CAMPING

My father and I went camping the summer I was ten. As I look back to
that time now, it's still hard to believe what happened with my father
as I remember it. My family and I would always go camping once a year
in the summer. The year I had my 10th birthday, my father and I were
going camping by our self. My mother had started a new job and couldn't
go with us this time. My father and I would talk about going camping
together and what fun we would have. Father and son get away camping,
that was exciting for both of us just thinking about it.
All that week I was getting my stuff together most of it in my
backpack.
I put a small bottle of water in there along with some socks extra
pants
T-shirts and just different stuff. I could hardly wait until the
weekend so we could go. The weekend finely got here and I was so
excited getting ready to leave, and I could hardly sleep all night just
thinking about it. We did all the usual things got all the camping
equipment loaded and said goodbye to some of the family and kissed my
mother four or five times. My father was kissing my mother good-bye we
were waving and yelling to everybody.
We stopped to fill the car up with gas and as we pulled out of the gas
station I looked at my father and said were finally on our way, dad
said yes we are and we are going to have a lot of fun. We didn't have
far to go, we lived near Apache junction in Arizona and we were going
to camp on the Verdi River where we camped every year. We started out
on a Monday morning and I asked my father why are we going on a Monday?
He said, not a lot of people camp on a Monday there should be a lot of
room.
There should be a lot of good spots and nobody to bother us.
A few hours later we arrived at the Verdi- River. We went to our old
campsite but when we got there we saw a lot of motorcycles all around
the campground and signs all over. They were having a reunion get
together and all these different names of motorcycle clubs were posted
all over.
My father said it did not look too safe to stay here with all these
motorcycles. I think we better go check out some other campgrounds,
there is another one a little further up the canyon it's a real nice
spot up there and hopefully nobody will be there. Dad what if Mom had
to get in touch with us for some sort of an emergency? Don't worry
about it son, she'll find us. We got to the campsite up the canyon and
there were just a few other campers but lots of room for us. We started
setting up our tent and table and are cooking stuff. We were having fun
doing this together and it turned out to be a real nice campsite with
lots of room.
We gathered some rocks by the river and built a big fire pit.
Later that evening we sat around by the campfire relaxing and looking
at the stars and listening to the night sounds. I looked over at my
father and he had a very pleasant look on his face. He started telling
me how much he loved me and how nice it was that we could spend this
special time together just talking to each other. I told him it was
great for me too.
DAD I don't get a chance to talk you too much because you're working
all the time so this is neat just you and I sitting by a campfire
talking about a lot of different stuff. It was pretty neat and I will
never forget it. We sat around for a while talking, we were both real
tired so we decided to get some sleep. The next morning we were sitting
at the table just looking around, it was a beautiful morning the wind
was blowing lightly and the sun was shining through the trees. We saw
some rabbits running around with their babies and quail running all
around. I kept throwing out little pieces of bread they were eating it
as fast as I could throw it down. My father said, why don't you and I
go hiking back into the mountains a little ways, ok it sounds like a
lot of fun. Dad said, don't forget your coat, it might get cold in the
shade back in the canyon and I will grab the water.
I reached down and picked up my backpack, dad said you don't need that,
I know, but I would like to take it anyhow. I might find something
interesting on the trail and put it inside to take back home with us,
ok its up to you. As my father and I hiked for about 2 1/2 hours, I was
saying to myself what made me bring this back pack, it was starting to
get little heavy now but something told me to bring it along. I better
not say anything but my father must have been reading my mind, he
looked at me and said you want me to carry that for you? I said thanks
dad it's not heavy I can carry it. It was pretty neat walking and
looking at the beautiful sights I asked my dad how far have we walked?
Pretty far, we have walked further than we should have but it's pretty
up here. We walked a little further and we stopped and sat on a rock
and just looked at the beautiful scenery and were passing the water
back-and-forth. Dad said, we better work our way back. We have walked
over 3 1/2 hours and that's a long way. My dad said he was starting to
get hungry he reached in this jacket pocket and pulled out two large
apples and gave me one and he started eating the other. We sat there
for a few minutes enjoying the sites. My father said, finish your apple
so we can start back. We stood up and my father slipped on some small
loose rocks and fell back hitting his head hard on a large pointed
rock. I yelled out, dad are you all right and he did not answer me, he
was bleeding badly, I was so scared I started screaming. I didn't know
what to do I kept yelling, I need help I yelled it over and over again
I kept trying to talk to my dad but he was unconscious and I was
getting more scared by the minute. I picked his jacket up that was
lying on the ground and stuffed it under his head like a pillow. I said
to myself I need to be calm, my father taught me that if anything
happened like this, try to stay calm. I wanted to stop the bleeding so
I took my jacket off and took my shirt off and wrapped the shirt around
his head to stop the bleeding and then put the jacket back on.
The shirt stopped the bleeding right away once I wrapped it. I tried to
give him a little water and he drank just a little. I sat there next to
him for a few minutes not knowing what to do, I told my father I was
going to get help and not to worry I would be ok. He slowly turned his
head towards me and gave me a little smile. I laid my head on his chest
and said I love you dad,
I will be back with help. I was so confused that I told my father I
will leave the water with you and I put it next to his hand. As I left
I went in the wrong direction; I walked for quite awhile before
realizing that I was going the wrong way. I turned around and headed
back I kept thinking about my father and if he was ok and then I
started thinking maybe I should not have left him at all. I was so
confused I stood there looking all around not knowing which way to go.
I was so scared I kept thinking I was going the wrong way. I felt like
I was walking for hours and I was all messed up and confused. I stopped
at this high point on the trail that overlooked the valley, I was
crying and I kept saying to myself that I need to keep calm.
I stood there for a few minutes looking around then I remembered in my
backpack that I had a small bottle of water. I sat down alongside the
trail and open the backpack but the water had all leaked out. I
couldn't believe I didn't put the lid on tight enough. Now knowing I
had no water, I was really getting thirsty, maybe I should have stayed
with my father, but I know I am doing the right thing trying to get
help. I couldn't stop crying I would stop for a little while and walk a
little bit and start again it was very quiet out here and I was real
scared. I was starting to get very tired so I stopped and kneeled down
trying to get my breath. I moved over near a tree and as I looked up at
the sky, I figured it was around four or five in the evening.
I kept telling myself like my father taught me, to stay calm and get
myself together. I looked around a little bit and saw this big tree I
walked over and sat underneath it and leaning back against it, I looked
at the sky and said please Lord let me make it. I glance over at my
backpack it was like a voice told me to reach inside and when I did
there was a small bible in it.
I know my mother put it in there and she had typed a note on the front
of the Bible, it said " read this and it will always guide you in the
right direction. " As I sat under the tree I read two or three
different pages just glancing through it. I closed the Bible and stared
at it, and thought for a minute, we don't have a typewriter, I wonder
who typed that for her.
Then I put my head down and started praying for someone to find me and
help my father. A few seconds later I thought I heard a voice that said
something to me and when I looked up a girl and guy were standing near
me. They asked me what I was doing way up here by myself. I started
crying and telling them at the same time what happened and they told me
not to worry about anything, they would take care of me and find my
dad. They gave me water and a candy bar, I kept thanking them and
telling them that I was getting pretty scared and I'm glad they came
along. The girl said we were going to go the other way but for some
reason we turned in this direction.
I grabbed my backpack and I was holding the Bible so tight in my hand
and the girl said, put the Bible in your backpack and I will carry it
for you.
I would appreciate it if you carry the backpack but I don't think I
could ever let go of this Bible. They both looked at me with a strange
look on their face, I don't think they quite understood what this small
Bible meant to me. We started down the trail and about two hours later
we got to my father. There was a ranger that found him about 30 minutes
before we got back to him and called the paramedics and everything was
looking pretty good. The paramedics were coming up the hill to get my
dad and they had notified my mother and she was on her way to the
campsite.
By the time the paramedics got back to the campground with my dad, my
mother pulled up and she was crying and grabbed me and hugged me, then
ran to my father who was lying on a stretcher. The paramedics said that
he would be ok, my mother was so relieved she laid her head on his
chest and was weeping with relief. My father had his arm around my
mother and reached out and took my hand and said, son I am very proud
of you, you did real good. A little while later when things calmed down
I told my mother, if you hadn't put that Bible in my backpack I don't
know what I would have done, it helped me.
My mother said what Bible?

A short fictional story by Norman Clifford
1-7-2002