Camping Out

Three vehicles
parked in a circle.

Inside the sanctuary,
no children played as they did
in the days of the covered wagon.
Empty bottles, gas stove,
bags of dog food, wrinkled clothes, wet towels,
folding chairs, food wrappers.
Everything varnished
with a blue, wet cold.

Mom, Dad and two, teenage boys spend a lot of time
inside the vehicles
with four dogs.

They read,
listen to the radio,
play with a deck of damp cards,
tell stories,
and dream of the time when they can have hot water
tumbling over them in their new home.

They are up at four to start the cars
to warm up a bit.
Then, a few hours of sleep
before the little car pulls out in the dark,
on its first mission of the day
to take the boys to school, a few miles away.

The boys, wash their long hair from
water warmed by the rare winter sun on the hood of dad's car.
Sometimes mom or dad dry the boy's hair
with orange towels.