A Year of Two Summers

1978 was a year of two summers. A summer of departure and a summer of arrival. I spent the first summer at Habonim camp in a green canvas tent on a site marked by hammocks and benches made by Joburg boys. Big-city boys who weren't afraid to be caught smoking in their tents after lights- out. Boys proud to stand before the mirror at dawn with shaving-cream on their cheeks. In their shiny Adidas shorts and naked backs. Boys who had their own versions to the songs we sang and they shouted them out in competition.