In the morning, the boys were up way before their father, and had probably slept better. He might have been better off trying to sleep on the ground. Maybe not, but right now it felt like it. Jonathan was sure every bone and joint in his body cracked or popped. Since he hadn't slept well, he hadn't had his visitor, and he missed her as he had the very day –

Jason was cooking flapjacks, Jeremy was eating them, Joshua was going back and forth between the two. Joshua immediately brought his father coffee, and Jeremy another stacked plate.

"Aren't you eating?"

"Already did," Josh answered. "Jason ain't. Jeremy won't let him."

"I see that." His youngest son was seriously working his way through what looked to be about his fifth plateful.

"If you want any, you might have to wait," Jason told him. "Here I am cooking on a griddle that ordinarily cooks enough for four and a half – excuse me four and three-quarters grown men – and I can't keep up with one little boy."

"Add some onions," Josh suggested, laughing.

Jeremy made a gagging noise, and his brothers laughed.

"You won't need to worry much about him wandering off today. He won't be able to move."

"No, and I'll get the job – I mean the joy – of hauling him around all day. Have you finally had enough, big eyes?" Jason brought two stacked plates over to the table, putting one in front of Da, and holding the other one.

"For now," Jeremy said.

Jason sat down and began eating.

"I don't know if I can do this justice," the man said.

"You didn't eat much last night. Figured you were tired and you'd be hungry this morning."

"Yeah, ya only ate 23 beans las' night, an' halfa your bread," Jeremy said.

Josh, walking by, smacked him on top of the head, then stopped to flick his hair back in place.

"You counted how many beans I ate?"

Jeremy shook his head. "Not me."

"Joshua, put the dishes to soak if the water's hot," Jason directed. "Jeremy's gonna wash them this morning."

Jeremy pouted, then grinned. "Cause I used up the most of 'em and it's Saturday," he explained to his father. "If I only ate 23 beans and half my bread, Jason'd prob'ly make me still be sitting at the table."

"You're wrong there, young'un. I'd wrap you up and put you to bed with a good dose of stomach powders. I'd know you must be sick."

"Been eating well, has he?"

"He needs a lot of energy to get in all the trouble he's been getting into," Jason teased.

"Hey!"

Da laughed, and watched keenly as they went through their morning. The younger boys worked together on the dishes, with a lot of splashing. They didn't often get to do dishes in the Great Outdoors!

"Jason."

"Yes, Da?"

"I have some papers here for you." He handed his oldest son the sealed packet.

Jason accepted it and studied the packet.

"So you'll have them when you need them."

"When will that be? How will I know?"

"You'll know, son. You'll know."

"Okay. Josh!" He handed off the packet. "Put these away, will ya? They're important. And don't ask questions."

"I'll put 'em in the fire box. Wow, they look important."
"I said that, didn't I?"

Josh walked off laughing.

Jeremy ran up. "Jason, Jason, what are we going to do today?"

"The first thing you're going to do is put on a dry shirt."

Jeremy took a step back and looked up at Jason anxiously. "But, Jason, if we go fishin' I'll just get all wet again."

"Hmm, and I was going to ask what you'd like to do. I guess I can save my breath."

"I stayed here alla the time, like you said. Wanna go somewhere." The boy's eyes pleaded more than his voice. Their father was amused when the boy dropped his eyelids but kept his eyes on his oldest brother. His mother had used that trick often enough.

"We could go to the cabin. Or we could go into town. Or – Hmm." Jason pretended to be trying to think of something else boring.

"We could go up to the glacier and slide," Josh joined the conversation, laughing. "Or take Da up to the new hot spring. A good walk and a long soak and he might be hungry for –"

"–f-fish for lunch!" Jeremy concluded, his eyes sparkling.

The two men started laughing.

"There's a new hot spring?"

"Not really new. But, since the Great Explorer insists he saw it 'get' full of water, I've been keeping an eye on it. No variations in water level or water temperature. Do you want to try a good soak, or would you rather just go fishing, too?"

"I had thought to go home –" he saw his youngest become still, and corrected himself, "back into town. I'm not so sure I could take another night on those torture devices you call beds." So Jeremy still refused to acknowledge the place in town as home. Stubborn kid.

"We can go to the cabin, if you want to stay another night. We have beds, of a sort, there. Or we can take you into town. We haven't been in for a while."

"Don' like town," Jeremy muttered.

"We could keep you here at the camp," Jason suggested promptly.

Jeremy thought that over, grinned, and shook his head.

"Whew! Glad you made that decision, because I'm probably as tired of this place as you are. Are we going fishing, Da?"

"May as well. Get your gear, boys."

"We're ready."