Virginia received a call about a new boy, Mike C., joining scouts. He. has cerebral palsy and required total care. He can not talk or walk and only has limited control over any muscles and therefore needed to be fed and cared for. He says ‘yes’ by raising his left hand and ‘no’ by raising his right hand, sometimes he as trouble even doing this. He was small and extremely thin. You could wrap your thumb and index finder around his biceps and his legs weren’t much bigger.

Mike C.’s mother stayed for the meetings and she was always the one to help him. Because we never dealt with someone with Mike C.’s condition we were content, for now, to observe her interacting with him.

We soon realized there was a lot more to Mike C. than we first imagined. He understands everything you say. His eyes are his communication board, just by looking into them you can tell when he’s happy, sad, or mischievous. His smile is completely infectious. When he smiled at you, you couldn’t help but smile back.

One day Mike C. was in church with his family. While the people where filing up the middle aisle for communion, Mike C. would glance over at his parents to make sure no one was looking. Then move his hand to hit whoever was beside him in the aisle. Afterward he would glance back, and after making sure he got away with it, he smiled and looked for the next victim.

We knew Mike C. understood what was going on. In order for him to get his Bobcat badge, we had to come up with a way for him to prove he knew the Cub Scout promise. Virginia came up with the perfect idea. She would say the promise for him but sneak in incorrect words. When she made a mistake Mike C. would raise his hand. He got really good at it and was soon picking up even the smallest changes.

The Cub Scout Den steadily grew. We tried to avoid the inevitable but we finally realized we had to split the Den in two. Virginia and I both had apprehensions about the move. I believe we are a good team. She was the organizer and I was the kid person. She made sure everything was organized and ready and I helped when new kids joined or a scout needed an extra push. But split we did. She took the older boys and I took the younger ones. My brother Jay volunteered to help me.

As part of the split we contacted the local school district to see if there was any interest in their special needs classes. We got a fair response, and the new dens began. I struggled with the organizational side but our meetings are always fun.

One of the new scouts was Mark. Mark was an 8-year-old bundle of energy. One of his favorite sayings was "Come on dude, let’s go." If he sat for more than 5 minutes, he was doing good. After Mark started we had to keep the door to our room closed. This gave us a couple extra seconds to catch him if he headed for the door.

One night our guard was down. We turned around and Mark was gone. Jay took off after him. He tracked him down in the bathroom, locked in a stall. Jay convinced Mark to open the door. Jay soon discovered Mark had taken his shirt off and dropped it in the toilet. Jay picked up the shirt and carried it, dripping, to the sink. He turned his back to wring out the shirt and Mark was gone again. Jay tried to grab him but slipped in the water on the floor. Mark ran up the steps and into the sanctuary where the choir was practicing. Imagine their surprise to see a little ball of lightning run by, without a shirt, then a couple seconds later Jay running through after him. I hope they have a sense of humor.

Another time we took the Scouts bowling. Mark came along and when it was his turn to bowl he carefully rolled the ball down the lane, then took off after it. He ran down to the end of the alley, got down on all fours and peered in to see where the ball went. I carefully chased after him, picked him up, and carried him back. One of the bowling alley employees met us at the end and said "You know, your not supposed to go down there."

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