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28 SOUTHERN SENIOR MAGAZINE | Summer 2019 y wife Barbara, and I decided to help out at a church-wide children’s camp. We had never done this before, as neither one of us like to sleep away from home. Our children are all grown, and this sounded like fun; if not fun it sure would be different. Our job was to take the kids from place to places such as crafts, swimming, playgrounds or Bible Study. The hardest job I found was getting them to settle down after a very active day. Of course, some of the boys found it very tiring and went right to sleep, I envied them! My group of boys were 4th, 5th and 6th graders. This age group is very challenging, and there were four of us men, Charles, Tommy, Donald, and myself. Donald was the youngest of the four, and had his son, Lane, with him, he was experienced working with children so we followed his lead, which was a tremendous help. Since Charles and Tommy were the oldest and ‘adults’ they were a big help also. It was a time before all children had cell phones. (yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus) In fact, my wife and I had one cell phone between us. I have to mention Miss Lila, Donald’s sister, she was with the girls. She was still an active teacher, kind but no nonsense. I mean no nonsense boy or girl! I even behaved when she was near. I brought my handcuffs from my seventeen years with the New Orleans Police Department. This was a big hit with the boys. All the boys wanted to be handcuffed. Though tempted, we never cuffed any of them. I can just see the 10 o’clock news, “church camp handcuffs children,“ what else went on at their church camp? We did handcuff Donald and beat him with pillows. There was one-fifth grader who was very different and was picked on by some of the other boys. Roger looked at things differently than the other children, so I stayed near him when possible. M By Ernest J. Theriot No Strings Attached