The Camping Trip; Part Two

"The Camping Trip" is a five day series, consisting of five different parts, to be presented daily--the 18th to the 22nd--from five different vantage points. If you get behind, don't worry because they'll be on here for good. If you want to get ahead, you're out of luck, because I'm making this up as I go. This is Part Two. If you haven't read Part One it is directly below. Enjoy.

BENGI
What the hell, I thought. No way. He wasn’t bringing her. I wouldn’t allow it. I pulled up to Leo’s place and he was standing there with Alyssa. They broke up two weeks earlier. She called him boring! Who would want to go on a trip with someone who said they were boring?
“Hey guys,” I said as I parked my truck behind his car. Maybe she was just getting something back from his place, I thought.
“Hey Bengi,” she said to me. “You don’t mind if I come, do ya?”
Of course I minded. It was guys weekend.
“No, I don’t mind…Is your stuff here or do we have to swing by your place?”
“Gotta stop at my place…is that a problem? I’ll be real quick,” she said.
Of course it was a problem. Now the timing was off. It was five past one and we should have been on the road already.
“It’s not a problem at all. Leo throw your stuff in and let’s go.”
He threw his stuff in the bed of the truck, and they both got in the passenger door; Leo was riding shotgun, Alyssa was crammed in between us.
I drove to her house and she ran inside.
“Why is she going?” I asked Leo as I lit a smoke.
“She’s evil, man. Put me on the spot.”
“You’re so weak,” I said. He was. The guy always gave in to her. He flat out couldn’t say no to her under any circumstance.
“You won’t even notice she’s there,” he said.
She came out after fifty-five minutes with a sleeping bag and a backpack. It was 2:35. We were ninety-five minutes behind schedule. I tossed her stuff in the back of the truck, all three of us crammed into the front again, and we were off.
I took the scenic route—up old State Route 5 instead of the interstate. I was in a lot better mood the further we got into the country. We passed by a double wide trailer with a big confederate flag hanging outside, and Leo had to go righteous on us.
“That’s ridiculous!” he exclaimed.
“What is?” I asked.
“Confederate flags in general…let alone in the North. People are stupid…downright behind the times.”
“What’s wrong with confederate flags?” Alyssa asked.
“They’re a blatant sign of racism…not to mention everything this country stands for,” he responded.
“I disagree,” I said. “It’s about pride.”
Leo was a real city boy. He’d listen to country music and go camping and stuff, but he looked down on country people.
“They have nothing to do with racism,” Alyssa said.
“What?” Leo screamed. “Have you two lost your minds? It’s the symbol of the Confederate States of America! The people who tried forming their own country because they wanted to enslave other human beings! That was the whole point of the Civil War.”
“No it wasn’t!” Alyssa shouted back. “It had nothing to do with slavery.”
“It’s about country pride,” I said again.
“Yeah,” Alyssa followed.
Typical Leo. He’s real tight all the time. He thought everything was a big social issue. He couldn’t take anything for what it was worth.
I ended the conversation by turning up the radio for the last twenty minutes of the ride. Then I pulled into Appache State Park. I got out of the truck and walked into the registration stand.
“We have a reservation for a campsite under the name Smith…and Keegan.”
The lady looked at the reservation log.
“I’m sorry, but I don’t see anything for either of those names.”
Smitty. I knew I should’ve made the reservation.
“Hold on one second,” I said before stepping outside. I called Smitty. “Please tell me you made the reservation. No, I wasn’t. You were supposed to make the reservation! You’re an idiot! I’ll call you back!”
I walked back in.
“I guess he forgot. Are there still sites available?”
“Not this weekend,” she said. “You might wanna try Appache Valley…just down the river,” and she gave me a map.
“Thanks,” I said and walked out. I got in the car.
“What’s up?” Leo asked.
“We’re goin’ to another place. Smitty forgot to make the reservation!”
“He’s an idiot.”
I followed the map the lady gave me. We crossed a river and started heading deep into some woods, down a dirt road. It looked more ominous as we drove. Finally we got there. A small shack with a sign out front said “Registration.” You’ve got to be kidding me, I thought. I walked in and a big guy with bushy sideburns, a flannel shirt, and a mouthful of brown teeth set us up with a site.
I got back in the truck and we drove down there. Leo and Alyssa weren’t speaking one word to each other. We set up the campsite, built a fire, and I sat down with Alyssa, because Leo had gone off by himself some place.

ALYSSA
Bengi pulled up as I stood outside of Leo’s place with him. I was really hoping Leo wouldn’t ruin the trip for me. I didn’t want to talk about us, or breaking up, or anything at all like that. He was gonna cause a mess, I just knew it. Oh well. Even if he did it would be more interesting than sitting in Cedar Falls alone all weekend.
“Hey guys,” Bengi said as he parked his truck.
“Hey, Bengi. You don’t mind if I come, do ya?” I asked.
“No, I don’t mind…Is your stuff here or do we have to swing by your place?”
“Gotta stop at my place…is that a problem? I’ll be real quick.”
“It’s not a problem at all. Leo throw your stuff in and let’s go,” and we all crammed into the front and drove to my place.
I ran inside while they stayed with the truck. I said I’d be quick, but what were they gonna do, leave me? So I took a shower, dried my hair, put on some make up and tossed a few things in my backpack. I did it all in less than an hour, and walked outside. Bengi threw my stuff in the bed of the truck and we crammed back into the front.
Bengi took Route 5. It’s so much prettier, and it made the trip a lot better until Leo had to ruin it by getting all high and moral. There was a trailer with a confederate flag hanging outside of it. That’s just a country thing—North or South—but Leo had to go and get on his high horse.
“That’s ridiculous!” he screamed.
“What is?” I asked.
“Confederate flags in general…let alone in the North. People are stupid…downright behind the times,” he kept screaming.
“What’s wrong with Confederate flags?” I asked.
“They’re a blatant sign of racism…not to mention everything this country stands for,” he said in a rage.
“I disagree,” Bengi jumped in. “It’s about pride.”
“They have nothing to do with racism,” I followed.
“What?” Leo cried out. “Have you two lost your minds? It’s the symbol of the Confederate States of America! The people who tried forming their own country because they wanted to enslave other human beings! That was the whole point of the Civil War.”
“No it wasn’t!” I shouted. “It had nothing to do with slavery.”
“It’s about country pride,” Bengi said.
“Yeah,” I said, backing Bengi.
I really don’t know why I ever dated the kid. He put on a real front at first. I was young and I just wanted to have fun. I didn’t want to sit around and debate moral issues all of the time. I was glad Bengi agreed with me. At least someone had some sense. At least someone wanted to have fun with me. I probably should’ve dated him that whole time. He was just a fun guy. Not at all like Leo—what a bore.
We finally got there around five, and Bengi went inside to register for the site.
“I can’t believe you think the confederate flag has nothing to do with racism?” Leo attacked me.
“Can you just let it be?”
“It’s just ridiculous. I mean you’re educated…you’re in college and you don’t know what that flag stands for.”
“This is why I broke up with you. I wasn’t lying when I said you were way too serious, and to be honest, just boring sometimes. Here we are, on a camping trip, and you want to talk about slavery and the meaning of some stupid flag. Lighten up. You take the fun out of everything!”
Then Bengi got back in the truck and slammed the door.
“What’s up?” Leo asked.
“We’re goin’ to another place. Smitty forgot to make the reservation!”
“He’s an idiot,” Leo said.
So there we were. Leo wanted to talk about some stupid history subject, Bengi was boiling mad, and I wasn’t sure if Smitty would even make it. I really hoped there would be some cool people at this campground. I was gladly willing to ditch those guys. Especially Leo. He wasn’t going to ruin my trip.
When we did finally get to the other campground it was a dump. There was hardly any grass, mosquitoes were everywhere, and the bathroom seemed like it was a mile away. After we set up the site—two tents and a big tarp hanging over the picnic table—Leo just disappeared. It was the best part of the day. I just sat down with Bengi by the fire and talked. He was hilarious. He was so different from Leo. He was laid back and didn’t let anything get to him. He was pretty cute, too.

LEO
I couldn’t believe I got myself into that whole mess. The trip up there was downright painful. Besides the fact that I was jammed up against the door, I had to listen to Bengi and Alyssa’s ludicrous claims about country pride. Who really thinks the Confederate flag doesn’t stand for racism, slavery, and the separation of the Union? I couldn’t take it anymore. I helped set up the campsite, and then I got out of there.
I decided to take a hike. The campground wasn’t great, but when I got into the woods it was fine. I didn’t know how I was going to do it. I didn’t know how I’d last the whole weekend without strangling someone. Once Smitty gets here it should be fine, I thought. At least I’d have someone on my side. It was like Alyssa was attached to Bengi’s hip whenever he was around. Those two are actually quite annoying when they’re together. It’s like they go out of their way to irritate me.
I just needed to cool off. I didn’t know why she always got under my skin. I shouldn’t have cared, but I did. I mean, you’d think I’d lose all of my feelings for her when she called me boring the first time. You’d think I’d lose all of my feelings for her when she said I took the fun out of everything. But I didn’t. I still really liked her for some odd reason. I think that’s why I let her come on this trip in the first place. I thought it might give us something fun to do—so I could prove to her that I could be fun. So she might give me another chance.
I had to get over the Confederate flag thing. She was right; it was stupid. At least it was stupid to argue about it. I’d just let it go. I mean, I guess she was right—no one wanted to talk about social issues on a camping trip. People want to drink beer and sit around a fire, and cook marshmallows on camping trips. When I finished the hike I’d go back to the site in a good mood. I’d show her I could be fun. I’d show her that I wasn’t so serious all of the time.

MANDY
I wanted to kill him. We pulled up to the campsite and it wasn’t our trip, it was everyone’s trip. He was such a liar. I wanted to kill him.
“You’re an idiot! Do you know that!” I screamed.
“I swear I didn’t know they were gonna be here,” he said. What an idiot. He dug himself a hole and now he was trying to dig himself out of it.
“Oh yeah…they just happened to find out exactly where you made a reservation and decided to crash our weekend!”
“You know how my friends are,” he said.
“Yeah, I do…they’re stupid like you are, and they’d never be able to discover where we were going.”
He got out of the car and started taking things out of the trunk.
“Come on, baby,” he said through the passenger window.
“I’m not getting out of this car. You ruined our anniversary! I bet you didn’t even know it was our anniversary!”
“Of course I did! Please don’t act crazy,” he said.
“CRAZY! YOU WANNA SEE CRAZY?”
I got out of the car, walked back to the trunk to start throwing his camping gear everywhere. But when I got to the trunk there was no camping gear—just our two bags.
“Where’s the camping gear? You’re telling me that you didn’t know they were gonna be here, but you brought no camping gear? You’re an idiot. Where were we going to sleep…in the car?”
“I can’t believe I forgot to pack the camping gear,” he said, still trying to dig himself out. “I swear, baby, it’s all a big misunderstanding.”
“Don’t talk to me,” I said before grabbing my bag and walking down to the picnic table where Bengi and Alyssa sat by the fire. “Hey guys,” I said. “How are you?”
“Good…Smitty didn’t tell me you were coming,” Bengi said.
“Well it’s nice to see you guys,” I said and stormed back to the car.
I was going to kill him. That dirty, two timing liar! When I got to the trunk I grabbed his backpack and started back towards the fire. I thought about throwing it in the fire, but he’d probably grab it before anything burned. So I walked to the edge of the river, wound up, and tossed it about fifteen feet out. Then I turned around, walked back to the fire, sat down, and watched him trudge out to his bag—soaked from his waist down.

SMITTY
I probably should have told her before we got to the campground. Then again, hindsight is 20/20. I didn’t think she’d go ballistic the way she did. It was like a light switch. One moment we were pulling into the campground, she was holding my hand and telling me she loved me, and the next thing I know she was a raving lunatic.
“You’re an idiot! Do you know that!” she screamed.
“I swear I didn’t know they were gonna be here,” I said. I probably should have given up at that point, but I dug myself a hole and I had no idea how else to get out.
“Oh yeah…they just happened to find out exactly where you made a reservation and decided to crash our weekend!”
“You know how my friends are,” I said.
“Yeah, I do…they’re stupid like you are, and they’d never be able to discover where we were going.”
I figured if I just got out of the car and unloaded our bags, she’d cool off.
“Come on, baby,” I said through the passenger window.
“I’m not getting out of this car. You ruined our anniversary! I bet you didn’t even know it was our anniversary!”
She had me there, but I wasn’t going to admit it. I’d be crazy to admit that.
“Of course I did! Please don’t act crazy,” I said. Rule of thumb to any guy out there, never…I mean NEVER use the word crazy.
“CRAZY! YOU WANNA SEE CRAZY?” she started screaming.
Then she got out of the car, walked back to the trunk, looked inside, and then just looked at me.
“Where’s the camping gear? You’re telling me that you didn’t know they were gonna be here, but you brought no camping gear? You’re an idiot. Where were we going to sleep…in the car?”
I had to think of something good at that point. So I said, “I can’t believe I forgot to pack the camping gear…I swear, baby, it’s all a big misunderstanding.”
“Don’t talk to me!” she screamed as she yanked her arm away from me and walked towards the fire.
She’d cool off. She always did. I’d just let her be until she sat down and talked to the guys for a little bit. Then she made a b-line back to the car. She didn’t say anything when she got to the trunk. She just grabbed my bag and headed right back towards the fire. She wasn’t going to do anything too crazy, I thought. But I trailed her by twenty or thirty feet just in case. She didn’t stop at the fire like I thought she would. She went all the way to the edge of the river and heaved by bag into the darkness.
That’s when I started sprinting. I didn’t care about the clothes or the bag, but my cell phone and i-Pod were in the front pocket. So the next thing I remember, I’m standing up to my waist in cold brown water, trying to turn on my cell phone and i-Pod. Both were ruined.
In hindsight, I probably should have told her before we got to the campground.