Kevin and Oscar were sitting on the floor of Oscar's bedroom, playing a board game. Oscar removed the garishly decorated plastic phone from his ear, put it back in its place on the board, and grinned.

'Great,' he said. 'The captain of the football team is taking me to prom, so I guess that trumps your drunken fumble with the captain of the basketball team!'

'Damn,' said Kevin, slapping his cards down onto the floor and noticing something over the top of Oscar's head as he did so. 'By the way, Jessica's coming upstairs.'

'Oh yeah?'

'Are you sure she won't mind us playing with her Dream Phone? I mean, you did borrow it without asking.'

Before Oscar could reply, Jessica stuck her head around the bedroom door.

'Oscar?' she said enquiringly, then she caught sight of the board game set out on the floor. 'Oh, you bast–!'

'Jess, where did you learn language like that?' Oscar cut in, genuinely shocked. 'Besides, you shouldn't mind me borrowing this – you never play with it yourself!'

'I do when you play it with me!' Jessica shot back. 'I think you only bought it for me because you wanted an excuse to buy it for yourself!'

'I bought it because I thought you'd like it,' said Oscar. 'I think that's very hurtful.'

'You shouldn't have borrowed it without asking me,' said Jessica, returning to her original point of view. 'You could've at least invited me to join in!'

'Well, you can join in now if you want,' said Oscar.

'Actually, I think I've just lost,' Kevin said, flicking through his cards one last time. 'Maybe we can all play a new round together.'

'No!' Jessica snarled. 'It's all spoiled now!'

She stomped off to her own bedroom and slammed the door. Oscar started to look uncomfortable.

'I hope she doesn't tell on me,' he said.

'Let's pack it up neatly, give it back to her and say we're sorry,' said Kevin. 'Maybe this time she'll forgive us, and we can all be friends.'

'Good idea,' said Oscar. 'Man, I can never get all these fiddly little pieces back in the right places.'

'I'll do it,' said Kevin. 'You pass them to me in appropriately categorised chunks.'

'Okay,' said Oscar. 'Thanks, dude.'

It was bedtime, but Kevin and Oscar were not in bed; they were standing opposite each other in the middle of Oscar's bedroom.

'Go ahead,' said Kevin, 'give it a squeeze.'

Oscar reached out and did so. Kevin grinned at him.

'You can squeeze a little harder if you want to,' he said.

Oscar squeezed as hard as he could, but found that his fingers barely made an impression on Kevin's skin.

'That's amazing, dude,' Oscar remarked. 'How did you get it so big and firm?'

'It just kinda grew that way, man,' said Kevin. 'I guess I get it from my dad.'

Kevin relaxed his muscles, pulled down the sleeves of his T-shirt and shook out his arms, while Oscar rolled up his sleeves and flexed his arms for Kevin to examine.

'Okay, now you check out mine,' Oscar invited.

'All right,' said Kevin. 'Make a muscle.'

'I was!' Oscar declared indignantly.

Kevin grinned. Oscar slapped him on the chest with such force that he fell back onto the bed.

'Okay, okay,' Kevin laughed, 'I'm sorry, man. It's impressive... really, it is.'

'Get up and feel it properly,' Oscar instructed, 'or I'll pin you to the bed and I'll never let you up again.'

'I'd like to see you try,' Kevin said teasingly, 'with those weak guns of yours.'

Taking the bait, Oscar slammed himself down onto the bed and pinned Kevin by the shoulders as hard as he could. Jessica passed by the slightly open bedroom door at that moment, stopping to stare in surprise at the wriggling, laughing mass of male adolescence on the bed. She moved on towards her own bedroom as Kevin wormed his way onto the floor.

'Okay, okay, pax,' said Kevin, as he crawled over towards his mattress. 'I was only joking, bro – you're built, there's no denying it.'

'My karate instructor gave me a whole set of exercises to help build muscle tone,' said Oscar, examining his right bicep with a critical eye. 'You just wait 'til I've been doing them a few more months, then we'll see who has weak guns.'

'I'm looking forward to it,' Kevin grinned at him. 'So, er... are we going to bed or do you have anything more interesting we can do first?'

'You're probably gonna get cold in the night if you go to bed dressed like that,' said Oscar, looking his companion up and down appraisingly. 'You can borrow a pair of my pyjama bottoms if you like.'

'I wasn't gonna say anything about it, dude,' said Kevin, eyeing the blue pyjama bottoms that Oscar himself was wearing, 'but I thought you only wore men's pyjamas.'

'Ordinarily I do,' said Oscar, 'but when it gets cold I sometimes wear boys' pyjama bottoms.'

'But you don't wear boys' pyjama tops?' Kevin asked, moving his gaze up to Oscar's T-shirt.

'God, no!' said Oscar. 'I can't stand the feel of them! It has to be a T-shirt on the top half... or nothing if it's hot.'

'Yes, I do that now as well, thanks to you,' said Kevin. 'So how many pairs of boys' pyjamas do you have?'

'Four or five.'

'But you only wear the bottoms?'

'Yeah.'

'So where are all the shirts?'

'Oh, somewhere in the back of my closet,' Oscar shrugged. 'Plus I think Jess uses some of them for nightshirts – she's always trying to steal my clothes. My mom says we shouldn't throw them out so we can donate the whole bunch of complete pyjama sets when I grow out of them.'

'Oh yeah, I guess that makes sense,' said Kevin. 'So you usually wear men's pyjamas, but if it's cold you wear boys' pyjama bottoms and if it's hot you wear men's pyjamas without the T-shirt?'

'Just underpants, yes,' Oscar smiled in amusement.

'Do you ever wear boys' pyjama bottoms without a T-shirt?' Kevin asked.

'Um... yeah, sometimes,' said Oscar, 'if it's too hot for a T-shirt but not hot enough for just underpants. Now do you want to borrow a pair of my boys' pyjama bottoms or not?'

'Yes please,' said Kevin.

Oscar gave him a wry smile before crossing over to his closet; he threw a pair of red pyjama bottoms at Kevin's head a few seconds later.

'Thanks,' said Kevin, removing the bottom part of his men's pyjamas and pulling on the boys' pyjama bottoms in its place. 'Say, this is nice material – very soft.'

'I'm glad you like it,' said Oscar. 'Now, you said you wanted something interesting to do before bed, didn't you?'

'Yeah,' said Kevin, 'if you've got something...'

'Aren't you tired?'

'Kinda, but... y'know, not too much.'

'Yeah, me too,' said Oscar. 'We'll take a look through a few more of those magazines, shall we?'

'Yes,' said Kevin, 'let's do that!'

The next morning, Oscar and Kevin entered the kitchen still dressed in their modified men's pyjamas. They found Peter at the stove, pushing a collection of blackened lumps around the bottom of a frying pan.

'Hey there, champ,' he said. 'And hey there, Kevin. Can I interest either of you in a nutritious and delicious fried breakfast?'

'That's okay, Dad,' Oscar said hurriedly. 'I'll just get us both some cereal.'

'Okay, but you don't know what you're missing,' said Peter.

'I think we can take a pretty good guess,' Oscar muttered as he fetched down the cornflakes from a high cupboard, and Kevin giggled behind his hand.

'Are you boys ready to catch some big ones?' asked Peter.

'Do what, Dad?' asked Oscar.

'Catch some big fish, champ,' Peter elaborated. 'Some of the catfish in that river are as big as... well, as big as you... bigger, even!'

'If you're going by the height chart on the back of the kitchen door,' Oscar said dryly, 'I think it's a couple of feet out of date.'

'I'm sure it'll be a fun day,' Kevin piped up.

'You know, dude, we don't have to go fishing if you don't want to,' said Oscar. 'We could do something else instead, couldn't we, Dad?'

'Well, I don't know, sport,' said Peter. 'I've booked the designated fishing area for three hours – it cost me sixty dollars!'

'I really don't mind going,' said Kevin. 'I'd like to see some of that beautiful Connecticut countryside.'

'Fine, we'll go,' Oscar said with bad grace. 'But do we really have to take Jessica with us?'

'Now Oscar, you know your mom needs some time alone to prepare for her job interview,' said Peter. 'We're all going to get out of the house and give her some space, and we're all going to have a fantastic time fishing!'

Oscar mumbled something incomprehensible and stared into his bowl of cornflakes. Kevin fixed him with an amused expression.

'You hear that, man?' he said encouragingly. 'It's gonna be fantastic!'

Oscar laughed, and kicked Kevin under the table.

'Shut up, dude,' he said.

Peter's car emerged around the side of a mountain and drew to a halt against a protruding knoll of grass and rock.

'That'll do,' Peter remarked. 'Fishing spot's just at the bottom of the hill there. Jess, can you do me a favour and make sure the back windows are closed while I get the cooler out of the trunk?'

'Okay, Dad,' said Jessica.

Much to her annoyance, Jessica discovered that she was unable to close one of the windows as Kevin was in the process of shoving Oscar through it. Oscar laughed as he flopped onto the ground.

'Why did you defenestrate me, dude?' he asked.

'I don't know,' Kevin grinned, as he climbed through the window himself. 'I just thought it'd be funny.'

Jessica scowled at Kevin's rapidly disappearing feet, before leaning over and closing the window behind them. She then climbed out of the other side of the car, and walked around the vehicle to find Kevin and Oscar scuffling on the ground, obviously not making any real attempt to stand up. She frowned at them, and cocked her head to one side.

'Okay,' said Peter, as he slammed the car boot shut, 'is everybody ready?'

Kevin and Oscar hastily got to their feet and nodded their heads. Jessica gave Peter an ingratiating smile, which he immediately returned.

'Here, sport, can you take this box of bait for me?' he said.

'Sure, Dad,' said Jessica.

'If you two can take three rods between you,' Peter said to Kevin and Oscar, 'I'll bring the cooler and the collapsible stools.'

So laden, the company made its way down the steep path to the river. Peter quickly set up the fishing equipment while Oscar mooched around with a pained expression on his face. Kevin stood dutifully next to him.

'I'm gonna make a daisy chain, Dad,' Jessica announced. 'Is that okay?'

'Of course, sweetheart – just stay where I can see you,' said Peter. 'Now then, you two, are you ready to go fishing?'

'Fishing's boring!' Oscar replied disagreeably.

'But we haven't even started yet,' said Peter. 'Maybe the catfish are really chomping today – you never know your luck!'

'I don't care,' said Oscar. 'I hate fishing – I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!'

'Hey, I know,' said Kevin, 'why don't we – me and Oscar, I mean – go for a walk in the woods? We can work off a little energy, and maybe we'll feel like doing some fishing when we get back.'

'That's a good idea, Kevin,' said Peter. 'Yes, a very sensible plan, all things considered. Here, you'd better take a bottle of water each.'

Peter opened the cooler and started rummaging around inside. He removed a can of beer and set it on the ground.

'Is that for us?' said Oscar.

'No, Oscar, I'm not giving you beer,' said Peter. 'It's for me.'

'Don't drink too much, will you?' said Oscar. 'You've got to drive home, remember.'

'I only brought two cans,' said Peter. 'Here, take your water.'

Kevin and Oscar took a water bottle each, and turned towards the nearby line of trees.

'Don't go too far and get lost!' said Peter.

'We won't, Dad!' Oscar called over his shoulder.

Peter frowned slightly as he watched his two young charges disappearing into the forest, then he turned back to the river and cast his fishing line.

'It just proves that he thinks fishing's boring too,' said Oscar, ducking to avoid a low branch, 'if he has to get drunk to enjoy it!'

'I think he's right, man – he won't get drunk on two cans,' said Kevin.

'He's probably got some more stashed at the bottom,' said Oscar. 'Drunken old sod!'

Kevin laughed, and punched Oscar on the arm. Oscar smiled, and punched him back.

'I'm glad you're here, dude,' said Oscar. 'And I'm glad you suggested going for a walk – I needed to get away from my family for a while.'

'Yeah, I know how you feel,' said Kevin. 'Did you see the weird look Jessica was giving us when we got out of the car?'

'Oh, she's always giving me weird looks,' said Oscar. 'Don't let it worry you, dude.'

'I'm sure she thought I was taking up too much room in the back of the car as well – she kept digging her elbow into my side.'

'She's always making a fuss about that kind of thing.'

'I hope my being here isn't making her life more difficult.'

'I bet she'd love you to think it was, but believe me, it really isn't! Besides, she can't possibly not like having you around as much as I do like having you around.'

Kevin smiled, and gave Oscar a quick thump; he received a shove in response.

'At least she hasn't cried yet,' said Oscar. 'She usually does that when she wants people to feel sorry for her, or anytime she wants to get attention – she's such a faker!'

'I wouldn't be too sure about that, man,' said Kevin. 'Sometimes if you're hurting and there's nothing else you can do about it... well, you can't fake that.'

'You can't fake real crying,' Oscar agreed, 'but I really don't believe I've heard Jessica do that since she was a baby.'

There followed a brief pause.

'Do you do it, then?' Oscar asked at length.

'Do what?' said Kevin.

'Cry,' said Oscar.

'I'm surprised you have to ask – you've seen me doing everything I do,' said Kevin.

'Yeah, I guess I have,' Oscar said with a small smile. 'I saw you getting a little teary when you were talking to that guy in the hospital about your granddad, but I've never seen you really, really cry.'

'One day last summer I went by mi abuelo's old house and I just stood and stared at it for five minutes,' said Kevin. 'I really cried then.'

'Were you thinking of the past?'

'Yeah.'

'What happened after five minutes?'

'I saw someone in the front window giving me a suspicious look, so I left.'

'Why did you go there?'

'Just to think... and to remember.'

'Can you really remember all that stuff that happened when you were so young?' asked Oscar.

'Well, I don't really have memories of specific incidents,' said Kevin. 'It's more of... well, an overall picture, I guess – a lasting impression of what it was like and how I felt.'

'I know what you mean, dude,' said Oscar.

'There's nothing in that old house for me now – I know that,' Kevin sighed. 'It's here.'

Oscar saw that Kevin was clutching his chest, and was starting to look a little downcast; he put an arm around him.

'Sorry, dude,' he said. 'I didn't mean to make you cry now.'

'It's okay,' Kevin laughed. 'It's just that sometimes I wish... I wish I could talk to my dad about this stuff – I wish he'd tell me things he remembers about my granddad, but I know he'd hate it if I asked him to.'

'You can talk to Eduardo about that stuff though, can't you?'

'Yeah, and that's great, but he's only nine years older than me – he doesn't remember the really old stuff... the stuff I'd love to talk about.'

'You should tell your dad how you feel, bro.'

'Yeah, well... maybe.'

'I wish I didn't have to see my dad,' Oscar announced unexpectedly.

'You mean your biological dad?' asked Kevin.

'Yeah,' said Oscar.

'Don't you like him?'

'He's okay, I guess. I just... I hate the plane journey so much!'

'What about when you get there?' Kevin asked. 'How do you feel then?'

'I feel... out of place,' said Oscar. 'He's got this whole other life that I don't fit into... with this whole other family that I'm not really a part of. He's got pictures of his other kids all over the house, but none of me... it's hard to see that, when I'm there.'

'Does your mom send him pictures of you?'

'She definitely used to... I'm not sure if she does now. But I emailed him a whole bunch of snaps of me with my guitar last month – I thought he'd like to see me with my guitar – and he never even replied!'

'That's tough, man,' said Kevin.

'I know he's busy with work,' Oscar sighed, 'but you'd think he'd have time...'

'Parents should always have time for their kids,' said Kevin.

'I don't even care that much,' Oscar shrugged. 'I mean, I've got a great dad – Peter's my dad and he always has been, and he does a great job... don't tell him I said that, will you?'

'Of course not, man,' said Kevin. 'My dad doesn't do a great job, but I know he really wants to... and he tries to... kind of.'

'That's a lot more than Andre does,' Oscar smiled ruefully.

'Do you have to see him?' Kevin asked. 'I mean, is there a court order in place or something?'

'No,' said Oscar, 'but I guess he could get one if I stopped going to see him... if he wanted to get one.'

'Do you think he would?'

'I don't know... it wouldn't surprise me either way.'

'You should tell your mom how you feel,' Kevin advised.

'Just like you should tell your dad,' said Oscar.

'Yeah,' Kevin laughed. 'Say, man, I think we're lost.'

'Are we?' Oscar asked in surprise. 'No, we can't be.'

'I don't recognise that hill,' said Kevin, 'or that massive dip in the ground over there. I really thought we were heading back toward the river, but... well, now I'm not so sure.'

'The river can't be too hard to find,' said Oscar. 'Even if we've come a different way, we're bound to come back to it eventually.'

'Unless we're just walking round in circles.'

'Let's pick a landmark and make for it, then listen out to see if we're near the river. Even if we come out further down, we can follow it back up to the fishing spot.'

'Yeah, that's a good idea,' said Kevin. 'You're obviously a born survivor, bro.'

'Oh, I've just been to summer camp a couple of times,' Oscar shrugged. 'Come on, let's try for that rocky area – I think it's roughly in the right direction.'

'Okay,' said Kevin.

Kevin and Oscar were standing in front of a large tree, facing the trunk.

'I'm not so sure we should be doing this,' said Oscar.

'I don't know about you, bro, but I really need to do this,' said Kevin. 'It must be all that water we drank as we came along.'

'Yeah, but I'm not sure we should just be letting it soak into the ground,' Oscar elaborated. 'Maybe we should be saving it... in our empty water bottles.'

'What for?' said Kevin.

'Well, you know,' said Oscar. 'In case we need it later on... to drink, I mean.'

'Do you really think we've reached the stage of drinking our own pee?'

'Well, we don't have anything else to drink. And really we should be drinking each other's.'

'What, you mean just generally, or only when we're dying of dehydration?' Kevin asked wryly.

'Only when we're dying of dehydration,' Oscar laughed. 'If we drink our own pee then we're putting toxins from our bodies back inside, but if we drink each other's then we're putting in toxins that we haven't already gotten rid of.'

'And that's better, is it?'

'Yeah, I think so.'

'Hmm, well I hope you won't take it as an insult if I say I don't want to drink your pee just yet,' said Kevin.

'Of course not, dude,' said Oscar. 'You don't mind if I have a sip of yours though, right?'

Kevin gave Oscar a look, and Oscar grinned back at him. Kevin punched him on the arm and then did up his trousers.

'Come on,' he said, 'let's get moving.'

Kevin stepped backwards, caught his left foot in a rut in the uneven forest floor, stumbled and fell over.

'Oh my God,' said Oscar, 'are you okay?'

'Yeah... yeah, I think so,' said Kevin, as he pulled himself into a sitting position. 'Jeez, my ankle hurts – I think I've twisted it.'

'Let me help you up,' said Oscar. 'Man, I hope you can still walk.'

Oscar held out his right hand and Kevin grasped it; with their combined efforts, Kevin managed to get back up to his feet. He tested his left ankle by putting a little weight on it, then he took a few tentative steps.

'It's pretty painful,' he said, 'but it'll probably wear off after a while. We'd better get moving.'

'Are you sure you're okay to walk?' said Oscar.

'I'll just have to be,' Kevin shrugged.

'Take my arm, at least until the pain wears off a little,' said Oscar. 'Maybe we can reduce the weight you're putting on the ankle.'

'Okay,' said Kevin. 'Thanks.'

Oscar held out his right arm and Kevin looped his left arm through it. They took a few steps forward, Kevin's left foot barely touching the ground.

'That's a lot better,' said Kevin. 'Thanks, bro.'

'Don't be silly,' said Oscar. 'We're in this together, right?'

'Right,' said Kevin. 'Any idea where we're going now?'

'We'll follow this dried-up stream,' said Oscar. 'It probably leads to the river, eventually.'

'Yeah,' said Kevin, 'I sure hope so.'

'Listen!' said Oscar. 'That's the river – I'm sure it is! It must be just the other side of that line of trees.'

'Good,' said Kevin. 'I'm getting kind of bored with this walk in the woods, to be honest with you.'

'You rest on this rock and I'll go check to see if the river's there,' said Oscar. 'We don't want to take your ankle off on a wild goose chase, do we?'

'Okay,' said Kevin. 'Thanks, bro.'

Kevin lowered himself onto the nearby rock and Oscar ran off towards the line of trees and the sound of rushing water. Suddenly there came a cry of alarm and pain, and Oscar disappeared from Kevin's view.

'Oh my God,' Kevin muttered, his eyes opening wide in alarm. 'Dude!'

He dragged himself to his feet and ran towards the point at which he had last seen his companion, limping rather badly all the time. He found Oscar clawing his way out of a large hole in the ground, dishevelled and covered in muddy water.

'At least this proves we're near the river,' said Oscar, spitting the filthy water out of his mouth as he spoke.

'Are you okay?' said Kevin.

'It's my leg,' Oscar muttered. 'I think I cut it on a branch or a piece of rock or something.'

Oscar sat at the edge of the hole and spread his legs out in front of him. Kevin saw that there was a large rip in the top of the right leg of Oscar's trousers, and blood was flowing from it.

'Jeez, it looks pretty bad,' Oscar remarked.

'Pull your pants down,' said Kevin.

'If I pull my pants down, somebody might come,' said Oscar.

'Then we'll ask them to show us the way out of here!' said Kevin. 'Come on – pull your pants down so I can take a look!'

Oscar raised himself up so that he could pull his trousers down to his knees. Kevin came to kneel beside him, and looked at the gash in his leg with close scrutiny.

'It's bleeding quite heavily,' said Kevin. 'If the river really is just beyond those trees then we can make it back to your dad in no time, but we need to do something about this first. Maybe we can put a tourniquet on it, to ease the bleeding. We need a belt – do you have a belt?'

'No, I don't have a belt!' said Oscar, sounding half hysterical. 'Do you have a belt? I don't think you have a belt, dude!'

'Socks!' Kevin declared.

'What?' said Oscar.

'I can make a tourniquet out of our socks!' said Kevin. 'Quick, take them off.'

Oscar asked no further questions, but hurried to do as he was told. Kevin tied all four of their socks together as tightly as he could.

'Pull your pants back up,' he instructed.

'Are you sure you know what you're doing, dude?' Oscar asked, hauling his trousers up as he spoke.

'I did an extracurricular first aid course at school last summer – that's where I learnt all that CPR and recovery position stuff I was doing on Jose Rodriguez,' said Kevin. 'There, that should do it. Now keep very still while I tie it on.'

Kevin wound the socks around Oscar's thigh, just above the bleeding gash, and knotted them tightly. He then picked up a short but sturdy stick from the ground nearby and slipped it between the socks and the leg.

'What's that for?' said Oscar.

'Just trust me,' said Kevin.

Kevin rotated the stick so that it pulled the socks even tighter. When he had made three ninety-degree turns, Oscar let out a scream of pain that sent the birds flying from the trees overhead.

'I'm sorry, man,' said Kevin. 'But that means it's tight enough now... er, I think.'

'It's okay, dude – I trust you,' said Oscar, panting heavily through the pain. 'Now let's get out of here, shall we?'

Kevin put both arms around Oscar and helped him climb back to his feet. After a few seconds of wobbling about, they both managed to steady themselves.

'Lean on me, bro,' said Kevin. 'Come on, put your arm all the way round me like this.'

'But your ankle...' said Oscar.

'It's way better now,' said Kevin. 'Lean harder than that, dude – come on, I can take quite a lot of your weight.'

With their arms around each other and their legs dragging slightly, they took a few awkward steps forward.

'Your ankle's not better,' Oscar remarked.

'Maybe not, but it's better than your leg,' said Kevin. 'If we help each other, we'll be back at the fishing area in no time – we can do this, man.'

'Y'know what, dude?' said Oscar. 'I reckon you're right.'