by T Nisbet
Chp. 23
I had cut down eight more trees of varying sizes and had started on another when I heard Toby laughing behind me.
“So now you’re a lumberjack eh?” he said coming over to where I stood sweating profusely.
“Bout time you showed up,” I laughed.
“What? Getting tired? How hard can it be anyway?” he teased offering me a canteen.
I dropped the axe and grabbed the canteen. “Go for it Tob. It’s all you man,” indicating the axe at my feet.
“Na, been wanting to hit something with this since I got it.” Toby said holding up his huge rune covered sledge.
“That’s not going to work, it doesn’t have an edge.”
“Just stand back,” he laughed.
I walked over to the trunk of a tree I had just felled and sat down on it, sipping water from the canteen as Toby got into position. This promised to be funny. Hitting the thick tree trunk with his huge, rune-covered mallet was going to jar his whole body. I held my breath in anticipation as Toby pulled back his arm and gathering his strength, swung at the notched tree with all of his might.
There was a deafening, thunderous explosion as a section of the three-foot tree trunk shattered into a million shards of wood spraying out in a huge cloud that knocked me head over heals off the trunk I had been sitting on. I opened my eyes in time to see Toby diving over the trunk I’d been sitting on.
We watched from the forest floor as the tree crashed down into the woods.
“Holy crap!” I swore, pulling huge splinters of wood out of my clothing. “That hammer is wicked!”
“No shit!” Toby stammered rising to his hands and knees. “I didn’t think that would happen.”
One side of his face was riddled with splinters of wood. He looked like a porcupine. I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Where is Carla with her video camera when I need it,” I snickered, standing up and offering Toby a hand. “Lucky it fell the right way.”
He grinned, bloody face and all, and let me help him up. The guards began arriving one by one, drawn to the sound of the explosion. I held my hands up in a calming gesture.
“Don’t hit the next one so hard,” I suggested, still laughing.
Toby started pulling shards of wood from the side of his face, but he was grinning from ear to ear. I helped him pull out the smaller pieces before he walked over to the next tree.
“Let’s try this again,” he said. He stood to the side more this time and didn’t hit it with all his strength. The concussion still echoed out through the pass, but there was no explosion or flying debris. The tree trunk however, was smashed halfway through. He walked over to the other side and tapped it lightly. The tree started to topple easily away from the wall.
“Damn,” I whispered. “Guess I’m done with that axe.”
“Me too!” said one of the guards clearly amazed.
Toby laughed loudly and started crushing trees.
The some of the guards stayed around to watch Toby pound trees into sawdust, others left after awhile to make other preparations. It wasn’t very long before there was a thirty-foot kill zone in front of the three-hundred-and-fifty-foot wall. Gill, Johan and Coach McNally smeared tar over the fallen trees in the wake of Toby’s demolition. Toby was breathing hard and soaked with sweat by the time he had crushed the last tree.
I accompanied him back through the gate to a well in the small compound and retrieved a bucket of water for him. He poured it over his head without complaint and handed me the bucket. I got him another and he poured it over his head as well.
“That is far better than waking up to a bucket of cold water,” he laughed.
I drew another bucket out of the well and splashed it over my face and neck.
“Wuss,” he said grinning.
“You say that now, but in another hour when the sun goes down and you’re sitting in wet clothes, while I am warm and dry…”
Toby grabbed the bucket in one hand and the back of my leather tunic in the other and poured the bucket over my head. “You’ll be just a miserable as me,” he finished for me laughing.
The cold water shocked me. I stood there shivering in disbelief. Toby had always had impulse control where water was concerned. He knew I would have to get him back now. It was on!
“Such maturity,” Carla said, walking towards us accompanied by Brianna and Ivy. “Too bad that bucket wasn’t filled with mud.”
“Why? Were you thinking of wrestling Brianna or Ivy?” Toby laughed.
“Men!” Brianna and Carla said at the same time, then started laughing.
I looked up at Ivy as she walked towards me. She glanced at me then looked down. I felt anger rising up inside and felt trapped. There wasn’t anywhere for me to run.
“Did you tell them what you’ve been doing?” I asked lowering the bucket back down into the well.
“She did in fact!” Brianna answered for her. “You need to get over it.”
I ignored her comment and started pulling on the rope.
“Good, then everyone knows,” I said, continuing to haul up the water filled bucket.
Toby grabbed Carla around the waist and lifted her off the ground. “Toby Vincent Daniels, if you get me wet it will be months before I allow you to do it again!” she screamed, squirming away from him and holding a finger threateningly in his face.
Toby stepped back feigning fear. His overacting always made me laugh, but I was too tense and angry to indulge myself. I pulled the water filled bucket up and set it on the ground near the well.
As I stood up, I felt a hand on my arm and turned to see Ivy looking up at me. My heart lurched in my chest as I looked down into her gorgeous face.
“Jake, please forgive me,” she whispered, her beautiful eyes filling with tears again. “I didn’t ask for any of this either. I made you a promise, and I will keep it Dear Heart”
I felt myself falling into her eyes and looked away. “I just need time to figure it out. Can I have that at least?” I snapped and walked away.
I stood on the wall by myself as Gill ran through the forest with a torch setting the tar soaked logs on fire. I knew it was irrational to blame Ivy. But I couldn’t help feeling betrayed. I didn’t understand why I felt that way, or why treating her the way I was made me feel so ashamed.
Toby joined me on the wall as the flames rose up into the darkening sky.
“I brought you some food bud,” he said, sitting down next to me and putting a bowl on the stone near my feet.
I grabbed the gray bowl and started eating the stew inside. It was pretty good.
“I wanted you to know that I think I understand your anger at Ivy,” he began, and I started to object, but he put up a hand. “Just hear me out buddy. She’s been in love with you since fourth grade man, and she’s just about the nicest person I’ve ever met. As your best friend, I should have been jealous of the time you spent with her instead of me when we were growing up, but I never was. She’s just that cool. I always knew you were okay if you were with her. I knew she was looking out for you if I couldn’t.”
“You make me sound pathetic, as though I need help just to tie my shoes,” I growled angrily.
“Not at all, you’re the most gifted athlete I’ve ever seen, by far, dude. Even my dad agrees. You know Jake, I understand how crippling your anxiety issues are, we’ve talked about it before, and I get it. Maybe you’ve never considered your anxiety the way I have, but it’s similar to the way I think of Ivy. Your anxiety keeps you grounded, and so does Ivy,” Toby said, as if I should understand everything now.
He looked at me waiting for the dawn of recognition to slam into me, and frowned as I just sat there slurping from the bowl.
“Come on Jake!” he sighed. “Imagine how big your head would be if you enjoyed crowds and popularity. Imagine how different you’d act if you hadn’t had Ivy pulling you off to do all that bizarre stuff. She’s kept you grounded, and so has your anxiety.”
“She lied to me Toby!” I
cursed throwing the bowl over the wall in anger.
“How, because she stopped people from ogling her? Because she wanted people to like her for who she was inside, and not for her beauty? How is that any different than you disliking that people know and liked you only because you are the best quarterback to ever play at Fairview High? Let me ask you this Jake. If you could have cast a spell, made a wish or whatever, to stop people from liking you or thinking that they are your friend just because of your athletic ability, would you have?”
I looked at Toby. He had that smirk he got when he knew he was right about something.
“You’re an ass Tob,” I said quietly, staring back out over the gathering flames.
“Yeah, I know,” he said smugly, grinning with satisfaction.
We sat there for a long time, watching as the felled trees above the stone outpost blazed, lighting up the pass.
