A CAMPING ADVENTURE
Disclaimer: I don’t own them.
Chapter 3 : A very long Day
The next moring while it was still dark, Rick and Alex were up having breakfast. It was hot cereal this time, and Alex was having a hard time staying awake despite the excitement of going to the cliff, which would take them a good 2 hours to get too. Once he finished, Rick sent him down to the lake to wash his face, and hands and to brush his teeth while he cleaned up. He did all of this, and finished, then went back up to the tent where his father was packing a smaller Rucksack with lunch food, some dried soup and some dried beef.
“What can we do when we get to the cliff?” Alex asked.
“Well we will look out, and be able to see pretty much all of the forest in this area, “ Rick said as he finished packing.
“What else,” his son asked, ever curious, just like his mother.
“We will take your copy of The Jungle Book and share that, and I will show you more plants. We might even see some deer.” That excited him, and once they were ready, they headed off for the cliff. As he always did, Alex stayed ahead of his father, pretending to be Mogli. He howled just like a wolf, and Rick chuckled.
“Dad you have to be Balou,” Alex told him.
“I do, and what does Balou do?” He asked his son, as Alex came back to him.
“He is the papa bear,” replied Alex.
“Hmm, so do I growl?” Alex nodded, and Rick cleared his throat and growled, and Alex laughed and howled back. He was having a great time, they both were. Two hours later they arrived at the cliff, and Alex started to run to the edge.
“Alex stop now,” Rick shouted. For once his son listened, and stayed put, letting dad catch up to him.
“It’s a long long way down to the bottom, and you need to hold my hand while we look, all right?” Alex nodded and the two went to the edge.
“Wow, it really is far away,” Alex told his father, as they looked out over the vast expanse of land. Once they had their look, Rick sent Alex to gather wood so they could make fire for lunch. Alex wondered a little further than he should have, gathering the wood, and heard something making growling sounds. Ever the curious sort, Alex followed the sounds , almost afraid he would find another hurt animal. What he found instead were two bear cubs.
“Wow Balou bears.” Without fear Alex went over to them. They were smaller than he was, and he touched one and it sniffed him as did the other bear.
“Come on I’ll show you my dad.” He picked one up, and the other one followed, as he made it back to the camp site. When he arrived, Rick as just finishing getting the fire lit.
“Hey dad, look, I have new friends.” Rick was working on the fire, not really paying any notice, not until one of the cubs came and stood in front of him. Rick’s blood turned cold as he looked at his son, who had one of the other cubs in his arms.
“Alex listen to dad very carefully, put the cub down.” Shrugging Alex did so.
“Come over here please.” He listened, and when he got to his dad, Rick lifted him into his arms and got their things and began to slowly back away. It was then in the distance they heard a very loud roar. The two cubs ran back into the woods, and Rick took his baby, and ran the way they had come down the path, and didn’t stop until they were back at camp. He was out of breath, but he didn’t let go of his son, and settled down at one of the stones, with Alex on his lap.
“Dad are you mad at me?” Alex asked, his voice trembling. Rick’s response was to just hug him.
“No big guy, Dads not mad, just very grateful. Those baby bears were very cute, and I know you thought so, but they have a very big momma bear, and if she would have seen us with her babies, she could have done us both allot of damage.” Alex nodded.
“I guess I messed up things,” he sniffed, and Rick kissed him.
“No, you are just learning, and the next time you see two baby bears, you will know to just look at them right?” Alex nodded.
“Now, how about you and I get our fishing gear out, and catch lunch.” Alex liked that idea, and they spent the rest of the day fishing, and having a good time.
Evening came, and the two adventures were exploring the woods. Alex had found a bunch of bugs he put in a bottle, and wanted to take home to show his mum, and they were now on their way back to their camp site. He walked ahead of his father, singing, when he heard a loud yell of pain from behind. Alex turned, and saw that his father, had fallen down, and ran to him.
“Dad?” Rick was having a hard time keeping conscious, for he had stepped on one of those steal teethed traps, and it was now inbedded in his ankle.
“Daddy whats wrong,” Alex said now panicked. This was the worst possible situation, and Rick, despite the pain, had to be strong for both of them.
“Daddy hurt himself pretty bad. Alex I need you to go back to camp, and get the first aid kit for me can you do that?” He nodded and took the large ball of string and handed it to his daddy then began to unravel it, so he could find his way back. When his son had disappeared, Rick managed to sit up so he could see his ankle. He knew he would have to get it off, and then tie something around it so he wouldn’t bleed to death. He looked around him and got a large stick which he would use to pry the trap away, and another smaller stick. He bit down on that, took some deep breaths, and pried the teeth open. It hurt worse, and he felt his head spin, but he made himself stay awake, and once he had the trap away from him, he let go and it snapped the stick into. He was bleeding bad, and he took his shirt off despite getting cold and wrapped it around the wound crying out as he did. He kept it tight, and prayed somehow he would figure out a way to get them out of this.
“Daddy?”
“Over here,” Rick said. Alex came with the kit.
“Daddy I’m afraid,” Alex said.
“I know baby. I need you to be really brave okay.” He nodded and sat by his dad. Rick got out some rubbing alcohol knowing that it would hurt like hell when he poured that over his wound, and some gauze and tape.
“Alex I may yell okay, because this is going to hurt me, but I’m not mad at you.” Alex nodded, and watched as his dad took the shirt away from his ankle and pulled up the cuff of his pants. The wound was six deep teeth marks, all oozing blood. Rick bit down on the stick again closed his eyes and emptied the bottle over his leg crying out in pain. That made Alex cry, and Rick felt bad about not being able to comfort his son. Once he had done that, he took the gauze bandage and wrapped it around his leg, then taped it up. Next he lifted Alex in to his arms.
“I want mummy, I want to go home,” he sobbed.
“I know buddy shh.” Rick managed to calm him down, then had him find a large stick, which he did with ease, and used that as a crutch. It was painful to even put the slightest weight on it, and when they got back to camp they got ready for bed, and went to bed.
It was the birds chirping the next moring which woke Alex. He sat up rubbing his eyes, and saw that his dad was still asleep.
“Daddy?” Alex asked in a shaky voice. His daddy didn’t respond, so Alex went to him and shook him. Rick felt hot and every part of him hurt. He knew he had an infection, and knew they were both in trouble. Despite how tempting it was just to drift in the safety of the blackness that he and driffted into, Rick made himself wake up into the world of pain.
“Shh. Al, listen to daddy.” Alex lifted his head from his fathers chest, and Rick reached up and wiped a tear from his little boys face.
“Go get me some water out of the lake. I need to drink allot of it.” Alex ran out, and got a big bucket filling it with as much water as he could carry. Then brought it in, and dipped a cup in and brought it to his daddy. The water was pure, and Rick drank three glasses.
“How do we eat daddy?” He knew there was no way he could get up, and was glad that they had the bag of potatoes, and the dried beef.
“Go get the rations.” Alex did and came back and they ate, but in little amounts. As he ate Rick realized they would have to wait to be found, and waiting with his leg could be deadly.
Back at the Manor Evelyn was working on some papers for the Bembridge Scholars, when a funny feeling washed over her. It was two days before her guys returned from their trip, and she missed them terribly. She tried to get back to work, but something wasn’t right. Finally, she got up, and went to the other side of the house where Jonathan was making up his bed.
“Jonathan?” he looked up.
“You are alive,” he teased. She had basically barried herself in her study, since Rick and Alex left.
“Jonathan something is wrong.” He frowned, and came to her.
“Not to worry old mum, Rick is a capable man, I’m sure its just you missing them hmm.” She nodded, he was right of coarse. In two days they would be home, and she would feel better.
“Well, I’m off to the museum.” He nodded and she left.
As the day went on Rick’s condition got worse. He had a raging fever, and couldn’t hold down anything food nor water. His son was in hysterics, and his cries brought him back to semi consciousness
“Hey..Buddy,” Rick managed. Alex came over to him.
“Daddy don’t die.”
“Shh. Do you remember what path to take to get back to the lodge?” Alex nodded. Rick had shown him markers, and now Alex despite only being 5, had to be brave to bring help to his dad.
“I need you to go and help me, bring help.” He closed his eyes again, and Alex got up and got his stick and left. He found the right path, and ran for a long way ,until his lungs burned, but still kept running.
His crying had not stopped, since he left, and 2 hour later he found their first campsite with a family. The woman looked up when she heard crying, and came running to Alex.
“Honey whats wrong.” she tried to hug him but Alex pulled away.
“My daddy got bitten by a metal trap and he’s sick” She stood, and yelled at her husband who was down by the lake fishing. The man, who was younger than Rick came over.
“Tom, this boy says his father stepped in a metal trap.” He ran to his tent and got their first aid kit.
“Barb take him to the lodge and get the Ranger.” she nodded, but Alex refused.
“No, I want to go with you.” The man, Tom leaned down.
“Whats your name?” Alex sniffed.
“Alexander Jonathan O’Connel,” he said. “But everyone calls me Alex.”
“Alex I know where the next campsite is. Was that where you came from?” he nodded.
“You need to go with my wife, and they can call your family to bring them out here.” The thought of hearing his mum’s voice sent him with the woman, and when they left, Tom gathered what he needed and jogged the two hours up to the campsite. When he got there, he went into the tent and found the man in a sleeping bag soaked with sweat.
“Alex?” came Ricks response to the scuffing that Tom made upon entering.
“No sir. I’m Tom Dudly, your son told us about your accident, and I want to try to help you, until the rangers get here.” Rick nodded, and Tom got out Iodine and cotton. He was in the reserves, not a medic, but being in the reserves you learned about first aid enough to help your fellow man. Once he had what he needed, he took a look at the wound which was swollen with infection. He took his knife and rubbed it with Iodine, then got a shirt he found.
“Bite down on this sir,” He said.
“Rick names Rick,” Rick replied. Tom nodded, and helped his new friend bite on the cloth. He rubbed the surface of his skin with the Iodine, then took his knife and cut into the wound. The new wound oozed with green infection, and Rick had not made a peep. The next step was to try and drain as much infection as he could. He squeezed Rick’s Ankle and Rick yelled out grabbing the sleeping bag. It took a while for the wound to run clear with just blood, and once it did. Tom poured Iodine into it. Again Rick yelled out as Tom took some of the gauze and soaked it with Iodine then dipped it in the cut. It was almost an hour later when Tom wrapped his wound with the fresh Gauze. Rick had gone to sleep, and Tom hoped that he saved this man from having to have his let taken off. Only time would tell.
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