Bedtime Stories at the HUNTING CAMP

Even grown men in the wilderness love to be read to when the lights go out

- L. W. Oakley

AT NIGHT AFTER everyone climbs into their bunks and the lights are turned off, something unusual occurs at our hunting camp-something that I believe never happens in any other hunting camp anywhere: I read a bedtime story by flashlight to grown men until everyone falls asleep.

This ritual began about five years ago on a moose-hunting trip. One night while we lay on our army cots in the tent that we used back then and talked quietly in the dark, I raised my voice slightly and asked, "Does anyone want to hear a bedtime story?"

To this day, whether we're there to hunt, fish, work or just relax, I tell a story every night we're at our camp at Mitten Lake, about 60 kilometers northwest of Kingston, Ontario. The ritual is always the same: everyone must be in bed and all lights must be off except my flashlight.

I tell one story per night in a small room with three sets of double bunks. I read from one of the top bunks in the corner while resting my back on a pillow propped up against the wall. These days, I use a headlamp, which I put on before I climb up my ladder in the dark. The light allows me to hold my book with both hands while reading.