Dusk had turned to dark and the fire had died down. The logs glowed with embers that pulsed as if alive. Everyone had quieted, just watching the fire, which occasionally flared up and then died down again. Kaden pointed out a log that looked like an alligator, its eye flickering red. Yo-Yo found a dragon sporadically breathing flames.
Suddenly Gram jumped up and went around to the other side of the fireplace and picked up a long stick.
“Uh-oh,” Emmett said. “She’s getting a poker stick. She’ll be putting the fire out for sure now.”
“I’m not going to put out the fire. It just needs a little stirring up.”
“You’re the perfect one to do that,” Emmett joked. “You’re always stirring something up.”
Gram poked and pushed at the glowing logs. All the embers turned black.
“See what I said,” Emmett stated. “She’s put it out.”
Using the stick like a lever, Gram moved the logs around some more. Sparks danced up into the air and the logs burst into flames.
“Never hurts to stir things up a bit,” she stated, putting the poker stick down.
“Well, looks like things are going to get stirred up a little bit more and pretty quickly, too.” Emmett nodded toward the road. The roadway was black but the telephone wires and treetops were lit up. Within seconds, headlights came up over the hilltop and the white pickup slowed down to turn into the circle drive.
“I think I’ll call it a night. You boys make sure you douse this fire and stir the ashes before going to bed. Thanks for the evening, Greta. See you boys in the morning.” Emmett got up and picked up the tray with the leftover food on it. “I’ll take this in for you on my way.”
Dad pulled his pickup between Cabins Four and Five. As he walked over toward the fire, Emmett came out of Gram’s cabin and they passed each other.
“Dennis,” Emmett said, tipping his hat.
Dad walked past without speaking. He came over to the fire and sat down on the glider next to Gram.
“You could have spoken,” Gram said after Emmett pulled out.
Dad ignored her. “Great night for a fire,” he said pleasantly. “Got anything to eat out here?”
“There’s a couple of hot dogs left but they’re in the house,” Kaden answered.
It wasn’t until Dad stood up that he noticed Yo-Yo.
“So who do we have here?” he asked.
“That’s my friend, Yo-Yo,” Kaden said. “I’ve told you about him. Yo-Yo, this is my dad.”
Kaden hoped his dad wouldn’t say anything about Yo-Yo’s name. He was relieved when Dad just put out his hand and said he was glad to meet him.
“Glad to meet you, too, Mr. McCrory,” Yo-Yo said as he stood up and shook Dad’s hand. “I’ve heard a lot about you. I mean, not a lot, not like a biography or anything, but some, you know, like about as much as on the back of a book jacket, where it tells who the author is and where he lives and that you have a son and when you’re not writing you like to play golf or something, not that you are a writer or play golf but that’s the kind of stuff on the back of a book jacket and that’s how much I’ve heard about you, some but not a whole lot. . . .”
Dad just stared at Yo-Yo, who was still holding his hand, pumping it rapidly up and down, but Gram and Kaden both started laughing.
“Okay, Yo-Yo, you can sit down now,” Gram said, interrupting him.
Yo-Yo stopped talking and sat back down. He sat so straight and his muscles were so tense that Kaden felt all it would take would be for someone to poke him lightly with a stick and he would fly out of his seat like a rocket. When Dad left to get some hot dogs, Yo-Yo slumped back in his chair and let out his breath.
“I was just a little on edge,” he said to Gram. “Do you think he noticed?”
“No,” Gram said. Kaden could tell from her voice she was trying not to laugh again. “Probably just a little too much sugar from all those s’mores.”
Gram got up from the glider. “I’m going to turn in, too. Remember what Emmett said about the fire.”
When Dad returned, the flames had died to embers again. He loaded the hot dog fork and stuck it out over the glowing coals.
“Stir that up a little, Kaden,” he said. “I like my hot dogs blackened.”
“I don’t,” Yo-Yo said. Dad and Kaden both looked at Yo-Yo, wondering if he was going to burst into another frantic speaking bout, but he didn’t. “I like them slow roasted, just pinkish brown.”
“What about you, Kaden?” Dad asked.
“Yo-Yo and I are opposites. I like hot dogs burned, like you, but I want my marshmallows toasted golden brown. Yo-Yo likes to catch marshmallows on fire.”
“Gram said a little charcoal is good for thy stomach’s sake,” Yo-Yo said.
“But Gram eats hers golden brown,” Kaden said to Yo-Yo. “She didn’t accept any of the ones you offered to her.”
“But Emmett ate his burned,” Yo-Yo said. “What about you, Mr. McCrory, do you like golden or burned marshmallows?”
At the mention of Emmett’s name, Kaden cringed but Dad didn’t get upset this time.
“Call me Dennis,” he said. “I like mine burned if I’m just popping them in my mouth, golden if they’re for s’mores. Speaking of which, do you guys want some more s’mores?”
Kaden and Yo-Yo both cracked up.
“What’s so funny?” Dad asked.
“All evening long, Yo-Yo has been asking over and over if anyone wanted some more s’mores. It became so annoying Gram told him she was going to buy s’more zoysia grass if he said s’more some more.”
“I just think it sounds cool and wanted to say s’more some more,” Yo-Yo said.
“Gram,” Kaden yelled, “you need to get s’more zoysia grass!”
“They tricked me into it!” Yo-Yo yelled. “I didn’t mean to say s’more some more.”
Gram stuck her head out her screen door. “I don’t want to hear any s’more yelling,” she said, smiling. “You’ll wake the neighbors.”
Kaden chuckled but Yo-Yo laughed so hard, he fell out of his chair. Then he suddenly jumped up, said, “I’ve got to pee,” and raced to Kaden’s cabin.
“That’s some friend you have there,” Dad said. “A little high-strung.”
“Yeah, but we have a good time,” Kaden said. They were quiet for a few seconds and then Dad spoke up.
“I’ve been thinking about Wednesday night and I want to apologize. I know you weren’t trying to rub anything in. I’m just a little touchy and need to lighten up some. I’m going to try harder from now on. I hope you believe me.”
“That’s okay, Dad. It’s going to take us all a little time to get used to one another.”
“You know, that’s the first time you’ve called me Dad. It sounded good.”
Kaden looked at his father. “It felt good, too.”
“So, besides having a campfire, what have you two been up to today?” Dad asked as Yo-Yo came walking back.
“Nothing much,” Kaden answered. “Just school and then fall cleaning.”
“Fall cleaning?” Dad asked.
“Yeah, Gram had us clean all the cabins after school.”
“That’s no fun,” Dad said.
“It wasn’t that bad,” Yo-Yo said. “They’re not very big, so there wasn’t much to clean. Yours was the worst.” He had started talking at a normal pace but now he sped up a mile a minute. “I mean it wasn’t really dirty or anything, it was just messy, you know, with clothes scattered all over and then we had to change the sheets when the bed broke. Oops!”
Yo-Yo clamped his hand over his mouth.
“Oops?” Dad asked.
“It’s okay, Yo-Yo.” Kaden laughed, then turned to Dad. “Yo-Yo tripped and landed on your bed and the whole thing went crashing in. We put it back together, but be careful getting in. It only has two slats now. One broke but Emmett can fix it.”
Dad had been laughing about Yo-Yo falling on the bed but his laughter suddenly ceased.
“I don’t need Emmett to fix it; I can fix it myself.”
There was silence. Kaden got up and tossed in a small log.
“I think we need s’more wood on the fire,” Kaden said, trying to lighten up the situation.
“And I think it needs s’more poking,” Yo-Yo said. He jumped up so fast to grab the poking stick that his chair tumbled over backward.
“I know what you two need s’more of. You need s’more fun,” Dad said. His voice was friendly once again. “Fall cleaning isn’t what two boys should be doing on a Friday afternoon. How would you guys like to go to Amazon Amazement tomorrow?”
“Sweet!” Kaden exclaimed. “That’d be super!”
“What’s Amazon Amazement?” Yo-Yo asked.
“It’s an amusement park,” Kaden answered.
“I love amusement parks,” Yo-Yo said. “What’s this one like?”
“I’ve never been there,” Kaden said, “but I’ve heard kids talk a lot about it at school. Everything is like you’re in the Amazon rainforest. They’ve got rides with piranhas that snap out of the water at you and a roller coaster that goes all around through a jungle and even a ride where they strap you in and you glide on a cable from tree to tree like Tarzan.”
“Wicked,” Yo-Yo said. “Count me in but I have to be home by six.”
“Not a problem,” Dad said. “We’ll just leave early to get in a full day. They open at eight and it takes about an hour and a half to get there. So, let’s leave at six fifteen. We can grab some breakfast at a drive-through. I’m sure you boys would like something besides oatmeal.”
“Sounds great to me,” Kaden said.
“Well, we’d better get to bed, then,” Dad said. Kaden took the poker and started spreading the glowing logs around the fireplace.
“You don’t need to do that,” Dad said. “It will just burn out.”
“Emmett told us to douse the fire before we went to bed,” Kaden said without thinking.
“Emmett doesn’t know everything,” Dad said, sounding irritated again. “Just leave it.”
“No, Yo-Yo’s never had a fire. He needs to learn how to douse it,” Kaden said, hoping to draw Dad away from the subject of Emmett. He turned to Yo-Yo. “When you first dump water on it, it looks just like a volcano steaming up.”
Kaden ran over to the side of Gram’s cabin, turned the spigot, and dragged the hose across the drive to the fireplace. He sprayed water on the fire and steam gushed from the hot coals but gradually it steamed no more. Kaden kept pouring on more water as Yo-Yo stirred the black ashy soup with the poking stick. Suddenly Kaden thought of something else.
“I just remembered! We can’t go tomorrow,” he said to Dad. “We told Emmett we’d help him split wood.”
“For crying out loud,” Dad said. “You boys shouldn’t be spending Saturday splitting wood.”
“It’s a lot of work for Emmett to do it by himself anymore,” Kaden explained, “so we said we’d help.”
“If Emmett’s too old to do it himself, he should just give it up. Call him and tell him you can’t come.”
“I guess I could,” Kaden said. “He probably won’t mind if I help him on Sunday instead.”
“You don’t have to help him at all,” Dad said. “He’s just using you for free labor while cashing in for himself.”
Dad was steaming up and Yo-Yo was stirring the ashes like he was trying to stir a hole to China.
“No, he pays me. And he gives a lot of the wood away for free. Besides, I don’t mind helping. Gives me a good workout.” Kaden flexed his arms to show his biceps, hoping that would keep Dad from reigniting. He didn’t say that pay was just a visit to Pillie’s. That would be certain to stir Dad into another big flare-up.
“That old man doesn’t have any say in who you choose to spend your weekend with. He’s just interfering in my life again. I’m your father and I told you to call him.”
“Yes, sir,” Kaden said respectfully as Dad walked off toward Cabin Five.
“Whoa,” Yo-Yo said quietly once Dad’s screen door closed. “I thought I was going to witness Mount Vesuvius erupting.”
“Yeah, he does have a temper but it’s usually just when Emmett is brought up.”
“What’s with it between those two?” Yo-Yo asked.
“I don’t know,” Kaden said. He understood about Dad resenting Emmett surviving the car wreck but that was a long time ago. It didn’t make sense Dad would still be so angry. Kaden couldn’t figure out why Emmett was so cold to Dad either. “But it’s definitely something and it would probably be best to avoid saying Emmett’s name tomorrow. And by the way, let’s keep another volcano from erupting. Gram isn’t too thrilled with amusement parks. She thinks there’s plenty around here to amuse ourselves with. So that would be a word to avoid, too.”
“Amusement parks and boring,” Yo-Yo said, and started humming the theme song to Jeopardy! “What are two things we won’t say in front of Gram?”
“There’s a bunch of things you shouldn’t say in front of Gram.” Kaden laughed.
“I bet she has a whole alphabetical list,” Yo-Yo said.
As the boys pulled the hose back across the driveway and looped it around the holder on the side of Gram’s cabin, they continued naming things Gram didn’t like in alphabetical order. Computers, dryers, electric can openers, field trips, gibberish . . . The list went on and on until they reached the letter “Z.” Neither could think of something Gram didn’t like that started with “Z.”
“But we know what she does like,” Yo-Yo said, “zoysia grass.”
Back in his cabin, Kaden picked up his cell phone, then looked at the clock. Ten fifty-two. Gram had said no calls after nine but if he turned off the intercom, she’d never know. Kaden reached over and pushed the button. The light turned black. He stood there, phone in hand, but then put the phone back on his desk.
“It’s too late to call Emmett,” he told Yo-Yo. “He’ll be in bed already. I’ll call him in the morning.”
“My mom will still be up, though,” Yo-Yo said, pulling his cell phone from his duffel bag.
While Kaden brushed his teeth, Yo-Yo called his mom and told her where he would be going. He also talked her into an extra hour at the amusement park. After he hung up, Yo-Yo set the alarm on his phone, put it on Kaden’s desk, and both boys went to bed.
Kaden was almost asleep when he remembered. Jumping out of bed, he went to his desk. When he climbed back in bed, the red light on the intercom was glowing again.