After dinner the first Friday of summer break, George and Ruby gathered the kids together in the living room for a family council. George settled Julie on his lap and Ruby began the "meeting."

"Okay, gir..uh, kids, your father has a week's leave coming in a few weeks and we'd like to discuss what we can do. We came up with several choices. We can stay home and explore New York City and hang out with friends and family. We can drive up and down the Atlantic coast and check out the touristy things. Or we can spend a week at a camp for families with a blind member." She watched the faces of her girls pucker up when "driving" was suggested and giggled to herself. "The floor's open for discussion!"

Julie exchanged grimaces with Rachel and spoke up. "No driving vacations! They're really boring. You just sit forever and never get to do anything."

Rachel nodded her agreement. "I don't really want to stay in the city. What kind of vacation is that? We can see this stuff any time. I think camp sounds like fun."

George grinned at Ruby and winked. "I don't know. I'm not sure camp sounds like much fun. I mean, all they have to do there is swimming, horseback riding, bicycling, archery. You know, really boring stuff."

"No, Daddy! That stuff sounds like fun! I've never even seen a real horse up close. Could we really ride one? I could be like Little Joe on Bonanza!" Rachel, like many young girls, had a passion for horses. "Daddy, we have to go!"

George wrinkled his forehead and frowned in mock disapproval. "I don't know. It sounds pretty dull to me. What do you think, Mama?" He turned to Ruby who was having a tough time keeping a straight face when she saw the twinkle in George's eyes.

"Gee, all that cold, wet water and those smelly horses. I really don't like the sound of that."

Julie and Rachel threw themselves on their knees in front of their parents and begged unashamedly.

Daniel didn't know quite what to make of this. He could not see facial expressions, but he was getting pretty good at knowing what someone really thought from their movements and the inflection of their voices. He knew George and Ruby were pleased that the girls wanted to go to camp and he couldn't understand why they were playing games with them.

George put his hand on Daniel's shoulder. "Daniel, you haven't said anything yet. What do you think?"

"Well, I agree with the girls that we could see New York City on the weekends. Sitting in a car when I can't see the scenery does sound pretty boring, so I guess camp would be okay. I've spent a lot of time in tents, but that was in the desert, so camping on a lake or in the mountains would be different. Yeah, I guess that's fine." Daniel shrugged, not really caring one way or the other.

"Well, Ruby, with Daniel in the family now the kids can outvote us. So I guess we're going to camp for a week." George slid over next to his wife on the couch and gave her a big sloppy kiss, while the girls grabbed their stomachs and groaned at such disgusting behavior.

XXXXXXXXXX

Daniel slid out of his side of the car, cane sweeping in front of him, scouting for any obstacles in his way. He lifted his head toward the warm sunshine and closed his eyes. Even behind the dark lenses, he felt a sharp stab of pain when the light hit his eyes. He lowered his head and put one hand on the hot metal of the car and shut the car door with the other. He waited for someone to come lead him.

It had been almost a year-and-a-half since he'd lost his sight and his parents. It was getting harder instead of easier to accept both. He wanted to throw the cane away, rip the glasses off and scream at the universe for making such a huge mistake. Even though the Hammond family showed him a deep, loving faith in God, he felt that no loving power would allow this. He clenched his fists so tightly that he suspected he was leaving deep crescent depressions on the palms of his hands from his fingernails. He leaned against the car and tried to relax. He knew that George or Ruby would eventually notice and he didn't want them fussing over him, like he was a helpless puppy.

George shut the back of the station wagon and set the last of their bags on the pile with the rest. Ruby had ushered the girls over toward the office, where they would get the keys for their cabin. Cars weren't allowed in the actual camp grounds since they posed a threat to the visually impaired campers so an electric cart would pick up their stuff and deliver it to their cabin. He turned around to look for Daniel and spotted him leaning against the car, stiff and poker-faced. He sighed to himself. He knew that a Daniel-tantrum was coming within a couple of days. Twice during the past year and a half, Daniel had basically broken down and thrown the mother of all tantrums. George recognized the signs of stress that preceded those events. He and Ruby had prayed that this vacation would help Daniel open up to them and really let them chip away at that barricade he'd erected around his emotions.

Daniel began the breathing Dr. Tanzi had taught him to help when he was feeling stressed. He wrapped his arms around himself and began rocking on his heels as he counted. By the time he reached fifty, he was beginning to feel more in control and he stopped rocking. He heard George shuffling through the gravel and forced himself to open his eyes to the bright light of the summer day. He sensed George's presence within a few inches but was still startled when the man's hand came to a rest on his shoulder.

"Come on, son. Grab a bag and help me load this stuff on the cart that's coming." George was a firm believer that physical work could solve most problems. At least, it could divert thoughts and was productive at the same time.

Daniel nodded and George led him to the pile of bags near where a driver had just parked an electric cart. George placed one of Daniel's hands on the side of the cart and handed him a small duffle bag.

"Just lift it up over the rail and onto the bed of the cart, Daniel, and I'll get the next bag." George watched some of the color come back into the boy's face while they worked together and once again reaffirmed his belief that work is a good thing.

By the time the family got to their tiny, one room cabin, George hoped that Daniel had gotten past his spell of self-pity. Rachel was fairly bouncing in her desire to go see the horses before dinner and Julie had hoped that they could go swimming. George pulled the camp schedule from his pocket and calculated that they had about an hour-and-a-half before dinner.

"Okay, troops. We have time to stow our gear and head to the corral before dinner. Move it, people, let's get the job done."

Rachel sighed to herself. She loved her dad very much, she really, really did, but sometimes it was such a pain that he was military.