“Okay,” I said. I took Purple to the passenger door and set her on the seat. I unhooked the harness and she left.
I climbed in and went over to Daisy. She let me put the harness on. I was just taking her out when Jesse opened the door and brought Saltry in. I gave him Daisy. He set her down and she went to try some grass. I went into Mom and Dad’s room and petted Red. She must have been in a deep sleep because she woke with a start. When I took her outside, we went over to where the other two had eaten grass. She turned and headed to the camper.
“No, you have to spend some time outside,” I said. I picked her up and carried her away.
She meowed at me as if to say, “No, I don’t.” She turned back towards the motorhome. I let her walk there and opened the door. She climbed the steps and looked back at me. Her expression was like she was asking me. “What makes you think I want to be out in this heat?”
Daisy, with Jesse following, walked into the bush, then out, checked behind the motorhome and the rest of the camping spot. She went into the bush a couple more times before deciding she'd had enough.
When Jesse got to the door there was a fight to get in the camper. For some reason Purple now really wanted out. She had her nose stuck in the corner of the screen and the wall. I scooped her up but Saltry immediately took her place. I had a little more trouble picking her up in my other hand without letting Purple go. When Jesse was in we shut the door and windows to enjoy the air conditioning.
It was lunch time so I opened a can of salmon for sandwiches. The smell got everyone’s attention. All four of my cats watched me carefully as I took the salmon out of the can and put it in a bowl. I got three empty cat food cans from the recycle bag and poured some of the fish juice and a few small pieces of salmon into them.
Purple and Saltry ate all they wanted. Purple went to Dad’s cab seat and cleaned her face. When Daisy was finished she checked Saltry’s leftovers. She ate some then climbed on the table between the chairs. Red ate most of hers and went into Mom and Dad’s bedroom.
I made sandwiches for Jesse and myself and we sat at the table to eat.
“This is nice,” Jesse said. “Our camper doesn’t have air conditioning.”
“Do you want to see if Bill and Maurie want to come and play Monopoly or some other game? Mom and Dad won’t be back for a few hours.”
“Sure. I’ll send him a text.”
I cleaned up the cans, rinsed them out, and returned them to the recycle bag.
“They’re on their way.”
“Tell them to come in the passenger door.”
I removed the litter box from under the table and set it by the water and cat food pails beneath the fridge. Jesse undid the seat belt and bungy cord and put the cat house up on my bed. I brought down the boxes of games. Besides Monopoly we had Life, Yahtzee, and of course, Scrabble.
“This is so much better,” Maurie said, once they were settled on the bench seats against the fridge. “We couldn’t go to our motorhome because Mom and Dad are playing cards with another couple and the truck camper is so hot even with the windows and vents open.”
“So which game are we going to play?” I asked. “We even have some cards if anyone is interested.”
“Let’s play Yahtzee,” Jesse said.
I put the other boxes away while they set out the pencils and score cards.
“Why do you have so many dice?” Bill asked, holding up the bag full of red dice.
“That’s so everyone has their own,” I said. I got four disposable plastic glasses from above the sink and handed them out.
“I’ve never played like that before,” Maurie said.
“My aunt used to complain that the previous player rubbed bad luck onto the dice and that was why she always lost. She bought a bunch of dice so everyone had their own. I decided to do the same.”
We each took one die and shook it out onto the table. Bill had the highest number so he started. The rattling of the dice scared the girls at first, but when they realized their lives weren’t in danger they became curious. Saltry even jumped up on the driver’s seat then onto the top of the bench seat behind my head.
After the first game, which Maurie won by three points, I got everyone something to drink. I noticed that the cat’s water pail was low so I filled it up. To be nice to the girls I added some ice from the freezer to cool the water for them. Daisy was the first to head to the pail. Suddenly she crouched down, her ears back. She slowly lifted her head to look at the ice in the water then crouched again. She wasn’t sure what it was but she wasn’t taking any chances; she backed away. What was she thinking? That I was trying to poison her?
Jesse, Maurie and Bill laughed as they stood so they could watch her antics.
Either her curiosity or her thirst got the better of her and she slowly slunk towards the pail again. She went through the same motions when she saw the floating cubes still there. She crouched, lifted her head to peer at them, laid her ears back, and dropped again. Finally, after her third check on the offending ice in her water, she left. The other girls didn’t seem to be thirsty because they never went to the pail. Daisy didn’t go back until the ice had melted.
We played three games. I was the only one who didn’t win.
“See if I invite you guys to come again,” I teased, as I put the game away.
We talked about living on Vancouver Island and what I had done in Vancouver until Mom and Dad came home. I hadn’t realized that it was almost five o’clock.
The three of them left and Mom, Dad and I had supper inside. It was still too warm to be outside and definitely too warm for a fire.
After eating, Jesse came over and we went to the beach where the wind was keeping it cooler. We walked on the hard sand and ran through the water. Bill and Maurie came down soon after we did but they started to walk in the direction of Long Beach. We watched them get smaller in the distance.
Chapter Sixteen
In the morning Mom and Dad went out with their coffee and latched the outside door. After I had given the cats their breakfast, Daisy sat on the floor in front of a swivel chair and meowed and meowed at me. I stopped getting my clothes and asked her if she wanted a treat. She meowed so I gave her a few. The others quickly came and wanted some.
“You just ate breakfast,” I said. “You’re going to get fat if you keep this up.”
I was on my way to the bathroom when Daisy began meowing again. I asked her if she needed the litter box cleaned. She meowed.
“I am not your servant,” I said, as I cleaned out the litter box. It would have to wait for topping up until I was dressed. But there was enough unused litter in it for her.
Daisy didn’t use it. Instead, she jumped up on the bench seat, laid down, and meowed.
“I don’t know what you want.” I had run out of ideas.
Saltry was on the top of the cat house. Suddenly, she sprang off that, crossed the table and pounced down beside Daisy. Saltry sat and glared at her. Daisy ducked her head. Apparently, Saltry was as tired of Daisy’s complaining as I was.
As usual Purple followed me into the bathroom. She started pawing at the door under the bathroom sink. It was getting automatic for me to open it for her. She went in and I closed the door to get it out of my way.
When finished I left a gap in both the cupboard and bathroom doors. It was time for my breakfast. I poured a bowl of cereal and set it on the little table between the chairs while I retrieved the milk from the refrigerator. I turned and Saltry was up on the table smelling it.
“It isn’t ready yet,” I told her.
Saltry went for a drink of water. I took the bowl, put it on the kitchen table and added the milk. I put the milk away. When I turned, I saw that Saltry had jumped up on the table and was licking one of the damp pieces of cereal.
I took the bowl away and threw out that piece. The privacy sheet was still hanging from my bed. I set the bowl down so I could raise it. Saltry made a beeline for the cereal. I picked it up and put it on the othe
r table. Saltry headed there. I held onto the bowl while I struggled to flip the sheet up. Saltry meowed at me.
“It’s still mine,” I said.
She meowed again. I ignored her. She sat and watched me all the time I ate my breakfast. When I finished and stood, she reminded me she was waiting. I gave her the bowl and she was finally satisfied.
Purple began her search for her magical door to the outside. She clawed at the narrow cupboard door. I picked her up and set her on my bed. She jumped onto the table and the floor then went to the cupboard door under the sink. After pawing at it she looked at me. I refused to open it for her. Since she didn’t like it when we took her outside, I wondered if she was looking for the door that would open into our yard at home.
* * *
A little later, Jesse came over and invited me to go to Ucluelet with him, Bill, and Maurie. “Mom and Dad said they wanted to spend the day alone at the beach, so they told Bill and me we can take the car again.”
My parents were staying at the campsite so they would keep an eye on my cats.
From the campground we turned right onto the highway. At the sign for the Rainforest Trail we turned off the highway and parked at the first of three parking lots. We looked at the picture showing two trails: A and B. Route A started across the highway, while Route B began from the third parking lot.
I read the sign: These trails wind through gigantic western red cedar and western hemlock reaching up to the sunlight, their boughs thickly carpeted with hanging gardens of moss. Fallen giants crisscross the forest floor acting as a nursery for the next generation. Come and scan the upper canopy for forest birds such as ravens and kinglets. Listen to the trickles of water and smell the richness of this living forest.
“Since we are already here, let’s do the A trail,” Jesse said.
We ran across the highway and were on a boardwalk. We soon reached a T with another sign telling us about the trail and the rainforest. The trail went right or left but an arrow pointed left and we did as we were told. The boardwalk was narrow and we had to walk in a line. It started out basically flat and then curved and zig zagged its way around large trees and through the underbrush of ferns, tree saplings, bushes, and fallen trees in various stages of decay. We read one sign that told about nursery trees.
When trees die and fall to the ground, seeds will begin to grow on the logs. The roots eventually reach through and around the log to the dirt. When the logs disintegrate the tree is left standing on its roots above the ground. We saw a number of those type of trees as we walked.
I heard birds chirping in the trees. I looked up but couldn’t see them.
“Are those kinglets?” I asked.
“No idea,” Jesse said, scanning the tree tops.
“I don’t know birds at all,” Bill said. He didn’t bother to look up as he and Maurie passed us.
Jesse and I followed them. There were a few sections of steep stairs, which we ran up or down. We arrived at the highway again and re-crossed it. At the third parking lot we began hiking on the Route B trail. The trail was pebbles on dirt and wide enough that Jesse and I could walk side by side. Which was nice because he reached out and held my hand. The trail started out fairly level and easy to walk on. The sun filtered down through the tall trees and we stopped to read the interpretative signs. Then we reached a boardwalk that soon divided.
“We’ll go right,” Maurie said.
“We’ll go left,” Jesse answered.
It wasn’t long before we came to a flight of steps and climbed them. The boardwalk went for a long way with lots of steep stairs up and down. Sometimes we were at ground level walking amongst the ferns, tree trunks, and wet ground; sometimes we were above the ground looking down at the base of the trees and up at the tops. The tall trees made the warm, sunny day dim and cool.
“This is a beautiful walk through the forest,” I said.
“Yes. I love being outdoors. I’ve thought of going to work for Parks Canada when I’m finished school.”
“What would you do?” This was the first time he’d seriously talked about his future. “I don’t think they hire gigolos or professional students, or panhandlers,” I said, remembering our first conversation about his aspirations for when he graduated.
Jesse grinned. “I thought I would try to be a park warden but when I looked at their website I saw that they have a lot of different positions.”
“What kind?” I wasn’t sure if I should mention that I had thought about working in a park just a few days ago. It might sound like I was mimicking him.
“Well, besides park wardens there are also interpreters, archaeologists, historians, managers, planners, labourers, maintenance staff, store clerks, and many more that I forget.”
“Which would you go for?”
Jesse shrugged. “Park warden or an interpreter, I guess. I’d have to look into the qualifications and education for them.”
We walked in silence. I was feeling very grown up, holding hands with an older boy. In Vancouver boys didn’t really pay much attention to me. Maybe it was because I played sports and didn’t dress in short skirts, preferring sweats and jeans instead. My friend, Brenda, also didn’t attract much attention. She was the book worm. She loved to learn.
Of the three of us Olivia was the one who developed first and fast. It seemed like overnight she had breasts pushing against her sweaters and hips that swayed when she walked. Her style changed and she started to wear make-up and dress like the girls in magazines. And she began to distract boys. When we walked by, she was the one they snuck glances at. I’m sure they thought of her even when she wasn’t right in front of them.
Brenda and I were just background scenery for Olivia. We were there to make her look good and we did our jobs well.
Jess and I met up with Bill and Maurie.
“There are a lot of steep steps,” I warned them.
“Same for you guys,” Maurie answered.
We saw a number of slugs slowly crawling on the ground, leaving their whiteish/silver slime behind. Jesse pointed to a bright yellow one.
“Do you know what that slug is called?” he asked.
“Yes. It’s a banana slug,” I said, smugly. “The second largest slug in the world.”
“Smarty,” Jesse laughed.
We eventually met Maurie and Bill back at the beginning of the loop and went to the car. There was no conversation as we drove to Wick Road. Actually conversation had been sparse so far. We had done a lot of talking after playing our games yesterday. The silence today wasn’t strained. If anything, it was comfortable like we were all good friends who didn’t need to talk.
Not far down Wick we turned onto the road to Florencia Bay. A sign warned that busses, motor homes, and holiday trailers were not allowed down this road. And that was because it was narrow with barely room for two small vehicles to meet and pass.
We reached the parking area for Florencia Bay. There were only a few cars. The trail to the beach was pebbled and wide. Part way along a boardwalk headed into the bush. A sign told us we could take the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Trail, which was a distance of 2.6 km one way, across the heartland between this bay and Wickanninish Bay. Or we could take the South Beach Trail for 2.1 km one way through another rainforest to a beach that was great for wave watching.
I waited expectantly to see if anyone would want to go on one of them. I didn’t feel I had a say in this since it was their vehicle, their gas, and their time. I was just along. Bill and Maurie turned away from the sign and continued along the path.
We came to a small wooden platform overlooking some bushes and the bay. The trail continued to the left and we came to some signs telling about the currents of Florencia Bay. Then it was a steep set of steps down to the beach. At the bottom was a lot of driftwood that we had to work our way through to reach the beach. This bay was supposed to be popular for swimming and surfing but there weren’t many people here. One guy was walking on the sand and two people were sitting on a log.
; Back on Wick Road it was only a short drive to the parking lot for the Shorepine Bog Trail. It started out as a boardwalk from the parking area. Just after starting, we reached a Y and the four of us went right. Some of the trail was through pine and cedar trees that were nowhere near as tall as the ones at the campground, and some of the trail was through open areas with gray, misshapen spikes of dead trees.
We continued down Wick to a T intersection. We could go right to Wickanninish Beach or left to the Kwisitis Visitor Centre and the Wickanninish restaurant.
“I’ve seen enough beaches,” Bill grumbled. He turned left into a parking lot.
We got on a boardwalk and walked to the visitor centre. From the centre we looked down on the beach. It was like the ones we’d seen so far--driftwood, surfers, swimmers, walkers, and water. However, a mist was sweeping in from the ocean and we watched as wisps drifted over the sand. They swept along intertwining to hide parts of the beach and then separating and moving in a different direction.
We walked into the centre, which was built on rocks overlooking the beach. We wandered through rooms of displays.
“How would you like to be a small canoe like that hunting a whale?” Jesse asked me, pointing to the life-sized re-creation of a canoe being paddled by some natives while others harpooned a whale that was rising in the water beside them.
“Oh, I wouldn’t have to worry about it,” I quipped. “It was a man’s job.”
Maurie laughed while Jesse and Bill grinned.
Outside, we went around the building and walked past the other end of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth Trail from Florencia Bay then arrived back at the car.
It wasn’t long before we passed the road back to Port Alberni then we drove into Ucluelet. Like Tofino, it was a resort town and there certainly were lots of accommodations for visitors. We drove past resorts, bed and breakfasts, inns, hotels, motels, and campgrounds. And there were just as many places where the tourists could spend their money: gift shops, galleries, restaurants, whale watching tours, fishing trips, and nature tours.
Crazy Cat Kid (Crazy Cat Kids Book 1) Page 16