Fuck! Get to the fucking fucking already, you fucking fuck!

(Working on it-Auth)

The group began to congregate back into teams again as they headed towards the outbuilding. Alan ran up to Bobby and tapped him on the shoulder. Bobby turned to look at him, warily.

"Hey man. What's the deal with your sister?"

Bobby raised an eyebrow. "Her...'deal'?"

"Yeah. She's running circles around me moving this stuff."

Bobby relaxed and gave a short laugh. "Man, 'running' is right. She's been practicing marathon running since she was 10. Got super-endurance and knows how to pace herself. You already lost, son."

Alan looked thoughtful for a moment, then smiled. "Thanks!"

As he turned to leave, Bobby tapped his arm. "Hey, don't go fucking with her. One: she can be a bitch when she wants to. Two: she's my sister. Got it?"

Alan looked at him and gave a salute before jogging towards the front of the crowd.

*****************************

The rest of the afternoon was pretty uneventful. The bunks were finally assembled and laid out to the councilor's wishes. Some bunking them and other opting for a more "military" style arrangement around the cabin.

During that time, Alan began to change the game. It was no longer a foot race, but a count of how many items they brought in each trip. With a little chiding, Cindi was now making 2 or 3 trips to make up for one of Alan's. And while she looked ok, he could tell she was wearing down. He figured the "Pepe LePew" style of moving stuff worked. When the last mattress was set on the bed springs, she was panting heavily instead of him. Everyone was panting and sweating like crazy. He looked at his watch.

"3:10 PM. Dinner won't be for about another 3 hours. Tour to cool down, then showers. Sound good?"

There was a general moan of agreement from the group, sprawled out on various beds in the cabin.

As everyone made their way outside, the beginnings of summer were showing. The air was still and humid, while grasshoppers hummed in the weeds. Birdsong filled the trees. For early afternoon, the sun hung high in a cloudless sky. Alan led the group back to the main hall and down an offshoot concrete path. Stacy inhaled deeply and caught a whiff of water and mud. Probably the pond this place is built around, she thought. But she was taken aback at the sight that was presented to her as they rounded a clump of bushes.

It wasn't a pond, but a full sized lake. A dock was at the foot of the sidewalk they were on, jutting out about 40 feet into the crystal blue water. The lake was at least a mile to the far shore, longer from one end to the dam at the other. It rippled as it caught an occasional breeze. There were a couple of "Ooh's" and "Ahhs" from the crowd. Chris just folded his arms, unimpressed.

Alan, feeling a little showmanship, stated, "Ladies and gentlemen! I give you...Duskford Lake!"

"'Duskford'?" said Chris.

Alan scowled at him for a second. "Yes that's right. A spring-fed stream found in the 1800's was dammed in 1819 to form this..." He stopped as something flew by him.

There was a loud splash, quickly followed by an "AyyyyyiiiiEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

As he looked behind himself, he saw Jill, splashing frantically, trying to get back to the dock. "Cold! Cold cold cold cold cold COLD!" she cried. Alan leaned down and helped the girl out of the water. "SPRING FED! It doesn't get much warmer than this in the summer. We discourage campers from swimming out here due to risk of hypothermia and the snapping turtles."

Jill gave an "Eep" noise as she scrambled onto the dock a little faster at the mention of the turtles. She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering. It was obvious to everyone how cold it had been, as her nipples were visible under the damp cloth of her shirt. They stood out like bullets.

Alan cleared his throat to get the attention back to him. "Anyway, we'll have canoe lessons, some biology lessons, and fishing available during camp." Chris, sarcastically if it was possible, raised his hand. "Yes?"

"Duskford lake?"

Alan sighed. "Yes. There's catfish, bluegill and crappie out by the dead falls. I'll point those out if we get enough kids to sign up for it." He turned around and pointed to a path along the lake and back into the woods. "Ok, lets get to the athletic area." Jill shuffled by him, looking rather pathetic and water logged, her sneakers loudly squeaking with every step. Alan tapped her as she passed. "Don't worry, you'll dry out by the time we get there." he said to her, softly. She glanced at him, her green eyes sparkled for a second.

"No regrets." she said back.

As the group made their way down the path, Chris pulled up next to Alan. "Really? Duskford?"

"Look man, I didn't name it."

***************************

The path to the athletic part of camp was a little longer. Once the path went back into the woods, it stopped being concrete and went to hard, compacted dirt. Tree roots provided natural steps up a sharp incline. When they reached the top, the trees broke into a wide field. A large red barn was down on one end, with a white corral fence spanning a large area in back. Panning to their right, they could see a few baseball backstops, 2 soccer/football fields, a large, unenclosed pasture and finally a tan brick building on the far right.

"Oh good. Looks like Coach had time to knock the fields back. Go ahead and start towards the building over there. This is just our general activities area. We'll get a few baseball teams going. Same for soccer. Not too much demand for football, at least last year. And I'm sure Coach will get some livestock for the barn. Maybe some horses for..." Alan was interrupted by a loud gasp. Ahiri stood there frozen, with her hands over her mouth. She began turning beet red again, but her eyes flashed wildly from sheer embarrassment to utter glee.

"...horseback riding lessons." Alan continued, "Sounds like you're interested in that?" He squatted down next to the much shorter girl. She hadn't moved, but nodded her head rapidly, threatening to throw off her own glasses. Alan gave a warm chuckle. "Don't worry, I'll teach you to ride like a champ."

"Yee-ha." Chris said dryly. Alan ignored him.

"Ok, these fields will take some maintenance, but we have all the tools for that. This open area is just for any unplanned activities, where the kids can run around on their own. This entire area is surrounded by barbed wire, so that's the "no-go" zone for the kids. Watch them on that. We have runners from time to time."

"Well *I'd* want to avoid Carousel too." Joker said. When there wasn't a reaction, "Logan's Run! Awesome movie! Come on!"

"Find your audience!" Bobby shouted, which gardened a few laughs.

By this time, they had reached the building. It was surrounded by trees and bushes wrapped around a wrought iron fence that went behind it. Alan couldn't resist some showmanship again. He pulled out the key ring, and opened the metal door on the plain wall. "And THIS...is the pool!"

This time, there were gasps of awe. A huge swimming pool, bright blue shown, before them. There were vine wrapped canopies over areas, providing shade. A couple of painted lifeguard chairs stood parallel on either side of the swimming area. The pool did seem odd, as a black canvas area was stretched out above the water on the deeper end. There was a simple diving board, 2 levels. But the grandest part of all was behind that. Alan motioned them over and waved his arm out to the spectacular vista of the valley. A few yards from the back of the pool you could see the valley for miles.

"Coach will be bringing in some lifeguards when it gets closer to open. So you won't have to worry about that. And the pool is *Spring-fed* also, " he said, looking at a slightly dripping Jill, "but the solar blanket is retractable, so it won't be like the lake."

"Duskford Lake." Chris said. Then quickly before Alan could react, "What the hell? This is way too fancy for a children's camp. That looks like a bar over there!"

"Well, remember when I said they dammed the river in 1819? They eventually made this area into a spa for the high mineral content of the springs around here. It was really popular for almost 75 years. But it fell out of favor during the first World War, and then some...other unpleasantness." he said, trailing off at the end. "But when Coach got this area, he refurbished the Main Hall, and the pool. It's a sundae and juice bar now! It'll be stocked up later on."

Joker spoke up. "Umm. 'Unpleasantness'?"

"Don't worry about it, that was like 100 years ago. Look, there's one spot left. When we get to that, we'll be done and it will be almost time for dinner." Alan pointed to a break in the trees, that almost hid concrete steps going down, in their darkness. Joker scowled at the way Alan changed the subject, but didn't say anything as their group went down the path.

********************************

When they got to the bottom of the stairs, the trees cleared out to a nondescript tan building again. It really didn't seem too obvious until Alan opened the double swinging doors. Then the sign "Showers" above an entrance made it clear. That and the "Boys" and "Girls" sign on opposite sides. It smelled very lightly of the musty mold smell that one associates with basements.

"Bathrooms and its a communal shower. There's about 30 shower stalls in rows of 10. So when the kids clean, we have to monitor it so there's no peeking. And about 15 toilets on either side. There is hot water. This place has 2 large heaters, so you'll never run out during a shower. There is laundry facilities in an area behind the showers, so we won't be gross by the time this is done. And that's about it. Any questions?"

Chris piped up again. "Is this water from Duskfo..."

"Ok, I know I'm stinky from today. The cabins, from here, are up either way on the path, boys on the right, girls on the left. I'm going to grab a shower and change. See you all back in the main hall. We can figure out what we want to do tonight." Alan said. Everyone came out of the building and divided into respective genders.

Except for two.