With genuine concern, Dad’s hand slowly rose and drifted towards my forehead, angling to check for a fever.
I stepped out of reach with a laugh. “It’s been a while, huh?”
"You threatened to emancipate yourself at age 14 if we kept subjecting you to cruel and unusual punishments like camping.”
"Okay, but I didn’t follow through.”
“Because you priced attorneys and saw your allowance money wouldn’t cover the cost.”
Uncle Gary chuckled from the kitchen at the memory while I flushed, unable to defend myself. Every teenager was allowed some dramatics and overreacting, right? Ireallyhated camping in the past. But so many things were changing.
"Let’s go again,” I suggested with a firm smile. “I have an open mind."
Dad kept eyeing me, checking for any other indications his son had been body snatched, but I didn’t budge, and he caught on that this was something I needed to do.
"…Damn." Dad shook his head and grumbled under his breath.
"What?"
"To tell the truth, the occasional fishing trip when the urge strikes is my limit. Those regular trips were too much. But your mother thought those experiences might teach valuable life skills or something.”
Huh. I always imagined that Dad and Uncle Gary dreamed of the day they’d teach their sons ‘manly’ rites of passage just as their father taught them. Forced father son bonding that I tried (and often failed) to endure for my dad’s sake. He’d never let on he didn’t enjoy the trips either. Kind of a shame, since that would have given us something to bond over. Why did Mom send us camping?
Dad nudged me with an elbow and smiled. “I think she just wanted the house to herself for the weekend."
The great outdoors seemed like an environment my fox side might appreciate. I still needed to draw it out. What if someone else learned what I was and tried to take advantage? More than that, it felt unfinished.
“I’m glad the four of us are camping again.” Uncle Gary returned from the kitchen with a glass of brandy for himself. “Just like old times.”
“Except even more annoying than I remember,” Jack said as he joined us.
"Jack," my uncle chided.
“Seriously, you people haven’t heard ofnotice?Why do you think I don’t have better things to do on a Saturday night? You spring movie night on metodayand then ask me to give up next weekend too for camping.”
"Alright, we get it.” Gary traded an amused expression with me. “Stay behind. Nobody’s forcing you to go. Right, Bullseye?"
"Right,” I agreed. “More s’mores for me."
“Wait just a minute here.” Dad wasn’t in on the joke. “You love camping, Scout! Are you seriously not joining us?”
Jack dropped onto the couch with a defeated sigh. "…I’ll be there." He just had to get the complaining out of the way first.
“Yeah, this is nice.” Gary took a healthy sip from his glass. “I drink brandy now.”
While not what I planned on doing when returning to my life and not all the people I hoped to spend more time with, I agreed. This was nice.
~
Chase
Stakeouts sucked. Sitting in a cramped car for hours, drinking stale coffee, and staring at the same spot waiting for something to happen. Especially as a wolf. We didn’t just wait, we patrolled, investigated, hunted, we didsomething.
Nothing sucked worse than stakeouts. But being trapped in a parked car with Temple was a close second.
"You do it," I said.
"You do it," he fired back.
