Chapter Three; Campfire Fun
Thanks again! I'm glad that you're enjoying it so far! I hope you do check out my Harry Snape stories and here's the next chapter. By the way, check out my profile and there's a new poll about whether you think Jeannie's baby is going to be a boy or a girl. I was outside most of the day today and that's why it's just getting posted now.
Ps. Stacey is going to turn out to be a pretty big character in this series.
A little while later Jeannie, Stacey, and Spot met the Bellows down at the lake. Both of the ladies were already in their bathing suits. Stacey was wearing a red one and Jeannie was wearing the one that she had been wearing in Hawaii. That's when all of a sudden Doctor Bellows climbed out of the water (he was wearing a pair of blue swim trunks) and walked over to grab his towel off the back of his chair and started drying himself off with it before he glanced up and realized that Jeannie was standing there in front of him.
"Oh there you are Jeannie. I was wondering when you would show up." He said.
"I'm sorry Doctor Bellows, I was busy making a new friend." She told him.
"Hullo nice to meet you, I'm Stacey Winslow." Stacey said before she stuck out her hand and shook his.
"Pleasure meeting you Stacey. I'm Doctor Alfred Bellows even though I'm retired now and I'm not a practicing doctor anymore but a lot of the time Jeannie seems to forget that." He told her.
"Well it's a pleasure meeting you too Doctor Bellows." She said as Jeannie glanced over at her before looking back over at him.
"Stacey was busy introducing me to some of the horses." She told him.
"Really, I thought that you didn't want anything to do with the horses Jeannie." He said.
"I didn't at first but that's when Stacey introduced me to Annie. And she was so sweet that I thought that it was rather silly of me not to give them a chance just because a pony was mean to me when I was seven years old." She told him.
"I didn't know that. But I'm glad that you finally faced your fear. After all, the old saying goes that there is nothing to fear but fear itself. Now maybe you and Stacey can go riding with us tomorrow after all." He told her with a bright and shining grin.
"Well gee, I don't know about that. I mean I still like looking at them and petting them, but I've never actually sat on a horse before let alone ride one." Jeannie told him anxiously.
"Well, there's a first time for everything." Stacey told her.
"That's right Jeannie, I know that you can do it. Besides, I'm sure that Colonel Nelson and Colonel Healey would be very proud of you if you tried. We'll be right there with you and you can go as slow you want to. We'll find you a nice and easy horse." He told her.
"Well,.. alright. Can I ride Annie?" she inquired.
"Sure. She's a very easy horse to ride." Stacey replied.
"Alright, I can't make any promises but I will try." She agreed with a nod of her head.
"Good, but for right now the water looks great and I don't know about you but I'm going swimming!" Stacey exclaimed excitedly before she kicked off her sandals and hurried towards the water. Spot barked and sprinted after her wagging his tail before he leapt up into the air and landed inside the water and started doggie paddling a crossed the water.
"Well, it sure looks like somebody is enjoying himself." Jeannie said while she smiled warmly down at him before she started walking towards the water herself and climbed in.
….
Doctor Bellows removed the box of matches out of his pocket and struck one of the matches against the cardboard before he threw it on top of the logs. Jeannie and Amanda grabbed a chair and unfolded it before they sat down on top of it. "It sure is a beautiful night, but it's a little bit chillier than I thought it would be. I really could use my sweater." Mrs. Bellows said while she folded her arms and rubbed her hands on top of them while she shivered. Jeannie bobbed her head and blinked Mrs. Bellows fuzzy pink sweater on top of her lap.
"Thank you Jeannie, but it wouldn't have been too much trouble to go inside my tent and get it myself." She told her while her husband sat down on the other side of her.
"Yeah, nothing beats camping out under the stars. Would anybody else like to roast marshmallows?" he wondered while he picked up the bag of marshmallows that sat by his feet and offered them to them.
"Well it wouldn't be much of a camping trip now if we didn't would it?" Mrs. Bellows said while she grabbed a marshmallow out of the bag. "Do you want one Jeannie?" she asked her as she turned over to look at her and offered it to her.
"Oh yes I'd love to. Thank you Mrs. Bellows." She said as she picked one up and then all three of them grabbed sticks off the ground and placed their marshmallow on the end of it and then hung it over the crackling fire to cook.
"Be sure you don't catch yours on fire Alfred." His wife told him.
"Oh come on now Amanda, you know that I wouldn't do that." He said but before he knew it flames were erupting off of his marshmallow. Jeannie lowered her head and grinned while Doctor Bellows' eyes grew wide with pure astonishment and horror before he frantically started blowing it out. "Well, at least we know that it's cooked." He said before both Jeannie and Amanda busted out laughing. Doctor Bellows grinned before he joined in with the laughter before they started preparing their Smores.
After they were finished eating Jeannie yawned. "Are you getting tired Jeannie?" Mrs. Bellows asked her but she just simply shook her head.
"No, not yet." She told her.
"Oh really Amanda, we can't go to bed yet. Not without some good old fashioned campfire songs." Doctor Bellows said. "Now all I need is my ukulele. Jeannie, would you mind?" he asked her.
"Oh certainly." She told him before she bobbed her head and blinked her eyes and made the instrument appear inside his hand.
"Thank you Jeannie." He told her before he started strumming on it and then started singing. "Oh I love the mountains, I love the rolling hills, I love the flowers, I love the daffodils. I love the fireside when the lights are low, boom-dee-a-da, boom-dee-a-da, boom-dee-a-da, boom-dee-a-da, boom-dee-a-da, boom-dee-a-da, boom-dee-a-da boom." He sang.
"Uh Doctor Bellows, I like that song very much but can I ask you a huge favor?" Jeannie wondered.
"Sure anything for you Jeannie, what is it?" he questioned her.
"Well whenever Roger Healey sings to me he sings Stand By Me. That's my favorite song and I love it when he sings that to me." She told him.
"Sure, as long as you help me out." He told her before they started to sing the song together. Doctor Bellows would sing a verse and then Jeannie would and then they both would join in at the chorus. After the song was over they sang a few more songs before all three of them started to yawn. "Well, it's getting late so I figure that we ought to get to bed since we have a very big day ahead of us." Doctor Bellows said.
"Very well." Jeannie said before she folded her arms and bobbed her head blinking herself into her nightgown and said goodnight to them both before she headed towards her tent inside her fuzzy pink slippers and went to bed.
