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I decided to go camping
down on the Neches River in the Davy Crockett national
forest in east Texas. ? I would take my dog, little fox, with
me to keep me company.
I packed my camping gear
in the pickup and we left early the next morning.? Little
fox was excited to be going.? She didn??™t know where we were
going or that we were going camping, she just knew that we
were in the pickup going and she was getting to go too.
It took about three hours
to get to the Davy Crockett forest and when I turned off
highway 7 onto a dirt road, I stopped and let little fox
out.? She was in need of a bathroom stop.? She ran out into
the trees and took care of her business and came right back
to me.
I had walked around at the
edge of the road to starch my legs and was looking at some
deer tracks in the sand on the side of the road.? Little fox
put her nose to the ground and started following the
tracks.? But that??™s a whole ???nother story for a different
time.
I told her not now and to
get back into the truck.? Just as soon as I opened the door
she jumped right in.? Now that we were off the highway I
rolled the windows down.? Little fox was riding with her
head stuck out the window.? The wind was blowing in her face
and she was taking in all the strange smells.
I turned off onto a dim
track that looked like it might go to the river.? A half
mile farther I came to the bank of the Neches River.? It was
a pretty spot with tall pine trees shading a little glen.?
Someone else had used it for a camp site.? There was a fire
pit with a circle of rocks around it and a big log next to
the fire pit to sit on.
I parked the pickup at the
mouth of the track leading into the glen and started
unloading my gear.? When I got everything unloaded I set up
my tent and put my sleeping bag in it along with my duffel
bag.? The ice chest went outside beside the tent next to my
grub box.
The next item on my to-do
list was to gather fire wood. ? I was lucky in that there was
a dead tree lying on the ground, not twenty yards from the
glen.? With my camp axe I went to work on that dead tree and
in just a little while I had a large pile of fire wood next
to the pit.
All this time little fox
was exploring the area around our camp site.? She had
already chased a squirrel up a near by oak tree and run an
armadillo into its hole.? She had been down to the river and
flushed a pair of wood ducks and got her a drink of water.
She had claimed the glen
and the area around it as her domain and she was
establishing her right to rule it.? I??™m not sure she would
have let me stay if I hadn??™t been the one with the cans of
dog food and a can opener.
The day went along pretty
fast with all we were doing and before long it was getting
close to supper time.? So I built a fire in the fire pit.?
While the fire was burning down to hot coals, I pealed a big
potato and cut it up into small pieces.
Then I got out my cast
iron skillet, poured a little olive oil in it and set it on
the hot coals. ? I put the pieces of potato in the skillet
and put a lid on the skillet. Next I cut a small onion into
small pieces and added it to the potato.
While the potato and onion
were cooking I opened one of the half sized cans of spam. ? I
diced the spam into small cubes and added them to the
skillet.? Each time I took the lid off, the aroma would
float out and make my mouth water.
Little fox must have
smelled it also, because she came over and set down beside
me.? She would look up at me then look at the skillet.? Now
I know dogs can??™t talk but her eyes were saying she wanted
some of what was in the skillet just as loud as if she could
have said it with words.
When the contents of the
skillet were done I took out two plates and dished up our
supper. ? I put little fox??™s plate on the ground next to the
log and got a 7up out of the ice chest to drink with my
supper.
By this time it was
getting dark so I put a couple of pieces of wood on the
coals so they would blaze up and give me some light.? Then I
sat down on the log and eat my supper.
After supper I put more
wood on the fire and sat down on the ground and leaned back
against the log.? Little fox sat down next to me.? As we sat
there looking into the fire, I could hear the small frogs on
the bank of the river singing their nightly song.
Every once in a while a
big bull frog would chime in with his crump crump crump.?
Then somewhere way down the river a coyote howled at the
moon.? Be this time little fox had lain down with her head
resting on her paws.? But when the coyote howled she raised
her head and looked at me.? Then she put her head back down
and closed her eyes.
I was staring into the
fire.? Close to the wood the flames were blue.? Then a
little further up they were orange and at the top of the
flames they were yellow.? It was like being hypnotized
sitting there watching them.
Then all of a sudden some
of the wood fell in on it??™s self and a hundred fireflies of
sparks flew up.? This broke the spell and I told little fox
it was time to go to bed.? She followed me into the tent and
as we entered I heard an owl on the other side of the river
say whooooo whooooo whooooo and I said me me me.
I crawled into my sleeping
bag and pulled up the zipper.? Little fox lay down at the
mouth of the tent. ? I knew with her on guard no varmint was
going to get in my tent tonight. ? I drifted off to sleep
listening to the nightly serenade of the forest and river
creatures.
As we danced, I looked
into her eyes.? They were the deepest blue I have ever seen.
? I was drowning in them when she said, let??™s go out on the
balcony and get a breath of fresh air. ? I took her hand and
lead her through the crowd and out onto the balcony.
Then I turned and took her
in my arms and kissed her.? She kissed me back just as
passionately.? Then she started licking my face with her
tongue.?
Licking my face!? What??™s
going on with this woman?? Then I opened my eyes and saw
that it was little fox licking my face.? The sun was
shinning and I could hear a woodpecker some where doing his
rapid ret-a-tat-tat on a tree. ? I looked at my watch and it
was 7:45.? Little fox was ready for her breakfast and had
come to wake me up.
Well that passionate kiss
was just a dream but little fox??™s kiss was real.? So I
crawled out of my sleeping bag and cooked us some breakfast.
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