Chapter 2

While planning the trip, Dave's father and uncle had expressed their desire to 'rough it' in the most basic of camping grounds with only dry toilets. His aunt and mother, on the other hand, had never been quite as enthusiastic about the great outdoors. While they loved the outdoor activities, they insisted on the camping site with the most amenities, and Dave knew that his mother always got her way because his Dad liked having sex too much.

Judging from the sounds of the previous evening, Ed liked it too, and seemed to have an even greater knack for tantric orgasm control than Dave did. This was unsurprising, since he had mastered several meditative disciplines before turning twelve, often causing Dave to wonder whether his younger brother was the reincarnation of some oriental sage. Or maybe he was possessed by a sex demon, because he had Dahlia crying out for divine intervention after a while.

As the Suburban drew closer to their camping spot, Dahlia gave Ed a love-sick stare, which was uncharacteristic for the normally cool and collected girl. She had spent the entire drive plastered to his side, and almost went into the men's room with him at the rest stops. It was like he put a love spell on her ... although he hadn't remained unaffected either. He actually behaved like a human being instead of an android now, pulling her closer as she snuggled against him and resting his head on top of hers.

Next to Dave, on the back seat, Frank sat with his arm across Erica's shoulders, though he pretended it was merely so he could watch the screen of her Game Boy and give her pointers as she played. It would have been more convincing if he spent more time looking at the screen and less time staring down the unbuttoned polo shirt she must have had since before her growth spurt.

"We're here!" Michelle called out. She had taken over the driving duty in a town named Edson, roughly halfway between Edmonton and Jasper. "Looks like your dad already pitched our tents girls," she added, pointing to a couple of tents in the distance.

"Let's put ours up quickly, boys," Alan said.

Even though they had a family tent with a central area and two sleeping areas that could each hold three adults, he had bought Dave, Ed and Frank their own tents a year ago. This was primarily because he deemed them old enough to accompany him on a longer backpacking hike that could take several days. The secondary reason was the additional privacy he and Angelica would have if the boys also used their own tents on the big campground. It was probably a psychological thing, because the tent walls were thin and those few extra metres wouldn't stop Dave and his brothers from hearing the sounds of sex.

"I won't need mine. I'll be sharing Dahlia's," Ed said.

Angelica sighed. "Make sure you take those damned pills the exact same minute in the exact same hour, every day, Dahlia. Ed was born because I didn't, and I don't want to be a grandmother to his kids for at least another eight to nine years."

Dave and his father laughed at the mortified expressions on Ed and Dahlia's faces.

"Hey ... then where will I sleep?" Erica asked, since she and her sister shared a two person tent.

"With Mom and Dad," Dahlia said dismissively, reverting to a bitchy ice princess in the blink of an eye.

"I don't think so, Dahlia," Michelle said. "We might have a family tent, but your father and I will want some privacy too."

Dave smiled. His uncle and aunt had had the same idea as his parents. Maybe his parents had given them the idea.

"Erica can have Ed's tent then," Alan said, and turned around to look at Erica. "It's smaller than the tent you'd share with your sister. But it's still a two-sleeper, so you'll have more room to yourself."

"But I'll be all alone, and there are wolves, bears and mountain lions around here!"

"The bears that might stray into the campground won't be looking to eat people, and wolves and mountain lions stay clear of camps altogether," Dave pointed out, even though he knew his younger cousin was well aware of it already. There could only be one reason she was making an issue of it, and he decided to give her a hand. "But if you want to improve your chances for the unlikely event that a bear does stray into camp and chooses your tent out of hundreds of others, you could always share a tent with Frank."

"Err, there won't be enough space for two people and all their stuff," Frank said. It wasn't the vehement refusal he would have voiced one year ago, and his blush suggested that he badly wanted an excuse to say 'yes'. Unfortunately for him, he had made a good point. The tent was a little too small for two people and all their stuff, but Dave had a solution.

"So just keep the essentials you might need with you during the night, and put everything else in Mom and Dad's tent. They've got a sleeping compartment they're not using. I was planning to do the same, since Iris will be sharing my tent."

"Great idea ... we'll do that," Erica said quickly, beaming. Frank tried his best to look indifferent, but everyone who had once been in his position saw right through him.

"I'd forbid any hanky panky, but I know you two would fool around anyway," Michelle said.

"Mom, we—" Erica began to indignantly protest, but her mother cut her off.

"I wasn't born yesterday, sweetheart. Everyone in this car can tell that you like Frankie, and that he likes you back. So you can fool around, but don't ... go ... all ... the ... way!" Michelle warned her youngest daughter, reflecting a stern glance off the rear-view mirror as she stressed every word.

"And if you're planning to round third base, don't let Frank's cum anywhere near your vagina," Angelica added. "Alan and I didn't even have to go all the way to get me pregnant with Frank."

Ed and Dahlia's earlier mortification turned out to be insignificant compared to Frank and Erica's current mortification, and Dave failed to suppress a snicker.

"This is no laughing matter, Dave," Angelica said. "I was just about Erica's age when I got pregnant with you, and a little younger than you are right now when I got pregnant with Frank."

"Right," Dave said, sobering instantly. As badly as he wanted to create a lasting link with Iris by making her the mother of his children, he realised that right now would be way too soon.

Michelle parked in front of their camping space, and everyone got out.

"Dave!" a familiar voice called out behind him, and he turned around and spotted Iris rushing towards him.

It felt like his insides expanded with happiness as he finally beheld her again after eleven months, and he broke into a run towards her until they met in a fierce hug. He easily twirled her around, having grown much stronger over the past year. Then he gave her a bruising kiss and poured his all his pent up emotion into it.

"I missed you so much it hurt," he whispered after the finally broke the kiss. "It literally hurt!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Iris replied dreamily.

"And you're more beautiful than ever."

"Really? I don't think I changed all that much, aside from my haircut. Do you like it?" she asked, releasing him from her hug and playfully tossing her nonchalantly styled shoulder length hair.

"I do," Dave said, although he had wanted to tell her that she'd be just as beautiful if she were bald. But he now knew women well enough to know that she wouldn't like that answer after all the effort she had put into making herself more attractive. Of course, Mother Nature had done plenty for her in that regard as far as Dave was concerned. Iris now had wider, more womanly hips, and her legs had gotten even better over the course of the past year. All the girlish thinness had now vanished out of them.

"You've grown," she then said, examining him from head to toe.

Dave nodded. He had grown an inch an a half since they had last seen each other. He was now 6' 1".

"And you're buffer too," she added, running her hands across his arms and chest.

Grinning proudly, Dave puffed out his chest and flexed his muscles. It was mostly Mother Nature's work, although he had also exercised moderately using his own bodyweight.

"You can catch up later, Dave," he heard his father say. "Build your tent first."

"Yes sir," Dave shouted back.

"I'll give you a hand," Iris offered.

She was quite adept at building tents, so Dave took her hand and guided her to the Suburban.

"Did you sleep in your own tent last night?" he asked, so he could offer to help her disassemble and pack it if necessary.

"I slept with Dad and Silvia. Aunt Ronnie and James slept in mine. They wanted extra privacy, if you know what I—"

"Aunt Ronnie is here?"

"Oops ... she wanted it to be a surprise. But yes, she is. They flew to Vancouver, and drove up here with us."

"Where are they now?"

"Hiking on a nearby trail. It's really beautiful around here, you know? But it gets chilly at night, even at this time of year. Between seven and eight degrees Celsius on average, and last night it was a little colder." She squeezed his hand. "I'm glad you'll be keeping me warm tonight. Maybe we can christen your tent, like Aunt Ronnie and James christened mine."

"They did, eh?"

"For over an hour. I fell asleep before they finished."

After assembling his tent, Iris gave Dave a guided tour of the parts of the campground in their immediate vicinity, and he concluded that Grandpa Mike got them the best spot in the entire campground. Their lot was close to the showers, several washrooms, and other amenities.

Then they had a delicious lunch prepared by Iris' stepmother, Silvia. Her Chinese-Malaysian mother came to Canada in the nineteen-sixties, when the anti-Chinese sentiments began to grow particularly strong among the Malay natives. Her father could trace all his ancestors back to nineteenth century Chinese immigrants, including a great-great-grandfather who came to Canada as early as the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush, and it pissed Silvia off to be called Chinese for that very reason.

Dave sensed that his mother did her best not to like Silvia, even though she was a very likable person. Her age was probably part of the problem. She was a few months younger than Grandpa Mike's eldest children. That would have been scandalous under different circumstances, but his mother seemed to forget that her father sired her at the tender age of fourteen, and that the age difference between him and his second wife wasn't all that big.

Silvia and Grandpa Mike were an unlikely couple in the sense that he was over a foot taller than she was. Dave wondered how that affected the mechanics of their having sex. Kissing during intercourse had to be very challenging, and might even be impossible. They probably did their kissing before and after intercourse. And Grandpa Mike had to keep himself suspended above her if they used the traditional missionary position, lest he crushed her.

After lunch, everyone pitched in to clean everything thoroughly to prevent a visit from bears later on, and the decision was taken to spend the next few hours at the nearby hot springs just as James and Veronica came back from their hike.

James volunteered to stay behind and keep an eye on things, and repel unscrupulous animals or fellow campers if need be. Dave didn't think anyone would mess with their stuff with James there to watch over it. He only stood about 5' 9", but every ebony inch was covered in muscle, and when he frowned, his otherwise kind face transformed into one belonging to a man who clearly had killer instinct. Dave wouldn't have been surprised if it turned out that James had killed people in operations the Unites States government wouldn't confirm or deny.

The view from the pool platform was spectacular, and Dave observed the wildlife movements below while his two brothers sulked a few metres away on either side of him while they waited for the girls to change and take their pre soak shower. Their sulking was due to a minor altercation concerning the seating arrangements for the drive to the springs.

Iris and Dave had taken the rear bench in the Suburban, which meant that either Ed or Frank had to forgo the chance to cuddle with Erica or Dahlia, respectively. In the end, Dave ruined it for both of them by asking Iris to take the middle bench seat and ordering his brothers to the rear seats on either side of him. He had ruined it for himself too, since he had been looking forward to his own cuddling time with Iris, but he chalked it off as a necessary sacrifice to keep the peace.