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avoided Desi. Both John and Desi were at the meeting that
night. After the meeting, before John could leave, Mike asked John
to accompany him to his cabin for a private talk. Desi came with
them.
    In the cabin, Mike showed John the radio
phone, and he told John that the battery was dead. He asked if John
knew any way to recharge it. John shook his head and grunted
impatiently. Mike tried a few other subjects. He didn't quite know
how to proceed. John was plainly not interested in conversation or
even being in the cabin.
    Suddenly Mike blurted, "Why don't you sleep
here tonight, John? I miss my bunk. I think I'll sleep in my bunk.
Desi won't mind sharing the cabin, will you Desi?"
    Mike looked hopefully at Desi. She and John
were clearly startled at Mike’s outburst. Desi gave Mike a
surprised frown, and then she looked at John. The boys held their
breath.
    Then she sighed and said calmly with a small
rueful smile, "No, I won't mind sharing with John." Mike quickly
left the cabin and escaped to his old bunk bed.
    Dumbfounded, John stared at the door for a
moment, and then he turned to look at Desi. Outwardly, she seemed
calm. Oh, oh , he thought. She is royally pissed .
    “Uh, sorry about this, Desi,” he said
sheepishly. “You know, Mike’s still just a kid. He…I guess…”
    “So you guys didn’t plan this?” she asked
stonily.
    “No!” John exclaimed. “I swear I didn’t know
that he was going to do this.”
    Desi was silent for a moment, and then she
said, “Some of the guys say stuff about me.”
    “I don’t,” responded John. “At least, I don’t
say that kind of stuff.”
    “So you don’t have a line you would like to
tell me? Like, maybe, what’s your sign?” she asked
sarcastically.
    It was John’s turn to be silent for a moment,
and then he said thoughtfully, “Yeah, I do have a line.”
    “So let’s hear it,” she replied
indifferently.
    John smiled at her. “I like you, Desi. I
really like you, and I would like to spend some time with you. But
not like this. If you want, I’ll walk you to your cabin, or I’ll
just leave.”
    Desi stared at him for a while, and then she
looked down. She pondered his words.
    “Well,” she began slowly. “I really like this
mattress. It’s a lot more comfortable than mine. I guess we could
share it.” She looked up at John. “But just to sleep on,” she
warned.
    “Okay,” he answered quickly.
    The next day, John was much friendlier to
Mike. He and Desi shared Mike's cabin for four days. By that time
they were publicly holding hands and stealing an occasional public
kiss. The fifth night, Mike kicked them out of his cabin. He
thought that he had sacrificed enough.
    "You guy's take the counselors’ cabin," he
said. So John and Desi moved into the vacant counselors’ cabin.
    Sometime later, Yuie cautiously asked Desi
about the incident.
    “I thought that Mike needed someone to talk
to,” Desi explained. “And I thought he that he needed a girlfriend
to help him relax at night. I thought that it would be good for all
of us. I didn’t know that his best friend liked me. At first, I was
kind of pissed that Mike wanted me to be with John. But Mike is too
immature for me, right now. And I like John.”
    While John and Desi were sharing Mike's
cabin, Jackie finally made an appearance. Mike found her, one
morning, having breakfast in the dining hall. Mike was very glad to
see Jackie. Even though she was not much of an adult, she was,
officially at least, still in charge. But as he looked around, he
realized that the other kids, especially the girls, did not seem so
happy to see Jackie up and about. Cautiously, he sat down across
from the young woman.
    "Hey, Jackie," he greeted her. She looked up
at him from her breakfast.
    "Hey, yourself," she replied, looking back
down at her breakfast. "I hear you've taken over the Admin's
cabin."
    "Uh, well..," Mike sputtered.
    Jackie shrugged. "It's okay. It’s just
another reason why we have been