Photo: Keith Channing
They had everything.
The Papa Chair. The Mama blanket. The two Cub chairs. The inner tubes: one small, one large. Even tin cans emptied to serve as sand pails in the refilled beach’s rectangle.
What a perfect day!
The lake awaited, wet and cool. The silty mud. The pebbles, the weeds to wade across or pull.
They swam. They flipped. They raced. They flopped.
The hours passed. The contents of the picnic basket made their tummies nice and full.
They rested till the water once more called.
Then one cub disappeared.
“Nicko!” they yelled, frantic with the possibility of the awfulness that might unfold.
“One moment!” the junior responded from the direction of the small structure. “I’m not done.”
Relief was quickly replaced by wonder only to be followed by surprise and whiff of horror.
“Nicko??!!?” the Mama dashed across the small beach to stop what was already well set into motion. “That’s not an outhouse! It’s my changing room! Go in the bushes! Not here!”
Na'ama Yehuda 
Lovely. I was expecting something ominous 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Something odoriferous ain’t ominous enough? 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well, not usually life-destroying… not usually 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL, whew! Or diaper changing persons would be dropping like flies … 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
Indeed. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’d be long dead, too. Been changing diapers since I became an auntie at 10 years old. None the worse for wear, even over many years when those diapers were absolutely NOT disposable ones, and ‘diaper service’ meant my own hands. … 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I remember those days. And it must have been yet worse before washing machines. The boiled in the corner, the mangle by the back door…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. Though we’d wash the diapers in the washing machine AFTER we washed them by hand. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
My mother talked of boiling them in the *copper*. And I do remember helping her put sheets through the mangle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yeah, I have some memories of that mangle as a young child. We got rid of it later on, but yep, fingers to yourself! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
And later, when I wanted to make my own prints, I regretted my mother’s haste in being rid of it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear ya! Ours was dumped into an old sewage pit … (yep). I’m not going to look for THAT one. 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m noticing a theme, here. Mmm, shitty days!
LikeLiked by 1 person
LOL! Ya think! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, that tickled me, Na’ama. Thank you so much for this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome! 🙂 So glad it tickled you … “Is this an outhouse? This CANNOT be an outhouse” was my first association when I saw the photo … and the rest is history … 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Too small to be anything else, sadly…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Well …. WAIT, WHAT?!!! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love the swift change in direction. Right near caused me a torticollis, though! But a loud guffaw was heard emitting from me! 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ha ha! Yay! Mission accomplished! 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
With much gusto!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep … and hopefully … TP … 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person