Izzy’s car pulls her beat-up yellow 1995 Ford Taurus off the main road and onto the dirt road. The dust is kicking up behind them as they make their way to the campground. “How much further, Sue?” Izzy asks.
Sue crosses her arms. “Not long,” she whispers, glaring at the blobby, who is glaring at Sue.
Izzy spots a group of cars all gathered around a medium-sized pond. The water sparkles invitingly. And a man-made dam runs along one side. A large dock reaches out towards its center, and along its edge are some tents gathered in a circle. But overall there are at least 20 tents. Scattered through the chaos are easy-ups and small campfires. Izzy drives her Ford to a good-looking spot near the others and shuts her car off. “Ok kids, we made it,” she jokes. And everyone piles out.
Izzy smells the air. It’s the same as everywhere near the ranch; it smells like salt and earth and grass. As Izzy watches, a smiling woman (the woman who runs the movie theater) drives over to her group.
“Welcome to the campout. Did you bring a tent? Got a cot? And oh, Jacob can always sleep in my tent if you need some more room,” she says in one long breath, then stares at them while they take the time to process.
“Well,” she says and looks at Izzy.
“Yeah, I don’t think we have a tent,” Izzy states and then asks as she turns her head to Jacob, “Do we?”
He shakes his head. Meanwhile, Sue reaches in her backpack and pulls out a weird laundry basket-looking object. She throws it, and it unwinds, unfolds, and boings into the shape of a small tent. She throws her bag inside. “All set up,” she says with a smile.
“Well, do you want a tent or what? “Make sure you head down to the docks later,” McPherson says. “We are doing a triple feature of public domain movies. Night of the Living Dead, House on Haunted Hill, and Carnival of Lost Souls. “
Izzy squares her shoulders and puts on a rugged outdoors effect. “Yes, one tent and a big cot.”
McPherson laughs and climbs out of her truck and grabs a bulky tent from the back seat of the truck. She hands the bag to Izzy, who immediately drops the tent.
“Cots are in the back; grab as many as you want.” McPherson climbs in the truck. “Don’t worry about paying; the ranch pays.”
Jacob climbs in the back of the truck and tosses out 2 nice-looking modern cot kits.
“Try to face the dock if you want to watch from your tent. “Otherwise you know, whatever,” she says dismissively and drives away.
Jacob, Izzy, and Dr. Blob stand on the edge of the tent village and carry their gear as they walk around looking for a spot.
Izzy, watching her feet, walks directly into Momma Wolf. Cane’s mom, Izzy, lands on her butt, bouncing off the solid women like hitting a rock wall. “Oh, hey, sorry about that. Didn’t see you.”
Momma Wolf, as Izzy thinks of her, looks down at Izzy and holds out a hand. “Yes, you didn’t.”
Izzy grabs her tent and asks, “Where is the best place to set up?”
The 6.5-foot-tall werewolf woman points to the right of the dock at a spot that is conveniently empty but also still part of the main circle with a small fire in the middle and wonderful smells filling the field.
“Uh, thanks,” Izzy says and walks away.
Dr. Blob, quiet through all of this, is trying to figure out what all of this is. His idea of camping is going to a place like Earth, not sleeping next to the water; that’s more like being on his homeworld. He watches as Izzy and Jacob start to unroll the tent. He watches as they stare at it blankly, like it would pop up on its own. “Is this part of the ritual of camping?” he vibrates.
Izzy scratches her head. “Well, not normally, I think, but I am not much of a camper. Is there a photo or something?” She asks Jacob, who is slowly assembling tent poles.
Jacob is looking intense as he slots poles labeled A into socket A and soon has a mountain of poles built. “This is a big tent,” he comments. He looks up at her. “Oh yeah, no picture, but we should be able to figure it out.”
A group of lifeguards arrives with a flatbed pickup truck, and on the back is a lifeguard tower. They carry it and set it next to Izzy and Jacob’s attempted tent. “This is perfect,” the leader says, looking out at the water.
“What, you can’t sleep in a lifeguard tower?” Izzy says, looking at their own tent still lying on the ground.
“Yeah, don’t worry, we got this,” the lifeguards say as they start wrapping the structure in a large canvas cloth, the structure looking like a teepee after only 5 minutes.
“You guys need help with that?” one of the lesser lifeguards asks.
Jacob, with his pride bruised as he stares at the tent, looks up at the smiling lifeguard. “Yeah, sure.” 4 lifeguards leap into action, staking the tent down, sliding the poles into the right areas, and erecting the tent. The tent, a thin green plastic thing, rises from the ground and is soon solid and tight. “See, like that,” one of the lifeguards laughs.
“Bro’s, it’s time to get wet,” the head lifeguard says and runs towards the dock.
The others follow excitedly and throw themselves in and disappear under the water.
“What the hell are they? Why are they all the same?” Izzy asks Jacob and then looks down at Doctor Blob. “Where are you sleeping?”
“They are lifeguards, Izzy.” Dr. Blob vibrates, then looks around. He pulls out a flat package from inside himself and rolls inside Izzy’s tent in the corner. He unfolds the metal package once, twice, three times, and suddenly there is a metal bucket. “Here”
“I guess?” Izzy turns and looks at Jacob, who shrugs and begins trying to set up the cots.
Meanwhile, Sue has dragged her micro tent over and set it up near Izzy’s tent. ‘Wherever they go is usually fun; besides, I know Jacob brought marshmallows.’
Once everything is set up inside the tent, Jacob is drawn outside by the smell of food. On the fire is a massive cauldron. And attending the fire is none other than Cane; he waves at Jacob. “How are you today, buddy?” he asks, watching as Jacob’s cheeks turn red.
“Good Hungary, what’s that?” Jacob asks, hoping that Cane can’t tell he is blushing.
“Ham and bean soup is good for the soul and bad for your tent partners.” Cane grabs a clean bowl stacked up in a crate and scoops a ladle of it out of the bowl and hands it to Jacob. “Feel free; there is lots.”
Jacob looks for tableware, but there isn’t any. He looks up to Cane, gesturing the action of bringing it to his lips and tipping it up. Jacob does and tastes the hot soup, and his body feels revived.
“Good, right? So is that your tent?” Cane points. And Jacob turns and looks and nods his head.
“Yeah, how can you tell?” Jacob asks. The tent looks almost identical to the rest of the tents.
“Because I watched you walk out of it.” Cane laughs and gets a bowl of the soup for himself. They quietly eat together. The sky starts to darken.
