Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  “I’d take it right now,” Dar grumbled. “I miss my milk dispenser.”

  Kerry reached over and gave her a one-armed hug. “Hang in there. We’ll get through it and have some great stories to tell.”

  “Peh.”

  Thunder rumbled overhead, and another flash of lightning lit up the sky outside, sending a flare of silver into the shack as they moved toward the door, joining the crew as a wet figure came running back from the river.

  “Hurry!” He yelled. “We’re gonna lose it!”

  They all piled out into the rain, a crowded clump in the darkness bumping into each other as they hopped off the shallow porch onto the wet ground. “Careful,” Rich reeled for balance. “It’s gonna be slick.”

  “Gonna be?” Sally circled him and everyone moved out toward the river, the crew running on ahead with flashlights and yells starting to go up.

  “Fucking women stay the hell back,” Todd shouted suddenly. “Go back to the shed!”

  No one paid him any attention as they spread out along the gravel filled ground. Dar strode ahead and realized after a few more strides that she was moving through rising water and she looked down to see about an inch of it covering her boots. “Uh oh.”

  Kerry was at her side and reached out to latch on to the back of her jacket. They went slightly to the right of the rest of the crowd and came around a boulder to see the river picking up the raft and yanking it sideways. The crew grabbed onto ropes and looked for an opportunity to hop on.

  “Wait for them to tie on, and throw the ropes!” Janet yelled. “Stay back!”

  “Sounds like a great idea.” Kerry put her back to the boulder and raised one arm to shield herself from the pouring rain, as the rest of the crowd spread out along the shore, the water coming up now to their ankles.

  Dar braced her boots shoulder width and pushed her hood back, annoyed at the edges obscuring her vision. She could see past the raft to the river, and it was mostly whitecaps and surge, and the raft itself was bucking up and down and yanking against the ropes that had tied it to the shore.

  One of the crew managed to make it on, and he quickly secured one end of a rope slung over his shoulders to a stanchion. A moment later a second of the crew scrambled up to join him, almost falling into the water as the raft pitched.

  Dar was glad she wasn’t on it. “This is really crazy.”

  Janet stood in knee-deep water, waiting with her arms outstretched. “Throw it!”

  The raft suddenly moved, and careened toward the shore. Janet scrambled back but not fast enough and the edge of the pontoon smacked into her and sent her flying into the water. The movement of the river pulled the raft and her back out again.

  Both Dar and Kerry moved as one, and lunged into the water, Dar reaching out to grab Janet’s boot as she slid past, hands scrabbling for a hold on the slippery rocks.

  Dar got a foot up on a rock and pulled backwards, and almost lost her balance against the wash of the water as Kerry hooked one hand on the pocket of her cargo pants and grabbed Janet’s flailing hand and somehow managed to keep a grip on it.

  A second later, Todd came past them and got one brawny arm around Janet’s waist and lifted her up and clear of the water, and all of them scrambled backwards to the shallow wash, where more arms were waiting to take hold.

  “Catch! Hurry!” The crew on the raft yelled, and Rich hopped past them and lifted his hands to grab the end of the rope hurtling through the rain. He caught it and backed up rapidly.

  Todd dropped Janet onto her feet and went to Rich’s side to grab the rope, both men starting up the slope as more of the crew also took hold. “Get out of the way!” Todd barked.

  Dar took a step back and looked back at the raft, seeing the aft pontoon swing inward with the pulling of the rope and the two crew onboard hanging on with tight grips.

  Janet had recovered her balance, and had one hand against the boulder bracing against it. “Need another rope! John! Tie off to the midship!”

  John hand over handed to the centerline of seats and knelt, quickly removing the rope from around his shoulders and getting the end of it around the metal supports. He had to release his hold to tie the knot and he spread his knees to keep his balance as the raft was being tugged from both sides.

  Dar looked down to see the water up to her kneecaps and she turned her head toward where Kerry was standing. “Ker?”

  “Yeah?” Kerry had a finger hooked into Dar’s belt.

  “Maybe you want to go back a little?” She pointed down.

  Kerry looked down at the water. It was inching up her thighs and she felt the pull against her balance. “Let’s both go,” she said, “before they pull that raft right into us.”

  “Good point.” Dar took hold of the belt holding up Kerry’s pants and started around the boulder, leaning forward as they came around the edge of it and saw a bunch of the crew heading past them at a run. She resisted the urge to turn around and see what they were doing and kept walking until the water was just splashing against the soles of her boots before she paused.

  John had thrown the second line and Dave grabbed it, and was coming around the boulder on the other side where Pete from the crew met him and got his hands on it. On the other side, Rich and Todd were hanging on to the first rope, Todd in the front with it wrapped around his waist and moving backwards with short digging steps.

  Janet waved at them. “Bring them around and tie them behind the rock! Nothing’s going to pull that out.”

  The boulder, twice Dar’s height, and half buried in the earth seemed a good bet and she and Kerry went over to help with the second rope, and Sally joined them.

  “Pull it tight!” Pete said. “Hey, Dar, can you tie them when we get them together?”

  “Sure.” Dar got hold of the front of the second rope as they came around the rock and the first rope was pulled around to meet up with them.

  Todd extended the end of the first rope to her and planted his boots in the gravel.

  She got the ends in both hands and quickly knotted them together, memories surfacing from lazy summer afternoons spent on the navy base, learning this skill on cast off loops of hemp worn from long use. She briskly tugged against the knot and made sure it was snug, then backed off. “Done.”

  The men pulled against the waters grip, and held the lines taut as she got the hitch in place, and then they slowly relaxed, letting the rope take the strain from the plunging raft. A rumble of thunder sounded overhead, and they all looked up, but it was sound only, no lightning lit up the sky.

  The rope scraped against the rock and made a rickety sound as the knot tightened, then slacked and dropped, then pulled taut again as the river surged.

  Janet moved to the edge of the beach to see the raft. “Okay. That should hold.” She came back over as everyone walked away from the shore, retreating up the slope until they were standing on dry ground, a clump of slicker covered figures in the dark. “Thank you,” Janet said, in a quiet tone. “I really appreciate everyone helping out.”

  There was a faintly awkward silence. “Let’s go back and dry off,” Sally finally suggested. “Last thing we need is for everyone to get sick.”

  “True that,” Rich said. “True that.”

  “Be nice to have something hot to drink. Except we don’t,” Todd commented in a sarcastic tone. “Nice not to even keep some chicory in that shack.”

  They trooped back to the shack and went inside, where PJ and Marcia were waiting. “Everything okay?” Marcia asked, as they started stripping off the wet jackets. “I made Don stay here.”

  “Good move, grandma.” Todd hung up his jacket and stood there, looking down at his wet fatigue pants. “Fuck.”

  Dar went over to the stack of tents and sat down. She removed her boots and set them on the floor, adding her now soaked socks to them. Kerry came over and sat next to her, extending her feet out and watching the rain drip from the fabric of her pants.

  Rich started rummaging through the boxes st
acked near the wall. “Let see if we have something we can boil up,” he said, as Dave and Sally joined him.

  John and Pete came in, looking tired, and Pete came over to the light to examine his hand. “Ow.” He grimaced. “Got caught between the raft and one of those rocks getting off.”

  Janet sighed. “Great.”

  “You’re lucky that’s all that happened,” Todd said. He sat down and removed his pants, then stood to wring them out as he stood in a t-shirt and his boxers. “Should have just let the damn thing go. We can’t go on the river with it.”

  “We can,” Janet said quietly. “But we won’t have to, when Josh gets to the ranger station and calls in. I just don’t like to give up any of my options.”

  With uneasy looks, the group all changed into what dry clothing they had, and hung up the wet to dry near the walls, where the ground quickly gained a line of dark wetness.

  Dar fished in her day bag and pulled out a packet of crackers, one of the last few she had, and opened it, offering one to Kerry.

  “I’m going to heat up some of that soup,” Amy decided, standing up and moving to the other side of the shack.

  Sally followed her. “We found some old boxes of Lipton tea bags.” She held them up. “It’ll be a feast.”

  Janet drew breath to say something, then just shrugged and went over to examine Pete’s hand. The rest of the crew wandered around, some taking seats near the walls, a few going back into the area where the cook stove was.

  Kerry chewed her cracker thoughtfully, as she listened to the rain outside. She wondered how far Josh had made it. Would he have taken shelter and waited it out? Or pushed forward to the ranger station? What would happen if he also got lost or hurt?

  What would they do? She glanced at Dar, who had changed into a dry pair of jeans from their duffel, and was now relaxing, sockless, in the dim light from the lantern.

  They were out of food, mostly. They had no real supplies.

  “Least we’re not outside,” Dar commented, passing over another cracker. “Maybe it’ll stop raining in the morning.”

  “Hopefully.” Kerry smelled the soup heating up, and wondered if it would be a better idea to save it. “I guess you can catch more fish, huh?”

  Dar dusted her fingers off. “I can always catch more fish,” she said. “As long as we’re near the river.” She folded her hands over her stomach. “But you don’t have that much gas in that stove.”

  Kerry considered that. “I’ve eaten sashimi.”

  Dar made a face. “I’d rather we get out of here.” She lowered her voice. “If there’s no sign of Josh, we should walk out. Staying here is going to be trouble.”

  Kerry hiked up one knee and circled it with both arms. “More trouble.”

  They heard a rumble of thunder, and then, just after it, the yowl nearby of a cat, sudden and shocking and making them all jump.

  Rich went to the door and shoved it closed. “That was a big one.” He said. “Did we throw those fish bones out the window?”

  “Anyone got a gun?” Todd asked, as they all went silent.

  The cat yowled again.

  Chapter Seven

  KERRY EASED THE door open and poked her head outside, looking around before she emerged into the chill of an early dawn.

  The skies had cleared, and the stars were fading from view. She went to the edge of the rough wood porch and looked toward the river.

  Janet and Pete were coming back from that direction, and Kerry stepped down onto the gravel surface, taking a breath of the morning air filled with the scent of the water as she heard the door open behind her and the sound of the rest of the group emerging.

  She felt a little tired, unable to really get any good sleep after their early waking. They had boiled up more old tea, and she could taste that mustiness on the back of her tongue.

  Janet and Pete stopped, as they saw everyone approaching and a moment later they were all in a rough circle as the rest of the crew also came over.

  “Okay, folks.” Janet visibly steeled herself to continue. “The river’s running pretty high. I don’t think going farther on the water is really an option.”

  “What about the kid?” Rich asked. “How long till he gets to the ranger station?”

  “That’s our second option,” Janet said. “Depends on the trail conditions.” She washed her hands together. “I think he probably didn’t make that much headway last night from the weather. So, I think we should probably start up after him.”

  Dar nodded, but kept quiet.

  “Don how are you feeling?” Janet asked, looking past her.

  “Not bad,” Don said. “Got a headache, but I’m all right. I just won’t be running up that trail.” He folded his arms over his chest as most turned to look at him. His head was covered in a bandage and there were bruises along his temple, but he had a healthy flush of color and seemed fine.

  Janet looked relieved. “Good. So, let’s gather up everything we can find in terms of supplies, and see what we can pack out.”

  She motioned to the crew and they scattered to start collecting things, while the passengers stood in their irregular circle, regarding each other.

  Todd came to stand next to Dar. He folded his arms, and produced a skeptical expression that reflected what Dar was thinking in her head.

  They exchanged glances.

  “You any good at catching snakes?” Todd asked, in a mild tone.

  “No,” Kerry supplied at once.

  Dar eyed her thoughtfully.

  Kerry returned the look. “Please tell me you aren’t.”

  ”˜Well, I have,” Dar said. “But not for a very long time, and I didn’t really enjoy the experience. But it was either latch on to a cottonmouth or have him bite me and we were out in the bush and no one wanted to have to carry my six foot plus dead ass back to the base.”

  Kerry made a face, and so did Rich and Don.

  “In August. In the Everglades,” Dar said. “So how about I get a few more fish and we...I don’t know. Smoke or dry them or something?”

  “That’ll beat eating crickets,” Todd said. “I’ll give that a try too.” He motioned Dar to precede him toward the river and with a faint shrug Dar headed off.

  Sally looked up at the sky, then she pulled the one carry bag that her group had salvaged and started sorting through it. “If the weather holds, we should be good,” She said to Kerry, who had taken a seat on a rock nearby. “Got to admit I’m not having a real great time now.”

  “No,” Kerry said. “Not much fun.” She rested her elbows on her knees, her and Dar’s duffle resting next to the rock. She watched as a bird landed on a bit of twisted wood nearby, and pecked at it. “I’ll go get that soup pot and get some water in it. We’ll need to carry that.”

  “For sure,” Sally said. “Boil it first.”

  Kerry pushed herself to her feet and went into the shack and picked up the pot. She carried it out and across the gravel back to where she’d found the cave.

  There had been a trickle of water and now when she made her way into the cave, it had become more of a gush, carrying the rain runoff from the previous night. She wedged the pot into a corner of the stone and watched it start to fill up.

  While that was in work, she turned and picked up one of the rocks littering the floor and went to the wall. She pounded it against the salt crystals, knocking them off into her hand. She kept at it until she had several palms full, which she put into her cargo pants pocket and dusted her hands.

  She went back over to the pot and stood watching, then turned as she heard a soft scraping sound behind her. There was no one there, but she spotted motion and her heart rate picked up as she recalled Todd’s comments about snakes.

  But it was just a squirrel. The small rodent seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see it and scampered quickly out the opening and raced off.

  Curious, Kerry went over to the corner the squirrel had emerged from and peeked behind the rock, spotting a pile of debris be
hind it. She knelt and fished her flashlight out of her pocket and turned it on, peering warily at the ground, then moving her boot a little and moving the sticks around.

  There were bits of stone and fluff there, what appeared to be some nutshells. She was about to abandon the pile when the light flashed against something and she paused and then leaned closer. She extended her hand and pushed the fluff aside with the edge of her flashlight then reached down and picked up what the light had exposed.

  She stood up and went to the entrance to the small cave and peered closely at the device, a square piece of plastic with two wires extending from it, ending in a pin out cable. “What the hell?” She turned it over, but it had no writing on it. With a shrug she put it in her pocket.

  The sound of water overflowing made her turn and she trotted back over to the now overflowing pot and picked it up, holding it away from her body to keep from being doused. With a grunt, she turned and made her way out of the cave into the sunlight.

  “WATER’S HIGHER,” TODD said as they got to the edge of the river. “Look at that thing.”

  Dar spared a glance at the raft that looked sadly battered. She could see cracks along the front of the pontoons, and most of the metal structure was bent. “Yeah.” She put her hand on one of the struts and then sat down on the pontoon. “Going to change shoes.”

  She had her day bag on her back and unslung it, then removed the pair of sandals. The sound of the river was loud behind her.

  Todd walked over to the other side of the raft and started into the water, moving along the rocks and between the pontoons. He was wearing shorts and an odd kind of shoes that were melded to his instep and had a slight curve to them.

  Dar finished putting her sandals on and tied her boots to her day bag, then followed Todd’s path into the water, grimacing a little as the chill crept up her calves.