“Hey, babe, what have you been up to all summer?” Amy asked. Amy and Tara fell into to a barely audile conversation as they headed into the house.
I made small talk with Tara’s parents and assured them we’d get their daughter back to school safe and sound. As they pulled out of the driveway, I gave them a friendly wave.
As soon as Tara’s parents left, I closed up the camper and got the hitch hooked up to the SUV. As soon as that last chore was completed, I went into the house.
“OK. Let’s get this show on the road.” I announced loud enough for everyone in the house to hear … or so I hoped. I knew the routine. Even though everyone knew I wanted to leave on time, it would take at least half an hour for everyone to get in the car and be ready to actually depart.
Amy came into the kitchen as I was getting a glass of water. I was just about to go through the house and herd everyone out to the waiting car.
“Dad, I just mentioned to Tara about going camping with us and … huh … well, she’s never done anything like that and I think …”
“You promised.” I reminded Amy.
“I just don’t think it’s a good idea … ya know, ’cause she’s never been …”
“Is that what she said? She doesn’t want to go?”
“Well, no … she actually sort of likes the idea … since she’s never been camping before … but …”
“Oh. Tara wants to go. Then it’s settled. Get you things and get in the car … we have to get a move on if we want to get to the campground before dark.” I said settling, once and for all, the matter of Amy backing out of her promise.
The drive upstate was uneventful. But all the old tricks we always used to use to pass the time were a big flop now that the kids were grown. My wife dozed much of the trip and none of the girls wanted to play word games or sing songs like we had always done when they were little. Instead, all three girls had earphones plugged into their heads for the entire trip, listening to whatever music was each girls favorite.
We stopped for dinner about an hour away from the campground; the restaurant was tucked into a giant outlet mall complex. Amy and Tara ordered beer with their meals — both having recently turned twenty-one. They each seemed to get a thrill from exercising their newly acquired right to buy alcohol. They got carded, of course. The rest of us had iced tea. I have nothing against dinking, in fact, I had a nice bottle of Chardonnay on ice for later, but I still had some driving to do and did not want to drink until after we arrived.
An hour or so after leaving the restaurant we pulled into the camp ground. It took Helen and I about an hour to open up the camper, make the bed, put out the folding camp chairs and tables and generally get our campsite ship shape. Hmmmm … talk about mixed metaphors.
By then, it was getting dark and the stars were out. They were all so brilliant between the small gaps in the trees overhead that I was amazed I was on the same planet as my home in suburbia — at home, only the brightest stars were visible.