TWINKY, PINKY AND BINKY GO CAMPING

• Copyright2000 Monica Greenholtz

Twinky, Pinky and Binky are 3 very tiny pigs that live in a basket in my room. Binky is the baby, and Twinky and Pinky are his parents.

Binky is rather large for a baby, in fact he is bigger than both of his parents. Pinky is a very good cook and Binky is an only child, so he is kind of pampered.

The weekend of the camping trip arrived at last! Binky sprang out of bed impatient to leave. A few days earlier, he and his mother had gone shopping for a tent, sleeping bags and other camping gear. This is a list of what Binky got for the trip:

A purple sleeping bag with a matching tote to carry it in
A purple folding canvas chair with matching tote
A purple insulated water bottle with adjustable strap
A new purple lunch box
A little reading light with clip to attach to a book
A purple fishing pole and a fake worm
A new pair of hiking boots
A bag of marshmallows
A long handled roasting fork

He also had a new back pack that a very good friend had crocheted for him. He packed it with several items including a marker set, sketch pad, drawing pencils, a notebook and the clip-on light.

Next he put his hamster in the back pack with a small container of seeds. The hamster's name is Nibbles and he is a little bit round in the middle. Binky instructed him not to chew a hole in the back pack and to be very quiet becuase he knew that Pinky would not approve of Nibbles coming along. Nibbles agreed and curled up in a tissue to take a nap.

Meanwhile, Pinky was loading a picnic basket with items including raisins, hotdogs, pickles, cans of beans, buns, and alot of snacks.

Soon they were ready to leave and they set off for the camping grounds. It was dark when they got there, so they couldn't really see where they were setting up the tent. They finally managed to set it up, and rolled out all of the sleeping bags inside. Binky unpacked everything from his backpack, and arranged it all around his sleeping bag in a corner of the tent. He got out his slippers and put them on, and then he put Nibbles into his sleeping bag. Nibbles promised not to come out, but his whiskers could be seen now and then peering out above the zipper. Binky made a list in his tablet of what he wanted to do the next day.

After dinner, they sat around the fire and listened to all of the bug noises. Binky roasted marshmallows on his new fork. Several fell into the fire. He rested the fork against his chair while he ran over to swing in the playground. The melted marshmallow fell off on his chair, and he accidentally sat on it later.

Finally they all zipped themselves into their sleeping bags. Binky fell asleep dreaming of the next day when he planned to rent a paddle boat and go fishing, and of the lunch his mother would send with him in his new lunch box.

The next morning after breakfast, Pinky packed Binky's new lunch box while he ran down to the General store to rent a paddle boat and buy a can of worms. He loaded the boat with his backpack, lunch box, fishing pole and can of worms. He put on the life jacket that came with the boat, and he tied a purple balloon to Nibbles just in case he fell out of the boat. He paddled around the lake for quite a while until he found a spot that looked good for fishing. He cast his line into the water and waited. After several minutes he decided to peek into his lunch box while he was waiting. Inside he found:

Hamsalad sandwiches with the crusts trimmed
Cheese flavored potato chips
Chocolate pudding
Oatmeal cookies with walnuts
2 boxes of raisins
A bag of seedless grapes
A thermos of pink lemonade

He hooked the pole to the side of the boat and he and Nibbles started to eat. The lake was peaceful and calm, and the water lapped at the sides of the boat. Suddenly there was a great tugging on the fishing line. Binky dropped his hamsalad sandwich and grabbed the pole. He stood up in the boat and tried to reel in the line, but the tugging was too great. All of a sudden a huge fish jumped up out of the water and tipped the boat, tossing Binky and Nibbles into the lake! Binky immediately came up from under the water with his life jacket on. A few seconds later Nibbles appeared still tied to the balloon. The boat was drifting away quickly, and Binky began to panic. His hiking boots felt very heavy in the water.

Twinky was eating breakfast at a picnic table when he looked out on the lake. Much to his surprise he saw what appeared to be an orange sea monster with a big purple head drifting towards the shore. He knew it couldn't be the Loch Ness monster, because they weren't in Scotland. He got out some binoculars and focused in on the strange object only to realize it was a struggling Binky in an orange life jacket, and a hamster tied to a purple balloon. Quickly he jumped into an inflatable raft and rowed out to rescue them.

Pinky was waiting with towels and hot chocolate when they arrived back on shore. They were just beginning to calm down by the fire when a park ranger came along and told them that the boat had been recovered, and all of Binky's things were returned safe and sound.

Later that night as Binky and Nibbles roasted marshmallows they told Twinky and Pinky everything that had happened. They all agreed that Nibbles and his purple balloon had saved the day, and that it was much safer to fish from shore from now on.

From that time on Nibbles has always been welcome to come along with Binky wherever he goes.