Ben and Beatrice

"And what do I get if I win?"

"You get to drive me around in your car."

"So either way, you win."

"If you win, you can drive me around and ask me to do anything, and ... I'll do it."

"Anything at all?"

"But you have to beat me first."

The game started and Ben was actually operating under the assumption that she wanted to lose. But then she wasn't losing. She broke and then nearly ran the table on him. She made being sexy with the pool cue and sinking balls look easy.

She was four balls down and only had three left on the table when Ben finally got a turn. He scanned the table and realized that if he wanted to win he was going to have to waste that turn by sabotaging her ball positions.

"That's a dirty trick." she said.

"Just trying to get my ball in the pocket."

"You want your balls in my pocket, then you have to earn it."

There was no way she was going to make her shot. No matter how much she poked her ass out at him and moved the cue around.

"Foul." Ben said.

"You blocked me in. Why can't you get your balls off my table?"

"It's still a foul."

"Well, go a head. Let's see you do better."

Ben thought about the geometry of the angles. He tried to ignore the faces of the various people watching the game. He also tried to ignore Ursula. He planned his path and tried to make sure not to put too much power into the shot. One ball down. The cue ball was in the right position and he took his second shot. Another ball down.

Now more people were coming to watch the game. It wasn't hopeless but Ben didn't see a good way to prevent Ursula from getting to the 8 ball unless he ran the table just now and he knew he wasn't going to be able to do that.

Third shot, and another ball down. Good. But now the cue ball was in a really bad place to get the next ball to the pocket. He took his shot. The cue ball hit one of Ben's, that ball hit one of Ursula's, and then Ursula's knocked one of Ben's closer to the pocket but it didn't go down. It was stuck there right on the edge.

"Foul." she said.

"I didn't hit your ball."

"Yes, you did."

"The 2 hit your ball. Not the cue."

"You guys must play with some different rules."

"I wouldn't have to hit your balls if they weren't in the way."

She responded by taking her shot and sinking her ball in the pocket where Ben's ball was standing sentinel. To Ben's surprise, she was able to get her ball to go in right past Ben's without knocking his in as well.

"Whose ball was it that you said was in the way?" she asked as she lined up her next shot.

"Impressive. You're not trying to hustle me, are you?"

"It's just a friendly game." She took her shot and her next ball was just about to go in but it ricocheted back out of the pocket.

Ben got his next shot ready and then put another ball down. He had three balls left. He looked at the table and wondered if he should play it safe or not. He took his next shot which launched the cue ball at the ball near the center of the table. That ball flew to the side pocket and vanished but the cue ball still had a lot of energy left and continued to the side pocket where that other ball was just sitting on the edge.

The ball went down and so Ben was now technically in the lead but the cue ball went down with it which meant Ursula would be able to place the cue ball. She took advantage of that and her next two balls went down with ease.

Then it was quiet. Everyone was looking at her while Ben waited for her to say something. She didn't give him the satisfaction. She winked and then took her shot at the 8 ball. It banked from one end of the table and then rolled to the other and went into the pocket.

"I win." she said.

"You're right, we sure do play with some different rules in these parts. You have to call the 8 ball, banks and all."

She stood there with her mouth gaping open. She knew he was right.

The 8 ball came back out and it was Ben's turn. His last ball went down and then it was his chance to win.

"Corner pocket." he said.

Ben took his shot and it was sort of anti-climatic when it just casually rolled over to the pocket and dropped.

"I win."

"On a technicality."

"They don't call the 8 ball where you're from?"

"We do. I just forgot."

"You forgot or you threw the game on purpose."

"Either way, I'm yours for a night."

"A night?"

"Or a day. Whenever you want to go driving. I guess I was just imagining it happening at night."

"I'll have to see about when I have free time."

It was getting late and the rec room was closing so everyone went to round up their kids and take attendance.

It was about half an hour before lights out when Mr. Leonard called Ben over and asked him to take a walk. Ben walked with Leonard to another bunk house and Ben was nervous as the old man asked at the door to see Beatrice.

What was he going to say? How was he going to defend his own actions and his sister's. This was going to be the incest talk. Mr. Leonard was going to give them the incest talk.

Beatrice came out to meet them and Mr. Leonard started to address both of them right there on the porch instead of bringing them to a more private area. There were still people coming into and out of the house periodically as they came back from the showers and got ready for bed.

"So, you know we've had to move some things around on the schedule." Mr. Leonard said.

Ben and Beatrice both just nodded as each of them were waiting for the hammer to come down.

Mr. Leonard continued, "Queen Bee, I'm moving your off time to Wednesday. Reason is I need puma troop to go with bear troop for bonfire."

The two siblings were speechless. The bonfire activity was when the kids hiked up the mountain, past the rope way, all the way to an open field where they could put up tents. There was no electricity or running water up there. Even the most high tech graphene based cell phones lost service up there. The old radio that could only reach down to the main camp would be their only communications out. They would have to used lanterns to see, and they'd have to carry all their drinking water with them or boil the mountain water if there was any flowing.

All the leaders had been trained especially for the bonfire activity. It was probably their most difficult task. The rules required two leaders to be up there at the same time. All the leaders had to know not only how to build and light a fire, but also proper fire safety. They had to be trained in how to work the old radio. They had to be trained on CPR and poison prevention. That bonfire activity was a big deal and Ben just could not believe that Mr. Leonard was sending him up there with his sister.

"Any questions?" Mr. Leonard asked when neither of them responded. "Well?"

"You want a boys troop to go there with a girls troop?" Ben asked.

"I know it seems odd but it can't be helped. We looked at our options and since the two leaders have to share a tent we all felt it would be best to send you two up there. No, Ben, I don't care if your girlfriend's name means bear. You can't go up there with her. As leaders I need you setting a good example, not showing the kids how to go wrong."

"We understand." said Beatrice. "I'll keep the boys out of my girls' tents."

"See you do that. And knowing these modern times, vice versa. Now, can I count on you two to do that."

"Yes, sir." said Ben.

"Alright. Don't let me down. If you think you can't handle it, just let me know and I'll go up their with you."

"We can handle it." said Beatrice.

"Yeah. Don't worry about us. We can do it." said Ben.

"Good. I'll let you two prepare. You'll hike up on Monday morning and you have to be back down for dinner on Tuesday."

Mr. Leonard left but Ben didn't follow him back to the bunk house. He stood there next to his sister.

"Something is wrong." Ben said.

"What are you thinking?" asked Beatrice as they both started to mosey to the side of the house and then make their way off into the woods away from the lights.

"I'm not sure but something feels odd."

"I know but if they have to send girls up their with boys it does make sense to send us."

"Why couldn't they send the office girl up there with Conner?"

"Because she's not a troop leader anymore."

"Why not?"

"Maybe she failed certification or something."

"No. Then they just wouldn't have hired her. Do they really not have enough time on the schedule to send a troop up alone with two leaders?"

"I don't know."

"I can't believe that old Leonard would put us in that kind of situation. Why?"

"I ... I don't know."

"I'm confused. I can't wrap my head around this."

"Hey, who was that girlfriend he was talking about?"

"I guess he means Ursula?"

"In what language does that mean bear?"

"You got me. German?"

"I'll look it up."

"Yeah. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow. We better not stay out here too long or people will start looking for us. Hell, who knows what they're going to be saying when we go up the ..."

"Don't worry about it. Stop. The more you worry about what other people are saying the more you'll get them to say stuff."

"It was them saying stuff that got me worried in the first place."

"Well, just relax. Look, Mr. Leonard was obviously more concerned about you and Ursula than me and you. That's good, right? Our plan is already working."

"Yeah, I guess."

"And think about this. If they really are having scheduling problems and they didn't send us up together even more people would be asking why. Mr. Leonard probably didn't want to do it but he got out voted by Mrs. Peters. So he pulled us aside and then offered to go with us. Who knows? Maybe we'll start hiking and he'll just pop up on us."

"Yeah. That sounds like him."

"Ok. So don't worry about it. Mr. Leonard is the last person to try and get us into any kind of trouble."

"I know but ..."

"But what?"

"I guess ... nothing. Ok. Goodnight. See you tomorrow."

"Goodnight." Beatrice repeated back to her brother and then mouthed the words 'I love you.'

Ben copied her and then he had to head back and make sure his boys were getting into bed and not getting up to trouble.

"Well, boys, swimming won't be Monday." he announced and then let them in on the new plan.

...

Sunday morning Ben tried to cash in his winnings from Ursula but she wasn't really ready to pay up yet. She said she had something special in mind. So instead, bear and raccoon got some kites out and tried to see if they could get any of them in the air. The kids were running back and forth with the things while Ben just reclined on the grass and Ursula came and put her body next to his.

Reluctantly Ben decided to just play his role and he put his arm around her. She snuggled into him and that seemed to be enough. Ben had a smoking hot, fine as hell girlfriend that he actually wasn't all that interested in fucking. That wasn't to say he wasn't getting half of a hard on with her there. The body does what the body wants. But mentally there was this disconnect. Ben just didn't really think she cared about him.

"Benedict! Ursula!" said Mrs. Claudia as she walked past them. That was a warning and the two separated.

Slowly Ursula was able to find a topic that she could actually use to strike up a conversation with Ben about. She got him talking about the differences between eight ball and nine ball. Then there were the different rules between different countries. He eventually turned the conversation around to ask her where she learned to play so well.

"Boarding school." she answered.

"You went to boarding school?"

"Four years. Way out in the middle of nowhere. There were two pool tables in the dorm and we spent so much time on them that we had to start making up extra rules to keep the games interesting."

"Like what?"

"Like, you had to bank twice and you had to call not only your shot but where the cue would end up."

"So you were trying to hustle me."

"No. I really did just forget to call the 8. I guess I sort of feel like, unless all the rules are on then none of them are."

"So, other than pool, what was boarding school like?"

"It sucked at first. I mean, at home I could just leave my house whenever I wanted and I was the smartest girl in my school. And then there I couldn't leave the grounds unless I could tell them exactly where I was going, how long I'd be there, and who I'd be with. On top of that, I went from the smartest girl in my school to being just average."

"So it sucked?"

"At first but after a while I got used to it. And then it was really fun. I had a great time. That was probably the happiest time of my life. It was certainly more challenging than college is turning out to be."

"College almost doesn't seem like it's even worth it these days. There's all this stuff the professors can't say. At my school a lot of people go to class during the day but then go to private after school tutoring where no one is censored. At the end of four years they get their college degree but it's the diploma from the cram school that really means something when you go look for a job."

"Something like that is happening at my school, too. Margaret was saying that in England they have laws that say a teacher can say whatever they want similar to a member of parliament. They have some nut jobs doing stupid stuff sometimes but for the most part it allows teachers to teach without having to be careful about every little comment."

"Say, do you know why she's not a troop leader anymore?"

"I heard that Mrs. Peters wanted to groom her to be an administrator."

"Well, because of that I have to go do bonfire with Beatrice."

"Really? When?"

"Tomorrow. But don't worry. I got it covered. I think Mr. Leonard will be going with us."

"Right. Cause otherwise you'd have to share a tent with her."

"It's supposed to be nice out that night. I might just sleep in a sleeping bag by the fire and eat up all the extra smores. Any kids get out of their tents and I could go scare them."

"Aw. I wish you were going with me."

The assembly that afternoon was long. While it was not necessarily boring, it wasn't the most exciting thing as each troop got a chance to show off something. Several of the kids made short speeches and a couple of troops sang for everyone. After waiting through all that, the kids were bursting to move, run, and play again.

Bear troop, along with puma, got to eat early so they could get a head start on preparing to go up the mountain. Technically they weren't going up the mountain so much as going around the mountain but they would be at a higher elevation. The other troops that had already done bonfire had all said they loved doing it but the trek was hard.

Ben sat on his bunk and boy after boy came by to show him their backpacks along with their checklist. Everyone was ready and most of them were pretty excited for the big adventure. Ben had to decide between the other leaders who to make house manager in his absence. Mark wouldn't be a good choice. Ben had nothing against the guy and if the job only called for running forms over to admin then Mark would be ok. But there was so much more to the job than that.

Ben looked at John. Maybe. But the guy was always late with everything. It would be ok. It was only for one night. But that one night was actually most of two consecutive days.

Ben looked at Conner. He didn't know the foreigner that well but Ben could say this for him; he was prompt and efficient.

A part of Ben's mind was telling him to ask Mr. Leonard who he should pick but that felt wrong. He didn't want his father's friend to go back and tell him that Ben couldn't make a decision on his own.

"Yo, Conner. Can I see you for a moment?"

Ben gave him the checklist book, the keys, and he went over a run down of what all the other duties were. Conner seemed very happy to be getting this responsibility. He was very eager to prove himself. Ben almost wanted to tell him it wasn't that big a deal. Most of it was just making sure everyone had a pillow and a blanket. But that didn't stop Conner from feeling like he'd been given the launch codes to the US nuclear arsenal when Ben put the keys in his hand.

"Oh, and it's not written down but you have to collect all the forms everyday and run them over to administration."

"Right. I won't forget."

"If you get too busy and can't get something done ask John for help."

"Nah, mate. You can count on me."

Ben thanked him and then he went to tell Mr. Leonard that all the boys were ready. Again he was asked if he'd be ok with just him and Beatrice. Ben said confidently that he could do it.

The next day it was early breakfast and then the two troops were lined up over by the flags. They got a bit of a lecture from Mrs. Peters and Mr. Leonard and then they were sent up the mountain path.

The captain of each troop led the way with a flag sticking out of their backpacks high enough that Ben and Beatrice could see them from all the way in the back. There were breaks from walking every twenty minutes and they did a head count. If anyone needed a drink that was the best time to take it but each camper had their water bottle on them.

Ben's job was probably the hardest. He had to watch out for kids who weren't able to keep up and he had to carry all the extra supplies they needed. In years back the camp used to have someone pull a cart full of stuff and people would take turns with it but then some kids decided to try and ride the cart down the mountain. Now everything had to be carried. Some things were up at the alternate site waiting for them and Ben would have to fill out a check list of all that stuff when they got there.

"He didn't come." said Beatrice after the second break.

"Who?"

"Mr. Leonard."

"You expect him to hike up with us? He's going to wait until we're almost there and then ride up in the jeep."

"You think?"

"Can't say, but that would be just the sort of thing he'd do. He surprised Alex and Mark when they were up there."

"Well, yeah. Alex is ... that way, you know."

"And what does he think about us?"

"Do you think he already told mom and dad?"

"He stopped me from calling them. Told me he didn't want them to be worried."

"You were going to call mom and dad?"

"Yep. Anyway. Whose next to go up after us? I was trying to think of a good joke to leave behind for them."

"Alice and Megan."

"Ha. I wonder which one of them is going to carry all the extra stuff."

"They'll probably split it up. Speaking of Alice, when we have a minute to really talk, I have something to tell you about her."

"What?"

"Not now. When we can talk."

They got to the rest area where they had lunch for an hour. Then it was back on the trail until they reached their destination. The path looked very strange at one point with the grass growing higher than Ben on both sides and there were few trees to be seen. Ben felt funny about their direction, like maybe they'd taken a wrong turn so he told everyone to stop. He got a head count and then checked the map just to be sure. Everything seemed ok so they pressed on.

They made it to a wide open field with a small supply shed near the path. In the center of the field there was the circle of stones that made up the perimeter of the fire. Once they were all up there they all just had to put their packs down and rest for a few moments.

Ben really wished Beatrice would just take the checklist and do it for him but it was his job. Counting, counting, counting. How many logs of wood were left. How many lanterns were there. How much bug spray was there. Counting, counting, counting.

"We good?" Beatrice asked.

"We've got enough for twenty more trips up here."

"There are only going to be three more."

"Well, they won't be hurting for anything."