Once we arrived at the camp, we unloaded the bus and gathered in front of a totem at the front of a pretty little lake. There were several buildings around the campground, a ropes course, a warehouse for the canoes and small paddle boats. To the south of the lake was a large metal building with the word “GYM” above the door. It was very plain looking, with no windows and it rested on a thick cement slab. Don grabbed my arm and pulled me from the rest of the group. I waved a quick “later” to Davey and walked with Don toward the Mess Hall.

A dozen picnic tables were scattered around the lakefront and just past them was the Mess Hall where I would be working. It was, in essence, a large wooden cabin with a large dining area, a screened-in dining porch and a kitchen the size of a high school classroom. I walked into the stainless-steel temple of food preparation and dropped my bag. Don followed me and directed me toward a small suite of rooms in the back of the Hall. “This is where we bunk, Mickey. We’re actually in separate rooms, but we share the bathroom and have a small den to do whatever during our down time.”

I’m sure I must have given Don a big moon-face smile as he mentioned the bathroom. I immediately began fantasizing about walking in on him as he showered, or he doing the same to me.

I snapped out of my daydream as he opened the door to my room which had a pair of twin beds, a dresser and a small closet. A little boom box rested on top of the dresser and a small lamp sat atop a table between the two beds.

“You get to be solo for the first part of the summer, but I may need additional help by the second part. Food preparation at that time gets pretty hectic and may require three of us!”

In my head I was screaming “NO PLEASE! I WANT YOU ALL TO MYSELF!” but instead I smiled politely and nodded mumbling about how busy we would likely get.

After a few more pleasantries, Don told me to get unpacked and to get into an apron to start the first prep of the first day.

He pulled me over to a pair of huge mixers and started talking about how to operate them. “We use these extensively to prepare the special protein supplements we give the campers. The have to drink almost a half-gallon a day to start, so we make it constantly. The mix is already pre-measured so all we do is add water and mix. We then empty it into those large thermos containers that are kept in the walk-in fridge. They connect to taps in the dining hall so the guys can measure out the drink themselves. As they progress, they need more protein per day so we’ll need to make about 50 gallons a day.”

Then he led me to a second walk-in that had crates of chicken and turkey breasts, crates of eggs and vegetables and gallons upon gallons of milk.

“Our menu is pretty simple, but necessary to keep the guys losing weight and building muscle. Breakfast is usually oatmeal and egg-white omelets. Lunch is turkey or chicken burgers and dinner is usually grilled chicken or turkey breasts. On Sundays we prepare something fancy like prime rib or filet mignon with baked potatoes. But the rest of the week is a diet that only a bodybuilder would love.”

“We’re pretty busy all day until after dinner. That’s when I usually work out. The campers and councilors also usually do therapy meetings to try and work out eating disorder issues. There’s never anyone in the gym for about an hour after we finish cleaning up, and I like the privacy.”

I began to wonder if he was going to help me gain weight, but then he added, “It’ll be good to have a workout partner who’s motivated like you.”

I felt myself blush.

That first dinner prep was the hardest I ever worked in my life. There were only 24 campers, but the quantity of food was enormous. I remarked to Don that it seemed like a lot of food for guys who were trying to lose weight.

“They already had their first treatments shortly after they got here, Mickey. Their metabolisms have already begun to increase, you can see already how well it works”

I looked out the dish-return window and searched for Davey. Sure enough, he looked about 20 pounds lighter and yet he had three chicken breasts on his plate, as did all the other campers!

“Wow,” I said, “That must be great stuff!”

Don laughed and assured me that it certainly was. He handed me a chicken breast and some broccoli and we ate in the kitchen.

Cleanup after dinner took about an hour and once the dish washers were emptied and the utensils put away, Don made another batch of special protein shakes and set them out in huge jugs.

“Evening snack,” he said with a wink.

Then he and I went to they gym where we worked out without interruption by anyone. He showed me proper form of weight lifting and I learned that lifting doesn’t mean killing yourself, but testing yourself. I think I pressed the 45 pound bar 6 reps before I could feel the asthma kick in – I grabbed my inhaler and took two puffs.

“We’ll have the Doc look at you tomorrow,” Don said. “He may have something that can help prevent that.”

When we finished after almost two hours, I was sore. I had no idea how sore I could get!

The next morning was PAIN getting out of bed. There wasn’t a part of me that didn’t ache. I helped Don with breakfast and the morning protein mix and headed for the med cabin. Along the way, the campers passed and Davey came to talk for a minute.

“Dude, this is GREAT,” he shouted, ”That medicine made me lose 30 pounds of fat in one day! And I GAINED 10pounds of muscle with the workout and food. I couldn’t have done this without ya Mickey! Thanks!”

I had a huge grin on my face and thanked him. “Gotta get to the doc myself dude – see you around lunchtime.”

I entered the med cabin and met a guy who was a foot taller than Don and had to be 50 pounds heavier with muscle. I stood staring for almost a minute when he turned around and asked in a friendly voice, “Are you Mickey?”

I nodded silently.

“Well come on in. Don said your asthma was pretty bad at the gym last night. Well, I think I have something that might be of some help, come over and sit on the exam table.”

The Doc looked like he was barely 30 years old. His white lab coat was stretched tightly over his muscles and the green scrubs underneath did not his them either.

“OK, let’s get some vitals first,” he said as he stuck a thermometer in my ear, followed by my blood pressure and weight.

“Hmm, a little underweight there Mickey. Five-foot ten and 110 pounds is slim even for a 17 year old. Well, with Don’s and my help we can get that up a bit.”

The Doc went to a small refrigerator and pulled out a small glass vial. “Since you’re weight is light, this will be a small dose.”

“Is that the stuff you give the campers?” I asked with some hope.

“No, this is a new formula that our sponsor, Medco, has been working on for kids like you. It’s a long-acting anti-inflammatory steroid that should preven the smooth muscle spasms of asthma. I’ll keep tabs on you every day to check for side effects, but the testing process got it fast-tracked by the FDA. Meanwhile, once you go back to the gym, you should actually feel a little more energy.”

I watched as he loaded a syringe with four cc’s of the bluish liquid and he jabbed it into my shoulder.

“See you tomorrow, Mickey.”

I stumbled through a goodbye and the Doc smiled a gorgeous smile that mad me want to grab him and kiss him!

Every day for the rest of that week, I visited for a quick exam after breakfast. Every night Don and I worked out.

And I watched the campers quickly changing day by day. By Friday of the first week, Davey had dropped a hundred pounds of fat and gained 50 pounds of muscle. He looked incredible and I think he even grew a few inches. He definitely was looking like a hunk by Friday. And like the rest of the campers, his crotch bulge was getting noticeably bigger. •