Tent #2

Jackie and I decided to go on a walk after diner.  We strayed away from our camp fire and burrowed into the thin stalks of bushes behind our tent.  It was to early in the Spring for anything to be quite alive yet, so these thin stalks could easily be trampled even if it was truly by mistake.  Then we got on a path which just was encroached grass.  We hold hands inconspicuously and marvel in the clear sky above us.  The blue that we were familiar with starting turning to that shade of purple that you only see on t-shirts.  The path took many turns throughout the camp ground and led us past oak trees that canopied over us.  Being on the ground level, the trees looked rather far apart but looking up they all seemed to touch at some point in their crown.  We could see the mosquitoes hovering around us but not one of them bit.  It was to early in the year to do such devilish things. 

    We were led to a wooden staircase made timbers that resembled two by fours that brought you to a wooden dock above one of the chain of lakes.  All the wood looked like it was rummaged here at the camp ground and nailed together to form what ever shape they were trying to make.  They must of been made some time ago because they were starting to look a little ragged and hardly supportive.  We visited the docks earlier in the day when we went out for a place to eat our subway sandwiches so we hung right and startling trampling through the cattails and dandelions.  We were a foot away from the water, both holding each other for leverage against the cold.  There was other weeds growing, and Indian grass and then very tall summer grass that reached up our knees that would eventually be taller then you or I.  The tall grass scraped our arms as we barged through it and the cat tails thick seeds got in our eyes when we kicked them down.  We needed to though so we could get onto the next path without getting too muddy. 
    This path was a little bit more sophisticated then the last one and was made with wood chip.  Knowing the campsite was right, we went left leading up a slope with more humongous oaks that created a shield from the clouds.  We were completely shaded at this moment even though the sky was still mostly blue which meant the sun was still out to reflect the different light rays around.  Jackie too her remaining arm and pointed towards a black and orange sign that read “no trespassing.”  An RV full of old people in deck chairs underneath a fabricated ceiling began watching us and listening to their AM radio.  We noticed them and tried to distract them by walking right on by them but we just cut around them and headed in the same, protected direction.  We didn’t want to be spotted early on in our detective careers so we needed anyway to subdue the witnesses to our crime.  The only way to do that was through gentle trickery. 
    We kept on going through high grass until we found the dislocated path again and headed up.  Even though it could hardly even be called a hill, it felt like we were high into the altitudes.  We could spot a few chains and when we were on the peak the slopes were a little intense to roll down.  To an ordinary eye that might of gotten lost up in this forbidden area, it would just seem like any normal part of the forest.  Until you start investigating.  There was a desolate area that was just like a ring worm spot out in the forest.  While tilting your head up you would notice every tree up here in this designated zone, that all the trees were either dying, already dead but still standing and splitting and falling apart, or the trees that have uprooted themselves and became to top heavy to support their withering frame.  All the trees seemed to have lost the naturalness to them.  There was some tree limbs that were rounded like a bridge frame and were perfect to navigate on feet.  Some would bring you 15 feet from your original location and others would get so thin that you would have to balance by touching feet to feet like a driving while under the influence test. 
    The only thing that never clicked was why this was a no trespassing zone.  Was everything that was protected really just areas of isolation?  We decided to keep on going, there must be something that these park rangers were trying to hide.  Well for one thing, some of the trees were cut up  but that was not enough evidence for a hard crime.  There were 3 different mounds.  One was dirt that was obviously just picked up in this area because there a gaping hole just on the other side by dead oaks.  Then their was one with gravel.  And another with a sawdust mix that almost resembled hay and clay.  I guess this was just the place that had extra natural resources that they could use around the park.  Clear enough but is that a reason for a punishment of trespassing at a camp ground.  These things are pretty obvious.
    But then on the right side of these mounds were piled up dirt filled with trash.  This seemed a little suspicious.  Mostly beer cans and I think that people just came up here and left their trash instead of the camp ground placing this here but I thought it to be a little rude to leave such a mess behind.  Why haven’t the camp ground cleaned this up?  Probably laziness but there is a still a line between accountability and the lack of humanity.  It was starting to get late and the clouds started to keep all the light from reaching us.  It was about 8:30 and we have never been here before.  So things started to stick out, the noises started to come through suspiciously and it looked like anything that was covered in complete darkness seemed to be crawling and making the noise of squeamish bugs like a worm trying to find his hole.  Everything was swaying from side to side and even the tree branches that we were playing on earlier were up to no good.  We would walk and they would creak or become slippery upon impact.  The sanctity of the day had vanished into mischief in the night.  It was the perfect time to find the evil through the air.
    So before heading back to the tent, the campfire and all the warmth that lies between fire and love we still decided to continue are search.  We wanted to try and find some actual evidence.  I picked up a branch that resembled a staff and began swinging it around.  Smacking it and digging underneath some brush to harmlessly kill some plants.  We were bored and the case was becoming cold.  But the more we dug the more we found.  In the thick brush of the death valley we dug up a pair of blue jeans that would only be comfortable on a 12 year old.  It could just attribute to the garbage but the garbage consisted of just party souvenirs not clothing.  Children, or anyone in general, don’t normally lose their pants in a camp ground especially in a no trespassing scene.  We were pretty shocked from this evidence.  Shocked enough not to tell anyone.  But after we found the pants we knew that we should probably just leave this sin garden and go back to our camp fire and tend to our selves.  We needed to leave the donate we wanted to bring to the community and safely resign into our easy, care-free tenacity.