Youth Camp and Bertha

This was the place where girls and boys had a chance to intermingle, build relationships, learn to kiss and oh yeah, learn about the Bible. Bertha was the prettiest girl at camp and I began dreaming the moment I laid eyes upon her. She was dark tanned, with long straight dark hair that hid part of her face. I wasn’t given to sports, and camp was also a lot about sport and competition. All day I practiced my hoops and all night long I dreamed about Bertha and basketball. The other guys in the cabin got a good laugh as I yelled out in my sleep “ringer Bertha, ringer”. I was scoring and she was very impressed.

In real time I was quite awkward and uncoordinated. During the ball throwing event the Seppo boys were making quite the impression with their throwing arms. After Paul threw his ball one of the girls offered to be his marker. This started something and before I knew it all of the cool boys had thrown the ball and had acquired willing female markers.

The night before at the snack bar after church I had introduced myself to Bertha and the two of us had gone for a walk together. It was as close to heaven as I remember ever being and we laughed and told stories back and forth. The turn in bell rang and this was my last opportunity for the evening to show her my affection. She stood looking up at me as if to say, “here is your chance”. I had heard of these moments but being completely untrained I dove or ducked or lunged across the 3 or so feet between us and smashed into her nose. Our lips touched briefly but our foreheads and noses took the major part of the blow. I saw stars just like in the movies and then my nose started bleeding. Don’t you hate it when that happens? She turned quickly and ran out into the darkness. It wasn’t any thing like I had imagined.

Later that night I told Paul Seppo about my exploits. Paul was good at about every thing. He laughed and then explained to me the basics in case I might ever have that chance again. “First move closer until your bodies touch and then move in slow Lloyd, really slow, kind of from the side. Just slow down and take your time”. What a good friend he was becoming.

It was now my turn to throw the ball. There was no way to back out of it. “Come on Lloyd, Let’s see what you’ve got,” yelled Paul. To this day I still can’t get any distance out of a throw. The ball went half way out into the field, took a hard right and then started coming back at me. I saw Bertha waiting in anticipation on the sidelines out of the corner of my eye. She’d had her chance to become one of the other boys’ markers but she had chosen to wait for me. As my arm went back she started running out onto the field and then she too made a hard right and then all red faced started pretending she was picking daisies.

That night Paul was the lucky guy who got to take her for a walk. Even though I was much better looking, I knew it was only right.