Page 31 of A Little Campfire Blues

“Can we watch Monster Island?” Ezzy asked.

“We sure can,” Roman replied, sitting up and brushing a hand over his damp face while I headed over to turn off the sprinkler.“But we’d better shower and change first, or we’ll get the couch all wet.”

“Okie,” Ezzy replied, standing and offering Roman a hand, which he accepted and held on to as they headed inside.

“I’ll bring the fish in when it’s ready,” I told them. “Looks like there are some clouds off in the distance that might decide to drop a bit of rain on us.”

“Thankie!” Ezzy said, waving as they headed up the steps.

I hoped whatever the weather had in store for us was over by tomorrow, as we had a maze to explore, as well as a scavenger hunt I knew they were looking forward to. Once I’d draped the hose over the railing to let the water run out, I got down to the messy business of cleaning and gutting fish after I’d laid out a few brown paper sacks to make cleanup easier. Plastic might be what the masses opted for when grocery shopping, but it was a lot harder for paper to break, at least in my experience.

I sang along with my playlist while I worked, knowing the grill, which I’d fired up before I’d gotten started, would be ready for the first four once I’d prepped and seasoned them. It was when I went to put them on the grill that I got the sensation of being watched. Glancing over at the cabin, I noticed parted curtains and Axis’s face peering out at me. The moment our eyes met, he withdrew and closed the curtains, leaving me to wonder why he’d been watching instead of napping or joining the others in the living room.

Our conversation early that morning played back in my mind, along with the sad, somber lyrics I’d overheard as I’d approached him. That he was shy about his music was a bit of a shocker to me. So many of the guitarists I’d known over the years had been confident to the point of being cocky at times, so it was a breath of fresh air that he wasn’t. Still, there was something troubling about his behavior, both this morning and what he’dsaid about the night before. That he hadn’t wanted to play once he’d recognized me.

Was that because he didn’t think he’d measure up or because others had put it into his head that he didn’t and thus impacted his opinion of himself and his abilities? I still wished that I could find something, anything, online about him or the band he’d belonged to, so I could listen for myself, without him being hesitant, the way he’d been the night before. Learning about each of them as individuals would be key to figuring out how and if we could make this work.

As the first batch neared completion, I went inside to grab a platter or a plate, something that I could bring the fish in on, and found Roman passed out on the couch with Ezzy in his arms. In fact, it looked like the only thing that was keeping Ezzy from tumbling off was the way Roman held them, even in such a deep state of slumber. Pressing my finger to my lips, I approached, not wanting to wake the exhausted pup.

“Do you guys have a large plate or serving platter?” I whispered. “The first batch of fish is almost ready.”

“Ohhh, yum, I’m hungry. There is a platter in the middle cabinet, on the top shelf,” they whispered, their little space having slipped away at some point since they’d come in.

“It won’t be too much longer; then we can all eat together.”

“Yey,” they hissed, low so as to not disturb Roman, who’d twitched a bit at the sound of my voice.

I left them smiling on the couch, still watching Monster Island, as I headed to retrieve it. As promised, I had everything ready less than forty-five minutes later and came in to discover that Axis had joined them in the living room and was sitting in one of the easy chairs in sleep pants and a T-shirt with his knees drawn up. While I didn’t recognize the name of the band on his shirt, I committed Malevolent Gargoyles to memory so I could look them up on the off chance that it was one of his ex-band's shirtshe had on. With the way gargoyles were woven into several of his tattoos, it wasn’t too far-fetched a notion.

“Supper’s ready,” I said, once I noticed Roman was awake and blinking sleepy-eyed at the television. “Let’s get to it while it’s hot.”

“Food!” Ezzy declared, wiggling free and hurrying for a seat, followed by Axis, while Roman sat up and rubbed his eyes.

“Man, I told you I was gonna pass out the moment I was on the couch.”

“And I told you not to worry about it,” I reminded him. “Now let's go eat.”

“Don’t have to tell me twice.”

“Ohh, that smells delicious,” Roman said as we reached the table in time to see that Axis and Ezzy were in the process of setting places for everyone.

Roman retrieved a pitcher of lemonade with cut-up strawberries floating around in it, and soon we were seated with our feast, which included pasta salad and watermelon slices to complement the fish.

“I’m so glad we thought to bring sides,” Ezzy said. “None of us would have been up to making anything after the day we had.”

“Will you read us a story later?” Axis asked, the hesitance back in his voice, the way it had been during our morning conversation by the lake.

“I’d be happy to.”

“And you’re still gonna join us tomorrow, right?” Roman asked, his expression hopeful.

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.”

“Awesome!” Ezzy declared. “I can’t wait for the scavenger hunt. I really hope it doesn’t rain; we missed out on fireflies tonight.”

“There will be plenty of time for chasing fireflies, I’m sure,” I said as we filled our plates.

A sense of domestic tranquility washed over me as we ate and I sent up a silent plea that this would be the first of many shared meals and moments to come.

---