It Started with Camping

I'd like to thank Kenjisato again for editing and my friend Anaya for input.

It Started With Camping

I was a new teacher, sort of; I had taught for six months in another district, the teacher had had a heart attack and was told by his doctor to stop work.

My name is James Davis, I was twenty-five and single, thanks to a drunk driver who killed my fiancée, Sandra, two weeks before our wedding and one week before we were to graduate from college.

Sandra my love

Sandra and I had met in our sophomore year of college. From day one, we were inseparable. We had such great plans— house, kids, vacations, growing old together and then in moment nothing! Only memories of what could have been. A life stolen from Sandra and Me. We had it all, Love, Goals, Ideas, We were even house hunting. Sandra had signed a contract for teaching elementary. I had signed a contract for teaching middle school, We were going to teach in the same district!

The district let me out of my contract

Commencement

I went through commencement, so my parents could see they got their money's worth, I owed them that. Most of my friends gave me their condolences, but once they graduated, they went on with their lives. Mom and dad stood by me. The autopsy showed that Sandra was just a couple of weeks pregnant. I received a small settlement that was nothing more than hush money. I was allowed to give a victim impact statement for her parents and myself at the drunk's trial. Part of what I told him was that I forgave him, 'but I will remember he is spending time in prison maybe twenty-two years and I am walking free.'

I took over a year off from the real world. I was helped monetarily by an inheritance from a single uncle, who passed away during my junior year. I went to a bunch of baseball, football and hockey games— anything to take my mind off Sandra. I did a lot of fishing, camping and hiking to clear my mind.

After one outdoor trip about 16 months after Sandra Death, my mom noticed a change in me. I had started to brighten up. I had basically sat on the side of a mountain and 'talked to God.' I realized that 'death was just a part of living,' to quote a line from a movie. I stopped doing the 'poor me' routine. I knuckled down and went looking for a teaching job. I got that first six-month job. When the school year ended, the district let me go because of 'Reduction In Force', RIF. No biggie, I got a good recommendation.

I was hired in another district to teach seventh and eight-grade math at a K-8 school. I still did a lot of camping and fishing on the weekends. I was settling in and was becoming part of the school community.

Back to school night

I met with all the parents who came out to Back To School night; mom-and-dad couples, a couple of single dads, and a bunch of single moms. I was kind of hit on by a couple cougar moms. Fortunately, I had been warned by a couple of the male faculty to keep my eye out for them. For the most part, it was a good night.

I had Steve in my class, he was a kid who 'you learned his name the first day.' I did meet Steve's sister. Kimberly, twenty-four, his guardian. Their parents had been killed as innocent bystanders during an armed robbery, leaving the two siblings as orphans; it had been in the papers. Kimberly was quite the looker; blue eyes, dark-blonde hair, legs that went on for miles, a torso that any model would like to have. They were not hurting for money because both parents had life insurances that were put into a great trust mortgage; insurance paid off the house and Kim's SUV. She worked in a law office as a first year paralegal, and was trying to get her law degree at night.

As the first few weeks of school passed, Steve was not doing well emotionally and was acting out, getting after-school detention from many teachers. Well, he tested me one day, and got detention. He was the only student I had that afternoon, so basically, I sat down and just started talking to him. I had a couple pictures of fish I caught on my wall. He told me that he thought it was really cool. He told me that his dad used to take him camping and fishing; he had tears in his eyes. This kid was hurting. I was giving him attention and he was just soaking it up. He was showing me he could smile. I said, "Maybe, I'll see you sometime up at the lakes." We spent almost the whole forty minutes talking; I asked him if he'd try a little harder to behave in all his classes. He said he would try.

I had left a message for his sister, saying that he was staying for detention. Near the end of detention time, Kimberly came into my classroom with watery eyes. I think it was about the sixth time that he had had detention, Kimberly was doing a hell of a job with Steve, but she was showing the stress. I told Steve to go to my little fridge and get three cokes out. I gave one to Kimberly, one for Steve, and I took the last one. I sent Steve to dump my trash can out. It was a five-to-ten-minute task, depending on just who you asked to do it. I knew it would take Steve about ten minutes.

When Steve left I told Kimberly she was doing a good job with Steve, and that it would get better. I asked her where she could find some stress relief. She said the outdoors, that she loved to go camping with her parents. I suggested that she and Steve do just that. She said that her parents had done that for years. Her parents did everything— packing the truck, setting up camp, setting up the tent, cooking. She had calmed down by the time Steve returned.

She told me, "Thank you Mr. Davis,."

I used that old saying, "Call me Jim, Mr. Davis, is my dad."

She smiled a big smile.

Camping

I was planning my last weekend-camping-fishing trip of the summer-fall camping season, for a three-day weekend. Steve had chatted me up, when I let it slip that was going camping and what lake I was going to be at. He went home and somehow convinced Kimberly that they should go camping, and told her that he had heard of a good lake to fish at.

On Friday, my last period of the day was my planning period, so I was able to cut out early and drove my F-250 Super Crew out of town. I had built a big box that fit in the bed of my pickup, it was like a slide out, and it held all my camping gear; all I had to do was to restock the 'chucker box' items and put ice in the cooler. I got to the lake's campground before sundown, and I set up my tent and cots; I used the second cot to keep stuff off the tent floor, in case the tent leaked. I had a fire going and was enjoying a 'cool one', sitting in a nice camping chair. It was now dark and the campsite next to me was unoccupied. The only sound I heard was the crackling of the fire, the stream flowing by, and there was an owl in some tree nearby. I was thinking this was the life. Sandra and I had camped a few times, and she was starting to like it.

It was then, that I saw and heard a pickup pull into unoccupied site. I thought, wow, they will have a hell of a time putting a tent up without light.

I then heard someone say, "I know that truck." Steve then walked into the firelight and said, "Hi, Mr. Davis,."

Just then, his sister walked into the firelight and said, "Hi Jim." Kimberly turned to Steve and asked, "Did you know he would be here?"

I saw Steve look at me with a face of pain, fear and terror. I figured Steve told his sister a story, and didn't mention that I'd be there. I followed the 'bro code' of don't kick a guy when his sister might smack the hell out of him.

I piped up, "I didn't tell him. But it is nice to see you." With a wink, I said, "Steve get you and your sister each a chair out of my truck."

Kimberly said, "We got to get the tent up."

I asked her. "Have you ever put up a tent? At night?"

"I have seen my dad do it."

In my most sarcastic tone, I said, "Just because you have a cookbook, doesn't mean you can bake crêpe Suzette." After a brief pause, "I'll tell you what, it is going to get cold tonight. I'll have Steve get the foam pad out of my truck, he can sleep on the floor and you can sleep on the second cot."

Steve said, "Cool."

Kimberly started to protest, but Steve had already gotten the foam out and was headed for the tent.

"Oh Steve, get your sleeping bags, too."

Luckily, Kimberly had bought the same camp food as I had. Hot dogs!

I told Kimberly, "You go set up the sleeping bags. We men, will cook the MEAT," with a grunt and a hand on Steve's shoulder. I set up the cooking rack over the coals and we proceeded to cook the dogs.

The look on Kimberly's face told me that she was okay with me taking charge. I think she was tired of being in charge.

With dinner over with, we sat down and talked. Steve may have been twelve, but he was fading fast; Kimberly sent him to bed. Kimberly and I started talking. In minutes, we heard Steve's snore. We then talked about the tragedies in our lives. I knew a lot about her parents, since it had been in the paper. When I told her about Sandra, she started to cry. We let our emotions calm down.

When I asked if she had a boyfriend, she said, "Who has the time?"

I said, "I know what you mean."

I got a little brave and asked with a grin, "Kimberly, where do you want to go on our second date?"

She said, "What?!"

"Yes, tonight has been wonderful, a dinner by firelight, a music show 'The Owl concerto', and I can even walk you to your door. Sounds like a date to me, Kimberly."

Kimberly just giggled and said, "Please, call me Kim."

When we went to bed ourselves; we tiptoed into the tent, so as to not wake Steve and got into sleeping bags.

Before we went to sleep, Kim said, "Next Friday, would be nice."

I said, "What?"

Kim explained, "Our second date! I have a dinner with the firm I have to go to, and I need a date."

"Oh, okay. I didn't think you'd take me up on it."

The next day, I got up and started the campfire. I cooked some eggs and bacon.

Steve and I went off to catch some fish, where the stream empties into the lake. I liked to just bobber fish, just to sit on the bank and let the world go by. We didn't catch at that time. Steve told me the last time he went fishing was with his dad.

He then looked at me, and said, "Why?"

I sat there just looking back.

Steve's demons

He then began to tell me the name of the man who had killed his parents. He said he did not understand why the trial was taking so long; it had been two years since they caught him.

"Well, would you like to say something at the trial?"

"I didn't see it happen."

"No. No, not testify. You can give a victim impact statement. You can tell the man who did it, what he did to your lives. You can release your anger, tell him how much you hate him or how much you pity him. You just can't cuss. Hey, I'll tell you what, I'll even go to the trial that day to support you."

He told me how he hated the way the kids looked at him. He hated being the reason Kim didn't date anymore.

"Do you want to release some anger?"

"Sure."

I went to my truck and brought back an axe. I grabbed a couple of eight to ten-inch diameter logs, about a foot long. I gave him a Magic Marker and told him to write the killer's name on one of the logs. I said, "We need firewood. Go at it."

The first log was reduced to kindling in minutes. The next logs had the names of the school bullies; yes, kindling, again. He spent about twenty to thirty minutes taking out his frustrations, on those logs. We had enough kindling for the weekend. Steve was sweating, so I told him to grab a towel, and go jump in the lake.

After Steve's lumberjack experience, we went down to the lake with our fishing gear. We caught about eight fish, but we threw five back in, after taking a picture of them. I told him they were too small, we'd catch them next time.

I told him it was lunch time, and that his sister would probably be thinking that we got lost. We walked back to our campsite. When we got there, Kim was sound asleep in the camping lounge chair. Steve, like a pain-in-the-ass little brother, woke her up, to my protest.

Kim awoke with such a beautiful smile.

The rest of the day, we spent hiking through the forest. Steve took pictures of trees, a deer, some beavers, we even saw a porcupine, and there were so many birds. Kim and I walked together. I would give her my hand whenever she needed assistance over some obstacle. Each time, I held her hand a little longer than the last.

When we got back to the camp, Steve said he wanted to rearrange the tent. He said he did not like sleeping under us last night. He had slept at a right angle to us, with his feet under my cot and his head under his sister's cot. Steve put the two cots together, having found out how the cots could be hooked together, to make it almost a queen size. Sandra and I used to do it, along with some egg-crate foam; he found the foam, too. He put his bag parallel to the cots, but he put the open sides of Kim's and my bags so they faced each other.

Steve was tired from the fishing and the hike, so he went to bed before us again. Kim and I used the campground toilet and came back. I saw how he did the cots and wondered if Steve was trying to play matchmaker. Kim climbed over the first cot and snuggled into her sleeping bag on the second cot.

She turned back the sleeping bag on the first cot, patted it and said, "Jump in."

I snuggled into my bag. We fell asleep a safe distance from each other. Around about one-thirty in the morning, somehow in our sleep, Kim and I had rolled into each other. We ended up with me on my side, one arm behind her head, and my other hand on her breast; she was on her back, with one leg trapped between my legs and in contact with 'little Jim'.

He was not going to stay little for very long. In my semi-conscious state, I had kneaded her breast and was lightly humping her leg. I woke up with a start, and removed my hand and rolled over, so her leg was not in contact with my little friend. I looked at Kim and she looked like she was still asleep. Damn, I dodged a bullet; I was able to fall back asleep.

I woke up first again, and gently crawled out of my sleeping bag. Like the morning before, I started the fire, cooked bacon and eggs, and even threw some refrigerator biscuits in a dutch oven, so we could have biscuits. The smell must have woken both siblings, because they both came out of the tent.

The morning after

I asked, "How did you guys sleep?"

Steve replied, "Better than the night before."

Kim replied with a big grin, "Best sleep I have had in a couple of years!"

My eyebrows lifted, and I replied, "Good for you... er... both of you."

I asked, "What do you guys want to do today?"

Steve suggested, "Lets go over to the rim and take pictures of the valley below."

Kim added, "Let's just be lazy, and sit and enjoy the forest."

I said, "Okay, Steve and I will go over to the rim and take pictures for about an hour." I suggested, "Then come back and get lazy." I added, "By the way, Steve, did you bring your homework?"

"Aww, Mr. Davis, you did not give us any."

Kim said, "I put your social studies book in the truck. I know Mr. Scott gave you reading and questions from the book!"

I volunteered, "Hey Steve, want me to help you with the questions at the end of the chapter?"

"Really?"

"Sure, You know I AM A TEACHER!" I answered, with a sarcastic laugh.

Steve got his pictures and finished his social studies homework, all before two o'clock. Steve saw some kids his age, and asked Kim if he could go meet them.

Kim in 'momma bear' mode said, "Stay in the campground. And don't fall in the water!"

I told her she was doing a great job with Steve.

Kim had tears in her eyes, and said, "All he has is his grandpa as a male role model. But grandpa had a heart attack last year, and does not get around as easily as he used to. By the way, you have become quite the hero in Steve's eyes, since you talked his other teachers into letting him go to your room for a 'time out' when he's having a bad day."

I blushed a little. "Well, I kind of like the little pain-in-the-ass AND that is a term of endearment! I put a desk in the back of my room and put a sign on that says 'Teacher's Aide'; I don't know if the other kids are catching on. I have told him to write his feelings on the paper I have there for him."

Making the date

With a smile and glee in her eyes, Kim said, "I know you accidentally copped a feel last night and I forgive you... for stopping!"

I could feel how red my face was. She leaned over and kissed me on my cheek.

"Are we still going to have a second date? Taking me to my firm's dinner Friday? You see there are a couple coworkers, paralegals, that kind of hit on me; they are both over thirty and one is even married!"

"Oh, so I am going to be your knight in shining armor?" I exclaimed, with a big smile.

"Well, since you put it that way, YES!" Softly, she said, "Steve will be at his grandparents house; I will pick him up at noon Sunday."

"I will gladly escort you, milady. And slay any over-aged dragon that vexes you."

"Oh you don't need a shining suit of armor, the one you wore 'Back To School' night would be perfect."

Monday, we took one more walk, broke camp and drove back home.

Tuesday, I was wondering what Steve might say to his classmates. He was cool. He told them that he and his sister bumped into me while camping, and none of his pictures had me in them.

The week and the dinner

The week seemed to fly by, until Friday; it was the longest day I ever encountered! Friday afternoon, I left during my planning period. I got a haircut and a shave, my dad turned me on to barber shaves when I was in college; he always said, "If the women can go to a spa; we, men, can get a shave and a haircut."

Earlier in the week, I had my suit cleaned and pressed. I even asked Kim what color her dress was, so that 'my tie wouldn't clash with it'; I went out and bought a new royal-blue tie. I had my truck washed and polished; I ordered flowers to give Kim when I picked her up, I got some cash from the ATM.

I picked Kim up at six-fifteen to ensure we were not late. I handed her the flowers, and they went well with her dress. She used the portable step I carry just for these instances. BOY! Did she look stunning; her dress was a royal-blue off-one-shoulder, with a slit up one leg; my tie matched the color.

The dinner was in one of those fancy hotels downtown. I pulled up to the valet. He got the portable step and placed it so Kim could exit the truck lady like. I handed the valet the keys, and we went in. They even had name tags for us. I met her boss, and some of her female co-workers. I got a lot of stares from her female co-workers; all had big smiles for Kim, as we found our table. There were three other couples, all young and the women were co-workers. Dinner was served at about quarter after seven, and we chatted through dinner; well, the women did. The men were like, "How about those Diamondbacks?" P

After dinner, a band started to play, it was mostly oldies. Some were so old, that I'm sure our parents had danced to them. I had taken ballroom dancing in junior high, my mother made me. Kim had been a dancer from birth, I think. We took to the dance floor and gave our generation something to be proud of. There was a hosted bar (never a good idea). I was driving, so I did not drink, and Kim only wanted a glass of wine to be 'sociable.' I went to get her glass and myself a soda.

When I got back, some guy had Kim by the hand saying, "Come on, honey, just one dance."

The look on her face was all I needed to see. The guy had already had a few too many; he was about mid-thirties, so I assumed he was one of Kim's unwanted admirers. I guessed, right.