Erin

I’ll never get rid of that red Marlboro thermos.#
Joey wanted to throw it away or feed it to Spot, but I wouldn’t let him…#
Dad and I went camping for the first time ever. We packed hotdogs, rolls, marshmallows, matches, blankets, warm clothes, a tent, and of course the thermos. It was winter, but it had been warm and sunny all week and the man with the very botoxed face on Channel 5 said it wouldn’t get cold. We packed light, expecting to have some decent weather. We were wrong. #
“See you tomorrow, Joe.” Dad said to Joey. “We’re just spending one night up in the woods, so we only left you one box of dinosaur mac and cheese.” Joey blushed and took out one headphone and said, “For the tenth time, I got it. Go have fun with whatever kind of dinosaurs live in those woods. Dad and I zipped up our bags and threw them over our shoulders. We walked to the woods we were going camping in since they were just a block away, and we put up our tent. #
“How about a hike before it gets dark?” Dad asked. #
“Sure.” I answered. For an hour or two, we wandered through the woods scaring away bashful animals and joking around. “We should head back to the tent. I’m hungry.”#
“Ok, Dan.” The two of us dragged some sticks over to the patch of land and struck a match. Dad pulled out the hotdogs and rolls, and we cooked them over the fire, talking and laughing. When it got dark, we shared some scary stories and roasted our marshmallows. Then, we crawled into the tent and went to sleep. #
And it got cold. #
I woke up to 24 inches of snow surrounding the tent. “Dad, wake up!” I yelled louder than SpongeBob’s alarm clock and nudged his shoulders again and again. He groggily looked outside of the tent. “Hmm. They don’t teach you this in Boy Scouts”, he grumbled and looked around the tent. He picked up the red Marlboro thermos, put one finger into the untouched hot chocolate, and put his finger into it.#
“Still pretty hot. Pack up all the stuff. We’ll have breakfast at home and I’ll get started”, he instructed.#
“What are you doing with that thermos? You know how to get us out of here?” I was so curious I may as well have been a young monkey, and Dad might have been the man with the enormous yellow hat. #
“Don’t worry. I have it under control. Just get everything together”, he said in a relaxed voice.#
So I gathered everything we brought into the woods, occasionally opening the flap to see what Dad was up to. When I finished, I stepped out of the tent and there was a narrow path where the snow had somehow melted.#
Dad pointed to the thermos and nodded at me with a mock serious expression on his face. He continued to melt the snow with the hot chocolate from the red Marlboro thermos!#