Chapter Seven – Did I just hear that!
"Caroline, I've been thinking,"
"Oh dear, when you start a sentence like that I usually get a curved ball thrown at me! What?"
"Well half term is coming up soon, why don't we take the girls camping? They have such a comfortable life; it might do them good to live simply for a few days."
"Camping? Did I just hear that?"
"Yea, why not, we've still got the four wheel drive so we can go off road somewhere."
"Kate, you can't be serious. I never even went camping with the boys, when my body would have been supple enough for bobbing up and down in tents and sleeping on the floor."
Grace looked up from the drawing she was doing, "Mummy, what's camping?"
"Well darling we would drive to somewhere, maybe near the beach or in a forest near a river or lake and we would sleep in a tent."
"What's a tent?"
"It's like a tiny little house, made from material and we put it up on the ground and then we all sleep together inside, in special bags, a bit like when you were babies and we used to put you in sleeping bags."
Caroline continued the description; "and it might rain and we'll all get wet and then the wind might blow and we'll lose the tent and failing that, spiders, flies and creepy crawlies will sleep with us as well."
"Caroline; Stop it! That's not fair. You're putting them off before we've even had a chance."
"We'll my darling, I have an idea. We'll drive to a beach campsite, I'll help you put the tent up and I'll then retire to my B&B close by and bring you all breakfast in the mornings. How does that sound?"
"Please yourself; there's lots you could miss out on if you're on your own in a B&B. Sex in the wild would be a novelty, but that's your loss." Caroline just grinned and shook her head.
"A few moments later, after a whispering session between Ora and Ace they started singing;"we're going camping, we're going camping. Can we tell our friends when we do our class news, Mama?"
Caroline told the girls that they could not tell anyone because it was highly unlikely that it would happen, then looking at Kate; "you'll keep!"
For the Monday before the half term holiday, Flora had prepared her story to share at their morning class news session. It went; 'In the holidays our Mummies and Grace and me are going camping. We are going to the forest and camping near a lake. We will sleep in a bag, and we will cook on a fire. We don't know yet if there is a toilet. Mummy says we might have to dig a hole in the ground. Mummy, Grace and me are excited but Mama not very'. Not being able to read this yet, she had been practising with Kate. Caroline was going to be exposed to it when Flora tried it out on Sunday night.
It had taken Kate ages to persuade Caroline to agree and they had come up with a compromise; three nights in the tent, and then three nights in a small hotel at the beach.
A few weekends before, they had all gone to the camping shop to choose a tent and all the other equipment they needed. Kate had suggested they buy good stuff so that if they all liked it, it would last them a few years. Caroline wandered around with them but was anything but interested or excited. She had hoped the whole thing would go away but the girls had been kept excited by Kate and talked into thinking it would be a great adventure.
Flora and Grace practised their news brief and Caroline tried her best to be very enthusiastic about it for their sakes. However she did object to them telling everyone that she wasn't excited. She thought it wouldn't look good.
The morning they were to leave arrived. The girls were running around so hyper and excited; Kate was trying to keep them focussed on packing their little things. They had been told only two small toys each. Clothing for all weathers had to be packed and everyone's wellington boots; since moving out into a country village, they had been forced to adapt their wardrobes slightly. Even Caroline had to wear wellies on very wet and slushy days. She was dragging her heels, trying to work out how she could sneak her electronic devices out without getting caught. She had loaded them with talks and EBooks. Kate had suggested that they try to have a week away without all the props.
After checking and re-checking, they were set to go. They had about a four hour journey and had decided ahead of time where they would take a half way break. Kate started the car and drove out, within minutes, the girls said;"Mummy can we sing some songs." All Caroline could think was 'God if we start on 'Kumbyah' I think I'll throw up!' They ended up singing all the girls' favourite songs from their Disney Movies. Kate had a lovely voice as well as being so musical in other ways.
She looked sideways at her wife. "Are you really that miserable darling?"
Caroline had a fixed look on her face, she could easily have been driving to the dentist; the way she was pouting and sulking. "Oh you know me. I like my home comforts and this is my idea of torture."
Kate laughed and told her to lighten up and at least give it a happy go for their daughters' sake. The twins were so excited and the day before had insisted on going round to see Granny and Grandad to say goodbye. Celia had taken one look at Caroline and said "I assume this is not something you're looking forward to Mrs Sophistication?" "You've got that right mother."
Eventually they arrived at the campsite. There were only about four other tents there and all of them had a good space between. They chose a spot and pulled up. It was a glorious spot; dappled light and shade from the trees and a lovely lake in front of them.
Caroline got out and looked around; it was indeed a pretty spot. She turned to Kate; "I hope you've brought enough rope to tie these two up."
"What are you talking about?"
"Well they could easily walk into this lake and drown; we'll have to have eyes in the back of our heads."
"Caroline, don't be so miserable. We've hardly even got out of the car and you're finding fault."
The next task was to put up the tent. Caroline took over as she insisted she was the logical, methodical one. She carefully laid out all the pieces and poured over the instructions. It was a greater challenge than she'd imagined. Slot A into B and then add to C etc etc. She looked around to see if anyone was walking their way to assist but that was not happening. A few people had smiled at them when they arrived but they were all busy canoeing, fishing or sitting around reading. It took about half an hour and some expletives and 'what idiot wrote these instructions' before it was up and secure. They had chosen a tent with a middle family living area and two separate bedrooms, one on each side. It had a large awning on the front to sit out under. They inflated all the beds, two singles for the girls and a double for their mothers; and put them inside with the sleeping bags and pillows. "There, that's done; easy and quick eh darling?" Kate had enthused. Soon everything was unpacked and they were all set.
After a long walk through the forest and around the lake, they settled themselves on the fold out chairs outside their tent. The girls were inside, playing with their toys in their 'special bedroom' with a zip up wall. A couple of canoes came ashore and a man with two boys climbed out of them. They began to walk towards the two women. Suddenly the man was standing in front of Caroline.
"Caroline Dawson, is that you?" She looked up and suddenly recognised him. "Des, Des Wilson, are you kidding me?" She stood up and the two hugged each other. "Wow, I can't believe it after all these years. Des, this is my wife Kate and our two daughters are inside the tent, Grace and Flora."
Des extended his hand to Kate and shook it warmly. "Lovely to meet you, Kate." Kate said likewise.
They stood chatting for a while, Des and Caroline had done the same course at Oxford and had been great study buddies, whilst not moving in the same social circles, they were good friends.
"Why don't you come over to our tent in a while and have a few drinks with Cathy and me and our boys."
"Sure, I thought your wife's name was Anne?"
"Anne died fifteen years ago, Caroline. I married Cathy ten years ago and these two rascals are my two youngest. Anne and I had two girls; they're both at University now. I thought you were married to someone called John, isn't he an author or something."
"Yes, but John and I divorced some years ago now. I have two older sons and they are both at University too."
"Wow seems like we all have a lot to catch up on." He strode over to his tent and pointed in their direction to his wife who waved to them.
An hour later as the sun was setting, they wrapped the girls up and carried some drink and nibbles over to Des and Cathy's tent. He had lit a fire and they all sat around. After all the introductions and hugs and handshaking, Des said; "What brings you to this spot?"
Without hesitation Caroline responded; "Oh you know our girls live such a comfortable life, we thought it would be good for them to rough it for a few days."
Kate was astonished at what had just come out of Caroline's mouth. She could barely control herself. Eventually it was too much and she started to laugh; "Would you like to re-phrase that my darling, actually tell the truth!" Caroline's face flushed and she looked very sheepish, eventually admitting that she was there under great sufferance.
"I can relate to that!" came from Cathy. "I even suggested I sleep in a local B&B." Caroline already loved this woman.
Later, they had great fun cooking their meal on the outdoor grill they had brought. The twins were so excited to help cook their sausages and heat up the baked beans. Not gourmet food, but hot and filling after a full on day. By nine, the girls were fast asleep and Caroline and Kate were in their little room, all zipped up. Luckily the camp site had a small ablution block as Kate had been dreading what Caroline would say if they had to actually dig that hole.
They had zipped their sleeping bags together and lay snuggled up inside. Caroline looked at Kate and whispered; "Now what was that bout sex in the wild?" Kate giggled; "Only if you are very quiet."
"I can do very, very, quiet if that's what it takes."
As they lay in the dark, feeling the afterglow, Caroline whispered; "That's nice, a little butterfly kiss on my cheek, you haven't done that for a while."
"I didn't do it now." Kate said as she put the torch on. There was a large moth perched on Caroline's cheek. She burst out laughing and told Caroline; "Shit!" She shouted as she swiped it off her face; "I told you this would happen."
Kate kissed her, still laughing, "I wonder why it chose you!"
