A lot can happen in just one week away from Chewonki. Upon coming back, I noticed there were a few things out of place on the Neck. Apparently, roller skating demigod and Natural History teacher Sir Dr. Professor Peter Sniffen had a face under his beard. I ran inside the Wallace Center after getting off the bus from the airport to hug my friends, but most importantly, to embrace the wonderful, bearded Peter Sniffen. However, I could not find him. Instead I found a much younger looking, clean shaven man in his place. It took me a minute to realize that it was actually him. He had shaved.
The sudden disappearance of Peter Sniffen’s beard wasn’t the only mysterious change though. For the first time at Chewonki, I woke up in Binnacle and I was actually kind of warm. You see, Binnacle is known for its lack of insulation, and it isn’t uncommon for the inside of the cabin to be the exact same temperature as outside. I thought that maybe for the first time one of my cabin members had gotten out of bed in the middle of the night to restart the fire. So, I opened up the wood stove, but I didn’t see a single coal. It was strange. I shrugged it off, and headed up to the bridge for an early morning bird walk. Through the morning fog, I heard the chickadee’s call of “spring’s here”. That was when I realized that once again it is that time of year when people around me start to notice my awkward leg hair. All day, after that, my spring senses were tingling. I had an uncontrollable runny nose, watery, itchy eyes, and a desire to wear women’s shorts. I couldn’t find my snakeskin booty shorts so I threw on a pair of “normal” shorts and embraced the warm spring air.
Amazing how in just one week, Peter Sniffen can go from bearded wonder to not-so-bearded wonder, and the temperature from arctic frigid to bikini weather. But nevertheless, it’s wonderful to be back.
-Alex Siebert & Adam Schachner
Stamford, CT & New York City, NY
Editor’s Note: Alex sought out Adam for ‘creative guidance’—the reason that the entry is coming from a first person perspective with two authors. I think it paid off. -AJ
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