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Graham
Pop called and roped me into a night of camping with Langford and the boys down by the creek, roasting fish over a campfire and telling ghost stories. Pop even had them draw water from the stream and showed them how to boil it over the open flames and let it cool for drinking.
“We’ll teach you how to start a fire without the assistance of a match next time,” Pop tells them.
“I already know how, Grandpa. They taught us in Boy Scouts,” Tucker informs him.
“Then, you can show Caleb,” Pop suggests.
Tucker looks to his new friend. “Do you have Boy Scouts up north?” he asks.
Caleb shrugs. “I don’t know.”
“Don’t you go to summer camp?” Tucker asks.
Caleb nods. “Oh, yeah. I do summer soccer camp, and we do a golf camp at the club.”
Tucker wrinkles his nose. “Golf camp? You like golf?”
“Not really. My dad does, and he makes me do it, so I can learn and play with his friends in father-son tournaments. It’s really boring.”
“Too bad you don’t live here. You could join the Scouts with me. It’s loads of fun. We go fishing, camping, and hiking. They teach us stuff, like how to pitch our own tents, build fires, clean fish, swim safety, cooking, rock climbing, archery, kayaking, and all sorts of cool things.”
“Sounds fun,” Caleb tells him.
“Don’t worry. Dad, Uncle Graham, Grandpa, and I will teach you all we can before you leave,” Tucker tells him.
“Thanks. I really like fishing. I want to catch a bunch next time to make dinner for Mom and Granna.”
Not once the entire night does he ask for or even miss his phone or video games. It’s the most carefree I’ve seen him since he arrived.
Pop leads the boys into the woods for a bathroom break, and Langford and I grab a beer from the cooler and sit by the fire.
“So, you and Taeli have fun last night?” he asks.
“We did.”
He nods his head as he takes a pull on his bottle. “That’s good.”
“Thanks for offering to take the boys. I’ll repay that gesture,” I inform him.
“It was my pleasure. He’s a good kid. A little quiet, but Tucker brought him around.”
Just in time for them to leave town.
“So, are you and Taeli a thing now?” he asks.
Before I can answer, the boys come bounding back to the campsite.
“Time for s’mores,” Pop announces.
When we awake in the morning, we eat a breakfast of scrambled eggs and bacon, cooked over the fire. Then, we all help tear down the tents and pack up.
I call Taeli to tell her I’ll bring Caleb home, and we hop into my truck and head up the mountain.
He chatters the whole way home. It’s a far cry from the closed-off kid he usually is. I think the mountains are working their magic on him.
When we make it to the farmhouse, I follow him inside. We end up in the kitchen, and he snatches a piece of toffee from a Tupperware container on the countertop.
Taeli comes down the hall when she hears us milling around.
“Don’t eat that!” Taeli screams and swats the confection from his hand.
“Mom!” he shouts.
“That’s not for kids. Granna made it, and it has marijuana in it. It will get you high and get social services called on me,” she explains.
His eyes go wide. “Granna makes pot candy?” he asks.
