by Kip Nelson
Brent nodded, but it was clear he didn’t have much faith in this promise. It was a strange thing to get so worked up over a bike, but Darren appreciated the fact it was something Brent really wanted. He only hoped the water would clear up soon, so Brent had a chance to use the bike.
The family walked through the forest, being careful to avoid the puddles and to not get stuck in the mud. They all were wearing boots, which meant their feet did not get waterlogged, and they were all grateful for this small mercy. As they left the cave Darren looked back and watched the mother mountain lion turn around and head inside, her tail slinking into the darkness. He wondered if she and her cubs would be waiting when they returned.
Chapter Sixteen
The Dawkins family strode into the forest carefully. Darren kept his gaze fixed on his surroundings, not wanting to be taken by surprise by anything lurking in the nooks and crannies of the woods. It was unlikely that anything was still there after the storm, but there was no telling what dangers lay in wait for them. They walked in a line, Darren in the front with Brent at the rear. Brent and Betsy held Michelle and Tara’s hands to make sure the little girls didn’t tumble over.
Darren wasn’t sure what they were going to achieve that day. He mainly wanted to give the mountain lions the opportunity to leave the cave. Before the family had left the cave, Darren had put out the fire so the animals wouldn’t be enticed to stay by the warmth, and he’d kept the food securely in their packs. He didn’t think the animals would go rooting around in there anyway. Although their claws were sharp, he wasn’t sure they had the strength to break through the cans. He hoped their hunger would lead them out into the world and back into their natural habitat. Even though Darren had stretched, there was still a crick in his neck from the awkward position in which he had slept during the night, and he didn’t want a repeat.
The woods looked much different after the storm. The water had been blown away by the tumultuous winds, and the stream had settled to be level again. There was still more water than what the ground could handle, but it gradually was draining away. The air had that fresh smell of water about it, but it still was cold, and Darren longed to be back by the fire again. He remembered what it was like being with Brent out here, struggling to build a dam against the rising waters. They had been fighting for their lives and it seemed strange that they were in exactly the same place, but were completely safe.
The storm would move across the country and cause more trouble as it passed. For the moment the sky was calm, if gray, but it was surely only a matter of time until another storm came to disrupt their lives. They had to make the most of this respite and gather enough food and wood to create a stockpile so they could survive the next storm.
Walking through the woods was taking longer than normal because they had to go carefully. The ground underfoot was muddy and dangerous, and they had to use their strength to pull their feet out of the mud. Tara and Michelle were finding it especially difficult, and soon enough they were complaining loudly. Darren tried telling them to keep going just a little bit longer, but eventually he knew he couldn’t delay their rest any longer. They all found a fallen log and sat on it. Brent and Darren lifted Michelle and Tara onto the log. Their legs dangled off.
“It hurts, it hurts!” the girls moaned, crying and moaning in pain.
The elder three tried to get them to calm down, but it wasn’t easy. Darren pried off their boots and saw the problem. Blisters were forming on their feet and skin had been pulled off. Their soft skin had not yet become calloused, and until that happened it would be vulnerable to the damage that hard hiking could inflict.
Darren touched the sensitive parts of their feet gingerly, and the girls winced.
“What do you want to do, Dad? Do we go back?” Brent asked.
“No, we can’t let this stop us. We have too much to do,” he said, then directed Brent and Betsy to gather up some moist leaves. When they came back with a handful, Darren told them to start stuffing them into the girls’ boots. They all looked at him with confusion.
“This will help, trust me. It’ll be a layer of comfort,” he said, while helping them.
Soon enough a layer of leaves covered the insides of their boots. Both Michelle and Tara winced as they did what they were told and put their feet into their boots. Darren pushed their boots up and they both squirmed at the feeling of the wet leaves against their feet.
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Brent asked.
“Trust me,” Darren said. It was an old trick he’d learned while hiking when he was younger, and he was glad to put this wisdom to good use now. He picked up the girls, put them onto the ground, and told them to walk normally.
“I don’t like this,” Tara said.
“You’ll get used to it,” Darren said gently. Then he resumed walking, not wanting to waste time.
They went to a clearing and Darren pointed over to a bush. Despite the ferocity of the storm, not everything had been totally washed away. Berries and nuts still were hanging from trees and bushes, all washed and ready to be eaten. Darren instructed the girls to gather as much as they could find. Betsy went off with them, promising to keep an eye on them this time. They didn’t need a repeat of when they thought the girls had been lost.
Meanwhile, Darren and Brent gathered up some wood for the fire. Most of it was wet.
“We can’t use any of this,” Brent said despondently, putting his hands on his thighs and shaking his head. He threw a hefty chunk of wood down and watched it land with a splat.
“Brent, what have I been telling you all this time?” Darren said.
“That this world will provide for us as long as we use our wits and ingenuity,” Brent said.
“Exactly. So, take a deep breath and don’t give up. Think of a way to get around this problem. Do you really think all this wood is useless?”
Brent looked at Darren, and then down at the wood. He bit his lip and frowned, gazing at it like it was some sort of specimen under a microscope. Brent shifted his position and put his hands on his hips, and then bent down to pick up the wood. Mud dripped from the bottom, and Darren was close enough that he could smell the earthy odor. Brent turned the wood over and over in his hands, looking at it from all angles as if the answer suddenly was going to present itself to him.
Darren looked at his son with interest, watching the cogs turning in his mind. Darren offered him silent encouragement, willing his son on to understand how they could use this wood.
Brent poked the wood and slapped it on all sides. He shook it and stepped back as mud dripped down and splattered onto his boots. He wiped the mud off and knocked on the wood with his fist.
“Are you expecting someone to come out?” Darren asked, an amused smile on his face.
Brent scowled at him. “I don’t know what you expect of me. This doesn’t make any sense. This wood is useless,” he said, and tossed it toward Darren.
Darren reacted quickly and snatched it out of the air before it could hit him in the stomach. Brent had dug his heels into the mud and was just about ready to storm off, but Darren called him back.
“I’m sorry if it’s unclear to you, but there’s no reason to get upset.”
“I just feel so stupid. This stuff should come easily to me.”
“No, it shouldn’t. This is what learning is about. There’s no shame in admitting that you don’t know something. That’s the only way you’re ever going to learn. I just was trying to see if you could figure it out for yourself. I didn’t when I first learned this trick,” Darren said. He placed his arm around Brent’s shoulder, and Brent relaxed a little, breathing a little easier.
Darren held the wood up in front of their faces, balancing it on the tips of his fingers. The outside of the wood was dripping wet with mud and water.
“Now, at first glance, you’re right. This wood doesn’t look like it’ll be any good on a fire. It’s wet, its muddy, and we probably should throw it back on the ground and try finding a bette
r piece. But, of course, that’s going to be true of most of the wood around here. We can’t just let all this wood lie around without being used. So, how can we get some use out of this wood?”
“I guess we could use it to build something,” Brent suggested.
“We could, but I’m talking about with fire.”
“Well, I guess we could find some way to dry it. If we had a towel or something, or if it was warmer. But I don’t think the sun is going to come out and dry the wood.”
“I don’t think so either,” Darren said, looking up at the cloudy sky.
It was bleak and miserable. The sun was hiding behind the blanket, not wanting to come out. Darren reached behind him and pulled out his knife. He started hacking away at the bark. As he cut it away the bright wood underneath became visible.
“Oh, it’s so obvious!” Brent said, laughing at himself. He pulled away from Darren and took out his own knife. Darren handed the piece of wood over to him and smiled.
“Yep, it is. I think sometimes we tend to over-think these things when the solution is actually pretty simple. All you have to do is cut away the outer bark and the inside wood is going to be perfectly dry. It might not be true for every piece of wood here, but it will be for the majority, and it’s much better to do this than to search the woods for the one good piece of dry wood,” Darren said.
Brent nodded and thanked him for the lesson.
“Now, let’s get to work and gather a good amount of wood. But be careful not to set any down on the mud. We don’t want it getting wet again,” Darren said, and carried some wood over to a nearby sturdy log, which they used as a bench.
The two of them gathered up wood and then removed the bark. At first, Darren gathered the wood and Brent stripped off all the bark. There was soon more wood than Brent could handle. He shook his hand, gasping in pain.
“This is hell on my wrist,” he said, flexing his fingers.
“Take a break if you need it,” Darren said. He looked at the pile of wood and joined his son, stripping away the wet bark.
“This is pretty different from what you’re used to, isn’t it?” Darren said. Usually Brent could be found staring at a screen, lost in a virtual world.
“It’s kinda relaxing, though,” Brent admitted.
“See? I told you there was more to life than your PlayStation!” Darren said, slapping him on the back.
“Don’t get me wrong, though. I’d still prefer to be sitting at home playing video games,” Brent said.
“I don’t know, a few more years of this and you’ll have forgotten all about our old life. This will be home to you,” Darren said. Brent suddenly looked admonished and bowed his head.
“Actually, there’s something I wanted to talk to you about, Dad,” he began. Darren paused and looked at his son, noting the seriousness in his voice.
“What’s up, Brent?”
“It’s about what you said. I was thinking about Michelle and I just...I don’t want her to forget Mom. I know you don’t like talking about her, but we can’t just forget about that part of our lives.”
“I know, Son. I didn’t mean to make you feel as though I’m trying to erase our past. We had a whole life together. I’m just trying to make sure we don’t dwell on the things we’ve lost. It’s a delicate balancing act and I know I’m not always successful in making it work. But you can be sure that I won’t let Michelle forget about anything,” Darren said.
“I liked talking about Christmas yesterday. It brought back a lot of nice memories.”
“Yes, it did. I hope we can do something for Christmas this year.”
“If the mountain lions allow it,” Brent replied, with a wry smile.
“We’ll check with them when we get back,” Darren said.
His hand was starting to ache now as well, so he took a break. He noticed how Brent continually was looking over at Betsy, but Darren decided not to say anything. If Brent wanted to talk to him about it, then he would come to Darren in his own time. Forcing the issue wouldn’t do any good. Secretly, he suspected Betsy would take the lead anyway. She seemed like the type of girl to go after what she wanted when she had settled on something she liked.
“I was thinking,” Brent began.
“That’s always dangerous,” Darren teased.
In such a tense world these moments of levity were precious. The storm had passed, and it felt better to be out in the world again, with the ability to roam around at their own pace and take in the violent beauty of nature. It was a relief to not have the rain pelting down upon their heads, or the wind trying to sweep them off their feet.
“Anyway,” Brent said, ignoring his father’s jibe, “I was thinking we could hunt for something to have a bit of a feast. We could make it like a Christmas dinner.”
“That’s not a bad idea. Although, I don’t think we’ll find a turkey around here. We might find some kind of bird, though,” Darren said, looking wistfully at the sky.
“It doesn’t even have to be a bird, really. It could be anything,” Brent said excitedly. He took his knife and imagined he was hunting a vicious animal, ready to strike and claim the kill. Darren told him to calm down a little.
“I think we should hold off on hunting until the mountain lions are gone. We’re supposed to be hoping they leave, not bringing food to their doorstep. I don’t really want to get into an argument about food with a wild animal. Somehow, I don’t think they’re the sharing kind.”
“I guess not,” Brent said.
“But we’ll start hunting as soon as we can,” Darren said. “I’m eager to get some real food in my stomach as much as you are.”
“And what if they don’t leave, Dad? Are we just going to live with them?”
“No, of course not,” Darren said. “We’ll find a way to get rid of them.”
“Even if we have to kill them?”
Brent’s question hung in the air.
“You know, there’s a difference between killing something for food and killing something for any other reason. I don’t want to harm those mountain lions unless we’re in danger from them. That’s not the kind of message I want to leave you kids with. We have to be careful, yes, but I don’t want to kill those cubs. If it comes to it, we’ll find a way to scare them away. It might take a gunshot, it might take fire, but we’ll find a way, and we’ll take our home back. Of course, we could be getting ahead of ourselves. We might get back and find they’ve left.”
Brent and Darren continued stripping off the wet bark. Darren whistled as he worked, finding the act of stripping the wood quite relaxing. They tossed the wet bark back down on the ground, finding no use for it at the moment. In time it would dry and might be useful again, but for the time being Darren and Brent only needed the dry bark. Eventually, they had enough wood for them to carry back.
They glanced up and saw the girls busy at work.
“It seems like that’s the end of the tantrum,” Brent said.
“Until the next one,” Darren said. “Betsy is good with them.”
“She’s good with a lot of things. We’re lucky we ran into them.”
“Yes, we are,” Darren said, smirking to himself as Brent gazed at Betsy.
Darren remembered what it was like to have feelings for a girl at that age. It seemed like the biggest secret someone ever could have. But in reality, it was obvious to everyone around you, especially adults, who had been through the same thing. It was funny how life was a cycle and people repeated the same behaviors over and over again. Darren just hoped Brent wouldn’t repeat his mistakes.
“Come on, Brent, let’s keep going,” he said, and the two of them continued stripping the bark, just a father and son sitting on a log. Nothing could have been simpler.
Darren wasn’t sure how much time had passed before the girls scampered back, showing him everything they had gathered. They’d managed to find a great deal of berries and nuts, all of them safe to eat. Darren was effusive in his praise, wanting to encourage the girls so t
hey saw this as a fun family activity, rather than physical labor.
“Betsy helped us get the berries that were out of our reach, but we found all of them!” Tara said.
“That’s great,” Darren replied, and then pointed to all the wood he and Brent had gathered.
The girls’ mouths hung open in amazement and they rushed over to Brent, wanting to understand how he had done it. He explained the process to them. But when they wanted to try for themselves, he shook his head, telling them they were too young to use a knife.
Tara and Michelle were disappointed, but they weren’t yet old enough to rebel and make a fuss about it. Darren knew, however, that at some point the little girls would grow older and would have to learn how to use a knife. The thought of the two of them wielding such a weapon was difficult to believe. But many things would change in the future, and probably far more quickly than he’d like to admit.
The girls’ praise did have a positive side effect, though, boosting Brent’s ego. There were times when Brent suffered from a lack of self-confidence and became discouraged. Darren put this down to the emotional turmoil behind Stacie leaving them. Before that, Brent always had been a confident boy. But his life definitely had been plunged into chaos and uncertainty reigned within him.
Darren had to admit that the same was true for himself as well. When Brent or Betsy brought up the subject of him meeting someone it made Darren feel uneasy, and not just for the reasons he would admit. When Stacie left him, she not only broke his heart and tore apart their family, she also shattered his self-confidence. He began wondering if he was even worthy of love, and that was a lot of baggage to take into a new romance. Stacie evidently had decided he wasn’t worth loving, and that type of blow would take a long time for him to get over.
In some ways, he thought it a blessing that they were alone and he didn’t have the opportunity to meet any new women. He didn’t have to face that challenge. Instead of taking a risk in the realm of love he could play it safe and refuse to face his demons. Still, one day he was sure he would meet someone he was attracted to again, and he’d have to deal with all these latent feelings. That wasn’t something he had to worry about now, though, and at least that was one less thing. There were only a million others.