LOL Oh, she didn't read it. I just told her the gist of it after I finished it!! LOL!!

Aw, you shouldn't have. Some things need to be experienced by yourself. It won't have the same impact knowing the outcome already.

I had gotten suspicious that he really hadn't said anything in a very long time. It is difficult to put an exact point of when it happened though.

I hear what you say about happy endings. Maybe somewhere in a different universe it ended your way. It certainly would have changed the relationship to the better. I still wonder though if the father was right that one day the boy will see it all with different eyes and may even want to share with his own son. I am from the city as well and while I do appreciate nature, I also appreciate comfort and running water and want to sleep in my own bed at the end of the day.

The father certainly partly is at fault, in continuing stubbornly even though the weather wasn't the best. A lot of things could have gone wrong.

I guess why it had such an impact for me - there had been recently a real life case where something similar happened. Tourists - were they French? - got lost in one of America's national parks while hiking. It was very hot and they had only one bottle of water left. The parents only took one sip so their son could have two sips. When they were found, the parents were dead and only the boy survived to tell the story. I'm sure it will have a huge impact onto his life.

There are things out there that are bigger than us - we should not push our luck too much.

(since you just recently read it - is the "put the damn phone away" scene in the story? I don't remember that one)