~~~ Chapter Notes ~~~
This piece is part of a series. The story will make more sense if you read it from start to finish.
All of the chapters in this series have been completed. They are submitted to Literotica as a bundle. They should appear at a rate of one per day.
~~~ Campfires ~~~
"See if you can drag up some firewood before it gets any darker," Grandma told me. "There's a canvas sling over by the fishing tote to help keep the bugs off of you while you're carrying it."
"You have quite the setup," I told her.
"Your grandfather and I used to love camping," she said. "I didn't lie when I told you kids that I didn't think there was anything nicer than being fucked hard under a starry sky."
I smirked at her.
"The mosquitos don't seem too bad here - maybe I'll get my wish," she said with a wink.
I stepped over and gave her a quick kiss. She went back to stirring whatever she was cooking - rice and vegetables and something. I grabbed the sling and headed off to look for branches.
"There should be a hatchet in the sling," she called out.
There was. There were a lot of pine trees here - which meant plenty of fire-starting materials. I threw a couple handfuls of needles in the bottom of the sling - along with several pinecones. The sticks would pop like crazy - and send sparks jumping - but everything would burn easily. I could be pickier tomorrow - when I had more time to look. For tonight, this would get us by. Thin twigs and branches were plentiful. It was harder to find something that would last. I grabbed lots of the smaller stuff to start with. Again, that would get us a roaring fire - and that would light the bigger stuff that I came up with - assuming I found any.
I finally found a big branch that I thought was seasoned enough that it wouldn't be a complete pain the ass. The problem was it was too big for the hatchet to manage. I stuck the hatchet on top of the bundle I'd collected in the sling and closed it. I carried the sling in one hand and dragged the big branch with the other.
Grandma saw me coming.
"There's a folding saw somewhere there by where the sling was," she said. "Although you're going to wear yourself out by the time you get through that thing."
"I'll try cutting it in half and just feeding the two ends into the fire," I told her, "and just keep shoving more in as it burns."
"That would be easier than several cuts," she said. "We'll have to keep the girls from dancing around like idiots."
I nodded, found the saw, cut the easy stuff off of the oversized branch - and then got to work.
By the time I finished, the girls were drying off.
"This stuff is ready, you three," Grandma called out. "Girls change your clothes, so you don't get your chairs wet. You'll want them dry for when Derek gets the fire going."
The girls headed off for the tent.
"Bring your wet things back down here," she hollered. "We'll rig up a clothesline."
"Handsome young man," she called to me.
"Yes, my sexy MILF?" I asked in a whisper.
"MILF?"
"Mom. I'd. Like to. Fuck," I explained.
"GILF?" she asked, grinning.
"You're not that old, Grandma," I told her.
"You're a silver-tongued devil," she said quietly. "You're just trying to get me to let you fuck me."
"As often as I can," I replied, leaning in to give her a lusty kiss.
We heard the zipper on the tent and separated.
"Rig up a clothesline for those girls," she said. "There should be some cord somewhere in that mess."
I grabbed my towel and swim trunks and went to find the cord she'd told me about. Once I located it, I found two trees that were about the right distance apart and strung up the line. I called the girls over to hang up their things.
"Just drape it over?" Sadie asked.
"That or untwist the braid and shove the corner of the cloth through the braid," I told her. "The breeze isn't too bad - so you could probably just drape it over - but we don't know if the wind will pick up later. It's always safer to tie stuff down."
She gave me a cute smile and worked at the braid. I had to show her how to do the first one, but she got it after that.
"Thanks," she said. "That works really well."
"No problem," I told her.
I headed back over to see what else Grandma needed help with.
"Go ahead and get the fire started," Grandma said. "I'm just about to get this plated-up and then we can eat. It'll be easier to start the fire if you do it while you can still see what you're doing."
"You should have been a Boy Scout, Grandma," I told her.
"Your grandfather...," she began.
I covered my ears and hurried away, chanting, "La la la la..."
Grandma was still chuckling when I pulled my hands from my ears to get started on the fire. I'd found a breath-mints tin in with the rest of the fire stuff and opened it. The small homemade kit had contained what I'd expected to find - a fire-starter, some twine, and a small pocketknife. I cut a three-inch piece off of the bundle of twine and returned the rest (and the knife) to the tin. I worked the fibers of the twine apart until I had a small nest. I got my pine needles, cones, and small sticks ready and then took up the flint and steel (which is actually a magnesium rod and a piece of hard metal to strike against it to create the sparks). I had a nice cherry soon after - but (of course) it missed the nest and quickly faded to nothing. The next one, however, landed where I had intended, and I quickly fed enough needles into the fire to help the blaze. After that, I got a small pinecone to light. I fed a few twigs into the burgeoning fire and soon I could stop worrying and put the starter back in the breath-mint tinderbox and go return it to where I'd found it.
Since there was plenty of starter materials around, I went ahead and dumped the rest of the needles and pinecones into a stack that the fire could feed from. I added more (and bigger) sticks - and soon I had a real fire. I gave it a healthy stack of fuel and then stuck the two halves of the branch into the flames - so that they could get going.
"Come eat, Derek," Grandma called. "That'll keep."
Grandma had turned the pre-made pouches into something a little more filling - and I dug in. I couldn't believe how hungry I was.
Soon, all of the food was gone.
"You kids take the hatchet and the pocketknife and go find a dogwood, ash, maple, or elm tree and cut sticks for marshmallows. I've got the stuff to make s'mores."
"Derek?" my sister asked.
"I don't know about dogwood, but I can identify the rest," I told her.
"Good," she said. "Cuz the only wood I know about, is morning wood."
"Ellie!" Sadie gasped.
"Still think you want a sibling?" I asked her.
My sister started laughing.
I found a maple tree easily enough and cut a branch for each of us, showing the girls how to use the knife to trim the end to a point - and to peel off the bark so the marshmallows wouldn't take its flavor.
We were back and the campsite by the time the dusk was making it harder to see back under the trees.
"Weatherman says it might rain the day after tomorrow," Grandma announced, tearing open the bag of pillowy confections so that we could each grab a handful. "We may want to get up more firewood tomorrow and cover it if you kids want a fire every night."
"I do," Ellie said.
"Then you can help your brother gather sticks and branches," she said.
"We have enough for tonight?" my sister asked.
I answered that one.
"Not a ton - we won't be able to sit out here for hours - but we'll have enough to enjoy the fire and the s'mores. I thought you were wanting to get to later anyway," I said.
"What's later?" Sadie asked.
Ellie glared at me.
"Oh... uh... ghost stories?" I spat out quickly.
"Oh, yeah," she said.
The look I got from my sister was half exasperation and half clown face.
The four of us moved our chairs from the dining area to the fire and set about toasting our marshmallows. Ellie burned hers. So did Sadie. Grandma and I were trying to get ours to a perfect golden brown.
I'd just managed what I thought was a trio of perfectly toasted marshmallows and got up to go get the chocolate bars and the graham crackers.
"Hey, you little shit!" I growled. "Git!"
"Aww," Ellie said, coming up behind me. "He's adorable."
"He's trouble," I said, waving my hands and hollering as the adolescent racoon gambled off towards the trees.
"You're mean," she snarled.
"I've woken up enough nights to a domestic dispute between two coons right outside of my tent," I told her. "That little fella has family, and we don't need them anywhere nearby."
I got Ellie to help me move the table over by where we were sitting and then I got all of the trash cleaned up and carried the bag up to Grandma's car, storing it in the trunk.
"Thanks, Derek," Grandma said. "I didn't think they'd be quite that aggressive. I should've known better."
I grabbed my stick and discovered that Ellie's little friend had managed to snag my dessert before he'd made his escape.
She covered her mouth to hide her giant smile as I fumed and dug out more marshmallows to start all over again.
"I don't know any recipes for raccoon but that little shit better not show his head around here again," I snarled.
Ellie's smile disappeared but Sadie looked back and forth between us and smirked.
We finished our snacks, and I took the rest of the supplies up to the car and stored them in the trunk. Grandma couldn't think of anything else that needed to be hidden away from the little thieves - so I was hoping I could just sit by the fire and relax for a while.
There's nothing I love better than a campfire. That's really the only reason I'd stuck with Boy Scouts as long as I had. We chatted a little but mostly just sat and watched the flame. This was life at its best, as far as I was concerned. I got up a couple times and moved the large branches further into the fire as the flames ate through the things.
"Do kids, these days, still skinny dip?" Grandma asked out of the blue.
"What?!" Ellie gasped.
