This post is the third of its kind, about stuff that happens at the campground I work at.

This time, the shenanigans are adorable.

The other day, our night guy was doing his rounds at twilight when he saw a little girl all by herself in an empty campsite. Concerned that she might be lost, our night guy went over to check on her.

“Hello,” our night guy said.

“Hello,” the little girl replied.

“Where are your parents?” he asked.

“They’re in site 81,” she replied. The night guy was a little surprised that she knew exactly where they were.

“Why are you here, all by yourself?” he asked.

“I’m guarding my ducks.”

Sure enough, on the grass beside her sat two white ducks in a small, open-top enclosure.

Regardless, it was a curious statement.

“What are you guarding the ducks from?” the night guy asked.

“There’s something in the bushes. You can see its eyes.” She pointed at the bushes. Humoring her, the night guy crouched to look. Two glowing red eyes stared back.

“Aren’t you scared?” the night guy asked. He was a little unnerved.

“I’m terrified,” the little girl admitted. “But I’m not leaving my ducks.”
(So you can crank the “Aaaaaaaaawww!” factor up to 10.)

Impressed with the little girl’s bravery, the night guy made a few attempts to scare the “monster” away, but the two eyes kept staring at them, unblinking and unmoving.

A little daunted but unwilling to leave the little girl alone with the monster, the night guy began to dig into the bushes to find the owner of the eyes.

As it turned out, the offender was a flashlight with a string of red LEDs on it. It had tangled in the bushes and somehow the lights had come on. The leaves of the bushes had blocked out all but two, spaced perfectly to create the ominous eyes that had glared so menacingly at the ducks.

Monster crisis averted, the little girl picked up her ducks and returned to her parents.

The monster.