Rebecca Jennings accompanies us to LARP Camp for a tale of dice, ghosts, and forbidden love. Pre-order Rebecca's book Be The Bombshell: What Love Island Teaches Us About Dating here and follow her on Instagram here. Get your tickets for the Normal Gossip Live tour here! Subscribe to our newsletter for writing from Rachelle, Se'era, Jae, Alex, and Kelsey, plus blog recommendations and secrets!You can support Normal Gossip directly by buying merch or becoming a Friend or a Friend-of-Friend at supportnormalgossip.com.Our merch shop is run by Dan McQuade. You can also find all kinds of info about us and how to submit gossip on our Komi page: https://normalgossip.komi.io/Episode transcript here. Order Kelsey's book, You Didn’t Hear This From Me, here!Follow the show on Instagram @normalgossip, and if you have gossip, email us at [email protected] or leave us a voicemail at 26-79-GOSSIP.Normal Gossip is hosted by Rachelle Hampton (@heyydnae) and produced by Se'era Spragley Ricks (@seera_sharae) and Jae Towle Vieira (@jaetowlevieira). Alex Sujong Laughlin (@alexlaughs) is our Supervising Producer. Justin Ellis is Defector's projects editor. Show art by Tara Jacoby.Normal Gossip is a proud member of Radiotopia. Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
Chapter 1: What is LARP Camp?
Oh my God, I'm so ready.
Today, our friend of a friend is named Ash. And there are three important things to know about Ash. The first is that he has just finished his junior year studying fine arts with a specialization in ceramics. The second, which is related to the first, is that he's having a hard time finding a summer job.
The third and the most important fact about Ash is that Ash is so hyper aware that this is his last summer, that this is the summer before his senior year of college, before he has to be an adult, before he has to worry about taxes. He's like, this is it. Do you remember this summer?
Yeah, we had a bed bug. And so like both of like me and my roommate had to like move in with like the dudes we were seeing at the time. It was horrible. One bed bug ruined my life for like several months. Oh, my God.
That is my worst fear.
Yeah, it was bad. This was like back when the bedbugs were like the number one issue facing New York City. Now there's others.
A simpler time? Yeah, yeah. Well, Ash is determined to have a capital A adventure that hopefully does not include bedbugs. He has spent every summer since he was 15 working at the Dairy Queen in his hometown, which is fun in its own way, but it doesn't give, like, capital A adventure. Which is how Ash finds himself applying to a bunch of overnight summer camp counselor jobs.
Our friend or friend told us, quote, it felt like that was the best way for me to get paid like a grown up while being able to live out the feral child summer of my dreams. Love that choice. OK, what do you think of our friend or friend's logic here?
I think that's so fun. I've always like wanted to do that. Having never gone to like a sleepaway camp or a summer camp like that. I'm like, oh, my God, parent trap. Like, I want that. So I totally get this.
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Chapter 2: Who is Rebecca Jennings?
None of this had been helped by Cody, who had snuck back into the computer lab after the Ouija board session and come out with evidence of a child named James Hawkins disappearing from the campground. Oh, my God. Cody. At first, Ash is like, oh, thank God that's it. I thought I was about to be fired. Yeah. For canoodling. Yeah.
And then the Prince Warden, Ash, is like, wouldn't your family know if someone had gone missing from the campgrounds? Oh. And then Ash is like, wait, did someone go missing from the campgrounds? And Prince Warden is like, I don't know. The kid was at the camp that existed before my parents bought this place. So they don't know anything about it. Oh, my God.
And then he's like, you two made this problem. You have to fix it. None of the kids slept last night. And if you want to call their parents, pick them up early. And it doesn't exactly look like the prince slept either. But Ash is like, this is not the time for me to mention that. Oh, my God. Yeah. How would you handle the situation?
Well, that's so cute. OK, I think there's a really cute way to do it, which like you bring everyone to like a campfire or something and you're like, we're going to say this special song and that drives the ghosts away or something.
And then you're like you have a stern chat with Cody being like, I know you don't believe in this shit, but you're going to go along with it because all of your campers are really scared and it's kind of your fault. You treat Cody like the adult that he is and you get him on your side.
Like the taxpaying adult that he is.
The taxpaying, job-having, wrinkle-having kid that this Cody is. Yeah.
This is a good plan. Jeremiah goes to track down Cody so he can see this ghost evidence before he really starts to figure anything out. And Ash heads to the prop house to help put together something that might tire the kids out so they'll sleep that night. That's smart. He manages to put together an impromptu obstacle course.
So by the time Jeremiah comes and finds him, Ash is like sweaty and itchy from being covered in sawdust and grass. He forgets all of that, though, as soon as Jeremiah says hi to him. Aww. It's only been like four hours since they had last seen each other. But Ash says it felt like an eternity. Oh, Ash. Ash is so gentle. So wholesome. Jeremiah's like, okay, we have a problem. Uh-oh.
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Chapter 3: What is the relationship between gossip and personal feelings?
Chapter 4: What are the rules at Camp Gondor?
Oh, okay.
And that's when Jeremiah's like, okay, I think it's time to go to bed. The crying camper is like, but what about the ghost? And Jeremiah's like, there is no ghost. And then he's like, ghosts only haunt places where they've died. And no one's died here, right? Huge news! Our Dowager Queen, Kelsey McKinney, wrote a New York Times best-selling book of beautiful essays about gossip.
It's called You Didn't Hear This From Me, mostly true notes on gossip, and I am obsessed. It's about how we use gossip to learn about ourselves. It's about Britney Spears and Weston Caleb and Gilgamesh and Picasso. It's so fun. And not to be biased, but I kind of think it's pretty excellent. It's out right now in a hardback and a super sexy audiobook, which Kelsey narrates.
You can buy wherever you buy your books. You can also go to KelseyMcKinneyBook.com to see all retailers. Luckily, this is not Asher Jeremiah's immediate problem because they have the next day off. Okay. Okay, great. Every week, the staff gets a randomly assigned day off. And this is the first time since camp started four weeks ago that Ash and Jeremiah are assigned to the same day.
So they squish six people into a sedan and they head off to go camping for a night. They have cases of PBR. They have two handles of fireball. Around 2007. This is beautiful. Someone brings out a handful of very badly rolled joints. This is their day off without children. This is the only time they're allowed to drink. And these 20-somethings are making it count. Yes. Oh, that's so beautiful.
They're taking shots on the hour. Every hour. When's the last time you had Fireball? Probably years.
I think that's one of those drinks you can like get at the grocery store, right? Because it's like barely alcohol. It's definitely a lot of sugar. Yes.
Yeah, yeah. I have a secret fondness for Fireball because I love a sweet little drink. I support you. Shots should be more fun. And what's more fun than Fireball?
Yeah, I do love a shooter. Like when it's like they put a little juice in it or something. Yes. That's fun.
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