"The Camping Wainwrights" by Ian R. MacLeod

I realized, even as my feet buckled and I slipped back into the mud, there would be other nights, other tents, other holidays - that the lives of us camping Wainwrights would continue to go stupidly and unbelievably wrong.

The Wainwrights are a family that have defined themselves as campers. They look forward to the road trips to the country, the set up of the giant canvas tent, and the cooking of meals on the grill while sitting under the stars. At least, Mr. Wainwright looks forward to these things. The rest of the family (Mom, Terry, and Helen) have grown to despise these camping trips, where things always seem to go wrong in the most unlikely of ways. When Terry begins to notice that these setbacks seem to never involve Dad, he begins to pay closer attention. When the Wainwrights are forced by Dad to wait out a violent storm that has cleared the camp of other vacationers, it appears that the family finds a way to make some things right for once...

Ian R. MacLeod does a wonderful job of describing the Wainwrights lives in a way that is both nostalgic and subtly off kilter. There is clearly something brewing within their family, and the pace that the story takes in leading up to the final act is perfect. I did not expect the events to occur exactly as they did, but I was very satisfied with what actually happened. The real eye opener (and what really makes this story go from enjoyable to unforgettable) is the final twist that MacLeod puts on the story. I will not ruin it here, but I will say that the last six or seven paragraphs make this story a must read.

You really imagine I do all those things, our Terry?

"The Camping Wainwrights" can be found in the anthology The Mammoth Book of Best New Horror: Volume Twenty, which was edited by Stephen Jones.