Chapter 19

The meeting with my grandparents didn’t go well, and that was putting it mildly. Grandpa made it crystal clear that we were absolutely not allowed to go over to the new side of camp for any reason. The only way it would even be considered was if Jeff and Sheila agreed to come with us.

Michaela hated that. I was fine with it and so were both Stephanie and Shawn. The idea of going Putt-Putt golfing sounded fun and if Jeff and Sheila had to be there, so what? We could have had a kids against parents competition. Michaela smashed that idea like an annoying mosquito instantly.

That summed up the next week pretty well. Michaela was in complete and total control of our daily activities. It didn’t matter what any of the rest of us wanted to do, this was Michaela’s show, and we were just along for the ride.

If we had been anywhere else but this side of camp, I would have said it was completely unfair, and it was to some extent. The thing was that Shawn, Stephanie and I were going to do much of what Michaela had us doing anyway.

We spent our days swimming or hanging out in the hot spring. We even had some pretty chaotic water fights that pulled in people of all ages to join in laughing and attacking fellow swimmers in and around the shallow end of the pool. All of which we enjoyed, but for considerably different reasons than Michaela. She was singularly focused on the guys, or more aptly put, the guys’ attentions.

As the week passed it was interesting to watch how Michaela’s attitude changed towards the idea of being forced to hang out with us on this side of camp. Those first few days, she was mopey and just not fun to be around. But as the guys started to notice her, some even gained the confidence to show her just how interested they were. She soaked it all up like a sponge.

There were more than just a couple wives or partners who weren’t at all pleased with the looks their husbands or significant others were giving her.

As Michaela immersed herself in her element, it gave Shawn, Stephanie, and me a chance to find ours as well and the three of us quickly fell into a daily routine. I would wake up in the mornings and have coffee with Grandma. She often asked what I was up to, and I gave her some of the details but not all of them. Especially not those parts that had to do with Michaela.

When I did that, it was a quick shower and then to Jeff and Sheila’s cabin for breakfast with their family. I ate myself silly almost every morning and when it came time to head out for the day, I was always stuffed to bursting, much to Sheila’s amusement.

At the end of that first week with Michaela, I made it to Jeff and Sheila’s a little earlier than normal. I knocked on the door, which was closed. That was strange, but I was early, so I didn’t think much of it.

“Come in, Sam!” I heard Jeff call out from inside. I opened the door and took a couple steps in before I realized I didn’t see anyone. I looked around frantically and found Jeff and Michaela still in bed and the rest of the cabin seemed to be empty.

“Uh, sorry I’m a bit early,” I said.

“It’s okay,” Jeff replied. “Sheila is still in the shower with Shawn and Stephanie. She’ll be out shortly to start breakfast.”

“Oh, okay,” I replied.

“Go ahead and make yourself comfortable.”

I probably should have sat down in one of the chairs, but I didn’t. Instead, I chose to sit on the bed Stephanie and Shawn shared. Jeff and Michaela didn’t shift positions as I sat down. Michaela was snuggled up to her father, her head resting on his chest and his arm wrapped around her while the other was holding an open book. Their sheets were askew, exposing everything but their legs. Their feet were uncovered as well and also one of Michaela’s legs hiked up, resting across the tops of Jeff’s thighs along the top of the mussed sheet.

Both of them looked completely content. Jeff was propped up on the pillows, but near enough to be considered sitting up while Michaela had her arm draped across his stomach and her eyes were closed as if she were sleeping soundly. This was a completely different view of Michaela than I was admittedly used to.

The room was quiet, too quiet really, but that silence was broken when I started to hear faint sounds coming from the bathroom.

“My God, Jeff. Shawn was really ready to go this morning. I thought he was trying to break me in half. Hopefully—” It was then that Sheila’s eyes met mine and she cut off whatever she was about to say. If my presence had thrown her off, it didn’t show in her expression because she just smiled at me. “Good morning, Sam. Give me just a second and I will get breakfast going, I promise. Anyway, hopefully he doesn’t try that with poor Stephanie. I don’t know if she could take that kind of aggression from him.”

“She’ll be just fine,” Jeff joked. “She’s not a little girl anymore. Besides, you probably took the edge off him.”

“Yeah, you’re right,” Sheila winked. “I did.”

Jeff chuckled, smiling up at his wife before turning his focus back to the book he was reading.

It was no secret anymore that everyone in the family was having fun with everyone else. I hadn’t actually seen any of it with my own eyes, but there were comments made that painted a pretty clear picture. It was still a shock that they were so open about it in front of me. There was no way in hell Mom or Dad would have been so casual about any of this like Jeff and Sheila were.

“Any requests for breakfast?” Sheila asked, her eyes glancing between me and Jeff.

“Pancakes, eggs, and bacon,” Jeff replied, and I grinned and nodded.

“Pancakes it is. Coming right up!”

It didn’t take long for Stephanie to come skipping out of the bathroom, towel in hand as she tried to dry herself off and skip at the same time. In her youthful exuberance, she nearly tripped on her own two feet once. Right after that, I thought for sure she was going to crash and burn when her towel somehow got tangled up in her legs and her arms immediately started pinwheeling in an attempt to keep her balance. She managed it by some miracle and just laughed it off when she regained her balance.

“Stephanie,” Sheila snapped. “What did I tell you about running in the house?”

“That I shouldn’t do it,” Stephanie blushed, ducking her head slightly. “Sorry, Mom.”

“One of these times you’re going to fall and split your head wide open young lady.”

Sheila watched as Stephanie, thoroughly chastened, walked calmly over to join me at the table.

“So, what are we going to do today?” Stephanie asked as she sat down next to me, her hair still damp from the shower.

“No clue,” I shrugged.

“Well, it’s just going to be the three of us,” Stephanie explained, obviously happy. “Michaela and Dad are going into town today to do some grocery shopping and stuff.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” Shawn answered as he joined Stephanie and me at the table. “Mom said she needed some stuff and Dad offered to take Michaela with him to do some shopping.”

“Awesome,” I smiled. “Maybe we can talk to my grandparents again about putt-putt golf.”

“We could always just ask Mom,” Stephanie suggested.

“Ask me what?” Sheila said, twisting so she could look at us as she continued to mix the pancake batter.

“We want to go putt-putt golfing today.”

“You do, do you? Is there even a course close by?”

“Yup, it’s uh...” I paused, nervously. “In the new section of um, camp.”

“Oh, I see.” Sheila gave us a contemplating look, as if she were really mulling it over. “I don’t see why not.”

“Oh my God, really?” Stephanie squealed and launched herself from her chair and raced to wrap her mom up in a fierce hug. “This is going to be so great!”

When the four of us, Sheila, Shawn, Stephanie, and myself showed up at the putt-putt course there wasn’t an attendant or someone you needed to check in with to play. It was completely self-serve. When you were ready to play, you grabbed putters and played. Simple.

Luckily for us, the putt-putt course wasn’t all that popular. There were people playing, but it definitely wasn’t a focal point or main attraction for this side of camp. That was reserved for the pool and clubhouse.

“I think we should do a boys versus girls,” Stephanie said, hefting one of the pink handled putters. The pink ones were the shortest ones, but it was appropriate for her to have one that was pink, regardless of the size. “We can take them, Mom.”

“Ha!” Shawn laughed. “Yeah right! We’re going to kick your butts, right Sam?”

“Yup,” I nodded, grinning as I gripped one of the blue handled putters. I wasn’t tall enough for one of the black handled ones like Shawn chose.

“Well, aren’t you two confident?” Sheila said, taking one of the red handled putters that was an inch or two bigger than the pink ones. “I’m going to warn you, be careful what you wish for.”

“Yeah!” Stephanie cut in, her face scrunched up like she was trying to scowl or intimidate us. I wasn’t sure which because it wasn’t working. “You two are going down!”

I managed not to laugh, barely. Shawn and Sheila though both snickered at Stephanie’s statement or more accurately, the ‘mean mug’ she was trying to give us.

“Alright, you asked for it,” Shawn replied.

On the very first hole, Shawn made a hole-in-one. It was a fairly easy hole, but I was still impressed. It was straight and there weren’t any strategically placed rocks or anything in the way. The only thing difficult about it was it was narrow, but not overly so.

“Woo!” Shawn yelled, thrusting his arms up in the air in victory. “I’m not going to take it easy on you this time, Stephanie.”

“Nice one, honey,” Sheila said, smiling like any proud mother would when their child succeeded in something.

“Whatever,” Stephanie replied, nonplussed and unimpressed. Shawn came and stood next to me with a shit eating grin on his face, obviously proud of himself. “You got lucky.”

Since Shawn made it on his first shot, that meant I didn’t need to putt so I gestured towards the tee box, or what was meant to be a tee box so Sheila and Stephanie could take their turns.

“I’ll go first!” Stephanie jumped forward and dropped her red ball at the beginning of the hole. “Watch this!”

Stephanie didn’t bother with a practice swing. She didn’t even really look at the hole. She took a massive backswing and let it rip. I don’t know what she thought was going to happen, but she hit the ball so hard that it caromed off the back wall of the hole, shot five feet into the air and landed in the wood chips that filled in the ground around each hole.

“Oh, come on!” Stephanie stomped her foot in anger. “Why did it do that?”

What did she think was going to happen when she hit the ball that hard?