Kathy Andrews - Camping with mom

Glancing at each with uncertainty, Jason and Linda moved beside Liz and Mona, who stood nearby, watching the confrontation.

"You're wrong," Bret said, his voice quavering as he tried to control his rising anger. "You're so wrong!"

"Damn you! I know what I saw!" Frank shouted, his fists clenched, knuckles glowing white. "I saw you yesterday. And I damn well know where you two were going when I caught you trying to slip off from the rest of us!"

Neither Bret or Karen answered.

"Did you think I was stupid?" Frank continued to rage. "Did you think I was blind?"

"Frank, calm down," Jason interrupted. "Take hold of yourself and tell me what's going on here."

Frank twisted around, his eyes wide and wild. "It's your son, Jason! He's just like you and your wife! I caught these two trying to sneak out into the woods so that they could satisfy their carnal urges, like two rutting animals!"

His head jerked back to Karen. "My own daughter! I thought I raised you better than that. You little bitch, you're no better than a common slut! I saw you out there yesterday, flat on your back giving your body away. A whore! My own daughter is nothing better than a whore! How many men have you known, Karen? How much do they pay for your body?"

Jason saw the tears well in the young brunette's eyes and stream down her cheeks. "Frank, you've…"

"Stay out of this, Jason!" Frank raged. "If you had raised your son better, this wouldn't have happened. But he takes after his mother and father, loose with their morals, no understanding of what is right and decent!"

"Hold on, Frank," Jason answered. "I think you've got this all wrong. Times have changed. People don't have the same standards they did when you were young. The world is freer, more understanding…"

"Loose is the word!" Frank's eyes glared. "No morals, young people today have lost all their morals. They can't even control the baser urges of their bodies!"

Jason shook his head. He had heard all this before, the same old tired arguments straight out of Victorian England. He thought of Mona and her suffering with this man. If that was Frank's idea of strong morals, he would have no part of it.

"Frank, Bret and Karen are young. Their bodies need sexual release. They aren't made of stone. They're flesh and blood and what happened between them was natural. It's the way we're created," Jason said. "There's nothing good or bad about sexual urges; they're just natural, which makes them right."

He knew as he said it there would be no understanding from the man. Frank was molded too tight into his rigid view of the relationship between man and woman. It was too late for him, he'd never change.

"Mona," Frank's gaze turned to his wife. "Do you think it right for my daughter to go sneaking off in the woods so that she can lie on her back for a man?"

"No, I don't think it's right," Mona's head rose defiantly and she stared at her husband. "It's wrong that they had to sneak off and hide. It's wrong that they were afraid that this might happen and had to conceal their feelings as though they were ashamed of them. It's wrong, Frank, but even with all its wrongness, what Bret and Karen share is so much better than whatever we've had."

Frank was stunned. His wife's words hit him hard, jarring him at the foundations.

"I'm not sure exactly what Karen and Bret feel for each other. But I do know both of them. They're both human beings, Frank, good, warm people. They both have a great capacity for love," Mona continued. "But even if all they feel for one another is lust, at least they shared those feelings. That's more than we've ever done."

Suddenly, Karen ran from Bret's side and threw her arms around Mona, hugging the woman close. Her tears trickled down her face as she tenderly kissed her stepmother's cheek.

"And you," Frank turned to Liz, "I suppose you feel the same way?"

"Yes," was Liz's complete answer.

"I should have known. All of you, you're all depraved, sick people." Frank's eyes ran over the faces staring at him. "It's not too late though. I can teach Karen the ways of right and wrong. I'm going to take my daughter away from you, take her back to the city with me. Mona, you'll be hearing from my lawyers."

"No, Dad." Karen abruptly spun around and faced her father. "I'm nineteen. In this state that makes me an adult. I won't go with you. I can't live with you and your sick outlook on life anymore. If Mona will have me, I'm going to stay with her."

Frank took a step toward his daughter, then froze. "If that's the way you want it, then that's the way you'll have it. I wash my hands of the both of you. As far as I'm concerned neither of you exist anymore. You're out of my life, not even ghosts of the past!"

There was silence for a moment, as Frank caught his breath. Then he spoke again. "All I want is to get out of here, get back to a world of sanity."

Jason looked at Bret. "Son, get Frank a backpack and fill it with enough supplies to get him back to where we left the cars. Also break down one of the smaller tents. Frank can take that also."

Jason turned to Frank. "Is that suitable? You can follow the river back to where we started. If you push it, you can make it in two days."

"Fine," Frank said. "Anything to get away from all of you. To get away from this disgusting, depraved situation."

Within minutes, Bret returned carrying the pack and the neatly-rolled tent. Frank accepted them, strapping them to his back. Then, he turned and without another word walked from camp. For minutes, everyone watched until he disappeared upstream.

Frank had upset all of them. They were quiet that night as they gathered around the fire for dinner and would have probably remained so, if Bret hadn't suddenly spoken up.

"I think I should say something about this afternoon…" he began. It was obviously hard for him to talk and at first he was awkward. But he said it all, explaining everything that had happened between Karen and himself.

Had it stopped there, it would have been a completely lost effort, but Mona then explained her frustration in Frank's bed. Then sucking in a deep breath told all, including Jason and her love-making by the river.

With that the walls crumbled. Each of the two families opened themselves to the others, revealing all that had occurred during their brief vacation. All listened and weighed what they heard, but it was Liz who seemed to find the words for all.

"It's shocking at first. We've cast away every taboo we've ever been taught and that's not an easy thing to do." She looked around at the faces gazing at her. "I'm sure that what we share with each other isn't right for every family. But for us it seems right… for now. Perhaps tomorrow it will be wrong. If that's the case, I'll have no regrets. All of this, even Frank's violent reaction to what he could never accept, has brought us all closer together. That closeness, our sharing, is something none of us should ever regret… never."

With that she extended her sister-in-law an invitation to spend the night with Jason and herself. Mona accepted. With that, the subject was closed. The family, one instead of two, now it seemed, finished their meal, enjoying the open companionship of each other.

Eventually, Bret and Karen rose. Without comment from the other members of their family, they walked to Bret's tent to share that night. Linda then offered her cousin Phil Karen's sleeping bag in her tent. Whether or not the night they shared would be as intimate as Bret and Karen's the others were unsure, but either way, it seemed right.

Reaching out, Liz took Mona's hand and led her to their tent with Jason following. Within the tent, the three sat awhile as Mona once more recounted for Liz the details of Frank and her life together.