Pony Boot Camp — Part Eighteen

Show, Don’t Tell

Lunch was light, as expected. Fruits and lettuce with a site of more lettuce. Our feast was supervised by the same two guards I’d encountered in the mess before. It struck me as odd that Tweedledum and Tweedledee regularly worked the same shift together. But hey, love always finds a way! As usual they hauled their ready-to-burst egos up and down the aisles, barking at inmates for no reason at all. Self-important yet intellectually ill-equipped, they were prime examples of common thugs. They bullied and hassled alright, but lacked the refined sadism of, say, a Seva Kandrin.

Pony Boot Camp — Part Seven

Negative Reinforcement

The second part of this sunny morning provided clarification of the cryptic point “activities”. We gathered in front of that barn-like structure, and with “gathered” I mean “fell in line” – so much we’d already learnt. The gate stood open, and a glance in the dim-lit interior confirmed the barn to be some kind of stable building. An aisle with stalls on each side opened up to a large area under a skylight. Yet I failed to discover any animals. No doggies, no horsies. The only life signs came from inside the corrals across the place, where several uniformed blokes were fiddling about on strange contraptions.

Pony Boot Camp — Part Six

Morning Glory

I was woken by the sweet sound of a whistle.

“Up! Up!” Kandrin shouted, her little noise maker still in one hand. With the other she pulled the blanked off the nearest bunk and threw it on the floor.

“Breakfast in bed is cancelled! You two, take out the rubbish.”

“Yes, ma’am!” – “Yes, ma’am!”

Pony Boot Camp — Part Five

Girls’ Night

Evening duties mainly consisted of cleaning our new refugium. “Barracks duty”, as the laminated note pinned to the door called it. Said note informed us of our daily (and I mean daily) schedule. A strict and unchanging routine was the first step in bending the minds of errant kids back into shape.

 

DACC Participants’ Schedule

 

05:00_____________Wake up

05:15_____________Fall-in (group)

05:20_____________Morning exercise

Pony Boot Camp — Part Four

Flogging a Dead Horse

I was glad for the lunch to be light, because our afternoon saw something called “further physical evaluation”. It was basically extensive circuit training followed by a run along the camp’s inner perimeter. I am quite sporty, always have been, so the whole affair wasn’t too big a problem for me. Nevertheless, they sweat us nicely at the different exercises.

Pony Boot Camp — Part Three

Ponewo

Ours was the third barrack. Made of precast concrete parts and painted white, it looked exactly like barrack No. 2 or 4, save for the black “3” above the entrance. Inside, it offered a single big room; bunk beds, chests, showers in a separated area at the far end. One table with chairs. Full Metal Jacket, anyone?

Ten other girls who had arrived the day before us had already been habituated to barrack No. 3. Right now they were performing laundry duty, but since this would be my abode for the next ninety days, I would surely find an opportunity to befriend them. I’m all about making friends.