Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  “It looks like a hatchet, doesn’t it?”

  Dar tilted her head. “Sort of,” she admitted, briefly glancing around at their raft mates. Most were pointing and gesturing to the various scenes to either side. Marcia, though, was knitting. No one was giving them one of “those” looks, or even a second glance.

  Nice. Not that either of them would care if there had been, but there was something oddly comforting at the anonymous perspective of it all, not being the center of attention as they often were at work.

  Dar regarded the flowing river with a smile. Nice to just be a couple of people on a raft.

  “Okay, folks,” Janet said, making her rounds. “In about five minutes we’d like you to all get your vests on because we’re going to start rocking and rolling a little before we meet our first challenge, Badger Creek rapids.”

  Kerry already had hers on, but she sat up and swiveled around to let Dar lean forward and pull hers out from the back of her seat and slide it onto her shoulders. She put her camera down and let it hang around her neck as she adjusted the straps and snapped the connectors together. “There.”

  Dar wriggled a little and tightened the restraints. The garment was reasonably comfortable and not inclined to hike up and hit her chin. She folded her bare arms over her chest and regarded the increasing pace of the water with approval. “Vroom.”

  The canyon walls narrowed slightly and the pitch of the water now had small whitecaps ruffling it’s green-brown edges. All round them the rest of the raft party was getting ready, and now Marcia put her knitting into a dry bag and faced forward with an expression of excited pleasure.

  “We’re about to get drenched, aren’t we?” Kerry said. She tucked her camera into its waterproof housing. “I never figured I’d use this above the surface. She indicated the dive case. “How cold do you figure the water is?”

  “They’re chilling your beer in it,” Dar responded dryly. “How cold is our refrigerator?”

  “Oh boy.”

  Dar chuckled.“Sun’s nice. We’ll dry out.” She heard the motor behind her gun a little and the raft slewed sideways in the current, as they approached a bend in the river. She could hear beyond it the flutter and rush of rapidly moving water.

  “Okay!” Doug yelled. “We’re going to take it straight front, to the left!”

  Kerry wrapped her legs around the base of her seat, and hesitated. “Wonder what that means? I probably should put this down and hold on.”

  Dar took hold of the back of Kerry’s jacket and clamped a hand through one of the belts. “G’wan. I got ya,” she said, confidently “You aren’t going anywhere without me attached.”

  Kerry lifted her camera and grinned, starting the video recording as the raft headed into the white water, flexing and bucking under them. She took a breath and then her eyes widened as she felt the raft slam sideways and plunge into a cleft in the water, a wall of green and white froth crashing over the pontoons and completely covering the three people riding up there.

  Then they came up and bucked sideways. She was glad Dar was hanging onto her as she saw the water coming at them. It rolled over them with a shocking chill and she fought to keep the camera steady.

  “Booah,” Dar barked, as she got hit in the face with the cold liquid. She had one hand clenched in Kerry’s jacket, the other latched onto the railing alongside the seats. The shock of the water made her inhale sharply. She shook her head and blinked, catching a little bit of the water in her mouth. It was sweet and minerally, so different than the ocean water she was used to.

  Kerry let out a yell as they plunged to the left, and the raft tipped up halfway on its side. She almost ended up in Dar’s lap, barely keeping control of the camera as they came up and over a ridge in the water and then went down into a gap with a stomach wrenching motion.

  The raft went half under again and then popped up and over and they were out of the rapids and into a wider part of the river. The current still moved, but with no rough disruptions.

  Kerry triggered the stop on the video and shook her head to scatter water everywhere. “Oh, that was fun! I want to do it again!”

  Janet was at their side. “Oh, you will.” she assured her with a big grin. She handed Dar a small towel and extended one to Kerry, before moving past them. “You three will need more than this.” she called down to the three on the pontoons, who were completely soaked and laughing.

  “That was cool,” Dar said. “Literally and figuratively.” She released Kerry, who then leaned back in her seat.

  “It was,” Kerry said. She wiped down the camera case and then ran back to footage. “Oh, Dar, look.” She extended the camera. “Like being in a washing machine!”

  The sun had come through the water, just as it was washing over them, in a blast of color. “That’s cool.” Dar leaned back in her seat herself and took a swig of their tube of lemonade. “This is going to be fun. And the sun’s nice.” She appreciated the warmth of it, and ran her fingers through her hair, escaped from its ponytail, to push it out of her face. “I liked that.”

  “Me too.” Kerry smiled in contentment, half turning in her seat to take a picture of Dar, sunlight glistening through the remaining droplets of water on her face. Then she swiveled and prepared the camera for their next bit of adventure.

  Janet walked back and forth, giving them tidbits about the area they were passing through and the lands beyond it. Dar relaxed and listened, fishing in her dry bag for one of her packets of crackers. In her peripheral vision, she saw Dave getting up to remove the sweatshirt he’d had on under his jacket, and Sally was wringing her hair out, half standing in her seat.

  She loosened the straps on her water jacket and munched her snack, offering Kerry one of the peanut butter crackers and putting it between her partner’s teeth when she nodded in agreement.

  Dave wandered over. “Hey, Rich, want to swap places for the next one?”

  “No!” Rich shot back. “We flipped a coin. You lost. Wait for tomorrow.”

  “That did look fun,” Kerry mused. “Those front seats.”

  “By the end of a day or two, he’ll swap with you,” Dave confided. “You get chafed. Know what I mean?” He ruffled his hair dry with the towel. “Got some good flow on the river. That was deeper and twistier than I expected.”

  Rich scrambled up from his seat on the pontoon, and come climbing along the ropes to the upper level. “Woo hoo!” He accepted a tube of lemonade from one of the crew, who was passing them out from an over the shoulder leather bag. “Nice! House Rock’s gonna be awesome. I bet we come close to vertical on that left hand turn!”

  He shivered a little, the tube shaking in his hands. “Gotta get a dry off, That water’s cold, but I’m used to being here a little later in the summer.”

  Sally came over and handed him a towel. “Here, before you start chattering.” She resumed her seat, casually looking behind her, then at them. “Got some problems back there I guess.”

  Dar leaned on the back of her seat and looked, spotting Todd back facing off against Doug in a truculent stance. There was far too much noise, between the water and the engine, to hear what they were saying, but she saw two more of the male crew drifting over, heads cocked.

  With a shake of her head she faced forward again, glad for once it wasn’t her issue.

  “This is so gorgeous,” Dave said, as he also turned back around. “Why would anyone want to be a jerk instead of enjoying it? I don’t get it.”

  Sally patted his arm. “Some people are just natural grumps. Ignore it.”

  Kerry fluffed her hair out and wiped off the plastic housing of the camera. She lifted it up and focused, then paused and pulled her head back a little, watching the reflection that showed her what was going on behind her back. The girl Amy sat with her arms wrapped around her, back to the argument going on in the rear, a look of wistful longing on her face as she watched the rest of the group. There was something very lost in that look. It made Kerry wonder.

  “O
kay, folks,” Janet said, “one more bit of excitement, and we’re going to stop at a nice beach for a lunch break, and to stretch our legs. There’s a nice little hike up the wall a bit, and you get a great shot of the river.”

  Janet walked across the boat, zipping up her waterproof jacket. The motion broke the scene, and Amy glanced aside as Todd rejoined her, folding his brawny arms over his chest, a look of satisfaction on his face. She leaned over and asked him something, and he just laughed, making a brushing away gesture at her.

  Kerry glanced to her left, where her solicitous spouse handed her another cracker and reminded her once again how freaking lucky she was in the lottery of life. “Thank you, honey.” She took the cracker and nibbled it.” Have I told you today how much I love you?”

  Dar smiled her sweet, and usually just between them smile. “I never get tired of hearing it.” She settled her arm back around Kerry’s shoulders. “Back at you.”

  “Aw, you guys are cute,” Sally said, casually. “I have a cousin that’s gay, and she and her partner act like absolute jerks most of the time.” She accepted one of Dar’s crackers.“Thanks.”

  “Thanks for being cool about us,” Dar responded, with a wry grin. “A lot of straight folks act like absolute jerks about us most of the time.” Her eyes twinkled a little. “How old is your cousin?”

  “Twenty-one.”

  “Ah a baby dyke.” Kerry grinned. “But Dar’s right. It’s nice when people don’t react in a bad way to us. Your cousin will probably grow out of the...um...“She looked over at Dar. “Drama phase?”

  Dar nodded.

  “That’s a relief. I’ll let my aunt know.” Sally munched her cracker. “I’m Bi.” she added unexpectedly.

  Kerry blinked, somewhat nonplussed, then shrugged. “Well I’m Republican,” she answered, feeling Dar start to shake with laughter. “Takes all kinds, right?”

  Sally winked and went past, heading over to where the drink coolers were.

  “DAR, THIS IS gorgeous.” Kerry focused her camera on the spears of sunlight penetrating down the sides of the small slot canyon they were hiking in. “Oh, my God.”

  Dar looked around in somewhat awed appreciation. They had hiked up a small slope from the gentle white beach the raft was pulled up to at a curve in the river that gave them a fantastic view of the canyon they were going to head into next.

  Lunch had been turkey wraps and they had been acceptably tasty. Dar relaxed a little, now that it seemed she wasn’t going to have to live on her stash of crackers.

  The air was cool and dry and this far from the river had a faint dusty taste to it, the sand and dirt they were walking over already gathering to coat their hiking boots.

  Ahead of them was a rock wall and Dar went over and put her hand on it, leaning closer to examine the layers and layers running through it.

  “It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Dave said from a nearby vantage point. “This whole canyon is so amazing.”

  Dar turned and looked out over the gap, with its winding river at the bottom. “Amazing that this whole thing was made by that.” She pointed at the river. “All those years of it just doing what it does.”

  Amy stood close by while Todd explored a cleft a little farther down the wall. She glanced at him, then edged a few steps over. “It’s kind of a parable for life, you know?” she said quietly. “So, like, if you keep at something long enough it will change anything.”

  She had a faint lilt in her voice, an almost accent Dar couldn’t quite place. As she turned to regard her, the woman didn’t quite meet her eyes.

  Dave dove right in. “Well, it had help from this being limestone and sandstone,” he said. “It would’ve taken a hell of a lot longer if it had been granite, but yeah.” He nodded. “I did a whole semester in geology on this place.”

  Dar wondered if she’d ever even taken geology. “We don’t have much geology in Florida,” she said. “It’s just limestone. One good kick and it dissolves.”

  “Have you been in the aquifer?” Dave asked. “I’ve seen pictures, that’s cool.”

  Dar shook her head. “Not my thing to squirm down a hole in the ground.”

  Amy moved a little closer. “I’ve been spelunking in Pennsylvania,” she said. “I love caves.” She peeked over her shoulder. “That’s why I wanted...I mean we wanted to come here, to see the caverns and rocks.”

  “Hey,” Todd called, seeing them standing together. “Come see this.” He jerked his head at Amy.

  “Excuse me.” Amy gave them a brief smile and climbed up toward him, using a hiking pole she handled with skill. She got up to the level he was standing at and they moved along past an outcropping and out of immediate view.

  “Don’t like that guy,” Dave said.

  “Me either,” Dar responded. “As my father would say, he makes the toe of mah boot itch.” She allowed her drawl to emerge, keeping Kerry’s scrambling form in her peripheral vision as her partner moved around to get the striated color in the rocks focused.

  Dave laughed. “Are you from the south?”

  “I’m from Miami,” Dar said. “It’s not the south. But my dad’s from Alabama, which is.” She saw a small cascade of rocks tumble down and stepped away from the wall to see where they’d come from. “Hey what’s that?”

  “Dar! Look!” Kerry hopped up the slope sideways, moving from bright sunlight into the shade of the wall as she brought her camera up. “A...” she focused. “Sheep?”

  “Yeah!” Rich came bouncing over. “A big horn! Check it out!”

  Dar climbed up the slope until she was at Kerry’s side. She looked up to see a rock shelf about thirty feet over their heads with an animal standing on it. It looked down at them. It was large, and had brush brown shaggy fur with long curving horns over the top of its head. “Big horn,” she said, as she shaded her eyes. “Got it.”

  Kerry chuckled softly. “It’s sticking it’s tongue out at us.” She zoomed the camera in and took a shot.

  There was a rush on the rocks as the whole group scrambled up to get a look. The sheep remained standing there, as though content to pose for them.

  “Hey!” Dave suddenly called out. “Don’t climb up there!”

  Todd was scaling the cliff side, fingers caught in small cracks in the rock, feet feeling for ledges. His muscular body was taut under the long sleeve t-shirt and camo pants he wore and he paid no attention to Dave’s warning. He had obvious skill and was moving at some speed, angling up toward where the sheep was standing.

  Sally came over. “Hey be careful!”

  Amy turned and waved them off. “It’s okay. He’s a solo climber.”

  Kerry turned her camera sideways and took a careful, considered shot of the rock face, Todd, and the sheep. “That animal might not ask for his references,” she commented in a mutter to Dar. They watched the man make his way up the face like a spider.

  “My hope is that it turns around and poops on his head,” Dar responded, half turning as Janet arrived at a near run at their side. “Make sure you get a shot of that, Ker.”

  “Don’t worry I will.”

  “Oh, for God’s sake.” Janet expelled an exasperated breath.

  “He’s really good,” Amy objected.

  “If he falls is that going to matter?” Dar asked, in a mild tone. “Sucky way to end a trip, on the first day.”

  “He won’t fall. He does this all the time.” Amy looked briefly uncomfortable, but she moved away and went to the wall, peering up at the still climbing Todd, who was now nearing the shelf the sheep was standing on, watching him with a bemused expression on its face.

  Amy pulled a point and shoot camera out of her pocket and took a picture.

  Janet sighed. “That’s why they wanted a private trip down the river,” she said. “They wanted to do all the caverns and some climbs. The guy who was supposed to lead them is a climbing expert. Has ropes and stuff for safety. We don’t.”

  “Ah.” Kerry nodded. “Got it.”

  Dave shrug
ged. “He signed the release. If he falls doing this it’s on him. But I hope this doesn’t mean we have to deal with this crap every time we stop.” He shook his head and turned around, pointedly turning his back on the drama and heading for one of the under hangs where Rich was kneeling examining something.

  Janet sighed again, and Kerry gave her a sympathetic look. “Hard to make everyone happy.” She looked around for something else to focus on and spotted a lizard, basking in the sun. “Will you pose for me too, Mr. lizard?” She eased closer, also turning her back on the wall.

  Todd reached the level of the ledge and gripped firmly with one hand, then released the other and extended it out toward the sheep. After a puzzled pause, the animal sniffed his fingers and then nibbled them, before turning and leaping away up the cliff farther past and out of sight.

  “Dja get that!” Todd yelled down. “Amy! Didja?”

  “Yes!” She called up. “I got it.”

  Todd pulled himself up onto the ledge the sheep had been standing on and stood up, extending both arms up in triumph. “Yes!” he shouted out over the ground, his voice echoing back from the walls opposite. “I am a rock star!”

  Dar shook her head and went to join Kerry. They moved past the lizard and went closer to a shallow cave in the rock wall that had glinting bits of stone in it. “Dogs,” she said, briefly. “I’ll pass on having kids.”

  “Yep.” Kerry switched her lens for a macro, and adjusted her focus. “Dogs.”

  THE LIGHT MUTED into a gentle haze as the raft steered its way into an alcove, a deep cleft in the canyon that featured a long, white beach that was a well-known landing point to the crew.

  Kerry stood on the raft deck near her seat, wringing out her shirt. She was dressed in her cargo pants and a sports bra, a towel draped over her. “That last rapid was fun. Wasn’t expecting the wave over our heads though.”

  “Uh huh.” Dar hadn’t bothered taking off her wet tank top. She relaxed in her seat and watched the crew tie up the raft. “Glad they mix the floating and the stopping stuff,” she said. “Either one could get boring.”