The Camping Trip

It was the best summer ever. We spent every minute camping, living off the land just like the pilgrims and natives that we learned about last year in Miss Darling’s class. At first we slept in the car but as dad said, “stayin’ in a car ain’t proper camping,” so he left us in the forest and drove it off to town for safe keeping. We slept under the stars with nothing but blankets to keep us from the bugs and coyotes, but I wasn’t scared. We were on an adventure and dad told us to never be scared of adventures. It took him two full days to find us after he took the car away but when he did, he brought two tents, a bag load of food, and even a grill plate for cooking over the fire. He walked the whole way back. “Hiking is part of camping too,” he said.

We hiked a lot. Most of the time it was to find things to eat. Dad always found wild berries and he taught me how to set traps with nothing but a rope and sticks to get squirrels. We caught rabbits too but never showed Lulu. Dad and I cut out the meat and hid the rest where Lulu couldn’t find it and told her we were eating squirrel. She loved rabbits. She had a big grey plush one with a missing eye because one of the buttons popped off. She called it Mr. Carrot because mom told her rabbits loved eating carrots but I always thought it was a dumb name.

Our camp was set up by the river because it had everything we needed: fish for eating and water for cleaning. Mom showed us how to wash clothes in the shallower streams and hang them up to dry on low hanging branches. I taught Lulu how to swim but mom made us stay in the creek because she didn’t want us to get swept away in the rapids. I missed our house sometimes, on extra cold nights or when I wanted to watch TV, but I was used to going without. Even before camping, the heat went out and our TV only played static; Mom and Dad must have been planning our trip for a while. Mom didn’t like camping as much as the rest of us did. I would see her crying at times she didn’t think I was around. I thought she might miss sleeping in a bed so I tried giving her one of our blankets to sleep on but she wouldn’t take it. Lulu and I learned if you fold the big blankets and lay on them, the ground wasn’t so hard, and Mr. Carrot could be used a pillow.

               One day when Mom was characteristically sad, she was sitting by the fire as the sun was starting to set. Lulu and I had come back from swimming and Dad was cooking up fish on the grill plate. They didn’t share a single look to one another and Dad never asked her what was wrong, so I did.

“I’m just gettin’ tired of camping,” she said while wiping her eyes.

“We can go home,” I told her. It seemed strange to me how Mom cried over a problem with such a simple fix.

She looked at me and pursed her lips into an ugly smile. “Of course we can, but its best we stay out here for a while longer.”

“What about when school starts?” Lulu came beside me, Mr. Carrot dangling from her hand. Mom held her hands to her face and cried.

“We can teach ya,” Dad said, eyes still on the fish over the fire.

“But I wanna’ go,” Lulu whined while I jumped up and down. She was excited to start kindergarten but I was glad to be free of school for as long as I could.

“I don’t! I never want summer vacation to end,” I yelled with naïve enthusiasm.

Dad smiled up at me across the fire, “that’s the spirit Billy.”

               “How about you go see if the laundry’s dry and we’ll eat when you get back?” Mom sniffled and wiped her eyes again.

I was so happy to avoid school, I barely noticed Lulu begrudgingly following me towards the stream to do as Mom asked. “Stop crying. You ain’t missin’ nothing.”

“You said it was fun,” Lulu reminded me.

“I was lyin’ to make you want to go. You don’t do nothin’ but sit around doing work.”

“And play.”

“Only at recess. Out here is like havin’ recess all the time.”

“There ain’t nobody to play with out here.” Lulu said and as if on cue, a rustle came from beyond a tree and a tall man with greasy black hair and a missing tooth stepped toward us.

He grinned at us, showing rotten smile with a missing front tooth. “Well hi there.”

Lulu and I stopped and stared at the tall man, neither of us speaking. He had the kind of presence that made us uneasy, even if we couldn’t explain it back then.

“What are you two doing out here by yourselves?” He asked.

“We’re camping,” I told him matter-of-factly.

“Camping, huh?” His eyes scanned us but lingered on Lulu. He motioned to Mr. Carrot in my sister’s hand. “You like them bunny rabbits?”

Lulu nodded.

“Theres a whole buncha’ baby bunnies down yonder. I can take you to them.” His offer, as harmless as it was, left me nervous.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” I said, “Our mom and dad will come looking for us soon.”

“Why don’t you stay here in case they come on back,” his eyes traveled from me to Lulu, “and you can come on with me to see them baby bunnies? What do ya say?”

Lulu pulled Mr. Carrots to her chest and nodded slowly, “I want to see the bunnies.”

               “We should get back to our parents.”

The tall man knelt in front of us, close enough to smell his stomach-turning breath.  “You won’t get in no trouble. We’ll be back before they even know you’re gone. I’ll even let you hold a baby bunny.”

I took a step back and pulled Lulu by the arm, “no, we need to leave now.”

Before he could bargain again, Dad bolted from behind us and spewed curse words at the tall man, chasing him off.  “Get back to your mother, now!” His voice echoed through the trees and we ran back to camp as fast as could.

 I didn’t know why Dad was going after the tall man or why he didn’t come back. We spent the night in Mom and Dad’s tent, waiting for him to return. I don’t remember falling asleep but I was awakened by the sound of panting and heavy footsteps. I carefully crawled away from Mom and Lulu and unzipped the tent to see Dad, out of breath, sitting on a fallen log. I slowly stepped outside and sat beside him in silence. As the sun was rising over the water I could see in its faint light Dad’s knuckles were cut and bloody and his left eye was starting to swell and bruise. He had a strange look on his face, one I recognized but had never seen before in him: fear.

 “Dad?”

“Yeah Bill?”

“We’re not camping are we?”