Susan watched Luka work as he filled the slender chicken wire cages he'd formed around the legs of his camping tripod with charcoal briquettes and lit them. Chuck handed him the turkey they had impaled on two hot dog fork hooks and slipped inside a turkey cooking bag. The bag was fastened snugly around the handles of the forks. Luka hung the turkey on the hook that would have held a pot over a fire. The two handles of the forks let the turkey hang directly in the center of the tripod. The two men then covered the entire tripod with heavy duty aluminum foil.
"Very interesting…." Susan mused. "And this is going to be done for dinner?" Luka shrugged.
"It's supposed to," he said as he settled back in his camp chair with the beer that Chuck handed to him. Chuck sat in his own chair and he and Luka tapped their beer bottles together companionably.
"I am kind of curious, Luka," Susan asked as she circled the covered tripod. "Just where do you get all of these ideas?" Abby chuckled as she shifted Lauren from one shoulder to the other and dropped a diaper into the trash can.
"Oh, please…" she grinned. "Let me tell her."
"I'm not embarrassed," Luka smirked. Susan frowned thoughtfully and then nodded smugly.
"You're still watching Martha Stewart, aren't you?" Luka raised his eyebrows and took a swig from his beer bottle.
"You didn't complain about last night's dinner," he said.
"Ooooo…." Susan shivered remembering the deliciously moist beef roast he had covered with a thick mustard and kosher salt paste before setting it cook directly on the fire's coals. Baked potatoes and roasted corn on the cob had topped off that particular meal.
"Martha rules!" Susan sighed happily and picked up Cosmo's sand toys. "We are off to the beach. Have fun guys." Abby blew Luka a kiss and she smiled as she and Susan walked toward the path that led them from the camping area to the sandy beach dune. She had Lauren over one shoulder and a diaper bag with sunscreen and water bottles peeking out the top over the other. Chuck shook his head as he watched them go.
"Man….I can not get the image of that silver satin backless thing out of my head," he sighed contentedly.
"Hey, you are talking about my girl's wedding dress," Luka frowned.
"I know! I know!" Chuck groaned. "But I am seeing it on mine!" Luka grinned and watched Abby and Susan as they disappeared over the beach ridge.
Susie and Heather had found a spot below the dune for them and had a beach umbrella already in place. They were sitting on a towel and Cosmo was in the sand nearby, buried up to his waist, playing happily with a little car in the sand around him.
"Nice way to keep in him one place," Abby laughed.
"Thank you!" Susie said as they stood up. 'We're meeting some of the other kids at the ranger station for a nature hike. We'll be back later."
"Uh, girls…" Susan said. Susie and Heather turned around.
"Do not find any more babies on the path, okay?" Susie rolled her eyes and shook her head.
"Did we tell you that the people who are going to adopt her are keeping the name we gave her?" Heather asked. "And that they are going to invite us to her christening?"
"Yeah, I remember hearing that somewhere….." Susan nodded. Susie rolled her eyes again and grabbed her friend's arm and pulled her away. Abby settled Lauren on the blanket and slathered baby sunscreen in her hand and kissed the folds of Lauren's neck as she smoothed the cream all over the little girl's bare back and tummy. She twisted Lauren's long dark hair into a pony tail top knot and secured it with a flower hair clip.
"Help me please!" Cosmo said quietly as he smiled up at his mother. Susan sat next to him in the sand and pulled a shovel out of his toy bag. He took it from her and went back to digging in the sand in front of him. Abby sat Lauren nearby and gave her a small shovel. The little girl watched Cosmo intently and then dug her own shovel into the sand. She crawled over and patted his head. Cosmos shook the sand from his face and smiled as he handed her the car he'd been playing with.
"Promise me something, Abby," Susan said as she watched the two of them. Abby looked up from the sunscreen she was smoothing onto her arms.
"If Cosmo doesn't have a date for his senior prom, you'll let Lauren go with him." Abby laughed and shook her head.
"Oh, I am sure he'd absolutely love squiring her there when she's what…...a fourteen year old?" she said sarcastically.
"But she will be gorgeous….." Susan sighed. Abby chuckled.
"Okay," she said. "I promise…but only if you promise that he will be available for Lauren's senior prom?" Susan nodded and they high fived one another. They settled back on their beach towels.
"Did you even go to your senior prom?" Susan asked after a moment. Abby glanced over at her.
"No…." she said.
"Me neither," Susan laughed.
Something smelled delicious when they returned to the campsite. Luka and Chuck were holding court as other campers had gathered to see what was cooking inside the foil tent.
"It's actually working?" Abby asked. Luka grinned and nodded. He peeled back some of the foil so they could see the turkey bubbling in it's juices inside cooking bag. Susan and Abby exchanged glances.
"Who would have thought of something like this?" Susan shook her head. Luka started to say something and Susan held up her hand and Abby laughed.
"I know, I know," Susan said. "Martha rules!"
