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Chapter Twelve

“Can we be finished now?” Jovian whined as they continued to put out the fire Alan had started.

“Not until it’s completely out. Do you want to burn down all the woods and the camp?”

“Especially since it’s struggling anyway,” Kathy said.

“Struggling?” Alan stopped pushing the dirt on the fire and Mike stopped too, saying, “Yeah, we overheard True and Bernie talking when we went to the office for first aid.”

“Lots to process there,” Jovian said. “What happened that you needed first aid?”

Alan gaped at him. “See! That is nice, Jovian.”

“It is? I thought it was nosy.”

“It was nice. Now, Mike, Kathy, what about the camp?”

“They may not have it next year. The taxes went up, prices on everything so high, it’s all making it hard to do, unless they charge a lot more, and you know, most of the folks that come can’t afford more.”

Jovian felt awful, as he thought they were pocketing all the money. He’d never considered taxes. “Well, that’s not good.”

“Were you really going to come again?” Kathy asked hopefully.

“I hadn’t planned on it, but…maybe it would be fun, but…other people like you guys really like it.”

“They might find a way,” Kathy said. “I mean, I save up all my days off for this month.”

“Month and two weeks. I can’t take all that time off, but like a lot of others, I’m close enough to come on my days off once my vacation is over.”

“Me too,” Mike said. “I’ll be heading back to Denver once my three weeks are up, but I’ll be back on weekends.”

Jovian suddenly feared Mike and Alan being gone. “Kathy?”

“I’m here for the whole thing. I have been working at my library for over ten years, so I have a lot of time off due that I save all year.”

“Well, at least one person who doesn’t hate me will be here.”

“No one hates you, Jovian. And they’re going to like you better, once you get over yourself a little,” Alan said. “And besides, there’s another one.”

“Who?”

“Coach Dix.”

Smiling, he said, “Oh. Oh, right.”

Alan said, “Now, you’re getting the hang of making a fire, or you will, before we’re done with you. That’s a big one. Then you can boil water and stuff. Did you watch how to make the filter for the water that Coach made?”

“What do you think?”

“Right. We’ll work on that tomorrow.”

He fell asleep that evening morose from not seeing Dixon all day, and from the news of the camp’s troubles. Usually, he didn’t care about anyone’s troubles, but for some reason, thinking the camp might not be around for people who liked it, and those who needed it, well, it bothered him.

He went so far as to have the thought pass through his head, people that needed it, like he had.

When Jovian woke, he didn’t have time to worry about it, however, because Alan was there, telling him excitedly, “The signup is up in the Mess Hall.”

“Signup?”

“For the advanced survival courses. He’s got two, and they’re filling fast.”

“Of course they are! They all want him and he’s mine! I need to shower and dress!”

“Just get some clothes on and come on! You don’t stink.”

“No face cream, no hair product? You really want to make sure I’m as boring looking as you are.”

“Jovian…never mind. Just come on!”

Jovian got on some jeans and his ruined sneakers before heading out with Alan and rushing to the Mess Hall.

There was a line of people in front of the signup sheets. “There’s no way it won’t be full!”

“Let me distract them,” Alan said, and went over to the people in the lines, telling them, “Hey, guys, Coach is outside right now, and he needs a few volunteers.”

Jovian stood in amazement as every person in the line hurried outside the Mess Hall and the sheets were clear. “Go, hurry, before they figure out I was lying.”

Jovian hopped a little and ran over to it, getting the pencil on the piece of twine, writing his name on one of the sheets. “There. Should I add a little butterfly or something? You know, so he is sure to see my name.”

“He’ll see it. Let’s go. Those people are going to be mad.”

Finally getting to the shower, he spent enough time to look his best, or the best he could, while at the camp, and he went back to Alan, who had just finished breakfast. “Hey. Aren’t you going to eat?”

Mike told Alan, “He rarely gets breakfast. He usually won’t come in here until he does the shower and primping thing.”

“Ah, I see.”

“Are you two done with the judgement?”

“Yes, Jovian. What’s up?” Alan asked.

“Do you know where Dixon’s…you know, where he stays?”

“Sure,” Mike said. “He’s taken groups near there to learn to smoke meat. He has an entire outbuilding to smoke meat to preserve it.”

“Really?” Alan asked. “That’s awesome. I’d love to see it.”

“I’d bet he’ll show your team during your survival course. It’s part of the course if someone is gone for longer than a few days.”

“That’s incredible! Or for people, like him, that want to live out here.”

After clearing his throat to get their attention, Jovian sniped, “This is about me, not your wet dreams about roughing it.”

They both laughed and Jovian sat down, stealing a piece of Mike’s toast from his tray. “Carbs. That’s all they serve. I’m going to get so fat.”

“Um, Jovian, one, yes, you can have my toast and two, you were saying?”

“Oh, right! So, you’ll take me there?”

“To Coach’s cabin? Isn’t that a little stalkerish?”

“Stop giving off Judge Judy vibes and just tell me. Will you?”

“Sure, it’s not like it’s a secret, but…what are you planning?”

“Well, if you want to catch a guy, you make sure you always look your best and, while looking your best, give him the chance to see you looking your best. Get it?”

Alan nodded. “I know I’m boring looking, but that is how I got all my men. Rub it in their faces that they couldn’t possibly get a guy that was as boring as me.”

Jovian’s head cocked to the side. “Really?”

After pushing his tray away from him, Alan let his head drop to the table.

“You finally did it, Jovian. You killed him.”

“He’s obviously not dead.” He reached over and moved Alan’s head up to face his. “Are you coming?”

“Why not?”

It was no easy, short trek. Dixon’s cabin wasn’t next to the lake like the camp was, it was up in between two tall hills.

“This is beautiful,” Alan said as they topped a rise. His hands were on his hips as he spun around to take in the view.

“Seriously? Who wants to walk that every day?”

“Obviously Coach Dix,” Mike said. “Don’t you walk in the city?”

“And chance of being mugged or accosted by some homeless person? No. It’s called ride sharing, and it’s priceless in my world.”

“Priceless? Pricey, at least in my world.”

“I can’t help it you’re poor.”

Alan said, “You’re snarkier than usual, Jovian. What’s up your ass today?”

“Unfortunately, not Dixon,” he whined. “I’m just…I didn’t sleep well. That little bomb that Mike and Kathy dropped on me…it’s…”

“About the camp, right? I thought a lot about it too. I wish there was something we could do. Like, I don’t know, raise some money for them or something.”

“How would we do that? Ask our family and friends?”

Mike laughed, “My poor ass family and friends couldn’t help. You’re the one with money, Jovian.”

“Well…I have some, yes, but it’s mostly my family. How much would the camp need?”

“I’m getting tens of thousands, if not more.”

Jovian knew that would be a big ask. “I’d have to spend days sucking up, letting my mother take me to the spa. It would be an ordeal.”

“A spa day, yes, I can see your trepidation,” Alan mocked. “Come on, let’s keep going.”

Down a slope, then up another and Jovian was holding his side and feeling the burning in his thighs. “This is too much exercise,” he complained.

“It’s going to help take off the carbs they’ve forced you into eating, like my toast this morning,” Mike snarked.

“Funny. You should thank me. It’s not like you need more carbs.”

Alan and Mike laughed, but Alan said to Mike, “He’s really bothered by the camp possibly closing.”

“I know.”

“Why are you two talking about me like I’m not here?”

“Oh, look, Mike. There’s Jovian!”

“I almost missed him through all the bitchiness.”

“You two are two seconds from getting canceled. My friends have canceled several mean comedians.”

Mike turned back and smiled at him. “You can always find the cabin on your own.”

“Out here with the bears and mountain lions?”

After they topped the next rise, the cabin was in sight, a hundred yards or so away from them. “Right in the trees, right by a tributary of the river? This is paradise.”

Between the two hills was a high valley, and a creek ran through it and down the little slope right before the cabin.

There were deciduous trees near the cabin, a few aspens and more elm, and surrounding them were spruce trees that made a natural fence on three sides.

The cabin itself was beautiful, two stories with a wraparound porch, the wood almost silver from the weather and wear. There was stained glass around the window on the top floor. “Wow, it’s nothing like I pictured,” Alan whispered.

“I know. He’s got a great setup. The roof itself holds solar panels, and he’s got a windmill in the back which is a backup for a generator, but it brings up his well water, too.

He filters that naturally through some system he put together and he has three gardens in the back, raised beds tiered like stairs and the top tier that goes up to his chest. He also has a greenhouse.

If the world starts to crumble, I know where I’m coming. ”

Jovian heard all this, and while most of it was over his head, his admiration for Dixon grew. “He’s…amazing. He built it, right?”

“No, that was his parents. They’re the ones that taught him all this, living with nature stuff, and his older brother. The mom and brother moved after the dad passed, but Coach stayed at the OG homestead. Pretty cool, actually.”

“So, he won’t be homeless, if…the camp doesn’t…?”

“No, Jovian,” Mike assured. “But he’s a big part of the camp. He loves it. I think that would hurt him a lot.”