"What?" Carl asked, staring at Betty as she was making tea, her back to him, but he continued, "What the hell do you mean dad isn't doing Family Game Night tonight? That was a week ago, and it wasn't even his fault, he shouldn't-"

"Whether he should or shouldn't feel bad is irrelevant, what matters is that he does feel bad," Betty said, "And he won't be joining us tonight. He's leaving you and me in charge, so go get Risk out of the game cabinet."

"I don't even know where the game cabinet IS," Carl said, sitting down on a stool at the island.

"Alright, I'll go, just watch my tea," Betty said, as she exited the kitchen. Carl sat there and looked at his nails, which he'd painted a sort of seafoam green the other night. He smiled at it, and then wondered if he was going too fast. He wasn't even exactly sure yet what he considered himself...and then Ashley came in, in torn jeans and a white tank top with writing that said, "There's no rules for dating my daughter" on it.

"Hey," Ashley said, heading straight for the fridge and getting a bottle of juice out and then a glass from the cabinet. She set it down on the island and started pouring, and then looked at Carl, who had watched her, and got another glass for him too. After she sipped her juice, she exhaled and looked around, "Where's dad?"

"In their bedroom," Carl said, "He's too upset about last week to come play. Claims the whole thing was his fault."

"Probably because you kept telling him it was his fault," Ashley said, wiping her mouth on her arm, "Just guessing though."

"Hey, dad didn't sleep with Anna's sister, alright?" Carl said, "Besides, mom's in charge and I'm sure she'll do fine....you smell weird."

"That your opener for all women you meet?" Ashley asked, "You might wanna work on that."

Carl sniffed around her, leaning over the island on his elbows, "You smell like...I can't place it, it's really familiar. You smell like something fruity."

"Ok that's just homophobic," Ashley said, the both of them grinning. Just then, the teapot started screeching and Ashley took it off the stove when Anna came into the kitchen in grey heels and a cute strapless blue dress. They smiled at one another as Anna sat down at the island next to Carl.

"I am so tired," Anna said, running her face down with her palms, "I had such a long day, and I have an evaluation next week, and it's just like...it's just too much to handle right now. Can I have some juice?"

Carl gave her his glass and she drank some before pouring more into the glass. Ashley came away from the stove and leaned on the island, grinning. Carl and Anna looked at one another before looking back at her, both looking unnerved.

"What?" they asked in unison.

"Wanna fuck with Jason?" Ashley asked.

"After last week? Yeah, I really would," Anna said, "Why? What you got in mind?"

                                                                                  ***

Jason was sitting in his car, in the driveway of his childhood home, dreading going inside for Family Game Night. He kept tapping his fingers on the steering wheel, trying to think of anything he could to distract him from everything that had fallen apart in the last few weeks, especially the previous week. Since last game night, Anna hadn't been talking to him much, and some nights hadn't come home until very, very late. This made Jason nervous for numerous reasons, most of them ridiculous. He sighed and rested his forehead on the steering wheel, unsure of what to do, when there was a knock on his driver side window. He jolted up, surprised, and then rolled the window down to see Ashley standing there.

"What?" he asked.

"Are you coming inside? It's gonna start soon," she said, "Also, dad isn't playing tonight."

"He's...he's not?"

"He feels bad for forcing that sorry idea on us last week," Ashley said, "So mom's taking over for this week. Anyway, come inside, everyone's here and-"

"...I don't know that I want to," Jason said, but Ashley reached in, unlocked his door and started pulling him out by his arm.

"Alriiiight, come on sad sack, let's go," she said, putting his arm around her shoulder and helping him inside. Once in the foyer, Jason straightened up and fixed his tie, smiling a little bit more. He looked at Ashley and nodded approvingly.

"You're a pretty good sister," he said.

"She is pretty nice," a voice said from the kitchen entrance, which Jason immediately recognized as Monica. He looked at her, his face flushed, his eyes burning with anger at his sister. He figured something like this might've happened.

"It's nice to see you," Jason said.

"Yeah, I guess it's nice to see you," Monica said, approaching them, "though I might be a little more lenient than my sister is right now."

Monica walked back into the kitchen, which was when Jason grabbed Ashley by the shoulders, snarling into her face, a stupid enormous grin on her the entire time.

"Why did you invite Anna's sister?!" Jason whispered angrily at her, "After last week, you...oh...oh I see, this is a lesson isn't it? I get it. You and Carl and Anna, you all think you're so fucking clever don't you? This is low."

"That's rich, coming from a cheater," Ashley whispered back, "And I'll have you know, Monica and Anna aren't really on the best speaking terms right now. Probably because you slept with one of them while being married to the other. So you've not only ruined your own marriage, but a sisterhood as well. Well done."

Ashley patted him on the shoulder before heading into the kitchen. Jason just stayed in the foyer, running his hands over his face, gritting his teeth, wanting to scream his lungs out. He felt a hand on his shoulder and put his hands down to see his mom standing there, smiling at him.

"You don't hate me?" he managed to sniffle out.

"I hate what you've done, but no Jason, I don't hate you. You're my son, I am never going to hate you, even if I disagree with your choices," Betty said, "Come on, help me set up the board."

Jason followed his mother into the living room, where she put Risk down on the table and took the lid off. Jason sat on the couch, not even helping, just watching her as she set the game up. He ran his hands through his hair, exhaling loudly.

"I can't...I've ruined my whole life, and worse than that, I've...I've ruined Anna's life too," he said, "As if I don't feel bad enough already...and not because it came out that it happened, but because I did it in the first place. Anna doesn't come home until late now, I don't know what she's out doing or anything. She won't talk to me, which I deserve, and I don't have any right to know everything she does, she's her own person, but still..."

"When your father and I were in college," Betty said, "Or, rather, when I was in college helping your father, there was this couple in his morning class. They were living together off campus, and at school everything seemed fine. They were sweet and lovey to one another all the time. Then, one morning, they're late for class and when she finally comes in, she's asking for help and she's got blood on her. She shot him, right there in their kitchen, because he was abusing her. He wasn't even getting drunk and using alcohol as an excuse, no, he was just beating the shit out of her of his own want in their home. She put up a good facade in public so nobody asked any questions, but he was so controlling, and she couldn't do anything she wanted with anyone she wanted, friends or family, whatever. She finally had enough and probably saved her own life, all in the name of self defense. Still, people came to the guys defense far more than they did for her. They claimed if he had reason to be suspicious, then maybe she was doing something behind his back, as if jealousy is any justification for killing anyone, man or woman. So, when the shoe inevitably drops, if you and Anna break up, just know that no matter what happens, you'll win out in the end, even if you weren't the one in the wrong, all because you're a man and society is conditioned to believe you far long before it even considers believing her."

"I know all about the inequality women face, believe me, I'm not a sexist, you know that. I love Anna so much, but I don't think I'm the person she's supposed to be with, and like what you said, no reason is going to justify what I did. Excuses, excuses, all that jazz. She...she deserves someone better than me. I think we got married because it was easy. There was no risk involved. We liked one another, and it was safer than putting more time into someone else after that many years together," Jason said.

"That's how life is, often, Jason," Betty said, stroking his hair, kissing the top of his head, "I'm going to get the others."

Betty exited the living room, leaving Jason alone. He just sat and stared at the game board, and then his eyes wandered over to where his father should be sitting, if he wasn't upstairs, feeling ashamed. Jason wanted so badly to go upstairs and get his dad, bring him down, make him see none of this was his fault, but he just didn't have it in him. Sometimes people need their space. He was coming to learn that the hard way. Betty, Monica, Ashley, Anna and Carl came into the room and all took their seats. Risk is designed for up to 6 players, so with Harold sitting this week out, everyone got a chance. Anna was sitting directly across from Jason, next to her sister on one side and Ashley on another and Carl was beside Jason, with Betty at the end of the table.

"Well, I actually have good news," Ashley said, "I found a new client to replace Snack Cats. Looks like I won't be in the red by the end of this year after all."

"Hey that's great," Carl said, as they all set up, "I have another job interview tomorrow, so this looks pretty promising actually. Hopefully by next week I'll be employed."

"This guy I met last month is taking me to this fancy ass boat house his folks own up in Tahoe next week," Monica said, "I'm pretty excited, 'cause I haven't had time off from work in months it feels like."

Everyone had something going for them, things were looking up for everyone, except Jason. He needed to win this game. He needed SOMETHING.

                                                                                        ***

"Oh god, it's nearly 1 am," Anna whined as Ashley yawned, sitting in the big lazy chair. It had come down to Ashley, Carl and Jason. Anna, Monica and Betty had been taken out, and Ashley was on the brink of destruction, teetering on failure. Jason had everything except Ashley's hold on South America and Carl's hold on Asia. Ashley leaned closer to Carl and whispered while Jason mulled over his options.

"We fucked up and Monica is out, but she and Anna are talking more...still...I'll give in to you if you take Jason out. He needs to topple," Ashley muttered, and Carl nodded.

"I can do it, I know I can," Carl said, "Just leave it to me."

Ashley set about setting up her own downfall, allowing Carl to take control of her armies and land, and putting him into prime position to set up Jason's demise. After the next few turns, Ashley was out as well, and went to sit by her mother. Carl looked across the table at Jason, and could see his brother chewing on his nails, which he knew from growing up that he only did when he was really nervous.

"So where'd you meet this boat house guy, Monica?" Ashley asked.

"At the country club, where I wait tables, well I'm actually the head of the kitchen department, but waiting tables just saves time when explaining my job to people," Monica said.

"That must piss off all the rich white people, eh?" Anna asked, "That you're a successful black woman at their country club?"

"Honestly, Anna, the prototype country club that rich white people created is just a way to still have some form of slavery over african americans. It's still a huge, overly rich plot of land, not unlike that of an orchard or plantation, and they love to 'employ' us. They barely have any other folks that aren't black working there, it's...kinda sickening. But the pay is rather decent, so I keep it until I decide what I really wanna do," Monica said.

"I agree," Jason said, which took everyone by surprise, as he looked up and scratched his head, "I mean, she's not wrong. The entire idea of a country club is for luxary for those who can afford it, and we don't allow people who aren't the majority, white, to be able to afford it. We fix the system in our favor, stack the odds against them, and then tell them they just need to 'work harder' or some bullshit, when, let's face it, a lot of those white people didn't work at all and were born into that money. She's totally right."

"Well, thank..thank you, Jason," Monica said, and Anna smiled.

"Speaking of toppling the top 1% white male patriarchy," Carl said, "I'm about to destroy your entire regime. Game, set match."

Everyone looked at the board and realized he wasn't joking. Jason looked up from the board at Carl and saw Carl was staring at him with the most intense look in his eyes.

"...I...I just...wanted..." Jason mumbled.

"Oh, YOU wanted something? Well, I bet your wife wanted someone who wouldn't cheat on her, with someone in her own family nonetheless. By the way, this lesson has nothing to do with you being a straight while male, like so many people seem to think these days, no, it has to do with you being just kind of an asshole. Stop. fucking. hurting people," Carl said, and Jason stood up, the both of them standing there, staring at one another, "I know that that's the risk one takes when you trust somebody, especially in something like marriage, but-"

"What the fuck would you know about marriage?!" Jason shouted, "You've barely ever had girlfriends! You're so fucking sad and unmasculine, you think you wanna BE a girl!"

And that was it. There was a collective gasp within the room, as even Jason's eyes widened, and he realized what he'd just said. Carl's eyes were swelling with tears, as Anna stood up and walked to Carl, putting her arms around his shoulders.

"Carl, I'm so-I'm sorry, I...I didn't mean-"

And down Jason went to the floor, as Ashley's fist collided with his jaw. Jason rolled onto his back, clenching his jaw with his hand, massaging it as he looked upwards at his sister, towering over him.

"Fuck you!" Ashley shouted, "How fucking DARE you say that to anyone, let alone a family member! The fuck is WRONG with you?!"

And then Ashley grabbed the board and started beating her brother with it.

"Ow!" Jason said, shielding himself with his hands, "The fuck, Ashley, stop! That hurts!"

"Yeah, well, getting beat up is the risk you take, I guess, for being a dick!" she yelled, continuing to beat him with it. After a few moments, Harold was standing behind Ashley, holding her back, looking at Jason.

"Dad?" he asked.

"I can't leave you people alone for a single week without it devolving into a soap opera," Harold said, "This right here, this is why we even HAVE family game night, is because families fucking hate eachother, and that shouldn't be the norm. Look at every single family sitcom since the late 90s, it's all insults and backhanded remarks, it's a snarkfest. Families should not hate one another. You're supposed to love your family. You're supposed to be able to depend on them. They're supposed to be the one group of people in your life who won't hurt you or abandon you. Look at yourselves. I guess I failed in raising you, or maybe society just corrupts us no matter what our base influence is, I don't know, all I know is that this is sick and this fighting has to stop. Jason, apologize to Carl."

Jason looked from his father to his brother, stood up and rubbed his jaw a bit more before putting his jacket on and just left. Everyone looked at Carl, who just turned and went upstairs, nearly sobbing before even shutting their bedroom door. Harold sighed as Betty got up and helped him start to pick up the pieces of the game. Monica looked at her sister, and then went out the front door as well, maybe to follow Jason, nobody was sure. Ashley looked at Anna, who just stayed sitting in the chair. After Betty and Harold left the room to put the game away and head upstairs, Ashley sat down on the couch and looked at Anna.

"...Anna, you know you can stay with me as long as you'd like, but I can't tell you what to do about your marriage," Ashley said, "I mean-"

"Harold's wrong," Anna said sternly, taking Ashley by surprise.

"What?"

"Your father...is wrong. He sees fighting and yelling and thinks that's bad. He thinks that because he knows no different. I come from a family who adopted a black sister, which is great, but that was because they wanted to prove they were good people, that they weren't racists. To someone who has a family, you don't know what having no family is like. Yeah, you all fight and yell and stuff, but you're together, you keep coming back week after week and everything works itself out. That's a hell of a lot better than not having any family at all," Anna said.

Ashley stood up, walked to Anna's chair, sat in her lap and kissed her. Anna's hand reached out and pulled the string on the floor lamp, turning it off, leaving them in darkness.

Ella was standing in the girls bathroom, looking at herself in her one piece, running her hands down her tummy. She didn't like how she was changing. She didn't like this "puberty" thing. She didn't want to get older, to change, to look different. Everything was changing too damn fast. She heard the bathroom door open and saw Gilly come in behind her. Gilly, on the other hand, was in a cute frilly two piece, with her hair up in a braid. She picked up the camera hanging around her neck and snapped a picture of Ella as she was half turned to facing her.

"Hey!" Ella said.

"That's a keeper," Gilly said, laughing.

"You have a real camera, and not just a cell phone?" Ella asked and Gilly shrugged.

"I have both, I just like taking pictures different ways," she replied, "It's fun to try everything. Anyway, what's taking you so long? I don't wanna walk to the lake alone. Will you pleeeeease walk with me?"

"I don't know, I don't like how I look," Ella said.

"You look fine!" Gilly said, grabbing Ella's arm and tugging her, "Just come on!"

The girls headed out of the bathroom and down the hill towards the lake, hand in hand. With her free hand, Gilly fiddled with her camera while Ella watched from the corner of her eye. Ella felt weird, walking hand in hand with a girl she'd kissed mere nights ago, but...but she knew that lots of girls their age walked holding hands. It was just something girls could do. The whole BFF culture thing allowed them to do it without anyone seeing it as anything other than such.

"Do you wanna take pictures for a living?" Ella asked.

"Like as a job?" Gilly asked, putting her camera back around her neck, shrugging, "I don't know...I don't really feel like it's something I enjoy and most people don't enjoy their jobs, at least that's how it seems, and so like, why would I ruin something I like by getting paid to do it? Then it stops being fun. It stops being something you like to do and becomes something you have to do."

"That's a good way of thinking about it, I suppose," Ella said, just as they approached the lake and noticed Amie sitting by the side, not even in a swimsuit, just staring off at everyone in the water and enjoying themselves.

"You're not going to swim?" Ella asked, and then looked down at Amie's leg and continued, "Oh...right. I guess that wouldn't make much sense. You'd probably rust or something."

"Or just sink," Amie said, picking at the dirt in front of her, "Besides, I don't really like the water."

"Do you need someone to hold your camera?" Ryan asked, from his 'lifeguard' seat, holding his hand out as Gilly handed her camera to him and then waved goodbye as she raced towards the lake, leaping right in. Ryan shook his head, chuckling, and placed a label with her name on the camera and put it with the others in the pile to his side.

"I could sit with you if you want," Ella said, taking a seat beside Amie, "I don't really like swimming too much either. The only reason I took swim lessons was because my parents said it was important and I had to know, just in case I ever found myself drowning or something."

"Exactly," Amie said, "It's never something I'd do on my own accord."

Ella walked past her, and sat on the edge of the docks, looked around, cupped her hands and dipped them into the water. Once they were filled to the brim, she brought them up to her face and smelled the water, just to be sure.

"What're you doing?" a voice, half curious and half laughing, asked from behind. Ella quickly let the water fall back into the lake while she looked behind herself, seeing Rachel standing there, also in a one piece. Ella was so starstruck by the vision, she could hardly form words, but eventually managed to regain her composure.

"I...I'm...sniffing water," she said stupidly, but it did make Rachel laugh. Rachel sat down next to her and slid her legs into the water, kicking and making gentle currents.

"And why exactly are you sniffing water?" she asked.

"Well, I..." Ella started, but then realized she still didn't know this girl very well, and could she trust her if she told her about her fish? She looked at Rachel and swallowed her fear, continuing, "Um...do you wanna see something cool?"

"Always," Rachel said. Ella got up, took Rachels hand and pulled her away from the lake. As they headed back up the trail towards the cabin, Rachel tightened her grip on Ellas hand, making Ella blush. Rachel smirked. She clearly knew what she was doing. As they approached the cabin area, specifically Rabbit Cabin, Ella looked around, just to make sure there was nobody else around, and then snuck Rachel into the cabin behind her. As Rachel took a seat on the bed, Ella got on her knees and reached under the bed, pulling out her suitcase and opening it with the lid facing Rachel, so she couldn't see in.

"Well?" Rachel asked, and Ella spun the suitcase around.

"This is my fish," she said, "I brought him to camp with me in this. I was sniffing the lake water to see if I could put any of it in here with him, to make sure it was safe first before I did anything. I wouldn't wanna hurt him, ya know."

"For sure," Rachel said, getting on her knees next to Ella and looked into the suitcase with her. Ella took Rachels wrist and put it over the water in the briefcase.

"If you stick your finger in here, he'll kiss it," she said and Rachel laughed.

"Really?" she asked, before cautiously putting her fingertips in the water, and after a few seconds, felt the fish nibbling on them. She laughed again, pulling her hand out and then looked back at Ella, drying her hand on the back of her one piece, "So...why did you bring him?"

"I didn't wanna come to camp," Ella said, "I thought I was going to be lonely, and I didn't trust my parents enough to take care of him."

"Fair enough," Rachel said.

"I just wanted something familiar close to me," Ella said, "I've never really been away from home on my own like this for this long. I guess I was scared I'd be lonely or scared or something."

"I get that," Rachel said, "But you seem to have friends, like Gilly, and me, so you can't be doing too badly."

Ella blushed as Rachel pushed some of her hair behind her ear and looked at her fingernails. Ella couldn't stop thinking about the kiss she'd shared the other night, and how badly she wanted that from this girl. Rachel, with her long, curly black hair and her light brown eyes, her soft pink lips. Ella wanted nothing more than to reach out and kiss her, her heart racing faster than she thought possible. But before she could make any sort of move, the door opened and Gilly came in, dripping wet and plopped herself right down between them, looking into the suitcase as well.

"You have a fish?" Gilly asked.

"Yeah," Ella said, "I brought him from home so I wouldn't get lonely."

"What's his name?" Gilly asked.

"Gordon," Ella said, "I've had him for a few years. Gold fish aren't supposed to live that long, but he's still really peppy. He's my best friend. I was hoping the lake water would be good enough to fill the suitcase back up with."

"It should be, I mean, fish live in it," Gilly said.

"Yeah, but those are salt water fish, I don't think goldfish are salt water," Rachel said, and both Gilly and Ella looked disappointed before she added, "But, I'm sure the cafeteria has some good, clean water we could use!"

"I'll go see!" Gilly said, before turning and heading back out the cabin door. Ella and Rachel, alone again now, went back to looking at the fish, with Ella stealing glances at Rachel on and off. She was so pretty, she made Ellas heart skip a beat. The way the soft summer sunlight peaking in through the cabin blinds splintered across her face, lighting only certain areas, drawing attention to her soft lips...it made Ella quiver inside, like she'd never experienced beauty like this before, and likely never would again, so she should cherish this moment as long as she could. After a few minutes, Rachel turned and caught sight of Ella staring, and smirked.

"What?" Rachel asked, but Ella quickly looked away, embarrassed.

"...I wish I could be pretty like you," Ella mumbled, unsure now whether she was feeling attraction or just mere jealousy.

"You're pretty, in your own way. I know it's weird, being around a lot of other girls and wanting to feel like you're just as good looking, but society makes us feel so bad about our appearance and you shouldn't, because you're pretty too," Rachel said, "And I'm sure your fish here would agree."

Ella chuckled as Rachel laid her head on her shoulder, their fingertips touching on the floor between them. The door opened and Gilly came back in, putting a small pale of water on the floor before sitting down herself, and then picking it back up and starting to pour it a bit into the suitcase.

"There we go, a happy fish is a...well, a happy fish," Gilly said, "That's not right. A healthy fish is a happy fish. There we go. I knew I'd said that wrong."

The girls sat there and watched the fish swim around in his little suitcase for a bit, all discussing what they'd want to do when they headed back to the pool. Gilly was the first one to leave, really wanting to get some swimming in today. A few minutes after she headed out, Rachel stood up and straightened her hair before putting it up, and helping Ella back to her feet.

"What would you be doing this summer if you weren't here?" Ella asked, "Cause I'd probably just be sitting in my bedroom reading or scrapbooking or something."

"I'd be at my grandparents, up in wine country in California," Rachel said, "It's where I go every summer. I'm glad I didn't have to this time."

"Don't you like your grandparents?"

"My grandmother died this month. I only would've gone for her memorial service. I don't want any bad memories attached to that place, so I'm glad my parents sent me here instead," Rachel said, "Now come on, let's go swimming. This fish is making me jealous."

With that, the girls left, hand in hand, and headed for the water.

The entire family had given up some secrets, things they'd been sorry for, but none had come close to what Jason had just admitted. Everyone stared at him, in absolute shock, their jaws nearly touching the floor. Anna had her hand to her mouth, her eyes brimming with tears as she backed away from him, unsure of what words she could even manage to get out of her throat.

"Wow," Carl finally said, "Wow, you're a real piece of shit."

                                                                                        ***

                                                                            1 HOUR EARLIER

"This is a terrible idea," Carl said, "I'm telling you, you don't wanna do this. After the last few game nights, especially."

"How can you be a family if you don't grow together, and learn and trust one another?" Harold asked, as he sat at the kitchen table with Carl, the both of them eating cookies from a package on the table. Harold put a cookie in his mouth and kept talking, "We've got to keep growing, until we die, otherwise we aren't really growing at all. People use the term 'growing up' but they figure they're done growing up once they've grown up to a point in which they're content with. You never stop growing up though. That's why I'm doing this. So that each one of us can look inside of ourselves and admit something we're sorry about."

"Dad," Carl said, sitting forward, arms crossed on the table, "...dad, I really admire you, I do. You're an intelligent man, you're well educated, you're insightful, but trust me when I say this, and I do say it with the upmost respect, this is a fucking stupid idea and you're a fucking idiot if you do this."

Harold laughed and opened his bottle of carrot juice, taking a swig, "Carl, I understand your reservations, but this is how things are gonna be tonight. It can't go too poorly."

"I bet that's what Napoleon said," Carl said.

                                                                                       ***

Jason was driving, Anna in the passenger, neither one saying a word. Neither one had actually spoken much to the other in the last week. They'd put on a nice face for Belle, but when she wasn't around, when she was at school or asleep, things were just quiet and discomforting, if not sometimes downright rude. Jason wanted to apologize for how he'd been lately, the guilt had been eating him up inside, and Anna couldn't get his sister out of her head. The way she'd kissed her in the bathroom, the way she'd tasted and smelled...she was hooked on her.

"What's the game tonight?" Anna finally asked, looking out her window while she spoke.

"It's Sorry," Jason said, "...a little too on the nose if you ask me, but hey, that's dad for you. Not a man for subtlety."

Anna did crack a bit of a smirk at that, but then just as quickly wiped it away, looking out at the cars around them. They came to a red light, and Jason tapped on the steering wheel with his fingers to some tune she didn't recognize. After a moment, Jason looked over at her and realized she was staring at him.

"What?" he asked.

"...when you asked me to marry you, did you actually love me, or was it just something you needed to do before your siblings did?" Anna asked, and Jason was actually somewhat surprised at her tone. She'd been mean before, sure, he'd seen her utterly pissed, but this was different. This was...cold.

"Of course I loved you, I still love you. See, this is exactly why I wanted to stop coming to this thing. Look at what it's doing to us. We used to be best friends, Anna, and in the span of a few short weeks, everything's changed. We don't talk anymore. Hell, we hardly look at one another."

"...who're you trying to convince, exactly?" Anna asked, and then looked away from him again.

                                                                                        ***

Carl and Harold were setting up the board, Carl the entire time just casting doubts on this entire idea, but Harold wasn't having any of it. As Carl placed the last piece at the 'start' line and then set the dice in the middle of the board, he sighed and looked at his father again, who was putting the game box on the floor beside the table.

"Dad, seriously, please listen to me, you don't-"

"Alright, Disparaging Dora, I've had it-"

"Disparaging Dora?" Carl repeated.

"-with your attitude tonight. Nobody in this family ever actually talks about something unless they're fighting about it, that's what this is aiming to change. Your sister showing up here with that woman was shocking, only because she'd never talked about it before. Your mother and I would've gladly talked to her about who she was and who she loved, but I guess she just thought we might take it poorly, which I understand, a lot of parents sadly do. But that's the thing, nobody talks to anyone. I'm going to change that with tonights game. We're going to fucking talk, god dammit."

It was one of the rare times Carl had actually heard his father openly curse like that.

"You can't talk to your children except under the ruse of a board game?" Carl asked, realizing he was opening up a whole world of problems, "Why is it on the children to initiate conversation? Why can't you guys call Ashley up and be like 'Hi there, we'd like to talk to you, anything going on in your life you want us to know?'. Cause it seems like a pretty one sided relationship if you expect us to do all the work."

Harold was staring at Carl now, not saying a word, chewing on the inside of his cheek. After a few moments, Harold put the box for the game down on the table and walked over to him. He put his hands on his sons shoulders, looked in his eyes and said, "You're right. It shouldn't just be on you guys. I'm sorry."

Carl wasn't expecting that. Just then the front door swung open and Ashley came in, wearing a skirt, and a light blue blouse with the collar buttoned up. She was pulling her hair back in a ponytail when she approached the living room as Betty came out from the kitchen, holding some beers.

"Hi mom," Ashley said.

"Hello dear," Betty said.

Betty handed one beer to Harold and then opened the other for herself. Carl looked back between the two of them and shrugged as Betty sat down in the chair beside Harold.

"Where's MY beer? What about me?" Carl asked.

"What ABOUT you?" Betty replied, finishing her sip.

"Jason's not here yet?" Ashley asked, walking past Carl, touching his shoulder and taking a seat on the couch, pulling out her cell phone, unlocking it. Carl shook his head in response to her question and then headed into the kitchen for his own beer.

"So," Harold said, "I was just telling your brother that-"

And then Jason and Anna entered, Anna coming in a few steps behind Jason, looking clearly pissed off. As they came in, and Anna took her seat next to Ashley, the two of them flashing a quick smile to one another. Jason took his seat in a chair and crossed his arms, putting his feet up on the ottoman.

"Jason, Anna, I was just about to tell Ashley what I'd already told Carl. Tonights game is going to be a bit different. The last few game nights we're been arguing a lot, and I figured tonight we'd bypass all of that and play Sorry, and for each turn, we'd have to admit something we're sorry about. So, that's how things are going to be tonight, any objections?" Harold asked.

"No, I'm sure we'll have no problems finding things to be sorry for, knowing this family," Ashley said.

Carl came back in and handed Jason a beer, which made him smile and thank him, and then took his seat on the other side of Ashley. Harold took the dice, sat down and rolled. He moved a few spaces and then sighed, crossing his arms.

"My first apology is to everyone," he said, "When you kids went to Aunt Gales, I took Picnic to be put down. She was in a lot of pain, and it just wasn't fair for her. I know you kids were really sad, and I'm sorry I said she'd just died instead of telling you the truth, but you were kids, and I didn't want you to hate me because of it. I'd had that dog for years, and I was devastated, believe me, it was a LOT harder for me than it was for you kids. For that, I'm sorry,"

"You had a dog named Picnic?" Anna asked Ashley.

"Don't blame me," Ashley said, thumbing at Carl, who shrugged.

"It was a good word! It sounded like a cute name! Doesn't it sound a little feminine?" Carl asked, and Jason waited a second and then nodded.

"Yeah, yeah I can see that," Jason said, sitting up, "You know, in foreign countries they give words genders. Germany especially. Tables, chairs, whatever. Female chairs. Male tables. We're the only culture that doesn't do it outright, but we still do it. We gender colors, like how 'pink' is somehow associated with women. Pink's a color, folks, not a gender."

"I can't believe you put Picnic down, but I guess I can see how it would hurt you," Carl said, "I forgive you dad, and I'm sorry you had to go through that."

Jason leaned forward and took the dice and rolled, moved his spaces and then sat back and sipped his beer while thinking. After a few moments, he smiled and sat back upright.

"Alright," he said, "Ashley, when we were in high school, I took your floral knee length skirt to give to a girl I liked. I told her I bought it at a fancy boutique and she loved me for it. So, for that I'm sorry."

"Wow," Anna said, "So you've always been kind of despicable."

"I was in high school!" Jason said, half laughing, "I mean, come on, nobody is good in high school. That's the peak of shitty human essence."

"He's not wrong," Carl said.

"I loved that skirt," Ashley mumbled, "I went crazy looking for it...especially in the last year."

"You were STILL looking for it?" Jason asked.

"I was coming over constantly last year looking in the attic and stuff for it. The girl I got it from as a gift died, and I wanted to wear it to her funeral," Ashley continued to mumble, "So yeah...it was kind of important. She was my first serious crush."

Suddenly all eyes were on Jason, as his smile died and he looked actually horrified at how his actions had affected his sister.

"Ash, I....I'm really sorry," Jason finally said, "I didn't..."

"Just shut up Jason," Ashley said as Carl took the dice and looked at their father.

"Good idea, dad," Carl said dryly, before rolling and moving his spaces. He waited a few seconds, and then thought for a moment before exhaling and looking at Ashley.

"Oh god," Ashley said, "Did everyone screw me over growing up!?"

"Ashley, when we in middle school," Carl started, "...uh...you...some of your clothes went missing, remember?"

"What, you give them away to some girl too?" Ashley asked.

"No, I...I was taking them but not to give them to someone...I was...using them for myself. I was...questioning a lot of stuff because I wasn't fitting in and feeling comfortable with who I was, and so I was...I would dress up when I was home alone and see if that made me feel more normal. It helped, a little, but it didn't fix anything. I guess I'm just sort of in between. Anyway, I'm why you were missing some stuff from time to time, and I'm sorry."

Nobody said a word. After a moment, Ashley got up, walked over to where Carl was sitting and hugged him, patting his back, whispering into his ear, "I am so proud of you. You can talk to me anytime about any of this, ok?"

Carl nodded, smiled and Ashley went to sit back down. As she did, she took the dice and rolled, took her spaces and then sat back for a few minutes, thinking about what she might have to apologize for. After a few minutes, she sighed, rubbed her forehead and took a deep breath.

"I have to apologize to myself," she finally said, "For not...being myself, for far too long. I've always tried to be nice to you guys, so I really don't have much to apologize."

"What about the time we filled Jasons car with crabs?" Carl asked, and Ashley laughed.

"That was you guys?!" Jason shouted, standing up, "You know what, I'm not sorry for your stupid skirt. That car was brand new, it was my first car, and my date that weekend complained endlessly about the fish smell. I'm sure that's why she didn't go out with me again."

Anna took the dice and rolled, moved her spaces and looked at Jason, "I'm sorry Jason. I'm sorry that when we were first dating, I actually tried not to get to know your family because I didn't want things to get too serious too fast. Now I'm glad I failed because your family is great, you on the other hand..."

Everyone looked from Anna to Jason, like dogs watching a stick being thrown back and forth.

"Well, Anna, I'm sorry that right after Belle was born, that I was gone a lot, 'working' extra hours. Truth is, I didn't know how to take care of a child and figured you'd be fine doing it yourself," Jason replied, fire in his voice, "I know I've been kind of a shitty husband, so I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry that I keep myself looking good when honestly it's exhausting trying to be pretty in this society all for a guy who doesn't seem to give a shit anymore," Anna said, "I'm sorry I'm not just model gorgeous for you."

"I'm sorry I slept with your sister!" Jason screamed, and that stopped everything.

Anna and Ashley waited a second, looked at one another and Ashley shook her head. Anna didn't respond, she just got up and walked out the front door. Ashley stood up, and passing by Jason muttered, "You're a real fucking asshole" as she went after his wife. Jason sat down, breathing hard, before starting to cry.

"I...actually AM sorry, that's what sucks. I didn't just say it to hurt anyone," he managed to say, as Carl patted his shoulder. Outside on the front porch, Anna was sitting on the porch swing when Ashley came out and sat down beside her.

"...are you ok?" Ashley asked.

"I asked him to stop making us come to these a few weeks ago. I'm glad he refused. This would've have come out if he had refused. I...I'm glad this happened, because now things are a lot clearer for me," Anna said, "He and I haven't gotten along for a while. I feel like this was what I needed, something concrete to really...to just sort of force my decisions."

"Anna," Ashley said, "I know I shouldn't defend him, I know the whole 'but he's my family' shit is trite and overplayed, but he didn't used to be this way. I mean he was always kind of a jerk, but what guy isn't, especially a brother, right? But...I feel like he's...I don't know...in a lot of pain or something. That being said, his pain is not YOUR responsibility, just because you're married. You're your own person, and-"

"I don't want to go home tonight," Anna said, "Can I-"

"Yeah, you can, for sure," Ashley said, pushing Annas bangs from her face and then leaning in, kissing her quickly.

Meanwhile, inside, Betty had gone to make dinner while Jason, Carl and Harold were sitting in silence, confused, unsure of what to say, and annoyed at not having finished the game. After a few seconds, Harold stood up and looked at the floor.

"You were right, Carl. I'm sorry everyone," he said, before heading up the stairs without even looking at anyone, off into the bedroom. They heard the bedroom door shut. Carl looked at Jason, and shrugged.

"What happened, man?" Carl asked.

"...I have no excuse, there IS no excuse for doing what I did. People say like 'oh, I was scared of being a new father!' or whatever, the responsibility and shit being too much to bear, but...there's nothing real, there's no excuse. What I did was unforgivable, I at least recognize that," Jason said, "...it's probably over between us. Things haven't been good for a while now, and this was probably the nail in the coffin."

"...Jason," Carl said, "...it might not be, sort of...I don't know, solid advice but, have you tried just not being a piece of shit?"

Jason chuckled a little and looked at his brother, sitting cross legged on the floor in front of them.

"You're a better person than I am, Carl, and that I think is what bothers me most. You're my younger brother, but you know more than I do, and you know who you really are, and...you're a better person than I am."

A moment passed and they looked at the board.

"Wanna finish?" Carl asked, and Jason nodded, the two of them each taking a side and continuing the game.

                                                                                 ***

When they all went to their respective places that night Jason going home alone, Anna going home with Ashley, Carl found himself sitting in the kitchen eating a sandwich when Betty came down and sat across from him at the table. Carl stopped chewing and looked up at her.

"Yeah?" Carl asked.

"Do you want to talk? About you?" Betty asked, "...my brother, your Uncle Remus, he...he wanted what you talked about. He was too scared to take it, because at that point in time it was just...not done as much. I just want you to know, Carl, that if you ever want to be who you feel you are, that your father and I accept that. I will always love you, if you're my son, or my daughter or whoever you are, okay?"

Carl had to hold back tears as he set his sandwich down and then wiped his eyes on his shirt sleeve before exhaling and looking at his mother.

"You guys are pretty great parents," Carl said, "I'm sorry if we never admitted that growing up, but we were pretty lucky."

Betty smiled, stood up and kissed the top of his head, then headed off to bed. Carl finished his sandwich, then headed upstairs to his bedroom. He shut the door behind him, locked it and opened his closet door. In the very back, behind some backpacks was a pile of clothes. Dresses, skirts, whatever. He took out his favorite, one of the dresses with sunflowers on it and smiled. He undressed, pulled the dress on over his head and climbed into bed. He got his hairbrush off his nightstand, brushed his hair out and then laid down, smiling at the glow in the dark ceiling stars he'd put up years ago.

Family Game Night might be destroying the rest of them, but it was saving him.

And with that in mind, he drifted off to sleep.

"What do you like to do at home?" Gilly asked, as she and Ella wandered through the woods on their free period hike, just the two of them, going somewhere completely unknown. As they stepped through a thicket, making sure they didn't scratch themselves on any rogue branches, Ella thought about the question.

"I don't know...I guess I like to read and make stuff. I make a lot of stuff for my dads garden," Ella said, "Birdhouses and stuff. I like making crafts. What about you?"

"Practicing dance," Gilly said brightly, "I love watching routines on youtube and trying myself, though I know I'll never have the chance to do it for any sort of audience. My parents, when they are around to dictate what I do, have me enrolled in far too many things as it is."

"Do you ever get any time to do whatever you want to do?" Ella asked, and Gilly nodded, chewing on her fingernails.

"Well, yes, I mean I do get some time to myself," Gilly said, "But even then I'm usually doing it alone, and not with any friends or anything."

Ella turned around and saw Gilly chewing on her nails. Ella let go of the branch she was holding out of their way and walked back towards Gilly, taking her hand and looking at her nails, chewed down to the bare fingertip.

"You know, if you put hot sauce on your nails, you won't bite them as much, unless you like hot sauce I guess," Ella said, "That's what my grandmother used to do to me."

Gilly looked down at Ella holding her hand, and then back up at Ella, her face blushing bright red. Ella was starting to notice, and inched closer to her, both of them breathing rather fast when suddenly the music rang out from behind the trees nearby, making them both jump. They both quickly hid behind a bush, down on their knees, catching their breaths and staring at one another, awaiting some more music.

And then it rang out again.

"What is that?" Ella asked, as Gilly crawled over to her bush.

"I don't know the tune, but I think the instrument is a melodica," Gilly said.

Ella pulled the bushes back and they peered through the leaves to see a girl standing in a clearing, indeed playing a melodica. She was barefoot, in a white lacy tank top and blue shorts, with long wavy black hair. Ella could've sworn this was the girl she'd been dreaming about, but she knew that wasn't how reality worked. Still...the resemblance was uncanny. Gilly nudged Ella in the ribs.

"She's really good at playing that," Gilly whispered, "Should we say hi?"

Ella nodded and started to head through the bushes. As she and Gilly approached, the girl stopped playing and smiled at them, waving. They returned the pleasant, friendly gestures as she sat down on a rock nearby the little stream she'd been standing in. Judging from her height, Ella guessed she must've been at least a year or so older than them.

"Hi," the girl said, "I'm Rachel. Are you two from Turtle Cabin?" Rachel asked as she started to clean off the end of the melodica with a handcloth.

"No, we're in Rabbit Cabin," Gilly said, "What're you doing out here?"

"Playing music. Why, is free period over? Did I miss the bell?" Rachel asked, starting to sound concerned.

"No, not at all, we just were on a hike and didn't expect to see someone else out here," Ella said, smoothing her skirt out, blushing, "Um...you're really good at playing that."

"Oh, well my entire school had to play the recorder in elementary school and so in middle school I joined band this year, but I don't wanna play the Flute all the time so I asked my dad for a Melodica, and I've just been playing this for fun."

Ella couldn't stand looking at this girl. Not because of the comparison she'd already made to the girl in her dream, but because she was so taken with her appearance. Her skin was smooth and fair, her long black hair was wavy and shiny, and her teeth when she smiled shone so bright they looked like tiny diamonds. Ella could feel her heart race every time she caught eyes with her.

"I play the piano!" Gilly said excitedly and Ella looked at her, her brow raised.

"You do?"

"Yep. Parents signed me up for classes when I was 6, and I've been playing ever since then," she said, smiling proudly, "But that's all. I can't play anything else. Melodicas are neat though, and you sound like you've been playing a while because you're really good."

"Thanks," Rachel replied happily, brushing her hair back out of her face, "So what're your names?"

"I'm Gilly, this is Ella," Gilly said, introducing them both as Ella waved her hand a bit and wiggled her fingers in a somewhat 'hello' response. Rachel's eyes locked with Ella's and Ella thought her heart was going to explode. They were dark green, and big with long curved lashes. She had to be at least a year or so older than them.

"Nice to meet you guys," Rachel said, "I was gonna head back and have lunch if you guys wanted some company."

"That'd be nice," Gilly said, and so Rachel packed up her backpack, threw it over her shoulders and the three of them headed back through the bushes, side by side. While walking, Ella continued to steal glances at Rachel, and after a bit noticed Gilly looking at her. When Ella looked at Gilly, she just looked away, seemingly somewhat sad or something.

"It's so nice and quiet out here," Rachel said, "The camp is always so loud, which is fine, that's what camp is for, but ugh, it's nice to get away from it. So you guys are from Rabbit Cabin huh? Rabbit Cabin's kinda cool I guess. I like their counselors. Charlie's really funny."

"Who's the leader of Turtle Cabin?" Ella asked, finally breaking her silence.

"Um, it's this guy named Beck. He's cool I guess, he's from New York and does like, gallery shows up there and stuff, so I guess his dad's super rich and owns an art gallery."

Just then a bird flew overhead through the trees ahead of them, and Gilly took off, holding the binoculars hanging around her neck steady as she tried to catch up with, disappearing into the bushes ahead of them. Ella now found herself alone with Rachel, but terrified to say anything, in case she embarrassed or bored her.

"So Ella, what do you like to do here?" Rachel asked.

"I...don't know..." Ella said, "Hike, I guess. I like how pretty it is, seeing animals and stuff. I usually stay in my room at home and read or look at fashion blogs or something. I don't really have any friends at home."

"That's okay, neither do I," Rachel said, and this surprised Ella.

"Really? But you're like...musical and...pretty and stuff," Ella said, making Rachel chuckle.

"Well, that doesn't mean you have friends. I just don't want any, I like being alone or being with my parents. I don't know. If people talk to me at school, they're nice and I will talk back to them, but usually I'd rather do my own thing. Boys give me attention because I'm pretty, but who wants that?"

"...what do you mean?" Ella asked.

"It's annoying, I don't want it, and they don't deserve my attention just for saying I'm pretty or something, as if that magically unlocks my romantic feelings for them. Besides, it's never nice, sweet stuff. It's always gross stuff. It's rude. Besides, boys are gross," Rachel said, "I mean, my cousin who's in elementary school says boys are gross too, but she doesn't mean it the way I do."

"...do...do you not like-" Ella started to ask, but then Gilly came crashing back through the bushes at them, waving her hands at them frantically.

"Guys! Come here! Come here!" she said, panting, nearly out of breath, before turning and tromping back through the brush, Rachel and Ella on her heels. As they crashed through the bushes and past the trees, she eventually lead them to a big tree where they saw Gilly starting to kneel over a bluejay, sitting on the floor, chirping quietly, one wing outstretched. Gilly reached out and started to pet its wing softly, looking at them and smiling.

"Wow," Rachel said, "He looks injured. We should wrap him up in something and take him back to camp so somebody there can do something for him. If we leave him out here, he'll just get eaten or something."

"Okay," Gilly said, taking her shirt off, wrapping the bird up safely and holding him close to her chest, "He's so soft and he makes the cutest chirps. I wanna keep him as a pet, but I know it's not fair to take him out of nature."

"Somebody at camp will know what to do," Rachel said, "They deal with hurt animals every summer."

The girls continued their trek back to camp. When they arrived, Gilly bid them goodbye and rushed off to the main office to inquire about the bird, while Rachel and Ella headed to the cafeteria. Ella looked at Rachel's hands and noticed her nails were painted soft pastel pink, and of medium length. She had a few bracelets hanging around her wrist that jingled as they walked.

"I like your haircut," Rachel said as they got in line to get their food, "It frames your face really well."

"Th-thank you," Ella said, stammering, blushing and Rachel smiled, "I like your bracelets," Ella continued.

"Oh, yeah! They're from my mom," Rachel said, holding her arm up a bit, "They're turquoise I think. It's my favorite color."

After getting their food plopped on their trays, Rachel grabbed Ella's hand and lead her out of the cafeteria and around to where the lake was. Ella didn't even know eating outside was allowed, but apparently it either was or they were breaking a rule. Rachel sat down on the dock and patted the wood next to her, prompting Ella to take a seat across from her, both of them sitting cross legged. Rachel started to eat while Ella remained too anxious and nervous to start eating, and all she could manage to do was watch Rachel eat. Her lips, and how....perfect they were.

"I like eating here," Rachel said, "Sometimes you'll see fish jumping, it's cool."

"Uh huh," Ella said, managing to nod a little before forcing herself to start eating. She couldn't get the feeling of Rachel's hand off hers the rest of the day. Laying in her bunk that night, staring at the ceiling above her, she kept replaying that first second seeing Rachel turn around in the clearing, the way the sun struck her face as it broke through the leaves overhead, and how fast her heart was beating. Gilly climbed up onto the bed and sighed, reaching into a bag of chips she had opened, shoveling them into her mouth.

"...Gilly, some girl when we first got here told me that...she told me to be careful around you because you've tried to kiss other girls at camp before," Ella said, and Gilly looked embarrassed, but she finished chewing and sighed.

"Yeah...well...don't worry, I won't try and kiss you," Gilly said.

"But...it's true?"

"Yes."

"...did you...did you think Rachel was pretty?" Ella asked, and Gilly shrugged, as Ella sat up on her elbows, looking at Gilly, "...I've been having dreams the last few weeks where I'm....where I....I kiss a girl, and then I wake up and it...when did you first wanna kiss a girl?"

"I guess it was like last summer," Gilly said, "That was the first time I did it anyway. It was during truth or dare, so it wasn't anything real, but I really liked it...I guess Rachel is pretty, but not like you are. Every girl is pretty in their own way."

Ella looked at her hands as Gilly set the chip bag to the side of the bed and crawled closer to her. Ella looked up, feeling that warm feeling again, like when she'd held her hands briefly in the woods earlier, and soon their faces were less than an inch apart and Ella could feel Gilly's breath on her skin. After a few seconds of looking at one another, Gilly put her hand behind Ella's neck, and kissed her. It only lasted for a minute or so, and after it ended, Gilly just sat back the way she was when she first got on the bed and continued eating chips.

"Well?" Gilly asked.

"...that was nice," Ella said, "I've never been kissed, so I didn't know what to expect. Also you taste salty from those chips and now I'm thirsty."

They both laughed as Ella got up and they sat on the bed, backs against the wall, eating chips and talking deep into the night about when they first started to like girls. Finally Ella didn't feel so alone about this, and it felt nice.

Maybe camp wasn't so bad after all.

"I really don't think this is a good idea," Anna said, sitting in the passenger seat, putting her earrings in, "I really think everyone is going to be very, very pissed at us."

"What's wrong? She's part of the family, she's our child, my parents grandchild, why should this be a problem?" Jason asked.

"It's your family," Anna said, shrugging, as Jason glanced at her, his brow furrowed.

                                                                                       ***

"Why's it have to be board games?" Carl asked, "Why can't we play poker or gin rummy or uno one night? Those are games. Why're you limiting us to one singular form of entertainment? What about the board makes the game more special?"

"It's more interactive. It's the whole idea behind an amusement park vs a theme park," Harold said, "An amusement park is there just for fun, for the sake of going on rides, for amusing you. A theme park, that's an experience. Amusement parks are built around a premise, a theme park is built around an idea. A theme park gives you an entire world to discover, to live in, just for a short period of time. That's why we play board games, Carl."

"...that was actually quite insightful, dad," Carl said, "I guess you're right. There's a big difference between going to something like Six Flags vs going to something like Disneyland."

"There's also the ease factor," Betty said, pulling herself out from the oven, where she had a large pot between her hands, "Meaning card games take a lot of numbers to factor in, lots of information to remember. Board games are simple. They do everything for you. You roll a dice, you move a certain number of spaces. Let's not overlook your fathers laziness just because he made a solid argument."

"...wow, mom really knows just how full of crap you are," Carl said, looking back at his father.

"I knew I loved this woman," Harold said, grabbing and kissing her hand. Just then, Ashley entered, her hair a mess, her clothes looking slept in. She was in a grey tank top and jeans, with boots on. She had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, as she went to the fridge, got a beer and then sat beside Carl at the island, cracking the top off her drink.

"Rough night at the office?" Carl asked, smirking, and she mocked him before taking a long drink.

"I lost a client, a big client, and I'm completely distraught," Ashley said, "When you're self employed, you rely on yourself to bring in your own clients, so when you lose a client, you can only blame yourself, which sucks if you don't want to admit you're anything less than perfect."

"That sucks, Ash, I'm sorry," Carl said, "Who was the client?"

Ashley looked into the bottle, before mumbling, "Snack Cats."

"Snack Cats?" her brother, mother and father all said in unison.

"The cat treats that look like cats?" Carl asked.

"Does that bother you too?" Harold asked, "Doesn't it feel like they're advocating for cat cannibalism?"

"Yeah, that did always creep me out," Carl said.

"Well, they wanted to redesign their packaging, and I completely borked the whole situation," Ashley said, "Anyway, it's all over. That was a huge project too, which means I just lost a good percentage of my income for this year."

"What happened?" Anna asked, as she entered the kitchen.

"Ashley lost a big client," Carl said, "Snack Cats."

"Those commercials creep me out," Anna said, "Their treats look like cats, which means cats are eating cats. The insinuation is deeply unsettling. It's like when a banana companies mascot is a banana. That just opens up a whole world of questions, like, in this humanoid banana world, does that mean bananas as a food don't exist, or that they slaughter and eat their own? It's all very morally and ethically ambigious."

"Heyo," Jason said, coming into the kitchen with his daughter, Belle, on his shoulders. Everyone stopped and stared at him, while Anna tried to hide her face, a bit embarrassed at the fact that they'd brought their kid to this thing. Harold finished his orange and cleared his throat.

"Jason, I see you brought our granddaughter," Harold said.

"Well, it's a kids game tonight, so I figured let the kid play for us," Jason said, "She's part of the family."

"Hi grandma," Belle said, as Jason let her off his shoulders and onto the floor, where she ran to Betty, who picked her up and hugged her tightly. Harold went to set up the game board, while Betty took Belle out into the living room, Anna on her heels, leaving everyone else in the kitchen. Ashley and Carl turned to their brother, a smug smile on his face, his hands in his pants pockets.

"You devious, underhanded bastard," Carl said, "You brought your fucking kid here to try and gain the sympathy hand? You think people will just forgive your behavior after what you've done the last few weeks? How you've acted? Just because your adorable little daughter is here?"

"Who says I'm trying to gain anything from this? She's part of the family, and it's a family game night, so why can't she participate?" Jason asked.

"I'm gonna wipe that smirk off your face and then wipe my ass with that smirk," Ashley said.

"Game's on!" Harold called from the other room. Carl and Ashley stormed out of the kitchen, leaving a rather bewildered Jason behind. As they set up in the living room, Carl and Ashley sat on the couch beside eachother, realizing they were going to play against Harold and Betty and Belle. They were facing off against their parents, and their brothers child. Carl and Ashley gave one another a nervous glance, and then both looked across at Jason and Anna, standing behind Belle. Anna just shook her head, mouthing "I am so sorry" at them. Ashley felt a fire rising up inside of her. Harold handed the dice to Belle.

"Here sweetheart, why don't you roll first," he said. She took them, grasped them in her fist and shook it, letting them roll onto the board, and then taking her spaces. Ashley got up as Carl took the dice for his turn and headed to the kitchen to get another beer. As she had the beer in her hand, shutting the fridge door, she felt a hand on her shoulder and then felt it turning her around, making her face to face with Anna.

"Is it my turn?" Ashley asked. Anna stared at her for a moment, and then put her hands on Ashley's hips, pushing her back against the fridge and leaned in.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered again, and then kissed her. Ashley couldn't believe what was happening, but she put the beer on the table next to them, held Anna's face with her hands and kissed her back, tasting her, enjoying her. After it ended, Anna looked at Ashley's eyes and sighed.

"Are you...are...is...are you okay?" Ashley finally managed to mutter.

"....what do you think?" Anna asked.

"Ash! It's your turn!" Carl shouted from the living room. Ashley grabbed her beer, looked at Anna again and then headed for the living room. Anna paced in the kitchen, chewing on her nails. Ashley took her seat back on the couch and took the dice, handing Carl her beer, which he promptly opened and took a few sips of. Ashley rolled the dice, and only got a 2.

"Mother-" Ashley started, when Carl prodded her in the ribs with his elbow, gesturing at Belle, and Ashley finished, "...of invention."

"Atta girl," Carl said dryly. Anna came back in and stood back behind Belle, staring directly at Ashley, their eyes deadlocked.

"Look mom, I'm winning!" Belle said, smiling up at her mother.

"That's great, honey," Anna said, leaning down, kissing the top of her daughters head. Harold took the dice and rolled for him and Betty. A few minutes went by, and Carl, handing Ashley her beer back and wiping his mouth on his sleeve looked at Jason and ran his hand through his own hair, now sitting up and no longer slouching.

"So," Carl said, "how's living in your wife's shadow financially feeling?"

"I have no problem with my wife making more money than me," Jason said, "I'm not so wrapped up in my masculinity that I need a bigger paycheck to feel superior or something. Come on, you should know me better than that."

"I can't believe I lost Snack Cats," Ashley mumbled under her breath, wiping her forehead with her palm.

"Snack Cats?" Belle asked, "People are eating cats?"

"No, sweetheart, they're a snack FOR cats," Anna said.

"I mean, people DO eat cats," Carl said, with Jason looking at him in horror, so Carl shrugged and added, "Hey, you wanted her to be a part of the family, so why should I talk down to her just because she's younger than us? I'm going to respect her intelligence, talk to her like an adult. It's true, Belle, people eat cats. Mostly in foreign countries."

"Why would people eat cats?" Belle asked, and then something dawned on her face and she looked up at Jason in horror and asked, terrified, "Is that what happened to Ziggy? Did you eat Ziggy?!"

"Honey, Ziggy was old, I had him even before I met your mother," Jason said, "I didn't eat the cat."

"What is the weirdest thing you've eaten?" Carl asked.

"Besides your own words," Ashley added, the two of them doing a high five without looking.

"Once, my parents took me to a small island in the Caribbean," Anna said, "I ate fried crickets. Lots of bugs, mostly fried. Didn't eat spiders though. I won't eat spiders or scorpions."

"Wow, you ate bugs?" Ashley asked.

"So what, I ate bugs as a kid and nobody patted me on the back," Carl said, "I even did it for money. I was an entrepreneur, but no."

Carl picked up the dice for his turn as Ashley slapped his knee and stood up,

"I gotta go to the bathroom, beer goes right through me," she said, as she headed up the stairs to the bathroom. While Jason and Carl argued about whether they'd ever eat anything exotic, Anna slipped away and headed up the stairs after Ashley. Anna came into the bathroom and shut the door behind her, locking it. Ashley was washing her hands. Anna reached out, only to find Ashley pinning her against the bathroom wall, kissing her neck, Anna's nails running up Ashley's back of her shirt.

"I fucking hate your brother," Anna whispered.

"It's ok, everyone in the family does," Ashley replied.

"He has to be top of the food chain at everything, even game night. 'Secure enough in his masculinity', give me a break. He cries when he can't get it up," Anna said as Ashley kissed down to her collarbones.

Just then there was a knock on the door, and they heard Betty asking if Ashley was alright. Ashley said she'd be out in a second, and then they waited for Betty to leave before talking again. Ashley had her ear against the door, listening.

"Alright, she's going down the stairs. Climb out the window and down the wisteria to the backyard, say you needed some fresh air," Ashley said. A few moments later, Ashley reappeared downstairs, and a few moments after that Anna also reappeared, coming in from the backdoor. Carl finished his turn and handed the dice to Betty.

"Speaking of Snack Cats, I hate things like Candy Land that exist within their own universe where everything is anthropomorphic," Carl said, "It's creepy. Do they have candy in Candy Land that they eat, and if they do, is that insinuation that they're cannibals? And if they don't, then what DO they have? Human bars?"

"Dude," Jason said, looking down at his daughter and Carl shrugged.

Belle took her turn, and then Ashley took the dice.

"It'll be okay, I'll find a new client. I can make up for the lost revenue," Ashle said, "So long as finding the new client doesn't take too long."

After she moved, Carl took the dice, rolled, moved and realized he'd just won.

"Uncle Carl won," Belle said, smiling.

"I did win," Carl said, surprised at this himself.

"You were supposed to let Belle win!" Jason shouted.

"Daddy," Belle said, "It's just a board game. Mommy, I have to pee."

As Anna took Belle upstairs, everyone looked at Jason, who was seething with rage. He began to pace the living room floor, hand on his head, other hand on his hip, gritting his teeth. Carl stood up and headed out the front door. When Jason showed up with him, Carl was lighting a cigarette as Jason stood beside him, arms folded.

"She was supposed to win," Jason repeated.

"Like your own kid said, it's just a board game," Carl restated.

"You don't...." Jason said, "...I have to have this, it's all I have left. Everyone, even my own wife, does better than I do. I need to win Family Game Night. I recognize it's an unhealthy thing to have, this fixation on winning and being the best, but goddammit, it's all I've got left."

"You've got a wife and a child," Carl said, blowing smoke into the air, "It's not all you've got left. Stop being so damn dramatic."

Carl put the cigarette out and headed back inside, as Jason sat on the front steps and silently cried into his palms. That night, in the car driving home, Jason still wasn't over it. He was gripping the steering wheel with such intensity, while Belle slept in the back seat and Anna scrolled through her social media newsfeeds on her cell phone.

"Tonight was a mistake," Jason said, "Everything I've ever done has been a mistake."

"Jesus, you don't need to go THAT overboard," Anna said, "Besides, not everything you've ever done has been a mistake. Marrying me wasn't, right? Having Belle wasn't, right?"

"I will always be seen poorly by that family, all because I refuse to be mediocre," Jason said, "Because I...I refuse to be middle of the road, or an underdog. When did being successful become something to be ashamed of? Embarrassed by? They rally around Carl, and they make fun of me. That's backwards."

"Maybe you're right, maybe everything has been a mistake," Anna said, "Let me out of the car."

Jason pulled over, somewhat surprised by his wifes attitude. As she got out, she leaned in through her open window and told him, "Put her to bed, no dessert, try not to even wake her up, honestly. I'll be home in a bit. I just need to be alone for a bit."

Jason nodded, then pulled away and kept driving, looking in his rearview mirror at her. After he was well out of sight, Anna began walking.

                                                                                   ***

Ashley was in her kitchenette in her apartment, making a smoothie when there was a knock at her door. She opened it to find Anna standing there. Ashley pulled down on the oversized college sweatshirt she was wearing with nothing else, but Anna just waited and finally spoke softly.

"Are you alone?" Anna asked.

"Only all the time," Ashley replied, both of them snickering.

"...can I come in?" Anna asked, and Ashley nodded.

"I'm making a smoothie, I can make you one if you-"

But Anna had her lips pressed firmly against Ashley's before she could even finish the offer. They found their way to the couch, and spent most of the time there.

Anna didn't get home until late that night.

Ella was asleep, dreaming of something safe and familiar, something she'd been dreaming about a lot lately, when she felt herself start to wake up. Her eyes fluttered open slowly, and into her blurry vision came the view of a blonde girl staring right at her from the side of her bed. This shook Ella awake completely, startled and confused. It turns out it was just Gilly, who appeared giddy as an only child on Christmas morning.

"You're awake!" she said happily, "We're going for a hike today!"

"What time is it?" Ella asked, wiping her eyes, as Gilly checked her watch.

"It's about eight in the morning, we aren't going for the hike until noon, but I wanted to get breakfast," Gilly said, and Ella, now sitting up and running her hands through her hair, looked a bit annoyed.

"You couldn't just get breakfast?" she asked.

"I...I didn't wanna go alone," Gilly said, and Ella could understand that. Gilly waited as Ella got up, woke up and got dressed in their camp uniforms, then headed out the cabin door and towards the main hall for breakfast. Gilly was almost skipping, so seemingly excited.

"How can you be this awake this early?" Ella asked.

"I like being up before everyone else," Gilly said, "It makes the world seem safe when you're the only one in it. Nobody can bother you or hurt you, everything is quiet and perfect."

It was hard to argue with her worldview, that was for sure.

                                                                                      ***

The girls got some fresh fruit, pancakes and Gilly made Ella have some coffee with her, exclaiming that "this was camp, and camp is where you try new things!". So she did, and surprisingly, she didn't hate it. As the girls sat at their table, eating their breakfast, Ella wasn't shocked to not see too many other people in the main hall this early. Just then, she felt someone sit on the other side of her, and glanced over to see Amie sitting there, holding a small plastic tupperware with her name lovingly written on it in cursive.

"You have breakfast too?" Ella asked.

"That's my mom for you," Amie said, "Sparrow Cabin is boring. What's Rabbit Cabin like?"

"It's okay I guess," Ella said, "I don't know why there's different cabins. Isn't camp supposed to promote the idea of teamwork and togetherness? How can you claim you're doing that when you're putting people in separate cabins and forcing them to compete against one another? You don't teach teamwork by forcing teams to work against other teams...that's not teamwork, that's just competition."

"I disagree, it teaches you to work with your own team, because you know not everybody in the world is going to like you or work with you, so you work with the people you do have," Gilly said, "At least that's how I've felt since coming here. But..."

"...what?" Amie asked.

"Well, I'm not one to know, really, since nobody ever wants me on their team," Gilly said, pushing her hair back behind her ear, and continuing to cut up her pancakes.

"Good morning ladies," Charlie said, "Getting your energy up for the hike?"

"There's a hike?" Amie asked.

"Yep, Rabbit Cabin & Sparrow Cabin are going for a hike together today. It may be a few hours long, so get as much food in you as you can, because you'll need the spare energy to burn. Once we reach our destination we will camp and make a campfire and stuff that people usually do at camp, but we need to get there first. Meet back at Rabbit Cabin after you're done eating. I don't want the troops mixed before we head out."

Charlie turned and headed to the breakfast line to get her own vitals, as Amie looked back at Gilly.

"A hike..." Amie repeated, sound rather unenthusiastic.

                                                                                      ***

"So what's your family like?" Gilly asked as they marched up a hill, aside their cabin members, the troops now mixed together for the hike.

"My dad is pretty cool I guess. He makes stuff for people, like, commercials and-"

"He's an ad man," Amie said, and Ella nodded.

"Yeah, that's it, an ad man. He works in advertisement. My mom is cool too, she illustrates childrens books," Ella continued, "But she hasn't been working a lot lately, she's been kind of sick. That's why they sent me to camp, was so they could have some time alone, maybe get her to feel better."

"I'm sorry," Gilly said, then turning to Amie, "What about your family?"

"I have no family," Amie replied, "I was raised in the wild by a pack of wolves."

"That's unrealistic, you'd be feral if that were true," Gilly said, "And you seem somewhat civilized, so I know it's a joke."

Amie actually cracked a bit of a smile and, while toying with her hair, said, "Well, my stepdad wants me to be more social, and my mom really needs him to support us. She lost everything in the divorce, and she doesn't make enough to support us, so...my stepdad doesn't like that she has a kid, but oh well. He's gonna have to put up with me."

"You don't know that he doesn't like you," Ella said, "Every kid thinks that their-"

"No, he told me," Amie interrupted, causing Gilly and Ella to give eachother a nervous look, both rather surprised by this truth. The girls didn't talk much the rest of the hike. Meanwhile, Charlie and the Sparrow Cabin leader, a young, thin man with short black hair, named Ryan, were walking well ahead of the girls.

"I really didn't want to have to do this again," Charlie said, hands in her pockets, kicking rocks as she walked watching the ground, "I really thought that by this summer, I'd have everything figured out and that I'd be somewhere nice and have my work finished and I'd have my life started, but nope, here I am, once again, at Camp Kill Yourself."

"I know it's not ideal, but hey, I mean, at least it's a job. You are getting paid," Ryan said, "That's more than most people who can't get on their feet end up with. They can't even find unpaid internships. You at least have employment, and for the summer, you have a roof over your head and some food to eat."

"Don't give me the whole 'it can always get worse' routine, dude, because I know it can always get worse. The problem isn't that it could get worse, it's that it never gets better or gets worse. Stagnation is far more frustrating than failure, in my humble opinion. At least with failure, you know you failed, you can move on and try again. But with stagnation, with not knowing...that's annoying. You're scared to make any move, lest the move you make be the wrong one that makes everything a thousand times worse," Charlie said, and Ryan nodded, handing her a water bottle.

"You do have a point," Ryan admitted, "Well then how about we abandon the whole 'it can get worse' idea and instead embrace a new idealogy, the 'it can get better' belief system? Instead of thinking about how much worse things could get, how much further down the rung of societies ladder you could fall, instead think about how much better it will get once you're done here. How far up that ladder you'll climb instead? I think that's fair."

"You're a real optimist, and frankly it's disgusting," Charlie said, smirking, making Ryan blush.

They eventually reached their destination, a spot at the camp called "Roys Peak". It was a small clearing on the top of a mountain hike. Ryan and Charlie started setting up tents and making a campfire, as the girls got used to their overnight campsite. Gilly sat by herself on a log, braiding her hair a bit while Amie and Ella took in the scenery. Amie was looking at an anthill while Ella knelt beside her, just watching her interact with the ants.

"You didn't mean that did you? About your step dad hating you?" Ella asked.

"I did. He loves my mom, and I like him for that because my mom is great and she deserves it, but he...he might not hate me, but he wishes they could have their own child, and that she hadn't had a child already," Amie said.

"...do you think they'll have a child?" Ella asked, and Amie just shrugged. Meanwhile, Charlie and Ryan were working on getting the campfire made. Charlie had set up most of the tents and, being somewhat wary of fire, had decided to let Ryan handle that part. The both of them kneeling around the campfire while Ryan tried to get it getting, Charlie couldn't help but snicker at his short comings.

"Did you ever camp as a kid?" she asked.

"Yes, I did. It's just that my parents didn't exactly ask their children under 10 years of age to start fires, so forgive me if I'm a little slow on the uptake," Ryan said, just as the fire caught to the leaves and he cheered for himself. Charlie patted his back as she stood back up.

"Good job, we're all proud of you. Alright, girls, gather 'round, okay?" she called out, getting all the girls to come sit on the logs surrounding the campfire, "Now, this is camp, which obviously means traditions like smores and ghost stories and all that usual camp fare, but we also are here to teach you self worth and confidence, which is why every summer, on the first hike, we each go around and mention something we like about ourselves."

Charlie sat on a log and pointed across the campfire at a girl with short black hair and a freckled face.

"Melissa, why don't you start?" she asked.

"I guess I like how good I am at school. Everyone in my class is always asking for my help with homework and stuff, because I keep my notes so organized," Melissa said, "Makes me feel important." As she finished she looked at the girl sitting next to her, who had long dark brown hair and a toothy smile.

"I like that I taught myself an instrument last year. I saw this kid on youtube who could play bass, and I decided I wanted to do that too, so I asked my parents to get me one and they did for my birthday, so I taught myself, and I'm hoping to join a band next year!" As she finished, she looked at Ella, who stumbled for her words, but quickly caught herself.

"Uh, I...I like...how good I am at meeting people. I don't really like meeting people, but the fact that it comes easily for me...I don't know, it makes things easier, I guess? It makes things not so awkward. I still don't like meeting people, but at least it's easy for me," Ella said, and then looked at Gilly, who was sitting between her and Amie. Gilly didn't really talk at first, and then after a moment, she sighed.

"I don't really like anything about myself," she said quietly, "I wish I could, but I can't, because my parents don't like anything about me, if and my parents can't like anything about me, then why should I."

Nobody really said anything for a moment, and then the confessions went on. As Gilly looked at her shoes, kicking her feet gently against the log, she felt Ella's hand gripping hers, hiding them under her thigh so nobody would see. Gilly sort of glanced at her, half smiling, half blushing.

                                                                                   ***

Laying in the tent that night, Ella couldn't sleep. Gilly had gotten up to pee, but hadn't come back in yet, leaving the tent flap half opened. Ella finally got out of her sleeping bag and unzipped the flap the rest of the way, climbed out of the tent and zipped the flap back up. She turned and immediately caught sight of Gilly sitting on the log in front of the campfire, still going strongly. She had a stick and was poking it from time to time. Ella came up behind, stepped over the log and took her seat beside Gilly.

"Hey, are you ok?" Ella asked.

"Yeah," Gilly said, pulling her blanket up around her shoulders, "I just don't like that game. Charlie makes us do it every year, and I never have anything good to say about myself."

"It's ok," Ella said, "...it's ok if your parents don't like you. I like you."

"Thanks, I like you too," Gilly replied, smiling.

Ella laid her head on Gilly's shoulder, and they sat like that well into the night, just watching the flames licking the sweet camp air.

"What in the Ella Fitzgerald does 'antidisestablishmentarianism' even mean?" Carl asked, staring at the dictionary, sitting at the kitchen island in his parents house, where he currently lived. His father, Harold, was standing across from him, eating a sandwich.

"I'm not sure that's a real word," Harold said, mouth full of lettuce and cheese.

"It's in the dictionary," Carl said, "Books can't lie."

"Uh, ever hear of fiction?" Harold asked, taking a swig of orange juice, "Books lie alllll the time."

"You are the single most infuriating person on the planet," Carl said flatly, glaring at his father.

"It's too bad they don't give awards for that," Harold said, looking off into space vacantly, "I would be so proud."

                                                                                        ***

Jason and Anna were sitting in the car in front of The Fullers house, not saying anything. Jason sighed and scratched the back of his head, unsure of what even could be said. Anna looked at her salmon colored nails and looked at her husband.

"Do you not want this?" she finally asked, "Do you not want to have another child?"

"I don't know what I want," Jason said, "I really...I don't know."

"The whole idea is to grow up, get a job and raise your own kids," Anna said, "I mean, not for every woman, but that's what it was for me. It's what I wanted. You said you wanted it too. Or did you just lie about that to get into my pants? You can't be a total liar because we have Belle and you love her."

"Of course I do," Jason said, "I wanted to have children with you. Just...in this financial climate, even with as good as our careers are, I just...I'm scared, alright, I'm honestly a little nervous about the whole thing. And to be frank-"

Just then, there was a knock on his window. Jason rolled down the drivers side window to see his sister Ashley standing there, a scarf around her neck, her nose bright red.

"It isn't THAT cold out here," Jason said, and she sneezed right onto his face. He wiped his face down with his hands, a look of abject horror swallowing his features as Ashley smiled and apologized.

"I'm sick," she said, "I just wanted to give Anna something."

"Fine, go ahead, I'm going to go inside now. I have to burn my face off," Jason said, getting out of the car and heading into the house as Ashley took his seat in the car. She reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a bracelet.

"This is for you," she said, "It was given to me by someone I dated once, but I figured you should have it since you're pregnant and all. Like a sister thing, I guess. I don't know...having grown up with two brothers I guess I don't really know how to do the whole sisterly bonding thing."

"It's fine," Anna said, smiling warmly and taking the bracelet, sliding it over her wrist, "Thank you Ashley. You're doing fine. Just don't sneeze on me."

"I only did that to get him out of the car."

"I'll have to remember that."

                                                                                      ***

"You shouldn't even need a dictionary, Carl. You did great at english when you were in school," Harold said, "I remember you always brought home your report cards and your english grade was always the A+ on the card. Everything else was questionable-"

"Thank you."

"-but that was always the one at the top. You don't need a dictionary. Besides, it's cheating."

"Cheating? It's not like I can write down crib notes on my arms. I don't have that good a memory," Carl said, "You look in this dictionary and tell me that you can remember a single word or how it's spelt without it being a word you use on a day to day basis."

"I don't need to, I'm in my 60s, I'm past learning," Harold said, "Once you hit a certain age, you're not required to update your views or beliefs on anything anymore, and whatever you say, no matter how inaccurate or insensitive it might be, is totally right. Them's the rules. I didn't make it this way, blame society."

Just then, Jason stopped in the doorway of the kitchen, wiping his face down with a hand towel. Carl and Harold looked over at him, as he finished and tossed the hand towel into the laundry machine sitting in the middle room between the foyer and the kitchen.

"Ashley sneezed on me," Jason said.

"Didn't know you were into that sort of thing," Carl replied.

"Ashley's here? Alright, let's get this game on then," Harold said, finishing his sandwich and wiping his hands on his pants, "Your mother's not able to be here tonight. She's visiting a friend at the hospital, so it'll just be me. Scrabble can only have 4 players, so Jason, you'll have to decide if you or Anna want to play. It'll be myself, Carl, Ashley and one of you."

"I'll play," Jason said.

"Play what?" Anna asked, entering with Ashley from behind them.

"Scrabble," Jason said, "It's only 4 players, so I'm going to play for us, 'cause I'm the better...guy...with words."

"Well said," Carl said.

"You can't even speak correctly, what makes you think you could spell?" Ashley asked, wiping her nose on her sleeve.

"You're sick, go home," Jason said, "Why did you even come tonight? Just to sneeze over everyone?"

"I came because I'm part of the family," Ashley said, "At least that's what they always told me."

Harold passed by everyone and headed into the living room to set up the game, Anna and Ashley following him to help. Jason looked at Carl, as he shut the dictionary and put it on the island top. Jason leaned against the island and crossed his arms, sighing.

"If you had a wife, and a kid, and she got pregnant again, would you be excited or scared?" Jason asked.

"Me, personally? I'd be thrilled," Carl said as he got off the stool at the island.

"Really?"

"You see anything else going on in my life?" Carl asked, as he headed past Jason into the living room.

As they all took their seats on and around the couch, Jason couldn't believe what Carl had said. Was it a 'the grass is always greener' situation, where one wants what one does not have? Had to be. There's no way Carl could really want that...Jason found he himself barely wanted it anymore, and that scared him even more, but he couldn't tell that to anyone. Not in this family. Not where everything is used as ammunition against you at some point in the future...

Harold gave everyone a letter bar, took 7 letters from the letter pouch and then passed it around. Jason took his, Ashley took hers and Carl took his. Anna sat down beside Carl and looked at his letters. Carl sipped his beer and glanced at her.

"What?" he asked.

"We're going to teach my husband a lesson," Anna said.

"How do you propose we do that?" Carl asked.

"You're talking to the spelling bee champion of her grade school," Anna said, "I have all the ribbons to prove it."

"I'm learning so much about you lately," Carl said.

Harold was always first to go, so he picked a few tiles off his bar and laid them bare on the board, spelling out, "Zone". Jason looked irritated. He'd already used the 'Z'? This was not going to be a good game for anyone. Ashley went next, taking her tiles and off the 'o' in zone spelled out 'Orange'. Jason sighed and looked back at his tile bar.

"You know," Ashley said, "I'm not that great at spelling, so with my cold, I guess I could've just stayed home tonight."

"Nah, I'm glad you came, pumpkin," Harold said, kissing the side of her head, "It's not family game night without you."

Jason looked from them over at Carl and Anna, his brief smile turning into a grimace, as he noticed she was whispering in his ear. Jason went next, and he spelt 'Rage' off the 'r' in orange. After a moment of quiet deliberation, Carl took the 'g' in 'rage' and spelt 'regards'. Jason looked furious as they tallied up his points, and Anna patted him on the back, her eyes boring a hole into Jason's skull. Jason couldn't stand this. He cleared his throat and looked back at his tile bar, as everyone took more tiles from the pouch, passing it around to each player.

"So Carl, I spoke to Lindsay the other day," Jason said, and Carl shot him a look as Jason continued, "Lindsay, if you don't know, Anna, is our cousin who lives in Alaska now. Carl had the biggest crush on her back when we were teenagers."

"You crushed on our cousin?" Ashley asked.

"Kids don't recognize the boundaries when they're that age," Carl said, "You find me one family where something semi incestuous didn't take place, and I'll give you 50 dollars, because everyone went through that sort of thing. At least I didn't have a thing for Miss Hinkley."

"What?!" Ashley screeched, her voice rough and she started coughing, then exclaimed, "Seriously?! Our 80 year old homeroom teacher in middle school!?"

"Jason," Harold said, "I'm not one to judge, everyone's into what they're into, but ew."

"Wait," Ashley said, "Is that why you always wanted Miss Grimmish to babysit us when were little? Because she was like in her 70s too."

"I'm respectful of the elderly," Jason said, his fists tightening, "That's all it is. They're wise, they have knowledge they can give us, it's nothing sexual. I did not get anything out of it other than that,"

"He told me he once had a dream about Miss Hinkley where he woke up and his sheets were all sticky," Carl said, and Anna started cracking up. Jason could feel his face flushing, and he balled his hands up completely on his knees, rage building up inside of him.

Harold took his turn and played off 'Regards', as Ashley searched her tiles for something to make, still snickering to herself.

"You know," Ashley said, "I liked my history teacher when I was in high school, but he was at least in his late 30s."

"Mr. Cumberland?" Carl asked, and Ashley nodded, coughing into her scarf.

"Yeah," she replied, "Yeah, he was very nice to me, probably because I always flirted with him."

"Back when I was teaching," Harold said, "That was a big problem at the university. You think it's bad now because it's all over the news, but no, it's been an ongoing problem for a long time. Not just female students either, but male students hooking up with their female professors and everything. Female students and female professors, the possibilities are endless and always possible."

"Really?" Anna asked, "I guess I never really think about it since Belle is so young, but I guess I had crushes on my teachers too."

"I'm glad Betty and I were smart enough and waited until she graduated to become official," Harold said, and everyone stopped what they were doing, all staring at him as he reached into the chip bowl on the table beside him, pushing chips into his mouth. He finished chewing, noticed their glances and asked, "What?"

"Wait...mom was a student?" Ashley asked.

"Your mother was a student, she was my TA," Harold said, "Things were very close to being very serious between us, but we waited until she graduated and it wouldn't be weird, mostly because another professor caught a lot of shit dating a TA of his own, and we didn't want to go down that road after seeing how poorly they were treated because of it."

Nobody really knew what to say. Ashley shook her head and finally played her word, making a word off Harold's and then waited for Jason, who was still staring at his father with his jaw a bit agape. Carl and Anna were conversing over Carl's letter choices, but Jason couldn't be bothered at all to even notice the game anymore. He was stuck on this mind blowing revelation about his parents.

"Is that why mom is like 10 years younger than you?" Jason asked.

"Yeah, she was going back to school to finish her degree and stuff, and became my TA during that process," Harold said, "She was so beautiful then, I mean she still is today, but god she was stunning, and I couldn't take my eyes off of her. We kept things so secretive, and we always sent one another flowers and little gifts, anonymously, so nobody suspected us."

"Awww," Ashley and Anna said in unison, sing songy.

Jason finally played a word, 'Total', off of Ashley's word, and then looked back at his father. He was fixated on this.

"So you and mom-"

"We waited until she graduated, and I took a year leave so we could really see how serious it would be," Harold said, "I really wanted it to work. I knew from the second date onward that she was the woman I wanted to have a family with."

"Awww," Ashley and Anna said in unison again.

"So mom and you-"

"Eat it bitch!" Carl said, slamming down his tiles, building the word 'Portrait' off Jason's word, landing on a triple word score and a double letter score on the 'P' tile. Jason looked at the board for a few minutes, then stood up and started walking out of the room. Ashley grabbed his arm and stopped him, standing up behind him, getting him to face her.

"Jason, come on, just finish the game," Ashley said, "I'm sick and I came, so you-"

"Did you not hear dad? Did you not hear this tonight? That our father was the epitome of the cliche pervy professor?" Jason asked.

"Hey!" Harold said soundly, "I may have been pervy, but I was barely a professor, thank you very much."

"Jason-" Ashley started, looking him in the eyes, and then within seconds, while everyone waited for something profound to come out of her mouth, were instead greeted by a storm of vomit collapsing into Jason's nice leather shoes. Jason screamed and stormed out of the house, while Carl helped Ashley, telling Anna to go to her husband. Jason hadn't gotten very far, he was merely sitting on the front porch swing with his shoes off, looking out at the lawn. Anna sat down beside him, and sighed, pulling her hair back a little.

"Jason-"

"You heard my dad."

"Why's it bother you so much? So he dated your mother while she was a student, what's the-"

"That's...that's not it. You heard him. You heard how he spoke about her and how much he loved her. How he knew from their second date that she was the woman he wanted to have a family with, her beautiful she was..." Jason said, starting to tear up a little, "My father...I've never really felt like he and I were very similar, and know I really know we aren't because...because I've never treated you with a modicum of love the way he has with my mother."

"...Jason, that's not true, you're very sweet to me," Anna said, holding his hand, "You're not cold hearted or something, you're a very sweet man, and you can be very romantic in your own way. So you're not that open about your emotions, so what, not many men are, but that doesn't mean you care any less. I know you care. I know you love me."

Jason didn't respond.

Meanwhile, Carl had helped Ashley into the upstairs bathroom, wiping off her clothes while she sat on the toilet, almost in tears. Carl felt really bad for his sister. Not only was she sick, and having to do family game night while being sick, but he could feel something else was bothering her.

"Why didn't you bring your date tonight?" Carl asked.

"I don't know," Ashley said, "After that night, things haven't been as good between us. All this talk about crushes and stuff tonight-"

"Look, we were kids, you know how it is," Carl said.

"Oh I know, I'm not going to judge you," Ashley said, "I just...I think I have a crush on Anna."

"...really?" Carl asked, sitting on the side of the tub, next to the toilet, now just talking to his sister, "You like Jason's wife? Do you think it's serious, or?"

"I gave her a bracelet tonight," Ashley said, "It was under the guise that she was pregnant, a sort of congrats gift, but it's not that at all. It's just that I...I really like her. She's so pretty, and really smart and sweet and Jason is..."

"He's Jason."

"Exactly."

"...thanks for talking to me about it Carl," Ashley said, and Carl smiled, patting her shoulder.

                                                                                      ***

Laying in bed at home, Anna kept turning the bracelet around on her wrist when Jason came in with two bowls of ice cream, surprising her. She thanked him, and they ate ice cream together, laughing at late night talk shows.

After Jason fell asleep, and Anna laid in bed, unable to sleep, she picked up her cell phone from the night stand and sent Ashley and Carl a Facebook Scrabble game request. Carl must've been asleep because he didn't respond, but Ashley did, and the girls spent the night playing Scrabble alone.

Turns out Carl wasn't actually asleep, however, but that Ashley had asked him to not respond to the request, so she and Anna could play alone, and he'd done as she'd asked.

"Sometimes the best way to spend time with someone is by not doing anything at all together," Harold had once said, in defense of family game night. Turns out he was right.

Ella had to admit...the camp was beautiful, just as Gilly said it would be. When the bus pulled in over the old wooden bridge, cozy and nestled by treetops overhead, she really did start to actually feel like this summer might be good after all. The bus came to a complete halt, and the doors opened. A young woman, appearing to be in her mid to late twenties or early thirties stepped on board, in full scout uniform, holding a clipboard. She had the most bored, uninterested look on her face.

"Okay, hello girls, I'm Charlie Robinson, and I'm the leader of Rabbit Cabin. I'm going to call off some of your names, and if I call your name, it means you will be in Rabbit Cabin. If you're called, please grab your things, step off the bus and stay by the bus. I will be with you when I've gotten everyone."

The girls chattered excitedly, as Charlie held up the clipboard and cleared her throat. She sounded like she was sick or something.

"Alright, Jeanie McQueen," she started, as a girl with dark oak colored hair got up, grabbed her things and walked off the bus. As Charlie continued to call off name after name, and girl after girl followed suit off the bus, Gilly turned back around in her chair and looked at Ella.

"This is so exciting! We might be in the same cabin!" she said, nearly bouncing up and down.

"That would be so exciting, I can't even contain myself," Amie said dryly, making Ella snicker a little to herself. Gilly smiled, clearly not recognizing Amie's comment, and turned back around on the seat face forward. Charlie continued, and when it got to a good size group gone, she finally read the last names on her list.

"Ella Fitzroy and Ramona Gilly," she finished off, taking a sip from her canteen. Gilly giggled excitedly as she got up and grabbed her things. Ella looked at Amie, who looked completely crestfallen. As she reached down to grab her suitcase, she looked at Amie again and smiled.

"Well," Ella said, "We can still see eachother at breaks and stuff!"

Amie forced a smile, but Ella could tell it didn't really please her. Gilly took Ella's wrist and nearly dragged her off the bus with her, almost gliding along ecstatically. As they got off the bus and stood by the side, waiting for the rest of their bags and their new cabin leader, Gilly just couldn't contain her excitement. She looked all around, but babbled endlessly to Ella.

"We can stay up and tell ghost stories and stuff after the rest of the cabin has fallen asleep, oh this'll be so much fun! Now, do you want the top bunk or the bottom bunk? I don't really mind, in fact, I have a bit of a fear of heights, so if you take the-"

"I'll take the top, yeah," Ella said, and Gilly clapped happily. Charlie finally came off the bus and passed by another young woman with her own clipboard, heading onto the bus. Charlie looked at the girls, sighed heavily and waved her hand, as if trying to indicate to them to follow her. Gilly took Ella's hand, and some luggage in her other hand and started following Charlie.

"So, who's first time at camp is this?" Charlie asked, walking backwards so she could face the girls. A number of hands raised up, but it wasn't many, and Charlie counted for a moment, "Okay...yeah that sounds about right. Most of you I recognize from last summer. Well, I'm counting on you returning campers to help the new girls to acclimate to the whole thing. It's a little weird at first, but you'll get the hang of it."

"I'm already helping one of them," Gilly said, holding up Ella's hand, and Charlie smirked.

"That's good, Gilly. Well done," Charlie replied, "Alright girls, I'll explain the rules when we get to the cabin. Let's just get there first so I don't run out of breath, 'cause I'm not in the best shape despite running a summer camp cabin."

Some of the girls laughed as Charlie turned back around and they continued on towards the cabin. Once inside, Gilly picked out a bunk for herself and Ella, and they put their luggage down. Ella slid her suitcase with her fish under the bottom bunk, and then sat on the bunk when Gilly plopped down beside her. Ella watched the other girls putting their luggage away, and then looked at Gilly for a moment.

"I knew your friend was being sarcastic," Gilly said suddenly, taking Ella by surprise with her change of tone, "I'm not stupid. I know she didn't like me. I'm kind of glad she isn't in the cabin though, because if she were, you two would be friends, and I'd be alone again all summer."

This token of reality took Ella completely by surprise. She hadn't expected Gilly to be so somber. She had known girls like Gilly at school; perky and bubbly and overachievers but a lot meaner too. She'd never met someone like that who was nice, who had depth, like Gilly had. It was almost as if her cheery persona was nothing but a front, a mask, to hide who she really was from everyone else for fear they really didn't like her. If they didn't like the bubbly version of her, how could they like the real version?

"Well," Ella said, "I...I'm glad we're bunkmates then."

Gilly looked at Ella and smiled warmly, genuinely, not the fake smile she'd had plastered on all morning. Just then, Charlie called the girls into the cabin foyer and told them to hang out for a minute so she could get a list. When she came back, she put on some reading glasses.

"Alright, so for those who're new here, here's a short list of the things you shouldn't do. Some of these are super obvious, like, no late night hikes without supervision, stupid things like that. No swimming without a counselor present. Listen, I've actually printed out copies of this thing, and you can all read them yourselves, yeah? Saves me the trouble. You should all be literate, I take it," Charlie said, "Keegan, can you hand these out please?"

A girl with short black hair took the papers and started passing them out to all the other girls. Gilly took one but immediately folded it up neatly and slipped it into her shirt pocket, patting it gently.

"I have it all memorized up here," she said, pointing at her head, "Stick with me and you'll do fine."

"Good to know," Ella said.

The rest of the first day was the girls to have, to get settled in and ready for the coming activities. Ella and Gilly spent it outside, sitting under a big elm tree while Gilly made a flower crown. Ella just picked at the dirt in the soles of her shoes, trying not to think about what her parents were doing back home.

"Did your parents send you here to get rid of you too?" Ella asked, "That's what my parents did."

"I don't know, I haven't seen my parents in months," Gilly replied, tying one flower stem to another tightly.

"What?"

"Mhm," Gilly said, pushing some hair back behind her ear, "They went to France for business, and I haven't seen them since then. I've been staying with my nanny."

"...wow," Ella said, "Don't you miss them?"

"How can I miss people who're never there?" Gilly responded, quite sternly, as if she'd been asked that before. Ella sensed a feeling of bitterness under those words, so she dropped the whole thing. After another minute, Gilly finished the crown and put it on top of Ella's head.

"There!" Gilly said, "That looks wonderful! I'm a true fashion diva!"

Ella got up and walked over to the nearby lake, leaning over to look in at her reflection, and smiled. It was actually very pretty, and looked very nice on her. Gilly came and stood beside her, both of them looking at Ella's reflection before Gilly pointed at a rowboat in the lake.

"Look at that," she said, and Ella and she turned to look at the rowboat, filled with a few boys and a guy who looked around Charlies age.

"Must be from the boy camp," Ella said.

"There's a boy camp?" Gilly asked.

"I just assumed, I mean, we have one, so why wouldn't there be?" Ella asked, and Gilly blushed.

"I never thought that we might have a boy camp nearby," she said, "It's never even occurred to me that that was a possibility. How exciting."

Just then, the dinner bell rang, and the girls were all called into the main hall for dinner. Sitting at the long tables in the main hall, stirring her peas with her fork, Ella just couldn't figure out what this feeling she felt was. Maybe isolation? But could you be isolated while still surrounded by people? She wasn't sure. Maybe this was what independence felt like; being away from your parents and all. Maybe. Maybe it was-

"Excuse me?" a girl asked from behind, and Ella looked around to see a black girl standing behind her, about a year older than her.

"Yeah?" Ella asked.

"I'm just letting you know, be careful around that Gilly girl," the girl said, "She's tried to kiss other girls at the camp before, and I didn't want you to be surprised by it. I'm just looking out for you."

Ella looked a bit to the right, where Gilly was standing giddily in line, waiting for her food and talking to a girl who didn't even appear to be slightly interested. Ella looked back at the girl and nodded.

"Tha-thanks," Ella said, "I'll...uh...I'll make sure to be aware of that."

"Of course," the girl said, smiling, before heading back to her own table.

Lying on the top bunk of her bed that night, her open suitcase laying on her chest, her finger in the water while her fish nibbled at it, Ella couldn't help but replay that scene over and over again in her head. She looked down at the bunk below her, where Gilly was fast asleep, sucking on the tip of her thumb, and she blushed. Ella shut the suitcase and then covered her face with her pillow.

She'd been right all along.

This summer was going to suck.

"I look as forward to this as I do to my period," Anna said, checking her eyes in the mirror while Jason drove. He shrugged and switched lanes while she reached forward to fiddle with the radio dials.

"I know it's not the most pleasant way to spend an evening, but it's something we've done since I was a kid," Jason said, "Besides, you like my brother, don't you?"

"Like's too strong a word," Anna said.

"...tolerates?"

"This is getting awkward," Anna said, flipping the mirror shut and looking at him, "I'm just saying, why can't your family do something different? Why can't they...I don't know, go out bowling or...or maybe just have a family dinner? Why does it have to be game night? We all know how it's going to go. It ends the same way every week."

"Well, how about this, if things don't go a bit smoother this week, we'll either threaten to not come next week, or we'll leave early, yeah?" Jason asked, "That sound ok?"

Anna smiled as he reached over, pulled her head to his and kissed the side of it. They came to a red light and stopped, when Anna pointed at Jasons window. Jason turned and saw a moped beside their car, then rolled his window down and leaned out of it a bit. The girl on the moped pulled her helmet visor up a bit and smiled at him.

"Hey," she said, "Tell mom I'm gonna be a little late, I have to pick something up."

"I can do that," Jason said, then sighed, "Do you know what the game is tonight?"

"Chutes and Ladders," Ashley said, "Dad texted me earlier to tell me. So, another childhood classic, forever scarred...where's Belle?" she asked, craning her neck to look inside the car.

"Please," Jason said, "I'm not going to bring my children to a family get together."

Ashley laughed as the light turned green. She dropped the visor on her helmet, kicked the peddle and took off. Anna looked at Jason and smirked.

"What?" Jason asked.

"Your sister's fuckin' cool," Anna said.

                                                                                       ***

"I'm sick and tired of playing second fiddle to a guy who once had a Bride of Frankenstein poster on his wall because he thought she was hot," Carl said, sitting at the island counter in the family kitchen, face resting on his fists.

"You know that was you, right?" their father, Harold said, "That was your poster."

"...yeah, well, there's nothing I can make fun of him for, because he's perfect!" Carl replied, "Just once, one time, I wish someone would look at the two of us standing next to one another, and say 'You know what, Carl, you really are a lot cooler than Jason'. Just once, is that too much to ask?"

"Does this person know you personally?" Harold asked as he set down a block of cheese and started cutting it.

"...no?"

"Then how'd they know your names?"

"...We're wearing nametags," Carl said, annoyed.

"So in this alternate reality, you guys just wear nametags on the off chance that someone comes up to you to make brash character judgements?" Harold asked, eating a slice of cheese. Carl groaned, clearly frustrated, as he reached for the block of cheese to cut himself a few slices.

"That isn't the point! Even my prom date ended up going with him because he's the better looking one!" Carl said, "And she was blind!"

"That one must've hurt, yeah," Harold said, "...but about this nametag thing, is that everyone has to wear them, is it optional? Or is this just something you and Jason decided on so that-"

"Forget the nametags!" Carl shouted.

"Who's wearing nametags?" Betty asked, coming into the kitchen from the foyer, putting her bracelet on around her right wrist.

"Nobody is wearing nametags!" Carl shouted.

"You know, they gave us nametags at work one time when I was in my twenties," Harold said, "It was when I was working at that photo place off Main and 3rd, remember Bets? I guess they thought it was weird for strangers to be developing photos of like, peoples family vacations and children and so they wanted to make it more personal, make it like we were old friends or something, so they made us wear nametags. Stupidest idea ever."

"I swear to god, the next person to say the word nametag is not going to leave this kitchen alive," Carl said through gritted teeth, "I will kill both of you and then I will kill myself."

"You know what they say," Harold said, "The family who slays together stays together."

Just then there was a knock at the door. Betty scrambled off to answer the door as Carl and Harold handed the cheese block and knife back and forth, each eating their slices. Harold sighed, chewing, paused in thought.

"You know, wearing a name tag is probably the best way to not get murdered," Harold said, "I mean, who's gonna murder someone they know the name of?"

"I know your name, I'm about to murder you," Carl said. Just then Jason, Betty and Anna came into the kitchen. Jason hugged Harold, while Anna patted Carl on the back and pulled up a stool beside him at the island counter.

"Ashley's going to be a little late, she's picking something up. We can set the board up and stuff and I'm sure she'll be here before we start the game," Jason said, as Harold nodded and headed out to set the board up. Betty looked at Anna and smiled.

"I love your hair, sweetheart," she said, "Did you just have it done?"

"Yeah," Anna said, running her fingers through it, "It's...it's a little different, I was kinda nervous at first, but I think I like it."

"It looks adorable," Betty said.

"What about me? I got a haircut last week, you didn't say I looked adorable," Carl said.

"What, competing with me isn't enough, you gotta compete with my wife now?" Jason asked.

"I just want some recognition," Carl said.

Just then there was a soft crash, and they could hear Harold cursing a bit. Betty and Jason both went to help him clean up the pieces of the game and set it up. Anna got up, walked to the fridge and pulled out a beer, and then grabbed another one for Carl. She sat back down and they opened their drinks, taking a swig each.

"So," Anna said, softening her voice, "I guess I'll tell you, because I have to tell someone. Um...so this morning, I went and-"

"Game's on!" Harold shouted from the living room. Anna rolled her eyes and stood up, finishing her beer, crushing the can and leaving it on the island. Carl followed her, his own beer can still in his hand. He couldn't imagine what she had been on the verge of revealing to him. Nobody ever revealed things to Carl, and it was going to eat him alive the entire night now. Carl and Anna sat down on the couch next to Jason, while Harold and Betty took their seats.

"When's Ashley getting here?" Harold asked.

"She shouldn't be much longer, let's just get started," Jason said, handing Harold the dice before looking at his brother, "So...how's it going, looking for a job and all? It's a tough economy right now."

"Seriously? Immediately? Just like that?" Carl asked, "No 'hey, you look good' or 'what've you been up to lately?'. Just instantly into the job thing, as if that's the only facet of my personality at the moment. You're no better than dad."

"No, I'm worse than dad. I wouldn't let you live with me if you were unemployed," Jason said and Harold laughed, moving his piece a few spaces ahead and handing the dice to Betty.

"Leave your brother alone, Jason, he's trying," Betty said, "That's all anyone can ask for right now, given the circumstances."

"Circum-what...what circumstances?" Jason asked, before looking at Carl, who was covering his face with his hands, "Are you dying or something?"

"This is the worst night of my fucking life," Carl whined.

"Carl went to the doctors the other week," Harold said, "He's got anxiety apparently."

"Well that's nothing to be ashamed of," Anna said, taking the dice, "I've worked with kids who have anxiety, they manage. It's rough, it can be rough, but it also doesn't stop you from doing anything. I'm happy for you, Carl, for managing to get that diagnosis."

"...thank you," Carl said, actually smiling a little, "Besides, Jason is right, the economy is garbage. What with every video store going under, how am I going to keep the quintessential Gen X lifestyle I've grown so accustomed to?"

"Well," Jason said, "Belle is starting a dancing class this week. She's really excited."

"She choose to dance, or is that your stereotyped gender role you're forcing upon your daughter?" Carl asked.

"There's nothing inherently feminine about dance," Jason said, "Look at Fred Astaire for god sakes."

"I'm just curious if you chose it or she did," Carl said, sipping his beer and taking the dice, "I mean, let's face it, often times parents are the ones deciding what extra curricular activities their children are going to be involved in. It's a little rare a child comes home from school and goes 'mom, dad, I want to join the knitting club!'. That's all I'm saying."

"The knitting club?" Jason asked, grinning, "She's a 5 year old girl, Carl, not an 80 year old midwife."

"You know what I mean," Carl said, "I just want to know that she chose to do it."

"She did," Anna said, finally stepping in, "She chose to do it. Are you going to go down your ladder or not?"

Carl moved his piece down the ladder, annoyed at himself for having spoken so harshly about parenting in front of Anna, now that he'd felt they were getting along better.

"Even in a board game you can't escape your eternal fate of going down," Jason said.

"You know what, I have had it with your smarmy fuckin attitude, honestly," Carl said, "You think just because you made it, just because you managed to stick out college and get a degree that isn't a worthless pile of shit that that somehow makes me inferior, that it somehow means you get to belittle me!"

"I didn't 'stick out' anything, I put in the time and effort that it took to-"

"Don't give me the whole 'just work hard kids!' shtick, let's be fuckin' real here. I flunked out because I couldn't handle the pressure, ok? Because I have anxiety, and-"

"Oh, you're already going to start hiding behind that and using it as an excuse for failing college like 10 years ago, seriously?" Jason asked.

"Hey," Anna snapped, looking at Jason, then at Carl, "Let's cool it, ok? Can we just once have a normal game night?"

"Not until he pulls his head out of his eternally tight asshole and admits that he looks down on people of his own age for not being up to what he considers to be a bar of excellence. You're so fuckin fast to past judgement on people you don't even know with problems you can't even comprehend!" Carl yelled, handing Anna the dice so she could roll and finishing off his beer.

"This is bullshit," Anna said in a hushed voice, "I swear to god, you said tonight-"

"I'm sorry, you're right, ok. And Carl, I'm sorry," Jason said, as they all cooled down and became a little more relaxed on the couch, "Just, take your turn sweetheart, we can keep this cool, ok?"

Anna waited a second and then put the dice down without rolling, looking at Jason.

"I'm pregnant," she said. All the air was sucked from the room, leaving everyone literally breathless. So was that what she had planned on telling Carl before they'd been called from the kitchen? It felt like it. Finally, after a few minutes, Anna rolled her dice and made her move as Harold polished his glasses.

"Well," he said, "That's...uh...a surprise, but congratulations, indeed."

"When did you find this out?" Jason asked.

"This morning. I took a pregnancy test this morning because I wasn't feeling right and my period was a few days late."

"Hello?" a voice called from the foyer, as Ashley and a woman came walking into the living room. Everyone stopped and looked at her, the news of Annas pregnancy hanging in the air like an elephant in the room. Ashley stopped and put her hands on her hips.

"What?" Ashley asked, "Is everything ok? Did somebody die?"

"Jasons dignity might've been shanked in an alley, but no, nobody died," Carl said, "Who's she?"

Ashley turned to the woman, smiling, and grabbed her hand.

"This is Jade," she said, "I wanted to bring her to game night to introduce her to everyone. Jade and I...we've been going out for a few weeks now, and I just...wanted you guys to know. I wanted my family to know."

"This is bullshit," Carl said, "She's pregnant, you've got a girlfriend, and I'm left here a fucking disappointment once again."

"Carl, you're not a disappointment," Anna said, putting her hand on his shoulder, "You just need to stop comparing yourself to others, alright?"

"I'm already sorry I brought you here," Ashley said, looking at Jade. Harold rolled his dice and took his turn while Carl got up and headed into the kitchen for another beer, Anna quick on his heels. Once in the kitchen, Carl had his beer in his hand and open, leaning against the fridge.

"Carl?" Anna asked, approaching cautiously.

"What?"

"You have to learn to let things go," Anna said, "You're not your brother. You have to learn to just...be. If there's one thing working with children has taught me, it's that children are never anything if not in the moment. They experience life to its fullest because they have no past and the future's too abstract a concept. It's only when we get older that we become nostalgic; nostalgia is a disease contracted by people who've become overly cynical, who've been hurt too often, and who want to return to a simpler time, but fail to recognize they think of it as 'a simpler time' because it was the ONLY time."

"...Wow, you're deep," Carl said, taking another sip of his beer, "But you're right, I'm not my brother. I'm better than my brother, actually. I think that's what pisses him off about me, is that he knows I'm better than him and yet I'm not living my life to its 'fullest potential'. I don't think he hates me. I think he hates what the world has made of me."

"That sounds fair," Anna said, "Now come back and play the game."

Carl followed Anna back into the living room and they both sat back on the couch as Betty was now taking her turn. Harold was lightyears ahead of them; seemed like everyone tonight was destined to hit a chute. Jason was trailing, but not by much, just like real life.

"I can't believe you're pregnant again, "Betty said as she handed the dice to Anna. Ashley turned to look at her.

"You're pregnant again?" she asked, then turning to Jason, added, "I thought you didn't want more kids."

Anna had rolled the dice but wasn't looking at them. She, as was everyone else, was now focused on Jason, who was grimacing.

"That's what he told me," Ashley continued, "Last week, we had a conversation on the phone and-"

"Private and public, Ash, jesus christ," Jason said, running his fingers through his hair and looking at Anna, "I never said I didn't want kids."

"No, he said he was thinking about having a vasectomy," Ashley said.

"You're a horrible goblin creature," Jason said, "I just said I had thought about it, and maybe discussing it with you," he said to Anna, "But I wasn't sure and I wasn't sure what you'd think and like, now that we know you're pregnant I'm happy about it, I really am."

"You sound positively thrilled," Carl said, grinning.

"I AM," Jason said sternly.

"Who you trying to fool, your wife or yourself," Carl asked.

"Why didn't you want more kids?" Anna asked, "We'd talked multiple times about having a big family. You know I wanted to have a few more. I'm sorry, I'm just curious to what could've possibly spurned this decision."

"I...I don't know, I guess I'm a little paranoid about money and...and I just..." Jason said, struggling to find words and finally looking at his feet, said plainly, "I don't think I'm a very good dad as it is."

Even Carl was a little surprised to hear that level of honesty from his brother, who'd always gloated about how great he was. Carl, surprisingly enough, actually felt bad for him in that moment. Anna took her turn and handed the dice to Jason, who took them reluctantly before looking at Ashley, his brow furrowing, clearly pissed to the heavens at his sister.

Nobody said much of anything for the rest of the game.

                                                                                         ***

Carl was sitting on the back porch deck, looking up at the stars, when he heard the door open behind him and Harold came out. Harold opened a juice drink, pulled up a chair and sat down beside Carl.

"...we're not gonna have to talk, are we?" Carl asked.

"Your brother admitted a flaw of his tonight," Harold said, "He admitted weakness. That's big, especially for him. That's real progress. That's better than therapy. That's what family does. It forces you to analyze yourself based on those around you, not so you can hate yourself, but so you can see why everyone else loves you so much," Harold said, taking a long sip from his juice drink before sighing and scratching his forehead, "Jason not wanting more children...it makes me sad. Everyone is obviously allowed to not have kids if they don't want them, and nobody should ever be made to feel bad for that decision. It's their life, their choices, I get it. I respect it. But...I think about you kids, and I think about how much you've bettered my own life...it really makes me happy. I messed up a lot, but I did one thing right, and that was having you guys."

"Even on Family Game Night you feel this way?" Carl asked snidely.

"Yes, because on nights like tonight, when we're bickering and complaining and venting...that's when you see yourself, and others, for who they are. That's how you learn to accept and love one another. Family isn't a deal set in stone. Nobody gets a fair shake. You're given to the family you've got, and while that hurts some people because their family is total garbage, when you have a family like ours...it's a very special thing."

"Anna said something to me tonight about nostalgia being a disease only adults have," Carl said, looking at his shoes, "Is that why you have Family Game Night? Trying to recapture our childhood?"

"You guys are grown up. You guys have your own lives. Jason is married, Ashley is dating, each have their own career," Harold said, "And...and while I'm perfectly happy and proud of them, they're not you. They're doing what they're doing because that's what society expects them to do. You remind me a lot of myself, Carl, that's why I'm so happy to have you around the house, to have you still living here, because it means not all my kids are gone yet. It means...I'm not a completely useless old fool."

Carl watched his fathers face, the wrinkles on his forehead, him licking his chapped lips, and for the first time in his life, saw his father as an actually vulnerable person.

"You're not a useless old fool, dad," Carl said, "And thanks, that means a lot knowing you feel that way. I don't plan to be this stagnant for life."

"I know you don't."

"It's just hard right now, you know," Carl said, "...honestly...Family Game Night is the only thing I really have to look forward to. Far be it from perfect, filled with anger and frustration and tears, but it's...it's when we're all together, and it's not a holiday, and that's just...that's not something a lot of families have. I miss our family as much as you do, dad, I really do."

Harold stood up and handed the remainder of his juice drink to Carl, then put his hand on Carls shoulder and smiled as Carl looked from the bottle up to his father.

"Choose what you want to do with your life. It's your life and you can do anything you wish with no judgement from me or your mother. You can shoot people and we'd still love you, especially if the people you shot were The Hendersons, cause, god dammit I hate them, but there's one thing you should never do, and that's feel ashamed of yourself. Never feel ashamed of yourself, Carl, because we certainly aren't ashamed of you. I'm going to bed. Goodnight."

Harold turned and went inside, shutting the door behind him, as Carl turned and sat back watching the stars once again, finishing his fathers juice drink.

"...Goodnight, dad," he said to himself.

Ella Fitzroy didn't want to go to camp.

She didn't want to spend her summer around her peers, she already spent all school year with them, and she didn't want to have to participate in "team games" and she didn't want to have to be told what to do all summer by adults who weren't even her parents, or in some cases, only a few years older than her. But Ella Fitzroy was 12 and 12 year olds rarely get what they want. So, on the second week of her summer vacation, Ella Fitzroy packed her bags and got up in the morning to be driven to the drop off point, where the parents took their students for the camp bus pick up.

Sitting in the passenger seat of her fathers car, her luggage in the back behind her, she found herself just staring annoyed out the window, watching the cars go by them, knowing full well all the other kids she was seeing weren't being shuttled off to camp for the summer.

"You know," Martin, her father, said as he adjusted his rearview mirror as traffic idled, "You can write or call to us. We aren't going to be unable to talk to you. You're not going to be completely cut off or something, if that's what you're afraid of. They have post at camp, or at least they did when I went to camp."

"Why do I have to go?" Ella asked.

"It's character building. Teaching you how to get along with other kids, teamwork and stuff like that. You don't really do any extra carricular activities at school or any clubs or groups or anything. We think this'll be good for you, that's all. It's not about us not wanting you around or something."

"Forcing me to be around other kids isn't going to make me like them any more. If anything, it's just going to make me like you guys less for making me do this," Ella said meekly, "I don't want to hate you and mom."

"You're going to be back in a few weeks, sweetie, it won't be that bad, okay?" Martin asked, tossing her hair with his hand, smiling warmly at her. She did smile back, despite her annoyance at the whole situation. Maybe her father was right, maybe it wouldn't be too bad, and she would only be gone for a few weeks. Besides, she wouldn't be totally alone. She'd have her fish.

At the drop off point, her father gave her a hug and a kiss, told her to have fun and that he'd be back to get her in a few weeks. As she boarded the bus, among a dozen or so other girls, she couldn't help but feel completely out of place. These were girls who wanted to be going. Girls in t-shirts and shorts, girls who played sports and enjoyed hiking and camping. Ella liked the outdoors all well and fine, but she wasn't one of those girls. She liked to be inside more than out, liked the quiet, liked pretty clothes, not utilitarian clothes. She was completely out of place, but thankfully nobody was going to bring it to attention.

Ella took a seat in the back of the bus, with her old plastic suitcase on her lap, having refused to put it under the bus hatch with the rest of the luggage. As she sighed and ran her hand across the top of the suitcase, she heard something and looked to the seat across from her in the back, where a girl with leg braces had taken a seat. She watched this girl, with frizzy curly brown hair, dressed in a pastel blue blouse and a grey skirt, open the paper bag she had put on her lap after sitting and pulling out a small plastic container. The girl lifted the lid off gently and started eating apple slices, only noticing Ella watching her after a moment.

"Do you want one?" she asked, her somewhat buck front teeth giving her a bit of a lisp.

"I'm ok, thanks," Ella said, and the girl shrugged and just went back to eating apple.

"I have other stuff," the girl said, digging through the bag, "I also have some cheese and grapes and some meat. I think it's ham. My mom packed me snacks for the ride."

"...can I have some cheese?" Ella asked, and the girl smiled, nodded and opened another container, handing her some cheese blocks. Ella took them and ate one or two of them, before taking a moment to look at the other girls on the bus.

"You don't wanna be here either huh?" the girl asked.

"Not really," Ella said, "I didn't realize it was that obvious."

"I wanted to stay home for the summer," the girl said sheepishly, looking at her apple slices, rolling them around within the container, "...but my stepdad said it would be good for me, but really he just wanted to take my mom on vacation without being stared at."

"Stared at?" Ella asked, popping another cheese cube in her mouth, as her eyes made their way back down to the leg braces, "Oh...okay. That's kind of mean."

"It's not my fault," the girl said, "I can't help how I am. I didn't ask for this, but he sure treats me like I did....your suitcase is dripping."

Ella looked at one corner of the suitcase, and got scared for a moment. She pulled off the little backpack she had and pulled out a roll of duct tape. She ripped off a few pieces and put it over the corner where the leak was coming from. The girl watched, endlessly fascinated as to why a suitcase was seemingly full of water. After Ella had put the tape back into the backpack, she looked at the lid of the suitcase and sighed.

"...is your suitcase full of water?" the girl asked.

"...I brought my fish," Ella said, lifting the lid just a bit and showing the girl her fat goldfish swimming happily around in the suitcase full of water, then she shut it and locked it again, "I didn't want to be alone."

"Maybe we'll end up in the same cabin," the girl said, smiling a little, "Then you won't be alone. I'm Amie by the way."

"Ella," Ella replied, "Thanks for the cheese."

It would be about a 3 or 4  hour bus ride to the camp, but at least Ella had Amie to talk to, and of course, she had her fish. After a bit of quiet time, some of the girls started reading, quietly chatting or falling asleep. Amie had started reading as well, while Ella just sat and looked out the window. Suddenly, a bright bleach blonde head popped up over the back of the seat in front of Ella and stared at her. Ella jumped a little, surprised.

"I'm sorry," the girl said, "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's ok," Ella said.

"I'm Ramona Gilly. You can call me Gilly. Everyone else does," the blonde said, talking fast and high pitched, "What's your names?"

"I'm Ella," Ella said, "And that's Amie," she added, pointing at Amie, who hadn't even looked up from her book. Gilly smiled at them both, then started sniffing the air a bit, her brow furrowing, like she was a dog trailing a criminals scent.

"I smell cheese," she said.

"That was me," Amie said, then quickly added, "Not, like...not fart wise, I mean, I brought cheese."

Ella laughed and Gilly looked at Amie, shuffling to the seat in front of Amie, looking at her.

"Can I have some?" she asked, and Amie sighed, then reached into her bag and pulled out the container again, giving Gilly a few blocks. Gilly thanked her and then started eating them, still staring at the bag, adding, "You brought snacks?"

"My mom made me snacks."

"But there's food at the camp," Gilly said, "Is this your first time going? 'Cause I've been there lots of summers."

"It's our first times," Ella said, holding firmly to the lid of the suitcase as the bus rode over a bump, "We've never been. We don't really want to go either."

"But it's great!" Gilly said joyfully, "I mean, the place is great, it's not so good...like...doing team stuff and stuff but the place is a lot of fun and it's really pretty. I'll show you some cool stuff to do there! Maybe we'll end up in the same cabin, that'd be great!"

"That sounds neat," Ella said, trying to be polite, but really tired of talking at this point, especially to someone so bubbly and peppy and full of spunk. Gilly looked back and forth between them and shrugged.

"Ok well, thanks for the cheese," she said to Amie, "Bye."

And she disappeared back into her seat. Ella sighed and leaned her head back as Amie chuckled to herself. Ella looked across the row at her.

"What?" Ella asked.

"Just...people like that," Amie said.

"Oh...yeah," Ella said.

She liked this Amie girl. She could tell she'd at least have one friend this summer. After a while, Ella herself fell asleep as the bus was starting to head into deep wooded areas, and the trees blocked all sunshine. She soon found herself in a dream, standing on a pier on a lake, watching another girl in front of her at the end of the pier just look out at the water. After a few moments, the girl turned around and smiled at her, the sunlight glinting her eyes, making them sparkle. Ella found she couldn't move, her feet were stuck to the pier by glue or some force of nature, and as the girl approached her, her long black hair flowing in the wind, Ella found herself wanting to do nothing more but turn and run. Run far far away. Finally, the girl reached her, looked at her, touched her cheek and then kissed her. Ella woke up, trying to breath, her nails scratching the lid of her suitcase. She opened the lid and looked at her fish, who just was swimming in circles. She put her index fingertip into the water and he swam over to it and started nibbling on it, giving her little fish kisses.

It helped, but it didn't make her forget about the dream. What really bothered her about the dream wasn't that she had it.

It was that she'd been having dreams like this for weeks now.