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Around the Campfire

Germ and Gregg disappeared behind the car while Bea, Angus and Mae stacked some of the wood into a pile a distance away from the car and tent.

"Okay, now we need to light it. Bea?"

"I've never lit a campfire before, but I'll give it a try!"

"No, you've got to start it with little sticks as tinder," Angus said, and started piling some small sticks underneath the larger ones.

Bea lit them, but it was rather pathetic.

"Hmm," Angus mused. "Need more tinder. We could..."

"Out of the way, kids!" came the voice of Gregg, and Bea turned around to find the most terrifying sight she had ever witnessed.

She wasn't sure exactly which part was the most horrific though, the gunlike flaming nozzle of the oddly shaped contraption, or the gleam in Gregg's eyes as he waved the barrel to one side, indicating they should get out of the way.

Bea rolled away as fast as she could, while both Mae and Angus let out a shout and threw themselves back as if from an explosion.

The flame that shot from the machine may not have been quite as powerful as a true flamethrower, but it was certainly impressive enough! The grinning shark's head on the side almost perfectly matched Gregg's expression as the little campfire was engulfed in flame.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAHHHH!" Gregg screamed wild-eyed as he poured on the flames, and Bea decided to keep rolling into the grass beside the road as the heat hit her.

"I think it's going now, Gregg!" Angus shouted as he approached his friend carefully.

Gregg turned towards Angus and for a split second Bea was sure he was going to turn the flames the same direction - straight at her - and she covered her head weakly with her arms, waiting for the accident to happen.

But it never did. She peeked out and Gregg's hand was off the trigger.

"WOW!" Mae shrieked, delightedly. "Let me try!"

Bea got to her feet and shook off the dust as best she could, but no one was watching as Gregg unstrapped the thing and handed it carefully over to Mae while Germ helped her get it strapped on properly and began to explain the controls.

No one paid attention to the dark, grimacing gator as she approached, since all eyes were on Mae and the flamethrower.

The blow, when it came, landed squarely on Germ's cheek and he fell to the ground instantly.

"Mae," she said calmly as everyone went silent. Bea didn't even turn to look at her.

"Yeah?"

"Turn that off, please, and take it off."

"Bea! It's just a..."

"Germ, I want you to take that back, put it away, and never let it touch Gregg or Mae's hands again. Would you do that for me?"

Germ was shaking off the blow, leaning back on his elbows.

"But... it's not..."

Bea's face turned more menacing, if that were possible, and her teeth gleamed in the firelight.

"Pleeeeeeeeeese?"

"Aw, Bea," Mae whined, but she was setting the thing on the dirt at least.

"No. No flame throwers."

"Spoil sport," Gregg complained, but a glare from Bea shut him up.

Bea helped Germ to his feet. "That's better. You okay Germ?"

"I guess," he said, rubbing his face. He picked up the flame thrower, closed a valve and carried it mournfully back behind the car.

Gregg and Mae watched his back with even more gloom.

Bea looked to Angus, "You got anything to say?"

Angus' grin spread ear-to-ear. "Not me!"

"Good."

"Oh god that looked like fun. Bea? Maybe later or something?"

"Maybe."

"Well," Gregg said, brightening up, "we sure got the fire going!"

Bea looked back to the campfire. It was roaring. Unfortunately, so was the other pile of wood they'd gathered to restock it with.

"Hey Bea," Gregg asked, now sitting on the ground and breathing hard. "Can I borrow a cigarette?"

"Why?"

"I think Gregg just had an epiphany," Angus laughed.

Bea laughed along with him, lit a cigarette and handed it to the leather-clad fox. "Oh, is that what you call it now?"

"Really?" Mae asked, eyes going wide and looking over at Gregg.

Gregg just smiled back. "You'll never know. But I know what I want for Longest Night!"

Germ returned, still rubbing his cheek.

"Sorry Germ. I guess I clocked you pretty good."

"Sufficient," he replied, but his eyes showed a good natured and apologetic smile.

"Well, we're not going to have enough wood to last much longer. I guess we'd better find some marshmallow sticks right away."

A few minutes and roughly thirty marshmallows later, they were all sitting around the campfires. The night had come on in earnest, but their location off the rarely travelled side-road made even the large fires unlikely to be spotted.

"Ugh," Mae said. "I think I'm sick of marshmallows."

Bea had to agree. "We probably should have eaten dinner first."

"Well, when you burn them into lumps of charcoal, they're not going to go down very well!" Angus pointed out helpfully.

Mae took another big drink of water from her water bottle.

"Anybody remember the constellations?" Angus asked, looking up at the night sky.

The light from the fire made all but the brightest stars hard to see, but Bea recognized a few.

"There's Harmonium!" Bea said, pointing. "What's she supposed to have done again Mae? You're the expert."

"Leader of the singing angels," Mae said, then promptly threw up.

"EWWW!"

"Sorry guys," she apologized, and began sweeping dirt from the road over it before rinsing her mouth and spitting behind her.

"You okay Mae?" Bea asked, a little concerned.

"Yeah..." she replied, and she did look better already.

"I brought the hot dogs!" Angus said, standing up.

"Sure! Bring on the dogs!" chirped Germ.

Even Mae was feeling hungry once she'd purged herself of the overdone marshmallows. Hot dogs were eaten along with potato chips while Mae and Gregg told Germ about their last trip into the mine in detail. The fire eventually died down, but they all sat out and did more constellation gazing and Mae told stories about them. Bea was under the distinct impression that she was making up a lot of the stories, but it was kinda fun anyway.

And then Germ produced the hooch. Bea considered protesting, but then nodded as he brought it out. She'd decided it was probably as good a time as any. Gregg and Angus were only a few weeks away from leaving Possum Springs - probably for good - and they really didn't get together much anymore anyway. She felt a little bad about hitting Germ too, though god knows he deserved it, and Germ usually wasn't with the whole group.

"How bad could it be, anyway?" she thought, accepting a red plastic cup from Germ as he passed them around. She took a sniff. It smelled like tequila.