by Peterac » Fri 27 Dec, 2019 5:09 am
Im a teacher and I use to take particularly challenging (aggressive, angry, oppositional) teenagers out bush for the day. One day there were 3 students and I going for a camp cook. They were asked to bring along their own meat to cook. Two brought sausages the other brought the biggest lump of steak cut In two pieces Ok good so far they were invested as they brought along something of their own. I had a routine, one get kindling, one run the fire, the other organise the milo, tea, food plates etc. it kept everyone busy. Steak boy was on the kindling and collecting. These boys were prone to playing practical jokes on each other where the sense of humour was usually lost somewhere along the line. Anyway these three got along pretty well. At some point there was a commotion as steak boy started accusing the food and drink prepper of hiding one of his steaks as a joke. He was kind of proud of the side of cow he brought along and wasn’t happy. Matter of fact he was winding up as the other boy looked bewildered and innocent! Body language tells a lot, three of us were having a giggle expecting one of the gigglers to quickly pull the steak out of hiding and for everyone to settle, laugh and enjoy the joke. Steak boy was slowly stewing and his tension and body language was building. Me still waiting for the joker to own up whilst employing my best conflict resolution skills. No good, steak boy did see the funny side for a moment but he was getting serious now. Steak boy and food prepper were now looking at each other differently! One accusing (logically deducing the culprit) the other now defensive because he was not being believed. The remaining steak was on the plate on the table between the boys. I was on the other side of the table forming the triangle. Suddenly the tension was broken as both boys watched a magpie swoop down between them, lift the remaining steak off the plate and fly away. Never happened before hasn’t happened since but had 3 out of 4 of us in stitches to start then steakless boy as well.