Page 16 of The Falcon and the Foe

“What?” I asked, knowing there was a comment waiting to come out of his mouth.

“This is tonight’s activity?” he asked. “Cosplaying Julianna Marguiles onER?”

I grumbled at the remarkably dated reference. “We discussed it at the top of the meeting before you arrived. Tonight, we’ll be doing First Aid role-playing scenarios.”

Cal pulled out a tube of red liquid, his eyes jumping. “Fake blood?”

“We’re probably not going to use that tonight.”

“But you’ve used fake blood in scouting activities? Like, for real?”

“Falcons are expected to be prepared for any situation life throws at them. Including the possibility of getting in an accident. It can happen to anyone.” I looked down and found myself squeezing the ace bandages extra hard.

“Are you okay?” Cal asked with concern.

“Yeah. Fine.” I passed around the First Aid kits. The kids had successfully paired up without any drama.

Cal pulled me aside. “While you make a good point, vis-à-vis knowing what to do in an accident, do you think that is maybe a splash too morbid, especially for the first Falcons meeting of the year? We have new scouts. Maybe we should do more of a social activity.”

“This is a social activity. They’ll be working in teams. They’ll get to know each other.”

“Yeah, as they wade through fake blood.”

“We’re not using fake blood tonight.”

“Is this really the first activity we want to do together as a troop?” Cal whispered in my ear. “Hey kids, Welcome to the Falcons! Let’s walk through all the ways you can be maimed!Other troops in the area have done some really fun icebreakers so the kids can get to know each other.”

A wave of offense barreled into me. “You’ve been talking to other scout leaders?”

“I was doing research online and looking up other troops. I reached out to a few leaders.”

“You shouldn’t do that.”

“Why not?”

Because I had no idea what kind of first impression Cal would make. He’d make the Sourwood troop look like a disorganized mess.

“They suggested a few games, like a blindfolded compass walk where kids have to help lead each other out of the woods.”

“You want these new scouts, who have zero training, to walk blindfolded through the woods?”

“That’s the thing, the other scouts would help them and make sure they didn’t fall.”

Cal obviously had not been around many nine-year-olds. They were not as careful and watchful as he suspected.

“We’re going to stick with the First Aid lesson tonight.” I clapped twice to get the room’s attention. I held up the gauze. “Now, the first thing you do—”

Cal clapped twice. That bastard.

“Falcons, First Aid is very important, but since it’s our first meeting as a troop, I was thinking we should get to know each other.”

My vision went white with rage. This was a coup. He was staging a fucking coup against my troop.

I clapped twice. Heads swiveled to my attention.

“And as I explained to Scout Leader Cal, you will get to work together on this activity.”

“In pairs,” Chase sneered.He’s just a child. He’s just a child. He’s just a child.

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