The Knight Life by Keith Knight for September 16, 2023

never wanted to go camping, even as a kid.

A neighbor’s kid had to go to the emergency room in the middle of the night. Their other kids were nervous about Mom and Dad leaving them with neighbors. I set up a hoop pop-up tent in the living room and started a Disney movie. They were asleep in 10 minutes.

Sweet

Quick trip down memory lane: I’m about 12, my brother 10, we’re settled in the back yard in a tent about 15 feet from the back door, flashlights in hand. Then I realize a humongous spider (harmless garden variety) is walking up the sleeve of my PJs! Panic and manic swatting ensue and we both erupt out of the tent and race to the back door, which our dad had said he would leave unlocked for us … except he hasn’t. Prolonged knocking has no effect. Finally we reluctantly return to our little tent and diligently aim the flashlights on every surface—no spider … at least, no spider visible! So we nervously crawl back into our (thoroughly inspected) sleeping bags and (much to my surprise) fall asleep and sleep peacefully through the rest of the (presumably spiderless) night.