Far Country (54 page)

           
He looked at the sun, which was closer to setting than he wanted to think
about. The air was chilly, and he knew that as the winter sun set, it would
only grow chillier. His stomach growled hungrily.
Lord, get me through this!
He prayed fervently, taking a few more cleansing breaths before moving his left
foot up the wall. What was it Kelly had told him last fall? One small step at a
time… He found a footing and thanked God. He reached out with his right hand
and again thanked God as his fingers seemed to melt into the rock as if they
remembered on their own how to move up the cliff. He felt braver.
           Almost without
pausing, he shifted his weight and moved a foot up into a higher notch in the
rock. He reached quickly for the next fissure, the next crevasse, finally
beginning to feel as if the rock beneath him was an old friend, long absent
from his life. He glanced at Pete, whose impassive face was now bursting with
pride and excitement as Steve gained confidence and momentum.

           
At last they pulled themselves over the top and Steve felt as thrilled as if it
was the first time he had accomplished a climb. He lay on his back, wanting to
scream or yell with happiness, but he was really too tired to move…

           
There was a click and suddenly he was surrounded by trumpets blaring…
ta
dada
da
da
da
da
da
da
!
 He lifted his
head.
The Rocky theme song??? Pete was standing and waving an MP3 in the
air. Grinning, Steve leapt to his feet and raised his arms in triumph as the
music swelled around him.
Gonna
fly now…
Pete laughed and joined in the victory dance. As the strains died away, they
collapsed back on to the ground.

           
“Thanks,” Steve said.

           
“No problem,” Pete smiled good naturedly, and clicked off his MP3 player. “I’m
just glad we got to use that one.”

           
“Why?” Steve asked with a frown, suddenly suspicious.

           
“I had an alternate selection if you quit on me at the bottom.”

           
“Oh yeah? What?”

           
Immediately the air was filled with the ‘chicken dance’

           
Steve made a face and chucked a pebble at Pete. Pete switched off the MP3. They
were silent for a moment. Steve stared up at the sky. “Pete? Thanks for
sticking with me.”

           
“No problem.” Pete replied, picking up the pebble and bouncing it off Steve’s
helmet. “That’s what friends are for.  They both lay back on the rock and
stared at the sky.  Steve’s belly growled loudly. Steve sighed. “I’m
famished!”  But he continued to lay on the cold rock, still too tired to
retrieve their food packs.

           
 Pete broke the silence after a long moment. “Steve? I… lied about all the
food being up here. If you want to eat supper, we’ll need to rappel back down.”

           
Alyssa slumped in the camp chair with her bad leg stretched out on the built-in
footrest.  She
wanted
to curl up like a cat with her legs tucked
under her, but the ever present aching throb where the bones had mended
together in her thigh, as well as the mild stiffness from her broken ankle
and  twisted knee, precluded acting on the desire.  The doctors had
made it clear that, while she was doing well enough for someone who had tumbled
down a cliff, it might be months or years before she would take movement for
granted.  Years! It had only been six months, and she was already
discouraged and sick of the endless hours she was forced to do physical therapy
at the hospital. She had gotten pretty good at ducking out of it at home,
though.

           
She glared with disgust at the white line on her leg. Alyssa hated the scar
where they had operated on her leg because of the compound fracture, and the
whole idea that her thigh was held together with pins
weirded
her out sometimes.  Most of the time, she managed not to think too much
about how the fall had changed her life, but being back in the park today for
the first time since it had happened had her out of sorts and ill tempered.

           
She swatted a swarm of mosquitoes that had just settled on her arm.
Was it
possible that there were more of those bloodsuckers than usual this spring?
She
wondered irritably. The weather for early June was much too warm. She was itchy
from sweating and itchy from the mosquitoes, which seemed intent on relieving
her of a couple of pints of blood this afternoon.

           
Despondently, she flipped the pages of a magazine, barely glancing at the
stories and articles.  She had pretty much read this one through, but she
liked one of the articles showing spring haircuts, so she had brought it with
her rather than risk leaving it for her mother to toss out while she was gone. 
Alyssa stared at the picture again, trying to imagine herself with a short bob.
Her mother would freak if she cut off all her hair!  Unconsciously, Alyssa
smiled at the thought.

           
Behind her, a twig snapped and a shadow fell across the page.  Alyssa
looked up and snapped her gum loudly.

           
“Took you long enough,” she observed.

           
“Sorry, I just came on duty twenty minutes ago. I got here as fast as I could.”
Steve looked around. “Where’s your Aunt Kelly?

           
“
Hummph
,” Alyssa grumbled and flipped to another
page. “Is this how you greet all your visitors to the park now?” She raised an
eyebrow  and waited expectantly.

           
Steve cleared his throat, and put his arms behind his back like a schoolboy.
“Welcome to Hanging Rock State Park,” he rattled off. “I’m Ranger
Williams.  How long will you be visiting us?”

           
Alyssa reached into her cup holder and held up a folded check. “That’s better.
Aunt Kelly said to give you this,” she told him, not bothering to look up from
her magazine.

           
“Oh,” Steve responded in disappointment. “Where’d they go?”

           
Alyssa flipped another page listlessly.  “They’re hiking to the lower
cascades,” she said in as an indifferent tone as she could muster.

           
“Bummer,” Steve replied, understanding her attitude.  The hike was
relatively short, but the trail was steeply pitched with several large rock
ledges to maneuver. Alyssa’s leg was not ready for that kind of stress yet.

           
Steve observed Alyssa for a moment. He had been to their house a few times now,
and conversation with her was always difficult. Perhaps this was an opportunity
to spend some quality time together…

           
“So,” he said slowly, “You
wanna
make the rounds with
me – meet and greet the campers? Or would you rather just hang out here by
yourself and catch up on your summer reading?”

           
Alyssa shot him a dirty look and started to blow him off, but the truth was,
she was deathly bored, and it would be a couple of hours before Aunt Kelly and
Megan got back… absently she swatted at another mosquito a frown of indecision
wrinkling her forehead.

           
“Tell you what,” Steve coaxed. “We’ll close the windows and run the air
conditioner.  No bugs, and no sweat, what more could a girl ask
for?”  Steve held his breath, waiting for her reply. In the six months he
had known Alyssa now, the best conversation he had had with her had been in the
back of the truck while she was in semi-shock and he was intent on keeping her
talking as they made the harrowing drive from Hanging Rock to the waiting
ambulance. Things had gone downhill from there.

           
The offer of air conditioning and a bug free zone seemed to tip the scales in
his favor.  Steve scribbled a note for Kelly as Alyssa tossed the magazine
onto the picnic table and levered herself out the chair.  She was almost
to the truck before the stiffness in her bad leg had worked itself out enough
to walk normally.

           
Steve winced, remembering the pain of the endless exercises and therapy he had
endured himself last year. Today, he could walk and bend his leg with little
memory of the damage it had suffered, but he knew just how much determination
had been necessary to reach that goal.  Did Alyssa have that kind of
determination?  And if not, were her parents pushing her to do all the
exercises?  Somehow, Steve doubted it very much.

           
Once at the truck Alyssa could not suppress a grin of delighted surprise in meeting
her front seat companion. “I know you!” She cried out happily, opening the door
and wrapping the dainty red Irish setter in a bear hug.

           
Fiona beat her tail in a joyful rhythm on the seat, and licked Alyssa’s face
with her huge warm tongue.

           
Steve grinned in pleasure at the sight.  “I forgot you two used to be
housemates,” he said.

           
“Oh yeah,” Alyssa agreed, rubbing Fiona’s right ear until the dog’s eyes glazed
over in contentment. “Mom doesn’t often let us bring in one of the pups but
this one was so little the rest of the litter beat up on her, and Megan and I
felt sorry for her. We were always sneaking her upstairs to sleep with us.”

           
Alyssa scrunched in beside the dog, and Fiona obligingly shifted to the center
of the front seat until the teenager was settled, then she draped herself
across Alyssa’s lap.  Alyssa laughed aloud, her ill mood evaporating on
the spot.

           
“So what did you name her?” She asked at last.

           
“Fiona,” Steve replied, making a wry face.

           
Alyssa nodded.  “After the princess in Shrek. That’s good.”

           
“I guess I need to rent a movie,” Steve muttered, impressed that fifteen year
old Alyssa saw the same connection that six year old Gracie had with the name,
while he hadn’t a clue why.

           
“So did your mother ever bust you for smuggling her into your room?”

           
Alyssa thought for a moment.  “Only if she actually
caught
us. I kind of think she was glad we were giving her some extra love.”

           
“Why do you say that? Steve asked, wanting to keep the conversation going.

           
“Well, once when Fiona was about three months old, I had her in my bed, rubbing
her belly, and mom suddenly opened the door to ask Megan a question.”

           
Steve laughed.  “She caught you red handed, huh?”

           
Alyssa shrugged and then shook her head.  “She should have! I threw my
blanket over her, of course, and acted all innocent, but she would have had to
be blind not to see this great lump crawling up the bed!”

           
Steve laughed with Alyssa, pleased to have finally broken through the girl’s
surly exterior.  They drove slowly around the circle, Steve stopping
occasionally to sell wood or to register another camper.  Alyssa seemed
content to spend those few minutes in the cool air of the truck, rubbing
Fiona’s belly or scratching her ears until the poor dog lay in a near coma of
joy.

           
They drove back by the campsite, but Kelly and Megan were still not back.

           
“Let’s drive over to the Park Headquarters,” Steve suggested.  “Maybe we
can meet them and give them a ride back.”

           
Alyssa shrugged, suddenly the indifferent teenager again, so Steve took the
movement to mean ‘yes,’ and turned the truck back toward headquarters. 
They were just pulling into the parking lot, when the truck’s scanner crackled
to life.

           
“Steve, where are you right now?”

           
Steve picked up the mike and replied, “Just outside, Sharon. What do you need?”

           
“Fifty year old white male, twisted his ankle on the top of Hanging Rock.”

           
“So you want me to go pick him up?” Steve asked.  “Where is he now?”

           
“Still on top, I think.  His wife sent word down with some other hikers. I
don’t have any further information at this time.”

           
“Okay, then.  I’m heading up the trail. Do you at least have his name?”
Steve asked hopefully.

           
“Roger,” Sharon replied.  “Roger Leland.”

           
Steve replaced the mike and drove to the far side of the parking lot, made a
sharp right turn and slowly bounced down a shallow set of steps.

           
“What are you doing?” Alyssa asked, grabbing for the sissy grip and the dog as
they lurched and bounced down the steps.

           
Steve looked at her and grinned at her discomfort. “I suppose that you don’t
recall, but I’m taking you back up Hanging Rock the same way we brought you
down last fall.”

           
“I know that!” Alyssa snapped.  “I just figured that you would leave me at
the Headquarters to wait for my sister and Aunt Kelly!”

           
Steve looked at her as if she was crazy.  “Leave you alone in a parking
lot? Your Aunt would kill me!”