Welcome to Camp Wannakukka! A special place for fathers and their sons. Camp Wannakukka provides a safe, relaxing environment for men who wish to bond with their young sons in a unique and permanent way. At Camp Wannakukka, we hope that the bonds forged here will last a lifetime.
It is time for the next event of the Campfire Wars. The fathers and sons are split into groups and instructed to play a friendly game of Hide & Seek together. This is supposed to be a great bonding exercise for everyone.
Some fathers have no intention of playing by the rules, however. And, sometimes, a friendly game can take a dangerous turn.
Clueless Dad, Part Four is a 6,600-word short story and part four of a nine-part series.
Buy Your Copy Now
Excerpt
There was nothing for me to do now but wait for my son to come find me. Standing alone in the woods surrounded by trees gave me an isolated feeling. Birds chirped, squirrels skittered and hissed at one another, and twigs snapped for no discernable reason.
I began listening closely. My mind desperately wanted something to stimulate it. I could have taken out my phone, but that might drain the battery. I had a compass app. If I got lost, there was no way I could get out of these woods without it.
“Ahh!”
The sound startled me. Turning, I searched the nearby area for the source.
“Mmm!”
There it was again.
“Ohh! Ohh!”
No, I realized, the first time came from behind me. I heard the second sound from somewhere off to my right and a little northward. The third time was…
I listened again, hoping to catch more. The forest was quiet now. It wasn’t the same as before, where I could hear birds and squirrels. Those had gone quiet—eerily so.
“Ahh!”
My ears perked up. That came from behind me. It might have been the same kind of sound I heard before. They certainly seemed similar, and this time, they were accompanied by what could have been grunts.
“Was that a bear?” I wondered.
A cold chill raced through me. I had zero wilderness experience. It was the whole reason I had opted to come to this resort instead of taking Little Nicky camping.
“Ohh!” came the third sound.
That was back toward the trail I had left. It was definitely different from the sounds I previously heard. Could it be a different kind of animal?
“Mmm! Mmm!” the second sound cried.
I wracked my brain. Something sparked in the darkest corners, a memory of something I had read years ago. It was about how smaller woodland animals hid when there were bigger ones around. Some larger animals must have wandered onto the resort property.
“Ohh! Ohh! Ohh!”
“But what kind of animal sounds like that?” I asked myself.
I strained to listen. The sounds would bounce back and forth. It was almost as though they were communicating with one another. When one went quiet, another would pick up not long after. It was almost like listening in on a private conversation.
“Ahh!”
That was when it dawned on me. “It must be some sort of mating call,” I realized.