RV short story

Another Idea for RV Short Story

NSP Meditations , , , , , ,

The tent camper camped in the RV park reads a history of Roman sex in his tent.

A truck towing an older model 5th wheel trailer, pulls alongside the tent camper and stops. The trailer is named Sea Breeze.

An elderly man emerges from the truck and begins decoupling the trailer. He is alone. No dog. That’s rare in the park with older RVers.

It takes the man about an hour to set up and then he sits at the picnic table near the tent. The tent camper emerges and greets the man. In short order, the camper learns: the man was from Grants Pass, a woodworker, who recently got divorced and had to sell the house for the settlement. He heard a calling from God to begin a mission up and down the coast, converting nonbelievers and sinners, bringing them into the flock. He closed up his business, bought the 5th wheel, and was on his inaugural run. He brought along some of his hand tools and carved crosses from myrtlewood, the holy wood found only on the Southern Oregon Coast and Israel. He sold the crosses to churches to finance his mission. He often parked his rig in church parking lots.

The tent camper listened and asked questions. Being the son of preacher man and all, this mission interested him, particularly the RV aspect.

At some point in the conversation, the man began quoting scripture to support his taking up of the calling. The man asked the tent camper about his religious leanings. The camper told him he went to church every morning and sometimes twice or three times a day. The man appeared confused. The tent camper explained with one word: “Ocean.” The man replied that it, too, was one of God’s creations. The tent camper said there was never any guilt or human hierarchy associated with the ocean. The man didn’t say anything.

The next morning, Sunday, before the break of dawn, the tent camper was worshiping at the ocean’s edge and inhaling the stuff of death and life, rot and rebirth. The man was still asleep when the tent camper returned.

That’s the story.

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Idea for RV Short Story

NSP Meditations , , ,

An elderly couple pulls into a coastal RV park towing an Airstream trailer. It’s a brand new Silver Cloud model. It’s so new it has a DMV trip permit taped to its rear end.

They park alongside a tent camper, near two scraggly Sitka spruces. The sun is out, the breeze refreshing, and birds flit around. The ocean is two blocks away. It sends up a comforting roar through the grounds.

The tent camper watches the couple set up the trailer from inside his tent, while he simultaneously reads an Ed McBain novel. It takes the couple over an hour to decouple the hitch, balance the trailer, hook up the power and water, stake down this and that, chock the wheels. There is much starting over, trial and error. They seem highly unsure of the process, but evince no frustration in their voices.

At last the couple seem content with the set-up and take a seat outside on Airstream chairs. The tent camper leaves his tent and strikes up a conversation with the couple. He learns: this is the Airstream’s maiden voyage. They purchased it in Portland and drove west to the coast and ended up in this RV park, where they will stay for five nights. The trailer is easy to tow, the man says, but he’s a little shaky backing it up.

The RV park manager shows up to assist with hooking up the Airstream to cable television. He works on it for almost an hour, trying multiple cords, plugging in here, there, and everywhere. No signal. The Airstream is just so damn new and gleaming and high tech that it can’t talk with park’s system. The WI-Fi works fine, however.

Since there’s no cable television, the couple decide they can’t stay. The park refunds their money and the manager wishes them “happy travels.” It’s now 5:00 pm and they’ve driven all day and still have to drive and find a park where they can watch cable TV. They spend another hour hitching the trailer to their truck and getting everything squared away. They climb inside, the man starts the engine, there are some clinking and creaking noises coming from the trailer, they fall silent, and seconds later, the Airstream is gone.

The tent camper is incredibly sad.

That’s the story.

(If you found this post enjoyable, thought provoking or enlightening, please consider supporting a writer at work by making a financial contribution to this blog or by purchasing a NSP book.)