Man up

When Julia had said she fancied a weekend in the countryside, Kevin had imagined a cozy few days in a little cottage or farmhouse. A place with home comforts, simple things like a toilet, running water and a bed. But no,  she didn’t want cozy, she wanted to go camping! Kevin was a modest man, he didn’t need luxuries, but he did rather like necessities; taking away the toilet and a nice comfy bed was like taking away Dr House’s walking stick. But deep down he knew that it was more than that. A camping trip would surely expose him for what he was, a 7 stone weakling. Julia was the apple of his eye, but he always knew he was out of her league. Her last boyfriend’s footprints were all over the relationship. Eric had built the bed they slept in, chosen, paid for and repaired her car. On top of this Eric still seemed to appear as if by magic at all the most inopportune times. When a real man was needed, Eric would parachute in with his  muscles and smile. Even his name had a manliness about it. Julia had told Kevin 100 times that  she loved  him now, his humour, his brains, his cooking and his tenderness, that Eric was a macho pig, but even that seemed to feminize him. Camping! He’d have to do the ‘manly’ things like put up the tent, light the fire, investigate weird noises at night. Kevin had no idea how to hoist a tent; he didn’t know one end of a ground sheet from another, even the word guy rope seemed to mock him.  Building a fire, well he had trouble lighting his gas stove, building the pyramids would be easier. And investigating noises, this was a man scared of his own shadow. He was going to have to do it, he was going to have to man up and tell her he just wasn't manly enough for a camping trip.