Becca started to sob again as the plane disappeared. “They went away! They left us here!”
“It’s okay, Becca! It’s okay!” Kristi rushed to reassure her. “That was my mom and dad! They saw us and they’ll be back to get us as soon as they can!”
“Your dad has an airplane?” Tiffany asked incredulously.
“Uh-huh. He’s a pilot for a big airline company, but he has his own small plane that he likes to fly for fun. We go on vacations in it sometimes,” Kristi explained.
“There’s not room to land here,” Dan added. “They’re probably radioing our location to the authorities right now, and help will be on its way in no time! Whew! That’s a relief!”
“Do you think they’ll get here before dark, though?” Skeeter asked.
“I don’t know,” Dan confessed. “It’ll be close. We might be here all night, after all, if it’s too dangerous for them to come after us in the dark.”
“If I know Mom, that won’t happen!” Kristi said with confidence. “Now that they know where we are, nothing will stop her from coming to get us!”
They sat down to wait. “Well, since help is on its way, why don’t we eat the rest of the snacks?” Skeeter said hopefully. “I’m starving!”
“What if they don’t get here until morning, though? Shouldn’t we save some for later?” Robyn asked.
“I agree with Kristi. They’ll come. Even if it’s after dark. Mom won’t let us stay another night out here,” Skeeter said.
“I’m stawving, too!” Becca said. And with that she opened her backpack and dug out her snacks. The issue was settled.
They settled down with the last of the candy bars, licorice and cookies. “Remind us to buy you a whole bunch of goodies at the snack shack, Becca,” Skeeter said. “We owe you!”
“Okay, I will wemind you,” she said seriously. “I weally like popsicles the best, but they are too melty to cawwy in my backpack.”
“Well, I’ll buy you a popsicle, and you can eat it right then and there, okay?” Skeeter said with a grin.
“Okay. I will wemind you.”
Skeeter laughed. “Yeah, I’m sure you will!”
Time seemed to drag by. Tiffany asked them about some of the trips they had taken in the Cameron’s plane. She listened as they told her about the fun they had had flying all together to the Rocky Mountains in Colorado, and Anna’s grandfather’s ranch in Texas. “You are so lucky,” she said wistfully. Kristi knew that she was thinking of much more than a ride in the plane.
The last shreds of color were fading in the sky when they finally heard voices calling in the distance. “Here! Here!” they cried out. “We’re over here!” At last they saw beams of light dancing between the trees. “This way!” they yelled and picked up their bags to run toward the light.
They didn’t have to. Rachel and Steve Cameron burst through the trees with their arms open wide to gather their children to them. “What are we going to do with you kids?” Rachel half-cried and half-laughed as she hugged her daughter. “Skeeter! How’s your arm? Did you hurt it again?” She released Kristi and reached for her youngest son.
“Aww, Mom, I’m fine!” Skeeter protested as his mother grasped him in a big bear hug. “The cast looks a little the worse for wear after being in the rain yesterday, but otherwise my arm is fine.”
Steve looked at Skeeter strangely. “Is that your sister’s pink sweatshirt you’re wearing, son?” he asked.
Skeeter flushed. He had totally forgotten about the offensive girly shirt. He ripped it off, and mumbled, “I didn’t have my jacket. Kristi made me wear it to keep my cast dry.” He glanced at Tiffany to see if she thought he was weird, or something.
“I never even noticed,” she assured him in a whisper.
The other searchers who had followed Rachel and Steve to their children came up just then and there were a lot of hugs and smiles and “Praise the Lord’s” for a few minutes. Their youth pastor from Lakeview was shaking his head at Skeeter. “Why do I have the feeling that you were behind this escapade, Skeeter?” Pastor Tim said.
Skeeter put on his best ‘innocent’ face. “No, I wasn’t! Honest! All I did was try to help!” he protested.
Tiffany stepped forward, “It’s my fault. I got mad and left the camp and Becca followed me. They all went looking for Becca, and ended up finding us when we were really lost and in trouble. Please don’t be mad at them.”
Rachel smiled. “You must be Tiffany. Am I right? And this is Becca?”
“Yes.” Tiffany took Becca’s hand and pulled her close. She put her arm around the retarded girl protectively. “Becca was trying to be a good friend to me, too. She was worried that I would get cold and wet and she brought me my jacket.”
“What a nice friend you are, Becca!” Rachel said with a teary smile.
Becca grinned and said, “Yes, I am a vewy good friend!"
Steve turned to Dan. “Are you all okay, Dan? Is anyone hurt?”
“No, we’re fine.” He decided against mentioning their close call with the mountain lion just then. Time enough for that later when his mom wasn’t quite so—emotional. “How did you happen to be looking for us, though? We were shocked to see it was your plane up there!”
“Oh, you know your mother! As soon as they called us last night and told us you were missing, we flew up here. We took off in the plane then at dawn this morning looking for you. There are a couple helicopters and about a hundred other people looking on foot and horseback, too!”
“What?! What took them so long to find us then? We didn’t get that far away from the campgrounds, did we?” Skeeter asked.
“Oh, just a couple miles. The problem is they were concentrating the search around Hidden Lake.”
“Why were they looking around the lake?” Pete asked with a frown.
“Someone said they had last seen Kristi, Anna and Robyn headed toward the boathouse, and Becca was following them. They thought Tiffany might be there, too, and then they figured for some reason you boys had gone with them, as well,” Rachel said.
“Well, they were partially right, anyway.” Dan said.
“Hey, we’re starving!” Skeeter said. “And thirsty! Can’t we go back to camp now? What’s for supper tonight?” he asked.
Pastor Young was there, too. “Well, if we hurry we’ll get back just in time for the Friday night bonfire! Hot dogs and s’mores. How does that sound?” he asked.
“Sounds great to me! Let’s go!” Skeeter said eagerly.
“Friday night! That’s right!” Kristi exclaimed. “It’s the last night. I can’t believe we missed a whole day and night of camp,” she groaned.
“Oh, yes. You missed out on all the fun—a giant search and rescue mission, and a big prayer meeting!” Pastor Tim said.
“They all stopped everything just to look for us? Just to pray for us?” Tiffany asked.
“Of course, Tiffany. Everyone was terribly worried about you.” Pastor Young replied. Tiffany didn’t say anything else, but she hung her head and looked ashamed.
Several of the rescuers had canteens of water with them and they passed those around now to the teenagers. It was a relief just to get a nice long drink of water, and once they were satisfied they felt more than ready for the long hike back to camp.
It turned out to be not such a long, hard walk as they had thought it would be. Apparently, they had wandered in circles the day before. It took them only an hour to get back to the camp now, following Pastor Young and the other rescuers. Pete and Dan looked a little sheepish as they broke through the trees back onto the campground. “I can’t believe we were that close all this time,” Dan muttered.
“Just a couple miles,” Pastor Young informed him. “But don’t feel bad. Believe it or not, you’re not the first ones to get lost out there. Those deer trails circle around all over the place and don’t really lead to anything. Hikers think they’re walking a real trail and end up lost every year." He patted Dan on the back. “At least you all did the rig
ht thing and stopped before you got too far away. Now, come on. Every one’s probably out on the beach at the bonfire already.”
“Hot dogs!” Skeeter exclaimed.
“S’mores!” Robyn said.
“Yeah! S’mores! I’m stawving!” Becca agreed. She began to hurry as fast as her short little legs could go.
A huge bonfire blazed on the beach. A cheer rose from the campers gathered around it when they appeared out of the darkness. A man and a woman came running toward them. “Becca!” the woman cried. They had driven to the camp as quickly as they could, only arriving at Hidden Lake camp a few hours before. They had been greeted with the happy news that their little girl and her friends had been found, but until they could hold her in their arms again, they had been on pins and needles.
“Mommy! Daddy!” Becca exclaimed in surprise. They were crying as they scooped her up and clung to her. “What are you doing here, Mommy? I am having so much fun at camp! We are going to have s’mores at the bonfiwe! I love s’mores! And hot dogs, too. I’m stawving!” Her ordeal was already just a distant memory as she cheerfully chattered on to her shaken parents, not even realizing why they had come.
The girls from Redwood Cabin rushed up to Kristi, Robyn and Anna. “What happened? Where were you? Are you okay?” they flooded them with questions. They ignored Tiffany.
Kristi drew Tiffany up close to her side. She didn’t mention the reason why they had gone off of the campground in the first place. She simply said, “We got lost the other night looking for Becca in the storm. You should have seen Tiffany, though. She is a real hero. She found Becca first and protected her, and took such good care of her. She actually even saved her life!”
There was silence for a moment as the other girls stared at Tiffany. Finally Marlee said, “Wow, Tiffany! That’s wonderful! Good job!” There was another awkward moment of silence, and then the other girls joined in congratulating her, patting her on the back and praising her.
Tiffany had no idea what to say. She was grateful that Kristi had not told them all her full role in what had happened, but she felt like a phony. She tried to smile and say thank you, but all she wanted to do was run away and hide.
Kristi and Anna would have none of that, though. They each took her by an arm and drew her into the circle around the bonfire. “Tiffany, they just want to be your friends,” Kristi whispered. “Give them a chance, okay?”
Tiffany nodded slightly and accepted a stick with a hot dog on it from Robyn. Skeeter came up to her with another one, already roasted. “Here, Tiffany. You’ve got to be as hungry as I am! I didn’t waste any time yakking, though. First things first! Have a hot dog!”
Tiffany laughed and took the hot dog from him. “I don’t think anyone could be as hungry as you, Skeeter! But thanks! I’m sure I could eat two hot dogs tonight, and a couple s’mores, besides!”
Becca came over just then, dragging her parents with her. She started introducing all her new friends to them. She stopped suddenly when she came to Skeeter and said, “Oh-oh, Skeeter, I am weminding you—you are supposed to buy me a popsicle and snacks at the snack shack, wemember? You didn’t fowget, did you?”
“No, I didn’t forget, but we’ll have to wait for the snack shack to open tomorrow, Becca, okay?” Skeeter said with a chuckle.
“Okay. Should I wemind you again tomowwow?”
“Oh, yeah! Don’t forget to remind me!”
Becca nodded and then turned to her mother. “And this is Tiffany, Mommy,” she said. “She is my best fwiend. Do you know she saved my life? She did! A big mountain lion twied to eat me, but Tiffany hit him in the head with her little suitcase and saved me!”
“What?!” her mother gasped. “What are you talking about, Becca?”
A silence fell over those gathered around them. Tiffany felt everyone’s eyes staring at her. She wished Becca had not brought up the mountain lion, but now the retarded girl chatted on.
“It’s twue! The lion jumped off the wocks, and Tiffany pushed me out of the way. I huwt my hand a little, but it’s okay now, Mommy, and Tiffany whacked him in the head and he was scawed of her and wan away! She saved my life ‘cuz he was gonna eat me! Tiffany is my hewo!”
Tiffany shook her head. “I didn’t do it alone. Kristi and Dan and the others ran up just then and helped scare him away. But it was really God who saved us. Really. It was a miracle.”
It was Rachel and Steve’s turn to stare at their children. “Aww, Mom, don’t get excited!” Skeeter said. “We’re all okay! And Becca’s right—Tiffany’s being modest, but she really was a hero out there.”
The teenagers around them broke out into excited chatter. If they thought Tiffany was a hero before, now they were really impressed. Word spread throughout the rest of the campers and soon everyone was coming over to them, asking questions about their ordeal and the frightening encounter with the cougar.
Pastor Young called for attention and asked the campers to gather around the fire. “We have a lot to thank and praise the Lord for tonight, don’t we? Why don’t we take a few minutes and share some testimonies right now. Who would like to go first?”
One by one Kristi and her brothers and friends got to their feet and shared how the Lord had protected them, and how thankful they were for the way He had answered prayer—not only their own, but those of their friends who had been praying for them, as well.
Tiffany had moved back to the shadows, away from the light of the bonfire. She was alone again—as she had been for so long, now. She listened and watched as the teenagers stood and praised God, unafraid to share their faith and their feelings. Her heart ached for whatever it was that they had—joy, contentment, peace, strength, a real relationship with God. She bowed her head in despair.
Pastor Young had just stood to close the time of testimonies when Tiffany suddenly rose. Without even realizing what she was doing she walked forward to the fire. It had burned down by then, until it was just embers among the ashy logs, but there was still plenty of light from the dying fire for the crowd to see her as she stood before them all. Tears were running down her cheeks, but a peace and joy glowed from her that they had never seen on Tiffany’s face before.
“May I say something, Pastor Young?” she asked. At his nod she continued. “All evening you’ve been congratulating me for being a hero. The truth is, if it weren’t for me, there never would have been a problem to begin with. If I hadn’t acted so ugly, none of us would have been out there lost in the storm and almost killed by a mountain lion. I put Becca, and Kristi and the others in danger, and for that I want to ask their forgiveness. I also want to apologize to you all for the way I have behaved this week. You all tried to treat me with kindness and I rejected it and returned your offers of friendship with hatefulness, bullying, name-calling and even thievery. For that I am truly sorry and I ask forgiveness of you all.”
Tiffany took a deep breath and wiped at the tears on her face. “I have had plenty of time to do some real thinking in the last two days, and the Lord has opened my eyes to a couple things. One of them is the witness of a special girl named Becca.” Becca’s face lit up at the mention of her name. “Becca loves people. Becca forgives people no matter what they do to her, or how they treat her. I know, because she showed me that love and forgiveness even after I had been mean to her. She is the true hero because she conquered her fears in order to be a friend to someone she saw as lonely and in need. When I compare myself to Becca, I see that, in reality, she is the bigger person, and I am the one who is handicapped.
“I’ve been lonely most of my life. I have built walls around myself to try to keep out the pain and hurt of being rejected by people. I learned to hurt others before they could hurt me. In all that time I did not see that there was Someone who wouldn’t hurt me, who would never leave me or forsake me, who would be there to bear whatever cares I chose to cast on Him. I refused to accept the fact that He had died on the cross to take away not only my sins, but my pain and hurt and fears, as well. Well,
I want you all to know that I have accepted Him now. I asked Jesus to forgive me of my sins and be my Lord and Savior just a few minutes ago, and He has done that. I felt the burden lift away.”
There were soft cries of Praise the Lord! and Amen! from those gathered around the bonfire. Tiffany saw Kristi, and Anna, and Robyn wiping tears away, as well. She took another breath. “I just want to say one more thing. I know now that even if I am alone when I go home, I’ll never be lonely again because I will have Jesus with me always.”
Kristi jumped up to hug Tiffany, followed by the rest of the girls from Redwood Cabin. Becca jumped up and down, trying to wiggle her way into the group of girls gathered around Tiffany. “Hug! Hug! I need a hug, Tiffany!” she was calling.
Tiffany laughed through her tears and pulled Becca to her. She gave the special girl a big hug and said “Thank you, Becca, for all you did for me! You are a very, very special friend!”
Becca pulled back a little and said, “And you are a vewy, vewy special fwiend, too. And you know what, Tiffany? You are not neawly as pwickly to hug as you used to be!”
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CHAPTER THIRTEEN
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Coming Home
The bonfire had finally died out. They had ended the special time together by singing praise choruses around the glow of the burning embers. It was an evening they would all remember for a long, long time. Steve and Rachel Cameron and Becca’s parents had gone to a motel for the night. They would all be leaving for home in the morning. It was sad to think they would not see most of these new friends until they returned to camp next year.
Tiffany was surrounded by her cabin-mates as they walked back to Redwood Cabin that night. They were laughing and chatting as they passed the lodge. Pastor Young came out of the big log building just as they walked by and called out, “Tiffany, there’s a phone call for you!”
Tiffany stopped. “A phone call for me?” she asked in disbelief.
“Uh-huh. It’s your parents, I think.”
Storm Over Hidden Lake (Kristi Cameron Book 6) Page 10