“Can we please camp in the backyard?” asked Nina, putting on her most pathetic look to make Mom feel sorry about cancelling their outdoor camping trip.
“It’ll be safe because you can check on us whenever you want,” added Rohit.
“How can you camp out without a tent?” asked Papa without looking up from the newspaper.
“Can’t we hire a tent like we were going to for the trip?’” said Nina.
“We were going to hire from the trip organisers. So, we don’t get anything if we don’t go…” replied Mom.
Rohit pouted. It was so unfair.
A tent is made
Nina went to the window and looked miserably into the garden. Suddenly, she gestured to Rohit and without their parents noticing, they slid out of the back door and ran into the garden.
Nina had spied the discarded frame and legs of an old table. They moved it out of of the house, against the hedge that marked the edge of their compound. Then, they covered the frame with an old discarded carpet that hung over the hedge.
“It’s perfect!” said Rohit.
“Don’t we need something for the ground?” asked Nina.
Without replying, Rohit ran into the house and returned with a bedspread from the laundry bag.
“Mom didn’t see me…” he explained. Nina giggled, as they laid the bedspread below the table.
“Now, to get permission to spend the night here,” said Nina.
“Why?” asked Rohit. Nina understood. All they had to do was come out when Mom and Papa were asleep, and get back inside before they got up!
Night time adventure
That night, they crept out and crawled into their “tent” and lay down. But, they could see nothing with the thick old carpet above them. So they dragged the bedspread out and kept their heads away from the table so that they could look at the sky. It was a bright night and they had a wonderful time trying to identify stars using the app on Papa’s second phone.
Suddenly, they heard a scrabbling sound from the other side of the hedge. They sat up in alarm. “Maybe we should go inside now,” suggested Nina. Rohit agreed so fast that she knew he had been going to suggest the same thing. Back they went to their beds, and were asleep in seconds.
Early in the morning it began drizzling and it rained over the next few days. A week later, they went back to their “tent”. They ducked underneath the carpet and then shot out in alarm.
In the tent
“It’s a mama dog with puppies!” cried Nina, racing into the house with Rohit.
“Can we keep one when it’s big enough?” asked Rohit. “We’ll never ask to go camping again!”
“A puppy; a puppy!” they pleaded together.
Mom and Papa went to look at the tent. Papa peered in and caught a glimpse of the “mama dog” disappearing through the hedge, with a pup in its mouth. He looked at the remaining pups and announced. “I don’t think this is the kind of pup you can keep.”
The children groaned, “ It’s unfair. You never say ‘yes’ to anything we ask!”
Papa laughed. “This time, you’ll agree with me. Those are fox pups or kits!’” He turned at Mom. “But maybe we could talk about a dog-puppy?”
“Maybe,” said Mom. Then she caught sight of the bedspread. “What did you do?” she cried.
Nina improvised. “It kept Mama Fox and her babies safe.”
“But we’ll use old bedspreads for our own puppy, promise!” added Rohit.
