The Legend of the Firewalker (11 page)

Angela smiled and corrected her posture. “Someone should invite him to sit with us,” she continued, her cheerful voice sounding more upbeat and almost melodic.   

“For what?” steamed Lafonda. “Leave Mr. Wonderful over there by himself!”

“Why not?” asked Alan, mockingly. “Do I detect a little apprehension, Lafonda? Are you afraid he won’t like you?”

“Uh, you don’t want to go there,” cautioned Nathan. “The first day of camp Mr. Wonderful over there almost drove us off the road.”

“What?” interrupted Erin. “That arrogant ass drove you off the road?”

“I still think he’s cute,” interjected Angela.

Suddenly, everyone was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. They looked up to find LaDonda Devaro standing there with a big smile on her face.

Instead of the bright orange leadership shirt, LaDonda wore a gold one. “Good morning, everyone,” she said.

“Uh, how come she gets a gold shirt?” whispered Alan. “My tan would look a lot better in gold.”

“Shhh!” whispered Angela.

“It’s the end of the week,” announced LaDonda, “and as planned, if the weather permits, we will be having a bonfire on the beach of Lake Charleston. So, I’m looking for volunteers to help Argus, the tourist and recreation manager for the lake, to set the fires. Any volunteers?”

There was silence at the table, and Erin, Angela and Alan looked away from LaDonda. Quickly, Nathan also looked away. He was hoping not to be called on.

“I’ve already asked the group of counselors at the other table to volunteer to carry over the coolers, lawn chairs, snacks and marshmallows,” LaDonda continued optimistically before pausing again. “Okay, so no volunteers? I guess I’ll have to volunteer somebody.”

Nathan thought he could feel LaDonda’s eyes scanning over him. It was like heat from an infrared laser.

“Nathan,” she called out.

“Why me?” he mumbled.

“Nathan, since you have shown such fine leadership at camp already by wearing your leadership shirt and following the rules,” said LaDonda, “I am appointing you responsible for setting the bonfires for the rest of camp.”

He could feel another infrared laser on him, but this one came from Lafonda. Slowly, he turned around and disco
vered she had an overzealous smirk across her face.

“What?” exclaimed Nathan. “The rest of camp? You have to be joking!”

“It’s only on Fridays, Nathan,” said LaDonda with an encouraging smile.

“But that’s enough work for three people!” he moaned. “Besides, how is Lafonda supposed to escort sixteen horm
onal, hyper teenagers back to the dorms by herself on Friday evenings?”

“While I am more than happy to see Nathan finally have to do some work,” interjected Lafonda, “he does have a point.”

“The bonfires aren’t until later in the evening,” explained LaDonda. “So, he should have plenty of time after his counselor duties to set up the area.”

Feeling defeated, he slouched back into his chair. “And
… what about help?” he cried.

LaDonda smiled. “As far as additional help
…” she said, searching the room.

Everyone’s eyes at the table diverted once more.

“Ah, yes! Stephen!” she called out. “Can you please come over here for a moment?”

Instantly, Angela’s eyes lit up, and she gave Stephen careful attention.

“Yes, Mrs. Devaro,” he answered promptly while taking a position next to her.

“Oh, I’m running late!” said LaDonda. “I told Argus I would meet him five minutes ago.” She appeared slightly flustered. “Okay, Stephen, I need you to help Nathan prepare for tonight’s bonfire,” she explained before wal
king away. “And Nathan, Argus will meet you guys around 6:00, which gives you plenty of time to have dinner before you leave to set up the bonfire.”

She took a few steps forward before pausing again to say firmly, “And Stephen, take off those sunglasses. I don’t b
elieve your grandmother would approve of you wearing them inside.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he responded, promptly removing his sunglasses. He took a few steps towards Nathan. “So, I guess you’re Nathan?”

“Um, yes,” Nathan groaned. “We met the other day, remember? You drove us off the road nearly killing us?

“Oh,” Malick responded. He had a blank look on his face, but it soon faded into a sly grin. “Where is that gir
lfriend of yours?” His sly grin quickly turned into a full-blown smile after his eyes connected to a fuming Lafonda. “The offer is still on the table to give her one-on-one driving lessons.”

“She’s not my girl!” Nathan responded quickly. “She’s just a friend.” He glanced over at Lafonda and could have sworn he saw smoke coming out of her ears. “Can you meet me at the north entrance to Lake Charleston?”

“Sure,” said Malick, while smiling at Lafonda. “What time?”

“Well, LaDonda said Argus will be expecting us around 6:00,” Nathan said, “so, I guess that means he will be wai
ting for us at the bonfire pits around Lake Charleston. How about we meet at 5:45, which will give us plenty of time to make it down the trail to the lake?” 

“Not a problem,” Malick said, while shooting Lafonda one last smile before walking away.

“Ooh, Lafonda, he is so cute!” squealed Angela. “And I think he has a crush on you.”

“Give me a break, Angela,” responded Lafonda, obviou
sly annoyed. “The guy’s a narcissistic jerk and doesn’t care about anyone but himself.”

“Well, everyone makes mistakes,” shrugged Angela. “And I think this narcissistic jerk may deserve a second chance.” 

“I don’t have time for this,” grumbled Lafonda, rising from the table. She sighed. “Come on, Nathan, let’s go. It’s almost time to escort our group to their morning leadership class.”

“I don’t know, Lafonda,” continued Angela, also rising. “I have a special feeling about this one.”

“Yeah,” commented Alan, following behind her. “I’m sure it’s just your hormones.”

The rest of the morning seemed to drag for Nathan and possibly for some of the campers by the solemn looks on their faces. The first class they attended talked about persu
asive communication and how to inspire people to work together and to share goals. Nathan found that class somewhat interesting and was surprised he didn’t have a hard time keeping his eyes open. He found the next class on exploring leadership styles a real snoozer, and by the third class, Lafonda had to keep nudging him to prevent him from falling asleep.

As the day progressed, the summer sun combined with the notorious Illinois humidity had everyone screaming for cold pop or ice-cold water. To make matters worse, the air conditioning unit stopped working during the last class of the day. Nathan was positive that no one was paying attention, and even after several attempts by campers and Nathan hi
mself, the instructor refused to cancel the class. It wasn’t until Lafonda pointed out that it was cooler outside and that they could finish the lecture outdoors that the instructor was willing to relocate.

Nathan thought it was definitely cooler under the shade of the trees than in the classroom. He welcomed any breeze at this point, and with evening approaching, the sun was much more bearable. As the instructor went on about the importance of having integrity and what it means to be an integral person, he gladly allowed his mind to wonder els
ewhere. 

The birds, the trees and the few students walking on campus were an easy distraction. It wasn’t until everyone started to stand up that Nathan realized the lecture was over. As the campers started to assemble in line over by Lafonda to be escorted back to Lawrence Hall, a familiar shape caught his eye. He thought that maybe one of the campers had walked away but quickly realized that the familiar shape darting across the quad was Jonathan Black.

Where is he heading off to so quickly? Shouldn’t he be helping Erin escort their group back to Lawrence Hall?
He kept a watchful eye on Jonathan as his group headed back to the dormitory.

Jonathan darted up the steps and into the Katherine
Schmidt
building. Nathan assumed Jonathan was most likely going to see Dr. Helmsley, since the Department of Arche
ological Studies was housed there. Nathan knew this because he’d had a class in the lecture hall of that building during his first semester.

“So, are you ready to spend time with Mr. Wonderful this evening?” asked Lafonda, interrupting his concentr
ation.

“Do you mean Malick?”

“The one and only,” she sighed, as they walked back to Lawrence Hall. “I hope he won’t be more of a nuisance out there than a help.”

Nathan’s mind began to wander back to Jonathan as Lafonda continued to complain about Malick. “Did Jon
athan say anything about leaving camp early at breakfast this morning?” Nathan asked.

“Nope,” Lafonda responded confidently. She paused for a moment and then shrugged. “Well, at least not that I reme
mber. Why are you asking?”

“I was just curious,” he said.

Nathan was more than just curious but definitely didn’t want to involve Lafonda at this point. She would more than likely make a big deal about it, but he wanted to know what Jonathan was up to first.

At dinner that evening, Nathan felt more than a little res
tless. He was so deep in thought about everything that had happened over the past two weeks that he might as well have been sitting in the cafeteria alone.

Lafonda, Angela, Alan
and Erin were so involved in trashing Jonathan for leaving Erin alone again that they didn’t notice how quiet Nathan was. And if it weren’t for Alan’s request for him to pass the ketchup bottle, he would have thought they didn’t realize he was there at all.

Erin continued to complain about how Jonathan, for the third time that week, had said he needed to leave the afte
rnoon class early, and that this time, he claimed he needed to go back to Lawrence Hall to talk to LaDonda.

Nathan was puzzled to hear this. Even if Jonathan made a mistake and meant that he was meeting LaDonda at Schmidt Hall, he knew that he wasn’t telling the truth because L
aDonda was waiting for Nathan in the lobby after they had returned to Lawrence Hall.

Malick was waiting with her. She wanted to remind them both about meeting with Argus after dinner to pr
epare for the evening’s bonfire.
Unless LaDonda is skilled at being at two places at once, Jonathan was definitely hiding something.

Nathan noticed Jonathan never showed up for dinner e
ither, which made Erin angrier because she couldn’t yell at him. Malick didn’t show up for dinner either, not that he ever sat with the group or anyone else, anyway.

Shortly after dinner, Nathan reluctantly headed out to meet up with Malick. The walk over to the north entrance to Lake Charleston wouldn’t take long, so he waited until the last possible minute.

The north entrance was actually located on Lawrence Road, which ran directly behind Lawrence Hall. In the beginning of the first semester and towards the end of the second, when the weather was nice, Nathan would often go out to the lake to get away from campus, even though the time probably would have been better spent studying. 

As he crossed over Lawrence Road, his thoughts were still occupied with the events of the past two weeks: his nightmares; the possible reality
of Leah; his periodic burning, red and itchy hands; the mysterious blue-eyed dog; and now the strange behavior of Jonathan Black. He wondered what other bizarre and crazy things he would encounter this summer. Aliens, maybe?

The north entrance to the lake was really a trail through the forest preserve that surrounded the lake. The trail was about a 15-minute hike to the lake, which also connected to another trail that led to the Cahokia Museum and the Cah
okia Caves, located behind the cliffs overlooking Lake Charleston. As he approached the entrance, Nathan was surprised to see Stephen Malick waiting for him. He had just assumed that Malick would be late or wouldn’t show up altogether.

“This should be interesting,” he mumbled to himself.

Malick continued to lean against the forest preserve sign. “Hey man, about time you showed up!” he said with a grin.

Instantly, Nathan pulled out his cell phone. “It’s barely 5:45,” he snapped.

“Ha, my watch said 5:45 two minutes ago,” Malick boasted.  

“Whatever,” mumbled Nathan. “Let’s just get this over with.”

Quickly, Nathan trotted past Malick and entered down the trail first. Nathan had used this trail many times before, so he had no doubt about what direction he was going as the trees began to darken out the evening sun. He found himself picking up his pace as they walked deeper and deeper into the forest. He didn’t want to pretend that he liked Malick and hoped that if he walked fast enough, he wouldn’t have to put up with any pretense or have some fake conversation with the guy. Irritatingly, because Malick was taller than Nathan, his longer legs actually allowed for him to keep up.

“So,” said Malick with excitement in his voice, brea
king the silence. “You ready to get that bonfire going and perhaps burn down the forest?”