It was mid-April, and the flowers were just beginning to bloom. The weather had gotten warmer, and the trees were blossoming. Mom and Dad decided to take the kids, Casper and Liam, camping for the first time to enjoy the beautiful spring weather.
One lovely, sunny weekend, they packed their clothes and swimsuits. They also packed their tent and air mattress. They filled the cooler with food and ice. They packed a frisbee, some water pistols, and a deck of cards. When everything was packed, the four of them could hardly find room in the car for themselves.
Mom drove the family to the forest, and they set out to find a place to pitch the tent. The trees were so tall, and the grass so thick.
“Liam, do you want to choose a spot for our tent?” asked Mom.
Liam found a good spot right under a big tree.
“That looks perfect. I’ll set up the tent. Can you and Dad gather some wood for our campfire?” asked Mom.
Casper sat on the ground reading a book about animals while Mom worked on setting up the tent just a few meters away. Casper was only two years old and didn’t talk much yet, but Mom could have sworn she heard him trying to say the animals’ names.
After the tent was set up and the fire was lit, the family made twist bread on sticks over the fire. Mom and Dad shared some of their childhood camping stories. Casper babbled more over his book, occasionally looking up and pointing into the distance. After dinner, they roasted some marshmallows and made s’mores, which were Liam’s favorite treat.
At night, they all lay on the ground and stared up at the stars when Casper started laughing. They all looked over at him and saw him feeding a small brown rabbit a carrot just a few meters away.
“Bunny,” he said.
“Yes! That’s right, it’s a bunny,” said Mom.
“Bye-bye,” said Casper as the rabbit hopped away into the dark.
At bedtime, Dad read the family a book about magical forest animals. Casper smiled at all the pictures and quickly fell asleep in his mother’s arms as the story ended. The four of them cuddled up on their air mattresses and quickly fell asleep.
In the morning, Mom made some bacon and eggs for breakfast. Then she sat with Casper and watched Dad and Liam run between the trees, spraying each other with their water pistols. Casper played with his stuffed squirrel and pointed to a tree, “Squirrel,” he babbled.
“That’s right, squirrels live in trees,” replied Mom.
Casper waved towards the tree and smiled. Mom didn’t see it, but a little black squirrel near the top of the tree waved back.
They spent the rest of the day swimming in the lake, playing card games, and teaching Liam how to throw a frisbee. Exhausted from such a fun day, they all went into the tent after dinner. Casper took out his book and handed it to Dad.
“Again? We read that book last night, don’t you want another book?” he asked.
Casper sat in Mom’s lap and said, “Animal book,” so Dad read the book again. Then they all snuggled under their warm blanket and went to sleep.
They were woken up in the morning by the bright sun shining on their tent. Birds chirping and the sounds of other animals also contributed to a lovely start to the day. When they came out of their tent, it was incredible what they saw. Everywhere around them, there were animals: hundreds of birds and squirrels, a few owls, raccoons and rabbits, a fox, and a family of deer. They stood peacefully watching as the family of four slowly emerged from the tent.
“Honey, what’s going on?” asked Mom.
“No idea,” replied Dad.
“That’s so cool!” said Liam.
Casper walked over to one of the deer, smiled, and reached out his hand. The deer looked at him for a moment and then lowered its head so Casper could pet it. Mom and Dad were silent. Liam walked up to the fox, which initially pulled back. Casper ran over to his brother and held his hand.
“Fox,” he said with the biggest grin.
The fox crept forward again and put its nose into Casper’s little hand while Liam gently petted the animal’s ear. Then a small bluebird flew over and landed on Casper’s shoulder and sang a little song. The kids giggled and sang along, and the birds flew overhead and sang. A raccoon ran up to the children, stood on its hind legs, and held its front paws together, asking to be petted. Then all the animals jumped back into the forest and disappeared.
After recovering from the shock, the family had breakfast and talked about all the animals they had just seen. As they packed up to go home, the little brown rabbit that Casper had fed returned and sat next to the car. Casper picked up the rabbit and gave it a gentle hug. The rabbit looked at the family with very pleading eyes.
“Bunny come home,” said Casper.
Mom and Dad didn’t know what to say to that, so all four of them climbed into the car with the camping gear and went home with the rabbit sitting in Casper’s lap the whole way. At home, they got a rabbit cage and food for the rabbit. Casper played with the rabbit every day, and as he grew older, he talked to the rabbit. And sometimes, Mom could swear that the rabbit listened and talked back.
