the new rovers initiation.
it was early June and once again at the same farm that we camped in my previous story (and many other stories before that), the reason why this farm was used as often was because it belonged to one of our scout masters, and camping here had been a tradition now for many years.
it had been almost a year since the previous initiation (see my story; to become a rover) and we had decided to sleep at the barn this time.
but one of the tasks would be to go on a hike and during the hike we had placed several other tasks they had to go through.
one of them was next to the lake they would be camping at. if you have read my story about the first time Tanja got tied up (at least by any of us) that story took place on a cabin close to this lake.
but our upcoming rovers would have to sleep outside since that is a major part of any hike.
near by the the lake they would go through the same challenge that Tanja, Eire, Tony Caitlin A. and Tom had to go through.
climb a hill while everyone was tied together by their feet.
“so when Viking dropped me off i walked up to my house and opened the front door” Rodney was telling a story that happened over a year ago “and there my dad stands in his pyjamas pants, nothing on his upper body, a bandana tied around his forehead, war paint all over his face and he aimed at me with my paintball rifle and said `run S***kid`. i was running all i could as he started shooting after me”.
“what kind of F***ed up family do you come from?” Tom asked
i was laughing and said “i didn’t understand anything at all, suddenly i see in the mirror of my car Rodney running like an idiot, jumping over the hedge and runs straight for my car, literally dives in through the door and shouts `DRIVE!´and i just pressed the pedal to the bottom”.
the boys were laughing by our stories while the girls just sat together around the campfire we had made.
i looked at the hill behind us and said “well, i think it’s time for the next challenge”.
i gave some ropes to Rodney and took a few myself and said “line up”.
Tom who had studied the last year in a different town had decided to join us for the weekend.
Tanja and Eire were the only girls who already was official rovers.
now Riley, Shaun, Michael, Joe, and the twins were up for their initiation after being rover apprentices for about a year they had now gone through half the initiation and was ready for the next task.
Stanley and Sabella did not show up for the weekend, so they would have to wait for a different time.
all 6 of them wore cargo pants and mountain shoes, except Larry who preferred rubber boots.
Larry still had his raincoat on while the others had figured that the weather had changed for the better and therefor wore cotton sweaters.
Riley and Shaun stood next to each other, so i started tying their feets together while Rodney started with Larry and Olaf.
when i finished knotting together the lovebirds i started tying Michael’s foot to Shaun and Rodney went on tying Larry to Joe.
finally i attached Michael and Joe together with a rope and stood up.
they were all tied together and formed a human chain.
“alright, your mission is to get to the top of that hill over there and back down. have a nice trip” i said.
they started figuring out how to walk while i went back to the campfire and sat down with Tanja, Eire and Tom. Rodney joined us shortly after as well.
by now i had revealed for them that i would quit soon, there would be one big jamboree later this summer and i would only continue for remaining of the year, after December i was done.
i would no longer be in the scouts.
while we just talked about whatever came to our minds Rodney decided to see how far they had come.
“uh, looks like we got our first damaged person for the weekend” he said.
“what?”
suddenly we saw Shaun carrying Riley over to us who was crying.
“what happened?”
“i don’t know, she suddenly said her ankle hurts” Shaun said while he placed Riley next to the campfire.
“okay, which foot?” i said and sat on my knees in front of her.
“the left” Riley sobbed.
“i will have to pull of your shoe and sock to see what condition it’s in” i said “Shaun, you just go back to the others and continue. i’ll take care of this”.
Shaun did like i said under Rodney’s observation. meanwhile i untied Riley’s shoelaces and pulled off the shoe and her sock to see what her ankle looked like.
“there is no sign of any damage” i studied her foot closely “it’s most likely a cramp, the best thing i can come up with is a massage to help the blood circulation flowing again”.
i have never really been a foot person, i know a lot of the readers here has a certain interest in feets and they might think i was the luckiest person on earth, but to me it was only a first aid maneuver, nothing more.
just to make sure Riley didn’t feel uncomfortable about me touching her feet i asked her first if she was alright about me massaging or if she would prefer somebody else doing it.
“it’s okay, just go ahead” she said.
while massaging her the girls talked about girl stuff, Rodney and Tom had decided to keep an eye out for the boys who still climbed the hill while being tied together.
“dude, they are already at the top!” Rodney shouted.
“what?” i forgot about Riley’s foot for a little before i continued.
“they did that in like 15 minutes?” Eire said.
“how long did we spend last year?” Tanja asked
“about an hour in total getting up and down, but your hill was much shorter, and don’t forget that they lost 5 minutes when Riley got hurt”.
“that’s F***ing insane” Tanja said shocked.
“how is your foot?” i asked.
“much better, thank you” Riley answered.
it took about another 5 minutes and we saw the boys coming down from the hill again while they shouted in choir “ONE! TWO! ONE! TWO!”
they had figured that if they made a beat and walked in the same rhythm then everything went a lot faster and easier.
“how the F*** did you manage to this so fast? you had bigger hill than us and still didn’t even spend half the time we did last year!” Tanja shouted in anger.
“because we are awesome, that’s why” Michael said in an arrogant way as possible.
the boys bendt down, untied their feets and threw the ropes toward me.
Shaun only had one thing in mind as he came out of his bounds, he ran straight for Riley and gave her a big hug and kissed her.
“how are you doing?”
“i’m fine, Viking took good care of me”.
after this they would spend the night out. the day after when they came back to the farm we had prepared the next challenges for them, which included for them to be wearing a dress and a lot of make up.
and we had brought some speakers as the final challenge would be for them to sing and dance along to The Fox by Ylvis.
soon after they lined up as Eire held the Norwegian flag out and Rodney held their new scarf that would indicate that they were worthy rovers. i had each and everyone of them hold the arm on the flag and go through the scout promise.
after they had gained their new scarfs i decided it was time.
i had prepared a speech for them. i talked a little bit about what the scouts had been for me and my experience as the group leader for the Rovers. i also shared a few word about each and everyone standing in front of me.
my personal experience with them and how it had been for me to be their scout leader.
when i was done talking and we were about to go back in the barn to just relax the rest of the evening i noticed that Tanja shred the biggest tear i have ever seen in anyones face.
she asked me to to walk with her to the rabbits cage and have talk. she truly needed to hear the things i had said about her during the speech. nobody had ever managed to reach to her like i just did.
i also learned that Eire and Riley had been crying too, but they managed to dry of their tears before i had seen them.
Rodney was almost there but he had managed to keep the tears in.
when everyone had gone to sleep i grabbed my backpack and sneaked out with Rodney.
“so, i guess it’s time for you to test if you are ready to handle them without me yet”.
“i’ll try my best” Rodney said.
“well, i have to go now. i’m going for England tomorrow, so good luck”
“thanks, enjoy Download again” Rodney said as we hugged each other, gave our scout salutes and i headed for my car.
i knew one thing for sure, when my last jamboree would take place less than 2 months later it would be a completely different jamboree than any i had ever attended before.