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I shifted two bales farther apart and checked the view toward the screen.

Byron appeared beside the projector table carrying a surge protector. “You need this.”

“I already have one.”

“Yours lacks appropriate protection against voltage fluctuation.” He placed the new one on the table. “Are you using the older HDMI adapter?”

“Yes.”

“It sometimes loses connection,” he said.

I didn’t remember that, but if Byron said it happened, it happened. I replaced the adapter. Byron nodded in satisfaction and walked away without thanking me for accepting his correction.

The family began arriving before setup was complete. They rarely waited for official start times. Start times were suggestions, and early arrival gave everyone more opportunity to comment on the preparation.

Grandma Ruth came first with Grandpa Alfonse and a bowl covered in foil.

Julie met them at the porch. “What did you bring?”

“Caramel corn.”

“We already have caramel corn.”

Grandma shrugged. “Now you have more.”

Grandpa Alfonse looked over at the rows of hay bales with deep suspicion. “If you think I’m putting a hundred-year-old spine onto prickle-grass to watch another ridiculous movie, you’ve lost your mind, Ruth. I want a real chair with a cushion.”

Grandma guided him toward a padded lawn chair near the front. “I’m putting you right here so you don’t complain about your back halfway through the film.”

“I don’t complain, I state facts,” Grandpa grumbled, settling into the cushion with a satisfied huff. “And tell Hudson to turn the volume up this time. Last movie night sounded like mice whispering in a shoebox.”

Several Carpenters arrived next. Mason carried a cooler while his girlfriend followed with blankets. Two Kipner cousins brought a speaker nobody had requested. More people gathered around the food tables, and Sloane’s name entered the conversation.

“Is she actually coming?” Mason asked.

“She said she was,” Patty replied.

“I still think she used to live in Oregon,” a Carpenter cousin said.

“Arizona,” Grandma Ruth corrected.

“France,” Grandpa Alfonse added.

Everyone turned toward him. Grandma patted his arm. “That was the exchange program.”

“There was no exchange program,” Mom said while checking the sound equipment.

Grandma looked offended. “You were young.”

“I was an adult.”

“Younger than now.”

“That is how time works,” Byron said.

A Kipner aunt opened the cooler and frowned into it. “I thought Sloane was adopted by the Marmells.”

“No,” Julie said. “She just stayed with them.”