* * * *
The raucous ringing of the dinner bell seemed to go on forever, but on his way to the showers, Justin had to admit that early morning on the YO Ranch was beautiful in a way he hadn’t experienced very often. His dad sometimes took him hunting in the early hours of dawn, but then the excitement of the hunt had overridden the beauty of the surroundings. Justin had never been an enthusiastic hunter. He didn’t tell his dad about the tears that pressed behind his eyes the first time he watched a whitetail go down. When he finally shot a buck himself, his pride in the accomplishment was nearly swamped by the memory of the animal’s struggling. When he looked at it, he saw something beautiful that had been vital and alive moments before, but was already succumbing to the glazed eyes and awful stillness of death. Melting into the fog on the path to the showers were deer that would never hear the crack of a rifle. He smiled to himself, thinking of the man with the bucket of corn that would soon lure them to the meadow.
Making his way down the dark path, he noticed odd trails of white. More of them were ahead near the bathrooms. Toilet paper. Someone had papered the campgrounds last night. Dave would not be happy.
At breakfast, an uneasy quiet reigned while the campers filled their plates and ate. Dave and Coach Cox sat with the other counselors, conferring in muted voices. Dave seemed to be trying to see into the souls of each of the campers, glaring at them one by one as if he expected to find the word guilty written on someone’s forehead. When he stood, silence descended quickly.
“We’re all going to have to pay the price for somebody’s stupid prank,” he said. “Before the morning activities start, all of you are going to pick up this mess. Unless, of course, the person who performed this idiotic prank would like to step forward.” He paused for a few long seconds. “I thought not. In that case, someone can let me know when we’re ready to begin our regular activities. I’ll be in my office.”
“I’ll bet I know what Lee Boyd was doing last night,” Casey groused as she passed Justin to dump a load of soggy toilet paper in the trash.
Justin wondered if Lee had crept out in the night. He had been so tired, a herd of elephants wouldn’t have awakened him if they had stampeded through the cabin. He noticed that the prankster showed no gender preference, the girls’ side of the campground was just as decorated as the boys.
The toilet paper clean-up took half an hour. Justin’s group was sent back to the cabins to get their canteens for the ropes course. On his way out the door, Justin noticed that Lee’s backpack was lying open on his bed. Several items were visible, including something the color of ivory that looked like a knife handle, peeking out from under some socks and underwear. Glancing around to be sure no one else from the cabin was coming, Justin walked across to Lee’s bunk. A large, ivory-handled hunting knife had fallen halfway out of the backpack. It was snapped into a thick leather scabbard. Coach Cox would have a walleyed fit if he knew Lee had a knife in his backpack. A kid had been arrested and sent to juvenile last fall for having a knife in his backpack at a school football game. Justin’s first inclination was to tell Coach Cox about it, but he hated the idea of being a snitch. Lee was weird, but Justin didn’t think he was weird enough to go around stabbing kids with a knife. With an uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach, he decided to keep quiet about it for now.
Casey was waiting with Joel when Justin got back to the pavilion.
“Hurry up,” she called. “We’re taking the bus to the ropes course. Everybody else is already on the bus waiting.”
Justin ran behind Casey and Joel, and they climbed aboard and made their way to the back seat of the bus. A YO pickup with three men in it led the way down the main road. In daylight, the gravel lane looked different, lined with groves of mesquite and hackberry trees. In some places, the brush looked too dense to penetrate. A few miles farther, the bus turned onto a narrow track that led through towering oaks and pecan trees. Justin guessed they were heading toward the river. The pickup pulled off the road into a clearing. Several massive, live oak trees filtered the sunlight. The underbrush had been cleared, and Justin could see thick, steel cables strung between some of the branches of the largest trees. The men in the pickup got out and unloaded a pile of ropes and other gear from the back of the truck. Coach Cox led the campers to a pair of logs laid conveniently in the shade beneath the big trees.
“Sit here,” he instructed. “These guys need to fill you in on some details about what you’re going to do.”
“Yep. Today, we find out what you’re made of,” one of the men announced. “Anybody here afraid of heights?”
A few of the girls raised their hands.
“Well, you better get over it quick,” the man said. “I’m Charlie, and this is Michael. That guy over there stepping into his harness is Jack. Before we’re through with you, you’re going to be swinging through these trees like monkeys. Now I need a volunteer to get us started.”
Not one hand was raised. Several kids looked at the ground to avoid catching Charlie’s eye.
“Okay, you’ll do fine,” Charlie said, beckoning to J.R. “Put on this belay harness. If you’re not sure how it goes, look at Jack’s.”
He tossed a complicated-looking contraption made of straps and metal buckles at J.R.
J.R. came forward reluctantly and began to step into the harness and fasten the buckles that would attach the straps around his waist and thighs. Michael, taller and thinner than the other two, buckled on a harness, fastened two coils of colored rope to it, and began to climb the trunk of an enormous live oak tree that grew at a slant to join the other large trees strung with cables. Spikes driven into the trunk gave him footholds as he climbed, the ropy muscles in his calves flexing.
He does this every day, Justin thought. It probably isn’t as easy as he makes it look.
In the canopy, Michael attached the coils of rope to pulleys that slid along the cables strung between the two giant trees. He tossed the ends of the coils of rope to the ground.
“We’re ready for monkey number one,” Charlie said, as Michael made his way back down the tree. Looking a little unsure of himself, J.R. clipped on the blue rope with an odd metal clip called a carabiner. Charlie took the long end that hung down from the pulley and wrapped it around his body.
“If he falls, I’ll catch him with this rope just before he goes splat,” Charlie explained, laughing. Heavier than either Michael or Jack, Charlie’s big shoulders and arms looked capable of catching the weight of a falling climber. He kept slack out of the rope, but didn’t pull it tight as J.R. worked his way tentatively up the slanted trunk. J. R.’s long brown hair hung in his eyes, and he had to make frequent stops to brush it out of his face.
“When you get to the first cable, get a good foothold and snap on the red rope,” Charlie explained. “Don’t take off the blue rope until the red rope is attached to your harness. Got that?”
“Got it,” J.R. said.
When the ropes were arranged to suit him, Charlie said, “Now, when you are ready, call ‘Belay On’! ”
J.R. fiddled with the carabiner for a minute, before calling belay on.”
Charlie switched to the red rope, wrapped it around his body, and pulled the slack out.
“Okay, man. Take your time. Hold onto the top cable when you cross, but don’t let the pulley squash your fingers as it slides. I’ll catch you if you slip.”
J.R. got a grip on the top cable and began to slide his feet out of the tree and onto the thick cable below. He teetered dangerously and had to stand still for a minute to get his balance. Justin thought it looked pretty easy, but J.R. took baby steps and stopped often to steady himself.
“Don’t look down,” Justin called.
“I have to, or I can’t see the cable,” J.R. said through clenched teeth.
Inching along, he seemed to gain confidence as he got closer to the second tree. A small wooden platform built into the second tree gave him a place to step off the cable. He took a deep breath and looked abov
e him at the next section of the course. It was a ladder made of cables that reached through the branches of the trees to a platform near the top of a thick light pole. J.R. climbed it slowly and pulled himself over the edge of the platform where he sat down holding tightly to the top of the pole. A single, heavy-duty cable looped from the top of the pole down toward the ground and then up again to the top of another massive tree a few hundred yards away. Fastened to the cable was another set of pulleys.
“That is the zip line,” Charlie said. “Clip yourself on to the pulley before you take off the belay line. Then lean forward until you slide off. Hold onto the ropes below the pulley, not the cable.”
“Oh, man. Do I have to?” J.R. asked.
“You do unless you want to climb back down the ladder and across the cables. Come on, man. We’re all counting on you to show us how it’s done.”
J.R. clipped himself to the pulley. His face looked white.
“You can do it,” Casey encouraged.
J.R. closed his eyes and fell forward, holding onto the ropes like a drowning sailor to a life preserver. He flew down the cable, getting close to the ground, and then up again into the distant tree. In moments, he reappeared going the other way. A huge grin split his face in half. Michael stood under the cable and caught the long rope trailing down from the pulleys. He slowed J.R. at the low spot and pulled a stepladder up close to him. Climbing up the ladder, Michael helped J.R. unhook his belay harness from the pulleys.
“My knees are shaking,” J.R. announced as he rejoined the group.
Casey was already on her way up the slanted live oak. Her jaw was set determinedly. If a boy had finished the ropes course, Casey would try her best to do it better.
* * * *
Casey moved across the cables much faster than J.R. Justin could tell that she was scared by the way her jaw muscles twitched, but he knew she would never admit to fear.
“Man, she’s bad. Badder than any of us,” Joel commented as Casey flew down the zip line.
“She has to outdo us so she can harass everybody else,” Justin said, watching as Charlotte inched her way up the live oak’s trunk. She seemed to be handling herself pretty well as she started across the first set of cables. In shorts and a T-shirt, she looked stronger than he had thought she was. Her dishwater-blond hair curled in sweaty ringlets down the back of her neck. Halfway up the ladder to the zip line pole, she stopped.
“Go, Charlotte,” Casey called. “It’s not as bad as it looks. Don’t let the girls’ team down.”
Charlotte looked down at them and then began to creep upward again. Justin could see her legs trembling from the ground.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to let you fall,” Charlie called up to her.
Charlotte amazed everyone by fastening her harness to the pulleys and sliding quickly off the zip line platform. She screamed as she flew down the cable. Lee Boyd watched her warily from his seat on the log. As soon as Charlotte got down from the ladder, he scurried up the slanted trunk. Carefully avoiding looking down, Lee snapped his harness onto the red rope, called belay on, and started across the cables. On the second step, his foot slipped off the cable, and he fell backward, grabbing wildly for the tree with one hand. A gasp escaped the group of campers. Charlie leaned his weight against the belay rope and caught Lee as he fell. Dangling just below the bottom cable from the harness around his waist and hips, Lee grabbed the cable with his hands and pulled himself up so he could throw one leg over it. He hung there upside down like a sloth in the jungle.
“Way to go,” Casey yelled. “Really graceful.”
“I’m going to pull you back up, Lee,” Charlie said. “Just hold onto the belay rope until you can get a hand on the top cable. Okay?”
There was no answer from Lee, but Jack came over and helped Charlie pull until they raised Lee high enough to reach the upper cable. Grabbing for it, he held on with both hands while Charlie and Jack slowly let his lower body down far enough to get his feet on the second cable below.
“Not so fast this time, man. Just slide your feet along,” Charlie said.
Lee looked straight ahead and stood frozen to the spot.
“You’re doin’ fine,” Jack called. “Just go slow.”
Still, Lee did not move.
“Can you hear me, man?” Jack asked.
“Come on, creep. Just get out of the way so the next person can go,” Casey said, loud enough for Lee to hear it.
“Let me down,” Lee said through clenched teeth. “I hate heights.”
“Are you sure?” Charlie asked. “I think you can make it.”
“Let me down.”
“God, what a weenie,” Casey said.
Charlie turned angrily toward her. “Knock it off,” he growled.
Lee closed his eyes and fell forward, letting go of the upper cable and clutching the belay rope. Charlie and Jack leaned against the rope and slowly lowered him down to the ground.
“Don’t worry about it,” Charlie said as he helped Lee unsnap the carabiner. “Not everyone is cut out for teetering in the trees.”
Lee’s hands shook visibly as he unbuckled the harness and handed it to Charlie. Without a word, he walked toward the bus and sat down in the shade beside it.
Pulling the harness up over his jeans, Justin felt adrenaline rushing through his system. The climb up the slanted trunk was fairly easy, but when he got to the top and looked down, he felt like he was standing on top of a ten-story building. He changed the carabiners carefully and took a deep breath. He needed to score another point for the boys. Remembering his dad’s advice about breathing slowly, and visualizing what he was about to do, Justin stepped onto the cable. It felt tight, and he had a firm grip on the upper cable. He was glad he’d worn jeans so all the kids below weren’t subjected to the sight of his skinny, white legs. Sliding one foot at a time, he made steady progress across to the other side. Below, he could hear Casey’s voice, but he couldn’t concentrate on what she was saying. The belay rope pulled him slightly off balance, but he leaned forward to compensate and stepped onto the platform. When he risked a look at the ground, the people below looked small, although he was sure the cable wasn’t more than fifteen feet up.
At the zip line, panic seized him. How could he slide off the platform with nothing to hold onto but the ropes? He felt a moment of empathy for Lee and closed his eyes to shut out the frightening scene. If he was going to prove himself a great outdoorsman, he couldn’t wimp out now. Casey would never let it go if he did.
Justin held his breath and leaned forward, slipping off the edge. There was a jerking sensation as his weight hit the cable, and he clung to the ropes below the pulley for dear life. The ground flew up at him, and just as he was about to crash, he began to go higher again. The pulley slowed and nearly came to a stop just before he reached the tree. Reaching out with his foot, he pushed himself away from the trunk and began gaining speed backward. Michael grabbed the trailing rope as he neared the low spot and slowed him down. As he climbed down the ladder, Justin felt a rush of elation. It was a great feeling to do something you weren’t sure you had the courage to do. Especially after it was over.
The sun was almost directly overhead by the time Brenda, one of the girls from Falcon’s Nest, was the last person waiting on the log. When Charlie tried to hand her the harness, she shook her head.
“I can’t do it,” she said.
“Sure you can,” Charlie said. “Why don’t you just try, and anytime you want to stop, I’ll let you down easy.”
“No, thanks,” Brenda said.
Justin didn’t blame her. Brenda was overweight and was wearing a pair of tight shorts that looked bad enough from the ground. Her bulging waistline wouldn’t be improved by the tight belay harness. Up on the cables, she would be another target for Casey’s sharp tongue. Charlie was making one more attempt to persuade her when a strange crackling noise caught his attention. He looked over toward the pickup, and his eyes grew round and horrified.
“The bus!” he yelled. “Look out!”
All eyes turned toward the sound. The bus was rolling backward down an incline toward the trees. It left a swath of crushed weeds in its wake. The engine was not running. No one moved as it rolled past them into the trees, bending several smaller ones to the ground and crashing into a big one. The tinkle of glass was the last sound they heard before all was silent again.
Chapter Four
General paralysis gripped everyone for a moment before Coach Cox sprinted toward the bus. The campers followed him. The door was open to keep the inside of the bus cool, and Coach Cox leapt up the steps, looked around, and sat down in the driver’s seat. Justin stuck his head in the door.
“What happened?” he asked.
“Someone released the emergency brake,” Coach Cox growled. “I remember setting the brake when I parked, because it was sitting on an incline. I also left it in gear. Who has been on this bus this morning?”
“I was on it earlier to get my canteen,” Justin said. “I think almost everyone has been on it to get drinks.”
“Did you touch the brakes or the gearshift?” Coach Cox asked, fixing Justin with an angry glare.
“No, sir,” Justin said. “I just got a drink and got off.”
“Well, somebody has been in here messing with the emergency brake.” Coach Cox got up and walked to the back, looking for damage. One of the rear windows was broken out, and a tree branch protruded into the bus. Swearing under his breath, Coach Cox climbed down the steps and went around to the back. Justin melted into the crowd of kids. A picture flashed through his mind of Lee Boyd sitting in the shade beside the bus after he came down from the cables.
“All of you need to sit back down on that log over there,” Coach Cox said angrily. Charlie was inspecting the damage to the bus, and he and Coach Cox stood beside it talking softly and casting angry glares at the row of campers on the log.
Speak of the Tiger Page 3