s3.e5

Morning Dew

           Early morning Monday, the first of two city buses arrived at the small parking lot for Camp Morning Dew, loaded with about forty kids that just got done being third, fourth, or fifth-graders. It was the older kids from both major Desert Tree schools that made up the bulk of the passengers, and Wessy and his crew were among the first to step off, each of them dressed in khaki shorts and light shirts, a few of them having donned hats as well. The piney wilderness scent hit their noses right away.

           Under a sign that still had most of the original metal letters from the camp’s early days nailed to it, four camp counselors began greeting the students that poured out and gathered at the entrance. The second bus, delayed by several red lights on the way up the hillside, would catch up in a few minutes and double the crowd size.

           “It’s more run-down than I expected,” Wessy said. “Nothing like in that book.”

           “It needs some repairs,” Colin, looking happy to be back, replied. “But it’s still in good shape. Mostly.” He watched as December left the comfort of the bus before he added, “I wonder who all Marianne convinced to attend…”

           “It really is a bit cooler up here,” Ash said. “And there’s plenty of shade.”

           “Hey, someone remembered to bring link cables for our Game Boys, right?” Arthur asked the others. “Getting in some two-player in the wilderness would be rad.”

           “You guys didn’t come all the way out here just to play two-player games on a tiny green screen,” Sadie told him. “Some of the real-life games will involve a lot of kids.”

           “Yeah, but we also got younger ones that might screw up our teams,” Wessy said, watching as Lucy stepped off right after Lex, still wearing her yellow jacket.

           “Me and Colin did just fine last year. The counselors will make things fair.”

           Felicity, Tammy, and Trudy, also camp veterans, joined the crowd and had a nostalgic look in their eyes. They merged with the other DTE kids who were all congregating, with the group of “Ms. Porter’s Reps” growing the fastest.

           “Some of these are Miller kids from last year,” Felicity mentioned to Sadie. “A few of ‘em are tough. Others, not really. Some will be crying for their parents soon.”

           “Uh, Sadie, are you two secretly friends now or something?” Wessy asked her.

           Sadie shrugged and explained, “We teamed up in the competitions a few times last year and did pretty well. Felicity’s actually… kind of normal when she’s in the zone.”

           Felicity replied, “It’s a break from the shallow everyday junk. And it’s nice here.”

           Perfect Little Marianne was among the last to step off the bus, giving her glasses a nudge and already making observational judgments from its bottom step before she even set foot on the old, cracked asphalt. She was clearly sizing up the school rivals.

           “Yeah, we should be able to win,” she said and joined her classmates. “As long as the other bus isn’t full of slackers and kids here to ‘enjoy the nature.’”

           Sadie crossed her arms and shot back, “Marianne, you know the counselors don’t keep score from all the activities. Heck, they don’t even split the two schools into teams. That’s all something your sister started when it was her turn to be a dictator years ago.”

           Marianne smiled glibly, shook her head, and scoffed, “Oh, Sadie. You just don’t appreciate what Carla did for this camp. Morning Dew was becoming a joke back in ’89, and then she turned it into a place where the two schools could prove who was on top each year. Suddenly, DTE attendance doubled in 1990 once word got around!”

           “The camp has ‘lore’ too, huh?” Arthur replied. “How come I hadn’t heard it?”

           “Because it doesn’t matter?” Ash groaned. “Can’t we just have fun instead?”

           “Winning will be plenty fun!” Marianne assured, and looked over at December. “Besides, we have a star player. Ms. Helvetica over there won so many games last year.”

           Their bus departed to make room for the other one, which parked and idled, its diesel engine powering the last of the local air-conditioning for the next two weeks. The group watched expectantly to see who else would be joining them. There was some surprise when Millie of all kids was the first one down the steps, wearing a smile.

           “Oh, no…” Arthur sighed. “Of all the places…”

           “Millie. Um…” Sadie tried to be friendly. “I didn’t expect you to come here.”

           “Well, khaki shorts aren’t really my style…” Millie looked down at her pair and tugged at the wrinkles. “But I figured it was my last shot to try camp with this age group. Besides, my dad thought it might be a good chance to learn about survival situations against machete-wielding maniacs. Heh, yeah…” She looked at the quiet stares she received, and added, “Truth is, I didn’t want to tell anyone before I showed up. In case I made any of you want to, you know… Cancel. Just because I’m here.”

           “We’ll make the best of it,” Sadie spoke before anyone else could voice their opinion. “It’ll be great. Just… stick by me, I’ll show you the ropes and all that stuff.”

           “No spying…” Wessy aggressively reminded Millie as she settled into the crowd.

           Delilah was off next, followed by Hutch—another surprise.

           “Hutch, aren’t you too old to be here?” Colin asked him.

           “Oh, um, I guess not,” the biggest boy around replied. “I was still in fifth grade, and I don’t turn twelve until a few days after camp ends, so… I guess it’s, like, legal.”

           Robby joined the crowd following the arrival of a few Miller kids, and he looked particularly excited about attending, since he was now all about the outdoors. It occurred to Jace that he, Millie, and himself must have been the three kids that were not here in the original timeline. But try not to worry about that too much, he told himself.

           Celeste looked right at home as soon as she stepped off the bus, having both a wild nature and a love for red flannel outerwear. She ignored the gathering of kids from her school to say hi to Ash, Sadie, and all the others, rushing over with a grin.

           “Sadie! You’re wearing those boots Jason got you, huh? They look nice!”

           Sadie replied, “Yep. I see you got some new shoes, too. Great to be back…”

           “Um, Sadie?” Marianne interrupted and intruded. “Celeste here was a menace at camp last year, in case you forgot. And she’s from Sherman Miller. She should go, like, be with her own kind. This competition is serious. Friendships can be put on pause.”

           “Are you for real right now?” Sadie fired back angrily. “Celly’s been my friend for years. I’m not going to ruin a good thing just because you want to win something.”

           “Oh, great, Mary just had to come back for more, didn’t she?” Celeste moaned.

           “It’s Marianne Lowell,” she asserted. “And your school won’t win two in a row.”

           “Pfft, if that’s how you’re going to be, then I’ll just kick your ass personally.”

           Sadie chuckled, but Marianne gasped, “Wow! Were you raised in a barn?”

           Kyle, the owner of Sherman Miller’s hideout, slid over to them from seemingly nowhere, hands in his pockets and his loose tie still his fashion statement of choice.

           “Heeey, living in a barn sounds cool. I could dig that bohemian lifestyle.”

           “Hey, Kyle,” Celeste greeted. “Guys, Kyle got to run The Shade at our school.”

           “Oh, so you’re here again, too?” Marianne grumbled and walked away. “Ugh.”

           Kyle looked around at the DTE kids and asked, “Aw, did that Zach mad lad not make it this year, either? He ran your club, right? We could’a made this place real cool.”

           Sadie replied, “Celly says you mostly just sit around being ‘real chill.’ So, why…”

           “My folks think I’m ‘lazy’ and send me here every year, thinkin’ I’m being active. And… hey, you two,” he said to Jace and Wessy. “Thanks for helping Cel’. Her book report was something special. Witnessing it actually almost made me feel an emotion.”

           The second bus closed its door and took off, leaving the kids alone with the four counselors for a few moments. It wasn’t long before four more staffers walked over to welcome the campers. They included an older woman who was clearly the camp cook, and the groundskeeper, a mustached man who looked a little sleepy.

           It was the final two camp counselors that got some attention among Wessy and his friends. Two familiar faces; but seeing one of them here was hardly a shock.

           “Wait, hold on, is that the guy from the laser tag game?” Wessy exclaimed.

           “Huh. Yeah, it is,” Colin replied. “I haven’t seen him as a counselor here before.”

           Bailey, dressed in a pair of khakis that made him look even more like a dork, tried to get the entrance speakers working as Min Myung, at his side, made her boredom apparent with a yawn. She eventually ended up grabbing the speaker microphone and giving it a bash with her palm before handing it back to Bailey.

           He pressed its button and his voice was amplified over the aging, crackling speakers nailed to the wooden entrance posts. “Hello? Testing… Testing…”

           “Park’s sister is a counselor, too?” Wessy continued. “Sheesh, this is weird.”

           “She was here last year,” Sadie said. “But I didn’t expect her to come back.”

           “Hello! Hello, happy campers!” Bailey began. “Goodness, what a crowd! I hear that this is the first year in a long time that Morning Dew has maxed-out its capacity. But, not to worry—our expert counselors will keep things…” he trailed off as the kids turned to watch a fancy red convertible come to a sudden stop into the dirt by the entrance.

           “Moooom!” Spice shouted as she was forced out of the car by her sunglass-wearing mother. “I don’t want to go to summer camp! I don’t want to wear gross khaki shorts! I won’t get along with anyone, and it’s too hot! Please just take me to Spain, too!”

           “Sorry, mija, maybe we’ll bring you next time. You’ll have fun if you try!”

           Spice’s mom handed her two small suitcases, and then drove off. Realizing that everyone had just witnessed the scene, Spice grumbled loudly and grudgingly joined the kids from her school. She clearly didn’t want to talk about it, but got ahead of any gossip.

           “My parents want to have a ‘second honeymoon’ in Madrid,” she muttered. “Last second sort of thing, paid extra just to fit me in late at this… backwoods place.”

           “Hey, it’ll be great,” Sadie told her, trying to be upbeat. “Just… give it a chance.”

           “Yeah, whatever,” she huffed and looked around. “What a dump.”

           After some speaker feedback, Bailey continued, “Ah, anyway, where were… Oh, yes. My name is Bailey, one of the senior camp counselors! This isn’t my first rodeo, because I worked at a summer camp out in Oregon before I moved here this year! And this…” he gestured to his unenthusiastic partner, “Is Min! It’s her second year!”

           “Yeah, um, hi,” Min said into the microphone with a sigh. “And these junior counselors here, they’re, uh…” She looked at the red-haired girl with freckles and the shorter one with blond hair and a cheerful disposition, trying to remember their names. “Oh, yeah. Peggy and Kate. They’ll be sharing the girls’ cabins with the, you know, girls.”

           “And these two cool cats are Stan and Larry!” Bailey introduced two older teens, one of them a little round and the other tall and lanky with a mild case of acne. “We’ll all work together to keep things in order and supervise all the many fun activities we have planned over our next two weeks together! Let me also introduce you to our two long-time staffers—your chef, Ms. Marsdale, and our camp custodian, Mr. Jasper!”

           As the kids weren’t told to clap and weren’t really compelled to, most of them just stared at the only two people at camp who were fully adults. They stared back, in a way that conveyed that they had been doing this for far too long. It wouldn’t surprise Jace if both of them had been working summers here since the camp opened.

           Bailey let out a cough and continued, “Okay, well, let’s get you to your cabins—we have four in all, with plenty of bunk beds. Oh, and we should probably show you where the mess hall and bathrooms are, too. And, yes, we do have running water!”

           “Well, at least it has a ceiling fan,” Wessy said after he and his friends entered one of the two boys’ cabins. “That’s gotta be some kind of luxury for these places.”

           “It’s nice to be back…” Colin sighed as he picked a bunk and dropped his duffle bag of clothes into one of the footlockers. “Ya know, I’ve only spent a combined month here over the years, but it still feels nostalgic. I guess I just think about it a lot.”

           Robby, trying to pick a bunk as they quickly filled up, asked them, “You think we should’ve maybe, I dunno, mixed it up with the Sherman Miller kids? We’re going to be going to Cookton with a lot of ‘em. Could’ve been a chance to meet new people.”

           “This feels new and weird enough to me already,” Wessy replied. “Hanging out with my fellow Dee-Teers helps. Even if there are a few fourth and third-graders here,” he added when some of the school’s younger boys raced past them towards the back.

           They watched Hutch and Reynold Weichster go by and say hi to the five other DTE students from other classes that had just graduated—Hutch by far the biggest of the kids in the cabin. Wessy had to let out a snicker at the size differences he saw.

           Colin, settling into a bottom bed, picked up on it and told Wessy, “Hutch might end up being our best friend if the Miller kids get mean, Wes. Summer camp has a lot of ‘self-policing.’ The counselors aren’t like teachers who will break up every fight.”

           Wessy replied, “Y-yeah, but it’s not totally the Wild West out here, right?”

           After checking to make sure his Game Boy batteries were fresh, Arthur added, “Well, you know what else happens at summer camp? Especially among fifth-graders…”

           “You get your shorts hoisted onto a flagpole and have to salute them?”

           “Maybe, but I’m talkin’ about kisses. This is the place where first ones ‘get got.’”

           “Oh. Gross. Yeah, that’s not on my list of things I want to do.”

           “Arty, you don’t know what you’re talking about,” Colin groaned. “This is my third year here, and I’ve never seen anyone smooching.”

           “Duh, because they go hide behind a tree or something first. Don’t make up excuses, Colin. You know you should try to get at least a cheek peck from December.”

           Colin turned red in the face and looked away before repeating, “You really don’t know what you’re talking about.”

           “Ah, I’m just messing with ya,” Arthur said and fell onto his new, but very-used pillow. “I dunno what to expect, but it’s nice to get some time away from Ash.”

           Curious, Jace was the first to ask, “Are you two fighting or something?”

           “Not really, but she’s been real weird lately. Stopped liking some shows we used to watch, and she’s getting more into fashion, less into video games.”

           Wessy replied, “Oh, so… She could leave here being best friends with Spice.”

           “Yeah, maybe,” Arthur said, sounding like he wasn’t in the mood to be sarcastic about it—in fact, he may have actually felt conflicted about any sudden distancing from his twin. Then he suddenly shot up and looked around, asking, “So… who isn’t here?”

           “You mean from Ms. Porter’s?” Colin replied and started a head count. “We got a good chunk of her class, at least on the girl side. I wonder if Marianne had anything to do with that. Let’s see. Well, we got Robby. But no Jared, Wright… Gerald or Carson… No Park, either. I bet he’s trying to avoid dealing with Min.”

           “I didn’t see Willa out there,” Arthur added. “But, I think… All the other girls are around, yeah. Even Spice and Millie. Hey, Reynold! Is this your first year?”

           Reynold answered from a top bunk in his nasally voice, “Nah, second one. Oh, and Park was here last year. He tried selling stuff, but Min kept busting him when she was a junior counselor. He got real mad and swore to not come if she did again, so…”

           “Well, that’s a shame,” Colin replied. “He’s a thoughtful merchant—he brought some good stuff a lot of the kids were missing halfway through camp. Like fruit snacks. But maybe Sherman Miller’s roving shopkeeper is in camp right now.”

           Arthur chuckled. “What makes you think they had one?”

           “I mean, there’s a chance. Would be good to find out before they sell all the nice stuff. Why don’t we visit the Miller boys’ cabin? I’m curious how rowdy it is, anyway.”

           “Our beds are already claimed, so there’s no reason to stick around, right?” Wessy said. “Can we just wander all over, or do we always have to be somewhere?”

           “The camp is pretty free-roaming, Wes. There’s just a schedule of events we need to attend on time. But you should let the counselors know where you’re heading.”

           “Oh. So we have to tell that Larry dude first…” Wessy peered into the small back room of the barracks-like cabin, where the tall twenty-or-so guy was relaxed on his bed and reading an issue of Mad Magazine. “It’s weird. He’s too young to be a teacher, so he’s just, like, this college guy. I can’t relate to that.”

           “Yeah,” Colin said with a laugh. “But they’re usually pretty easy-going.”

           “Just be back in time for the first big event, little dudes,” Larry told the four boys after Colin made sure it was okay to leave the cabin and look around. “You don’t want to miss it. Tie-dye… A camp staple. It was big back when the camp opened, apparently.”

           “Uh-huh. It’s really groovy,” Colin replied flatly, and then led the others out.

           “Colin, you’re like our leader now,” Arthur remarked as they stepped outside. “You’re the only one of us four that’s been here before. How’s that feel?”

           “Weird, when you put it that way. Guys, try to chill, forget all the usual stuff. This is still summer break. Let the pressure that built up over the year just… blow away.”

           “Back off, Marianne!” Delilah shouted angrily a second later, as she stormed out of one of the girls’ cabins. “Don’t even start. No one bosses me around! Not even you!”

           “Delilah, I was just trying to…” Marianne trailed off when she noticed the boys staring at her. She tried to compose herself some before prancing back into the cabin.

           “Hoo, man, I’m glad we don’t have her in our place,” Arthur sighed.

           “Obsessive much?” Wessy added. “Why does she need to win that badly?”

           “Don’t act like you don’t get competitive, Wes,” Colin knocked him.

           On the forty-foot walk to the nearby other boys’ cabin, a glint of light caught Jace’s eye, and he looked up into the pines. High above was Warren, staring back, out of his helmet and suit but wearing his exo-arm, which probably let him climb trees easily. He must have not cared if Jace knew he was about; if he did, he could just travel back in time and hide better. For now, Jace paid him no mind and stuck with the others.

           The Sherman Miller boys’ cabin had more of a party atmosphere. The kids from the younger grades were loud and noisy, while the fifth-graders hung off of the beds or leaned against the walls like the place was their next hideout. Meanwhile, Kyle was all sprawled out on a beat-up old plaid couch from the early 70s, lazily playing Tetris on his Game Boy with a single hand while using his other arm as a pillow.

           “Miller kids act like they got it all figured out,” Arthur observed. “Look—it’s like they all think they’re too cool for school. Maybe they’re just practicing for sixth grade.”

           “Hey, check it out,” one of the boys said from his top bunk. “We got visitors.”

           “Oh, man, DTE kids, huh?” another replied before sizing them up. “Hey, ‘red cap kid’—don’t you know wearin’ ‘em backwards is so out of style? Sideways is what’s in.”

           “Hey,” Wessy retorted. “This is my, y-you know… My look…”

           “Is that Game Boy power adapter hangin’ off your shorts part of your look, too? ‘Always gotta be ready,’ right? What are you gonna do with it? There’s about six power outlets in the whole camp,” the kid prattled, encouraged by his chuckling buddies.

           “Man…” Wessy muttered. “What’s their problem?”

           “Just ignore them,” Colin replied. “If only Jared was here. He’d be firing back…”

           “Ease off the Tree kids,” Kyle said. “Kid wants to plug in his Gee-Bee whenever, so what? Sounds like a cool plan to me. Hey, what brings you guys here, anyway?”

           “Us?” Arthur responded. “Um, we just wanted to see how you hang out.”

           “Nah. You want to get an idea of how easy it’ll be to beat us in this contest thing that one girl’s so serious about.” Kyle yawned. “It’s okay. Judge us all you want.”

           “I mean, I don’t mind winning when there’s something to win,” Wessy stated.

           Colin replied, “Yeah, if this is a whole thing again this year, I’m going to at least try and help my school win, even if…” his eyes locked onto a boy reading a magazine a few bunks away, “whoa, did that kid bring, like, an entire year’s worth of GamePro?”

           “Oh, that’s Norm,” Kyle replied. “Total video game geek. Easy-going guy, too.”

           “Colin!” Wessy said as his best bud walked off towards Norm. “What are…”

           Colin turned around and shrugged. “Sorry, Wes. I only get to subscribe to one magazine and I picked Nintendo Power, like you. I don’t get to see what GamePro puts out that much. I’m just gonna… go see what Norm’s about. Like Millie would say, for intel.”

           “Wes, that kid is adjusting the settings on a Canon EOS 50…” Arthur added. “That’s a nice camera. I think I’m going to see if I can get a good look at it.”

           “Arty, not you too!” Wessy exclaimed as he lost another friend. “Aw, man. Jace, what’s happening around here? Don’t you go running off, as well.”

           Smiling, Kyle said, “It begins. The breakdown of the social construct of ‘rivalry.’”

           “So, the rumors are true,” a boy on the top bunk closest to the entrance said, his arms dangling off the side. “Desert Tree’s schools really are weird and intense.”

           “Wait, are you not from our neighborhood?” Wessy asked. “Like, at all?”

           “Uh, yeah? You guys act like you’re the only two schools in a big city. I mean, I get that this camp is much closer to Desert Tree and its students obsess over it, but, still…”

           “Other local schools are just something we didn’t talk about much.”

           “What a narrow worldview. Hi. Morris Prescott, fourth-grader, Royal Elementary.”

           “Oh.” Wessy looked at Jace, who shrugged. “And where’s that, exactly?”

           Morris looked a little aggravated. He rolled his eyes and sighed, “It’s in the middle of the city—the oldest, biggest school in the valley? Geez, no wonder everyone was telling me not to come to this camp. And now I get to be in the middle of a stupid rivalry.”

           “Them’s the breaks, kid,” Kyle replied. “If you don’t like it, sit on the sidelines.”

           “Or… I could sabotage everything and watch the fireworks instead.”

           Wessy, Jace, and Kyle all looked at him for a moment before Kyle replied, “Nah. There’s no way you’re serious. You’ll pick a team and compete anyway… Right?”

           Before Morris could answer either way, Bailey’s annoyingly upbeat voice erupted over a bullhorn outside, “All right, campers! It’s tie-dye time! Bring those white shirts!”

           There was a large pavilion at the camp with six long wooden tables, designed for non-athletic outdoor activities. The counselors had set up metal tubs of dyed water, and rubber bands were plentiful. Enthusiasm amongst the campers varied greatly when it came to the practice of dipping wads of the shirts they were asked to bring into liquid colors that would give them bright, radial burst patterns. The younger kids, or the more artistic among them, seemed to enjoy it more than Wessy—and definitely Spice.

           “But tie-dye is so ugly and disorderly,” she complained from the end of a table. “Ms. Kate, can I dip my entire shirt into the red, so I just get, like… a red shirt?”

           “Oh, but then there will be less of that color for everyone else,” Kate said with a smile as she walked by. “Just try your best, I’m sure you’ll make something you like!”

           “Try my best?” Spice moaned. “At making bargain-bin rejects from the Hippie days?” She looked up, caught Delilah’s stare, and scowled. “As if you like any of this.”

           Delilah grumbled something under her breath and added more blue to her shirt. She was across from Sadie, Wessy, Colin and Jace, sharing the table’s dye with them.

           “You know, it’s really hard to make a good red, anyway,” Sadie informed them. “You’d need a lot of dye. Spice would just end up with a big pink shirt.”

           “Heh, I bet she’d hate that even more,” Celeste, sitting next to Delilah, replied. “Our school had a fashion princess, too. She complained when she did this last year.”

           “Spice is the worst,” Delilah emphasized. “Bossy, judgmental, and spoiled.”

           “You two seem chummy,” Colin observed.

           Celeste explained, “Oh, Delilah, uh, ‘transferred’ to our cabin. And then another girl went to Sadie’s to be with a friend. I think I might check out Sadie’s cabin, too.”

           “Wait, you can do that?” Wessy replied.

           “Yeah, of course. The counselors are cool with it as long as you ask. There’s not a rule that says you have to stay cooped up with a bunch of your school’s kids.”

           “I tolerated Spice for about five minutes before moving out,” Delilah said. “And that’s not even a speed record for me. Celeste here is tough, like I am. I can tell.”

           Colin spoke up, “I was too… socially awkward last year to have a bed near a bunch of kids I didn’t know. But this time, I’m thinking… I dunno, maybe it’s worth a try.”

           Jace saw Wessy fall back in his seat, maybe contemplating the fact that the camp might break up the gang, if just temporarily. Another thing Jace noticed: a few tables away, Lucy was dipping her shirt into yellow dye near Lex, who was chatting it up with other popular girls. Lucy was keeping quiet, as usual—but she also had a small smile.

           The first competitive activity was a camp-wide game of disc golf, with players tossing Frisbees into milk crates nailed to trees. Most of them were now wearing their new tie-dye shirts—Spice’s a solid pink, as Sadie had foretold. The game was divided across three rounds, with campers of different ages competing together to keep things fair. Lex was a good player, as were Colin and Sadie, all of them senior campers.

           The fifth-graders went last, following one win from the Miller third-graders, and one from the DTE fourthies. As the older kids were the biggest demographic, their game was the longest, lasting nearly an hour but giving everyone a turn to score. After Jace got a birdie that he was rather proud of and earned him some claps, Marianne went up and got a par against a Miller kid who bogeyed after their disc ricocheted off a tree.

           “We’re currently tied with the Millers,” she said as she rejoined the others and Kyle lazily took his shots, while Larry watched and looked bored. She checked the tiny notebook she carried around that she used to keep score. “But we have December.”

           “You are taking this way too seriously,” Sadie muttered next to her.

           December went up after Kyle, her mind still seemingly elsewhere. She tossed her disc sloppily, and it went wild, bouncing off two trees before disappearing in the woods.

           Sadie, Ash, and Delilah eyed Marianne, who grimaced and murmured, “Uh-oh.”

           Far away in a different place and time, Wes flashed into existence in André’s office. It was midday on a Friday, with the sun outside the window and casting harsh shadows across the room. André, who was writing an email on his computer, was taken off guard and still looked startled as Wes turned to him, a worn expression on his face.

           “Wes, what are you doing here? At least make an appointment. You can’t just show up whenever you want! What if I was in a meeting?”

           “You’re a hard man to talk to,” Wes grumbled. “You’re never available when I call, and I can’t exactly leave a message, since I only pass through the early 90s a few minutes at a time. It’s easier just to get into the office that’s still being moved into up here in 1996 and go back from there. I get the feeling that you’re ignoring me, ‘partner.’”

           “Are you time-traveling with reckless abandon now? That’s dangerous. And haven’t you considered that, just maybe, I’ve told you all that I wanted to already? If we do this too much, it might interfere with my door project and cause a paradox.”

           “Relax. I only came here to ask for a small favor.” Wes walked over to the wall calendar hanging by André’s shelf, featuring a Monet painting and a date grid full of notes for August, 1991. “I like this year. The last remnants of the 80s begin to fade away, giving way to the colors, geometric patterns, and… irreverent humor of the 90s.”

           “Wes, it’s just another year.” André sighed and shook his head. “You always did over-analyze them—memorize too much about every single one… Where’s the kid?”

           “Summer camp. I get two weeks to myself, to work on me for a bit.” Wes turned to him with a small smile. “I stopped the earthquake from happening. It was a bomb in the lab all along. Appeared from a portal with minutes to go. Got a bit tense at the end.”

           “Well, that’s good to hear. You saved the city. Now go save yourself.”

           “That’s a work in progress.” Wes reached into the 1980s leather jacket he was really starting to like and pulled out the encased floppy disk marked ‘Toys’, which he held between two fingers like he was some cunning gambler holding a playing card. “I need you to take a look at this. I tried, but I don’t have the time or patience.”

           “You’re well-versed in tech and code, Wes—more skilled than myself when we worked down in the lab. And I’m busy. The Soviet Union just formally dissolved, and you’d be surprised how many reveling millionaires are suddenly interested in new construction contracts. What do you expect me to do, anyway?”

           “It’s a script or program, but I can’t tell what it does.” Wes put the disk on the desk. “Break it down into bits of code, reverse engineer it, whatever. Work on it a day a week if you want—you’d still have more time to figure it out than I got left in ’96.”

           André exhaled sharply and picked up the floppy. “Where did you get this?”

           “My personal safe, down in the lab. I need to know what I put on it.”

           “You just can’t help yourself. Always digging deeper into the past, or future, or past-future. Whatever it is at this point. Fine, Wes. I’ll do what I can and see you in…”

           “A year from now. Open up an hour in your schedule.”

           “I suspect we’ll be shutting down operations by then, but very well. If it keeps you from doing anything stupid until then. Just… don’t use that crystal you apparently fixed to drag out your nostalgia trip. Your nephew needs to get back to his life.”

           “So do I, I’m told.” Wes set his quartz to his last departure date. “And… I know something happens to your grandfather next year. I hope you solve that mystery, too.”

           “As do I. Take it easy… My old friend.”

           Back at camp, disc golf was followed up by a rather childish “wheelbarrow race” for the small batch of third-graders, which involved one kid holding the legs of another, who had to run across the ground using their hands. All the while, Marianne kept up on her scorekeeping diligently, even while looking a little repulsed by the sight. The younger children still seemed to enjoy it nonetheless, with Min taking her turn as referee.

           “There’s no way this sort of sport is still legal in the future, right?” Millie asked Jace as they watched the spectacle. “It looks like a torture technique.”

           He replied, “Maybe. I hope not. By the way, how are you holding up so far?”

           Millie shrugged. “I’m all right. I think I’m gonna go to the Miller cabin, though. That could be a sitcom, right? ‘Millie and the Millers’?” She waited for a laugh from Jace, but only looked awkward for a moment before adding, “None of those girls will see me as a spy and treat me like one, but I’ll get to observe a bunch of new sub… Um, kids.”

           “Or you could just… not spy on them? By the way, what set off Delilah?”

           She grinned. “Oh, that was a good scene to open camp with. Marianne was trying to get her to ‘make up’ with Spice because she wants our school to be all unified so we have a better chance at winning. She asked three times, and then it didn’t go well.”

           “Good job, hooray,” Min said half-heartedly as the third graders finished their race and Marianne scribbled down another tally mark. “Now it’s time for the egg and spoon race, for the fourth-graders. Where you just balance the egg on the spoon… and race.”

           Few kids wanted to volunteer for this arguably even more ridiculous game, so Min was forced to recruit a few by force. Lucy ended up as one of her school’s reps for the sport of moving as quickly as possible with a spoon in her mouth, trying to keep the egg at the end from falling. She actually did fairly well, beating the Miller boy who kept dropping his yolk. She handed her egg to a girl who made the return trip, and she looked a bit proud of her effort. Wessy did the good big brother thing and cheered her on.

           “That ties up the schools on the races so far…” Marianne said, and looked over at the four potato sacks waiting to be used on the ground. “If only December was on her ‘A game,’ we’d be doing better. Who’s gonna get in the sacks for our turn?”

           “Why don’t you do it?” Sadie replied. “C’mon, show us how it’s done.”

           “Oh, yeah, no thanks,” Marianne declined. “I’m saving my brain power for the more mentally taxing events. Spice! You haven’t contributed to any game yet.”

           “No. Way,” Spice said with a scowl. “I’m not getting into a potato sack like some peasant! Make Tam and Trudy do it. They got that whole teamwork thing going on.”

           “Trude… Do you wanna?” Tammy asked her bestie. “I mean, we don’t have to.”

           “Me and Ash could it,” Arthur volunteered with minimal enthusiasm.

           “I’d rather not,” Ash sighed, taking her brother by surprise based on his reaction.

           Miller’s Celeste and Norm got into sacks as the DTE kids were still debating on their racers. Delilah rolled her eyes and stepped up, but Marianne stopped her.

           “I appreciate it, Delilah, but I know from past experience that, you know… The, um, smaller kids can maneuver better in the big bags and can move faster.”

           Delilah raised a fist. “Oh, are you implying something here?”

           “I’m good at hopping. I’ll do it,” Reynold said, then ran up to a sack and got in.

           Hutch, who hadn’t heard Marianne’s “tip,” got in the other one before she could stop him. She soon watched in shame as both boys fell on their faces halfway across the track. She grumbled and put down another tally for Miller before the race even finished.

           “Ugh…” Hutch groaned from the ground. “I got dirt in my mouth.”

           “Yep…” Marianne muttered. “Awesome. Still stuck in a tie with the other school.”

           “All right, nine o’clock, lights out,” Larry said from the back of the cabin and flicked the switch to conclude the first day of activities.

           He retreated back into his room, and the sound of a portable TV with poor reception and speakers could just barely be heard. The boys—three of them now Miller kids who swapped out—put away the comics, magazines, and Game Boys that had kept them busy for their last half-hour of free time and settled into their bunks.

           “Man, it’s just too early for me,” Wessy whispered from his bottom bunk.

           Colin, below him, replied, “You should’ve done more activities, Wes. They tire you out. But you’ll get used to the schedule in a few days.”

           “At least you guys didn’t leave me for the Miller cabin.”

           “We’re not gonna abandon you, man,” Colin assured him. “Besides, three of ‘em came to us and mixed up the place, anyway. We just got to keep our beds.”

           “I don’t know how I feel about those Miller kids. Some of them are mean.”

           “I heard that!” a sharp, unfamiliar whisper came from somewhere in the cabin.

           Arthur, above Jace, added, “I think we did pretty good for the first day. Even if Marianne kept getting mad at us for not meeting her… uh, expectations.”

           “The real point is to have fun out here,” Colin said. “She wasn’t at all this serious back after third grade. I mean, she was still keeping score, but she had fun doing it.”

           “Now she’s among the older kids and is all serious, grr,” Arthur jokingly growled.

           Wessy audibly rolled around a bit on his old, springy mattress before muttering, “So… can we just keep talking all night, or will that Larry guy yell at us?”

           “Mm… The other campers will yell at you long before he will,” Colin said tiredly. “Ya gotta have a normal bedtime sometimes, Wes. I’m a little more used to nine…”

           After several minutes, Arthur spoke up again, “I think we lost Colin. I recognize his snore. How can he conk out like that, wherever? It’s too hot and quiet in here.”

           “Yeah, it’s weird,” Wessy groaned. “I miss my room. Jace, you still awake?”

           “Not for much longer…” he replied. “Wes, just try to make the best of it, okay?”

           “But this is really different than anything I’m used to, Jason,” Wessy reminded.

           Sleepy and now a little incoherent, Jace responded, “I know a few things about new experiences. They can be good things… You taught me that.”

           “Wait… I did?” Wessy questioned—but Jace fell asleep without elucidating.

           The event-filled days passed by, and the first Friday of camp arrived pretty quickly. The campers got a break from physical activity, giving Marianne nothing to score—though she certainly still tried to find some sort of wins to track.

           It was during the arts and crafts hour in the shade of the pavilion when Wessy admitted to his friends how he was feeling. Amid thousands of popsicle sticks, balls of yarn, bottle caps, and assorted junk the counselors had gathered for the campers to put together, he took a break from his popsicle TV set and let out an empty sigh.

           “What’s wrong, Wes?” Colin asked him.

           Wessy looked over Colin’s shoulder at Lucy, who was focused and trying her hardest to make a good birdhouse out of the materials. She hadn’t really made any friends at camp, though at the same time she didn’t seem to mind just hanging around other fourth graders or staying close to Lex, who she seemed to quietly idolize.

           “I can’t believe Lucy is, like, getting into all this,” Wessy muttered. “She’s happy.”

           Sadie looked back at her and asked Wessy, “Are you not? Even after five days?”

           “I dunno. I feel totally out of my element here. Especially now that a whole ten kids in our cabin swapped with Miller boys. I was so used to be surrounded by kids I had grown up with, who know how I roll, or what I find cool. Maybe I would enjoy all this more if I came last year. Now, I just feel like… I don’t belong.”

           “Well, you can use the camp phone to call your mom and get her to pick you up,” Sadie suggested with a shrug. “I’ve seen campers burn out before. It happens.”

           “I’m not going to be a flake, Sadie. I just wish I could get my mind right.”

           “I wish Ash would get her mind right,” Arthur said, watching as she hung out with Celeste and one of her Miller friends as they made a model windmill together. “She’s been acting like I’m the grossest person in the world or something.”

           “She’s just growing up, Arty,” Sadie explained to him. “Trying to find her own tastes in things. Girls mature faster than boys, remember? Just give her some space.”

           “How… do you know that? You’re an only child.”

           “I watch a lot of Discovery channel. It’ll hit you, too. It’s all about finding your own new interests instead of just doing everything together like you’re used to. Tam and Trudy are the closest the school had to twins other than you guys, and I see it happening to them. Difference is, they’re trying too hard to hold on—and it might drive them crazy.”

           “Oh, man…” Arthur moaned. “Is that what’s been happening? I thought she just woke up one day and thought I was lame or something.”

           “Aw, she still likes you, Arty. Deep down,” Sadie tried to assure him.

           Marianne came over to ruin an insightful conversation, her just-made colorful bead bracelet on display. They had expected the visit, since she had been going around checking on her schoolmates. Complimenting some; giving “friendly” advice to others.

           “Hello,” she said to the table. “You’re making some nice artwork here. I can’t give anyone points, but I still hope you try to… out-nice the Miller kids’ creations. So, anyway, I realized that some people think I’m being annoying…”

           Wessy and Arthur both swallowed a chortle, and Sadie replied, “Oh, not at all.”

           “I know sarcasm when I hear it, Sadie. But that’s okay. I just want to let you know that I will be offering an incentive for winning. My parents have connections, and I’m sure I could scrounge up about four tickets to King Arcade, that I could give out to the winning team, through a drawing. So, remember that and try really hard out there!”

           “Big deal,” Arthur scoffed. “Our whole class is having a free party there in a few weeks, and we even get the park to ourselves for an hour. I bet you can’t beat that.”

           Marianne’s face turned red and she exclaimed, “What?! That’s not fair! I… Ahem. I mean, even if my prize won’t work—as well—on those from your class, I hope you’ll still try your hardest. I really want us to win, okay? Oh, and tomorrow’s the big cornhole game. If it’s like last year, they make everyone play. So you all need to play well.”

           Wessy gagged. “Oh, yuck. I don’t want to play something called cornhole.”

           Arthur laughed as Marianne replied, “Grow up, Wesley. It’s a beanbag toss. You’ve probably already played a dozen times in your life. Honestly.” Before she left, she eyed Jace’s patchwork bird figurine and, surprisingly, said, “Nice work, Jason. Keep it up.”

           She walked off, but not before Kyle—who had overheard her whole “try hard” spiel, smiled and mockingly showed her his lazy effort: a recreation of Nickelodeon’s Stick Stickly, the popsicle-stick summer block host. She groaned and side-stepped him.

           Robby was also nearby, and took a break from his USS Enterprise starship stick replica to audibly mutter, “I can’t believe I sort of liked her in third grade.”

           “Yeah, what happened with that, Romeo?” Wessy chuckled.

           Robby scowled and grumbled, “Shut up, Wesley.”

           Unfortunately for those that had no interest in the topic, talk of possible young like-like situations continued sporadically all day and up to dinner in the mess hall. Once Jace and Wessy had received their Friday night hot dogs and beans from Ms. Marsdale, they brought their metal trays to the table where the gang, plus Millie, were sitting. And it started right up again, this time initiated by Celeste, which was unexpected.

           “Delilah and Hutch I could see, after spending some time with ‘em,” she told the others. “I saw a few possibles among the Millers, but here’s one that’s really obvious.” She eyed Colin, who was looking over at December again. “Colin! Talk to her, bro!”

           Startled, he turned to his friends and replied, “Huh, what?”

           “The smart girl named after the best month—you obviously have feelings for her.”

           “Are we still on this?” Wessy groaned as he ketchupped his hot dog. “Cripes, it never ends. I hope middle school gossip isn’t just lovey-dovey junk.”

           “Aw, Wes,” Celeste leaned back in her chair and spoke coyly, “I bet you’re just jealous that I’m still the only girl who has ever held your hand.”

           Wessy blushed and exclaimed, “I thought we agreed to never talk about that!”

           After Sadie and Arthur let out snickers, Celeste added, “You can be grossed out all you want—and believe me, I don’t like public displays, either. But… you gotta admit, there is something interesting about seeing who’s interested in who.”

           Shipping, Jace thought blankly. We call this shipping in the future.

           “Celly does have a point, though, Colin,” Sadie noted. “December’s feeling down about things. I bet she’d love to talk to you, even just as a friend, you know?”

           “What about Tam and Trudy?” Ash mentioned, leaving Colin thankful that she was sidetracking talk about him. “They must’ve been on the verge of kissing for years.”

           “Ash, girls can’t kiss each other,” Millie replied. “… Um, right?”

           Arthur shrugged and said, “Our mom likes to talk about the 60s sometimes. I guess it was kind of an ‘anything goes’ decade where, maybe, that actually happened?”

           Wessy grumbled again, “Can we talk about anything else right now?”

           They tried to appease him, they really did—but it only took a few minutes for the subject matter to shift from favorite wilderness movies back to the innocent attempts at finding sweethearts in the past. And it led to Celeste talking about the hand-holding she had spotted at Miller over the years, even including a few of those cheek-pecks.

           “Anyway,” Sadie looked over at Bailey, who was struggling to get a TV and VCR on a rolling cart working, “weekends are when we watch movies in the dining hall. We could take bets on what we’re gonna see. They only have six videotapes here total.”

           “And they’re all worn out and from the 80s,” Colin added. “My guess is it’s either Last Starfighter or Willy Wonka, since Bailey seems like the kind of guy that likes ‘em.”

           “Talk to ya for a sec?” Millie said as she stood up and pulled on Jace’s sleeve.

           The others noticed the two walking away together, and given what was fresh in their minds, it was just a race to see who would break out an undesired comment first.

           “Oooh, what do we have goin’ on here?” Ash said, but only half-seriously.

           “Don’t even,” Millie shot her down, and brought Jace near the trash cans.

           “What’s up, Mill?” Jace asked her. “Something about Wes and Sadie?”

           “Nah. I’m watching them, like you asked, but trust me, there’s nothing going on there. Jared always could be a little paranoid. I got something to say to you.” She got in close, making him nervous. “You totally ‘dig’ Ash, don’t you?”

           He instantly went red in the face and sighed, “Is it that obvious…?”

           “I’ve seen how you look at her. All year. But camp is short. You’re running out of time for, ya know…” She smooshed her cheeks together and made smooching noises.

           “Millie, don’t be gross! I’m not going to… I c-can’t even ask. Besides, I won’t be around much longer. I’d just upset her if she thinks we could… be a thing.”

           “True, maybe. But what you probably don’t know is that she’s talked about you. Thinks you’re a nice, smart guy who helped a lot of kids with their problems.”

           “Wait, seriously? She said all that? To who? I’ve never heard…”

           “What, don’t trust me? C’mon, you know my info’s usually solid. She’s mentioned you when chatting with girls from other classes on the old playground. Look, you know I don’t care much about lovey-dovey junk, but if you do want to get a kiss here, then now’s your chance. Just ‘cause it won’t work long term, doesn’t make it pointless.”

           Jace looked at Ash, then back to Millie and replied, “I mean, if she asks, I won’t say no… Um, by the way. Warren’s been creeping around camp, just FYI.”

           “So you’ve seen him, too.” Millie crossed her arms and looked over to see Robby now helping Bailey set up the TV. “Eh, I don’t mind a guardian ninja. I bet he’ll be a match for a certain other Jason when he eventually shows up to wreak havoc.”

           On Fridays and Saturdays, camp went another hour into the night, and it was spent at the sandstone brick amphitheater, lit by a contained fire. Counselors—and kids with written, pre-approved stories—took turns sharing their spooky tales on the center stage as the year’s eighty other campers listened with different degrees of interest.

           Some of the less creative types just gave an abridged version of a classic X-Files, Tales from the Crypt, or Are You Afraid of the Dark? episode. But Felicity, scary as she could naturally be, had brought her own nightly tale of terror that was delivering some frights.

           “So, Suzie, used to being dragged out to the big, bright mall by her friends and surrounded by colorful seasonal tops, looked at her last survive…” she trailed off as Bailey did his ‘tone it down’ hand gesture for the umpteenth time. She groaned and corrected herself, “Her last not-captured friend, Veronica—the cheerleader, if you forgot. Suzie’s house, drenched in the dark of a stormy night during a neighborhood blackout, had never felt so threatening. Since the sleepover of doom started—surely the worst she ever had—all of her friends had been brutally… snatched by the Grabber, who moved in the shadows with his long, flexible arms, his bones creaking every time he reached out and dragged another girl into the depths of the large, and very chic family estate.

           “Amy, who just wanted to be a professional golfer. Nicole, two days away from going to Los Angeles to be a supermodel. And poor Jasmine. Make-up college had lost one of its best and brightest. But Suzie still had a plan, being the intellectual, the one who wrote poetry and thought deeply on the world. As she watched the Grabber’s arms come out and wrap around Veronica, she put it into action. Veronica screamed and begged her best, very-critical-of-the-world friend to help her. That’s when Suzie took out the Necronomicon, which she'd single-handedly deciphered, and cast the banishing spell on the Grabber while it was distracted. A portal to, uh, heck opened up under him, and he was dragged into the underworld by all of his previous victims.” She looked at Bailey and reluctantly added, “Then Suzie found all her friends tied up in the basement and freed them. They were mostly fine and all got really good therapy. The end.”

           “Ooh, spooky, Felicity!” Bailey said as she took her seat and received a smattering of applause. “Okay, my turn! I’ll end things with a bit of a doozy for all of you.”

           “This’ll be a laugh,” Arthur told the guys. “What’s it gonna be? The Scary Puppy?”

           “Heh,” Wessy chuckled, “y-yeah, or he’ll scare himself so bad he can’t finish it.”

           “Now, here’s a story my grandpa used to tell me,” Bailey began. “It’s about not showing respect to the land that we all intrude upon, and the lingering whispers of the ancient deities that first laid their corrupt curses onto the old rock and decay…”

           Min, standing near Bailey, raised an eyebrow, while Millie, a row ahead, leaned in and could be heard saying, “Oh, this could actually be good.”

           “They say that on nights like these, among the old growth forests—like this one—the natural elements all come together to weaken the veil separating our world from the one of chaos and despair, where the spirits of the old ones drift about in malformed, twisted shapes, waiting for a chance to extend one of their impure tendrils into our realm and tear reality asunder. And would you believe that there are people out there foolish or curious enough to summon such a being? Well, someone did try…”

           The campers had fallen into silence as more and more of them listened intently, including Jace. That focus caused him to get startled when he felt a pebble hit his shoulder—though luckily, no one noticed him jumping in his seat. He looked back and saw Warren in the woods, partially behind a tree. He was waving him over.

           Reluctant to leave the glow of the fire and venture into the woods, Jace slowly got up and went over to meet with Warren properly for the first time during camp.

           “Enjoying the stories?” the ninja boy asked him, Bailey’s voice still just barely audible. “None of them compare to what I’ve seen of the Time Daemon…”

           “Please don’t tell me that thing’s lurking around here,” Jace said with a shiver.

           “Nah. It’s been quiet for a while. I’m worried about the time squad. They’ve been getting aggressive in their case against the three of us. But are you doing okay out here?”

           “Yeah… Yeah, it’s fine. Kind of a break from everything. Is Wes all right?”

           “I kept an eye on him all of the two weeks. Saved him a few times from the cops without him noticing. My jammers still work; they haven’t found the cottage yet. Then I went back to watch over you on and off, skipping about to shorten babysitting duty.”

           “You really must put in a lot of hard work to keep us safe, Warren.”

           “About time someone appreciates it. But, I shouldn’t need to do it much longer. Truth is, Jace, I got you to go here just so you guys could be separated for a bit—so the time police can’t do something to both of you at the same time.”

           “Am I safe?” Jace asked and worryingly looked around in the dark woods.

           “Probably. They’re more interested in Wes, for sure. I just wanted to let you know what was going on. The last few weeks of this whole thing might get rough…”

           “You haven’t looked ahead yet?”

           “I think it’d be better if we stuck together towards the end.” His exo-arm-free hand in his pants pocket, Warren took a few steps forward and looked down into the amphitheater from the shadows. With a sigh, he shared a surprising reminiscence. “I went to this camp one year. It was with a… very good friend of mine. It was… fun.”

           “Warren? You holding up okay?”

           He shook his head. “Just tired. That’s all, Jace. You can head back now.”

           Though concerned for his protector, Jace nodded and began his walk back. He soon heard a faint whoosh and turned around to see, in typical ninja fashion, that Warren had vanished. He retook his seat to hear how Bailey’s surprisingly scary tale ended.

           “… It would have been bad enough if Ned and the other frontiersmen had gotten their summoning correct. Even worse to get it wrong. Their attempt to bring about ancient abominations to wipe out the native population turned against them, and yet Ned thought the tendrils’ touch, that had horribly mutated and warped his group, could not follow him out of those old woods. He saw the candlelight of his cabin, ran inside, and shut the door, thinking he was surely safe. That the long, bloody night was over.

           “Little did he know, the monster on the other side was now out, and could follow him anywhere in the world. A dark gulf opened across the cabin floor, pulling him and his entire home into an abyss from which there was no escape. Only endless torment. So, beware the forest at night, and show it respect… The end! Sleep tight, campers!”

           Crickets and glazed-over eyes were the majority reaction to the tale, scary enough for Jace even though he missed much of it, until Hutch let out an audible, “… Jesus.”

           “Definitely Lovecraft-inspired,” Felicity approved. “Not bad.”

           It was then that Jace felt something on his shoulder. Thinking it was Warren at first, he looked over to see a big spider crawling about. He shrieked and batted it away, drawing the attention of many campers. Then the spider came swinging back—because it was really just a rubber arachnid on a string, attached to a stick held by Sadie.

           Ash laughing nearby, Sadie smiled deviously and said, “Told ya I’d get you back.”

           Jace sighed as he composed himself. At least I don’t have to worry about that anymore.