Firecrackers Or Gunshots?

All I have on this one is my own piece of the memory.  I am sure I will get some other details by the other participants!

As we have talked about before, the family went camping every Fourth Of July.  This year was a big lake and campsite that was more in the country than the one I talked about before.  Most of the family was there, we had several campers and vehicles.  Two attendees were teens and dating and had left to go to the nearest town for a movie.

I had 3 kiddos.  Youngest was my son, just 2 months old and asleep in one of the campers.  Middle kiddo was a little over 1 and she was with me at the concrete picnic table.  Oldest daughter, 4, was running around playing with the other kiddos. 

It was night, dark and we were most of us, sitting around the table yakking and playing games.  As we were carrying on, we heard from across the way, a few pops.  It was kind of loud, but muffled by the distance.  It resembled the sounds of firecrackers, but yet we all thought, maybe not.  It was fourth of July, so it could have been and probably any one's first impression.  As we talked about it, several agreed it could very well have been small gunshots, like a 22.  Somewhere in all of this, I checked on baby.

So we tentatively continued our activities but all eyes and ears were focused in that direction.  All of a sudden, and I cannot remember what was heard, the men of the group ran around to the other side of the vehicles and campers.  It was out of our sight, but someone soon ran around and told us to stay where we were, rounded up the kiddos and of course let us know what was going on.

A man, came to that side of our campsite and collapsed, he had been shot.  He obviously took off from the other campsite and made it to ours after we had heard what we now knew was gunshots.

Ok, pause for a moment, how did I feel?  I was scared.  I was trying to keep my kids corralled from running around to where the man was laying.  And wondering if the person with the gun was gone, or chasing this man and on his way to our campsite???  It was before everyone had a cell phone, someone left our camp to go and call authorities, I think.  We also could not call the teens to ward them off right now, or later to get the heck back here so we could leave.

Well, it wasn't long until we heard, from the same campsite across the way where the gunshots were, a car or truck, started screeching tires, took off and we could see, winding its way towards our camp.  Ok, stop. 

Was it the good guys or the bad guys?  You cannot help in that situation to seriously consider it was the bad guys.  We nearly yanked our kids arms off, getting them as far away from the front of the campsite and pseudo safely behind trucks and campers.  Pretty much holding our breath and worried about our guys up there with the injured man.

Pretty much we did not know who the injured man was, good guy, one of the bad guys, nothing, really.  The persons screeching up to our camp, claimed to be friends and they loaded up the guy in the vehicle and sped off.  For all we knew it was the people who shot him in the first place and took him to finish him off somewhere!

The authorities came and I totally understand the confusion of witnesses who were there but didn't know what happened exactly and who all the players were!  I believe they were stopped later on the main highway and I do not remember what happened after that to them.  I am sure I will get emails telling me the details.

As for us, we packed up really quick!  Not in the mood to camp anymore.  And wondering, will any of the players come back!?  Then we sat for what seemed like forever, (just enough time for my 1 year old daughter to try to rid herself of her own finger prints by grabbing a lantern glass.)  We were waiting on the teens to lolly gag their way back from the movies.  They were smitten with each other and didn't have a clue what was going on.  They were not in a hurry.  Hahaha, I believe there was some "irritation" voiced towards them on the way home.  Daughter of grandpa and her new boyfriend, yep.  They later married and still are to this day.

I am not sure we went back to that campsite, ever again.  Man, we had fun on our camping trips!!!!  We were then forever suspicious of firecrackers in the distance!