“A mid-july day, there we were, classic eight year olds, thinking we were elusive spies and that nobody could see us, we crept towards the dusty screen kitchen door of the Special Ops kitchen building, back to back, with our finger guns pointing to the sky.”

On a summer’s day, you could always find us at our dusty old summer camp, in the heart of Kingston, New Hampshire. Worn-down picnic tables, smelly cabins, and screaming children, the whole shebang. Years and years of loyal camper-hood flew by, until it was our first summer as 8 years old, and to us, being an adult, camp was no longer cool enough for us “big kids”. When we heard the rumors of a certain treasure being held in the camp’s kitchen, we took it as our time to rebel a little. Live on the edge. To show everybody else that we were the coolest kids in the whole campsite. For the glory of successfully stealing a piece of chocolate from the kitchen.

My friend Colleen and I sat at our splintered-up wooden picnic table, “patiently” waiting for our counselors to call our names for attendance. All summer long, we whispered about all the rumors of a box of chocolates inside the kitchen cabinet, and the minute we heard those rumors were true, our minds sprung into action. We glanced at each other after each name was called, knowing our chance to find the treasure that was rightfully ours, had finally come. The stealth ninjas and the criminal masterminds inside of us started kicking like there was no tomorrow. We plotted all two weeks long at camp, and decided we had come up with the perfect plan to sneak into the kitchen, and find that sacred chocolate.

We planned and schemed until we were sure that nobody could ever see us. We knew we had the perfect opportunity, and perfect amount of time to get the job done. Each and every day, inching closer the the prize.

Alas, the day had come when it was finally time to put the plan into action. After hopping off the vomit-ridden, dust-filled school bus, we met up at the rendezvous point. 13 paces southeast of Cabin 23, more commonly known as, the picnic table we sat at everyday for lunch.

“The time has finally come,” Colleen whispered to me.
“Let’s do this,” I answered, and we set off for the kitchen.

Playing it off like any other normal day, we sneaked around camp for a few hours until it was lunch, and we met back up at our table. Constantly checking around our shoulders and watching each other's backs, we turned on our ninja stealth mode, and set the plan into action.

Colleen says to me, “Okay, I'll go around the corner and distract the counsellors and tell them I need to wash my hands in the kitchen. You wait behind the shed, and when they turn around, you quietly sneak into the kitchen, run to the shelves, grab the chocolate, and I'll meet you in the inside.”
“When I get the chocolate, I'll signal for you to come into the room, and we’ll finally be able to eat the chocolate we've been waiting for for so long.”

Little did either of us know, or even begin to consider, was that there could be someone inside of the kitchen, where we couldn't see them, and almost as if they were waiting for us, standing right by the shelves with all of the food.

As Colleen began walking over to the group of counsellors having lunch, I did as I said I would, and crept over to the side of the shed, and peered around the corner to watch Colleen for the signal. I see her begin to talk and she gives me a little wink, so I sneak around the corner of the shed, and silently open the creaky door and slip into the room. When I see the counsellors nod their head to her, I know they said she could come into the kitchen, and I knew we would succeed. I crept across the old wooden floor, and saw the chocolate across the room. A smile a mile wide must've come over my face, and I ran towards the chocolate. I heard a door crack open behind me, and as I said, “Colleen we did it!”, I turned around to see my counselor standing behind Colleen, saying, “put the chocolate down.” 

Thinking my world was over, I immediately looked at Colleen and felt myself tear up. Was this going to be the last time I ever came back to this camp? Are they going to call my parents and have me kicked out?!

As my counsellor walked towards me, Colleen dragging behind, I shook inside of my skin, so nervous as to what would happen. I was expecting to be yelled at, and never seeing this camp again, but to my surprise, my counsellor only said, “This can be our little secret...” She smiled at Colleen and I, and broke the chocolate bar into thirds, and handed us each an equal piece.

I never expected my life of crime to end so abruptly. Never thought that my devious plan wasn't such a big deal after all. And I never thought for a second that somebody would just hand me what I wanted. And as it turns out, the next time I wanted something and just assumed I could get it, I was dead wrong.

After attempting to steal chocolate, and being successful (sort of), I learned that things won't just be handed to me in life, and that you can't always get what you want, and I learned that I am not as good of a thief as I thought, and that maybe I should choose a different career path, maybe one a little more practical, and a little less illegal.

I guess I should be thankful that my plan didn't our plan didn't work out after all. Maybe I would be a successful thief, living in the shadows (definitely not), but I am certainly thankful that I live the life that I love today, because of Colleen and my mischievous plan to steal a bar of chocolate, back when we were only eight years old.