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right?”
    “Correct.”
    Mom whispered, “Good.”
    It definitely didn’t escape me that Cain never answered my question.
    • • •
    When Bo finally allowed me to get up, we were surrounded by green. Old growth trees stood strong over us. They had probably been alive for a thousand years, long before the world got so screwed up.
    Even in the twilight I saw several RVs sitting in a circle surrounding a giant fire pit. One of them had a sign on the front that said “groceries,” another “medical.” The rest had laundry hanging over clotheslines or flower pots seated in front of the door like a regular house. I guessed that was what these people called home. The RV village seemed like a calm little beacon in the middle of the woods.
    At least before we got there.
    A man in an apron that barely stretched over his belly came toward us. His stomach swayed gently like a lard-stuffed palm tree. I was pretty sure I accidentally made a face when I saw him, but I hoped no one noticed. Cain hugged him. “Carl, it’s fantastic to see you.” They smacked each other’s backs as they hugged. My dad always did that when he hugged another man. Can’t appear too emotional if you’re a man, I guessed. If you’re hugging a guy you have to be hitting him too. “Where can we set up?”
    The rest of us followed behind Cain as Carl directed us.
    “Oh, just park your van over there by the orange trailer. That one’s mine. We’re just about to all gather around the fire and have dinner. Pork’s on tonight!”
    We all nodded, and Cain followed Carl into his trailer while Jordyn went to park the van. When we started to follow him, he waved us away. The door to the trailer shut behind him.
    I started to walk toward the closed trailer, but Mom grabbed my arm. “Best you stay here with me, okay?” I tried to tug myself away from her grasp, but she just tightened it. “Really, Riley, just stay out here.”
    I was about to protest, but Bo distracted me. “Besides, Riley, you don’t want to miss out on all the good food do you? Look at all that!” He pointed toward a chain of people carrying a huge table, followed by several more people carrying three giant roasts, followed still by more people with every side dish I could ever want. How these people lived so well in the middle of the woods was beyond me, but if we had to leave our own home, I was ready to sign up for a trailer of my own. My mouth watered, and I ran up and tapped the shoulder of the first person carrying the table. “Do you guys eat like this every night?”
    He smiled at me. “Not usually, but we’ve been very lucky in our last few food-gathering trips, so we thought we should live a little!” He put down his corner of the table. “Hey, why don’t you gather your family and come have the first shot at it? You’re guests after all!”
    I glanced over and saw Cain had come back out from the trailer and had his arm around Jordyn. Some unfamiliar feeling bubbled slowly in my stomach. If nervousness had a baby with insecurity, it would have been that feeling. Maybe some people would have called it jealousy.
    There was a giant fire in the middle of the camp and several tables around it. We picked the one closest to the trailer and sat down with our huge plates of food. The pork melted in my mouth and became so soft I didn’t need to chew. Mom smiled and took bigger bites than I’d ever seen her eat. At home she still hoped that if she led by example I would grow some table manners. Today, when I shoveled more pork in my mouth, she didn’t seem to mind. The fire crackled in front of us and sparks jumped out toward me, gently stinging my hands when I had finally rested them on my knees. I watched the flames twirl as my stomach gurgled, scolding me for stuffing it to the brim.
    Carl and Jordyn sat across from us, with Cain in between them. I noticed Carl whisper something into Cain’s ear. Carl’s mouth was wide and his lips were plump like little sausages,