Summer Camping trip : Part1
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Aug:7th Weather: Very very sunny
"We need someone who can drive us there. He is the only one with no plans during summer. Everybody is busy with vacationing."
Mrs. Malchovich invited Joe the Lawyer for our one week camping trip near Santa Barbara.
Don didn't join this trip since he is going to New York to visit Sylvia in two weeks.
"It'd be hard for me to enjoy camping when my heart is already in New York." According to Don, he needs to mentally prepare for his NY trip and a camping trip with us will tremendously distract him from his preparation.
While disappointed with Don's absence, I was excited to see Joe the lawyer, whom I hadn't seen for a couple of months after he moved out of our neighborhood.
(* for the previous story about Joe the lawyer, read "chatting with Joe the lawyer on Flag day" in the archive)
Joe the lawyer came to pick us up at our apartment with a big camping car. Although Mrs.Malchovich and Lisa laughed at his outfits quietly behind his back, his appearance put all of us in a summertime camping mood.
Jumping into his van, Kenny excitedly asked Joe the lawyer,
"Did you join Boy Scout in your new neighborhood?"
Joe the lawyer seemed to have settled in his new neighborhood. He didn't say if he liked his new neighbors, but he kept saying people in his new neighborhood were very competitive unlike our neighbors.
The first three days in RV Park were gone quick. We did fishing, hiking and BBQing and lots of fun stuff. In the evenings, we sat around the camp fire, and played the games. The constant outdoor activities made us hungry for 24 hours. The food Mrs. Malchovich prepared for this one week camping were already running out.
"We don't have anything to eat tonight.You guys have to go to the lake and catch a big fish." said Mrs. Malchovich.
So each of us took the fishing poles and headed to the lake with a mission, "Food on the table".
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One hour passed by the lake.
"Too much sun. I feel dizzy. I don't want to get skin cancer."
Kenny lay on his stomach on the grass, losing his patience and whining.
"No dinner for Kenny."
 Reading a book in her right hand and the fishing pole in her left hand, Lisa said without taking her eyes off the book.
"There is no fish in this lake!"
Kenny yelled back at Lisa.
"No dinner for a whiner."
Lisa repeated.
"How do you know if there are fish in this lake? Did you see them with your eyes!? I have headache and my eyes are blurry!" Kenny screamed.
To ease their argument,
Joe the lawyer calmly opened his mouth with his serene smile on.
"This is a part of our learning experience.We have to learn to be self-sufficient when we are in nature.The nature is teaching us how to survive under any circumstances."
Then he raised his voice. "Everybody, repeat after me. WE will Survive!"
"We will Survive!"
We all repeated after Joe the lawyer except..... Kenny.
Joe the lawyer was the most patient one and determined to catch a big fish
for our dinner. My girlfriend and I followed him, trying to be patient.
"Can you survive under any circumstances?" I asked Joe the lawyer.
"Of course.I am a man with SAMURAI spirit. I can survive under any circumstances."
Laughing as if I asked a silly question, Joe the lawyer nodded to himself
and went on.
"My new neighborhood is very competitive and a tough place to survive,
but I know I will make it there with my SAMURAI spirit high." "You keep saying competitive." I mumbled.
"Because it's true. Not so friendly...."
I saw Joe the lawyer quietly sigh.
"You should come back to our neighborhood if you don't like where you are because....."
When I was trying to complete what I wanted to say to him,
all of sudden my pole yanked me forward with strong force and Joe the lawyer got up, and shouted.
"Fish! You got a fish! Pull up your pole!"
I saw my pole bending to the breaking point. I tried to pull it up with all my strength, but the fish was pulling against me with full force.
I couldn't hold my arched pole by myself any more.
"Help!"
 Kenny got up and rushed to help me.
Lisa threw the book on the grass
and held my pole.
Then what we saw was a big trout leaping high from the lake and jumping up and down on the surface.
"This fish is for more than ten people!"
Kenny, who had headache and dizziness just a moment ago, were beaming with excitement now.
"Bring it over here! I'm going to catch it!"
Joe the lawyer tried to catch the fish with his both hands. But the fish was flying back and forth in the air.
"Put your pole down on the grass!"
Joe the lawyer gave a command to us with an unnecessarily loud voice. All of us followed it and let go of the pole on the grass.The fish was jumping and flapping on the grass for a while, but slowly surrendered.
"Good job!"
"We should have brought a camera."
"You saved us from starvation."
"We tell Mom we all caught this fish together. OK? Together!"
Everybody was so excited and talking all at once.
"We survived. Everybody, repeat after me. We survived!"
"We survived!"
They all repeated after Joe the lawyer except..... me.
I noticed the fish's eyes staring at me.
I tried to avoid eye contact with the fish, but it wasn't taking its eyes off from me. No one seemed to notice fish's eyes.They were too busy with sharing their excitements. Stared by the fish, I wasn't able to hold a terrible feeling in me any longer.
"Maybe this fish has a father and a mother looking for him in the lake."
This made everybody stop.They all fell in silence.
"Don't think about that. We need to eat to survive. To survive,
sometimes sacrifice is necessary."
Joe the lawyer tried to convince me by using his command voice.
"When NIMO was caught, his father kept searching for NIMO, worried about him so badly."
I tried to have him understand how I felt, but Joe the lawyer put his hand on my shoulder and firmly said, "This fish is not NIMO." "But this fish has a father, too." I insisted.
"Look at this. This fish is too big to be a kid. It's already a grown-up."
"A grown-up has a father, too. Don't you have a family?"
"Yes, I do, but fish usually don't have family ties like we do."
Joe the lawyer desperately tried to make me feel better .
"How do you know?"
"Fish told me once before!! OK!?"
I saw Joe the lawyer trying not to lose his patience to me.
"Remember we are here to learn survival skills. Survive! Everybody! Repeat after me. SURVIVE!"
He raised his fist and did his best to get lively atmosphere back.
But no one repeated "SURVIVE" after Joe the lawyer any more.
"It looks like screaming."
Lisa touched the fish's mouth and tried to close it.
"Fish is looking at me."
Kenny slowly stretched his both arms and tried to hold the fish.
We all thought Kenny would give the fish a hug.
But all of sudden, holding the fish with his both arms, Kenny dashed to the lake. Next thing we saw was the fish bouncing on the surface of the lake and disappearing under the water.
It happened in a split second. No one could stop Kenny.
None of us said a word and none of us moved from where we were.
We all just kept looking at the lake where the fish swam away.
In the long silence that followed,
Joe the lawyer, still looking at the lake and dazed, muttered to himself,
"We can go to Sizzler tonight. It's only 5 minute drive."
That evening we drove to Sizzler for dinner and Joe the lawyer ordered two big vegetarian pizzas for all of us.
To read the previous stories, please visit,
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