Outdoor Sports & Activites Central

My son, Trent and I went camping a few months ago. I thought it would be a good way to bond with him, since we don’t really get to spend that much time together. He was quite reluctant at first when I asked him if he wanted to go camping with me for the weekend, but after awhile he just couldn’t refuse. So on Friday morning I woke up bright and early, and packed both of our bags. As soon as Trent got home from school that afternoon, we were ready to go, dying to use our new buck knife.

We drove out to the nearby woods, and set up our camping tents. We got there around five in the evening, and Trent was getting restless. He groaned to himself “I knew it was going to be like this”. Then I said “Be like what?” “No food, you forgot the food!” he whined impatiently. That was when I realized I forgot to bring food on the trip. I felt like such an idiot, I mean who forgets to bring food when their going camping? All this time I was in such a rush to get everything packed, and ready to go, I forgot something essential. The Lord knew at that very moment, that wasn’t the last of my problems. He knew much more was still to come.

I noticed it was getting dark outside as I walked back to my car. I was going to go to the nearest convenient store to get some food until I saw my keys were missing. “Just great”, I said to myself, “just great”. Trent was close behind.”What is it dad” he muttered anxiously. “I lost the keys” I told him. “You what?” he yelled with bottled up tension. By that point he was so angry he couldn’t talk. Who could blame him? Here we are just sitting here with a lantern to set ablaze our trail, walking forward to nowhere. The only thing I could do at that moment, was wonder where I put my keys last. I could of sworn they were in my pocket not
too long ago, but by that point all I could was wonder.

We walked back to where we set up our cheap camping equipment. By this time it was probebly somewhere around eight-ish at night, and we had nothing I thought to myself. As we sat down near our tent, we heard soft whispers talking amongst each other, and then it stopped. For about thirty minutes we’d hear whispering on and off in the distance. So Trent and I went creeping around the woods to see who it was. As we crept further and further down the trail, we heard a sort of sinister laughter. “Who is that, dad?” Trent
whispered in a skiddish tone. “I don’t know, son, lets head back to the car.” I said. I didn’t have anything particular in mind as to what we were going to do when we got to the car, but I just knew at that moment we had to get out of there.

When we got to the car, we sat there for awhile, and just thought to ourselves about what we were going to. Then all of a sudden we heard the laughter again. It kept getting louder and louder each time we heard it. I could see that Trent was trembling a little bit, and I felt as if I was a strange, sort of, out of place person in an Edgar Allen Poe novel. Not knowing what was out there or what lied ahead for us down the road. I took a step out of the car, and held the lantern up in front of me. I looked forward in every direction, but still there was noone to be found. The laughter kept getting louder and louder. Could it be a murderer?
Or some sick demented man with a high pitch sinister tone? I had heard so many stories about these kinds of people, and it freaked me out. Could this be a good story for one those murder investigation shows? What is going on here? I thought to myself. A sense ofparanoia struck over my body. I could barely move my lips to talk.

I heard a loud knock on the passenger window. I jumped up like a frightened cat in the middle of the night, and then turned around. It was my wife Caroline. “What are you doing here?” I said to her. “I followed you guys down here!” she exclaimed. “But why” I said.”Because you forgot your binoculars!” she said with laughter. “I was spying on you guys the whole time. I just thought it would be funny if I were to play a joke on you.” she said. “That wasn’t funny” Trent cried with relieved anger. This whole time, Caroline had the keys. We all decided it would be best if we all just went home. I let my wife ruin this trip because I forgot my
binoculars. What was I going to do with them anyway? Their not that important, I thought to myself. Besides Trent was anxious to go home. He wanted to eat a good homecooked meal, and sleep in his own warm, cozy bed. I always knew deep down, Trent was not the camping type.

Caroline gave the keys back to me, and we followed her home. I look back at this experience and I realize how close I was to my son that night. In times of fear, were more eager to stick together in a last resort situation. After all, he was more scared than I was, and he looked up to me to protect him. I guess we hit the highest peak of our bond that night. I think this experience was a good thing for both of us. If I could go back and do it again, I wouldn’t change it for the world.