"Guys, slow down already!" Sammy's voice could be heard through the foliage, not that it was terribly thick. The greenery and plants around their space were plentiful, but Elizabeth could see Edgar's stupid red headband streaking through the leaves, "I swear, if I drop my burger..."
The camp site was beautiful and not at all rugged, Lucy had planned it very well. Elizabeth thought she had probably been thinking about Sammy when she'd made the plan and the reservations. That made sense since Sammy was so painfully particular but Elizabeth appreciated it, too. It was relaxing, clean and very quiet. There were no cars, families or even animals around the plot that had been chosen for them and it felt comfortably isolated, like it was their own little space.
As they had driven into the campsite, Lucy's car in front, they saw a large recreation building with a splash pool and play park for little kids, a parking lot with space for many vehicles and rows upon rows of permanent and pretty sizable camper vans. The cars had idled for about ten minutes as Lucy had dashed into the main lodge - as written on the little neon sigh over the doorway, despite it being a corrugated metal building - to get the map to their plot as well as the coal for their barbecue pit. Grandpa had grumbled a little about it feeling sterile but, as they pulled away from the main guest area, quiet though it was, his murmured complaints tapered off.
Even he, Mr Outdoors, had to admit that it was very picturesque.
The road wasn't paved or asphalted, they were simply driving across tire worn grass and there were tall trees, cute bushes and thick shrubbery lining the road. It looked like the trees had been planted to allow for small, contained spaces and Elizabeth thought it was pretty cool. Instead of walls or fences designating where a plot was, trees and foliage did. They were all in pretty good condition, too. Not maintained to perfection but tidy enough that she had known she wouldn't be afraid of finding spider's webs or earwigs around the leaves.
When Grandpa had pulled up, his car a safe distance away from Lucy's, everybody had piled out and into the wide open space. It could have been chaos if everyone had jolted out of the cars like lunatics but the Frog Brothers, guided by Sammy, actually started to unload the car straight away. The amount of food had looked absurdly big in the little kitchen but seeing it being distributed around the empty barbecue pit and huge picnic table setup, it seemed reasonably proportionate and the boys had worked with surprising efficiency.
Maybe they were hungry, maybe Sammy was a good leader but Elizabeth hadn't been able to complain.
She had helped Lucy spread the coal around the barbecue pit, the two women working to quickly sanitize the metal grill. It seemed like everyone was ready and eager to get eating because nobody really bothered to explore, to check out the hot springs or the immediate space around them. Aside from peeing on a tree, even Nanook had settled right next to the fire pit, the fluffy husky not even flinching when Grandpa started the fire with a pretty spectacular burst of flame.
"Elizabeth, give that dog one more scrap and he's going to burst" Lucy warned, dabbing at the corner of her mouth with one of the floral napkins she had packed.
"Me too!" Grandpa chortled, readying himself to take a bite out of what he called his Frankenstein Burger.
"Dad, that's your second already..."
"Relax, Lucy. It's a barbecue. Here, have a burger-"
"-Gosh no! I eat one of those and I'll have indigestion at best!" she laughed, shaking her head.
Grandpa shrugged his shoulders, retracting his arm and chowing down on the oozing burger he had masterfully created. Sliding out from between the two hunks of crusty burger buns were three stacked burgers wedged between halved hot dogs, interspersed with bacon, tomato, raw red onion and one of Lucy's hard boiled eggs. He hadn't even bothered to put any sauce on it. He said the oil and fat was all the juice he needed, anything else would just reduce it to slop, though Elizabeth thought it was dangerously close to that anyway.
Even the Frog Brothers had showed more restraint than he had - they'd put down five burgers each, numerous hot dogs and had actually eaten the majority of the eggs, but there had been no odd creations or obscene mixing of meat.
"Grandpa that's heart attack central" Elizabeth laughed at him, much like her mother, shaking her head as she did so. The old man seemed strong, completely healthy and with more energy than even she had but he was chowing down like a man who had the key to eternal life.
As he'd constructed his Frankenstein Burger, he'd even slapped a steak on the sizzling grill, too.
"Not me, kid" he insisted, swallowing the bite he had been laboring over, "these pipes are clean as a whistle" he tapped his chest once with his free hand before the burger bun sagged dangerously, demanding its attention once again.
"Well, you just take care of yourself, Dad" Lucy warned, looking down at the grill.
"Being fussed over by two beautiful women, got a steak on the go. Not a bad day, eh, boy?" Grandpa murmured to the dog, grinning as Nanook licked his lips in anticipation of another scrap.
"I'm glad you're taking our concern seriously" Lucy smiled, rolling her eyes a little before plucking up one of the sizzling, smaller sausages, wincing at the heat as she all but dropped it into her bun.
"Mom, use the tongs-"
"-oh darn it, I dropped my damn burger!"
As Lucy, Grandpa and Elizabeth all turned to the shrubbery the three boys had run out into, Elizabeth tried to bite down her grin.
She wasn't surprised that Sammy was having trouble keeping up with whatever war games the Frogs were playing, he had never been much of the outdoorsy type.
"Brush it off"
"It's still good"
"Yeah, you didn't even take a bite"
"Because you two were running too fast!"
"Seriously, just brush it off"
"God darn it"
"Dude, just brush it off"
"I'll take it"
"Get away from my burger! Hey, no, I'm serious! Back off-"
"-you're not gonna eat it"
"Why do you get it, Edgar?"
"He doesn't get it! It's my burger"
"But you dropped it"
"Vultures!" Sammy said, his voice a little less loud.
It sounded like all three of them were walking further away from their spot and Elizabeth couldn't help but giggle.
Hearing Sammy say darn always made her laugh. It was obvious that he wanted to curse but was holding it back. His darns always sounded strange to her, it just didn't suit him. He was a fashionista, he was cool and collected but he wasn't that innocent, he wasn't that pure. He just took great care in how he presented himself. He pretty much never swore unless he was really, really flustered. It took a big surprise to get a curse word from him. She'd heard him say shit just once, and that was after Michael had hid in his closet one Halloween morning, getting up before the crack of dawn to sidle into his younger brother's room. As Elizabeth had been getting ready for school, his howl and screams of "You shit sucker!" had echoed throughout the house, Michael's booming and relentless laughter following.
"Glad they're having fun" Lucy mused, eyebrows raised and a little smile on her face.
"You finished, kid?" Grandpa asked.
"Uhhhhh maybe for now?" Elizabeth nodded.
"You eat enough?"
She smiled at her Grandfather and nodded again, "I did"
"You sure?"
"Positive"
"You only ate one burger"
"But I had two hot dogs" she grinned, "and those tomatoes"
She wasn't starving herself. She'd felt a little uncomfortable eating the food in front of the Frog Brothers because it had been all too easy for her to imagine them thinking about her weight and the food she was chowing down on but they hadn't said anything. Really, they hadn't interacted with her at all. Sammy hadn't been lying about their no girls rule. Besides, after Grandpa's pep talk and the first half of her delicious burger, it hadn't been a challenge for her to stop thinking about it. The food was tasty and she trusted that Grandpa really would crack a few skulls if more comments happened to be made.
"You should check out the hot springs" Lucy said, joining their conversation, "they're gender segregated and look so nice. Did you bring your swimsuit?"
"Yeah, I did" she shrugged a little, brushing off her hands, "you wanna go?"
With a nod and bright eyes, Lucy checked, "Dad will you be OK?"
"I got the dog" he belched, stretching out a little on his bench, "you two go on ahead. I don't like hot baths. They're bad for the heart"
As both women looked at him, at the burger grease staining his beard and fingers, he smiled at them. He seemed totally oblivious to their bemused gaze and, as the two women stood, they both grinned at each other.
"Grab your bag, sweetheart"
"Oh, my swimsuit is on under this" Elizabeth said, shrugging.
"No, you need a change of clothes"
As Lucy took a long and graceful step across the bench she had been perched on, she petted Nanook's head once.
"I kind of like this?" Elizabeth shrugged again. She'd packed a black dress, a very simple and plain one with spaghetti straps just in-case, but she liked the tee Grandpa had made. It was weird but fun.
"She's trying to tell you that you dropped, kid"
"Wha-"
As Lucy dryly murmured, "who's she? The cat's mother?" Elizabeth stretched out her tee, seeing the she had dropped a huge mound of ketchup down herself.
"Grandpa, I'm so sorry!"
"It'll wash out" he laughed, obviously not caring even a little.
Looking down doubtfully, Elizabeth serious questioned it. Bright white tee, bright red sauce?
"I'll get it out, don't worry. I'm a mother, I know how. Come on sweetheart" as Lucy began walking, a large straw bag slung over her shoulder, she smiled at her daughter, "you know...I could do you hair for you, if you want? After the springs, I mean..."
"Yeah?"
"Mhmm. My mom taught me how to do this really pretty braid with a ribbon.." as Lucy gently brushed a strand of Elizabeth's hair, she looked almost shy.
Elizabeth smiled, already forgetting the stain on her shirt.
It had been a long, long time since Lucy had played with her hair. It had been a while since they'd really hung out, come to think of it. Elizabeth wasn't sure why Lucy was being extra motherly recently, but she liked it.
"That would be cool"
"Really?" as Lucy wrapped her arm around Elizabeth's shoulder, the two walked off towards the hot springs.
"Yeah, of course."
"It's not fashionable or anything-"
"-it'll be nice. Sammy's the king of fashion, anyway"
"You know, I have to admit...I kind of miss my little girl"
"I've always been here, there's nothing to miss" Elizabeth smiled.
Nodding, Lucy tugged her daughter a little closer.
"Well, it's nice to have my little girl for the afternoon"
"You don't have a choice...your other kid is off with a dirty burger and crazy friends"
Chuckling, Lucy shook her head, "yup...Santa Carla has been an experience for him, huh?"
Biting her lip, Elizabeth simply nodded.