Chapter 9
At suppertime, they ate and cleaned up and then prepared to stay for the night. Willy was glad they carried their home with them with all the food and supplies inside. She was relieved that they were in a protected camper and not outside in a tent on the ground. As much as she loved nature, she was frightened of wild animals, especially at night and in the mountains. She had heard all the usual stories of bears and cougars and wolves and was grateful that none of them were likely to bother them inside the camper. She was sure that with her phobia about dogs, any other wild and ferocious animals would cause even greater fear.
Not long after sundown, just as darkness was about to fall, they heard a vehicle coming down the road. They crowded to the windows to see if it was a truck to move the wreck. It was a jeep and as it drew nearer, they saw the familiar face of their favorite ranger.
He recognized their truck and stopped. "I wondered if you had gotten back before the accident happened," he said. "I tried to call you on the CB but I was behind several mountains and I guess the signal didn't get through. Is everything all right? I see you're planning to spend the night here. Do you have everything you need?" he asked.
"Everything except a bathroom," complained Aggie. "This is so stupid. Why can't they put more campgrounds with bathrooms up here?"
"It's a primitive area," he explained. "People who want to camp up here usually plan on roughing it. Besides, there are plenty of bushes," he teased.
"We'll survive," Willy said. "When will they come to move the truck?"
"It won't be until tomorrow for sure," he told them. "It will take a big tow truck to pull this rig back on its wheels. The logging company will have to bring in some equipment to load the logs on another truck, too. This one is probably too badly wrecked to carry a load."
"How are you going to get back home?" asked Allison.
"Why don't you stay here with us?" invited Jeffy.
"I think I will, if you don't mind," Max told them. "Sometimes we get some thieves that will strip a wreck like this if they have a chance so I might as well stay here and keep an eye on it. I always come prepared," he added, pulling a sleeping bag out of the back of his jeep.
Willy's heart did an unusual thump at this news and her mind was in a turmoil. She was glad that she wouldn't have to face the wilds of Wyoming alone, but she didn't want any more personal encounters with this man. She resolved to not let herself be alone with him and then remembered her manners. "Have you had something to eat?" she asked. "We have some taco salad left over if you'd like some."
"Why thank you, Ma'am," he replied. "I do have some dried food in my pack here, but I don't eat it unless there's nothing else available," he laughed. "Would you like me to start a fire out here after I eat?"
Before Willy could answer that they were just going to stay in the camper, the others had all noisily voiced their assent and volunteered to go find some wood. In no time a pit had been cleared, the wood brought and a cheerful fire blazed away. They found rocks or stumps to sit on and quieted their noisy chatter as they stared into the mesmerizing flames.
Aggie suggested that they sing some campfire songs and asked Max if he knew any. To Willy's surprise and pleasure, he started singing in a deep, very melodious voice, picking songs they were likely to know. They joined in together, mature voices blending with childish ones, dwarfed by the vastness of the mountains around them. After a while, Jeffy went to sit on Willy's lap and started nodding. Allison, noticing the myriads of stars above them, asked her mother, "Mommy, will you sing us that song about Daddy watching us from heaven?"
Willy knew the song she wanted, but remembering the events that happened after the last time she had sung it, wished she could refuse. Jeffy turned to face her and said, "Sing it, Mama. It always makes me so happy and sleepy."
Shyly, avoiding the quiet dark eyes that watched her from across the fire, she softly sang the beautiful lullaby. As the last notes left her lips, Max wiped something from his eye and stood. "Boys on the left, girls on the right," he announced, striding off into the night.
"What does he mean, Willy?" asked Aggie.
"Bathroom time, I suppose," she answered. "It’s time for bed so let's get the toilet paper and use the bushes. We can take flashlights so we can see what we're doing."
The underbrush was thick and they had a hard time finding a place that was open enough to get through but protected enough from sight to do their business. After the others had finished, Willy sent them back to the camper with Aggie. She found a bushy clearing and relieved herself then started back. By the time she reached the camper, she was beginning to itch on her backside and wondered what she had rubbed against. She ignored it as long as she could then decided that she must have gotten something in her underwear that was irritating her. She pulled the curtain around her bed and changed into clean ones and her pajamas, but the itching continued even worse than it had been before. She could feel many bumps on her backside that felt like hives.
Finally, in desperation, she decided to go ask Max, whom she could see still out by the fire, if there was poison ivy around here. "Wouldn't that just be great!" she thought. "Stuck all the way up here with poison ivy on my behind."
Taking a blanket to act as a robe, she climbed back out of the camper, wishing Aggie was still dressed so she could go with her. She didn't want to break her resolve to stay away from this man but knew she needed his help.
"Hi," he said warmly. "Are you going to enjoy the stars a little longer?"
"No," she answered, wondering how she could tell him her problem. "Uh, is there much poison ivy up here?" she finally blurted.
"None that I know of," he said thoughtfully. "The altitude is too high so we don't see much of it. Why?"
Surreptitiously scratching herself gently against the trunk of a tree, she hesitated. How could she tell him without embarrassing both of them? At last, unable to contain her discomfort any longer, she said, sighing, resigning herself to mortification, "I--uh--got into something in the bushes that is itching me to death. What could it be if it isn't poison ivy?"
Max threw back his head and laughed. "Oh, you've just gotten yourself a bad case of hives! There are a lot of stinging nettles around here." Chuckling, he told her that all she would have to do would be to wash herself off with soap and water or even just water and she would have a miraculous recovery in no time at all.
Totally embarrassed, but relieved that it was nothing worse, she vanished into the camper and administered to her flaming red, hive-covered backside. "If you have some calamine lotion or hydrocortisone to put on, it will feel better even faster," he called softly through the door, still chuckling. . “I think I have some for mosquito bites in my pack here if you don’t.”
Max saw to the fire, banking it so that it would stay warm through the night. Then he rolled out his sleeping bag close to the warmth and settled down for the night.
Willy awoke in the dark, alert and listening. She had heard some commotion outside, she thought. It was pitch black but she tried to see out the window. She reached for a flashlight and shined it in the direction of the noise. Nothing was there but the trees and she had decided she had been dreaming when she saw another light coming back through the willows. She watched for a minute and then saw Max as he stepped into the camp area.
"What’s wrong?" Willy asked quietly, opening the window a little.
Max came up close to whisper softly to her so as not to disturb the children. "There was a bear nosing around," he said. "I chased him off, though, so it's all right. No need to be afraid."
"Max!" she said, a sudden thrill of fear coursing through her and unaware that she had used his name. "It isn't safe for you to sleep out there on the ground." After a little quick argument in her mind, she added in a whisper, "Why don't you bring your sleeping bag in here? There is room on the floor. I'd hate to wake up in the morning and see your mangled and bloody body out there."
"Thanks,” he ch
uckled. “I don't mind if I do. I don't want to alarm the children and I have a healthy respect for bears."
"I'll get up and unlock the door," Willy told him, then bit her lip, realizing that he might take offense at the fact that she had thought a lock was necessary against his possible intrusion.
When he had brought in his sleeping bag he looked up at her, an odd look in his eyes. "You were afraid I would bother you in the night so you locked your door?" he asked.
"Well, I don't have much trust in strange men," she defended herself. "I always lock doors, anyway," she said, softening the comment.
"I want you to know that you will never have anything to fear from me," he told her sincerely. "I know this puts you in a ticklish situation, and if you'd rather, I’ll sleep in the cab of your truck."
Willy found herself assuring him that she would trust him this one time and that he should stay where he was. Max spread his sleeping bag in the narrow space left in the middle of the floor and they settled down, Willy wide awake and listening for stealthy animal noises outside. Unaccountably, she was not worried about stealthy human noises inside. She was just dozing off when she heard a quiet growl and the heavy breathing of a big animal outside. Her heart leaping, she got her flashlight and shined it out the window again. Maybe the beam would scare the bear or whatever it was away, she thought.
She gasped with fright when she saw the upright form of a bear in the light of her flashlight, its eyes illuminated by the beam. She stifled a scream with her hand and sat up in bed, her eyes big as saucers. She turned at a sound near her side and felt a hand descend on her shoulder.
"It's all right. He won't bother us in here," Max said in a calm whisper. "Just turn the light off and he'll go away as soon as he's sure there isn't anything to eat."
With shaking hands, she flipped off the light. "I'm so glad you're here," she said, unconsciously grasping his hand. She was trembling with fear. "Are you sure he'll go away?"
"He's just curious and looking for something to eat," Max assured her. "I'm glad you let me stay in here, too. It is much safer for both of us."
He began to move away, but Willy didn't release his hand. "W-will you sit here for just a minute by me? Please," she begged, her voice shaking. "It’s the first time I’ve seen a bear and I find that they scare me even worse than dogs."
Willy could feel herself hyperventilating with terror and was afraid she would give in to panic. Gone was all thought of her resolution to stay away from close contact with Max as she felt her control deserting her. She put both arms around him as he sat by her and held on for dear life. She was shaking from head to foot and sought comfort in his strength.
He obliged her and wrapped his own arms around her quivering shoulders. "It's all right," he whispered, gathering her to him. "You're safe with me."
She pushed her face into the hollow of his shoulder and gripped even tighter. She knew without doubt that she really was safe with him. As the trembling gradually diminished and her senses began to return to normal, she lifted her head from his shoulder and looked up at his face. It was totally dark, but she knew he was looking down at her. She could feel his breath on her face. The rustling and grunting noises from outside had stopped and her breathing finally returned to its usual pattern.
Reluctant to leave the security of his arms and broad chest, she whispered a question, "Do you think he's gone now?"
"I don't hear him anymore, but maybe you'd better stay put until we're sure," he whispered back into her ear. She could hear a smile in his voice as he said it, but she didn't object and stayed still for a few more minutes. Finally, reluctantly, she released the grip of her arms and drew herself away. She felt the pressure of his arms slacken also. Then abruptly, she shivered again and he drew her back against his chest.
"Just stay here." His breath tickled her ear as she felt the rough texture of his unshaven cheek against hers. "I could hold you like this forever."