Blackielocks and the Three Campers: Part 1

Blackielocks and the Three Campers

Part 1 of a story for the whole family

Once upon a time, there was a family that went on a camping trip.  A Daddy, a Dad, and a seven-year-old Child. They parked at a campsite that was near a trail leading through the woods down to the river. The Child climbed up on the car, opened the car-top carrier, and handed down the camping equipment to Dad and Daddy (who were too heavy to stand on the car). Daddy put their stove and cooler on the picnic table while Dad arranged their three chairs under a shady tree. Then Daddy and the Child set up the tent as Dad inflated the air mattresses. When the tent was ready they placed all their bedding and duffel bags of clothes inside the tent.

The family decided to have some lunch before going down to the river for a swim. They had prepared pimento cheese sandwiches, celery sticks filled with peanut butter, chocolate chip cookies, and lemonade. After eating lunch Daddy rinsed out the cups and left them upside down on the picnic table to drain, Dad put the cooler back in the car, and the Child threw away the waxed paper that they had used to wrap their food.

Then they all went to the nearby bath house and put on their bathing suits to go swimming. “Let’s not forget the sunscreen,” said Daddy. “I’ll get our hats and sunglasses out of the car,” said Dad. “I’ll carry the inner tube,” said the Child.

On the way down to the river the three campers noticed bear tracks on the trail and bear poop beside it. “These look pretty fresh,” said Dad. “Remember the poster we saw back at the ranger station warning us to watch out for a bear recently sighted in the campground and to take precautions?” said Daddy. “We’ll be all right because you threw our trash away, and I put our food in the car,” Dad said to the Child. “Yes, and we changed out of the clothes we ate lunch in and put them in the car, too,” said Daddy. “We should be safe.”

The three of them continued down the trail to the river. There they took off their shoes, hung their towels on a low-hanging tree branch, stored their sunglasses and hats and in their empty shoes, and lathered each other with sunscreen. Then they went into the river. Daddy slowly waded in up to his waist and then bobbed down to where the water came all the way up to his neck. Dad went in up to his chest and then did some frog-kicks upstream before floating on his back downstream. The Child took the inner tube out a little ways, laid stomach-down, and started paddling in a circle. The sun was high in the sky, the air was warm and dry, and a breeze occasionally swept by, shaking the leaves of the over-hanging trees and causing little waves to crash on the rocky bank.

Meanwhile up at the campground the bear that had been recently sighted roused from its mid-morning nap. This being summertime, it tended to eat pretty much all day and all night, stopping only a few hours here and there to rest between meals. It was a young bear, not a cub anymore, but not full-grown yet either. It had a big yellow nose, big black ears, and unusually curly black fur such that the rangers had nicknamed it “Blackielocks.” Blackielocks lumbered along between the rows of campsites, pausing frequently to stand up and put its nose in the air. “Sniff, sniff, sniff,” went Blackielocks. “I smell something smelly. I think I’ll check it out.”

Blacklielocks followed its nose to a site with a tent, three lounge chairs, and a picnic table. On the picnic table were three plastic cups—a big cup with yellow stripes, a medium cup with red circles, and a small cup with blue stars. Blackielocks stuck its nose in the yellow-striped big cup. It was so deep it came all the way up to its eyeballs. One suck and the cup stuck fast to Blackielocks’ nose and mouth. Blackielocks didn’t like that one bit and with a swat of its paw knocked off the cup and sent it rolling in the dirt. 

Blackielocks next tried the red-circled medium cup and was able to reach a few drops of water left in the bottom of the cup. But the water had a tart taste that made Blackielock’s mouth pucker and spit it out, and that cup too went flying. 

Then Blacklielocks picked up the blue-starred small cup. Crawling on the side of the cup was a big fat slimy slug. “Yum!” Blacklielocks licked the slug off with its long, pink tongue and munched it with delight.

Blacklielocks turned and noticed under the shaded area three lounge chairs—a big canvas chair, a medium folding chair, and a small plastic chair. Blacklielocks decided to investigate and went over to the big canvas chair and stood on it. The tag on the chair read, “Weight limit 250 lbs.” Within seconds the canvas seat began to rip, and Blackielocks tumbled to the ground.

Blacklielocks next tried the medium folding chair. Only this time Blackielocks turned it upside down and stood on the back of the chair. This caused the sides of the chair to crumple, and Blacklielocks fell over backwards.

Then Blacklielocks picked up the small plastic chair. Underneath it was a patch of wild blueberries, large, plump, and juicy. “Oooh yeah!” Blackielocks tossed the chair aside and scarfed up all the wild blueberries.

After devouring the succulent slug and ripe berries Blackielocks was ready for a mid-afternoon nap. The tent looked comfortable so Blackielocks poked through the mesh window and found three sets of air mattresses and sleeping bags—a big one, a medium one, and a small one. Blacklielocks laid down on the big sleeping bag and air mattress. It was long and firm, but the sleeping bag was made of nylon, and Blacklielocks slipped right off of it. 

Blackielocks next tried the medium one. It was shorter and softer but not made of slippery nylon. Instead it was stuffed with goose down. As soon as Blackielocks stuck its nose in the down sleeping bag, it started to sneeze and wheeze. 

Finally Blackielocks settled on the small one. It was just the right size to curl up on, and it was made of non-slippery, allergy-free flannel.

To be continued