The Joys of Being Skip Stevens
Skip heard the sounds of fighting downstairs and felt the same old exhaustion once more and did his familiar count, "One, two, three..."
And at the 'Three' he heard the sounds of objects being thrown, it was the same old song and dance between Mom and Dad again, they had been doing this for years.
To make himself feel better he got up off of his bed and bent down to pull out the photobook that he kept underneath it, right next to the porn.
He opened it and began flipping through the pictures of the times in his life that he had been at his happiest, he felt a smile form on his face while he lovingly stroked the images.
Almost every single one of those pictures had been taken outdoors, there was something about not being inside that was just so...
Then he heard the sounds of crying and realized that now Dad had beaten Mom up so bad that she was probably down on the ground, and Dad would be doing his victory punches and kicks and she would be telling herself to throw up in her clothes if she had too because he didn't like it when she puked on the floor.
Skip sighed and focused on the pictures, he had gotten past the section of the solo hikes and was now at his favorite part, Old Camp Grizzly.
His smile grew bigger at the thought of the one place in his whole life that he had truly been in control, free, and above all else, happy.
"And I'm going back for the reunion next week!" He whispered in pure bliss, while wondering if he could talk Mr. Potts into letting come back to work as an assistant camp councilor again.
It was better than being here at home, with his parents, and the fighting, the breaking, the crying, and always finding himself curled up in bed with a bottle of Wild Turkey and his pictures for comfort.
END