Put That Kid Down

Chapter Six

David had fought a squeal when he'd seen Campbell's ID on his phone - Campbell had forbidden him to use his actual name and suggested he list him as a family member. "Put me down as your father or something" being his exact instructions which David had followed to the letter - and when he picked up, he was greeted with an enthusiastic, "Davey!"

"Mr. Campbell!" David clapped a hand over his mouth when the campers turned towards his maybe too-loud return greeting, and waved at Gwen to watch them while he took himself a little ways away. He asked at a more modulated volume, "How are you, sir? The camp is doing very well, although there are a few small things I'd like to talk to you about in person, you know - if it's not too much bother and -"

"David, if they're tapping this call now, just tell me about the weather," Campbell interjected, suddenly serious.

"No, no one's tapping the call, sir," David paused, and added uncertainly, "Or at least not that I know of...?"

"Well, anyway, the reason I'm calling is because I'll be stopping in to check the camp tomorrow."

"That's a little short notice," David laughed nervously, thinking of all the repairs he hadn't made yet and the damage wrought by Max's Rube Goldberg machines and the various rampages of the children, "May I ask why, sir?"

"Well, it's definitely not due to any small uprisings you may hear about in Thailand; the timing is completely unrelated," Campbell asserted firmly, "So get that out of your head."

"...What?" David asked, the smile still stretched across his face getting a little more strained with confusion.

"Never you mind, Davey," Campbell chuckled, "I can always count on you, can't I?"

David had never experienced the feeling that his heart was so full it might burst out of his chest before and it wasn't as uncomfortable as he'd thought, "Yes, sir!"

There was a burst of static and a sound like an explosion before Campbell shouted away from the phone, "You'll never take back the cursed gem of the mountains!"

"Sir?"

"See you soon, Davey!"

Putting the phone calmly in his pocket, David calmly walked and did not skip back to Gwen where he calmly screamed, "GWEN-WE-HAVE-TO-CLEAN-EVERYTHING!"

Okay, he was panicked and excited all at once and maybe he was holding Gwen's shoulders and he might have shaken her just a little and sure his grin was probably unsettling, but she didn't need to slap him.

While he rubbed the spot she'd hit, David explained more quietly what was going on with a barely restrained vibration of glee, and she rolled her eyes but helped him enlist the kids in cleaning things up.

David completed not four, not six but five different repairs around the camp before they needed to go shopping to get the supplies for the ice cream - pizza party they'd planned to reward the kids for their hard work. They were gone a little longer than anticipated because, well... Honestly David had been a little fuzzy on the details while it was happening. Someone had called out to Gwen at the grocery store and she'd groaned and tried to walk faster, but David had stopped to greet her friend, and his hand on the side of the cart made her shudder to a halt.

"Gwen, how are you?" The young man had a mohawk colored in greens and blues and he grinned roguishly, "Still up at that camp?"

"...Yes, she is!" David answered for her with a friendly smile when Gwen just stared between them both stonily, "How do you two know each other?"