LAKE CHERRY WOOD

CAN I PLEASE?

It was the last day of school and minutes before school was to start, nine-year-old Stan ran up to his best friend Kyle who was walking up the pathway of the building.

"Dude, what is it?" Kyle asked, seeing the excited look on his friend's face.

"Dude, I have the greatest news. My family is going on a camping trip in July!"

Kyle blinked. "Why is that good news for me?"

"Dude, they said you could come!"

Kyle smiled. "Really? I can come along?"

"Aww, how sweet," Cartman crooned, standing nearby.

"Shut-up fatass," Kyle snapped.

"Yeah. I had to bug them about it for a while, try to convince them and everything but in the end, they said yes," Stan beamed.

"That's great! I have to ask my parents though. How long will the trip be?"

"A week."

Kyle looked defeated. "You know how my mom is Stan; she might not want me gone in the woods for a week."

Stan deflated. "Well, ask her anyway. I promise, this is going to be great, a lot better than the one we took when we were six."

Kyle sighed. "Surprised you brought that up. When you couldn't breathe and left your inhaler back at camp…"

Stan frowned. "That's not going to happen again. Anyway, ask your parents first thing tonight, okay? We're leaving July 5th."

Cartman was glaring now. "Ay! What about me?"

"What about you?" Stan asked.

"I can't come?"

"Well, no. I only asked my parents if Kyle could come. Besides, there won't really be extra room for another person."

"Especially for one as fat as him," Kyle said to Stan.

They chuckled.

"Fine! I see how it is!" Cartman bit. "I don't wanna go on your gay little camping trip in the first place! I have plenty of plans for the summer anyway!" and he marched off.

"So… be sure to ask okay?" Stan said after Cartman had gone off.

"You bet dude."

Dinnertime had come round the Broflovski household. Kyle didn't say anything at first but did continne to glance over at his parents. Finally he had to speak.

"Mom? Dad?"

"Yes bubbe?" Sheila said.

"Um… Stan's family is going camping in July and they wanted to know if I could join them."

Sheila and Gerald looked at each other.

"When exactly will they be leaving?" Gerald asked, eating some rice.

"July 5th."

"For how long?" Sheila said.

"A week."

"A week?" Sheila repeated eyes wide.

"Yeah." Kyle looked down now, he had a feeling his mother would say no.

"That's a long time to be going on a trip in the woods Kyle," Gerald told him fairly.

"Please Mom and Dad? It's the Marshes, I'll be fine."

"I don't know Kyle; I don't like the idea of you going camping for a week."

"But I'll be fine. Please? You allowed Stan to come with us when we went camping a few years ago."

"That was only for two days and he had an asthma attack," Gerald reminded him.

"Yeah but- but- well, it won't happen again." What else could he say to that?

"I thought he had an even worse scare back in February?" Gerald questioned his son.

"Why does that matter?" Kyle had to ask.

"The point is bubbe, we don't think you boys are responsible enough to go camping for a week without something happening," Sheila said for her husband.

"His parents will be there! The whole time! We will be fine," Kyle exasperated. "Please, we don't have anything planned for summer anyway."

Gerald and his wife shared a look. "Well, it's not like Sharon and Randy are irresponsible…"

"Gerald, I do not want our son traveling around in the woods for a week," Sheila gave her husband a stern look.

"C'mon honey, you know how kids are. The more you say no, the more they'll want their way," Gerald said quietly.

Sheila glared at her husband before turning to Kyle. "Your father and I will discuss it later."

Kyle bit his lip but he knew he had done all he could; next came the hard part, waiting for an answer. After dinner he went into the living room to play with his little brother, Ike. He could hear his parents talking in the next room, then on the phone with Stan's parents. It was hard not to eavesdrop.

"It a piiizzza," Ike babbled, holding up a cardboard cutout of one.

"Yeah, yeah," Kyle said, ears on his parents.

"Kyle- Kyle, I like jellybeans," Ike said.

Kyle frowned, trying to ignore him. Suddenly Sheila and Gerald walked in. Kyle held his breath.

"Your mother and I have talked it over, and called Sharon up just to be sure," Gerald began.

Kyle was still holding in his breath in anticipation.

"We've decided you can go," Sheila smiled.

"Yes! Yes! Thank-you!" Kyle hugged his parents.

"They will be camping at a new camping ground four hours from here called Lake Cherry Wood. It's supposed to be rather nice and family-friendly. They have plenty of activities lined up. I think it's best you begin packing next week so you can be ready when you take off, all right Kyle?" Sheila explained.

"Okay Mom." Kyle could hardly contain his excitement that night. Yes he spent most of his time with Stan but a trip in the woods for a week? That sounded pretty cool. He and Stan had to call each other and talked excitedly about the news for an hour before they had to go to bed.

Kyle spent the night at the Marshes the day before they left for the trip so they could pile into the car first thing the next morning. Everyone was looking forward to the trip, everyone except for Stan's older sister Shelley. She complained about it all that night.

"I don't want to go on a stupid trip, especially with two turd monsters around!" she complained.

"For the last time Kyle is coming and that's final!" Randy yelled over her.

Stan and Kyle could hardly fall asleep that night. They raced each other playing Mario Kart on their Nintendo 3DS systems and talked long into the night until Sharon finally came in and told them to go to sleep since they had to wake up early. 5 AM rolled around and everyone trudged tiredly out of bed and got dressed and put their remaining luggage into the car and tiny camper attached to it that they were borrowing from a friend. Shelley told her parents several times she would spend the whole five days in the camper but they weren't having a word of it. It didn't even have a TV so she would not have been entertained. They were off on the road by six and off to a fun camping trip at Lake Cherry Wood. At eight they stopped for a rest and a quick breakfast at an old diner before going off again. They stopped for a rest a couple hours later for the boys were too restless and had to shake off some of their energy.

"It's early in the morning, you're supposed to be tired," Sharon told them during the last stop.

Finally they saw a sign up ahead indicating that the camping grounds were coming up. Stan and Kyle cheered. Ten minutes later they came up to a large wooden post that read Lake Cherry Wood. They drove through a path with beautiful Colorado pines on the sides and other plants before finally reaching the camp site.

"Look at this; we have this whole area to ourselves!" Randy exclaimed happily when they got out.

"There are other people around aren't there?" Shelley asked.

"Yes, across this area of trees. But this whole clearing is ours. And according to the map, we're only a mile from the lake."

"Boys, come on over and help," Sharon called to Stan and Kyle who had begun to throw a football around.

"Awww…" they complained.

"C'mon, my dad doesn't know how to put up a tent so we should help," Stan told Kyle.

Shelley opted to stay in the small camper once she found out she would have to share a tent with her parents. They finally gave in and agreed. Stan and Kyle would have a tent all to themselves. Once everyone was settled they thought of what they should do first.

"Let's go fishing!" Kyle cried.

"I want to go white-water rafting. Please Mom? I've always wanted to"- Stan said, pulling out a pamphlet.

"I'm hungry Sharon," Randy complained.

"I'm bored," Shelley added.

"All right, all right everyone, calm down!" Sharon called. "Now, it's almost 11:30, we should get some lunch before anything."

"Where?" Stan asked.

"There's supposed to be a real nice burger joint in town."

"C'mon you guys, this is a camping trip, we shouldn't eat in 'town.' Let's find our own food," Randy suggested.

"I am not going to be hunting deer or something if that's what you think," Sharon insisted.

"Hey, I didn't even bring my shotgun," Randy said in defense.

"I say we eat in town. Then we can walk around the shops, get to know the area," Sharon said.

The kids chimed in with agreement.

"After that can we go river rafting?" Stan asked as they began to walk into town.

"We're doing that in two days Stanley, you can wait till then," Sharon told her son.

"No I can't."

Kyle tapped Stan on his shoulder. "We're really going river rafting?"

"You bet dude!"

Kyle frowned. "It won't be- on real crazy rapid waves will it?"

"I hope so," Stan said with delight.

"Dude, we could die! Especially if this is our first time!"

"C'mon Kyle, live adventurous for once," Stan told him.

"My idea of adventure is a long hike, not drowning."

Stan shook his head. This is just what his best friend needed, adventure. And he was a master at finding it. Kyle could be too cautious at times, a five-day camping trip would set him straight. They ate at a small burger shack called Joey's Burgers before walking around the small area.

"Would you guys like a souvenir or something?" Sharon asked the kids as they walked down the street. Randy had been dragged off when he found the local bar.

"I want to pick something out later, before we leave," Stan said.

"Me too," Kyle agreed.

"Can I just go back to camp?" Shelley asked.

"C'mon Shelley, we just got here."

"I don't want to spend the day shopping with the turds," Shelley spat.

"Well I don't care, you aren't going to camp," Sharon snapped.

Stan and Kyle ran ahead of Sharon to see what they could find that catered to their interests. They quickly found Georgia's Sweets and hurriedly ran inside to gaze upon all the confectionary.

"Wow, those Rice crispy squares are the size of bricks," Kyle pointed out.

"And those cookies are the size of our heads," Stan added.

"Man, I wish we had little shops like this back in South Park. Our town's beginning to look like Denver," Kyle complained.

Sharon soon found the boys and rolled her eyes at them. "Didn't take long to find the candy shop hmm?"

"Can we get something?" Stan immediately asked.

"Yeah, can we please, Mrs. Marsh?"

"We just had lunch boys."

"Please?" they put on their best pleading faces.

The store owner, Georgia, smiled an old, knowing smile. "You can't deny a child from sweets ma'am."

Sharon sighed. "Okay fine, one thing only."

How were they supposed to choose between the giant cookies, brownies, fudge, candy, and ice cream?

"I promise we'll come back before we go back home," Sharon told them, reading their minds.

Stan walked out the store with a slab of peanut butter fudge and Kyle, the home-made rainbow sherbet. They sat around the edge of the lake and watched people on speed-boats and Para-sailing.

"Are we gonna do that too Mom?" Stan asked.

"I don't know honey. If we can find time, maybe."

"What are we going to be doing for the next five days?" Kyle asked, licking away at his sorbet (which happened to be the tastiest sorbet he ever had).

"Oh, we have some things lined up. Tomorrow we'll be going on a hike around the lake, then one that's supposed to lead to a waterfall."

"Cool," the boys said.

"The waterfall hike is supposed to be a bit rough and rocky and steep but I think we can handle it right?" Sharon asked them.

Kyle smiled. A rough hike to a waterfall was just what he wanted to do. "I can't wait."

"And tomorrow night there's going to be a huge barbeque near the main entrance of the camping grounds where everyone camping will be allowed to come. There's going to be a lot of food and music and activities to do."

"Then after that we're going river-rafting?" Stan reminded her.

"Yes, after that, river-rafting," Sharon rolled her eyes.

"What else?" Kyle asked.

"Kayaking, and well, Dad and I have a couple fun things planned out for each of you," Sharon looked around at Stan, Kyle, and Shelley.

"What do you mean?" Stan asked.

"Oh, we found a few things around here. One of us is going to take each of you out for a special activity without the others."

"Even me?" Kyle asked.

"Yes, we found an activity just for you Kyle," Sharon smiled.

Kyle and Stan looked at each other, excited. Kyle finished the rest of his ice cream cone as he looked on. He was sure going to have a fun time here, that was for sure. He loved spending time with Stan's family, they were the best. Sometimes he wished his parents were as out-going as they were. Knowing it was best not to think about it, he went back to camp with them and played more football. This was going to be the best summer ever.

I hope you like it so far. More 'action' to come. Starting chapters are always a bit safe. Please tell me what you think!

Magical love: Rose, May 23, 2010