boys were happy and proud.

Wall that was the only year that they didn’t award it at the closing night campfire and I wondeer why they didn’t. Oh well some mysteries may never be solved.

SM Bob, thanks for the story. Now can you give the readers next weeks list of words?

Sure thing.
chinaren
Smee
bomb
wind

[Ingrothechundyer]

Ok that was long :shock:

I hope it makes for a good read :-D

[Chinaren]

Ah. Yes. That was me alright!

[Shady Stoat]

Good one Ingro

Again, I'm thinking fiction (even though I was wrong last time) :) I just can't imagine that troop buckling under so thoroughly.

I think I'd like to see Bomb next. Chinaren and Smee - who could possibly make up an interesting tale about them? ;)

[Smee]

Good writing Ingro :D

I'm going for Fact on this one; with the right discipline kids can be turned around pretty quickly.

Next I would like to hear the story of Chinaren - he doesn't make it into enough stories.

Happy Writing. :)

[Chinaren]

I will see your bid, and I will raise you a Smee vote! :D

[jnmrcs]

Very good story...

I should said fact.
I'm very curious about the smee and chinaren stories... so I vote for chinaren... :lol:

[Chinaren]

Quote: I'm very curious about the smee and chinaren stories... so I vote for chinaren...

Great. NOW I get the votes! Where were your votes for me in SGotM? Eh? Or my linear story eh eh? :-o

Bah. Humbug! ;)

[LordoftheNight]

*raises hand*

umm, me?

[Chinaren]

lordofthenight wrote: *raises hand*

umm, me?

Well of course you Lordy! I was talking about the 'bad' people! :shock: ;) :D

[LordoftheNight]

ahh, ok

[jnmrcs]

chinaren wrote: lordofthenight wrote: *raises hand*

umm, me?

Well of course you Lordy! I was talking about the 'bad' people! :shock: ;) :D

So, I'm bad now?? Anyway... :off:

[Suneila]

I'm gonna say fiction. I think they would want to show off the troop's improvement and give the award at the camp fire like usual.

I also want to hear the story about the bomb.

~sunny

[Ingrothechundyer]

Cool 7 votes :shock:

Err tie vote on bomb and chinaren. Any one want to break this tie real quick or do I just vote :lol:

[Shady Stoat]

You could always try a story about Chinaren getting blown up by a bomb :shock:

[Ingrothechundyer]

But thats haaarrd *he wines* ;)

Ok chinaren and a bomb it is :lol:

[Ingrothechundyer]

Congratulations on voting correctly (4-3) that the previous story was indeed fact :D

SM Bob you almost got a tie vote and I'm informed and the voters have now rigged a very special vote for you today. They want to hear a story about chinaren and a bomb.

But that’s not fair. chinaren was proved innocent of planting the bomb and it was determined that lordy did it.

SM Bob your saying that you have a story buried deep in your memory of chinaren planting a bomb? That sounds like a very good candidate for tonight’s story.

Wall there is one story but it wasn’t really a bomb and I really don’t want to infringe on chinaren’s reputation. Come to think of it I’m not sure I want to tell what lordy did either.

Well folks it’s up to you. We can get SM bob to tell this story or I’ll break the tie and SM Bob will tell us about something else.

2 hour poll :lol:

[Shady Stoat]

Go on then. I'll change my vote to Chinaren. We can always go blow something up next time ;)

[LordoftheNight]

in that case i'll change mine to bomb

i want to read about the bomb i planted

go on

[Ingrothechundyer]

Or Shady could break the vote :lol: Thanks Shady.

SM Bob the voters have relented and voted that you tell us a story about chinaren so that we may better understand this poor scout.

Wall you know that he was pulled out of the troop after a lettel incendent at summer camp but wall he was in the troop we enjoyed him. He loved playin pranks n hanging out with the “elite scouts”. They worked hard to get out of work nd play pranks on the scouts not in that group.

Why this one trip we worked together to pull a great prank on the new scouts.

Why I was so mad when you people dumped my tent on top of me I was ready to hurt someone.

Wall Suneila you should know that that there prank aint the one I was refferin to. Besides you are four years younger than chinaren.

I was also extremely upset when someone put toothpaste in my sleeping bag. Or the time at Summer Camp where someone filled my sheets with shaving cream.

Wall that aint exactly the prank I was thinking of either. The one I’m thinking of we worked together on and ya’ll know how I feel bout excessive prankin.

Yeah you stand there and laugh!

Wall on with my story… *mutes Suneila’s mike* Now then. We were going to this ere lake to go camping. Now we ad bout ten new scouts who were goin on this ere trip as there first. So naturally we had to make sure that they had a memorable experience.

Well SM Bob asked myself and some of my palls to go up early to camp and find a good place by the lake. He wanted to give those new scouts quite a scare and figured that the best way would be to tell ghost stories and then have a spooky encounter.

We got a ghost costume and some lights and set up a ways down the beach on a stump. I made a few plaster “ghost tracks” in my sandbox and we made them going down the beach. Taking a stick we made some weird looking tracks running between the prints.

Getting a large supply of rocks we made platforms in several trees and hoisted them up. Taking a break we chucked a few into the lake where they made the plopping sound we were looking for. In the night after hearing ghost stories they would sound extremely eerie. Anyone trying to spot the “ghost” with a flashlight wouldn’t see anything.

I got a tape of some wolves howling and set it up on the far shore so we could have some cool sound effects for the prank.

My four friends packed their camouflage hunting duds and I brought the ghost costume. After we had stashed it far enough away from camp that the kids shouldn’t have been able to find it SM Bob came up. We showed him exactly what the route we wanted the scouts to take was. He took us back near to the scout hut and we split up and wandered in from different directions. We even timed it so we showed up at different times!

Wall you see I wanted this prank to work out great an didn’t want the scouts to guess that somethin was up. Yes I see you jumpin round there Suneila but you’ll ave to wait till I finish tellin bout the trip. When we get to the walk down the beach I’ll ask for your mike to be unmated.

Now where was I?

I belive you were telling about the trip up there.

Ah so I was. Thanks chinaren. Now after we packed all our gear into the trailer we all drove up to the camp site and set up the tents. Around nine o’clock we got that ere campfire goin real good an I started to tell ghost stories bout this lake. Some of them new scouts were just eatin it up and were scared to sit there.

Then I decided to take everyone on a moonlight stroll down the beach. Bout the time we reached it Oh yeah you can talk Suneila.

*takes mike off mute*

Most of us knew something was up as soon as SM Bob decided to take us for a midnight walk. After all those ghost stories! How dumb does he think we are?

Well look who’s talking. Remember how high you jumped when the wolf tape started going off?

Well with all those eerie noises coming from the lake what did you expect? Why I knew one of you started the tape as soon as I got over the start it gave me. I knew you weren’t on the hike.

So you say but most of the scouts were convinced we were at the rear and hiding in fright. What a laugh. Us, scared. :lol:

Err folks I think your getting a little off the topic here.

Well we went for our little midnight walk and we started hearing these weird noises from the lake. Some of the kids with us would have run all the way back to camp if chinaren hadn’t caught them. There was a bright moon out and although SM Bob asked us not to use our flashlights a lot of the scouts were shining them around at where they thought the noises came from.

When the wolf noises started a lot of the scouts yelled that there was a pack of wolves racing around the point towards us. They wanted to run back to camp and call for help but SM Bob talked them out of it. A lot of the older scouts (12-13) including myself didn’t look so brave but weren’t about to admit to being frightened.

SM Bob suddenly noticed some strange tracks on the ground and asked ASM Mr. Phang what sort of tracks they were. Mr. Phang said that he didn’t know but some of us might. There was quite some commotion while the scouts speculated on what sort of tracks they were

I knew that they were fake! I told everyone so but the didn’t believe me.

Watching them find the tracks was extremely funny. After a while I heard several scouts saying that they were probably fakes while others started yelling that they were the tracks of a ghost. I slipped off and ran ahead to get into costume while the others kept plunking their rocks into the lake.

We moved on and found a stump that the tracks seemed to be centering on. As we approached the wolf calls and eerie noises stopped. Wondering what was going on a few of the braver scouts approached then yelled and started running away as a strange figure approached us.

I didn’t run!

You certainly weren’t in front when the scouts started shining the flashlights in my eyes.

While I just didn’t want to spoil anyone’s fun. You scarred lordy half to death and he should have known better.

Before were repermanded about going :off: again let me continue with the story.

Several seconds later some of the older scouts in our group started shining flashlights in the face of the thing and then decided to catch it. chinaren admitted that it was only him and Smee, jnmrcs, Jimbo, and another older scout climbed out of the trees in full camouflage (including the face nets). Some of the scouts that got really scared started shining their flashlights into their eyes.

I told you I wasn’t scared. I was just getting them back for scaring my friends

*quickly mutes all mikes* Thank you for another story SM Bob and crew.
*waits several seconds till all talking ceaces*
*turns on SM Bob’s mike*

SM Bob what choices do you have for next week’s story?

Wall I suppose I’ll give you a few interesting ones this week…
Shotgun
Accident prone
Bugspray
Bigrock

[Guest]

Good one Ingro! (although I shouldn't read these stories when I've just woken up - I kept wondering when they'd find the bomb) :?

Bugspray, I want bugspray!!

Fact or fiction? Hmm, that's more difficult this time. I think I'll be voting Fact, but I might change my mind if someone comes up with good reasons the other way :)

[Shady Stoat]

Sorry. The above, twas me :D

[LordoftheNight]

Quote: You scarred lordy half to death and

i resent that - i was only faking
honest

i think its got to be shotgun next

[Smee]

Hey Ingro,

Good story.

I think this is fact, sounds like a feasible and entertaining joke.

Next I would like to hear 'Big Rock'.

Happy Writing. :)

P.S. Just a quick idea. Could you stick the actual question or something in the poll. I get confused when I just see 'Fact or Fiction' - is it the new one, or did I miss the last one etc.

So just something simple like...

Is the ghost story true?
Is the bamboo story true? etc.

[jnmrcs]

It's a hard desicion but I think it's fact.

Also I have to say that I was just following Smee. I thougt that he was trining us about camouflage... we weren't scared... :scared:

[Chinaren]

Its all lies! Lies and slander! I never did nufink! :cry2:

And where was the bomb? :?

[LordoftheNight]

there was no bomb, shady changed her vote to chinaren instead

afterall - it was proved i set the bomb

[Suneila]

I vote fact, and I want to hear bugspray, too. I would say accident prone, but I was a little worried that you would use me (which would probably be fitting, but I don't want to see it).

~sunny

[Ingrothechundyer]

Smee wrote: P.S. Just a quick idea. Could you stick the actual question or something in the poll. I get confused when I just see 'Fact or Fiction' - is it the new one, or did I miss the last one etc.

So just something simple like...

Is the ghost story true?
Is the bamboo story true? etc.

Good idea. Thanks :D

[LordoftheNight]

voted

[Ingrothechundyer]

Looks like bug spray won for some odd reason. Well let's see how it goes . :lol:

[Ingrothechundyer]

Well SM Bob those voters seem to have caught up with your tricks this week :)
That is a resounding vote for fact if I’ve ever seen one.

Wall the only leetle problem with that is the story was actually fiction

Wow too bad you can’t create fiction that convincing more often :P

Wall It’s not because I don’t try but these readers are smart

I agree with you there SM Bob. Now you pretty much split the vote for the next subject but Bug Spray pulled ahead by one vote so we get to hear all about an adventure with it.

Wall I don’t quite know that I’d call that leetle incident an “adventure” but I did learn my lesson about creating a great story then bein reluctant to tell ya’ll it. Sometimes them there voters misinterpret my speakin and vote me away from my story.

Right SM Bob something valuable to keep in mind but now about the Bug Spray?

Wall you want to hear bout the time some of them kids decided to pass Space Ex without buying a model rocket?

If it has bug spray it sounds like something the readers might enjoy hearing about and would be in bounds with the vote. Hmm you might want to explain what “Space Ex” is for those of us who don’t have a clue what you’re talking about.

Wall you see this was jnmrcs’s first time taking the Space Exploration merit badge and he figured that he would save some money by building his own model rocked instead of buyin one from the camp store.

He waited till Mr. Phang went to take a nap and…

I got a plastic 2 liter coke bottle that someone had finished drinking the coke from and washed it out. I got my aerosol can of bug spray and sprayed a good helping into the bottle. Grabbing a match I lit it and watched my rocket spew flames.

It refused to go high or straight. In fact it almost took this one little kid’s head off. Our instructor refused to allow to let me launce it for class because he said it was dangerous. I don’t know why he had to be so mean to us.

Thank you for this story folks. SM Bob since I’m going to be gone next week I’m going to just take your next story and leave it with a friend to post next Wednesday. The subject won’t be formally voted on since by the time folks read this the next story will be written.

Wall that sounds good to me. Till next week ya’ll
No
words
this
week

[LordoftheNight]

right then, i vote for fact and 'no'

[Shady Stoat]

Good chapter. Short, but entertaining :)

I voted fiction, because I think you're a sneaky double-bluffer. Or maybe I'm being unfair - you're probably a sneaky triple-bluffer and I got it wrong again :lol:

[LordoftheNight]

voted

[jnmrcs]

mmm. I vote for fact....

[Shady Stoat]

A huge thank you to Mrs. Stoat for posting this story on time for me while I’m out of town on Christmas vacation :D

Well SM Bob I have no idea how the previous vote went but I will update you (and the scoreboard) when I get back from vacation but the story was fiction. For this week were going to take the chinaren and bomb combo that the twisted stoat killed at the last minute to teach you a lesson. Here’s your chance to tell that story after all. ;)

**Due to the fact I’m out of town all fact and fiction ballots will be counted by hand. There will be no poll this week.**

Wall now lets see if I can remember what I was goin to talk about…

Something about the bomb that I planted! But what bomb was that?

Ah yes now I remember. I’m going to tell ya’ll bout the bomb that was planted by lordy an how we found out. Why…

Why I remember! This is the trip that we played capture the flag in the graveyard till 2AM then had to get up at 6AM to cook breakfast. Why the first clue I had that anything was wrong was when I took my skillet of bacon off the fire and while dumping in into the dutch oven heard an explosion behind me.

Looking up at the tarp covering the tables I saw lots of holes where the fallout had punched through it as if it didn’t even exist. That tarp wouldn’t keep out the rain even with another tarp covering it after that little indecent.

Wall you know that was kinda scary for us adults to hear the explosion and see the fire blow up. Especially since a patrol of scouts had been cooking around where it used to be.

It twas miraculas that dat der pan o greasey bacon twaint on the fire with a patrol of scouts sitting round watching it burn err cook. Yah dats it, cook.

It was obvious that SM Bob was shocked by the explosion and it took him a few minutes to gather his bearings. Some of the adults were mad about the tarp since it would cost over $100 to replace but he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

You would think that he knew us by now but he got this crazy idea that it was a prank and decided that I was the one who came up with it and planted some sort of explosive device in Suneila’s cooking fire. It was extremely insulting. If I decided to play a prank like that you can be sure that I wouldn’t have been caught.

You can bet that if I decided to play a prank like that I would have announced it to everyone. We’ve had a ton of fun playin pranks on folks and we don’t slink around hiding our pranks like a bunch of cowards.

Yeah Smee it sure wasn’t me either. SM Bob was a fool if he though I would play a cool prank like that then lie and say I didn’t. Especially since ya’ll would know that I did it.

Wall ya’ll have played pranks and lied about them before. It seemed like something ya’ll would do so I had to make sure it wasn’t you before I went around acusin folks. Specily after you got dem rednecks chasin me with a shotgun yesterday mornin with that there stupid and tasteless prank of yours Smee. All ya’ll told me bout that one was “drive faster now!”. I had to get my facts from dat angry lady an her husband.

Yah why’d you do that Smee?

Wall ya’ll should know that I know full well that ya’ll were all pushin Smee to do it. But anyway ya’ll did convince me that you didn’t do it so…

You decided to ask us to help you catch who did it because it was so dangerous. One of the ASMs found the remains of the “bomb” in the crater and showed it to us. It was most definetly something that we had and it belonged to Suneila.

We quickly decided that Suneila didn’t plant it in his own cooking fire because he isn’t that stupid. We started to work on remembering who had handled a can of corn the last night.

Since we stayed up after all the adults went to bed we had the best chance of finding out who was the last one to handle the corn. Almost everyone had handled it at some point in time which was stupid and made our job harder then it should have been.

Yeah but once we figured out that lordy handled it our job was easy since everyone knew that lordy hates Suneila

Yah getting beat up by a kid three years younger then you does have that effect.

For the last time Suneila did not beat me up. I tripped and fell!

That’s your story but once we confronted you with the evedance you admitted that you buried it under the charcoal from last nights campfire as a joke.

I was only hiding it as a joke. I didn’t know that it would blow up!

Wall since lordy came forward and midted to plantin the bomb and since he didn’t mean no harm we decided to meet with his parents. Half of the new tarp was paid for by the troop an the rest was split among the boys who went on that trip. Some of the boys and ASMs though it was a miracle that the bacon grease wasn’t on the fire to blow all over the patrol that was cookin.

Thank you SM Bob. This week since Ingro is out of town you the readers get to propose four words and vote for your favorite. Lets give SM Bob a great new year’s surprise topic :grin:

[LordoftheNight]

thats me - guilty as charged

sorry sentulia