Chapter 16

Standing beside the single horse, horse drawn carriage, Ed couldn’t believe his luck in finding it. It was just large enough to carry two adults and three children. The driver’s seat was open, but the passenger area was enclosed. There was a small area in the back to carry some luggage. The carriage, known as a Glass Panel Rockaway, was the kind of carriage that irritated so many drivers of modern cars in rural areas.

The Mennonite man that he bought it from had been very surprised to find a buyer that wasn’t Mennonite and actually meant to use it. The entire experience of purchasing the carriage had been very educational for Ed. Since there weren’t any Amish around Arizona, Ed didn’t know anything about this group. It was a surprise to learn that some of them had white carriages rather than the black carriages that he had always seen in pictures.

While purchasing the carriage, Ed had taken the time to talk to the man selling it. He had not realized that there were three classes of Mennonite and that those that drove the white carriages belonged to a specific class, but he didn’t understand the full significance of the social status. It was clear to him that no one could understand the subtleties without living within the culture.

After buying the carriage Ed painted it brown, preferring the look of a more natural color. Now that the carriage was fixed up for use, all of the family with the exception of Ling, was going camping on the property that Ed had purchased. Ling was competing back in Arizona and had taken the occasion to spend a little private time with her training partner pursuing a desire that the family understood.

Ed helped Little John, Beth, and Kelly climb into the carriage and waited for all of them to settle on the seat. The kids were excited as this was their first camping trip and they had no idea what to expect. Their excitement translated into having a difficult time sitting still. Understanding that, Ed and Kelly gave them the few minutes necessary to calm down and come to grips with the situation. Taking William from Linda, he handed him to Kelly to carry on her lap. The back of the carriage was just big enough for all of them.

Once everyone was settled, Ed helped Linda onto the driver’s bench. Over the past week, Linda had learned how to drive the carriage. Wearing blue jeans, a work shirt, and his cowboy hat (without the robe), Ed climbed into the saddle relaxing into it like it was a long lost friend. Linda, with a simple slap of the reins, got the horses moving. Prodding his horse, Ed moved in front of the carriage where horse settled into a steady pace. He led the carriage along the path that had been cut through the woods by the caretaker.

The distance wasn’t far and could easily have been hiked, but with all of the gear they would be carrying, the three kids, and Kelly who didn’t like hiking this was a far better solution. Following the curvy path, Ed led them to the campsite situated by a small stream that ran near the edge of his property.

The campsite was a small clearing with a fire pit constructed in the center with plenty of space around it for tents and people. Off to the side was a stack of logs cut from trees that had been removed to make the path to the campsite. The grass, what little there was in the clearing, had been mowed by the caretaker. Ed hadn’t asked him to do that and then realized that the man might be using the campsite as a place to take his breaks.

The kids got out and looked around with wide eyes taking in details faster than they could process them. They had never been out in the woods like this and were ready to explore the surroundings. Ed held them back as he said, “Once I’m done taking care of the horses, I’ll need some help putting up your tents. Then we need to collect some small pieces of firewood. After that, you can explore.”

The kids raced over to the carriage and opened the back. Struggling to carry the tents over to where Ed had told them to set them, they dropped them on the ground. In the mean time, Ed had unsaddled the horse he had ridden and then removed the harness from the horse on the carriage. He led the horses a short way from the camp and hobbled them so that they could graze without traveling far.

Returning to the kids, Ed laid the first tent on the ground as he explained what he was doing so that they could learn from the experience. Once the tent was laid out, he pushed the tent stakes into the ground making sure that they were at an angle where they wouldn’t pull out if the wind picked up. After that, it was a matter of assembling the poles and slipping them into the appropriate slots. It didn’t take too long for the large tent to be raised. The wives and William would use this tent.

The kids rolled out their tent on the ground following the example set by Ed. With lots of groans, they tried to push the tent stakes into ground and found they couldn’t. Ed went over and helped them with that little task. The tent poles gave the kids a little more difficulty than anticipated since they were so long that the kids had difficulty controlling them. Once again, Ed came to their rescue and put the poles in place. In minutes, the little tent they would use during the night was erected.

Staring at the tent, Little John couldn’t believe that they would actually sleep in it that night. He turned to Ed and asked, “Is this where we are sleeping tonight?”

“Yes, it is.”

“Wow, that’s neat.” He crawled into the tent and looked around. Noticing the window of the tent, he took the opportunity to open and close it a couple of times. Bored with the window, he opened and closed the tent door. Beth stood there watching him while shaking her head at the pleasure the little boy was getting out of working a zipper.

Snapping his fingers to get their attention, Ed said, “Let’s get your sleeping bags and put them in your tent.”

That task was quickly accomplished. In the mean time, Kelly and Linda had taken out the camping chairs and set them around the fire pit. They had the whole the day to relax and planned on sitting in camp, enjoying the view, chatting, and watching everyone else go about their business.

Ed took the kids around to pick up small pieces of firewood, warning them about the possibility of snakes. The warning didn’t seem to mean much to them, but they listened carefully anyway. Before long, there was a nice stack of small sticks in the fire pit that would serve as good tinder for the larger logs in the woodpile. The kids were enjoying their outing even though they had done nothing except work the entire time.

The small stream was perfect for riding in an inner tube. It was deep enough for the tubes to float down the stream, but not so deep that the kids couldn’t stand up in the water. He would save that little excursion for the afternoon when it was a lot hotter. For now, he thought they should explore the area around camp. After taking a quick walk around the perimeter of the camp, he said, “Okay, kids. You can go ten paces outside of the cleared area. Explore all you want.”

The kids went searching around the edges of camp. For them, this was a new world and one that presented something of interest with every step. From across the campsite, Ed watched the kids follow a bug. Little John got down on all fours and watched as a beetle crawled along the ground. It was a Tiger Beetle, the copper coloring making it a very pretty insect. Beth knelt over, resting her hands on her knees, watching the beetle with a lot less interest than Little John exhibited.

Curious, Beth asked, “What kind of bug is that?”

Smiling up at his big sister, Little John said, “It’s a Tiger Beetle. They aren’t all that common around here.”

“How do you know?”

“I read about them in a book at the school while you were reading those boring math books.”

“My math books aren’t boring,” countered Beth in the same manner that she always responded when he made that comment. Interested in the bug because of its pretty coloring, she asked, “Are all Tiger Beetles like this?”

“Not all of them are like this. There are lots of different kinds. I think this one is a Cicindela Repanda,” answered Little John trying to remember the name of the insect. He had just finished reading the book on beetles.

Even though they were facing away from the children, Kelly and Linda listened to the conversation from their chairs. Surprised by the revelation that her children were reading, Linda mouthed, “Math books?”

Kelly shrugged to indicate her puzzlement and mouthed, “Tiger Beetle?”

Standing where he could see everyone, Ed smiled at the kids knowing full well that they spent hours in the library reading the books within it. Each would wander off to a different section and spend as much time as they could huddled over a book studying it with great care. One afternoon, Ed had found the book Beth had been reading. The math book opened to the bookmark placed in the section dealing with quadratic equations. He was curious if she actually understood the math, but thought better than to try and test her knowledge of it directly.

William tugged on the blouse of Linda trying to get her attention. Looking down at him, she saw that he looked her straight in the eye to let her know that he wanted to be fed. With her free hand, she undid her shirt and pulled it open giving William access to her breast. Contented the child nursed silently as a look of sadness crossed her face while looking down at the child at her breast.

Kelly understood the look and it tore her heart in two. The question was no longer when William would make a noise, but if he would ever make a noise. Almost as if he knew her thoughts, he stopped nursing and looked up at his mother. Linda kissed her finger and touched it to his forehead in a gesture of love. Satisfied, he went back to nursing.

Losing interest in the beetle, the kids went on to look at other natural wonders. A butterfly landed on a tree near them. Beth said, “Oh, look at that.”

Little John looked at the butterfly and frowned. Butterflies were the hardest of insects for him to identify accurately. This particular butterfly was a swallowtail, but without catching it and comparing the arrangement of spots and colors, he couldn’t identify which particular kind it was. It was a swallowtail, but it could have been any of a number of different species. He said, “It’s a swallowtail.”

“Any particular species?”

“I can’t tell. I would have to catch it and take it back to the college to compare it against the pictures in the books.” Little John really wanted to be able to identify the butterfly and wondered how he could achieve that. Looking over at his father, he asked, “Could I have a book on bugs so that next time I can identify them without having to capture one?”

“I shall see what I can find for you,” answered Ed thinking there was probably a better way to accomplish the same thing. Rather than bring the bug to the book or the book to the bug, it seemed like it would be easiest to bring a picture of the bug to the book. Of course, it was quite possible that Little John wouldn’t be able to use the camera at his age.

The constant references to books were making Kelly very curious. She asked, “Do you two read books?”

Little John turned and looked at her for a second. The look in his oriental eyes reminded Kelly that Ed was his father and Ling his mother. Somehow, the result was a very penetrating and unflinching look that seemed to examine far more than was normally seen. He answered, “Yes, we go to the library all the time.”

Beth shrugged her shoulders and said, “He likes books on animals. I think it’s because of all the pictures. I like math books.”

“I like the books on animals because they are interesting.”

When it looked like Little John was going to launch into a tirade about boring math books, Ed interrupted, “You have to respect each other’s areas of interests.”

Kelly looked at Ed and asked, “Who let them have free run in the library?”

John and Leroy stepped out of the woods from behind the women. John answered, “I’m afraid that it was me.”

“And how did that happen?”

“I was in the library with them one day when something came up. The librarian said that she would watch them for a while. When I came back after ten minutes, the kids had their noses buried in the books,” replied John as he removed his backpack. Setting it down on the ground, he looked around the camp taking in the tents and the firewood.

John was wearing blue jeans and a work shirt like the first time that Ed had met him. Leroy was wearing the Arizona Jones outfit sans bullwhip. When Ed noticed, he laughed which prompted Leroy to comment, “Hey, it’s a good hiking outfit.”

Shaking his head, Ed replied, “I created a monster!”

The wives laughed as Leroy paused for a moment to pose heroically at the fire pit. With the same practiced move as John had used, Leroy removed his backpack and set it on the ground next to John’s. Both packs were light since Ed had carried the heavy stuff in the back of the carriage.

After looking around the campsite, John said, “Wow, look at this campsite. I’ve never camped with this much gear before.”

Nodding his agreement, Leroy added, “I’m wondering where the kitchen sink is stored.”

Ed was embarrassed by how much stuff they had brought with them on this little camping trip. This overnight outing had required four separate trips to a local sporting goods store to get tents, sleeping bags, inner tubes, a Fusion battery, and a portable air pump. There wasn’t a single item that he had purchased for this trip that he had ever used when camping before this trip.

John came over to him and patted him on the back in a comforting fashion. With a smile, he said, “We are packing for a family now. My parents used to do stuff like this when I was younger. They even had a camper that they pulled behind the car.”

Raising an eyebrow, Ed asked, “A camper?”

“Yeah, it was one of those fold out ones with the canvas top. They stopped going out when my brother and I started to get in trouble. I was the only one in the family that continued to go camping,” answered John. The reminder of his misbegotten youth brought back memories, both good and bad. He got quiet as he considered those early days with his family.

The rest of the family waited patiently giving John a chance to continue with what he was saying. Their effort was ruined when Kelly let loose a scream. Little John had found a small garter snake and had surprised her by holding it in front of her face. Beth was laughing at the reaction of her mother to the little snake and the puzzled look on Little John’s face.

John looked at the scene and started laughing as he had done the same thing when he was a little kid. There was something about finding a garter snake and showing it around that seemed to run in the gender. Leroy went over to look at the snake with a professional eye as Ed watched the scene. It didn’t take long for Kelly to calm down and reach out to pet the snake on the head. Since beginning her service to the Goddess, she had become much more accepting of the trials and tribulations of nature seeing the Goddess as the beautiful woman and the woman that humans were turning her into.

Ed came over and examined the snake to make sure that it was not poisonous. It was a bluish color with darker blue stripes and a light yellow underbelly that gave it a very pale appearance. His experience with snakes usually included a rattle at the end and the difference was significant. The little garter snake flicked its tongue out exploring its surroundings without showing the least concern about being held by Little John.

Leroy asked, “Did it bite you?”

“No,” answered Little John as the snake rubbed its head against his thumb.

“It didn’t release a bad odor?” This was unusual behavior for a garter snake. Usually, it would bite and release a foul odor to discourage being picked up. The bite was only dangerous to earthworms and small amphibians.