Genevieve Newton

Intro Never lie to a woman you're falling in love with. Even the little ones can come back to bite you. It's the summer after your first year of grad school and you've only been seeing Genevieve for a few months, but you're crazy about her, there's no other way to describe it. She's very smart, insightful, funny, and has a fire in her to make the world a better place. Genevieve had invited you back home to meet her family for the first time and you were hugely nervous. Her father, who she repeatedly told you not to be afraid of, is mildly terrifying. He keeps a framed knife on his mantle that he insists he once used to gut a terrorist in Mosul. He's thoroughly unimpressed by you. (Genevieve's mother will later tell you that he did public relations for the army and was never within five kilometers of a terrorist.) "This is the one you wanted us to meet? Looks like this person has never spent any time outdoors." "Actually sir, I used to be a scout. I love spending time outdoors." There's the lie. You do love spending time outdoors, that's a fact, you've enjoyed hikes with Genevieve and even gone climbing once. But you were never a scout and have never actually spent a night outside under the stars. "We should go camping!" Genevieve responds enthusiastically, "You, me, the great outdoors. We could get up to some real trouble." She flashes a knowing grin, you strongly suspect she's doing this to mess with her father. You couldn't exactly decline. You said you're a scout, that means you should be able to handle a camping trip. For the next week you hurriedly watched videos on how to set up a campsite, it was an intensive camping for dummies type of experience. And then at the first hurdle, setting up your tent, you failed miserably.