Running From Bears: Chapter Five--Setting Up Camp

The boys made enough of a raucous removing their camping supplies to rouse Tucker, who took it upon himself to wake Matt. "Are we there yet?" he asked for the two hundred and fifty-third time that afternoon.1

"We're there!" Andrew and Jason announced in relief and unison.2

"Where's the bathroom? I gotta use the bathroom," the little boy said shifting from foot to foot holding his privates with both hands.3

"Sorry," Andrew said sounding as insincere as he actually was. "No bathroom til tomorrow night. Didn't you go before we left the apartment?"4

Jason appreciated his brother's sense of humor. Matt, however did not.5

"I told you to go before we left," Jason goaded.6

"I DID, but I have to go again!" Matt wailed, giving away the urgency of his need in the pitch of his panicked voice.7

The two older boys snickered until Matt began to cry...and dance...and hop. Then they laughed.8

"Matt, there are no bathrooms out here, for real. Just pee anywhere," Andrew instructed, smiling at his brother's tortured expression.9

Matt continued to pinch himself mercilessly and jig while painfully looking back and forth between his brothers. He was certain this must be a cruel joke. His face said, "Enough is enough. WHERE'S the TOILET?"10

Jason pasted on his best, you-can-trust-me-little-buddy face and said, "Really. It's okay. In the movie they couldn't show it cause it's rated G, but even those kids had to pee outside. Just pee anywhere."11

Apparently either convinced or fed up, Matt proceeded to grab his jeans and underwear and yank them down in the front with one hand, in a single deft motion, spraying as he did so. Both older boys literally jumped backward to avoid the barrage. Unfortunately for Andrew he didn't jump quickly enough. Matt watered his left shoe before he had time to react.12

"Hey! Watch it!" Andrew said. It was his turn to hop. He shook his left leg to remove any liquid not already soaked into the cloth. This time only Matt got the joke.13

Andrew made two angry steps in his direction when Jason stopped him short. "Knock it off, Andrew. You had it coming. Anyway we still gotta get this stuff down the side and put up the tent before it gets dark. We'd better get moving."14

Driven more by logic than emotion, Andrew let it go and went back to unloading. By the time everything they brought for the trip was out of the car, they found themselves surrounded by at least three trips worth of goods. Eying their mound, Jason said, "We're gonna have to leave some of this stuff behind until later or we're going to sleep in the open tonight."15

"Let's take only what we need," Andrew concurred. Unfortunately, they had necessity in mind when they packed earlier that afternoon. Nothing of consequential size could be left. "Man! We're just wasting time going through this junk over and over again. Let's try to combine it or strap it on our backs or something! It's going to get dark on us soon."16

By the time they consolidated their gear, they each wore their sleeping bags, threaded through their backpack straps--courtesy of Matt's insistance and Mom not throwing them away at the end of the school year. That left only the cooler, tent, tackle box, and fishing poles to be carried. Matt carried the tackle while the older boys held the tent and the cooler by using their poles as a lift between them.17

It was slow going down the mountainside, as portions were rather steep. At times Jason had to juggle the pole on his shoulder to keep it level with Andrew, who was above him, while helping Matt climb down, all without losing his own footing. It was just twilight when they reached the stream below. It had taken them nearly an hour to reach the bottom.18

"Finally!" Andrew exhaled, setting down his end of the burden and collapsing onto his backpack to rest.19

"Not so fast!" Jason warned. "We can't rest now. We have got to get the tent up before we can't see any more."20

"UH! Let's just sleep outside," Andrew bargained.21

"No way. Not safe." Jason was standing firm on this one. "Matt, stay where you can see us and we can see you. Go gather up as much kindling as you can find while we set up the tent. No playing around, Buddy."22

"What's kindling?" Matt asked.23

"Stuff we can burn," Jason explained to him. "Get small sticks, chips of bark, dried out grass and leaves first. Make a little pile right over here," he motioned to a clear area about six feet from where they were standing, "then go back and make a new pile of medium-size branches and stuff. Find it all on the ground and make sure it's all dry, okay?"24

"Okay."25

They didn't quite finish pitching before nightfall, but they had just enough light left to read the instructions to get the poles put together. Jason built a fire while Andrew finished tying the canvass to the poles. Luckily, he had remembered to bring a can opener AND the candle lighter. When he was sure it would stay lit and he had finished giving Matt a fire safety crash-course, Jason returned to help Andrew lift the poles and drive in the stakes.26

By the time camp was set, all three of them and Tucker were exhausted. They threw together lunchmeat sandwiches for their main course. They accented their meal with chips, cookies, and canned sodas; and ate as if they were feasting. Afterward they sat in a circle around the fire, looking into its flames.27

"Let's tell ghost stories," Andrew invited.28

"Let's wait til Matt's asleep," Jason decided. "I'm too tired to stay up long and I don't want him wandering around after we're dead to the world."29

"I won't wander, I promise," Matt begged. "I wanna tell ghost stories."30

"Matt, you won't go to sleep if you get scared. Jace's right. You don't need to be awake if we're not." Andrew wished he'd had the foresight not to voice the idea until Matt was asleep. His little brother sat pouting, making him feel guilty remembering how excited he had been to come on this trip. "How about we tell Indian legends!"31

Jason looked at him as if he'd lost his mind, but Matt seemed interested. "What's Indian legends?" he asked, obviously hooked.32

"You haven't heard about Indian legends?!" Andrew over-dramatized to try to get his little brother's mind on another subject. He dropped his voice low and began churning out yarn: "The Manya Loincloth tribe used to hunt right here in this very spot! And they used to sit around a fire at night just like this and talk about their adventures! The legends are the stories they used to tell."33

"There's no such tribe as the Manya Loincloths," Jason corrected. "Anyway, the tribes in Oklahoma are..."34

"Shut up, Smarty! You'll anger their ancestoral spirits by disrespecting the sacred word of their brave and miraculous deeds." Andrew looked at Jason as he spoke, motioning to Matt with a nod and a glance. Matt appeared to be enthralled by the prospect of such a story.35

"Oh yeah! The Manya Loincloths...we read about them in school. You'll learn about em too next year, Matt. They got some really cool legends," Jason added, finally onboard. His brother was quite the story- teller. He wondered if their mother knew how convincing he could be when the mood struck him.36

Also aware of his own prowess in the area of creative truth-telling, Andrew challenged Jason to an unspoken duel. "Yeah, Jace? Tell us one of the legends you guys studied."37

"One of the legends WE studied?" Jason repeated, trying to look more like he was thinking than squirming.38

"Yeah. You know, about the Manya Loincloths..." Andrew egged. 39

Feeling more put on the spot than ever, Jason gazed around wildly, grasping for ideas. Spying the fishing poles and then looking back at his brothers, he began, "Okay. I think the most fitting one for the moment is The Three Brothers Fishing."40

"Three brothers fishing?" Andrew reiterated. "I never heard that one, Jace. Go on. Tell us."41

"Three Brothers Fishing..." Jason said again, and began a yarn of his own.42