by Jayne Louise
By myself I went back to the volleyball net and retrieved the ball from where we’d left it, assuming we’d play again. It was a pleasant stroll and though I kept alert for any visitors, there was never anything to worry about. Coming around the corner of the gift shop I tossed the ball up and gave it a good bare-footed goalie kick towards them. Jules saw me first and ran up to intercept it, and then we were playing a little one-on-one in the middle of the lawn till Jem we saw Jem running back from the ladies’ room. ‘Uh-oh,’ Jules said, freezing there.
‘Statie!’ she called, not loudly, and we immediately bolted, dragging everything we could towards the bushes along the creek at the edge of the lawn. Sure enough, we heard the car coming in on the other side of the hedgerow. Angel who just got up and was still sleepy huddled in the green-and-turquoise beach towel at the very edge of the bushes. I wasn’t sure what we could do from here. If he chose to walk out around the gift shop it’s be easy for him to see us. Two cars went by behind me– we were like 15 yards from the road and I worried that passing drivers were looking at our bare bottoms through the bushes. But I don’t think they really could have been.
Nothing happened– we had nothing to do. From our position we weren’t able to observe the patrol car at all. ‘This is stupid,’ Jem finally said. ‘Somebody has to go look.’
I nodded. ‘Okay.’
She met eyes with me. ‘Do you want to get dressed?’
I actually thought about that. It seemed easy enough. Even it took half an hour, I could get dressed, stroll up the side of the road, see when the patrolman left, and then return to report to the others.
‘I’ll go,’ Angel said then.
We all looked at her. ‘Are you sure?’
She nodded. ‘Hand me my bag. I can just walk up there across the lawn and say I need the bathroom.’
Jem liked the idea. I didn’t. ‘It might not be that easy,’ I said. ‘He might ask where you came from.’
‘I’ll say I was walking along the road, and I knew the bathrooms were here.’
‘That would work,’ said Jem.
‘Maybe,’ I said. ‘And maybe it won’t be necessary.’
‘Why not?’
We all sat there quietly and listened. A car went by, going north up Route 542. It wasn’t the state police.
‘As I said,’ Angel said. ‘It’s my turn.’
She was able to pull the shorts and t-shirt out of the bag and get them on, still in the cover of the bushes. Then she put on her sneakers, without socks, and got to her feet. ‘Say you’re walking over to Sweetwater,’ I told her. ‘That’ll work.’
She nodded, brushed some sand off her bottom, and stepped out onto the lawn. We all watched her change course as though she had just hopped the fence, and then, 25 yards later, she broke into a run. Angel has a good run, smooth and strong, not like mine. I run like a girl. Angel could have run track.
We watched her go around the corner of the gift shop building and she disappeared. Not a minute later she came running back, waving towards the parking area beyond the gift shop. ‘Two of them!’ she called in a whisper. ‘There’s two of them there!’
As she neared I called quietly, ‘What are they doing?’
‘Just sitting there.’ She bent down and got under the foliage with us. ‘They didn’t see me. They’re just sitting there talking. Two staties.’
I nodded. ‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Can you watch them till they go?’
She smiled. ‘Of course.’ Then she crawled out and ran right back the way she had come.
It was a pretty long ten minutes till she came back around the gift shop, waved the ‘OK’ sign at us, and turned to go into the ladies’ room. We just huddled close together, at last hearing two cars going out the driveway and then turning on the forest road. This time they both came out on Route 542. I stood up at once and peered through the bushes, seeing one of them come towards us. I ducked. He didn’t see me and passed right by, barely 15 yards away from the other two naked chicks hiding in the bushes.
‘Well,’ I said, standing there at the edge of the lawn, ‘that’s that.’
Angel emerged from the ladies’ room, carrying her clothes, and sauntered lazily back to us. ‘That was a pretty exciting mission,’ she said.
‘What were you doing?’ Jules asked her.
‘Just watching. I got behind the bushes and kind of… relaxed.’
We all laughed a little, mostly because we were so relieved.
* * *
Sitting on the uncovered porch of one of the worker cottages we got out some snacks and had our supper. I suggested we hike back to the boat and have a real meal, but my two sisters were unwilling to leave the historic village. So I suggested we have another hike, and finish off with a soothing swim in the lake.
Angel wanted another volleyball game, and we still had the ball, so we walked off our dietary supper (about 250 calories each!) on the way over there. It was close to dusk and we figured we’d already had our visit from the authorities for the night. This time Angel and I played Jules and Jem. None of us are particularly bad, but Jules and Jem will often bicker about whose hit it was supposed to have been, and if you want to play dirty v-ball you can exploit that, put the ball right between them and then try to hold in your laughter as they argue over it. They did enough of that for Angel and me to win, 11-6. Jem got kind of mad and didn’t want to play any more. She rinsed off at the drink fountain and wandered off to a tree to pee.
Jules came up to us to explain, or complain, and I just held up my hand. ‘Next time it’ll be you and me again,’ I promised her.
‘Okay.’
Beyond the picnic area and playground is a low fence, and past that is a long narrow clearing where there’s an underground cable or something, leading back into the forest and kind of ending at the red-and-white metal forest-fire lookout tower. Daddy said when he was little they used to let you go up in it, but now it has a big fence around the bottom of it and I’m sure they use infrared sensors and GPS or something to find out if there’s a fire. But for us it was a destination. We put on our sneakers and socks, hid the bags behind the rest-rooms building, and started off through the tall ugly grass to the fence.
There is a path beyond that and the going was very easy. As the sun went down it got darker, but we still had Off on from the v-ball game. Once some headlights came around the corner in the forest road, startling us, but we just stopped and they passed, going towards Route 542. I don’t think it was a patrol car, but even if it was we weren’t worried here.
At the fire tower there really wasn’t anything to do, but it had been a pleasant hike, it was almost completely dark, and the idea of a nice refreshing swim in the lake before turning in for the night seemed just about perfect. Angel suggested we walk back along the road– she was now into that stage we three had been about two years ago, when we just wanted to see how much we could get away with. I always felt guilty when we did something a little too foolhardy, because it felt like we were tempting God. I don’t know how good of theology it is, but I always say a little prayer before we start out on something that could be a little too risky, something like, ‘God, you know what’s in our hearts. Watch over us if this isn’t the smartest thing we could do.’
But I can honestly say that if the little voice inside, my conscience, what I prefer to think of as the Holy Ghost, has ever told me to not do something, I haven’t tried to come up with other ways to justify it. I just decide to do something else. I think that’s what living by faith is, and I think the God who protects me respects that.
So we four naked chicks walked down a public road, towards another busier one. A few cars went by on Route 542, but of course that didn’t worry us. Exactly no one came down the forest road while we were walking on it. Jules went out and danced around on the center line, and Angel got giggling so hard she had to join her. Then the two of them were dancing together, some kind of stupid-looking routine holding hands and spinning
around, right in the middle of a public road at 9:30 on a summer night. Aren’t the Pine Barrens great?
Where the trees parted we turned and cut across the lawn towards the parking area and the picnic building. Halfway there a car came down the forest road towards Route 542. The first reaction was to run– then I said, ‘Why are we running?’
The others went on a little farther but I stayed right where I was, about two-thirds of the way to the parking area with my back to the trees. The car shot out from beyond them, going by so fast that all I caught was a glimpse of the taillights. It went right by the chained-off entrance and slowed down, almost stopped, and then turned south on Route 542. The whole time I was just standing there, completely in the open, about 75 yards away from them where they passed me, where they could have seen me if they’d turned around with their headlights on me.
‘Jayne!’ Angel scolded me.
‘What? They can’t see me.’
She giggled. ‘My God, you’re probably right.’
‘Of course I’m right.’
We collected the ball and the four bags and lugged them back across the parking area to the rest rooms. Jem asked if we should sleep the same way we did last night, but I vetoed that right away. ‘Doesn’t this place open tomorrow?’ Jules asked.
‘So says the sign,’ I said. ‘I really do think we could get up and out of here before anyone came, but it might just be cutting it too close. If we overslept, if someone got here early….’
‘Yikes,’ Angel said. ‘I see your point.’
‘Yes, kids,’ I said, ‘I think our lovely little vacation in heaven here is over tonight.’
Jem nodded, wistfully. ‘It’s been fun,’ she said. ‘This might be the best time yet.’
‘It is for me,’ Angel said. ‘I could live like this!’ And she danced out away from us, twirling about with the backpack hanging from one hand. The other three of us laughed, knowing exactly how she felt.
* * *
As with last night we planned to hike over to the canoe-launch area and swim back, but then Jem reminded us that we hadn’t visited the little chapel yet this season. On the other side of the canoe-launch area, past the end of the unpaved road there, Route 542 curves around and goes over the Batsto River, and just beyond that bridge is an old cemetery with sweet little chapel. We’ve been there before, but the last time we crossed Route 542 from the other canoe-launch place. We’ve never hiked that far along the public road while naked. ‘I don’t know,’ I said. ‘It’s kind of far for us now.’
Angel shrugged. ‘I’ve never seen it.’
‘It’s nice, Jem said, ‘but she is right. From here it’s a pretty long way along the road.’
‘There is a path through the woods,’ Jules said.
‘I don’t remember how far it is. We’d be hiking blind in the dark.’
Angel said, ‘Well, right now we’re just sitting here.’
So we decided to at least check out the way to the chapel, and we stashed the bags where they had been before, next to the Dumpster, and we set off across the historic area, all of us completely bare so we could swim back. We did hike over to the canoe-launching area, like last night, and we did hunt around for Jule’s path through the woods. But it must be farther than where we looked– we’ve only ever come through it from the other side and we’ve never had to find it going this way. The next plan was to see how hard it would be to hike, or run, down to the bridge along the road. Once there, we’d be able to hide just before it or after it in case a car came down the road. Still, it was pretty far.
I was standing there contemplating the risk when the sound of a car came from way up the road, in Atlantic County. ‘All right,’ I said to the others, ‘back into the woods.’
We all backed up slowly, me last. The car came round a bend about half a mile off and the lights illuminated the whole sparsely-wooded area where we stood. I felt like a deer caught in the headlights– and suddenly acted like one, darting back after the others into the woods. The funny thing was that at that distance, even if the driver had seen our bare bottoms running off, that’s exactly what he would have thought we were.
‘Let’s just go for a swim,’ Jem said. ‘We can visit the chapel tomorrow night, when we can go in from the other way.’
I nodded at once. ‘Good plan.’
The car’s headlights continued to light up more and more of the trees and fence behind us till it went by and all was left dark. Two trucks went by going north, but the curve went the other way and they were nothing to be concerned about.
The night had gone hot, and our Off was wearing off. Into the water we went, not as eagerly as last night, though it was also much later now. The swim across was leisurely, probably taking over half an hour. The water, though cool, was refreshing and kept the bugs away.
‘Well,’ Jem said, ‘if we’re going to be here tomorrow night, then we’re definitely going to miss church. So I’d like to get to the chapel, at least.’
‘We will,’ I said, smiling at her. ‘Even if we have to go there with clothes on.’
Jules laughed. Spontaneously she dove straight down, touching bottom with both hands and standing her legs out of the water past her knees. Then we were all doing it, performing flips and back-flips and hand-stands like we were in the recreational pool. Slowly we made our way out to the middle of the lake, directly opposite from the bridge in the historic area.
A too-familiar sound came from our right– the far end. ‘Car,’ Jem said.
‘Shhh. He’s down the other end.’
‘A ranger?’ Jules wondered.
Jem shook her head. ‘It’s moving,’ she said. ‘Wait–’
Just 100 yards from us, the railings of the bridge were illuminated with the headlights of an approaching car– driving on the gravel path of the historic area!
* * *
* * *
V
Evasion and retreat
We were stuck in the water, right in the middle of the lake! ‘Stealth,’ I said, and immediately we all got as low as we could. Sure enough, one of the state-forest rangers in a white SUV rolled right across the bridge. Of course he had no reason to look towards us– who’d expect to find four naked chicks in the lake at 1:30 AM?
We all surfaced, confident we were not perceived. ‘The stuff,’ Jules said quietly.
‘It’s fine,’ Jem said.
‘What if he finds it?’
‘I doubt he will,’ Jem said.
‘But we might not be able to get to it,’ Jules worried. ‘And then–’
‘And then what?’ I asked.
‘We’d lose our stuff!’
‘Okay,’ I said. ‘Worst case– But what would we lose? Some shorts and t-shirts? Even if we had nothing, we’d just hide out till the middle of the night and hike back to the boat.’
‘Naked,’ Angel said.
I laughed– quietly. ‘Oh, I’m definitely hiking back naked anyway.’
‘Me too!’
We were at the shore now, just outside all the pond grass that had hidden us from the ranger and dog that night two years ago. ‘Anyway,’ Jem was saying, in a whisper now, ‘worst case, we get dressed at the boat and hike back for the stuff. Tomorrow morning, or any time.’
‘We might not need to,’ I said. ‘This guy can’t cover the whole place. I think we’ve already proven that we could grab our stuff and be across the lawn and over the fence before he could realize how much he can cover.’
We all seemed to see the comfort in that. I left the three of them cowering in the pond grass at the very edge of the mansion’s side yard, where we’d sunned yesterday afternoon, and crept up to the side of the big house. The SUV had gone through the historic area and was idling in front of the gift shop. Come to think of it there really wasn’t any way he could have gone farther. I actually turned and waved at the others the others to wait, and then sat my bare bottom on the edge of the porch in the dark and crossed my le
gs, watching the ranger.
He must have been on the radio a while. Then the door opened. I didn’t move. The man got out with a flashlight, played the beam around the gift shop a little, and then went down towards the ticket booth. We hadn’t left any evidence at all, except for Jules putting the trash bag in the men’s room, which I doubted he’d notice. Then– of all things– he went to the men’s room. I almost wanted to laugh. Would be notice the trash bag?
But he came out in a few moments, went directly to the SUV, and the back-up lights came on. Instantly I bolted, dashing back along the damp grass to the pond grass and getting there just as the headlights illuminated the porch where I’d been sitting. Then the SUV went by, slowly, back over the bridge. That was our cue.
‘Go!’ I urged.
Jem and Angel ran for the Dumpster, snatching up the bags and the ball and returning in about 15 seconds. ‘Is it clear?’ Angel worried.
I stood up, paced calmly to the edge of the gravel path, and looked to the right, after the ranger. The SUV was parked down at the far end, probably for the guy to open the gate. Or lock it. I turned and beckoned them. ‘Let’s go.’
Jules went first, carrying her bag by the straps, dashing straight over the path without looking and making a beeline for the bushes across the lawn. Angel went next, then Jem who dropped my bag at my feet just before going over the path. I picked it up, stepped out to look, and saw where the SUV looked to be turning around. Great, I thought. He’s coming back.
Before the headlights came around again I ran across the path and got down to the bushes with the others. There we all sat down to catch our breath. The SUV seemed to patrol the other side of the bridge, shining its headlights on all the little cottages like the one where we’d sat to have our snack. He was definitely looking for vandalism or at least proof that anyone had been here. But he would find none from us now.