The talking dad looked at the asking dad with sad eyes, sort of the way Nikki did when he accomplished something particularly clever and nobody noticed.
“Oh, yeah,” Dani said thoughtfully. “But I thought that book was about mysterious rock formations and junk like that. I didn’t know it had interesting stuff like unsolved murders.”
“Murder’s not supposed to make you so happy, Dani,” Caitlin said.
“I’m not happy,” Dani said, trying to hide her excitement. “I’m just kind of interested, that’s all.”
Caitlin giggled. “Oh, sure, Detective Dani.”
John tried to recapture the sweet sensation of finally having a fully attentive audience. “Of course, the Ottawa Valley was best known in its early pioneering life for its lumber industry, something few people think about these days. And in truth there really is very little to mark its passing as you drive or boat along the river valley…”
Dani’s dad made yet another quick inspection of the back seat to see how he was doing. Nikki continued blissfully unaware in La La Land; Caitlin allowed her eyes to droop as her face gripped the window glass and she drifted once again toward the bottom of the well on a big puffy pillow; Dani wrote ferociously in her journal and smacked her gum, preparing for yet another attempt at the record.
With a grin, and in his deepest radio voice, Bob said, “I’m listening.”
John groaned and focused his attention completely on the road for the first time that day. The van climbed and passed St. Mary’s Church. The Ottawa River, favoured among rafters because of its thundering whitewater, was flanked by luscious farm fields and the odd gnarly oak tree. The scene, under the noon sun and cumulous clouds, looked as it might have a hundred years ago—not that the girls took any notice. Descending toward Barry’s Bay, they motored under ancient pine tress. Colossal columns of sunshine and shadow filtered through the van. Dani’s dad whistled through slightly bared teeth, then said, mostly to himself, “What really holds their attention is a complete and utter mystery to me.”
2 Are We Having Fun Yet?
After several false starts, the dads managed to build a campfire that didn’t immediately go out. The two skinny men slapped each other on the back, coughing and rejoicing at having created a steady source of smoke.
“How come they didn’t put the bark and kindling under the logs an hour ago?” Dani asked.
Caitlin shrugged. “Let’s face it, dads are weird.”
“Yeah, I know, but my dad always tells me how important it is do something right the first time.”
“And my dad always tells me how important it is to do research for school projects,” Caitlin added.
Nikki’s delicate howl cut into the conversation and through the forest.
“I wonder if our dads researched bringing a dog to Algonquin Park when we talked about leaving Nikki in the kennel,” Dani said, pointing to a sign on a wooden post Nikki was leaning against to support his afternoon siesta.
The girls looked up at a large X through a happily bounding beagle.
“Oh-oh!” Caitlin said as Nikki planted his chin in the dirt and snorted satisfaction at his lot in life.
“Dad!” Dani cried.
Dani’s dad pivoted, a perplexed look on his face, something he always had whenever his daughter used that tone of voice.
The two men walked away from their smoky source of pride and stood for the longest time, slowly moving their heads from Nikki to the sign and back.
“Oh,” John simply said.
“Well, what should we do?” Bob countered.
“Um, well, the right thing to do is… that is…” Dani’s dad scratched the side of his face while balancing first on one leg, then the other. “Of course, in fairness to park rules, and then again, there is Nikki to consider…”
“How about if Caitlin and I take care of hiding Nikki?” Dani offered.
John scrunched his face, mulling over various options, then exhaled. “Okay.”
After that the dads stepped back to the source of smoke and said something about perfecting the fire before going on their run.
“Why do you think our dads take running so seriously, Dani?” Caitlin asked.
“’Cause if they don’t run, they feel guilty for a week.”
Caitlin made her face and neck tense. “‘If we don’t run today, civilization will cease to exist!’”
Dani giggled. “‘But, of course, girls, if you’d like to do something special, well, then, darn it, I can miss a run. Really, I don’t mind!’” But Dani’s laugh soon disappeared. “I guess Dad forgot about taking us swimming. He’s a great dad…” Dani rubbed her chin. “But sometimes he kind of has the same thing he says Nikki has. You know—ADD, attention-deficit-dog order.” She pouted as Nikki howled a truly piercing beagle serenade, which echoed through the pines and across the lake.
Caitlin sniggered. “Well, it’s nice to know Nikki’s opera lessons are paying off.” Then she sighed. “My dad’s the same. The world would come to an end if he didn’t run, but if the world was really coming to an end, he’d probably just go for a run. Oh, well, maybe they’ll relax this week and smell the pinecones, or something like that.”
“You know,” Dani’s dad said as he came up to the girls with Bob in tow, “you should pay attention to some of the things we’re doing in case you ever have to fend for yourselves.”
“Like, a couple of decades from now,” Bob added wistfully.
“God forbid they really have to fend for themselves,” John said with resignation.
Dani twisted her face into its most serious expression. “Of course we could fend for ourselves.”
“What does fend mean?” Caitlin whispered.
“It means you have to be good at outdoor fending,” Dani said out of the side of her mouth.
“Oh, right.”
“This isn’t the city,” Dani’s dad huffed as Nikki sniffed and snorted. “Out here you have to do things for yourself, act decisively, be in harmony with your environment.”
“Well… well… we know how to fend just fine, right, Caitlin?” Dani huffed right back.
“Uh-huh.”
“In fact, me and Caitlin were planning to camp out all night by ourselves, right, Caitlin?”
Her friend managed to send her thoughts far, far away as the two dads stood grinning in front of their daughters.
Dani frowned. “Earth to Caitlin, remember our plan to camp out all night all by ourselves?”
“Oh, sure,” Caitlin answered, as if the possibility were as remote as spending a night on the moon.
Dani fumed as her face scrunched into her Pekinese expression. “Caitlin and me are as capable as adults!”
John deepened his voice as he stroked his chin. “Now, Dani, you don’t have to get upset. You know you shouldn’t be camping out alone before you’re ready.”
“Watch yourself, John,” Bob warned.
With arms folded so tightly they threatened to meet around her back, Dani searched for words and ideas. From her pocket she removed the crumpled map of Canoe Lake they had picked up at the Portage Store. Her eyes widened. “We… we’ve been planning to camp out at Tom Thomson’s favourite campsite—right here.”
Caitlin