Cameron, 9

(okay, why wait? Here we go - last one.)

They ate dinner, at last. The little kids had their own table and the boys sat with the adults. At least that stopped the insults, they were toned-down anyway. It was a great meal, almost like a Christmas dinner and they were hungry.

Cameron had never been a fan of venison, it always seemed a bit 'gamy', even the farmed stuff. But this was good - real melt-in-the-mouth stuff. He'd never had better and he told John that.

"You're welcome, Lad. Pleased you liked it."

They had a couple of glasses of wine with the meal, but when one of the uncles lit-up a joint, Gabriel decided that it was time to go. They were out the back, getting the tent and gear, when Graeme put his head out of the door and leered at them.

"'Bye, Girls. Don't forget the KY."

They ignored him, but Cameron thought, 'Lube? Damm, I haven't got any!'

When they left, Gabriel looked back and said, "Come down there in the night, Graeme, and I'll get Morrie to re-arrange your face. It could only be an improvement."

"Fuck off, Weirdo!" He slammed the door shut and they walked away.

"Gabriel, who is Morrie?"

"Maurice Morepork. He's a native owl and nearly as savage as Molly."

"Oh? We've got a watch-dog then."

"We have. A good one too. You'll meet him later, he sleeps in the daytime."

They went back down to the clearing by the pool, put the tent up and arranged the bedding. Gabriel had brought a second bed-roll, mattress. They put the 2 of them together, sideways across the tent floor to make a double bed. (Which Cameron was delighted with!)

Having sorted the tent, they gathered dead wood for a fire. It wasn't dark yet, but it wouldn't be long. The pink sky of the sunset had faded and the water in the pool looked black. The eel was thrashing around near the edge of the water. His head, with gaping jaws, kept breaking through the surface and looking at them.

Gabriel laughed and threw a small stick at it. "Settle down, you silly old thing! It's not even dark yet. You'll get your possum soon."

"Gabe, he can't understand you, can he?"

"Probably not. I'm not sure, but I wouldn't bet on it. He can hear me, but if he knows what I'm saying, I dunno. As soon as we're finished here we'll go back to the house for my bow. You can hold the spotlight, that'll make it easy."

When their camp was all ready, they went back up to the house, but didn't go inside. Gabriel's bow and quiver of arrows were up on a shelf by the back-door. He took them down, put the string on the bow and slung them over his shoulders. He handed Cameron a big torch/spotlight.

"You bring this, but don't turn it on until I tell you."

It got dark as they started back up the valley. There was a new moon and barely enough light to see anything, but Gabriel seemed to be having no trouble. He knew where he was going. Cameron stumbled along behind him, one hand holding the back of his knife-belt. He almost banged into him when he stopped suddenly. He took the bow off and notched an arrow.

"All right! Too easy. Turn the light on now, Cameron."

He flicked it on and shone the light up in a tree where Gabriel directed. There was a big, fat, silver-gray possum just above them.

"Okay, hold it steady there. It won't move while you've got the light on it."

He brought the bow up, released the arrow and the possum crashed to the ground. "Gotcha!" He exulted.

He put the bow down, took out his knife and killed the possum with a slash to its throat.

"Tea for Teddy," he grinned.

Again, Cameron was thinking that word - 'Magnificent!' This boy was a magnificent young savage at the height of his powers.

Gabriel wiped and sheathed the knife, recovered the arrow and put it back in the quiver. He put the bow back over his shoulder, picked the possum up by it's tail, and they went back to the pool.

"You can leave the light on now. It'll be easier walking if you do."

Cameron kept the light shining on the path ahead of them as they walked. Back at the pool, Gabriel slung the possum into the water. The eel grabbed it in his jaws and pulled it under.

"Enjoy, My Friend. Okay, Cam, we'll light the fire now. Got a lighter?"

"No, sorry. I've got one but it's back in the carrier bag. I'll go and get it."

"No worries. I'll clean-up while you do. I've got blood all over me! Again."

Cameron went back to his bags which were under the carport, he found the lighter, closed the bag and stood to go. Graeme was standing there looking at him.

"Still here, Pansy? I thought you'd be in bed and going for it by now."

"Hah. You wish." He walked away.

Okay, that wasn't the best comeback ever, but - whatever. The kid was a creep.

Back at the campsite, he lit the fire. The flames flared up, showing Gabriel sitting there still in just his shorts. Wasn't he cold? Apparently not, it didn't seem to worry him.

There was a flurry of feathers and Molly landed between them.

No, this was not Molly. This was a smaller bird. The feathers were darker and it had the flat-face of an owl.

"Morrie!" Gabriel grinned. "Where've you been, My Friend? Cam, this is Morrie, he's a Morepork, or Ruru."

"A hunter in the night?"

"That's him - killing vermin while you sleep."

"Did you raise him from a chick too?"

"I did. I don't do that anymore. It's not right to take wild creatures out of their environment. I was just a kid, what did I know?"

"And now you're so old?"

"Older than I was then. There were 3 chicks in the nest. I don't know what happened to their mother, she flew away and never came back. A bit like mine really. Anyway, I tried to look after them. Morrie survived but his sisters died."

"You can tell the difference in their sexes?"

"Yes, of course."

"Of course you can. At least you saved one of them."

"I guess. Morrie's a good guy, but I think he's gay."

"Gay?"

"Something like that. He should be breeding by now, but he's not interested."

"Did Molly ever breed?"

"Yeah, she did. She showed me her babies. She must be a great-grandmother by now. And you should be a granddad, Morrie."

The bird looked around, squawked and flew away into the night.

"He doesn't like you talking about it?"

"Apparently not. Anyway, Cameron, we need to talk, you and I."

"About what?"

"About us."

"Us?"

"Yes." He came around the fire and sat beside him. He looked great with the firelight playing on his face and upper body. "Well, I need to talk anyway. You're gay aren't you, Cameron?"

"You think I'm gay?"

"I know you are. I've seen the way you're looking at me. We're going into that little tent soon and we're going to sleep together, but sleeping is all that we'll be doing."

"You're not gay?"

"I'm not. I don't know what I am, but I'm not gay. I've got nothing against gay people. How could I with the fathers I've got? But I'm not one of them and I couldn't pretend, not even with you. I like you, Cam. I like you very much, maybe even love you, but I'm not gay. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Cameron sighed. "Dammit. I can't say I'm not disappointed - I am, very disappointed, but I can live with it. You, of all people, have to be true to who you are. Are you certain?"

"Yes, I'm certain."

There was a thoughtful silence for a minute or two, then both of them said together, "Can we still be friends?"

They laughed and said, "Yes!" "Yes, we can be friends."

"Oh, good! I don't want to lose you, Cam."

"You won't. I don't want to lose you either. We'll be mates."

"We will. You'll find the right person for you. I'm sorry that it can't be me."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too."

"What about Graeme? Interested in him?"

"Graeme? Your Graeme? Is he gay?"

"Yeah, he's as gay as."

"Yuck! He's a creep and I can't stand him."

"Neither can I. Okay, not Graeme then. Somewhere, someday, you'll find him."

"I sure hope so. Hope you find the right one for you too."

"Yeah? Maybve there's a Wild Girl out there somewhere?"

"Could be."

Cameron was disappointed, but he understood. He'd been forced to play a role, with Ellie. He wouldn't do that to Gabriel. He still liked him, he was a great guy and he liked him very much. If friends was all they could be, well, so be it. Someone was out there somewhere.

The fire died down. They covered the embers with sand, crawled into the tent and went to sleep, cuddled together.

The other visitors left next day. Cameron stayed one more day and night. They didn't move back into the house. The weather was fine and the tent was up, so they slept in there again.

Next morning,he decided that it really was time he was going. His granddad was expecting him, in Nelson, and he still had a long way to go. After breakfast, they loaded the bike up, he said goodbye and thanks to everyone and hit the road.

All three of them told him to come back soon. He would. He strapped the helmet on, got on the bike and left - to go to Nelson and find what life had in store for him.

End (of part one).