“How are you girls coming with your tent?” I yelled down into the woods.
Emily and Amy insisted that I take two camp sites so they could have, as they reiterated, their privacy. When we pulled into our sites, the girls proceeded to select a spot to set up their tent as far away from our pop-up camper as possible. So far away, in fact, that I could not actually see their tent as I sat outside our camper and enjoyed the campfire I’d just built.
I heard a faint reply that included the words “need help.” So, I went down the path to the girl’s site and found them with a half erected tent. Knowing that dome tents are the easiest things in the world to put up, I wasn’t quite sure how they had managed to screw this one up. But, I had it fixed and up in about five minutes. It was a piece of cake as long as Emily held the flash light for me. Then I showed them how to use the foot pump to blow up the air mattresses.
“Anything else I can do for you girls?” I said.
“No Dad. Thanks for putting up the tent.”
“So, Tara, what do you think of your first camping experience, so far?” I asked, trying to be polite.
“Geez, it’s so dark out here. When you turn off the flash light you can’t see a thing. And Emily was trying to scare me … she said there are bears up here in the woods.”
“Well, Tara, that is true. There are bears — black bears — that’s why we put all the food in the car over night. If you have food sitting out at your campsite, or in your tent, the smell can attract them. But you’ll be fine here … there is nothing to worry about.” I told her, hoping to reassure her. I wondered if Emily had tried to scare Tara on purpose.
“OK, if you need anything else, you know where to find me.” I told them. I said good night and headed back up to the camper.
Helen was sitting by the campfire when I returned and asked if I’d gotten the girls all squared away.
“Yes dear, though how anyone could fowl up a tent which is that simple to put up, is beyond me.”
We sat around the fire as it burned down to glowing embers and talked about nothing in particular. After awhile Helen yawned and said she was going to bed.
“You coming?”
“In a bit.” I replied. So Helen gave me a peck on the cheek and said good night.
Years ago, I would have jumped at the opportunity to climb into a sleeping bag with Helen what with the girls off in their own tent. But, we hadn’t had sex in ages so I was content to just sit by the campfire and enjoy the peaceful night under the magnificent large oak and hemlock trees that surrounded our campsite.
An hour or so later, after finishing off my bottle of wine, I doused the campfire, extinguished the Coleman lantern and stepped up into the camper as quietly as possible to go to bed.
As I was shedding my cloths for bed, Helen stirred and asked what time it was.
“Close to midnight, I think.” I whispered, though there was no need to try to be quiet with the girls in their own campsite.
I crawled into my sleeping bag, leaned over and gave Helen a good night kiss and she rolled over, facing away from me, and went back to sleep.