Will and His Dog and the Camping Trip

Will and His Dog and the Camping Trip

Copyright 2020 Paul Cook

Cover image by Paul Cook

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Will and His Dog and the Camping Trip

Will had wished the day away and could hardly wait for the final bell of the afternoon to ring which would signal the end of his last lesson of the day.

He ran all the way home from school and didn't even stop at his usual resting place half way up the hill which led to his house.

This particular day, the last Friday in June, was the eighth birthday of Will's best friend Charlie. His next door neighbour, Alex – which was short for Alexandra, was coming home from university and she had offered to take Will, and any friend that he chose, camping for the night with her boyfriend James.

Will had chosen to take Charlie, who lived in the house opposite his. The boys had always dreamed of going camping in a proper tent and were so very excited that they would finally be able to go on a real adventure together. Will's mum and dad were allowing him to take his dog Clive on the camping trip which made it even more exciting.

Charlie was home schooled because he suffered from panic attacks whenever he was in situations where it was loud or when there lots of people he didn't know. He was even more excited than Will who had been his best friend since he had moved to the house on the other side of the road some five years ago. Charlie really liked Alex too and always called her his 'pretend sister'.

Will and Charlie thought that Alex's boyfriend James was amazing. James was twenty years old, tall, strong and knew everything that there was to know about camping. He ran his father's farm, which was somewhere down the lanes, and he had been Alex's boyfriend for four years. Alex and James often went camping together and had all the gear that they would need. The only gear that the boys needed to bring was themselves, the clothes they would need and a mat for Clive to sleep on.

As soon as Will got home he took off his school uniform and put on a vest and some shorts. Charlie had been looking out of his window since two o'clock that afternoon waiting and watching to see when Will would return home. As soon as he saw Will running up the road, Charlie grabbed his rucksack, kissed his mum and dad goodbye and ran over to Will's house.

James and Alex arrived five minutes later in James's jeep which Will and Charlie said could drive over anything. Alex hopped out and loaded the rucksacks and a sack of potatoes that Will's mum had given her into the boot of the jeep. The boys were puzzled because they couldn't understand what use a sack of potatoes could possibly have on a camping trip. However, Will's mum always said that a potato was a lovely thing – especially when roasted in duck fat and served with gravy, broad beans and a nice piece of pork. Will thought how silly that was because they were hardly likely to have a roast dinner on a camping trip.

Will's mum was fussing about which coat he should take and she kept asking James lots of questions about the food they would eat and if his sleeping bag would be warm enough. Will's dad told her to stop worrying and said that everything would be fine. He told Will to have fun but to be careful. Clive jumped into the boot of the jeep and everyone laughed as he barked impatiently waiting to go camping.

The journey from Will's house to the place where James and Alex always went camping took only about twenty minutes to drive. The boys were so excited as they sat in the back of James's jeep that they thought they were going to burst. They finally turned off the main road and down a bumpy track into a forest which eventually led out into a clearing beside a pond.