By the time the staff member brought Australia their list of scavenger hunt items, he also brought them several other rules that Gary hadn't covered in the cafeteria. He handed two sheets of paper to Jack, and both of them had the same list on them. With the kids, River and Shawn crowded around the door listening; he gave them their last minute instructions.

"Each item on the list has to be brought to your picnic table separately, and in order," he said. "You need to have one person at the table checking each item as it comes in…" A glance at Shawn, who was leaning against the doorway to take the weight off his broken foot told Jack that he thought that might be a good job for Shawn. After looking at the list, Jack had to agree with him.

"We can do that."

"Great. You'll see there are some extra credit items – these have to be gathered last. There's a time limit of one hour starting when the bell rings." The staff member looked at his watch. "Which should be in about ten minutes. If you can't find an item, you have to forfeit on that one before you can move on to the next. And you have to stick together."

"Got it."

"Good luck."

"What does the winning cabin get?" Chad asked eagerly.

The staff member smiled secretively.

"I can't tell you. It's classified."

There were groans from all the kids, which made Jack smile, too.

"When we win, we'll find out," he told them, which made the room erupt into excited cheers. Yeah! They could win.

"Have fun, guys," the staff member told them, leaving their little porch and heading to the next cabin to deliver a list and instructions.

"What do we have to find, Jack?" Brian asked, curiously.

All the other kids crowded around as Jack looked down at the list.

"Let's see… in this order: A pine cone. A horseshoe. A quarter. An oar. A sandal. A stick. A barrette. A leaf. A letter to a parent." Jack looked at the boys. "Have any of you written letters to your parents?"

All of them shook their heads, no.

"I could write one really quick!" Chad offered. "It doesn't say we can't, does it?"

Jack shook his head.

"Nope. Just says a letter to a parent."

"I'll write it now."

"No," River said. "You have to wait until we get to it on the list. That's what the rule is. In order, remember?"

"Awww…"

Jack nodded his agreement.

"We have to follow the rules of the game."

There was a little pouting, but not much. The boys were too good-natured for that to last long.

"What else is on the list, Jack?" Chance asked, knowing from the amount of printing on the paper that it was a longer than what Jack had already read off.

"A whole bunch of stuff," he told them looking at the list again, and shaking his head. One of the extra credit items was an elephant. "Shawn? Why don't you head down to the picnic tables and get ready there?"

The young man would need at least ten minutes to hobble his way down with crutches.

"Okay, Jack. I'll see you guys down there."

The boys nodded, eager to get started and impatient for the bell to ring.

Chance turned to Jack, frowning.

"Where are we going to find a barrette?"

"We'll have to figure that out when we come to it."

"I bet the girls have some," Wilson said, looking over at the girls' cabins on the other side of the little clearing.

"They won't give us one," Brian said. "They stink."

"We'll see," Jack said, smiling. They had River, after all. He could probably talk one of the female counselors out of a barrette. Probably, Jack thought privately, he could talk one out of more than that, but that wasn't something he wanted to know about.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"You need any help?"

Shawn looked over at the voice coming from behind him and saw Ann coming up to him, obviously on her way down to the picnic table area as well, with a list of items in her hand. He shook his head.

"I'm okay. Thanks."

"They made you be the checker in person, huh?"

He nodded.

"I'm the gimp, right now, so I wouldn't be much use running around camp looking for things."

She gave him a tight smile that didn't reach her eyes, and hesitated. And then obviously decided to say what she'd been thinking.

"I just want to tell you how sorry I am that you were hurt."

Shawn shrugged as well as he could with the crutches digging into his armpits.

"It wasn't your fault."

She nodded, her face serious.

"Yes, it was. Libby was my responsibility. If I'd kept my eye on her like I was supposed to, she wouldn't have wandered off looking for that damned rock of hers, and she wouldn't have gotten lost. Then no one would have been hurt, and Ian would still be here, instead of in a hospital bed, and you wouldn't have a broken foot. Not to mention-"

Shawn raised his hand to interrupt her before she could go any further.

"First of all… it's not your fault. Kids do dumb things. I've done some doozys when I was a kid, with a lot worse consequences than someone getting a broken foot and someone else getting a bump on the head. Second of all, Ian's probably a lot more comfortable where he is than being here, so he's probably not upset at all."

Shawn hoped.

Ann looked like she was going to say something, but Shawn wasn't done.

"As for me… well, maybe I can get some sympathy points from my girlfriend when I get home."

Ann smiled. Shawn could see that she wasn't completely convinced, but he definitely wasn't holding a grudge against her – or Libby – for what had happened, and he'd make sure to get hold of Ian and talk to him before Ann did when he returned to the camp (if he really did return before the week was out) and make sure that Ian didn't, either. Or at least that Ian didn't let her know if he did.

"You're a nice guy, Shawn," Ann said, not hiding her relief. "I bet you don't need sympathy points."

He grinned, and just managed to avoid tripping over his crutches and take a tumble down the hill.

"You'd be surprised."