29
The next few weeks seem to fly, with most of October over.
My classes are going well, but the YA Lit class is the gem of the bunch.
It seems, ever since the first Goodbye Days discussion, the class has become a unit.
I’ll walk campus and see groups of kids from class hanging out, even on days class isn’t in session.
Almost all of them randomly drop in once a week to my office hours, even if it’s just to talk about what else they’re reading.
Sometimes it’s just to bullshit about random happenings, or to ask about the most recent atrocity coming from the broken American political system.
Niall mentions seeing many of them on a regular basis in Books and Brews.
It’s something I’ve never experienced in my many years of teaching, but I love it.
It’s the Tuesday before Halloween and we’re finishing up thoughts on the final Zentner book, when the discussion ultimately derails to Halloween.
“Hughie. What’s our favorite little man going as for Halloween?”
Hughie looks at Samuel. “Haven’t really thought about it.”
I roll my eyes. “Yes, yes you have. Don’t pretend like your uncle and I didn’t spend the past few weekends putting the costumes together.” Hughie looks at me with pleading eyes, like he’s embarrassed or something. “He’s going as Toad. Niall and I are Mario and Luigi. We’re a bit into Super Mario.”
“Aww I love Mario. We play Mario Kart and Smash all the time in our halls. Toad’s actually my go-to in Mario Kart.”
This makes Hughie perk up. “Me too! Danny always plays as the Princess.”
This elicits a number of cackles around the room. “Listen. She was the best character to be in one of my favorite games growing up.”
Noah raises his hand. “Was this when video games were invented?”
“You get a zero for the day,” I say, grabbing for my coffee.
Noah leans towards Hughie. “So, what are the heroes of Mushroom Kingdom doing on Halloween?”
“Not sure. School was supposed to be doing a party but then two people in class fought over who could be Harry Potter. There were punches and everything! They ended up cancelling the party. I don’t understand who would even want to dress as Harry Potter anymore.”
“Amen,” Lily says. She, in one of our office hours, had gone into detail over her disdain for JK Rowling’s stance on trans rights. She had confided in me that one of her siblings had transitioned, and couldn’t stand how much love still came from the Harry Potter fandom.
“I’m sure Danny’s got something up his sleeves.”
Hughie looks at Noah. “What are you doing? Grown-up stuff?”
Noah laughs. “Kind of, kinda not. Samuel and I are going camping this weekend, at a place not far from here. I used to go camping with my best friend all the time but haven’t been since…well, I haven’t been in a while.”
Hughie’s face scrunches. “I’ve never been camping. I mean I’ve slept outside before but not like real camping.”
I can see the class trying to come up with something to say.
Over the past few weeks Hughie has shared and, in some cases, overshared his experiences with his mom.
There were even things that Niall never told me, or maybe he hasn’t been made privy to.
I have tried to keep the classroom as a kind of safe space for both the students and Hughie.
I’d only tell Niall something if I thought it could hurt Hughie moving forward, especially emotionally.
But it truly seemed like Hughie’s done a great job compartmentalizing these things, and just says things matter-of-factly.
It sounds ridiculous, but sometimes I’m jealous of the kid. Especially on nights when the nightmares come. Which, luckily, have been less frequent as of late.
Samuel smacks the top of his desk. “Danny! You guys should come to the campground! Take this kid camping for Christ’s sake.”
“It seems like a bit short notice. And, no offense to Hughie, but do you really want a ten-year-old at your Halloween outing?”
“I’m literally sitting right here.”
I laugh. “I know, I know. And we can go camping some other time if you’re interested.”
“But, if Uncle Niall was okay with it, could we go this weekend?”
It was hard to come up with a reason we couldn’t.
Niall did take the weekend off with the idea we could do some Halloween related activities.
I did do some prep for it, ordering some of the Halloween treats you couldn’t find here in Ireland.
I had made sure to order some of the Halloween themed Avery sodas from back home, because I knew Hughie would get a kick out of Zombie Brain Juice and Bug Barf and the other grossly named flavors.
But I do think we may have fell flat on the overall plan.
“We could all go!” Lily says, then looks at the class. “I mean, or most of us. I’m sure at least some of us have plans.”
It turns out that some of the class did indeed have plans. But who I consider the core group, do not.
Daniel: I have a weird question
Niall: Intrigued.
Daniel: Not like that you perv. What would you say about camping this weekend?
Niall: Seems random
Daniel: Hughie wants to. Kids from class want him to go. Us actually
Niall: You want the Halloween plans to be camping with your class?
Daniel: Hughie made me text to ask, so it’s not really me
Niall: Can I think about it?
The class is staring at me. “He said he’d think about it.”
* * *
We pull into our tent space, one sandwiched in between three other occupied spots.
When checking in, the employee informed us that this wasn’t traditionally a busy weekend for the campground.
That we would, the royal we including the students from class, pretty much have the campground to ourselves.
What had been particularly nice about this campground was that the tent spaces actually came with the tents. My experiences camping at home was that, when you rented a spot in a campground, you were literally just paying for renting the ground for the night. You brought everything else with you.
This made packing for the trip much easier.
I had gone out and bought a couple of air mattresses and some other camping essentials while Niall and Hughie did the food shopping.
And boy, did they go overboard with the food.
Niall reminded me that it wasn’t just them but a group of always hungry college students.
That, even if they were responsible for themselves, would likely not plan well enough for a weekend fending for themselves.
Which, it turns out, Niall would be immediately disproven.
Once out of the car, I take in the little community of tents and a smile immediately comes to my face.
Each tent is decorated in a different theme, and most of them are things that Hughie has talked about.
Super Mario, Minecraft, Marvel, and oddly enough Jurassic Park.
Niall begins unpacking the car and carrying things to our tent, which happens to be the Super Mario tent.
Hughie walks past the car and looks at all the tents, then turns back to me.
“It’s perfect,” Hughie says, grabbing my hand and pulling me forward.
The Jurassic Park tent flap suddenly unzips, a giant inflatable dinosaur popping out of the opening. It turns, facing Hughie.
“RAWR!” The dinosaur starts a slow, stumbling run. Hughie screams, then laughs as the dinosaur chases him around the tents. Niall pokes his head out of the tent, casually observes for a few moments, then retreats back in.
Slowly the rest of the students emerge from their tents, everyone in costumes that match the decorations. Hughie runs from tent to tent, peeking inside, saying hi to everyone.
“You know, I was a bit skeptical of this plan,” Niall says, his arm wrapped around my waist. “I didn’t have a lot of faith in a group of college kids. Actually, I didn’t know what to expect at all.”
“The best class I’ve ever taught.”
The afternoon is, for the most part, action packed.
The kids play an actual football game, asking Niall and I to referee.
Which, in reality, is mostly Niall because I’m still struggling with the fundamentals of the game.
Which is shown when I let a goal stand and have Noah screaming about it being offside.
There’s also mini golf, disc golf, and a ropes course. It gives Niall and I some time to ourselves, the students unintentionally playing babysitter.
“How’s this compare to Halloween at home?” Niall asks, topping off my glass of Sancerre.
“Well, last Halloween our condo complex set up tables outside on the sidewalk. We drank and gave out candy together so it was easier for the kids. I think Michael and I went through like four hundred pieces of candy.”
“Holy shit.”
I laugh. “Yeah, and we always got the good stuff. No trash candy like Smarties or SweeTarts. Or those gross like peanut butter taffy things. You know, the ones that come in the black and orange wrappers?”
“Can’t say that I do.”
“Good. They’re fucking terrible.” I take a sip of wine. “Last year everyone from the condo dressed as Savannah Bananas and Party Animals.”
“What’s a Savannah Banana?”
I roll my eyes. “You need to be on social media more.” I pull up TikTok and show him a variety of videos, both of the Bananas and Party Animals.
“And, let me guess, you and Michael dressed up as two of the hotter ones?”
I find a picture on my phone and show him. “Michael was Jackson Olson and I was Tanner Thomas.”
Niall pulls out his phone and types frantically for a bit. “So, like I expected, you were the hotter one.”
We sit in silence for a bit, watching the disc golf game just at the edge of the woods. They weren’t lying about having the place to ourselves. I haven’t seen a single person outside our group since we unloaded the car.
Niall leans over to me. “I know it hasn’t been long, but I think your therapy sessions are working.”
“Oh?”
Niall nods, tipping the bottle of wine to my glass. “You realize you told a full story about you and Michael, looked up and shared photos with me? And you were fine Danny. I don’t think you could have done that a few weeks ago.”