Snowy
White, Milton
SNOWY MILTON WHITE THE FIRST DAY OF CAMP BTHEHARDEST My parents decided, when I was twelve, that it was time for me to get away from home, to learn to be on my own. "You ought to mix more with...
...Not Snowy...
...I'll get you a bowl of soup...
...Snowy...
...On the first Sunday in August, my father drove me to Camp Massasoit with my mother and my sister Jeanette seated in the back of the car...
...He didn't mention what he'd seen, but the following evening, when we were alone in the living room for a few minutes, he said casually, "If you're not careful, you're going to be bald by the time you're nineteen...
...Richter proved herself efficient in saying goodbye to my parents and sister...
...My heart pounded...
...My fork fell out of my hand...
...The fellow on my left pushed the salt shaker toward me...
...We have a brand new camper with us...
...It was a hot morning, the sun blazed, the heavy air pressed down on us...
...They can't even spell," I said...
...Good grief...
...I'd heard "they" painted guys' penises with Mercurochrome and raped some guys, for fun, with raw hot dogs, during the initiation...
...For some reason...
...Phil and Arnie had called me by my name...
...snow...
...Richter studied me...
...She drew me closer to her and put her arm around my shoulders...
...Thick shrubbery bordered the gravel road...
...My father, one afternoon, had come into the bathroom and found me playing with myself...
...The rabbi, she explained to us, had gone back to Waterville that morning for a wedding he had to perform...
...I've got it...
...Snowy, I thought...
...A miller makes flour and gets all white from the flour and the flour looks like snow...
...we'll call him Snowy]" I died...
...His name, boys, is David Miller...
...Richter seized my hand and raised it in the air...
...Dave...
...she was heavy-breasted, her arms thick, her skin rosy-clear, flawless, flawless...
...Today I'm official greeter as well as chief cook and bottle washer...
...she cried...
...Thanks," I said...
...Anyway, a couple of weeks later my mother and father arranged for me to go to Camp Massasoit during the month of August...
...I tasted the chopped liver...
...The fellow on my right leaned back, picked up my fork and handed it to me...
...Yeah...
...The Shapiro girl, from Draper Street...
...I had refused to join the Junior AZA's...
...By the way, are you two guys staying for the rest of August...
...The gravel road ended in an open parking lot next to a dark green cottage marked "Administration Building," the words burnt into a piece of wood nailed over the door...
...I watched the Hudson disappear around a bend in the gravel road...
...I was grateful for that...
...Richter pressed my hand...
...Well, okay" I said...
...By this time all the fellows in the dining room had gone back to eating their soup...
...Mrs...
...My father headed toward the path, the rest of us followed him, with me last in line...
...Snowy...
...She started to hasten the separation, all the while keeping a firm hold of my hand as we stood in the parking area...
...Richter led me back to the dining room and to a seat at one of the long tables...
...We ate our cones quickly, the ice cream dripping...
...She's marrying the Greenberg boy, Greenberg the butcher's son...
...at the door, extended her arms and welcomed us...
...they kept eating their chicken soup with noodles...
...She always puts too much salt in the soup...
...Richter weighed, at my guess, about three hundred pounds...
...Relax, Dave," he said...
...Now then, everybody, we have to find a good nickname for David, don't we...
...The boys in the dining room, their spoons poised over thick white porcelain bowls of chicken soup with noodles, had stopped eating and were watching us...
...Miller...
...I just don't want to...
...See, we have nice chopped liver to start with...
...As we climbed out of the car and lifted my footlocker from the trunk in back, we heard boys' voices and the clink of dishes and silverware in a green building surrounded by pine trees at the far corner of the clearing...
...I looked up at her, mortified...
...She ran one hand over her hair, then aimed a finger at her temple...
...At home we always had our big meal at about one o'clock on Sundays...
...For camp, my mother bought me a metal, olive-colored foot-locker and filled it with underwear, socks, shorts, sweaters, sneakers, bathing trunks, short-sleeved shirts, all the clothes I'd need...
...Introduce yourselves to Snowy and make him feel at home, boys...
...She surrounded me in her thick arms, she shook hands with my mother and father, and she patted Jeanette on the head...
...I could understand from the sounds that the fellows in camp were eating dinner...
...My name's Phil...
...I'll bet you're starved, Snowy...
...he shut the door fast—I could only pray he wouldn't tell my mother...
...She makes swell chopped liver, but she never puts enough salt in it...
...Some fellows began to eat their soup again...
...Rabbi Richter and his wife, the rebbetzen, of the Beth Israel Temple, owned the camp, which was located near Palmer, about twenty-five miles from Waterville...
...The dining hall was set up on a screened-in porch of the building and overlooked the lake...
...A path led to the building, obviously the dining hall...
...Just don't salt the soup though, when you get it...
...Richter, the rebbetzen, appeared Milton White is Professor of English Literature at Miami University, and a novelist...
...I sat in front with my father...
...I'm glad to see you...
...then my father drove on to the camp...
...In silence I sat down between two fellows who didn't even look at me...
...Mrs...
...Mrs...
...I'm Arnie...
...she called out to the campers...
...I died all over again, shoulders sagging...
...In Palmer my father stopped at an ice cream store off the main street and bought all of us vanilla cones...
...His short stories have been published in Harper's and The New Yorker...
...She pointed to a place setting...
...You're right, Arnie, it needs salt...
...You ought to mix more with fellows your age," my father said...
...I nodded...
...Boys...
...I sat up straighter...
...Sit here...
...I use Weinstein," my mother said...
...The family had gone...
...Miller...
...Everybody...
...Silent, rejected, I stared out the window...
...Do you like chopped liver...
...Dig in," Phil said...
...Richter patted a couple of the campers on the shoulder...
...I had been alone too much (reading about five books a week), not socializing enough...
...I was scared, secretly...
...My parents were assured by the Richters that I'd be competently cared for...
...A real nice young man I want you to meet...
...she cried...
...A small sign on the highway—actually it was a crudely made wooden arrow with the words "Camp Massasoit" burned into it—pointed to a winding gravel roadway...
...I know...
...Miller...
...The food's not bad here, Dave...
...Okay...
...the branches brushed against the side of the Hudson as my father drove toward the camp area...
...Cretonne curtains hung in the windows...
...He's trying to be nice...
...What shall we give him for a nickname, boys...
...Attention, everybody...
...Snowy, you start on the chopped liver...
...she commanded...
Vol. 2 • May 1977 • No. 7
