Good Earth

“I don’t think we’ve ever been camping before,” I said.

“But we go hiking a lot, John. You like the outdoors, right?” Dad asked.

“I guess. But we’re going with so many people,” I said.

“Yah, The Ground Scouts. It’s part of their outdoor program thing. I go camping with them often. I have since I was a kid. The skills they taught me helped me survive being homeless. Not that you’ll be homeless, but they’re good skills to have,” dad said.

“You were homeless?” I asked.

“Yes, for a brief period,” dad said. I huffed.

Dad parked at the campsite. The others parked next to us. Some brought RV’s. We brought tents. As long as I could shower in the morning, I was happy.

“Well, what do you guys want to do first?” Dad asked me, mom and Tom, my younger brother.

“Nap,” I sad.

“Nap? We just got here… and it’s only one o’clock,” dad said.

“Let’s go hiking,” mom said, smiling.

“Yay, hike,” Tom said sarcastically.

I was too tired to go hiking, but I was always motivated to do the opposite of what Tom wanted to do.

So we went hiking.

“This is an elderberry tree. And don’t touch that, that’s poison oak,” Dad explained. He’d been explaining new wildlife all day.

“In all the times we’ve been hiking, why have I never seen these trees or plants before,” I asked.

“Well, they’ve been imported,” dad said.

“From where?” Tom asked.

Before dad could answer, there was a rustling in the bushes.

“Get ready to run, kids,” dad said.

A giant, brown haired beast jumped out and growled at us.

“Run from the bear, kids,” dad yelled and we all began running.

We got to the camp site and there was no sign of the bear.

There was, however, three men in balaclavas pointing guns at us.

“Give us all your camping supplies, and your money,” one of the men yelled.

“Of course, let me just get the things out of the RV,” dad said and went inside the camper.

“If you call the police, we kill your family,” one of the men said.

Dad came out with a rifle and quickly blasted the three men before they could fire off a shot.

“Let’s call the park ranger and explain what happened,” dad said.

We called, explained self defense, and the ranger and his friends hauled off the bodies.

We built a campfire and my dad began telling us scary stories.

When he was done, he said, “You know our planet is dying because of all the pollution we made, because we’re to overpopulated, right?”

“Yes, dad, we know. But what can be done?” I asked.

“We found a new planet, it’s called Earth. That’s where all the trees are imported from. The bear was trained, part of Earth training. The robbers were actors. On Earth, anything can happen. Now you’re ready. Tomorrow, we fly to Earth,” dad pointed to Earth.

“Wow,” we said and smiled.