A Family Camping Trip by Chantal Bellehumeur When Martha announced to her two teenage children that they would be going on a family camping trip over the weekend, neither of them looked up from their electronic devices. Her sixteen-year old daughter Jody let out a sigh and rolled her eyes, then continued texting. Although Martha couldn’t see the back and forth messages, she figured her daughter and the other party had just ridiculed the trip and were probably complaining about how unfair their lives were. Jody’s phone kept giving out text message notification beeps which Martha found as annoying as the clicking noises of her daughter’s quick typing.
"What!? Are we just going to sleep on the ground and let bugs crawl all over us and get eaten alive by mosquitos?" Jody asked. "I'm definitely not going!"
"Let your mother speak," Greg told his daughter.
While Martha tried to keep her cool, her thirteenyear old son Jonathan rapidly pressed the buttons of his gaming console. "Come on!" he yelled. "How are you not dead? I hit you!" He let out a frustrated grunt. "What? How? How?" He threw the console down beside him. "Yo! You made me die," he told his mom.
With his muscular build and standing six feet tall, Greg looked imposing. His naturally loud voice could be intimidating and this was one of those times. Martha on the other hand, although as athletic, was quite the opposite. Being only five foot one, slim, and with short dark brown hair, she was pixie-like. She was also soft spoken, and often had trouble disciplining her children; especially as they got older.
Of course it’s my fault, Martha sarcastically thought. She took a deep breath and looked at her husband Greg for reinforcement.
When Martha finally got her children’s full attention, she informed them that she’d rented a cottage by a lake, and that it was in the form of a treehouse.
"As your mother was saying," Greg said in an authoritative tone, "We thought it would be nice to go camping together this weekend."
"A treehouse?" Jody said, looking unimpressed. She silenced her phone and discretely texted, likely letting Emma know the plan.
“Sorry. I already have plans with Emma,” Jody said without looking up from her phone.
Jonathan had a more positive reaction. He thought sleeping in a treehouse would be cool, and Martha was happy with the progress of the conversation. She was about to provide more details, but the shocked look on Jody's face stopped her. "What is it honey?" she asked.
Before Martha had the chance to respond or tell her daughter to put her phone down, Jonathan asked if they were all to sleep in the same tent. "No way!" Jody yelled, finally looking up. "We're actually not going to sleep in tents," Martha said. - 25 -
