Ben and Beatrice

"Good, cause I better not hear about it spreading to anybody else."

"You won't. I'll talk to Ursula."

"Make sure you do. And tell that bitch she does not want to be on my shit list."

...

Ben found a moment when the boys were all occupied with their tasks so he could open the letter.

"Hello, Ben. I know we haven't had much time to get to know each other but I was hoping that could change. I'm the leader of raccoon troop and I think your boys and my girls would get along at meal times. Maybe there might be some other activities on the schedule we could do together as well. By the way, I heard you like billiards. I'm not such a bad pool player myself. I'd love to meet you in the rec room for a friendly game."

Well, that was nice but the timing was bad. He had to think about his sister. How would she react to news of him going on a date? Would that help her move past being in love with him or would it fuel fighting between her and the girl?

Actually, with just a second of thought, Ben already knew how Beatrice would react. She'd do that same thing she always did when Ben was going to be with someone. Beatrice would do all she could to get the girl to leave Ben in some epic way. He used to think it was just typical spoiled little sister behavior but now he understood why she acted that way. He couldn't really risk dating a girl here.

But that girl had been hot. She looked like a fashion model. No, models were too thin. She looked like ... a playboy playmate. That's what she looked like. Ben would hate to pass that up because his sister was having issues. But what could he do? Family has to help family.

Maybe he could see that girl in secret and just not let his sister know. He could come up with some reason why they'd have to not tell Beatrice. Hell, he could just mention his sister's history of being a prolific cock blocker and the girl, Ursula, should understand.

Ben thought about that other girl, Alice, who he'd been trying to get close to. Well, she just lost her chance. Guys are attracted to beauty, it's true. But more than that, all other things being the same, guys are attracted to the women who show an interest in them. Then Ben thought back to his sister and all the times she'd tried to show an interest in him. He guessed it took on many different forms.

Ben's group got back down the mountain just in time to get dinner with everyone else. Humming bird troop was no more and the girls of that troop had been spread out among the others. This cause some odd seat placement in the cafeteria. Somehow things had been worked out so that the only space for bear troop to sit down was next to raccoon troop and Ben was seated next to Ursula. This caused Beatrice to get up from the table and go to her brother.

There was a sudden silence as everyone saw the sister approach Ben. A few people braced themselves for the worst and even Mrs. Peters was about to run up to them to break them up. But the fighting that many were predicting to happen in their heads didn't transpire.

"Ben, can I see you in private for a sec so we can talk."

Very calmly Ben nodded. He was thankful that the word he'd thought she used just then was only his imagination. "Sure. Ok, boys, I'll be right over there. Be good. I'll be right back."

Ben and Beatrice went off to the hall just outside the cafeteria together.

"So, what's up?" Ben asked.

"That girl, Ursula. She's bad news."

"The girl I was just sitting next to?"

"Yes. She's a ... one of those ... She's a heart breaker."

"Really? Are you sure your feelings on this are clear?"

Beatrice took his hand and held it. "Ben. I'm not going to argue with you and I'm not going to raise my voice. I'm telling you as your sister who loves you. Ok. I love you. I'm telling you, don't go doing anything with that girl. I know you guys can't help yourselves when a pretty girl even blinks your way but you're better than that."

And there it was. She had just said it. How many times had she just said that to him, trying so hard for him to understand that she meant more to it than sisterly love? "I'm just sitting next to her."

"She's after you."

"I understand. Thanks for the warning."

She hugged him. Ben thought it would be a short hug but she didn't want to let go. He eventually let her know that her girls were finished and it was time for them to put their trays up for washing.

When Ben came to sit back down, Ursula asked what that was about. Ben just said it was family business.

That night, at the meeting before lights out Ben gave his troop some bad news. The forecast called for rain the next day so they wouldn't be going swimming as was originally planned. They were going to do arts and crafts instead and they'd get their swimming day when the weather was better.

Then it was lights out and Ben asked John to look after his troop for a few moments. The thought of his sister hurting herself had come into his mind and he didn't want her to go another night of crying.

He went over to the female bunk houses and knocked on the door to the one his sister's troop stayed in. He had to wait for Beatrice to get free of what she was doing and then the two siblings went for a walk out in the dark together.

"Are you feeling ok?" he asked her and then got ready to calm the waters if she took that as an attack.

"I'm fine. Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Of course. You know, I wanted to talk to you about something specific."

"Ok. I'm listening."

"I know. Ok. Don't ask me how I found out but I know. I know about how you aren't sleeping well and I know why."

"You heard about that?"

"Yes. Ok. And I know it's because of me."

"What exactly is because of you? What do you want to tell me? Just say it. I won't be angry. I promise. I'll just listen."

"We're not stupid, me and you. Let's just be honest with each other. Let's get on the same page. Ok? I know that when you say that you love me and when I say it back to you, we're not really talking about the same thing, are we?"

"I'm glad you realize that you need to tell me that."

"I wanted to let you know that I'm here for you. I feel terrible that I caused you pain. I'm sorry."

"Thanks. And hey, same to you. I'm on your side, you know. I've always been on your side. And I know ... I know that a guy ... I know that you might need certain things and ..." She winced as she was about to say what she was thinking. "If you need anything from me, whatever it is, you can count on me. Just ask. Anything. Anything at all. Just ask."

"I think I know what you're trying to say."

"You do?"

"Beatrice, I'm not stupid. We both know what's going on here. But I'm not going to ask that of you." he said.

"You're not?" she asked.

"I mean, of course, if you asked me then I'd ... uh ... Ok, yes, I'd be there for you, too. If you wanted."

"So you need me to ask?"

"Well, no. I guess I could just offer if you wanted me to. If that would be easier for you."

"I can ask if you want me to." she said.

She looked at him and felt like she wanted to twitch out of her skin as the words formed in her mind. But she loved her brother. He needed her and she was going to help him. Instead of running away she doubled down. She swallowed hard and forced herself to keep her composure.

"Ben, you can kiss me if you want to." she invited.

"Do you ... do you want me to?"

"It's ok. You can."

"Are you asking me, like, right now?"

"You can do whatever you want with me."

"What do you need me to say? What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"Ben. Kiss me. Will you please kiss me?"

Ben had to build up his courage and he moved a little closer to his sister. "If I do this, will it help with your ... sleeping?"

"Yes. Please kiss me. Don't worry about anything else. I'll make sure it stays a secret."

The most awkward kiss to ever happen some might say happened just then. The two siblings, each thinking they were making a huge sacrifice for the other, embraced and kissed the way lovers would. It was shallow and soft at first but then Beatrice started to put more effort into it and Ben reciprocated her action.

It's a very funny thing about the human body. The mind can know that something is not real but the body is remarkably less intelligent. If you make a person smile, afterwards they feel happier than they did before. If you make a person frown the same is true but for sadness. Actors sometimes find that all the love, hate, joy, and pain of their characters they can at times feel in their own bodies as if those were real emotions.

And so the act of kissing was having an affect. Once the initial barrier was broken down and the fake kiss became for both of them a real kiss, it went about affecting the body just the same as any other kiss.

"Was that ok?" he asked her when the kiss was finally over.

"Yes. Thank you."

"You're welcome. And I guess, anytime you want to ..."

"Yes. Anytime. You just come find me."

"Right. Ok. Anyway. I hope you sleep well. I have to get back to the ... the place but look if you find you can't sleep just come over. I don't think anyone would mind."

"Ben, I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. It was a nice kiss."

"I mean, for everything I've been doing. I'm really sorry. Can you forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive."

"Ben. I just let you kiss me. I'm trying to show you how much I care about you. Can you please just accept my apology and tell me you forgive me?"

"Ok. I forgive you. And I'm sorry, too. I know my feelings for you aren't what you want. I can't help that. But I'll always be here for you. Your wellbeing comes first to me."

"But that's ok. You don't have to be like everyone else. You're you. You can just be great being you. I completely accept you. And don't worry about me. Don't worry about how all of this is affecting me."

"I do worry. I hear about some of the things that happened with you in the girls house and I get worried."

"I was just crying. That's all. It's not an epidemic."

"I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean it like that. What I mean was ... Ok, look, forget it. As long as we're together and we take care of each other I won't need to cry anymore."

"You're sure?"

"Just let me be there for you."

"Alright. We'll be there for each other."

She hugged him and then they parted for the night.

...

Ben felt very weird as he checked on the kids and then got into bed. His sister had asked him to kiss her, he'd done it, and now it felt ok. He felt ok with it. He was not ok with the fact that he was ok with it but as for the actual kiss, that was ok. It didn't feel like they had gone too far. So yeah, if she needed him to kiss her, he could do that. No problem.

...

The girls of puma troop were all asleep. Good. Beatrice got her pajama's on and got into bed. This was so crazy. Not only was she going to have to do kissy stuff with her brother but she was going to have to take the lead because he was too embarrassed to just come out and tell her what he wanted. But she sort of understood. A lot of guys didn't want to sound like stalkers.

She put her fingers to her lips and remembered the kiss. It had been a nice kiss. Not the greatest but a nice kiss. If that was all he wanted from her then that would be fine. But who was she kidding. He was a guy. He wanted way more than that from her. Could she actually do anything more than kiss? She didn't know. She'd have to see if that moment ever came.

...

The weather the next day really was terrible. All the men got up at dawn to set up a covered walk way from the closest bunk house to the cafeteria. It wouldn't mean that the campers wouldn't get wet at all but it provided some cover where there was no other.

Even though Ben had worn his rain gear, water had still gotten to him and he was feeling the place where it was seeping in. He was tired and actually just a bit cold, but he couldn't tend to himself. He had to wake the boys up, take attendance, get them ready, and then go have breakfast.

All the boys got to eat first that day and they were all heading back to the houses when the girls showed up. Both Ursula and Beatrice went out of their way to wave at Ben when he passed them.

Back at the houses, it was free time for an hour and then they were going to make books by hand. Ben was reading up on how to teach them to sew pages together the old Coptic way. He listened to the rain as it was coming down hard and he thought that this activity might not be the best with so much humidity in the air.

...

In the cafeteria it was a battle of the stares. Beatrice gave dirty looks to Ursula and the other woman gave them right back. After breakfast they were still throwing mean looks to each other as the girls went back to the houses.

Beatrice did not like the idea of Ben dating Ursula. That would not be good. She wouldn't be dating him for him. She'd just be acting out some fantasy of hers. Beatrice was going to have to keep that from happening. But how? Could she give in to what her brother wanted, if only to keep him away from that girl? Could she do that? Well, she did kiss him but that was just to help him. How did it help him? Didn't that just push him more down the path? Why had she kissed him? Why had she let that happen? Because she wanted him to forgive her. Well, he'd given her that so there was really no further reason to allow him to do that.

Shit. She was starting to feel like a selfish bitch. She'd let her brother kiss her once and now she was really going to have to let him keep doing it. Otherwise she'd have to admit to herself that she only did it for some petty little reason of her own and not for his benefit at all.

Beatrice was not going to let herself lose to that other girl. There had to be a way to win without doing creepy stuff with her brother. Ok, she could let them date and when the relationship fell through she'd be there to comfort her brother. Or she could keep her brother content with not dating by just letting him kiss her every now and then and when summer was over, they could do some more extensive talking to help him work past his issues.

Neither option was ideal. She needed a way to help her brother not be in love with her but also not date that girl while at the same time letting her brother know that she didn't judge him for being the way he was.

Alice. Beatrice looked over at Alice. She'd get Alice to date her brother. She had to make sure that Alice knew nothing about the whole incest thing first and then she'd get Alice to date her brother and then when summer was over they'd just naturally break up since she lives out of state.

Perfect plan.

...

The rain had started to let up and it looked like a good chance to get all the attendance forms to administration. Ben decided to do it while his boys were all writing messages to their parents in the books they'd just put together. That project had turned out a lot better than Ben had thought it would.

He dropped off the package and the British girl, Margaret, who now worked in the office, gave it all a once over to check if they were all there. Then Ben was going to head back to the bunk house when someone tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hey, how are you?" said Ursula who was there to drop off the forms from her house.

"Good. You?"

"Great."

"Had to one up me there."

"What you guys doing after lunch?"

"Good question. Swimming is out. Soccer is out. I don't want to have to make them sit and do crafts again. I was thinking basketball in the gym but someone's using it."

"That would be us."

"Have fun."

"We were going to do the team building thing. I have all the supplies ready."

"The thing where you have to get the little ball from one side of the court to the other?"

"If you guys wanted to use the gym, maybe we could do that together, you can officially cross it off your list, and then if they can actually do it; as reward we could all play some hoops."

"Well now, that is a good offer." Ben had to admit it.

"But is it an offer you'll accept?"

"I think I would at that so long as you have enough of those tube things."

"More than enough."

...

After lunch, Beatrice and her troop were doing singing practice when she heard that her brother's troop was joining Ursula's in the gym. For the rest of the activity she was off key. The moment she got back to the bunk house she found Alice, whose troop tried to go up the path to the rope way but had to turn back because it was too muddy.

Alice and her girls were heading to the showers but Beatrice got her attention long enough to ask a question.

"Alice, you know Ben, don't you?"

"Sure. You're brother's a nice guy."

"I heard that he sort of liked you."

"I know. I've known for a while. It's so obvious."

"Well? Do you like him?"

"Can you keep a secret?"

"Definitely."

"I have a boyfriend."

"What? Here?"

"Not here. Back home."

"Why keep that a secret?"

"I don't know. I just didn't feel like getting into it with everyone. Sorry. I didn't come here to date."

"No. That's ok. I just wish Ben knew so he wouldn't be ..."

"Hey, I heard Ursula liked him. They'd make a nice couple."

"Right. Ursula. Anyway, sorry to bother you."

"No worries. Ben is nice. If I didn't have a boyfriend I would have loved to go out with him."

...

It took 17 tries to get the little ball to travel down the path of interlocking plastic tubes that had been cut in half to make a trough. Each camper held just one piece and they had to gently guide the ball to the next camper. Once the ball passed them, they had to hurry to the end of the line so they could wait for the ball to pass them again.

Once the ball had finally gone in the little bucket, everyone was overjoyed. They all really felt like they had accomplished something. There was cheering, jumping, and high fives all around. In the middle of that Ursula jumped into Ben's arms and hugged him. The two leaders shared a brief moment. She kissed him on the cheek and then a few of the kids made noise with their "oo" sounds again.

The basketballs came out and the kids spread out to one of the six basketball hoops. It was a good chance to just let the kids play and organize themselves without Ben having to specifically tell them all where to be and what to do.

Ben was just watching the kids play when his sister tapped him on the shoulder.

"You busy?" she asked.

"Not really. What's up?"

"Has your group done stargazing yet?"

"No. Why?"

"Tonight is supposed to be very clear."

"Yeah, but do you want to do a night activity on Friday?"

"Tonight would be one of the best nights for it. The planets don't care what day of the week it is."

"I know but it's wet out."

"Which is why I need help setting up the tarp we're going to cover the ground with."

"Oh, ok. I'll ask the boys and see what they say."

"Oh, and don't tell Ursula."

"Speak of the devil." Ben said and pointed past his sister. Beatrice turned around and Ursula was standing right there.

"Hi. How are you?" Beatrice said with veiled contempt.

"Great. And yourself?"

"Wonderful."

"If you haven't done team building yet you should try it soon. It's a lot harder than you'd think. I was lucky Ben was here to help me with it."

"Well, he's wonderful like that."

"You're so right."

"Ladies, I'm standing right here."

Ursula expressed to Beatrice how she'd love it if they could be friends. Beatrice was still cold to the other girl and then Ursula left the siblings so she could start rounding her girls up to head back to the bunk house.

Stargazing required the sun be completely gone from the horizon. As such, it wasn't until about 8:30 when all the kids were sitting on the ground and listening to the man in charge of the telescopes explain with a laser pointer about all the various stars they could see as well as the milky way.