First Bell: Quinn Pinaire Helps Defeat the Demon Deer

By Ben Woods

In this episode, we join hosts Patrick Risberg and Zach Schiller in the Prep biffy, brushing their teeth before bed. A sudden squall blows in and a mysterious howl pierces the night. Prep counselor Quinn Pinaire invites the pair into Cabin 8 for a bedtime story: a Cheyenne myth about the hubristic Coyote and his desire to dance with a star.

As the story begins, a camper, Leroy, visits the biffy to unburden his bowels. But little Leroy’s nocturnal No. 2 is interrupted by his No. 1 fear—a sighting of the feared Demon Deer. Petrified, he bursts back into the cabin to tell the others what he saw. Pat, Zach and Quinn head to the biffy to investigate and see the sinister stag for themselves.

The Demon Deer chases them across the campus and down the Bear Trail. Hiding behind the ice house, the terrified trio recalls a song—taught to them as campers by Essence-in-Residence John Jolly—that sends the Demon Deer, dancing, through a portal to the netherworld from whence it came.