Wild River: Days Four–Five

We march into the daylight brandishing our sticks.

“There,” Mia says, pointing at a small strip of cloth stuck to the brambles.

Through the skinny aspens, she’s spotted a place where a large stone slab juts out from a hillside.

Mia is seething. The first thing these jerks did was eat twelve servings of food between them.

In addition to gorging on the freeze-dried meals, they used all the fire-starter cubes.

I’m so hungry my hands are shaking, so it takes three matches to coax a flame in a pile of slightly damp leaves.

Not as much flood debris as we saw before. What there is has been washed up at the sharp curves of the river. Piles of uprooted trees, heaps of gravel.

Imani is even more solemn than usual. Like she’s worried that it will be a bad thing or a sad thing.

The tires are gone, ripped from the hubs.

“Anything inside? I remember there was gear in the back. Maybe stuff we didn’t need on the river trip, but might come in handy now.” Mia sounds almost wistful.

That explains her keen interest. Food.

It’s going to be harder going up than coming down, but maybe the rope we recovered will be useful. I’m thinking we should yoke ourselves together for the climb, just to be on the safe side, when a rock hits the ground at my feet.

Deke struts along the edge, brandishing his rocks.

He looks jubilant up there, on top of the world.

I feel like I should say something, make a plea for sanity, but don’t want to make things worse. But I can’t stop myself.
“Deke! Deke, this is crazy! We’re stronger together than apart!”

Tony lopes along the edge, chanting, “Lose-ers! Lose-ers! Stupid girly lose-ers!”

“You’re right. We need to keep a watch. Don’t let them sneak up on us again.”
We agree to be vigilant, and to keep moving.

I study the curve of the river. From above, you can see how it erodes the ravine walls, reshaping itself.

The dawn is murky and dim. The sun can barely make it through the thick rain clouds.

It seems entirely possible that by the end of the day we’ll get where we need to go. The pickup location for rafting expeditions, which means a road and rescue.

Our log raft begins to buck and bob as if alive.

We’re scraping past rocks that protrude from the thrashing water.

The raft pivots around as we enter a whirlpool.

Blind and careening backward, it’s all I can do to hang on.

Because an eddy snatches the raft, pulling us toward the opposite shore.

And dead ahead, a huge rock. We’re aiming right at it, carried on the crest of a wave.

Anyhow, we make another fire to help dry our clothes and boil water for the freeze-dried. Mia says after our ordeal we need calories.

Starving people eat all kinds of revolting things. Beetles, ants, worms. Anything to stay alive.

They got stuck in the mountains, snowed in for the winter with not enough food. So they improvised.

Deke shakes her off and leers at me. “I never knew she cared! Is she your little girlfriend, Daniel? K-i-s-s-i-n-g?”

The first thing I see are his feet, sticking out from behind the rock. Utterly and completely still.

He’s not saying much of anything. Mostly staring at the ground with downcast eyes. He looks so different it’s almost scary. One minute he’s a strong, confident bully, the next he’s shrunk to a hollowed-out version of himself.

“I’ll go first, presenting evidence, and then you’ll defend yourself. Understood?”
Deke nods grimly.

“Probably nothing, because you’ve already decided.” He sounds dejected.

“Remember, the verdict has to be unanimous. Convince one of us that you’ll stop attacking and we’ll set you free.”

Every word out of your mouth was dripping with scorn. Like you’re the only one in the world who isn’t stupid and worthless and beneath your contempt.

Deke looks baffled. “Did what I did? You mean grab the food?”

Mia is resolute. “Everything. Why you’re so cruel. Why you never say a nice thing to anybody. Why you encouraged Tony to make a fool of himself.”

“The judge would give them instructions. Then they’d deliberate.”
“Deliberating is deciding?”
“Sort of. Deliberate means they examine all the evidence very carefully, and discuss it, and then decide whether the defendant is guilty or not.”

Hundreds of people work for my father. Thousands if you count the ones who help build the inventions, or use his patents.