It was an exceptionally hot summer day at North Woods Camp in Lake Winnipesaukee. There were rocks and thick forest everywhere and it felt like we were actually living in the woods. The water was clear and clean and there were big mountains on the other side of the lake. It was a very naturally beautiful place.

Five of my friends and I went to this camp together. We had perfectly executed a loophole to all get in the same cabin, each one of us requested to be in the same cabin as another person, so if each person got requested to be in the same cabin then we would all be in the same cabin. This is what happened and was very fun but also very chaotic. The cabin was small and had four bunk beds with the counselors in their own beds in the front corners of the room.

 About halfway through the two-week camp session,  my friend Miles discovered a bag of Jolly Ranchers in an open drawer in our especially mean counselor, Quinn’s, side of the room. He was the least intimidating person.  He was skinny but mostly body fat and had a defined round belly.  

‘’ We can take a few but not too many or Quinn the counselor will notice,” Miles said.

Of course, leaving a bag of Jolly Ranchers open in front of eight ten-year-olds is not a good idea. And obviously, we took some.

“He probably has three hundred in here we can take more before he will notice,” Miles suggested.

 Then we all took a few more but we made sure that we all got an even amount. But he still had so many so some kids took a lot more. They took so many it was unnecessary and the trash can was overflowing with Jolly Rancher wrappers. And each one of us had a bed full of jolly ranchers.

“Guys, this is way too many. Don't take anymore or he’ll notice,” Declared Andrew

We saw that we had taken more than we thought we would. Our cabin thought we would get caught. So to give us the lowest chance of being caught we closed his drawer and took out the trash and everyone hid all of their own Jolly Ranchers in their pillow case. We had a kid in our cabin named Matt who was glancing out the dark screened window on the lookout to see if the counselors were close to coming back. The trash and bag had been hidden. And everyone's jolly ranchers were in their pillowcases. Then the time came. As Matt peaked through the screen window and in between bushes he got a quick glimpse of our counselors. 

“They’re coming, They’re coming!!!” Matt said in a loud whisper.

We climbed into our bunks and pretended we were talking about some random thing like what block we had next or what we hope is served for lunch.  They came in and looked around at us, confused.

‘’This is weird, you guys are never well behaved,’’ our counselor Frank said jokingly.

They saw a kid in our cabin named Zander hiding over his pillow and heard a high-pitched but muffled crunch whenever he moved the pillow.  Then the worst thing happened. A Jolly Rancher fell out of his pillow case and on the ground right in front of Quinn and Frank who were waiting at the door.

“Zander, where did you get all those Jolly Ranchers?” Frank said.

He didn't say anything and the entire cabin was silent. Everyone was in their bunks looking over the edge at that corner of the room. 

We all thought that we would get caught right there and get sent home for stealing a counselor's property.  But that is when I took a risk. And said

“I brought a bag from home and gave some to him.” 

All of us in the cabin then tried to play it off by saying we were sorry and we didn't know the no outside food policy in the camp.  Thankfully Frank was understanding because it was our first time at the camp.  However,  Quinn was still suspicious. The cabin hour time was coming to an end so we all joyfully walked outside to wait outside the cabin to wait for a signal to go to our next activity.  We were all quiet but excited that we got away with taking all of those Jolly Ranchers.  We all went to our next activity. Mine was archery and other people had basketball or some other activity. 

About an hour later it was time to group up at the cabin to then go to lunch. Everyone in my cabin was already ready so we were playing tetherball outside or just talking. But out of nowhere, we heard.

“CABIN THREE! IN THE CABIN NOW” yelled Quinn.

Hearing that scream over all of the noises around me made my heart sink. Noise from all around our cabin disappeared.  I turned to see Quinn in the doorway of the cabin. We all slowly approached and walked into the cabin, very scared and quiet.  At this point seeing how mad Quinn was we knew it wasn't about how we took Jolly Ranchers from him. It was the fact that we stole anything at all and then lied about it. As our punishment, we got several talks and scoldings from the head counselors.

“If you guys dont tell us, we will kick you out of camp”

No one in our cabin blamed a certain person because we knew we were all at fault.

On top of that, we had to clean the entire dining hall from top to bottom. This entire situation was also mentioned to our parents. Everyone regretted that we took the Jolly Ranchers and wished it never happened. We all took away a  good lesson about respecting other people's belongings. Overall the camp was a great experience and the Jolly Rancher situation made the trip more memorable.