The changes were subtle. Michaela still did most of the things she always did, although runs in the forest seemed more constrained. I saw more of the pups, as Lara and Michaela kept them very close. And there were always enforcers around.

But we still packed up the SUVs and headed to Bayfield for the last trip of the summer. After this, there would be more trips in September, but the summer program kids would be back at school.

Michaela made a change to the procedures, however. “All right. Everyone pair up, boys with boys, girls with girls. You can join in twos or threes, but remember the touching rule, so choose wisely.”

Some of the kids partnered easily, but I saw some awkwardness. Cassie, Ember, Monique, Parker, Kimber, and Alexia all stood together, and no one seemed to want to make a suggestion. Alexia stood at the edge of the circle, watching the other kids, and I thought she was nervous, but none of them partnered up.

I thought that was odd. I knew Monique, Cassie, and Ember had been dating. I thought given the chance to partner, they’d form a trio. But they looked at each other and then waited.

Finally Parker said, “This is silly. I like all of you. I’d partner with all of you, but we have to pick. Ember, will you be my partner? Or did you want to stick to Cassie and Monique?”

“Actually,” said Cassie. “I was hoping you and I could partner.”

“And I was thinking of asking Alexia,” Ember said.

“But if you two want it the other way,” Cassie continued.

“You want to be my partner, Ember?” Alexia asked uncertainly.

“Yeah. You’re fun, Alexia,” Ember said. “If I partner with Cassie, she’ll want to get all kissy face, and we won’t get anything done.”

Alexia laughed, crossed the short distance, and took Ember’s hand. She was smiling broadly.

Parker stepped to Cassie and took her hand. “But don’t get any ideas. I’ve got my eye on someone else, but I don’t want to start anything unless I’m sure I’m going to be here full time in the fall.”

I thought that was very wise.

“Who?” Cassie asked, soon echoed by everyone else.

“I’m not saying. This person might not even be interested in me.”

“Oooh, this person,” Monique echoed. “That means it’s a girl, or you just would have said he.”

“I will neither confirm nor deny that allegation,” Parker said. “If you want to find out, you’ll just have to convince the alpha to keep me this fall, and then see who I drool over.”

“Well, you better not drool over me,” Kimber said, taking Monique’s hand. “That’s disgusting. But if you ask me out, I’d go.”

“I thought you liked Conor.”

“I’m flexible,” Kimber replied.

“But that means it’s not Kimber,” Monique said. “And it’s probably not Cassie, Ember, or me.” And with that, every pair of eyes, except Parker’s, turned to Alexia. But then Monique said, speaking slowly, “But you said only if you’re here this fall. The way you said it, it sounded like you were already pretty sure whoever you like will be here.”

And then they all looked around some more.

“Maybe it’s Anna,” Alexia said. “She’s pretty hot.”

“You girls know I can hear you,” I said.

“You were supposed to,” Alexia said with a grin.

“Don’t tease the old lady,” Monique said.

“Hey!” I complained.

“It’s not Anna,” Parker said. “But I’m not giving you any hints.”

“If you girls have your partners,” Michaela called out, “You also now get to pick which car you’ll ride in today.”

And all three groups immediately moved closer to me. I found that touching.

Five minutes later we were on the road.

* * * *

Michaela saved the most fun for the last trip, nearly two weeks in Bayfield. She brought everything together into a mini fieldwork Olympics, and she even made the adults play. None of it was about speed; everything she had us do was about precision and accuracy. She gave us a compass and a list of directions. Travel 71 yards on a heading of 278 degrees. Travel 91 yards on a heading of 340 degrees. In the end, we finished the course near where we started, but not exactly, and we were to measure the distance from our beginning point to our ending point. She didn’t tell us this, but we weren’t actually supposed to end where we began, but a few teams didn’t realize that and fudged their last leg. We got points for how close we ended to where we were supposed to end.

She had us collect rock samples. We were to record all the properties of the samples we collected, identify the samples as best we could, and then report how the rock formed.

We took water samples, and one of the out buildings was set up as a mini lab for evaluating the samples.

We identified no end of plants. We were handed cameras and given a list of things to photograph.

We went out in the kayaks, and she had a series of exercises that judged our ability to ride well. She had maps, and we were told to plot the optimal route between various locations on the lake based on varying wind conditions.

She made us catch mice without harming them.

We played a game. She had several of us sit in chairs in a field then gave us a nose plug, the sort that some swimmers wear to avoid getting water up their noses. Then we were blindfolded. The other people playing were told to sneak up on us, being as quiet as they could. If they could tag one of the people in the chair, they took that person’s place and earned points. But if the people in the chair pointed to someone sneaking, that person was reset to the back of the line, and the people who pointed got a point. I wasn’t any better than anyone else at pointing, but I was really quite good at sneaking, although all of us would have been better in fur.

Through all of it, the kids had fun. The adults had fun. Everyone had fun. The competition was spirited but friendly. And we got to practice everything we’d spent the summer learning.

And then things changed.