Clueless Camping

When you're eighteen years old, about to graduate from high school, and have a long summer of relaxation and fun in front of you, the last thing you want is for your whole world to be turned upside down. And you certainly don't want it to happen the way it did to me. Loud shouting from the hall woke me around midnight, and before I'd worked out that the agitated voices belonged to my father and my twin brother, the latter had left the house and slammed the front door behind him. Moments later I heard his car start and take off down the road with a roar. What on earth had happened?

Years of experience with my father's temper had taught me not to get involved, so I turned my back to the door and tried to breathe evenly. I could still hear his voice raging with a few pauses where I'm sure my mother tried to calm him down. A few minutes later my door was gently opened and the distinct perfume of my mother revealed that she was checking on me as expected. I stayed still and she quickly closed the door and went back down. I could easily imagine how she persuaded him to return to the living room, where he'd pace up and down and rant.

I lay awake for some time, expecting my brother to return, but he didn't. The next thing I knew my mother woke me up at half past nine, when she entered my room with a suitcase and began packing my clothes. "Get up, Russell, and go take a shower." She dumped a pile of clean clothes on the bed next to me, and I noticed they were my favorite jeans, a nice shirt and some of my more expensive underwear and socks. "Hurry up, your father had to go to an important meeting at the bank, and we need to be gone, before he gets back." Even as I stared at her in shock, I obeyed.

My mother very rarely exercised her authority but when she did, Kristin, my older sister, Evan, my twin brother, and I never hesitated to do as we were told. Especially if we knew it might prevent one of my father's rages. When I got back from the bathroom carrying my toothbrush and my shaver, Mum shook her head. "No, put them back. You can buy new stuff when you arrive. I don't want it to be obvious that we've left." I looked at my wardrobe and could see that she'd left almost half my clothes and augmented them with some of my brother's old stuff.

"Put some of your favorite books in the suitcase and the one you're reading in your backpack, and give me your phone and your credit card. Leave the laptop. Any mementoes you want to bring?" I started to shake my head, but then I went over to the bookshelf and grabbed the thick photo book that documented my fifteen years as a carefree identical twin. Mum didn't say anything, but tears filled her eyes and she gave me a quick hug. Then she added the books to the suitcase and closed it. I put on the nice shoes I rarely wore and my mother took my jacket and my backpack, while I lugged the suitcase downstairs.

We went directly to the double garage and I noticed my mother had already placed a smaller suitcase in the trunk. I added mine on top and watched as she switched off my iPhone and dumped it in a metal box. Closing the lid she hid it in a thick envelope and stuffed it into an old safe in the back of the garage. She closed the safe again and muttered something about 'not able to track it in there, I hope'. I knew she was thinking of the tracker which both my phone and my laptop had. "Get in the car, Russell, and don't switch on the GPS."

Again I obeyed without question and my mother backed the car out, closed the garage door with the remote and drove off. Soon we were on the highway and when we were cruising at just above speed limit, she finally seemed to relax. Maybe now I'd get an explanation about the fight and the flight. Including where the hell we were going. I did or at least partly, and it was worse than I thought. "Your twin brother and your father had a major disagreement last night. I can't tell you what about, but Evan has left for good and won't be coming back." I stared at her, completely speechless, and out of all the confused questions in my head a stupid one popped out.

"But what about our birthday party on Friday?" Not that I really cared about the huge event which was meant to celebrate Evan and me turning nineteen. It would just be another occasion for people to compare us, and shake their heads sadly (mainly our older relatives) or look at me with scorn or ignore me completely (the younger guests). But also an opportunity for me to observe Evan as he moved around confidently, charming people, getting admiring glances from girls, joking with the guys. A chance for me to pretend I was him, my handsome successful twin and not a pale, plump, useless imitation.

I hated mirrors, but I loved looking at Evan. His auburn hair was artfully tousled, and his green eyes sparkled from under finely arched brows. He has a classical nose and his beautifully shaped mouth smiled often to show perfect white teeth. Neither of us was tall, but still above average height, and my fit and sports loving twin carried himself in a way to make him seem six foot. Evan had come home from college two days ago for my graduation which was tomorrow, and for the party. Now he'd left, and my mother refused to tell me why. But apparently it was serious enough for us to leave as well. "Mum, why are we running away? And where are we going?"

She shot me a quick look, and pointed out the window at the sign saying Miami International Airport. "We're getting on a flight to JFK, and once we're there, I'll go talk to Kristin." That made sense, as my six year older sister had gone to college in New York, and she was still living and working in the City. My father was extremely proud that Kristin was doing well in the banking business. But then my mother spoke the words which really had my whole world falling apart. "You're continuing to Newark and getting on a one-way flight to Denmark, and you're not to contact me or anyone else over here. Stay away from Facebook and no mails or texts or anything. My cousin Jacob will pick you up, when you arrive in Copenhagen and you're to do exactly as he says."

I felt like I was going to throw up. She was packing me off to her relatives in Denmark, and I'm not talking about South Carolina, but fucking Europe!! The one place I had sworn never to return to. The country where my childhood and happiness had ended almost four years ago. I wanted to scream and object, but my mother knew exactly how to evoke my compliance. "Russell, your father is furious with Evan and he wants to force him to come back home and well," her face got an icy look I'd never seen before. It scared the hell out of me. "I'm afraid he'll stop at nothing to get his way, and you

know

that if he threatens you or harms you, Evan will do anything."

Oh yeah, of that I'd no doubt. I'd seen my brother take on bullies almost twice his size and reduce them to a whimpering mess. Amongst my twin's many accomplishments were high level self-defense skills and absolutely no tolerance for people who teased his weaker and younger brother. Only by two minutes at birth but by now the difference felt like the year which separated us in high school. Evan was fiercely protective of me, and I loved him more than anything in the world. If hiding in Denmark would help him, I'd do it. No matter how much I hated the idea.

I knew my father could track me down at some point, because there'd be records of my passenger name and oh damn: "Mum, how will we buy the ticket to Denmark without leaving a trail?" She gave me a grim look and the single word CASH. When she pointed at her handbag on the floor in front of me, I picked it up and opened it. There were two fat envelopes filled with 100 dollar notes and she told me to put one in the neck wallet with my passport and hide it under my shirt. Now I knew why she made me wear a dark blue top.

I won't go into details about the nightmare of international flights, but less than 30 hours later I exited the airport terminal in Copenhagen and looked around with bleary and jet lagged eyes. In fact I could hardly remember what my mother's cousin Jacob looked like. He was actually Kristin's age, because his mother was the youngest sister in a family of seven siblings, of which my grandfather was the oldest. Surprisingly enough he was an only child, since the family was Catholic just as my father's. But I think Jacob's dad was Lutheran or whatever the Danish state religion was.

Anyway, I need not have worried, because a voice called my name and then I was hugged, long and hard. When Jacob finally let me go and stepped back, I got my first look at the tall, blond, blue-eyed Viking, who grinned happily and grabbed my suitcase. Great, another self-confident hunk destined to make me feel ugly, inadequate and introverted. I wanted to cry, but I bit my lip and followed docilely as my Danish host led me to the end of the terminal building.

We got on the Metro train and I looked out at the landscape until the train plunged underground. It was the second week of May and spring seemed to be in the early stages this far north. Most of the flushed trees were pale green and many were still naked. We only rode a few stops, maybe ten, and got off at Christianshavn station. Jacob explained that he had a small flat in the area and I nodded without speaking. He seemed to get that I wasn't feeling sociable and mostly left me alone. Though I did catch him studying me intently a couple of times.

In his flat he told me to take a shower and crash out on his bed after I declined eating anything. "I'll wake you up in four or five hours and then we can have a meal and talk." Zombie-like I obeyed, collecting my wits enough to get a clean pair of briefs and a T-shirt from my suitcase before going into the bathroom. The hot water felt wonderful and I enjoyed the soaking for a while before washing with the body shampoo on the small shower shelf. Drying off I dressed and stumbled back into the bedroom. Jacob had a huge double bed with two duvets and I snuggled under one of them and let sleep claim me.

I was woken from a nightmare involving me running through a dark forest with a monster behind me bellowing in my father's deep tones and a shadow beside me imploring me to get away. I wasn't sure whether it had Evan's or my mother's voice. "Russell, wake up. Wake up man, you're having a bad dream." Jacob's calm tenor and the warm hand on my shoulder extracted me from the terror of my dream and I rolled over on my back and squinted at him. His blue eyes held more compassion and caring than I was used to seeing from any male except my twin. When his hand moved up to push my long hair away from my face, I felt as if I'd been granted another protective brother.

A much older, mature and somewhat domineering brother, as it turned out, but I didn't mind. Having someone else take charge and make decisions for me was almost a relief, even if I actually resented most of the choices he made. Because the talk we had while eating was more Jacob telling me about the plans he'd made for the summer. We were going to tour around Denmark with backpacks and a tent, and we'd mainly be hiking or cycling or canoeing. I wanted to tell him that he had the wrong twin. Evan would've loved the idea, but I hated being outdoors and doing physical stuff.

However, Jacob's reasons were irrefutable. "We need to be away from cities and larger towns, and not even my mum knows my plan. We can't stay in hotels where they want ID, though if the weather is bad, we can probably get away with using hostels or smaller inns where they're less fussy. I'll call home occasionally to find out what's going on, and hopefully we can come back after a few weeks. Unless you want to continue our holiday in the Danish countryside." The big grin came out again, and I couldn't help giving Jacob a small smile back. He was so exuberant and enthusiastic it was hard to stay morose. Though why he'd feel happy about dragging an unfit, chubby, and reluctant cousin around remained a mystery to me.

In addition, I wasn't convinced that all of this cloak-and-dagger stuff was necessary. I'd thought about it during the ten hour flight and by now my mother's reaction seemed excessive. I'd gone along with the trip to Denmark to placate her, and maybe it was wise for me to be out of my father's immediate reach. But why did we have to hide in the jungle? Okay, not that Denmark had anything resembling remote wild areas, one of the other Scandinavian countries would probably be better in that respect. Anyway, what could my father do if he found me? I was a legal adult and he couldn't drag me home, could he? Hmm, better not put that to the test.

I was still tired, so I went back to bed around eleven at night and promptly fell asleep. I woke the next morning feeling a lot better, even if I was momentarily confused by my surroundings. The curtains on the window were not quite closed and I could see that the sun was shining. Muted sounds of traffic and someone snoring softly reached my ears. There was an intriguing scent, which... Shit. I turned over to face the middle of the bed, and there next to me was Jacob, fast asleep. I don't know whether to blame my jetlag or the confusing events leading to me being here, but I'd honestly not thought about the fact that we'd be sharing his bed.

I told myself not to worry about it, why should I? After all, Jacob seemed to think that it was no big deal, as he hadn't even commented on it. And I'd shared a bed with Evan now and then, when we visited relatives who were short on space. Also, Jacob and I would soon be sleeping together in a small tent, and being under separate duvets was almost as private as sleeping bags. Yet, somehow it was different, and I tried to work out why. Was it because Jacob had kicked off his cover to reveal that he slept in nothing but boxer briefs? Or was it the fact that he was virtually a stranger and I was studying him while he slept?

Jacob was certainly worth a second glance, and I bet he had girls drooling over him all the time. Hmm, wonder if there was a girlfriend and how she'd feel about him going off for several weeks with a stupid cousin from Florida? His body was muscular and tanned, with a profusion of blond chest hair and a thin trail leading from his navel and into his underwear. Which by the way was tenting in a most impressive manner, and I found myself wondering if Jacob was uncut like Evan and me. Suddenly I realized I was ogling my cousin's morning wood and I blushed with shame. Turning my back quickly I closed my eyes and tried to ignore my own erection too.

For some reason the memory of one of the few good father-and-son conversations I'd had came to mind. When Evan and I were seven and facing the school year where we'd start having PE and maybe doing sports with communal showers, our father had sat down and prepared us for the questions and teasing we might face. "In America a lot of boys are circumcised. That means you remove the foreskin of the penis, which is the fancy word for your willies. In fact I'm cut, but you two aren't. Your mother considers the custom barbaric and she made me promise that if we ever had sons, I'd let you keep your natural equipment."

Evan and I had glanced at each other, and I knew we were both pleased. Not just to know why we were different, but that our mother had stood up to my father. I guess we'd thought it was impossible. "In fact she was so adamant that it was put into our marriage agreement as a legitimate reason for divorce. So I want you boys to know that any annoying attention you suffer from this is completely her fault. Anyway, you should just tell anyone who dares to comment that the way you look is how God made you." He sneered, "And that

they

are the unnatural ones, especially since they go around looking at other boys' intimate parts." Evan and I nodded and to my father that was the end of the matter.

Thankfully, comments were few and far between, and Evan fielded most of them with a joke. By the time we were teenagers no one seemed to care, though I don't know how Evan dealt with the problem in high school. I was exempt from PE and sports due to my health problems, so I never had to face the gauntlet of communal showers in my late teens. Maybe the fact that we went to rather strict Catholic schools also helped. Luckily it wasn't a boys only once we got to high school, so the attention of my class mates were probably more on girls and their attributes rather than minor differences in male equipment.

I liked having girls in the school too, even if I realized that none of them would be interested in me. Their presence created a different dynamic in class, and though some of them were rather bitchy, they usually treated me well. Not because they liked me, but they sure did care about what Evan thought of them. And once my twin had proven a few times what he would do if anyone, male or female, bothered me, they got the point. Or maybe it was the fact that the first girl, who was nice to me and eventually became my friend, got invited to the Junior Prom as Evan's date, much to the consternation and envy of the girls in his own year.

By the end of my junior year and Evan's senior year, Charlotte and I were good enough friends that we went to our Junior Prom together. I told her that if she got invited by anyone else, I'd be fine with pretending to go on my own and then just get 'sick' on the actual night. She told me not to be stupid, and that she preferred me to the other guys in our year. "You're a proper gentleman, Russell. Always kind and attentive and you never try to take advantage of me." Her compliments made me proud, but indeed I'd never gone beyond a chaste kiss on her cheek and the occasional hug if one of us felt sad (mostly me). But then after all she wasn't my girlfriend.

Though from what she confided in me, other guys didn't let that stop them, if opportunity arose. Not that there was too much possibility of something bad happening, as our school dances and other events were heavily chaperoned. And like me Charlotte didn't go on dates outside school, mostly because her parents were even more strict Catholics than mine. When I asked her if she minded not being able to have a boyfriend she laughed. "I'm not falling into the trap of getting married young and having a horde of kids. I'm going to law school and afterwards I'll work in my dad's firm. Maybe when I'm around thirty, I'll start looking for a husband."

I had no doubt she'd achieve her goals; Charlotte Nichols was a firm minded person. Not like me, but maybe we got along so well, because I didn't mind her bossing me around. On the other hand she had a lot of tact, so she never tried to bug me about exercising or dressing nicer or being more outgoing. Things I had to endure from relatives and other 'friends'. Charlotte and I also went to our Senior Prom together, and I think that's one of the few times my father had a compliment for me. As I left, he actually patted my shoulder and gave me his tight lipped smile. "I'm glad to see that you're better at choosing a proper girl than your twin, and more constant too. I approve of Ms Nichols, and you're very lucky to be dating her."

Having distracted myself sufficiently with thoughts of Charlotte and other things, I slipped out of the bed and went for a pee in the bathroom. When I got back, Jacob was awake. To my relief he was sitting up with the duvet around his hips, and when he mentioned breakfast, the rumble from my stomach made us both laugh, thus dispelling any leftover awkwardness. Having eaten he dragged me to the Metro to go shopping for hiking boots, a backpack, a sleeping bag, and other stuff for our trip. Home again he helped me pack and did his own packing, because we were setting off in the afternoon.

When I hoisted the backpack on my shoulders, I thought I'd fall down, it was so heavy. But I couldn't complain, because Jacob had our tent, cooking gear and field rations on top of his own stuff. We took a bus to the Central Station and caught a train to Jutland, the part of Denmark that's attached to mainland Europe. I forget where we got off after changing to a local train. Jacob had booked a room for us in a small inn not too far from the station. 'Not far' meaning almost three miles and more than an hour's walk! The room was probably not in Jacob's name, but I didn't care. It had twin beds and after eating a meal at the inn, I was more than ready to crash. Jacob let me go up to the room before him, so I could take a shower and be in bed, before he turned in.