Most nights, Mom and Dad sat up late drinking and laughing with the other adults. I always tried going to sleep before they staggered back into the tent. I didn’t need to think about the giggles or groans I sometimes heard. Headphones helped, too. Still, it didn’t take a math or genealogy major to figure out when and where the three month old babies around camp had probably been conceived.
That first day was filled with aunts remarking about how much I’ve grown and uncles who would lecherously stare at Maggie while remarking on how she was going to be a real heart breaker. There were lots of little chores helping people getting their campsites set-up. Smaller kids screamed a lot while the athletic pre-teens organized volleyball games and the middle teens sulked about being dragged to another family reunion against their will. With our oldest cousins starting families, the number of unique campers had grown. The photographer hired to take a group picture of the family needed to stand on top of the pavilion to capture everyone in a single shot.
I only caught glimpses of Holly during the day, which was just as well. That night, I had to man the inflatable movie screen for a showing of a kids movie. Whenever cousins would start to pair up along the fringes of the darkness, an aunt or uncle would sternly remind them, “That’s your cousin!” and I wondered how Maggie had ever managed hooking up with Kevin or Seth with so many watchful eyes everywhere.
After packing up the inflatable screen and putting away the projector, I strolled past groups of adults drinking and laughing in the pavilion on my way back to the tent. As usual, I was first back to the tent. I crawled into my cot and pulled out my tablet. There’s no WiFi at Camp Grandpa’s, but I had loaded my memory card with plenty of porn. Why not? It’s not as if I was going to get lucky.
Wearing headphones, I didn’t notice Maggie coming back to the tent until she pushed back the flap to our side. I reduced my movie with a press of a button and pulled up a video game. “Have fun?” I asked, smelling the alcohol on her.
“Holly’s funny as hell,” she said, sitting on her cot.
“You’ve been with her all this time?” I asked. I hadn’t seen either one since dinner.
“Yep,” Maggie said, pulling off her shorts as I wasn’t even there.
“Really?” I asked, moving from my side to my back and staring straight up at the canvas ceiling instead of watching my sister getting undressed.
“Oh big deal,” she said, throwing her shorts at me. They landed on my stomach. “I’m wearing panties.” She told me how she had swiped a bottle of liquor and drank it with Holly. “She thinks you’re cute.”
“Fuck,” I groaned, glancing at my sister without thinking about it. I didn’t need my sister pimping me to our cousin. She had her back turned to me, but was topless as she changed into a t-shirt without a bra. I quickly looked away, back to staring at the ceiling.
“You could so tap that,” she said, snatching her discarded shorts before she froze, staring down at me. “Damn, bro.”