Aquifer: A Novel (17 page)

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C
HAPTER
E
IGHTEEN

Rymer’s Ranch

Friday afternoon arrived and Larry drove up to the Chitwood home. Clayton had reluctantly agreed to accompany him as he took Johnny and his friends, Austin and Frankie, camping at Rymer’s Ranch, a primitive Forest Service campground on the Jack’s Fork River about fifteen miles upriver from Alley Spring – by way of the river. Unfortunately, there were no roads that went directly from Eminence to the Ranch, so it required a thirty-five mile, one-hour drive to get there.

The ranch was a beautiful area that was originally owned by the Rymer family, having been passed down through the family for a number of generations. However, when the Ozark National Scenic Riverways park system was created, the Rymers, like so many other dry farmers in the area, lost their property through the process of eminent domain. But unlike most other families, the Forest Service had agreed to create a primitive campground on the Rymer’s property and to name it in honor of the family.

Johnny and his friends were excited about the camping trip and especially about the privilege of riding in a new H-2. They quickly threw their gear into the back of the vehicle then climbed into the back seat, anxious to get started.

Tina greeted Larry and Clayton then turned her attention to the boys. “Now you be on your best behavior. I don’t want any monkey business or horsin’ around. Ya hear?”

“I’m sure they’ll be just fine,” Larry assured her.

“I really appreciate you doing this. W.T. works the night shift and Lillburn’s not the camping type. I’d be glad to take them but they don’t want to go camping with a
girl
.”

“We’ll have a lot of fun together so don’t worry,” Larry stated with certitude.

Clayton wasn’t so sure about the prospects of having fun; he had never spent much time around children. He was willing to go along however, provided that Larry did most of the chaperoning.

*

The Hummer headed south on Highway 19 and had barely left Eminence when it overtook a slow-moving eighteen wheeler. The twisty, hilly Ozark roads made it difficult for a car to go very fast, even when there was no traffic ahead. Stuck behind a semi, however, it almost seemed that a box turtle, which were quite abundant on the roads that time of year, could pass the backed-up line of traffic without trying. Larry was towing a bass boat behind the H-2, which made passing even more difficult.

The boys were discouraged because they wanted to get to the campsite as soon as possible. They grumbled for several miles until a short open stretch appeared and Larry yelled over his shoulder to the boys, “Hang on!” as he tromped on the gas peddle.

Johnny saw a golden opportunity and quickly lowered his passenger-side window. He then stuck his right arm out the window, made a fist and bent his arm upward at the elbow. He then quickly pumped his arm up and down simulating pulling on the cord of a semi’s air-horn.

As Larry passed the cab the semi driver gave two quick loud blasts on his air-horn. Johnny was ecstatic and flashed the semi driver a quick
thumbs-up
thank you sign. He then pulled his arm back into the car and the two other boys cheered with Johnny at his success as if they had assisted with the task.

Seven miles down the road they arrived at Winona where Larry turned right onto U.S. 60 and drove to Birch Tree, where they stopped for dinner at a local fast food establishment.

“Do you think you could take us to Jam Up Cave?” inquired Johnny quite enthusiastically as he squirted a blob of ketchup onto his burger wrapper so that he could dunk his fries into it.

“Yeah, that’d be so cool!” the other boys chimed in.

“I don’t know,” Larry replied. “I’ve heard it’s down there near Rymer’s but I don’t know exactly where it is.”

“I think it’s about five miles upriver from the campsite. It wouldn’t take that long to get there with your motorboat,” Johnny begged.

“Yeah,” added Austin. “The entrance is over eighty feet high and a thousand feet wide.”

“A thousand feet?” Larry responded. “I think you’re exaggerating just a little aren’t you?”

“No, the boy’s right,” said Clayton. “It really is that big, and it has an extremely large lake inside as well. The only access to the cave is by boat. It’s also unusual in another very important way, at least for us scientists. The cave faces north, so the indirect light reaching its interior keeps it in perpetual twilight-creating conditions which are perfect for the preservation of several plant species that have not been seen anywhere else in the Ozarks since the last Ice Age.”

“And you can only get there by boat, so can we go, pleeeeze?” pled Johnny.

“We’ll see. No promises until I find out more about it,” concluded Larry.

*

Night had fallen by the time they arrived at Rymer’s Ranch and set up their camp, though there wasn’t much to set up. Typical of most boys their age, Johnny and his friends did not want to go to bed. After much cajoling they finally convinced Larry and Clayton to play a game of Steal the Flag – boys against the geezers. Even though Larry was only a college student, the boys still considered him to be a geezer.

The game began with Clayton guarding the men’s flag and Frankie guarding the boy’s flag. The flags were placed about two hundred feet apart. The object of the game, as Austin explained to Clayton, was to steal the opposing team’s flag and run it back to your own team’s flag without getting caught or tagged in the process. This was especially fun at night in the dark, he explained, because you could sneak up on your opponents without being seen.

For the next hour the game seesawed back and forth, with each side taking prisoners and then helping them escape. At first it appeared that the men were at a disadvantage because there were only two of them. But it quickly became apparent that the teams were quite evenly matched, since Frankie was so fat that he simply could not run. In fact he was almost a detriment to his team. After an hour, however, Austin finally succeeded in capturing the men’s flag and racing it back to the boy’s standard without getting tagged.

The boys were jubilant that they had beaten the geezers but Clayton jokingly maintained that they had let the boys win just so that they could all go to bed.

Returning to their campsite Larry stretched out a 20' X 20' blue plastic tarp. Everyone unrolled their sleeping bags and lined them up along one end of the tarp. Then Larry and Clayton pulled the other end of the tarp up and over the sleeping bags. There was no rain in the forecast, but the plastic would protect them from any dew that might fall before morning. The boys were delighted to sleep under the stars instead of in a tent.

Once settled into their sleeping bags, it wasn’t long before both men were sleeping soundly, and snoring. The boys however, continued to talk and giggle until well past two in the morning.

*

The next morning proved to be a gloriously sunshiny day. Clayton was up early, making scrambled eggs and pancakes with blueberry syrup. Larry attended to the bacon. Slowly the boys began to stir. It’s hard to resist the aroma of sizzling bacon cooked over an open campfire.

After the boys were fully awake they eagerly began stuffing down pancakes faster than Clayton could make them.

Halfway through his third helping Johnny turned to Clayton and asked, “Dr. Clayton? Me and the guys were talking last night and we were wondering. How do you take a bath when you’re out camping like this? I mean, there’s a lot of other people camping here too. There’s even a group of Girl Scouts on the other side of the river. So how do you do it . . . um . . . you know . . . privately?”

“Well Johnny, it’s really quite simple,” Clayton began as he flipped another batch of pancakes. “As you said, there’s a lot of other people around so you have to do it a little
differently
. First of all, be sure that you use an environmentally friendly brand of camping soap. Then you wade out into the river as far as possible, you know, ‘til the water’s about up to your waist. Then dunk yourself all the way underwater to get good and wet.”

Larry looked up inquisitively at Clayton to see where he was going with these instructions.

Assured that he now had the attention of all the boys, Clayton continued. “Then you stick one arm up into the air,” he said as he extended his left arm above his head. “You take the soap in your other hand and beginning at the finger tips you wash your arm down as far as possible.” With his right hand he mimicked the operation. “Then you rinse it off. Then you switch, sticking the other arm up into the air and starting again at the fingertips you wash down as far as possible. Then you stick one leg out of the water and start at the toes and wash up as far as possible. He balanced on one leg as he stuck the other one up into the air, pantomiming the process. Then you put that leg back into the water and stick the other one up. Again you start at the toes and wash up as far as possible. Then you put that leg back into the water too. He paused for a second. Then, last of all, you wash possible.”

There was a brief moment of silence while the understanding of the last comment sunk in. Then all three boys simultaneously burst out into raucous laughter.

Larry, who was swallowing a big swig of milk at the moment the punch line was delivered, couldn’t get the milk down before his laughter came up. He sprayed milk everywhere. He even sprayed bubbles out his nose but couldn’t stop laughing. That, of course, only made the boys laugh even more.

“Wash possible!” blurted Johnny, laughing so hard that he spilled the cup of orange juice in his hand.

Even Clayton was laughing at his own joke. Some people can tell jokes and some people can’t. As a general rule, Clayton can’t. But this time he pulled it off well.

“That’s a good one,” Larry complimented Clayton between bouts of laughter. “You really had me going.”

*

Later that afternoon the boys were exploring along the riverbank when Frankie spied an odd-looking salamander. It was about a foot-and-a-half long and was scurrying along the shoreline.

“Hey guys, come look at this salamander,” he yelled to his friends who were turning over rocks in the river looking for fishing bait; primarily crawdads and hellgrammites; the two-inch long, brownish aquatic larva of the dobsonfly, or snakedoctor, with pincer-like jaws. Hellgrammites are a very popular fishing bait in the Ozarks.

Johnny and Austin came running over to see what Frankie had found. They approached cautiously when they saw the salamander so as to not spook it.

“Spread out and let’s trap it,” suggested Austin.

Quickly the boys surround the amphibian and began tightening the circle. The salamander held its ground though, apparently unafraid of the boys.

Frankie and Austin distracted the salamander while Johnny silently approached from the rear. When he was close enough he squatted down and with a quick dart of his hand he caught the salamander by the back of the neck, behind the jaws. He then quickly scooped his other hand under the salamander’s belly for support and hoisted his catch above his head to it show off.

Austin yelled out, “Yessss! You got ‘im!”

At that point Larry sauntered over to see what the excitement was all about. Johnny held out his prize for Larry’s inspection.

Larry was intrigued by the odd-looking salamander. He had never seen one quite like it. Johnny’s grip, however, began to tire and the salamander slowly began to force its mouth open, revealing a double row of razor-sharp teeth.

“Look at the teeth on that thing,” said Larry. “It looks pretty vicious.” Then, with genuine concern for Johnny’s safety he added, “You’re holding it too close to your body. You’re liable to get bit. Hold it out as far as possible,” he noted.

Suddenly all the boys burst out into laughter.

“Yeah Johnny, you’d better hold it out as far as possible,” Austin repeated.

The boys were laughing uncontrollably, and before Johnny realized it, he lost his grip on the salamander and it wiggled from his grasp, dropping to the ground. No sooner did it hit the ground than it dashed for the river and swam away.

The boys stopped laughing as quickly as they started, saddened by the loss of their new pet.

At that moment Clayton, who had heard the commotion, joined the group.

“Dr. Clayton,” Larry asked. “Are there any species of salamanders with teeth?”

“Of course not. No amphibian has teeth. That’s basic zoology my boy. You should have remembered that,” Clayton chided.

“Well this one did. It had a double row of shark-like teeth on each jaw,” Larry insisted.

“Now who’s pulling who’s leg,” Clayton scoffed. “My joke was much better than yours.”

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C
HAPTER
N
INETEEN

Chitwood Home

The next day, Sunday, Clayton and Larry walked through the gate of the Chitwood’s home, into the front yard, having been invited again for Sunday dinner. In fact, their Sunday meal had now become a standing invitation as their friendship with the family deepened.

Opal, her family, and Johnny's two friends were all in the yard along the right side of the home playing a game of Wiffle Ball.