Their appetites satisfied and their bodies warmed, the campers sat around the fire. Callie had a red cloth spread on the blanket in front of her. On the cloth was a pile of cards turned face down.

‘Name a movie that made you cry,’ Callie read from the card she was holding.

‘Oh God,’ groaned Joe. They were half an hour into a game Callie had recently bought. It was called ‘Revelations’. It was apparently a game recommended for close friends to play. Joe had already decided he wouldn’t recommend it to his worst enemy!

‘What was that?’ demanded Callie, looking in his direction.

‘Nothing, nothing,’ Joe protested innocently. ‘I was just clearing my throat. Why don’t you answer first Vanessa.’

‘Oh, that’s an easy question, Callie!’ cried Vanessa. ‘Dead Poet’s Society! All that ‘seize the day’ stuff when the boys are gazing into the cabinets looking at the faces of young, handsome men who were once vibrant and ambitious, and have since passed on! It’s so sad and inspiring at the same time!’

The boys and Callie smiled at Vanessa’s enthusiasm. Vanessa even looked a little misty eyed as she recalled images from the film.

‘Your turn Frank,’ said Vanessa, slipping her arm through Joe’s and cuddling up to him to keep warm.

Frank thought for a while before answering.

‘I’m not really one for films, but I always remember seeing ‘Stand By Me’ at school and being really affected by it,’ he admitted.

‘I don’t think I’ve seen it,’ said Callie, intrigued.

‘It’s about these four young kids who are out looking for a dead body,’ said Chet,’ but it’s kind of more about the boys and how they get along as a group.’

Frank nodded.

‘The part that got to me was when Gordy, whose older brother had died in an accident, describes the way his parents treat him as though he’s the ‘invisible boy’. His parents have almost forgotten that they still have a son left, and he gets no emotional support from them. The only person who shows him any concern is Chris who everyone else thinks is just a thug.’

‘It’s got funny bits as well,’ added Chet.

‘Yeah, it does,’ Frank continued, ‘but it left me feeling sad for a long while after the film ended.’ Frank stole a look at Joe, who was regarding him with an inscrutable face, and smiled.

‘Maybe you should go and see that movie, Joe,’ joked Callie. ‘You might appreciate Frank a little more.’

Joe pulled a face at her before looking into the fire.

‘I don’t need to see any films like that,’ he muttered, leaving Callie wondering whether he meant he didn’t need to see the film because he wasn’t interested, or because he already fully appreciated his brother.

Frank knew what Joe had meant, and smiled at his brother’s grumpy response. Inwardly, however, he wished Callie didn’t find it so necessary to dig at Joe.

‘What about you Joe,’ asked Vanessa.

‘Oh, I don’t know! Pass!’ replied her boyfriend.

‘Come on brother,’ urged Frank gently. ‘You don’t want to lose a point do you?’

Joe rolled his eyes. Why couldn’t they have just settled for going for a walk?

‘Alright,’ he said, folding his arms across his chest. ‘Forest Gump!’

‘Oh, I bet it was the scene where his mother is on her death bed!’ exclaimed Callie. ‘That made me bawl!’

‘No way!’ retorted Joe, shaking his head. ‘While I was watching it, I thought that all of that running must have been murder on that guy’s feet! The thought of all those blisters made my eyes water!’

Callie shook her head in disgust at Joe’s flippant answer, and even Vanessa gently swatted him with her purple scarf.

‘Oh, I’m wounded!’ yelped Joe, clutching his shoulder.

‘For God’s sake Joe!’ exclaimed Callie crossly. ‘Can’t you take ANYTHING seriously?’

‘What about you, Chet’, said Frank quickly, wanting to avoid an all out war between his girlfriend and brother.

‘Steel Magnolias,’ stated Chet without any hesitation.

‘You’re joking!’ snorted Joe, looking incredulous. Even Frank had to stifle a chuckle.

‘That’s such a GIRLY flick!’ continued Joe.

‘Shelby has the perfect life,’ continued Chet, not put off. ‘Everyone loves her, she’s beautiful, she has a cute kid… and then she just dies because she happens to have a medical condition. It sucks. I reckon I’ve seen it five times and I always ending up bawling.’

The group sat quietly for a few moments.

‘Well I think that’s great you’re comfortable telling us that, Chet,’ said Vanessa finally. She reached across and patted him affectionately on the arm.

‘I agree,’ said Callie, turning to Joe. ‘It’s great that some people can be so in touch with their feelings and not be afraid to talk about them.’

‘Next question’, requested Frank quickly, eager to move on.

Vanessa picked up the next card. She smiled.

‘Where would you go, if you could go anywhere in the world?’ she asked. ‘Chet, what about you?’

‘Disneyland,’ he replied instantly. ‘You can’t go by a stack of rides and fairy floss.’

‘Fair enough,’ laughed Vanessa. ‘What about you Frank?’

‘I’ve always wanted to go to Egypt,’ he replied. ‘I’ve read so much about the pyramids and sphinx, I’d like love to see them for myself, before they all crumble away.’

‘Hawaii for me,’ announced Callie. ‘Everyone I know whose been there tells me it’s great. Where would you like to go Vanessa?’

Vanessa breathed deeply and let out a long sigh. ‘I know it probably sounds crazy, but I REALLY want to go to Antarctica someday. Imagine the photographs you could take there!’

‘Brrr! You’d need your thermal underwear there!’ exclaimed Chet. ‘Your turn Joe.’

Joe treated the group to the famous Joe Hardy smile and announced,

‘You ask where would I go if I could go anywhere in the world? My answer has to be wherever Vanessa happens to be.’

Vanessa, clearly delighted by Joe’s answer, kissed him on the cheek and threw her arms around him. Frank and Chet, quite impressed by the clever response, laughed heartily, but Callie merely raised her eyebrows and shook her head slightly.

‘What?’ demanded Joe over Vanessa’s shoulder. ‘You wanted sincerity!’

‘Sincerity, yes. Typical Joe Hardy flirting, no’, thought Callie. She felt like she was trying really hard to get along better with Frank’s brother, but he continued to rub her up the wrong way. She returned the ‘Where In The World’ card to the deck and began to shuffle them vigorously. When Iola had been alive, and Iola and Joe had double-dated with her and Frank, things had been great. Sure, Callie and Joe had had their disagreements, but they had amounted to nothing more than spirited squabbling. But in the year and a bit since her friend’s death, Callie had found herself sparring with Frank’s younger brother on an increasingly regular basis. She wasn’t even sure herself why Joe managed to irritate her so much. Callie knew that Frank hated them to argue, and that fact upset her the most.

By this time, Vanessa and Joe had extricated themselves from their embrace. Callie placed the cards down on the rug.

‘Your turn to pick a card Chet,’ Callie said as sweetly as she could. Chet, his face still creased by his laughter, selected the next card.

‘Describe your first serious kiss,’ he read out to the group. ‘Frank, you’re the old man here. Can you remember back that far?’

‘Very funny,’ retorted Frank. He looked thoughtful for a moment. ‘Look, as I remember it, there was a girl in Primary school. We were both about ten. She had freckles and braces. I thought she was pretty cute. She let me borrow her coloured pencils.’ He blushed slightly and glanced at Callie, feeling ridiculous. ‘We exchanged kisses under the slide.’

‘OOhh! Scandal!’ cried Vanessa.

‘What was her name?’ asked Callie, laughing at Frank’s embarrassment.

‘Can’t remember,’ he admitted.

‘Even more shameful!’ pronounced Chet.

‘My first serious kiss was at my old school,’ said Vanessa, grabbing hold of Joe’s hand. ‘I was twelve. I thought Jonathon Brown was the sweetest boy to walk to Earth. He was pretty cute, but whenever he tried to talk to me after that one kiss, he’d get completely tongue-tied! Of course, once I came to Bayport and met Joe… what can I say?’

Joe was sitting quietly, looking into the fire, barely aware of what the others were saying. He had been planning a flippant answer to the question - something about the first hundred serious kisses becoming nothing more than a blur - but Frank and Vanessa had answered seriously. Joe stole a glance at Chet who was ribbing Vanessa about ruining Jonathon Brown’s future career in public speaking.

Joe remembered standing with Iola Morton, age 14. It had been Chet’s 15^th birthday and there had been a party at the Mortons’ farm. Iola had led Joe away to the barn to show him the newly born lamb. Joe had watched Iola stroke the lamb’s little head and whisper to it. Joe had suddenly felt overwhelmed by his feelings for her and had touched her face gently. As Iola had looked up into his eyes, Joe had tentatively brought his lips to hers. With the lamb between them, Iola had returned the kiss, her eyes closing, losing herself in the delight of the moment. Afterwards, they had not spoken about it, but Joe had known from that moment that Iola was for him.

Returning to the present, Joe turned to meet Vanessa’s beautiful grey eyes regarding him with concern.

‘You don’t have to answer,’ she told him quietly.

Joe shook his head, holding her hand tightly.

‘No, I’ll answer. My first serious kiss was with Iola. We were 14. It… it was beautiful. It was innocent. I… I’ll never forget it.’

Joe looked over at Chet who had shining eyes but a broad grin.

‘That had to be during my 15^th birthday party!’ he said, breaking the tension.

‘How’d you know?’ asked Joe in amazement.

‘Well, when your kid sister starts asking a lot of questions about one of your friends and goes ga-ga at the mere mention of his name, it’s hard not to think something went on!’ laughed Chet.

They all laughed. Vanessa noticed Joe wipe quickly at his eyes with the back of his hand. She thought to herself that at this moment, she had never loved anyone as much as she loved Joe Hardy. Frank felt his heart swell with brotherly pride. Callie’s bottom jaw had just about hit the ground in shock at Joe’s touching response.

‘Well folks,’ said Chet, standing up, ‘sorry to pull the plug on such an entertaining game, but I’d better start heading back. Unless you want to keep playing it..’

‘Nah,’ said Joe, also standing up. ‘That’s enough D & M for one night. Much more of that sort of talk and we’ll all go soft in the head. I still can’t believe you watched that Metal Flowers rubbish 5 times!’

With a wave from Chet to the others, Joe walked Chet to his 4WD, his arm slung loosely across his friend’s shoulders.