Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  Kerry pointed to the one single ring gas burner. “Put her there, Rich.” She stacked several packages of dusty dried fruit, six cans of navy beans, a package of barley, a package of rice, and a number ten can of white potatoes on the bench. “This is going to be interesting.”

  “What is?” Janet came over with a case of shelf stable milk boxes.

  Kerry eyed them. “Even more interesting,” she said. “Only thing I can think of to do with all this is make a big soup. I can’t even think about what it’s going to taste like, but it’ll be hot and it’ll be enough for everyone.”

  Janet nodded. “Good idea.”

  Kerry picked up the pot and headed outside with it, as most of the rest of the group sorted through the duffels and started hanging things up inside to dry.

  She set the pot outside in the rain and scrubbed it, then rinsed it out and set it down again to fill. The rain was about as clean a source of water as she could imagine and it was coming down hard enough so that it wasn’t going to take long.

  She could see Dar moving slowly into the river and hoped her beloved would have some luck so the soup would taste of something other than dust and old rags, given she had no spices to work with.

  All the condiments had been lost in the wreck. Kerry sighed, and peered into the pot, which was half full already. Then she straightened up and looked around, lifting her arm to shade the rain off her face.

  A small overhang was just visible on the far wall and she made her way over to it, ducking under it to get some relief from the weather.

  Inside she was surprised to find an irregularly shaped cave. She moved a step or two inside to look around. The walls were rough and scarred, and the space was cramped. She amused herself with peering at the surface looking for more fossils.

  The walls had some marks on them, and it looked like they’d been impacted with blunt objects at some point or other. She could see one area that had almost been excavated, and she ran her hand over it, leaning closer in the gloom to see more clearly.

  Didn’t seem like anything. She shrugged and pulled her hand back, examining the dust covered skin, then she looked back at the wall and saw what seemed to be a little reflection. She tilted her head, then she reached out to rub the surface.

  It seemed flat, and planed. She curiously put her thumb into her mouth to get some moisture to clean off the edge with and then stopped. She removed her digit and stared at it. “Holy crap.” She gingerly licked her index finger. It tasted of salt. Kerry looked around and spotted a few river rocks and picked one up that was cracked in half. She brought it over to the wall and scraped at the surface, holding her free hand under the area to collect the scrapings.

  It took a while, but she eventually had a full handful of the substance and she went back to the overhang, to look at it better in the light. Sure enough it was a crude crystal. With a slight chuckle she closed her hand and went back to the now full pot.

  She tipped a little of the water out, then emptied her hand into the remainder and stirred it to clear the debris off her skin. Then she picked up the pot and headed back to the shack, shaking her head and laughing as she went.

  DAR EDGED CAREFULLY into the water, keeping to the line of rocks that the river was flowing over near the landing. There was a relatively shallow space there, and a line of boulders that gave her something to lean against and brace against the current.

  She wasn’t sure this was going to work. She thought the rush of the water was too fast, but she’d opened her mouth about it, so she figured she better at least give it a try.

  Janet had seemed very skeptical.

  Dar appreciated the skepticism. She saw a narrow break in the flow a few feet over, and she cautiously edged that way, not wanting to do something stupid and end up getting swept downstream.

  As she thought that, she realized she hadn’t put on a safety jacket and cursed, then she got herself wedged in against the rock and figured she was safe enough for now.

  It was cold, and upstream she could see the ruffled gray green water surging down toward her. She took a moment to appreciate again the power of nature.

  Humans always thought they were so all powerful. But she’d been on the ocean enough to understand that Mother Nature could bitch slap you into hell and not even realize she’d done it. In this case, she could see the raging power of the river, and the walls on either side of it that it had cut through the millennium.

  That river had created this canyon. Mile by mile, eon after eon, just the water, just that river had cut through the rock and made the scene she was looking at. There was an awesomeness to that Dar readily acknowledged.

  But.

  She tested her footing and leaned over a little, bracing her elbows on her thighs as she focused on the water rushing past the rocks, trying to tune out the roar of the rapids.

  Were there even fish? She remembered seeing them where they’d stopped to swim, but in these long stretches of white water?

  Then her eyes caught a brief flash and she looked down just in time to see a fish wiggle between her legs, it’s tail brushing her calf as it went by.

  Ah.

  She settled down to concentrate, aware from the corner of her eye motion on the shore. She glanced briefly over to see Todd standing just out of the water, watching her.

  “Hey,” Todd called out. “What the hell are you doing?”

  Oh yay.

  “Catching fish,” Dar responded.

  “No way is that working,” Todd scoffed. “Waste of your time.”

  Dar focused past him, blinking a little as she let her vision adjust to the colors and motion of the water going between her legs, sorting out the ruffles and curls from the rock they were rushing over. She could see some algae on the downstream side of the rocks facing her, and then a minute later she saw a movement coming down.

  A flash, and a ripple in the water and in reflex she plunged her hands down between her calves and felt her fingers fasten onto a moving body. With a grunt of satisfaction, she pulled her arms back and straightened up, holding a reasonably good sized fish in her hands.

  “Fuck!”

  Dar looked aside to see Todd standing up straight himself, shading his eyes. She held up the fish. “Wanna grab this if I throw it at you?”

  “Did you just do that?” Todd said, in an astonished tone. “Holy shit.”

  Dar lifted the fish. “Catch it? You’re wasting my time.”

  He looked around. “Hold on,” he said, without his usual sarcastic tone. He went over to the raft and picked up a battered metal tin that had once held beer cans and brought it back over. He put it down and then held his hands up. “Go for it.”

  Intrigued, Dar readied herself, and then she extended her arms over her head and threw the fish as hard as she could toward him, watching him grimace a little as he caught it, then dropped it immediately into the bin. “Nice catch.”

  Todd examined the fish in the bin, then he dragged it up a little farther. He returned to the shore and walked into the water up to his knees. “How did you do that? Fucking A.”

  Dar regarded him. “You just see and grab” She wiggled her fingers. “My father taught me how to do it.”

  He made his way over to where she was standing. “Do it again?” He demanded. “I want to see that.”

  Dar went back to her crouch, resisting the urge to elbow him in the jaw. She took a deep breath and released it, then rested her elbows on her knees again.

  A flash. Her hands moved before she even thought about it, and the next moment she pulled a larger fish up and out of the water, it’s scales reflection the gray light as it fought her grip.

  Todd reached out and grabbed her to keep her steady. “Holy son of God,” he said, in a honestly reverent tone. “That’s the most useful thing I’ve seen a woman do in my whole life.”

  Dar felt a sense of the ridiculous. “Wanna grab this? We’ve got a crap load of people to feed.”

  He hooked his fingers into the fish’s gills and re
lieved her of its weight. Then he made his way over to the shore, lifting the fish over his head as he used his other hand to balance against the rocks.

  Dar shook her head and went back to her fishing.

  “OKAY,” KERRY GAVE the pot a stir, and adjusted the gas burner. “Let’s let it cook a while and see what we get.” She glanced around as there were footsteps at the door and saw Dar follow Todd inside. Todd was carrying a beat up metal bin. “Ah. The protein component.”

  “Fuckin A.” Todd put the bin down. “Never seen anything like that in my life.” He indicated the bin.

  Janet looked inside. “Wow. Ten? Is that ten fish?”

  Dar retreated to her pack and removed a packet of peanut butter crackers and opened them. She popped one in her mouth and munched it, as everyone gathered around her bounty.

  “Wow.” Rich echoed Janet. “Where did these come from?”

  Kerry turned and regarded her huntress, who winked at her with a droll expression. “Nice work, honey.” She smiled. “Too bad you couldn't grab any shrimp I could have done some gumbo.”

  “She fucking caught them with her hands,” Todd said. “Fucking amazing.”

  Janet glanced at Dar, who issued a tiny, modest shrug.

  Kerry went over and fished into Dar’s pocket for the pocketknife she knew was there. Then she came back over to the table and peered inside the bin herself. The fish inside were all big, and she reviewed them. “We can either add this to the soup, or grill them.”

  “Too wet to grill.”

  “Put it in the soup,” Rich said. “It’ll last longer.”

  “Sounds good.” Kerry pulled one of the fish out and started gutting it, and a moment later Sally joined her and then Rich and Marcia came over.

  “How’s Don?” Kerry asked.

  Marcia looked relieved. “He’s better. Has a bump on his head, but Janet fixed that cut up for now. He’s mostly hungry.”

  “Great.” Kerry half turned. “Okay everyone? Take the guts out, and cut off the head and tail, and then cut them into cubes like this.”

  “We should use the heads,” Rich said. “My mother always did.”

  Sally grimaced. “Not the eyeballs. C’mon, I’m making a vegan sacrifice here as it is.”

  “Those are better roasted,” PJ said. “Fish cheeks””mm”

  The fish chunks went into the soup pot and Kerry gave it another stir, its contents now starting to thicken up. She judged that even if it wasn’t as savory as anyone would like, it would fill everyone up, and they could at least be dry and full.

  “Okay.” Janet rubbed her arms. “So let's get settled as best we can, and Josh’ll hopefully be on the trail head by now.” She leaned back against one of the workbenches. “Thanks, everyone. We’ll get through this.”

  “No thanks to you,” Todd said. “You’re gonna owe us double for this by the time we get out of this mess.”

  “Let’s deal with that once we’re back at base,” Janet said, sharply. “Then we can talk about what you’re owed. In case you don’t remember you signed a liability release saying you accept all the risk of the travel.”

  They had. Dar remembered it. “True,” She said before Todd could. “But you also took responsibility for safety and organization.”

  Todd nodded. “She’s right,” he said. “And you all know my dad’s a lawyer.”

  Amy came over and stood next to Kerry, checking out the pot of soup. “Thanks for doing that,” she said. “I think it would have been good even without the fish.”

  Kerry smiled. “Thanks. I got lucky. I found some salt crystals in a cave across the way, otherwise it would be pretty darn bland.”

  “You found salt crystals?” Amy looked at her with more interest. “Can you show me?”

  “Sure.” Kerry joined her and they walked outside, crossing quickly over the rocky ground and around the slight bend to where she’d found the overhang. It was starting to get dark but there was enough light yet to see the inside of the cave with some clarity.

  “Here.” Kerry pointed out the area, and swiped her finger over the crystals then put it in her mouth. “Salty.”

  Amy pulled a flashlight from her pocket and examined the area, then duplicated Kerry’s motion. “It is!” She knocked off a sample, a bit of slanted clear crystal with uneven edges and put it in her pocket. “This is really cool. It means this cave once was under ocean water, and probably the crystals made this split.” She indicated the walls.

  Kerry was standing with her arms folded. “I was just glad to find something for the soup,” she said. “You like caves, huh?”

  “Geology is my major,” Amy said. “I love it. I want to be an archaeologist after college. Todd just likes climbing. I met him in class.” She gave Kerry a sideways look. “He’s really a nice guy. He just acts mean a lot.” She paused. “He thought you guys were so faux before the trip but now he thinks you’re pretty cool.”

  “Faux?” Kerry’s eyes twinkled with amusement.

  “You know like some of these people. Just all pretentious stuff, like look at my North Face backpack, and things like that. No one ever really did an outback, like Todd and I did.”

  Kerry sat down on a rock. “Well we never did white water before,” she admitted. “Some of the rest of them did.”

  “It’s true.” Amy sat down as well. “But this stuff, this glamping and all that, it’s faux,” she said. “Todd and I did the real thing. We climbed Half Dome. We did real camping. We went on this, because we wanted to just relax getting from climb to climb. That’s what the trip was supposed to be.”

  “Ah.”

  “The guys that didn’t show? They were climbers,” Amy said. “So, this whole thing turned out to be a scam to us. You know what I mean? Then with all those other faux types glamping.” She eyed Kerry. “Look, I know Todd’s been an asshat, but we saved up for months for this. His dad didn’t buy it for him.”

  “They would have given you your money back, I thought?” Kerry said, cautiously.

  “They would, but we’re out of time,” Amy said. “This was the only break we were going to have before going back to school.”

  “Ah.” Kerry repeated. “I’m sorry about that. I know what it’s like not to have time for vacation. This is our first in a while.”

  Amy nodded. “You guys are cool. We talked about it last night, and that fish thing today was outrageous.” She stood up. “I’m sorry it turned out such crap for you guys too. But now it should be okay. That Josh guy’s a good hiker.” She grinned a little. “And I like fish.”

  With a wave, she started back out of the cave, leaving Kerry to ponder things for a minute, before she, too, got up and left, shaking her head almost continuously.

  A CRACK OF lightning woke Dar up and she was on her feet with hands outspread before she knew where she was.

  It was pitch dark and she smelled dust and canvas around her. She felt the chill of a cold wind coming in from her left hand side and then she nearly jumped when a hand touched her knee and she remembered what the hell was going on. “Crap.”

  “Dar.” Kerry’s voice sounded, low and burry with sleep. “What’s up?”

  “Me.” Dar sat back down on the pile of old tent material they’d laid down on and leaned back against the shack walls, aware of rustles and motion around them. “Sorry, folks.”

  “Sokay, blast woke everyone up anyway,” Rich said, in a muffled tone. “And I think I’m sleeping on a cam shaft.”

  Dar blinked a few times, and then looked down, to see Kerry’s hand pat her knee. She covered her hand with her own and relaxed, listening to the rain thunder down around them.

  It meant nothing good. Not for them, or for the kid trying to hike out to get them help, or to Doug, wherever he was. They didn’t really have any supplies, and if they had to walk out they had nothing to travel on except for the remains of the soup.

  Which they had no way to keep edible for any period of time. Dar exhaled a little, then turned her head as she heard
motion, and saw shadows moving to the door and the shine of a flashlight coming from the back half of the shack where the crew had all taken shelter.

  “Make sure the lines are tight,” Janet said in a low tone. “Check the water level.”

  “Got it,” A deeper, male voice answered. “I can hear the banging from here.”

  Dar felt Kerry’s fingers contract and a moment later she was sitting up as well, her profile now visible in the faint light entering the shutters. “That doesn’t sound so good.”

  “Mm.” Dar grunted in agreement.

  The door opened, and the sound of rushing water entered with it, along with a blast of cold air and the smell of the river, and then light flared as the small gas lantern hanging in the center of the shack was ignited, providing a reddish gold illumination.

  Everyone blinked into it, sitting up from where they’d bunked out in all corners of the shack, on boxes and bundles, and cramped corners. Janet moved under the lamp and rubbed her hands, looking around at them. “Sorry to wake you all up, folks.”

  “Is everything okay?” Sally asked. “Except the weather, I mean?”

  Janet glanced at the door. “I just sent someone to check. The river’s rising again, and we may need some help pulling the raft up higher.”

  Everyone scrambled to their feet, and Dar reached down to grab her boots and Kerry’s, handing her partner’s over to her.

  “First time they asked for help, huh?” Kerry said, as she swung her legs over the side of the stack of tents and started pulling on her socks.

  “Yep.” Dar tugged one boot on and started lacing it. “You know what just occurred to me?”

  “What?”

  “Our dogs are having a better time than we are.”

  Kerry muffled a snort of laughter.

  “Seriously. They’re in a spa, swimming in warm water, playing with other dogs and getting massages every day. Here we are getting our asses kicked from every direction. What the hell, Ker?”

  “I know, hon.” Kerry stood up and reached for the jacket she’d hung up next to them. “We should let them plan the vacation next time.” She zipped up the front of the jacket and pulled the hood up, glad of the warmth as Janet had left the door to the shack open. “Worst thing we’d deal with is liver snacks.”