When David returnedto the campground, he joined Colin, Joshua, Trent, and Jeff in setting up the long table that would contain all the items to be handed out to the campers at check-in. He had stopped on his way back to camp and picked up two dozen doughnuts and a dozen pastries, and everyone happily munched on David’s treats while drinking their morning coffee. By seven thirty, they were ready, and the five men were perched on the log benches surrounding the six campers’ cabins, waiting for the bus to arrive.
Joshua smiled as he looked around, taking in the colorful banners fluttering in the breeze. Everything was ready. Everything was perfect. He took another bite of his pastry just as David’s phone rang, interrupting their quiet, peaceful interlude.
“Hey, sweetums,” David said in greeting, then stood listening, his face morphing into a scowl, his grip tightening around his phone. When he finally spoke, his voice was sharp, clipped. “Nate, slow down! Is everyone all right?”
Joshua leapt to his feet, feeling Colin rise alongside him. “What is it?” Joshua asked.
David held up one finger, asking him to wait. “Nate, just calm down. Hang on a second.” He lowered the phone, then dropped his head and heaved a huge sigh. “OK,” he said, lifting his head after a moment. “The bus broke down. They’re about halfway here. The driver does not know what’s wrong. The damned thing just quit, and they can’t get it started.”
“Oh, fuck me!” Joshua blurted out, raking a hand through his hair as he spun away. Of all the ways this could go wrong, this one hadn’t even made the list.
Colin spat out a muttered curse. “OK. How far out are they? If we leave now, we can?—”
“I’ll drive,” Trent cut in. “My van is empty.”
Joshua spun back around. “Oh, hell no. I’m not leaving those kids stranded. We needeveryvehicle we’ve got.”
“No, Josh, we don’t,” Trent insisted. “The kidswon’tbe stranded. One or two of us will stay with them and the bus while we bring the others back to camp. How many campers are on that bus?”
“Thirty-six.”
“OK. It’ll be a tight squeeze, but my van should hold about a dozen of them plus their luggage. That means three trips.” He pulled his keys from his pocket. “Once I drop them off, you guys can start signing them in and doing all the Day One stuff that’son the list.” He shot a glance at Colin. “You come with me. You can stay with the bus. Maybe figure out what’s wrong with the fucker.”
Colin nodded. “I do not know a single damnedthingabout fixing buses,” he told Trent. “But I’ll do what I can.”
“Just keep Nate and the kids entertained,” David told him. “Iknowyou’re good at that!”
Colin nodded, then leaned in to press a quick kiss to Joshua’s cheek. “Hold down the fort,” he told his husband, then turned and trotted after Trent.
David informed Nate of the rescue plan. “Colin and Trent are on the way,” he told his husband. “Don’t let the kids fret over it. Maybe sing a couple songs with them or something.” Then he laughed. “Sure, babe! This seems like the perfect time for ‘Ninety-nine Bottles of Beer on the Wall’. Go for it.”
“Oh, lord god,” Joshua moaned.
“Josh, it’ll be fine,” Jeff told him. “Trent will be back with the first round of campers in a half hour or so. Let’s be sure we’re ready.”
“This wasnothow Day One was supposed to go,” Joshua moaned, then glanced up. Overhead, thick gray clouds had begun to creep across the sky, dimming the morning sunlight. A low, distant rumble of thunder rolled in the distance. “Oh, for fuck’s sake!”
David noticed it too, frowning as he glanced up. “Shit. If that turns into real rain, we’re gonna have to move check-in inside.”
Joshua groaned. “Ofcoursewe are!”
“Relax buddy,” Jeff said with a quick grin. "It’s just water.”
By the time the first vanload of campers arrived, fat raindrops had begun to splatter against the dirt paths, turning them into slick patches of mud. The wind had picked up, rustling the trees, causing the banners they’d hung so carefully to flap wildly in the storm’s breeze.
“OK, nope. This isn’t gonna work,” David muttered. “Dining hall. Now!”
“Everybody grab something and move!” Jeff called, pulling the welcome kits into his arms as Joshua snatched up the sign-in sheet.
Just as they reached the porch of the big dining hall, the skies fully opened up, releasing a torrential downpour. The campers climbing out of Trent’s van shrieked with laughter as the cold rain pelted them. David shoved his box into Jeff’s arms and dashed back along the path leading from the parking lot, waving the disembarking campers toward the dining room. “This way!” he yelled. “This way!”
The campers dashed toward the porch, some howling with laughter and kicking up mud as they dashed for the dining hall, others huddling under their backpacks, doing their best to stay dry.
Joshua and Jeff were setting up the check-in area. “Well,” Joshua said, his hair already damp from the rain. “This isdefinitelynot how I pictured Day One going.”
Jeff snickered. “At least there are no raccoons.”
Joshua scoffed out a laugh. “Notyet,anyway.”
