So Nice and Tanned

	A little rest is what you need
	The desert climate's nice indeed
	A little sun is what you planned
	So you can come back nice and tanned

"Look at those exhibitionists!" said Martha's mother as they drove up to the parking area at the Awfalotasand Dune's picnic area. There were a bunch of tourists laying in swimming suits on lawn chairs soaking up the warm sun. During the summer months it would be way too hot to sunbathe, but in early April the temperatures were in the high eighties and just right for relaxing and catching some rays.

"My gosh! What are they thinking, that this is the beach or something?" said Martha's father. He was obviously disgusted by what he saw. Some of the sunbathers were Americans, but most were Europeans. While Americans tended to wear baggy swimsuits, the Europeans wore tight, skimpy swim suits.

"Maybe we should stop somewhere else," suggested Martha's mother.

"No we planned to do a hike here and so that's what we're going to do. We won't let those exhibitionists ruin our plans," said Martha's father with contempt for the sunbathers.

"What's the big deal?" asked Martha's brother, Andrew, who was fourteen years old.

"It's disgusting," said Martha's mother.

"They're not hurting anyone," said Andrew.

"They should be ashamed of themselves. I'd be embarrassed to be seen in public like that," said Martha's father.

"Maybe that's because you're fat and out of shape," thought Martha to herself. She would never say anything like that to either of her parents, but sometimes she felt impatient with her parents' intolerant attitudes. Although she was only eleven, she already noticed that many of the things that she believed to be true about the world were in disagreement with many of her parents' beliefs.

Martha was a very physically active girl. She had long blond hair and she was on the small side for her age. The kids at school sometimes called her Mousy because she was slightly smaller than most of the other girls. Also she was kind of quiet. Martha loved to read and dream of being grown up and on her own. She couldn't wait to go off to college. Her ambition was to become a biologist and find a cure for some disease which hadn't even been discovered yet.

After lunch, Martha and her family went on a free guided tour given by one of the local park rangers. The tour began in the visitor's center which was a couple hundred yards from the picnic area. The ranger told the tour group a little about the history of Awfalotasand National Park while still inside the building. Then, after a quick warning to watch out for snakes, she led them on a little walk along what she referred to as The Nature Path. There was even a sign at the beginning of The Nature Path which read, "The Nature Path." The ranger pointed out various species of flowers and told the group about some of the hotspots for viewing different flowers in the park. Martha especially enjoyed it when she talked a little about the science behind the flowers. The ranger was a young woman who had probably graduated from college only a few years earlier.

"You will most likely notice that many flowers out here in the desert resemble flowers you may be familiar with from less arid regions. In many cases, that's because they are related. They shared a common ancestor many thousands, or even millions, of years ago and over time they adapted to the climates we find them in today," explained the ranger.

Martha heard her mother whisper to her father, "That's not true, they were created by God just the way they are."

Martha looked around hoping that no one had heard what her mother had just said. She felt kind of embarrassed and like telling her mother to be polite and just listen to the ranger. She also felt like apologizing to the ranger for what she considered to be her mother's ignorant remark.

At the end of the tour the ranger asked the group if there were any questions. Although Martha was very quiet, she was not bashful about asking questions when given the opportunity. She raised her hand. The ranger smiled and pointed to Martha and asked, "What's your question?"

"Did you go to college?" asked Martha.

"Yes, I graduated from Boise State University up in Idaho," said the ranger.

"What did you study?" asked Martha.

"A lot of science, but mostly biology. My degree is in Wildlife Management," said the ranger. Then the ranger asked, "Since you asked me a couple of personal questions, now I get to ask you a couple of personal questions, okay?"

Martha's parents seemed a little uneasy about what they considered to be the ranger's overly casual attitude. The ranger noticed this and added, "With your parents' permission, of course."

They smiled and nodded in acquiesence.

"Alright," said Martha with a smile.

"Are you going to go to college?" asked the ranger.

"Yes and I want to study biology too!" said Martha.

"Very good! How are you doing in school?" asked the ranger.

"She does real well," said Martha's mother.

"I'm glad to her that," said the ranger offering her hand to Martha to shake.

Martha reached out and shook hands with the ranger and the ranger said, "Good luck, young lady!"

Martha smiled and said, "Thanks!"

Martha's parents led her and Andrew away from the tour group as the ranger continued answering questions. Martha's father thought the ranger was too friendly and might want to engage Martha in further conversation. So Martha's father led the family back to their car where they got something to drink. Martha's father told her and Andrew to drink a lot since they were about to do a hike to the top of the highest dune. The hike was about a mile and a half each way and he wanted everyone to be well-hydrated before the hike.

"What about mom, don't you want her to drink a lot too?" asked Andrew as a joke.

"She's a big girl, she can take care of herself," said Martha's father with a smile recognizing that his son was just joking.

There were other people out hiking around on the dunes, but very few people made the hike out to the middle of the dune area to the highest dune. It wasn't that difficult of a hike, but many people found hiking through sand to be unpleasant since not only was it slower than hiking on firmer ground, but while hiking one's shoes tended to get filled up with sand.

Martha's father made another contemptuous comment about the sunbathers and then the family walked over to the dune information area. They spent a few minutes looking at the park display about the dunes. It told about the various plants and animals that inhabited the dunes. Martha's father pointed out the picture of the sidewinder and said, "Watch out! You don't want to get bitten by one of those!" He playfully pinched Martha as he said this. He pretended that his arm was the snake and his fingers were the mouth of the snake. He thrust his arm toward her, quickly pinched her, and then retracted his arm in a snake-like motion.

"Dad! I'm not a little kid anymore," complained Martha.

"Could of fooled me," said Andrew.

Martha turned and lightly hit her brother in the arm.

Martha's mother said, "Andrew, quit teasing your sister."

"What? She hit me and I only said something," complained Andrew.

"Andrew?" said his father as if he were warning the boy.

"Sure take her side. It's always my fault," whinned Andrew.

When their parents weren't looking, Martha stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"I'll get you later," whispered Andrew.

"What was that?" asked his mother.

"I said, 'The view couldn't be greater!'" answered Andrew.

"No, it couldn't," agreed his mother as Andrew and Martha exchanged threatening glances.

"I'd say we picked the perfect day for a trip to the desert," said their father.

"Simply glorious," said their mother.

"No, it's more than glorious, it's spectacular," said the father.

"Incredibly, breathtakingly magnificent," said the mother.

"Resplendent in its..." began the father before being interrupted by Andrew.

"Okay. Okay. We get it. You think it's a nice day!" said the boy.

"Not just nice, but panoramic!" said the mother.

"Or dare I say, wondrous," said the father.

"Glorious beyond what I ever imagined to be possible," said the mother.

"Simply gorgeous beyond anything describle by mere words," said the father.

"Then stop trying," thought Martha to herself.

Martha's and Andrew's parents consciously decided when their children were very young to try to develop their vocabularies. One strategy they used was to elaborate on their ideas using what they liked to call an "enriched vocabulary." The children most probably did benefit from their parents' efforts and so the elaboration routine probably did have some value. However, as the children got older they gradually came to realize that their parents had the peculiar habit of repeating themselves using different words and the children found this habit to be incredibly annoying. Eventually, the parents realized that both Martha and Andrew didn't like their elaborations and continued doing it anyways since they figured that it still had educational value and also because it was a fun way to tease the children. A more likely explanation for the continuance of the elaboration routine was that it had become such an ingrained habit that it was automatic for them to speil off seemingly endless lists of reworded, but repetitious ideas. It was also an easy way to avoid having real conversations with their children. Afterall, both Andrew and Martha were entering the time in their lives when they would begin questioning their parents' beliefs and many parents are uncomfortable dealing with such issues.

To escape this torment, Andrew asked permission to hike on ahead. Martha decided to stay with her parents.

"Alright, son, but wait for us at the top of the highest dune," said the father.

Andrew took off and muttered to himself after he was out of the earshot of his parents, "What if both of you have a heart attack and never make it? What do you want me to do, wait there forever?"

Martha's parents asked her about where she might want to go to college. She listed off a couple of colleges that she had heard of and that she thought might be nice to attend.

"I think you should go to a Bible college," said Martha's mother.

"Yes, your cousin Ralph went to Bible college and became a minister," said Martha's father.

"But I don't want to be minister, I want to be a scientist," said Martha.

"Oh, that's very nice dear," said Martha's father, hoping that this was just a passing phase that his daughter was going through.

"Yeah, I want to find the cure for a disease or else I want to discover a new disease," said Martha.

"That sounds like a very noble ambition, but there are many ways of helping people besides working with sick people," said Martha's mother.

Martha's parents began discussing this idea and went into their elaboration routine. They talked about the glories of God and the many ways of serving Him and helping mankind at the same time. They went on to say things like "science will never unravel all the mysteries in the universe," "all the knowledge of science is nothing compared to God's glorious wisdom," and, the cliche Martha dispised the most, "science doesn't have all the answers." She walked behind her parents with her fingers in her ears as they rambled on and on about the wonders of creation and God's infinite wisdom.

Finally she had had enough and she said, "I'm going on ahead with Andrew."

"Oh, no you're not, young lady," said Martha's father firmly.

"Why not? You let Andrew," said Martha.

"He's three years older than you, and, besides, he's a boy, he can take care of himself," explained Martha's mother.

"So? Why does that make any difference? It's not fair!" said Martha.

"Do as your father says and stop complaining," said Martha's mother.

Martha folded her arms and sulked as she hiked behind her parents. Although there was no actual trail, there were the tracks of people who had hiked to the top of the highest dune. These tracks followed the ridgelines formed by the dunes and were quite visible. Eventually Martha and her parents made it to the top of the highest dune where Andrew was waiting for them.

"What took you so long? I could have built a house by now," said Andrew.

"Only a fool buildeth a house on a pile of sand," said the father, paraphrasing a passage from the Bible.

Martha rolled her eyes in response to her father's response to her brother's little joke.

Martha's mother said, "Miles and miles of sand. It's like a sea of sand."

Martha's father said, "A sea of desolation, just barren desert all around us."

Before their parents got too carried away with their elaboration routine, Andrew said, "I've been sitting up here a long time, is it alright if I start hiking back?"

"Sure, son," said the father, encouraging his son's independence.

"Me too, I want to go with him," said Martha.

"Don't you think you should rest a while first?" asked Martha's mother.

"No I'm fine," said Martha.

"Well, then, I guess you can go," said Martha's father not wishing to be unreasonable twice in a single day.

So, Andrew jumped down the steep slope of the sand dune. He jumped and rolled and got up and jumped up and rolled again and again until he reached the bottom of the highest dune. Martha followed him down the slope, but she jumped and jogged all the way down. Once they got to the bottom of the main dune there were smaller dunes they had to hike over. When they reached the bottom of the next row of dunes Andrew dumped a handful of sand on Martha's head and said, "Told you I'd get you back."

"Very funny," said Martha with a smile. Then she added, "At least it's not as bad as listening to mom and dad talk all the time."

"In that case you won't mind this," said Andrew dumping another handful of sand on Martha.

"Oh yeah, take this," said Martha throwing some sand at her brother.

"Better watch yourself sissy," said Andrew pretending to threaten his little sister.

They got up and walked over another row of dunes. Each row was a little shorter than the one behind it. After a while they were close enough to see their car which was parked about a third of a mile and several rows of shorter dunes away from them. They could see people out exploring the dunes and when they reached the top of the next row of dunes they saw a man lying in the sand clutching his leg with a woman and two small children frantically trying to help him.

Andrew and Martha ran down to see what was the matter. They could tell that the people were from some country in Asia from the way they looked and the way they were speaking some Asian language. The children were crying. There was a little boy of about four and a little girl of about seven. When Andrew and Martha got to the family the woman repeated, "Essnake, essnake," and made the same gesture with her arms and fingers that Martha's father had made when he had pinched Martha while pretending that his arm was a rattlesnake.

"Oh, my, he's been bitten by a snake," said Martha.

"We'll get help," said Andrew almost immediately. He then over-ennunciated the word help and took off running up the next dune.

Martha followed close behind and said, "Wait for me."

"You're going to have to keep up with me. I'm not slowing down for you," said Andrew.

"Okay then, you won't have to," said Martha determined to keep up with him.

They jogged all the way back to the parking lot. Both Andrew and Martha stumbled in the sand as they grew tired, but they managed to keep up a steady pace all the way back. Martha stayed right on Andrew's heals and this spurred Andrew on to push himself as hard as he could. Martha was quite proud to be able to keep up with her older brother all the way to the parking area.

Martha spotted the ranger who had led the tour before they even got to the parking lot and she cut across the sand straight to the ranger while Andrew continued on jogging straight to the parking area, not noticing that his sister was no longer behind him. Martha was extremely out of breath as she called out, "There's a man. He's been bitten by a snake!"

The ranger immediately made contact with someone on her radio. She relayed information to the person she was talking to on the radio as she pumped information out of Martha. Finally, she said to Martha, and to Andrew who arrived about a minute behind his sister, "Help's on the way. A helicopter's coming."

It was less than ten minutes before a helicopter appeared overhead and began searching for the man who had been bitten by a snake. The ranger received updates as the helicopter located and flew down to the man and picked him up to take him to a hospital. Martha and Andrew heard everything, plus the ranger filled them in on procedural details about how the park dealt with emergencies like this.

After about a half hour, Martha's parents arrived with the Asian woman and her two children. The ranger rushed over to assist the Asian family and Martha and Andrew were reunited with their parents. The ranger thanked Martha and Andrew for their assistance as did the Asian lady and the two children. In fact, the children sort of bowed and said thank-you in their language. Martha's family walked over to their car and Martha's father noticed the sunbathers. He said, "Look at those lousy exhibitionists, just lying there like nothing important just happened. A man may lose his life and they're just relaxing in the sun like it's just another day. What a bunch of lazy sloths."

"Uninvolved, apathetic, worthless slobs if you ask me," said Martha's mother.

"Good-for-nothing, lethargic dunces," said Martha's father.

It was obvious that Martha's parents were launching into another elaboration routine for the benefit of their children. Martha and Andrew just looked at each other, rolled their eyes, and shook their heads.

"This is pure torture," said Andrew.

"An insidious affliction," said Martha.

"Punishment beyond anything I can bear," said Andrew.

"Unrelenting anguish," said Martha.

"Wretched misery," said Andrew.

"Utter torment," said Martha.