The Flavor Of Love

by Shiree McCarver

  Once the rain started, she couldn't see a thing. All she could see was the white of the hard showers. She could barely make out her hands before her. Several times she cursed her own stupidity for veering off the path to pick wild berries. Etta imagined surprising Keigo with pancakes and homemade wild-berry syrup for breakfast along with an apology. She also wanted him to know she was ready to move on with her life. The talk she had with her mother had helped her immensely and she realized she didn’t want to continue going through her life alone.

  Etta thought the flashlight would help and it did somewhat. She could at least make out everything about two-feet ahead. She felt the rawness developing on her heels from the friction of her soaked tennis shoes, a painful reminder that she appalled shoes, but barefooted in the woods wouldn’t have been a bright idea either.

  She cried out more than once as she made her way down the slippery grassy slope. Her thoughts wondered once more to Keigo. He was all she could think of since he kissed her. She wondered what he was doing now.

  He’d been so busy. She doubted he even realized she was gone. Maybe Nan would be worried enough to go and tell him that she hadn’t returned to the cabin. Probably not; the woman wanted Keigo for herself, along with “look at me, I can jog ten miles” Carla. Hell, every teenybopper schoolgirl set to arrive probably was here because they heard about the sexy young television Judge, Keigo Kyou, was personally teaching at the camp.

  “I could be about to die out here and I’m jealous! How crazy is that? Damn, this is not good,” she moaned in frustration. Etta paused. “Oh my God, are those headlights I see? I must be close to the main rock path. I’ve got to make it closer so whoever it is will be able to see me.”

  Etta took off in a jog, moving as fast as she could across the wet grass, rocks and broken limbs. She never realized how creepy a forest could be when the sun went down, especially when you were cold, wet and tired. With each step, she could feel the ground becoming softer making it feel as if the earth was shifting beneath her feet.

  Thunder sounded and lightening gave her a brief glimpse of her surroundings as she struggled her way towards the lights in the distant. The lights appeared to be moving slow so they must be searching for her, thank God.

  “I’m over here!” Etta yelled from between clattering teeth. It didn’t take her long to realize how futile calling out was. No one would be able to hear her over the torrential shower and thunder.

  The three drenched braids slapped wetly against her back while the rest of her hair clung to her temple, face and neck as she half ran, half slid her way towards the approaching vehicle.

  Just as Etta felt a ray of hope arise, she was no longer moving forward she was falling back as the ground caved in beneath her feet. With a horrified scream, she went plummeting bottom first into an earth rift caused by the steady stream of water washing down the hillside.

  ***

  Keigo felt physically ill from the fear that gripped his gut. His knuckles were white from the chokehold he had on the steering wheel, removing one hand long enough to shift gears. He had hoped he would never go through this experience again. The woman he loved was out of his reach during a rainstorm. He hated being out in the rain. He also hated driving but here he was doing both and all for Etta. She indeed has changed him.

  Admittedly, he hadn’t known her for long, but for the time he had spent with her, it felt like he’s known her all his life. She was different, exciting with a bold, yet calming, spirit. Now that he had met her, he couldn’t imagine never getting the chance to explore the possibilities she brought into his insecure lackluster life.

  Keigo decided once he found Etta, he would not waste another moment over-thinking his attraction to a woman so opposite of himself. His parents would not have approved, but he’d stopped trying to please his family once his father died. His older brother had tried to take up where his father left off, but Keigo was so buried in his grief, no one could sway him from his decision to stop pursuing his climb to the Supreme Court.

  Keigo’s mind reflected to the quote that he had taped to the top of his laptop in law school. Carpe diem, quam minimum credula poster, “Seize the day, trust as little as possible in tomorrow.” Keigo translated aloud in the quiet darkness of the jeep. “Shit, I’m not getting anywhere this way.”

  He rolled to a halt and looked around to see if he could make out anything on the side of the road besides standing rain. He fished his hand into his jacket pocket and pulled out Etta’s cell phone. What he was thinking was crazy, but what did he have to lose at this point. Obviously, Etta wasn’t at the camp because Reko hadn’t called him and it could take all night searching while sitting in a car. He wouldn’t be able to see her until he was about to run her over.

  Keigo pressed the button on Etta’s phone to recall the last caller. It rang only once before a frantic Fay answered the phone.

  “Etta? Baby?”

  “No…no, Fay, it’s Keigo. Etta left her phone in the kitchen.”

  “I’ve been about to go crazy! I’ve had this awful dream that something has happened to my baby.”

  “Etta went for a walk Fay, and it’s raining up here. She hasn’t returned. I’m looking for her along with the entire camp staff,” Keigo hurriedly explained. “I can’t believe I’m asking this, but is there anything you can tell me that will help me to find her.”

  He held the phone as he heard her speaking with Auntie Loo in the background. “Keigo, Auntie Loo says her father is watching over her. She sees a single light in the darkness.”

  “What the hell does that mean, Fay? I don’t know how to break this stuff down,” he barked rubbing his brow.

  “I know, Keigo, but what I need you to do is stop not believing in what you don’t understand or can’t see. I need to you to open yourself up and look out at your surroundings for me. Let me see what you see. For all our sakes you must believe…believe...believe…” Fay chanted in his ear over and over again.

  “Believe…believe…” Keigo repeated. “What the hell!” Keigo pulled up the emergency brake and moved to open the door. Not wanting to get water in the phone or chance getting hit by lightening, he said, “Fay, I think I saw something. I need to hang up. I don’t want to go out in the rain with the phone. I will call you right back once I find her. You and Auntie Loo keep doing whatever you’re doing in case I need your help again.”

  Keigo pushed the off button on the phone and zipped it up in his raincoat pocket with his cell phone.

  “I could have sworn I saw a light moving on the left,” he mumbled. He turned off the lights leaving on the emergency blinkers. He then rolled down the window and concentrated his gaze in the area he thought he glimpsed a flicker of light.

  Rubbing a hand across his aching stomach, he pulled the hood of his parka over his head with a deep sigh and got out of the car to search the area he thought he saw the light coming from. He leaned in and removed the large utility flashlight from beneath his seat. Slamming the vehicle door behind him, he tested the area with his booted foot before heading forward onto the soft shoulders of the ground. Previous experience taught him that when it rained up here, solid earth could easily turn into crevices and hallows that weren’t there before.

  “Etta,” he yelled out in the darkness and forged ahead. Was that another flash of light? He briefly shut off his flashlight, allowing the night to swallow him up and that’s when he saw it again, barely visible in the rain. It was like the soft glow of a nightlight.

  Keigo turned on his flashlight and took off in a dead run. His nearly sliding down into a sinkhole reminded him of the treacherous territory he was running haphazardly through. He returned to applying safety first. It wouldn’t help Etta if he stupidly broke a leg or arm or worse, before finding her. It was a painstakingly slow going, but eventually he reached the spot where the small trail of light shined upward.

  He tested the dirt around the hole before dropping to his stomach and flashing his light down on a prostrate Etta. The flashlig
ht she held had landed light up in the mud. It was the only reason he found her. He could see the light flickering as the hole was filling up with water.

  Fear sent a wave of nausea through him, gripping his heart and stomach in a vice. Memories of the past came to haunt him and he felt bile in the back of his throat and gagged. Keigo closed his eyes, forcing himself to the here and now. Etta has to be alive. She just had to be. There was no way God would do this to him twice.

  Please God, don’t you dare do this to me again…I beg of you. “Etta! Can you hear me? Sweetheart, I need you to say something if you can’t move. Does it feel like anything is broken? Can you move at all?”

  Silence.

  “Baby, come on!” I know you can hear me. You know today has been the only day I got finished early enough to seek you out. I intend to collect on that second kiss I’ve been thinking about since the last one. Please, let me see those pretty brown eyes.”

  Silence.

  Keigo bit down on the back of his teeth before bellowing, “Goddamn you, woman! Open your fucking eyes and look at me! NOW, damn you!”

  Etta started to cough and moan. “Daddy, don’t go…Daddy.”

  He didn’t think he’d ever experienced such joy. “Etta…Etta…honey, can you hear me?”

  “Dad?” Her eyes fluttered open and she wiped her wet hair out of her eyes with muddy fingers. “Keigo? Is…is that you?”

  “It’s me sweetheart,” he laughed, but it sounded more like a sob to his ears. “It’s you’re Judge Sexy! I’m here to get you out of here, darling.”

  “Judge Sexy? You know how silly that sounds coming from you?” She yelled up at him coming up on her elbows. “It’s about time you came lookin’ for me and don’t think I’m not going to kick your ass for using God’s name in vain.”

  “Yeah, sweetheart,” he chuckled. “I will gladly allow you to kick my ass for it later.”

  “Count on it!” She grinned up at him until she folded over in coughs. Muddy water entered her opened mouth. “Keigo,” she managed after a few seconds. “Get me out of here,” she cried.

  “Etta, baby, can you move? Can you stand? This embankment area I’m on is getting softer under my weight. I need you to move to the other side where it appears to be more shallow. There may be a rock over there. I could probably reach down and help you climb out of there.”

  “I’ll try. I’m…ahh…hurting all over,” she groaned. After a few slippery attempts, she managed to come up on her feet. “I’m okay. I don’t feel as if I broke anything.”

  He shined the flashlight on her mud-covered face and she flinched when it hit her eyes but he had to assure himself that she was okay.

  He veered off her face as she placed a hand over her eyes to shade some of the brightness. He saw her hold out her hands and gather up a palm of rain water using it to wash the dirt from her face and keep it from getting in her eyes.

  “Keigo, there is a lot of water coming in here. It’s over my ankles. Every time I make a move, my feet keep sinking deeper in the mud, like quicksand.”

  “I know darling, but I don’t want to leave you to go back to the car to get a rope. You have to try as hard as you can to make your way to the other side.”

  “Okay.”

  Keigo pushed himself up off the ground with a grunt and she cried out as the light briefly disappeared. Her flashlight was long gone buried under water and mud.

  “Nooo,” She cried out. “Don’t leave me, please don’t leave me. I will make it over there, I swear!”

  Quickly Keigo shined the light back down on her. “Honey, I’m not going to leave you. I’ll never leave you, okay? I just need to remove the light from you so I can see where to step as I make it over to the other side.” He waited for her to reply. “Tell me when you’re ready for me to take away the light.”

  “Okay,” she nodded her head. Etta turned and braced her hands on the dirt wall and started making her way in the direction Keigo had indicated. She briefly looked up at him and yelled, “Okay, go ahead!”

  Keigo was so proud of her. The determination he saw on her face was all the inspiration he needed to push forward. Etta was a fighter; she wasn’t going to let a little thing like a rising waterhole take her away from him.

  The sound of another woman’s screams sounded in his head and Keigo hesitated as a wave of apprehension swept through him, threatening to paralyze his movements. He paused and swayed on his feet. Claire had screamed before as his foot pumped at the brakes. The realization that they weren’t going to stop was horrifying. He drew in a deep breath because he couldn’t think about it now. Not now! Keigo clung to the reality of the current danger that he was in and silently prayed his fears would not make him fail to save Etta.

  “Keigo? Are you up there? Are you okay? I think I’ve reached the other side! It’s a feels like the roots of a tree.”

  “Baby, I’m right here.” He shined the light in the hole to confirm her whereabouts, noticing the water had moved up to her calf and she was standing on tree roots. He moved to stand over her and removed his belt from his jeans. “Etta, I’m going to lower my belt down to you down to you and I want you to wrap it around your wrist and hold the end. Once you have a secure hold, yank on it a little and I will pull upward.”

  “I’ll be too heavy!”

  “No you won’t. I want you to dig your feet into the muddy side and use your other hand to dig in and feel. If you are on a large root of the tree, there should be more if you follow along the line. Grip the vines where you can and pull yourself up, while I pull. I’ll have to put the light down.

  “Okay. I’m ready.”

  Determined, Keigo grimly set about getting Etta out of the hole. As his feet fought and dug into the wet soil for an advantage, he had an indefinable feeling of emotions. The pulse in his forehead throbbed as adrenalin roared through his body, giving him the added burst of strength he needed to hold on as she used the belt to aid her in her climb.

  The site of both her hands and arms coming over the crest was as joyful as seeing his daughter, Miko’s head crest in birth. Keigo bent over and grabbed her beneath the arms. With a loud cry, he fell back onto the ground with the welcoming weight of her body sprawled on top of him.

  “Keigo…Keigo!” She sprayed his face with muddy kisses before wrapping her arms around his neck in a tight hold. He felt such a rush of relief.

  A strange numbed comfort settled about his shoulders. He refused to let Etta move as he buried his hands into her wet hair to hold her against him. His chin rested against the top of her head as his freezing numbed fingers fisted the thin braids at the nape of her neck in his hand. For that moment he wanted to brand her body to his and forever keep her safe.

  Keigo could feel her heart beating rapid and strong through the thickness of their soaked and muddy clothing, and it was very reassuring to his shattered nerves. Etta had no idea of the effort it had taken him to force himself behind the wheel of a car again. But he had done it. He conquered his greatest obstacle and she was the prize he planned on cherishing for the remainder of his life.

  Their mutual scare tied them together with an invisible cord that no one else would be able to comprehend unless they had been a part of what had just taken place here. Keigo couldn’t have felt closer to Etta than he did right now. He didn't think he could know her any more intimately than he did at that very instant.

  He felt that they were quiescent in the rain, naked and like an open wound, healing underneath the shower of God’s tears. It was one of the most humbling moments of his entire life.

  He began to shake and his chest felt as if it would burst. The muscles of his forearms hardened beneath the soaked ran slicker. He continued to hold on to Etta and he did something he hadn’t been able to do since before his wife died. Keigo succumbed to his tears.

  CHAPTER 10

  Etta stood there a muddy mess while her coworkers clamored around showing genuine concern, which was great but she was sore, hungry, thirsty and tired. She just
wanted to be alone, well not quite alone. She wanted to be alone with Keigo.

  Her eyes watched him. The deep pockets of fatigue rested heavily around his black eyes. She wondered what had caused him to weep so, as he held her in his arms. She knew he felt relief from saving her, but she also sensed his pain came from somewhere darker and deeper.

  “Keigo?” she whispered and he leaned down to hear. “Just in case I forgot to tell you, thank you for coming after me. I’m so proud of you. You drove that jeep to find me and in the rain. I know how difficult that must have been for you.”

  “No thanks is necessary, sweetheart. I’m just thankful I got to you in time. If something had happened to you, I don’t think I could have made that call to Fay and Auntie Loo,” he gave her a tired grin.

  “Keigo, I’m not scared.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m said, I’m not scared anymore either,” Etta admitted.

  His eyes shot wide. His eyes darkened and a lazy grin spread across his lips. He nodded in an understanding that only they could share. Keigo clapped his hands together to get everyone’s attention.

  “Okay, listen up! From the looks of things while I was up there, the upper road is washing out as we speak. We’re going to have to wait until the rain stops and the ground firms a bit to move in the heavy equipment to smooth out and lay some more gravel for the main road leading to the highway. That means everything, including the inspections, will be pushed back.”

  Everyone mumbled in agreement, which Etta realized that this must be a common occurrence for the employees of this camp, minus her almost dying of course.

  “With that said, where is Nan?” Keigo searched the crowd.

  Etta was sure the ever-loyal Nan wasn’t too far away from Keigo. She was right.

  “Right here, Keg.” The attractive tall and voluptuous African American woman came forward.