Dinner was a fairly simple affair that night. Hot dogs, chips, carrot sticks, celery sticks and a dessert of chocolate chip cookies was more than enough to satisfy the appetites of the hungry children – although Ian might have wished for a few more choices. As they entered the dining room they were directed to one of the tables in the front of the room; Shawn told them that from now on one of them would want to come down before the meal started and have a table so the kids would be able to find it.

Gary Hines walked over and stood in front of their table before the food was served, raising his hands for everyone's attention, and the room slowly grew silent.

"Welcome campers!" he told them with a smile. "I have a few announcements to make before we eat…" he looked down at the notes in his hand. "Tonight after we're done eating, we're going to have an activity in the gym, followed by campfire."

There were assorted cheers and excited murmurings from some of the campers, and he waited long enough for them to die down before speaking again.

"No one is allowed to swim unless it's a swim time, or another activity," he said, looking at them seriously. "If you go in the water without permission, we will call your parents and have them come get you. The same goes for the docks; don't go on them unless you've been told you can, okay?"

There were nods all around.

"There is a fence around the outer edge of the property. Make sure you don't cross that fence line. Again, if you do, we'll have to call your parents." He paused just long enough for this to sink in – especially for those younger kids who'd never been there before. "We have a nurse on duty at all times, in case you get hurt. If you feel sick or if you get hurt, tell one of your counselors and he or she will take you to the nurse, okay?"

Again there were nods, and he smiled.

"Good! Now, at each meal we're going to have two people get up and get all the food for everyone else at your table. These folks are called Runners. One will be a camper, and one will be a counselor." The counselors would obviously be in charge of getting the heavy stuff – or the hot stuff. "So choose who's going to run tonight, and we'll get started."

There was a lot of noise, now, as each table had various kids and counselors volunteer, and Shawn and River both looked at Ian.

"I'd say you have more running experience than the rest of us," River said with a smirk.

Ian almost – almost! – flipped him off, but stopped himself just in time. That was true enough, he supposed. Besides, he didn't mind helping.

"I'll run, sure."

"I'll run, too!" Chance volunteered, standing up and once more grinning that smile that was so infectious.

OOOOOOOOOO

"So what do we do at Campfire?" River asked Shawn once all the food was brought to the table and the campers had settled into eating.

"Camp songs, tell stories, get-"

"Ghost stories?" Brian asked, excitedly.

Shawn smiled.

"Maybe. I'm not really sure. I've never done a camp with small kids before, so I don't really know what they do. Probably make s'mores, though."

"Sure, nothing like filling a kid with sugar before sending them to bed," Ian said sarcastically.

"But they wear them out with activities, too," Shawn countered, not at all perturbed by Ian's sarcasm. He was used to it, after all, and knew that his friend wasn't quite as annoyed as he was acting. Probably, he was just as interested in finding out what to expect.

"What's the activity?" Chad asked, curiously from his spot beside River.

"Let me see what the schedule says," River said, reaching for the pocket that he had stuffed his copy of the schedule in.

"It doesn't say," Ian told him, munching on a handful of chips. "It just says 'activity'."

River didn't even question him. He just nodded, and looked at Chad with a grin.

"Guess it'll be a surprise for all of us."

Besides, it gave them something to do with the rest of their meal, because the entire time was spent trying to figure out what they might be doing.

OOOOOOOOOO

"The name of this game is Fruit Basket Upset," Gary announced to the entire camp only an hour later.

They were all in the gym, which was a very large room that echoed with the voices of the eighty kids and adults that were gathered in it. Each of them was sitting in a chair in a large circle that took up most of the space in the room. Gary was standing in the middle of that circle.

"The first thing I'm going to do is give you each a fruit name. Remember your name, okay?"

He started at Bruce, and went around the circle, pointing at each kid, giving him or her one of four fruit. Apple, orange, banana, and grapes. Once every kid and counselor had a fruit name, he went back to the center of the circle.

"Everyone remember your name?"

There were shouts and nods, and Gary smiled.

"Good! Now, one person is going to be it. This person stands in the middle here – right where I am – and he or she will call out a fruit – or two, if they want. Say they call oranges. If your fruit name is oranges, you have to jump out of your chair, and find an empty seat before everyone else takes them. There will be one less chair than there are people, so whoever doesn't get a chair will end up being the next it. Get it?"

Again his question was greeted with nods, the kids all sitting on the edges of their chairs now in anticipation.

"If you want to really cause a ruckus," Gary said, grinning, "Then you yell Fruit Basket Upset, and everyone has to find a new chair, no matter what their fruit is. And no grabbing the chair next to yours, either. You have to run across the circle."

He looked around, and pointed to Shawn.

"Shawn? Pull your chair out of the circle, and be the first it, will you?"

Shawn nodded and did as he was told, his boys watching with excitement as their counselor walked into the center of the circle. He looked around the circle of kids, and grinned.

"Bananas and grapes!"

It was utter mayhem. Forty people were suddenly launched out of their chairs, dodging other people in a mad rush to find a new place to sit. Screams and laughter echoed off the gym wall as Shawn snagged a now empty chair, and one of the oldest female campers – an eight year old – suddenly found herself without a chair. She smiled shyly as her friends hooted at her, and yelled "Apples!"

There were less people on the move this time, but it was no quieter because of it. Several children bumped happily into each other in their excitement, and Ian smiled from the chair he was sitting in, unable to ignore the laughter of the children – although he himself wouldn't care if oranges were never called.

"Oranges!"

He found himself moving out of his chair suddenly, barely avoiding a collision with one of the other guy counselors as the two of them adroitly exchanged chairs, little kids screaming happily around them.

Bah.