Unforgettable Camping Trip: Facing a Dreaded Morning

By Seth Lawrence Watson

Chuckie is a young 9 year old and an only child living with his parents in a small town. Today is the dreaded day Chuckie wished would never come which is going on a camping trip in the mountains with his parents and favorite uncle. He is uncertain about the trip and prefers visiting his grandparents’ farm in another state because he feels the camping trip will be totally boring and certainly a waste of his one day off for fall break. Will the camping trip prove to be fun and filled with excitement and possibly change Chuckie’s mind about camping overnight? There are many exciting activities planned that sound like fun including fishing and rewarding the one catching the first fish. Will Chuckie win even though he has never gone fishing in his life? Read this novel to find out if Chuckie has a different idea about camping at the conclusion of the story.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Aug 4, 2021
• ISBN: 9781665530606

Seth Lawrence Watson

Seth is a retired educator with four children and a grandparent of four. He enjoys reading, encouraging others to strive for excellence including setting high goals for themselves, and he promotes spending quality time with the family. Seth has a strong desire to write entertaining and engaging literature that is always respectful of family and Christian values. His novel possesses high interest reading material which is an effective teaching tool for children learning both at home and the regular school classroom. As an author and educator, Seth hopes parents, educators, and others will use this novel to introduce, expose, and reinforce many critical reading skills in a relatable and entertaining manner. Ideally, this entertaining story will capture individuals’ attention and stimulate their desire to become avid readers.

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© 2021 Seth Lawrence Watson. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

AuthorHouse™

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Bloomington, IN 47403

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Phone: [phone]

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in

this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views

expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views

of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

All illustrations depicted are from Blueberry Publishing Company, and

such images are fictional and for illustrative purposes only.

ISBN: 978-1-6655-3059-0 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-3060-6 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021913251

Published by AuthorHouse 08/26/2021

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Contents

Acknowledgement

Facing a Dreaded Morning

Time to Be Getting Downstairs

Reviewing the Plan, Waiting, and Wondering

Moving My Things and New Plans

Comparing Dad and Uncle Charlie as We Hit the Road

On Our Way to the Campsite

At Our Camp, Yes, No, Maybe, I Hope Not

Who Will Own the Camp?

Busy Beavers Take Over the Camp

Setting Our Camp Up, Dinner, New Plans, and New People

An Almost Believer

Time to ‘Hit the Sack’ but a Potty Crisis in the Camp

Dad Did Not Take Care of Business

Dad Is Found and Not Cheating

More Uninvited Intruders and Dad Returns

In Our Sleeping Bags but Very Little Sleep

The Plan to Escape

Testing Old Bessie and Hours of Misery

Hours of Pain and Misery Until Help Arrives

Fix the Tire, Pack, Clean Up, and Skidaddle

Our Long Drive Home Continues

Unexpected Stop Before Getting Home

Acknowledgement

U nbelievable Camping Trip was inspired or birthed out of an idea which came to me when I was teaching in an elementary school in the Midwest several years ago. As I was exploring and considering various ideas for a lesson I was going to teach, I had a great thought, but the time was not right for the idea to be developed so this novel could be written. It was years after I had retired from the classroom that I decided to return to my original idea and focus on developing the plot and see where it might lead me.

So here we are today with the finished manuscript with its illustrations ready to be published so others may enjoy being entertained by a story about a little nine-year old boy who goes camping for the first time with his family. I express my thanks to my young granddaughter who sat at the dining room table and read a much shorter version of the story which I had written almost a half year ago. She was kind enough to share her ideas as to how the manuscript could be improved. As she read, I had said nothing but watched her different facial expressions as she read the story. Certainly, her facial expressions enlightened me as to whether or not she was enjoying and connecting with the story. I concluded there were absolutely great possibilities for this project if I continued.

Many thanks to my daughter for her technical assistance and expertise throughout the entire process which simplified my job and made it possible to submit the completed manuscript in a timely manner. Likewise, ongoing encouragement and suggestions from my sister and sister-in-law greatly inspired me to continue to forge ahead and finish the project.

I also express my appreciation for the presence of the anointing of the Lord whereby throughout the writing process, abundant and amazing ideas flowed to me rapidly and fluently and did not cease. As I wrote, I sat and chuckled because I was being entertained as humorous ideas were coming so quickly and connecting with the plot perfectly. However, I was concerned that others might hear me laughing and think it strange that I was writing and laughing as I sat alone working on my novel.

Thanks to students and parents of former students whom I enjoyed working with over the past decades. Hopefully, individuals reading this novel to or with their children will recognize many of the following skills that are purposely embedded in the story in a manner designed to be entertaining as well as skill building:

• Vocabular Enrichment

• Recognizing Main Characters

• Plot

• Setting

• Using Context Clues

• Predicting Outcomes

• Recognizing Rising and Falling Action

• Recognizing Appositives

• Recognizing and Explaining Idioms

• Using and Adding Details

• Recognizing Story Flashbacks

• Drawing Conclusions

• Summarizing

• Identifying the Genre of the Story

• Resolution

• Climax

Thanks for allowing me to share this novel, and I hope you find it as entertaining as I have enjoyed writing it.

Facing a Dreaded Morning

I t was dawn and a typical chilly fall morning since summer had already ended. Leaves on most of the trees in our quiet neighborhood were changing and going from rich bright summer colors to varying shades of fading green, dull and gorgeous shades of red, yellow, orange, and brown fall colors. This first stage of all the leaves on the trees changing their colors was in preparation for fall’s full effect on our little city of Brookville.

Autumn was absolutely my favorite time of the year, and I found it wonderful that so many of the trees were quickly preparing to dress in their extraordinary autumn colors. Dozens of large trees in our little neighborhood would soon be fully displaying their upcoming kaleidoscope of incredible stunning colors which only Mother Nature could produce.

Our large fenced backyard would soon be covered with the most beautiful colored carpet which would be provided free of charge. The falling leaves would be escorting an upcoming parade of majestic hues which would signal that winter was next in line for our small city. Our backyard over the years was a place that always offered safety and fun for me. This was especially true when I was jumping into the huge piles of leaves that Mom and Dad raked once the leaves had all fallen. My great parents knew that I found the gigantic piles of colorful leaves irresistible, so they did not become upset when I attacked every huge pile of leaves wildly. You would not believe how I plowed into the large piles causing them to explode and scatter over the backyard again. I always had a blast as Mom and Dad watched me wear myself out as I repeated this game of mine. Dad was especially happy since I probably brought back similar memories of his early childhood activities as he watched me.

Because I am the only child in our family, that might partially explain why my parents aren’t upset or uptight about me enjoying simple and safe activities in our backyard. Many of my best friends and I have spent hours in our massive backyard climbing and swinging from the branches of our trees. We never tired of playing catch, soccer, football, and so many other fun games together. I don’t know about your parents, but my mom and dad would rather have me playing outdoors in the fresh air than staying inside and becoming a couch potato. This is especially true when the weather is sunny and great outside. They do not want to hear me whining that there is nothing to do, and they strongly frown upon finding me day after day upstairs in my bedroom watching TV or playing video games for hours during my free time. Dad and Mom would put a stop to those things in no time. Since I am an only child, I think life for me could be improved possibly if I had a cute puppy. But for now, my parents aren’t too keen on that idea because they want me to demonstrate or prove to them that I am actually ready and responsible enough to take care of a puppy. I know I would do an awesome job taking care of a puppy because it certainly could not be that much work.

At the moment, this is an unusual time for me, and I am not in my great backyard. It is now early morning, and so much is in store for our family today. Right now, and seemingly just outside my window, there are several humongous blue jays as well as sparrows or other birds in our backyard noisily announcing to the world their new day has already begun. The birds’ partially concealed nests are settled safely on high branches in our old mulberry tree and another ancient tree which still had some leaves hanging on for dear life. A few other birds in our yard have nests concealed in safe locations too which they will certainly need. Those territorial blue jays with their continued annoying loud chatter and all the other ongoing tweeting and chirping from the other birds are signals that it is time for those noisy chatterboxes to awaken and get moving.

Many are already venturing out from their nests and searching for their very first meal of the day, breakfast. Their primary mission for the new day will more than likely be a success for them because we all know that ‘the early bird catches the worm.’ I am certainly hoping these noisy and unruly neighbors will soon be migrating before the arrival of late fall and winter. Some of the other migratory birds have already taken flight and headed southward several weeks ago. I really don’t care where these birds choose to go for the long winter, but I just want them to leave our backyard because of their excessive noise which I struggle to sleep through each morning. I will have to wait and see if they migrate to a warmer climate or another area, or if they decide to hang around in our old mulberry tree and other nearby trees throughout fall and winter.

As I glanced out my upstairs window from my wonderful new bed, I wondered if the cold suffocating fog now heavily blanketing our little city of Brookville was preparing to lift and maybe retreat for the day. For a moment, it seemed to be reluctantly or slowly yielding to the golden rays of determined sunlight. The rising sun’s glorious golden and orange rays were slowly piercing the thick gray fog. A few rays of sunlight strained to slowly engage in battle to fight off the intruder, the immovable gray fog. The stubborn dense fog was absolutely refusing to leave. Certainly, the rising sun would soon chase away both the heavy fog and the scary darkness which ruled the night. As the sun continued peeking sleepily over the horizon, I knew the darkness would soon be creeping away and vanishing totally.

At the time, I was partially blinded by some of the oncoming rays from the distant golden fireball, the sun, as it for a moment broke through the gray low-lying cloud. For now, I lay totally still in my cozy comfortable bed and shut my sleep filled eyes even tighter. The devoted sun’s struggling rays were being empowered each passing minute as they continued to stream brighter and stronger through my large upstairs bedroom window. Even though it was quite early, rays of golden sunlight appeared to be growing more powerful, brilliant, and numerous as I noticed the darkness in my bedroom very slowly but surely bowing and creeping away. As time continued passing, the increasing rays from the fireball seemed to be determined to break through and eventually utterly defeat the thick gray fog which had ruled the night along with the powerful darkness. The uninvited dense fog had silently snuck in unannounced, it would seem, into our peaceful city during the late night when we were all sound asleep in our warm beds. Heavy low-lying fog had a strong grip on our sleepy little city this early morning and would certainly battle to the end before it would have to consider retreating and bowing to the flaming sun god that ruled the day.

Today, who would be the mighty victor of this engaging early morning battle between the thick slow lifting fog and the rising mighty giant, the sun? Would we later have a bright sunny day, or would it be rainy, foggy, or overcast the entire day? I squinted my tired drowsy eyes and continued to lay in bed where my soft warm bedcovers tightly hugged and wrapped around my little sleep deprived body. Here I lay with my little face scrunched in a deep frown as I continued to shield my sleepy eyes from the slowly increasing sunlight. The persistent sun kept up its struggle with the stubborn, fierce, and dense fog which seemingly still had no plans to leave anytime soon. Oh, how I now wished the sun would have delayed making its unavoidable appearance, and then perhaps today’s plans for our family to go out of town may have also been delayed. But it is what it is.

Tugging on my comfortable and cozy bed covers, I peeked and then slightly glanced over at my clock, my faithful uniformed soldier. My dependable solider gallantly stood guard on the cluttered nightstand beside my bed. He was dressed in his bright red coat with green trim, white shirt, dark pants, and black hat which reminded me so much of the famous Nutcracker Soldier. My reliable friend has had that spot on the nightstand at least three or four years or longer. His special place was among a small lamp, several small toys, small race cars, books, my favorite baseball cap, and a partial or half eaten chocolate candy bar.

During the regular school week, it was because of my remarkable faithful soldier I could get up and dressed in time for me to get ready and be prepared to make it to the bus stop to catch the school bus. My loyal soldier always knew the exact time regardless of it being day or night. Without him, my parents would be dragging me out of my toasty warm bed about every morning to make sure that I wouldn’t be late for meeting the school bus. My gallant soldier has saved me from being tardy to school dozens of times, I am sure. My parents would not have been thrilled about driving me to school if I missed the bus.

After I got more comfortable in my toasty bed, I then sleepily turned over and buried my head underneath my warm fluffy pillow. My colorful racecar shaped pillow, which smelled something like cotton candy fabric softener was the best pillow any kid my age could imagine. It was my super pillow! I was determined to avoid any opportunity for the streaming rays of sunlight to strike my face and half blind me as I lay snuggling safely in my great bed with my head still buried. My worn-out wretched body stiffened and pleaded for a few more minutes to just lie in bed and sleep. Too early to get up…. I moaned to myself as I lay between the comfortable warm sheets and brightly colored racecar blanket. Everything on my fabulous super racecar bed matched perfectly and was just absolutely awesome!

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I still had a couple of precious minutes to snuggle underneath the warm fragrant covers before I had to eventually get up. This was going to be extremely painful! If I could just grab or steal a few more minutes of sleep, that would have been more precious than a large pot of gold right now because I was so soooo dog-tired! Was it possible for me to steal a few more minutes of sleep, especially today, since this was such an unusual day for our entire family? This new day would be a first for the Miller family which would include my first time ever going camping outdoors with wild animals living close by. This was not the day for me to be sleepy and exhausted.

Why did I ever sneak and stay up late again last night until after midnight although Mom and Dad had sent me to bed three hours earlier? I groaned in my tired spirit as I painfully asked myself that question. That question had once again come to my mind as I was now very much regretting my unwise decision again to sneak and stay up very late last night. My parents did not know that I had turned the volume down really low again on my little color TV last night and had continued to watch TV. The volume was basically down to almost a whisper. So, you see, I was not asleep when they thought I was sleeping soundly in bed. Hopefully, children like you are not practicing or doing this sneaky act at home.

Mom and Dad had finally allowed me to have my own small color TV in my bedroom after much persuasion and relentless whining and pleading on my part. My ongoing whining and whining for weeks along with my promises, promises, and more promises to my parents had finally paid off when they gave in or perhaps caved in and allowed me to have my own small color TV in my bedroom. I was totally pleased with myself for sure about this accomplishment. I sometime wonder if they bought the small TV for me so I would not continue whining to them about getting me a cute adorable puppy which I would take care of. At least that is what I had said to them to try to convince them to get me a puppy. Surely, you don’t annoy your family members with incessant whining and empty promises to try to convince or mainly persuade your parents or grandparents to give you what you want. This is not a wise thing to do at all, especially when they have already answered you with, No, and don’t ask again! Follow their instructions or advice.

So, let’s get back to my small color TV which had led to me staying up late to watch a TV program which I would have to say was something I had done a few times in the past. I had done this because of my mischievous intentions to sneak and watch some of those scary forbidden monster movies that only come on TV late at night. They only come on late at night because they are not for young kids like me or perhaps you to watch. Those scary late-night monster movies are designed for older teenagers as well as adults only. But, up to this point as I said, I have slipped and stayed up just a few times and watched several of those horror movies. So far, I have done this without Mom or Dad catching me or becoming aware that I was awake in my bedroom and carrying out this horrible deed.

I must admit that I thought I was kind of smart to not get caught. I would be sneaking around and staying awake late at night not watching young kids’ shows, but secretly watching those scary monster TV programs for the big kids and grownups. My protective parents would never have approved of me doing this and certainly would not have allowed me to watch those movies under any circumstances. It was going to be just a short time later that I would find out it was not such a great idea at all for me to watch those horror movies. I tell you I would very soon have a great revelation about my parents being right about those awful movies, and they usually are right when they make a decision to forbid any of my requests.

When my parents walked down the hallway past my bedroom door to go to their bedroom late at night, they couldn’t see there was obviously some light in my bedroom coming from my TV since they had not come into my room. No light was visible or escaping from my bedroom into the hallway because I would purposely place a jumbo size dark towel down on the floor at my door once it was closed. The faithful dark towel was used successfully again last night to block any light from escaping underneath the door into the corridor or hallway as I stayed up late to watched TV.

So, I admit I have mischievously done this several times in the past, and I have gotten away with my dark jumbo towel trick as well as many of my other little pranks or games. You need to keep in mind when games like this are played, you had better watch out since there is a time when payback or payday comes. When that day comes, it may certainly prove to be a lot more trouble and unnecessary pain for you than it is worth for taking the risk and breaking the rules. Probably not even worth it if you ask me. The fact that I was sneaking around and not following my parents’ instructions could have gotten me into a heap of trouble if they had found out, even just one time. They would have forbidden me to watch those frightening or terrifying movies until I was an adult and had my own house or apartment. They may have blocked the shows they did not want me to watch, too. My parents may have also told me that I was not ever allowed to close my bedroom door. That would be so embarrassing especially having to get dressed and your bedroom door open all the time. Hopefully, you are not doing anything like what I did when you are told by adults in your family to not watch those scary shows. Sneaking around like I did is not worth it. Don’t do it! Take my advice and save yourself from the punishment, unneeded pain, misery, drama, and trouble. Just follow the rules of your parents or the grownups in your home. Take it from me, that is the smart thing to do.

What else could my parents do if they found out about my little pranks I was pulling on them, or was I pulling the tricks on myself? Other consequences might include the removal of my very own wonderful color TV from my bedroom for several months, or perhaps they would punish me even longer for ignoring one of our house rules of no TV after 9:00 p.m. unless I had special permission from them. They also could have removed all TV watching privileges from me until the weekends. I tell you I surely believe parents have a lot of power and options they can use to get things done their way when they really lay down the law. Sooner or later, they would have found out about my plotting and scheming, and the news would not have been good for me. The whole situation and consequences would have been major and torturous for me, I suspect, if my parents ever found out.

Other children may not have similar rules they must obey as I must follow in my home, but I have sometime wondered how my parents have come up with some of their strict rules. I protested the ones that prevent me from watching TV only after all homework is done, playing video games for no longer than thirty minutes every other day, as well as no monster movies period, or under any circumstances. Of course, my latest protests and all my whining performances to my parents have gone unheeded. Those rules are ‘etched in stone,’ so I am not expecting Mom and Dad to change their minds ever, ever, ever. I will just have to prepare myself to accept and live with those rules until I am almost an adult or grownup living in my own house.

Since on last night, I had sneakily stayed up and watched a really great monster movies advertised for older people and some other shows for teenagers which kept me up well beyond midnight, there were still immediate consequences for me. Now it was ‘time for me to pay the piper’ this morning and paying the piper would be miserable and very painful. As I knew all too well, getting up from my soft warm bed was not going to be easy or fun, especially since I had gotten only a few hours of much needed sleep.

The only good thing I can say about last night was that the monster movie was a great one and also just about the scariest one I have ever watched. Truthfully speaking, I was so afraid after the movie ended until I checked for monsters underneath my bed a couple of times to make sure none of them were hiding there. Next to be checked was my messy closet to make certain none were hiding inside it. I have no clue what I would have done if I had found something hiding there. It probably would have had a hard time coming out of the closet without tripping over all the clutter and things that I had thrown into it so my room would not appear to look so terribly messy. Thank goodness both my closet and underneath my bed were clear of monsters after the shows and movie ended.

Now, it was so very early this new day, and morning had come so soon after the movie ended. I again moaned softly and snuggled underneath the comfy and warm fragrant covers. The soft, smooth, and comfortable covers still wrapped and hugged my tired little body even tighter as it pleaded for and demanded more sleep, even just a few more minutes. The heavy bright colored comforter and covers on my new racecar-shaped bed ‘clung to me like glue’ and totally refused to loosen their powerful grip.

Where had the night gone so quickly? It was just so unbelievable that morning was here already since it seemed like I had just turned the lights off to go to sleep a few minutes ago. All lights were off in my room now except for the one in my messy closet. I still needed that closet light on all night just to make sure there were no miniature creepy monsters or anything hiding sleeping or crawling around in other places inside my cluttered bedroom after that scary TV show ended. Just in case I may have missed one that was hiding, then the closet light certainly would help me spot it before falling asleep.

I tell you, it also felt like the TV was just turned off in my room just minutes or seconds ago as well. I continued to wonder what had happened to the night. Was my little mind playing tricks on me, or was my thinking unclear, fuzzy, and scrambled because of the lack of much needed sleep? Was I so tuckered out because a kid my young age certainly needed more than five or six hours of sleep at night? I was too tired and sleepy to try to focus. I desperately wanted more time to sleep, even just a few more minutes. I did not want to pay the piper.

As soon as the alarm on my clock sounded with a high, piercing, ringing blast, I instantly smacked the snooze button to steal a few more much needed minutes of precious sleep. My colorful and faithful soldier swiftly obeyed the command and was quiet for the moment. He continued standing guard for the next alarm that he would sound in just a few minutes. Sleep instantly flooded the room in gigantic waves, and ‘I was out like a light.’

In no time, or it seemed like it was ‘at the blink of an eye,’ the alarm on my clock rang again, but this time, the sound was magnified even possibly two or three times louder than the first alarm when it had gone off earlier. The loud and annoying alarm now rang with a powerful and commanding clanking noise that changed to an awful siren. Nobody could ever sleep through this loud and annoying racket no matter how sleepy they might be. The volume of the alarm increased several times and was totally unbearable! It was beyond irritating if you were trying to sleep, or in other words, neither you nor I could possibly sleep through that brutal horrendous racket which was just blasting away and so deafening. The horrible clanking racket was designed to make sure you would or could not go back to sleep or even try because it was agonizing to listen to the brutal noise loudly blasting away.

My faithful soldier, the clock, had won, so I slowly turned off the screaming alarm. I knew that it was totally useless to try to prolong the inevitable. I was truly in a hard-fought struggle; I pushed and prodded myself until I had almost, but not quite, mustered up enough determination to get up since the alarm had been turned off. Finally, with great reluctance, I forced myself to roll over to the edge of the bed and then with another half roll, I began to slowly crawl out of my warm comfortable racecar bed. It took a while, but after an ongoing struggle, I finally had one foot on the floor, then my leg, backside, and then I was completely out of the bed and sitting on the floor and leaning back against the bed. The room was warm, but the floor was uncomfortable and hard. After some time had passed, I was eventually on my feet and standing in an upright position. This getting up and moving around after only a few hours of sleep was so very hard for me! I would have given anything to just be able to crawl back into that wonderful cozy bed that was calling my name and then sleep for another fifteen or thirty precious minutes. But today, to continue sleeping was not an option on this very unusual dreaded day for me. I was not looking forward to this experience of outdoor camping at all. Who wants to go camping in the wild outdoors and then sleep inside a tent on the cold hard ground when you have a fantastic new soft racecar bed like mine? I certainly had not volunteered.

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The blaring siren with its variety of irritating sounds made by my clock or faithful soldier had already signaled and shouted for me