FICTION — Rock Ptarmigan News Service
LAKE WAPITI CAMPGROUND — A campground father began operations at 5:47 a.m. Sunday with a coordinated sequence of cooler latches, tent zippers, whispering, camp-chair movements, and coffee preparation that ultimately resulted in the full activation of Loop C.
The father, identified as 44-year-old Greg Mercer, said he had been trying to be quiet.
“I was extremely quiet,” he said.
Neighboring campers disputed this.
The first documented sound was a tent zipper at 5:47:12.
At 5:48, Mercer stepped outside and put on sandals.
At 5:49, he opened a plastic gear bin.
At 5:51, he whispered “Where’s the lighter?” through the tent door.
His wife answered.
Mercer did not hear her.
He whispered again.
A camper at Site 19 heard both attempts clearly.
“I did not know where the lighter was,” said Site 19 occupant Dana Wells. “But I became invested.”
At 5:54, Mercer opened the family vehicle.
He closed the driver’s door carefully.
This produced one soft thump.
He reopened it.
A second thump.
Then the rear hatch.
The hatch beeped.
Mercer froze.
No one in the campground moved.
He pressed a button.
The hatch beeped again.
“At that point the day had begun,” Wells said.
Mercer located the lighter inside the cooler-side storage bin.
He returned to the picnic table and began making coffee.
The stove ignition clicked four times before lighting.
At 5:59, Mercer’s 8-year-old son emerged from the tent.
“Is it morning?” the child asked at normal volume.
Mercer placed one finger over his lips.
The child repeated the question louder.
Inside the tent, Mercer’s wife, Rachel, said, “It is now.”
By 6:07, both children were awake.
At 6:12, one of them dropped a metal mug.
At 6:14, a neighboring dog barked.
At 6:17, another camper started his own stove.
By 6:23, three campsites were preparing breakfast.
Campground host Marlene Brooks said the site’s official quiet hours continued until 7 a.m.
Mercer was not cited.
“He was trying,” Brooks said. “This was more of a systems failure.”
Mercer maintained that the family’s early schedule was necessary because they planned to hike before the day became hot.
This was reasonable.
His method of reaching that schedule involved waking most of the immediate area.
“I didn’t turn on music,” he said.
No one had accused him of turning on music.
Mercer drank his first coffee at 6:26.
He made a second.
At 6:45, the family ate oatmeal.
At 7:02, Mercer began speaking at normal volume and said, “Okay, now we can make noise.”
Wells, awake for 75 minutes, stared at him across the loop.
The Mercer family left for their hike at 7:31.
They returned at 11:18.
After lunch, Greg Mercer unfolded a camp chair beneath a pine tree.
At 12:03 p.m., he fell asleep.
Wells walked past quietly.
She did not wake him.
She said this was deliberate.
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