When our kids were young, we tried to find alternative celebrations for Halloween weekend. When they were small, we took them to Chuck E. Cheese. When they got older, we went on late fall camping weekends; sometimes even renting a cabin.
This particular year, we rented one at Clear Creek State Park near Cooks Forest in Pennsylvania. Travis was around thirteen, Troy was nine and Tracie, eight. They were obviously old enough to be able to read AND SPELL!
We arrived, moved in, carried wood, and got a fire started in the pot-belly stove. While walking around, we saw a buck with a couple of doe. He actually followed us back to our cabin - it was wierd! That night, the buck banged its antlers against the corner of our cabin for about ten minutes. Strange!
The next night, we were settling in to sleep. There were bunk beds against each wall. Deb and I slept on the bottoms with Travis above her and Troy above me. Tracibeth slept on a chaise lounge between the bunk beds.
When the lights were out, Deb thought she sensed something buzz past her; then again. In the darkness, she called my name and then spelled: B - A - T. With that, all three kids screamed! Travis and Troy dove out of their top bunks onto Tracie. We all covered up with our blankets.
Eventually, Debbie shamed me into getting up and turning the lights on. Sure enough, we could see the bat high on one wall.
For the next hour we tried everything we could to get it to fly out of the cabin. Nothing worked. Our squeels and screams must have surely amused and puzzled our cabin-neighbors. We laughed till we were nearly sick!
Then spent the next two nights sleeping - not so soundly - UNDER THE COVERS!
Harold - I feel like I'm listening to Paul Harvey and "The Rest of the Story" Ha! Joyfully Joyce
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