Vinyl Cafe "Story Exchange"

"Sleepwalking Camper"

by Dawn DeCourcey from Fredericton, NB

Our family has always enjoyed camping. My husband and I tented on our honeymoon 26 years ago. We upgraded to a hard top camper when we had kids. And finally, about 15 years ago, we opted for total luxury. We purchased a 24 foot travel trailer with a pull out couch for us at the front and bunk beds in the back for our two children.

We were on our maiden voyage with our new rig at one of our favorite campgrounds. It was Canada Day weekend and we were lucky to get a campsite.

We were located right across from the tents and trailers occupied by the young campground staff. Summer holidays had arrived.

We were enjoying the time together as a family and the conveniences of our little home on wheels. Life was good. We were still campers, just a little less rugged, and...we still hadn't caught on to locking the door.

One night I was awakened in the wee hours of the morning by my husband's voice saying"...This isn't your trailer.." In my sleepy state I thought to myself, "Well of course it's my trailer,...what's yours is mine and what's mine is ...mine...". Then I opened my eyes.

There was a young man standing next to our bed, an inebririated young man,... a naked, inebriated young man. My husband was trying to direct him to the door, telling him that it wasn't his trailer. Our "guest" kept calmly replying "Yes it is my trailer."

After a few minutes of discussion our intruder left. We quickly locked the door.

Our eight year old son had slept through the whole event, but not our five year old daughter. A little voice from behind the curtains near the bunk beds called out, "Is he gone?".

In my most reassuring mother voice I told her, "He's gone, you don't have to be afraid." She said, "I'm not afraid, I just didn't want to miss anything."

Then she asked, "What happened?". Since she'd been shielded by a curtain I tried to explain as best I could. I told her that the man made a mistake and had come into our trailer because he was, well, ah..."sleep-walking". After a moment's thought she asked, "Did he have his arms out in front of him?". "No," I replied, "not his arms."

In the morning a very sober and embarrassed young man came over to apologize. He explained that he had celebrated his birthday a bit too much and had become disoriented when he'd wandered out of his trailer in the middle of the night. I told him I'd known it was his birthday by what he was wearing.

As we parted on good terms he said that he hoped that someday I'd be able to laugh about the incident. Well, that day did come, very quickly... and this story continues to be our camping favorite.