A Short Story on the Website of |
Light from the Lantern
Who would go camping with only one
lantern? It’s funny that when you pack to go camping, you try to think of
everything you will need. Gordon, the avid fishing camper worked 7 to 3 every
day; played slow pitch softball with the Tinker Testers from 4 to 6 and
attended Central State University every evening from 7 to 10 except on
weekends. Friday in late August, was Gordon’s last
chance to go fishing before the fall semester started. Soon, weekends would be
crammed with writing papers, preparing group presentations, studying for tests
and “oh yeah”, his class in statistics with the nightmare teacher from Planet
X. If we left by five, we would be able to
drive the 100 miles to Medicine Lake in two hours, get the tent set up and be
on the dock before dark (with any luck at all). Gordon mentally reviewed the list: tent,
sleeping bags, pillows, air mattresses, snacks, fishing gear; matches, Coleman
fuel, lantern, food, snacks, diapers for Jennifer who was three weeks old, life
jacket for Samantha who was 18 months old, and a homemade red canoe tied on top
of our red 68 Volkswagen Beetle. We arrived just at dusk. Gordon set up
the tent, grabbed his fishing gear and lantern then headed with Larry his
fishing partner to the dock just as the sun disappeared behind the mountain. Using the lights from the VW, I unpacked
the rest of the car, filled the air mattresses, set the sleeping bags on top
and brought Samantha and Jennifer into the tent. Samantha helped me zip up the
tent, crawled into her sleeping bag and quickly went to sleep. Jennifer, all
seven pounds six ounces, fell asleep lying on top of my sleeping bag with a
blanket wrapped around her. Absolute darkness encompassed the tent
located in this wooded area. It had turned pitch black with a million twinkling
stars too far away to enable me to see. Just before the last ray of light
disappeared I had rearranged everything for Jennifer so dry diapers and
blankets were within my reach in the dark. Later I sat on the bed and leaned over
to get Jennifer to snuggle with her
but, to my shock, she was not where I had left her. I started patting the bedding
hunting for her and felt everywhere at least twice. It was so dark that I could
not see where I had laid her. I realized there were no
infant breathing sounds audible in the tent. I screamed for Gordon to bring the
lantern. He and Larry ran to the tent. When the lantern light filled the tent,
Jennifer was nowhere to be seen. Gordon started feeling around carefully
in the tent, and he found Jennifer. As I sat on the sleeping bag, she had
rolled off between the air mattress and the wall of the tent. Jennifer never
knew she was missing, but the next trip included two lanterns. |
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