by Perrin Briar
20
“COME ON, THEN,” Cassie said. “Let’s go!”
Bryan was surprised at Cassie’s excitement to get going. If he’d been a suspicious man he would have deduced something was afoot. He might have even noticed the mysterious bulge in Cassie’s backpack and the guilty expression on Aaron’s face.
Nothing could have been further from the expression on Cassie’s face when he’d informed her of the camping trip they would all be undertaking. Her eyes had been as wide as saucers, her mouth hanging open, her face stretched out like a terrible creature from a deep dark lagoon.
“I’m not going!” she screamed. “I’m not! I refuse! You’ll never get me to go! You won’t!”
“You will if you want to continue getting your allowance,” Bryan said.
Cassie stared at him like he’d just turned into the devil.
“You wouldn’t!” she said.
“I would,” Bryan said. “Just try me. Pack your things. We’re heading away this Saturday.”
Now, he hardly recognized her. She and Aaron whispered to one another, huddled over and chatting.
“Hey,” Bryan said to Zoe, raising his eyebrows and nodding in the direction of the kids. “Looks like your plan is working.”
Zoe smiled.
“Nothing like a common cause to bring people together,” she said. “All we have to do now is make them like us.”
“How could anyone not like you?” Bryan said, pulling her close.
“Thank you,” Zoe said. “But I’m sure not everyone feels the same way.”
“That’s their loss,” Bryan said, taking Zoe’s hand.
There were no paths through the forest. It made them feel like they were the first people to have entered its green clutches. Squirrels and pheasants took flight from the thick foliage, hooting when they came too close.
Ting tong ting tong ting tong ting tong!
A metallic sound, alien in the natural environment, disrupted the peaceful setting.
“What’s that?” Zoe said.
“It’s my laptop,” Bryan said. “I must have set the alarm. Sorry. Give me a minute and I’ll turn it off.”
He unshouldered his bag and turned the alarm off.
“Sorry,” Bryan said.
“That’s all right,” Zoe said.
Bryan put the laptop back in his backpack. They continued on through the woods on their gentle journey.
Ting tong ting tong ting tong ting tong! This time from Bryan’s pocket.
Zoe sighed in an irritated tone through her nose.
“I don’t know why they keep going off,” Bryan said. “I don’t remember setting any alarms.”
He reached into his pocket and took out his smartphone. He turned the alarm off.
“We’re here to get away from the city,” Zoe said.
“I know, I know,” Bryan said. “It should be okay now.”
But Bryan could sense the waves of irritation coming off Zoe. She focused on the woodland before them. This was going to be a long trip.
21
“WAIT A SECOND,” Zoe said, unshouldering her backpack. “I need to take a picture of this. Isn’t it incredible?”
The scene was of blue mountains, misty and lost to distance. An eagle soared above them, calling out with its powerful scree! The sky was blue and there wasn’t a cloud to be seen.
“Aaron, come look at this,” Zoe said.
“You keep them distracted,” Cassie whispered to Aaron. “I’ll put rocks in their backpacks and laxative in their water.”
Aaron approached Zoe and Bryan.
“Where’s Cass?” Bryan asked.
“She just went to the toilet,” Aaron said. “She’ll be here in a minute. Wow. It really is beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It sure is,” Zoe said, taking a few more pictures.
“I’d better go check on Cass,” Bryan said. “Knowing her she’ll have stepped on the only snake around here.”
Aaron glanced at the shallow rise that hid Cassie from view.
“Mom, why not take a picture of me and Bryan?” he said. “For the photo album.”
Zoe and Bryan exchanged a smile of satisfaction. Their plan was working.
“Sure,” Zoe said. “Come stand over here.”
Bryan and Aaron stood on a ledge that looked out on the canopy of treetops below. Bryan wrapped his arm around Aaron’s shoulders.
“Say ‘Cheese!’,” Zoe said.
“Cheese,” Bryan and Aaron said.
Zoe took a picture.
“That’s a keeper,” she said.
Cassie came over the rise, brushing the dirt off her hands.
“Cass,” Bryan said. “Come look at this view.”
Cassie flicked her eyes up at the incredible vista without really taking it in.
“Yeah, it’s great,” she said.
“You didn’t even look at it,” Bryan said.
Cassie sighed and looked at the scene of nature before her with exaggeration, letting her mouth hang open in mock bewilderment.
“Is that better?” she said.
“Much,” Bryan said.
Bryan wrapped an arm around her, and Zoe did the same with Aaron. To anyone passing by they would have looked like the quintessential happy family. When they returned to their backpacks, Bryan and Zoe grunted under the weight.
“We should make sure not to stop too often otherwise I might never get started again,” Bryan said.
Within ten minutes sweat was pouring down their faces.
“Can we stop a minute?” Bryan said. “I need to take a rest.”
“You and me both,” Zoe said.
“I haven’t been trekking in a while,” Bryan said. “Man, do I feel my age.”
Bryan and Zoe squirted the last of the water from their bottles into their mouths.
“I’m going to go refill my water,” Zoe said.
“I’ll come with you,” Bryan said. “Kids, can you wait here a minute?”
“Sure,” Aaron said.
The moment Bryan and Zoe were gone, Aaron and Cassie leapt to their feet and ran to Bryan and Zoe’s backpacks. They pulled the anti-mosquito spray from Bryan’s side pocket and tucked in their own concoction. It had the same casing. Aaron tucked Bryan’s spray in his pocket.
“Are you sure this’ll work?” Aaron said.
“According to the internet,” Cassie said. “Since when has the internet ever been wrong?”
“Did you put laxative in both their water bottles?” Aaron said. “Bryan looks fine.”
“Dad had his bottle with him,” Cassie said. “Don’t worry, we’ll get his later.”
Zoe and Bryan re-emerged. Bryan waved his hand at a mosquito. He reached into his backpack side pocket and sprayed himself with the mosquito spray.
“We’d best crack on,” Zoe said.
They grunted as they picked their backpacks up again. A mosquito buzzed around Bryan’s face. He smacked his cheek, but missed it.
22
TWENTY MINUTES LATER, and Zoe was pale as a ghost, sweat running down her face. She put her hand to her stomach and frowned.
“I don’t feel so hot,” she said.
“Apparently I do,” Bryan said, slapping his face. He had two dozen small red bumps on his face, neck and arms. “These damn mosquitos won’t leave me alone.”
Zoe didn’t respond, keeping her hands on her stomach. Then her eyes widened. She unshouldered her bag and let it hit the ground.
“Be right back!” she said, disappearing into the foliage.
“What’s wrong with her?” Bryan said.
“When you gotta go, you gotta go,” Cassie said.
Bryan slapped away another mosquito. He took the spray out and doused himself with it.
“This stuff must be watered down or something,” he said.
Zoe came through the hedge, her hair sticking up, her face drained of color.
“Better?” Bryan said.
“Yes,” Zoe said. “Much.”
“Of all the places to get ill,” Bryan said, shaking his head.
He slapped his cheek again. He was beginning to get red hand shapes on both cheeks.
23
THE YOUNG DEER lay on the ground on its side, legs feebly kicking out, making a gasping meh noise. It was a beautiful creature, terrible to see it in such pain. Its haunches were wet with blood, black gashes where something had attacked it.
“We need to get it to a vet,” Bryan said.
“It’ll die before we get it there,” Zoe said.
“So what do you suggest?” Bryan said.
Zoe took out her knife.
“I thought you were a fighter for animal rights?” Bryan said.
“I am,” Zoe said. “It’s in pain. It deserves the right to a painless death. I have to put it out of its misery. We can’t let it suffer like this.”
“Do you know how?” Bryan said.
“I think so,” Zoe said. “It’s a fairly simple procedure.”
Zoe placed the blade over the deer’s neck and then brought it across with a strong motion. The deer’s legs kicked out, and its body became still. Blood seeped over the forest floor.
“Aaron,” Zoe said. “In my bag you’ll find a collapsible shovel. Get it and start digging a hole, please.”
“Wait,” Bryan said. “Shouldn’t I carve it up?”
“Carve what up?” Zoe said.
“The deer,” Bryan said. “There’s a lot of good meat here.”
“You’re not serious?” Zoe said.
“Of course I am,” Bryan said. “This is what we’re here for, isn’t it? To enjoy nature in all its varieties.”
“Yes,” Zoe said. “But not to eat everything.”
“Seems a waste to leave it here,” Bryan said.
“That’s the beauty of nature,” Zoe said. “There’s rarely any waste. Something will come along and pick it up.”
“But we got to it first,” Bryan said. “We should eat it.”
Zoe looked Bryan over, and then shrugged her shoulders.
“All right,” she said. “If you’re sure you can eat it. But you’ll have to prepare it.”
“You’ll have to help me,” Bryan said. “I’m not entirely sure how to do it.”
“I’m sure Aaron can help you,” Zoe said.
“Aaron,” Bryan said, rubbing his hands together. “Fancy some deer steaks?”
“Sounds good,” Aaron said.
“Great,” Bryan said. “But, uh, have any idea how to do it?”
“First, you need to hang it up, and then cuts its belly open,” Aaron said. “Get rid of the guts, and then skin it. Then you cut the meat off into whatever size you want, and then cook it over the fire. Or you can hang it out to dry. Make some jerky.”
“How long does that usually take?” Bryan said.
“Depends on the thickness of the meat,” Aaron said. “About two days, I guess. But as we’re going to keep moving, you’re probably better off leaving whatever you don’t eat to one side. Something will eat it. Oh, and we can’t eat it here. The blood will attract whatever animals are in these woods.”
“Understood,” Bryan said.
He began hesitantly, but then realized hesitancy was not the woodsman’s friend. He hacked at the meat with greater aggression. The slop sound of the creature’s entrails spilling on the ground made him dry retch. Bryan backed away from the smell and covered his nose with his hand. He looked like he wasn’t sure if a steak was worth all this bother. But he persevered, and together with Aaron, cut the meat from the deer’s bones. He was not good at this, and there was lots of meat left on the bone that Zoe’s ex-husband would no doubt have never allowed to remain, but they had more than enough for themselves to make steaks. Aaron wrapped them up in broad leaf packages.
“Nature will tidy up after us,” Aaron said as they hit the road again.
“The scouts certainly are more thorough in teaching survival techniques these days,” Bryan said. “In my day it was just all about leaf types.”
“They didn’t teach me this,” Aaron said. “My father did.”
“He was clearly a very knowledgeable man,” Bryan said.
“He was the best,” Aaron said.
“I’m sure he still is,” Bryan said. “Your mother told me your theory that he might still be alive.”
Aaron shrugged.
“There’s no reason to think he’s not,” Bryan said. “But it’s important to remember to live your life with the assumption he won’t come back. Not that he won’t. He could. But just in case.”
“Thanks,” Aaron said.
His tone was hard to read, but Bryan thought he saw a smile on his lips. Boys are easier.
24
ZOE, CASSIE AND AARON set up the tents and pegged them down, beside one another.
Zoe curled up her nose at the smell of the smoking meat over the fire. The fat hissed, sending up fresh plumes of flames. The fire provided a beautiful light to the night, where the fireflies had come out to play. Cassie joined her father.
Aaron sidled up to his mother.
“Bryan’s not much like Dad, is he?” Aaron said, keeping his voice low.
“No,” Zoe said. “But we’re all different.”
“Dad never had a cell phone with him when we went on camping trips,” Aaron said. “How come Bryan does?”
“Your father loved nature,” Zoe said with a shrug.
“Bryan doesn’t love nature?” Aaron said.
Zoe looked at Bryan, who sat poking at the meat like someone who would much rather be doing something else.
“Of course he does,” Zoe said. “He’s just… not as good at showing it, that’s all.”
“Get a plate,” Bryan said. “I think it’s done. Would you like some of this, Zoe?”
“I’m fine, thanks,” Zoe said, spooning cooked vegetables onto her plate.
“Aaron?” Bryan said.
“Yes, please,” Aaron said.
Bryan ladled a fleshy piece of leg onto a plate. Aaron’s eyes widened at the size of it. The grease dripped from their fingers and lips, but boy, did it taste good.
After they were finished eating, they all sighed with satisfaction and let the calmness of the night wash over them. They all suddenly felt tired and weary to their bones.
“I’m ready for bed,” Zoe said. “It’s been a long day.”
“I know what you mean,” Bryan said.
They cleared up and got ready for bed, brushing their teeth using water from their bottles.
“See you in the morning,” Zoe said to Cassie and Aaron. “Sleep well.”
“You too,” Aaron said.
They got into their respective tents and zipped up the front.
“End of day one,” Bryan said. “Going well so far?”
“Yes,” Zoe said. “I think so. With Cassie and Aaron always whispering and smiling at one another I don’t think we have to worry about them getting on.”
“But with us?” Bryan said.
“Maybe we can split up and do a few more activities between us,” Zoe said. “You with Aaron, me with Cassie.”
Bryan nodded.
“That makes sense,” he said. “Any idea what activities in particular?”
“No,” Zoe said. “Let’s play it loose and let what happens happen.”
They lay back and relaxed, settling into their sleeping bags, curling up close to share body heat.
“Cassie seems different to what you told me about her,” Zoe said.
“She can be difficult at times,” Bryan said.
“No, it’s not that,” Zoe said. “She reminds me of my sister, Jessica. She pretends to be strong and tough, but really she’s just covering herself. She doesn’t want anyone to know she’s really hurting. I don’t think she likes me much, though.”
“Jessica?” Bryan said.
“No, Cassie,�
�� Zoe said.
“Of course she does,” Bryan said. “She just doesn’t show it, that’s all.”
“It’s just been you two for so long I don’t think she knows how to share you,” Zoe said.
“She’ll learn,” Bryan said.
“Maybe we should take this slower,” Zoe said.
“We’ve been seeing each other for nine months,” Bryan said. “How much slower can we go?”
“I just don’t want to mess up what we have again,” Zoe said.
“I understand,” Bryan said. “Neither do I.”
He kissed her on the lips.
“With George I always felt like I was the one with my feet firmly on the ground,” Zoe said. “He was the one whose head was up in the clouds somewhere. Sometimes I felt like I couldn’t go with him.”
Bryan nodded.
“I know what you mean,” he said. “Leslie could be the same. Sometimes it was hard just keeping up with her. She was an author, all imagination, no common sense. People like that are special, different. But it makes it hard for those they leave behind.”
Zoe smiled and snuggled in closer to Bryan, at home with someone who understood exactly how she felt.
25
THE FLAKES OF SNOW rushed into a frenzy, rising up into the sky before falling to the ground in slow motion, covering the idyllic scene in a thin layer. Aaron shook the snow globe again.
“Why do you keep doing that?” Cassie said.
Aaron looked up at her. He hadn’t realized she’d been watching. His cheeks flushed red. He tucked the globe under his pillow.
“Freak,” Cassie said. “Of all the things you could have brought with you, why did you bring that? It’s full of water and really heavy.”
“It was the last thing my father gave me before he left,” Aaron said.
The admission came out of left field.
“I see,” Cassie said. She couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“He said that any time I feel sad or lonely or that I miss him, I should look at this globe and he’ll be with me,’” Aaron said. “Then he looked into my eye and lied to me. He said, ‘I’ll be back before you graduate from second grade.’”