Bedtime Stories at the HUNTING CAMP
Reader's Digest India|September 2023
Even grown men in the wilderness love to be read to when the lights go out
L. W. Oakley
Bedtime Stories at the HUNTING CAMP

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.

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