Southern Stars

by Melissa Good

  The Army man chuckled. “Okay, so now,” he said, resting his elbows on the table. “You people who have friends in high places who bum rushed my butt from the beaches of San Diego to this hole in the ground, tell me. This all just a series of unlikely coincidences or what?”

  Kerry and Dar looked at each other.

  “That’s what I care about, and my bosses. Seems like an awful lot of trouble to happen in one place to one group without there being some evil intent somewhere.” He cocked his head, covered in a ragged gray cap. “You’re smart, smart people according to what I’m told. What do you think?”

  Dar merely stared benignly at him. Kerry folded her hands on the table and produced a wry smile. “Have you ever heard about a vacation curse?” she asked.

  “What?”

  “Like a WTF vortex?”

  “I THINK THE Army thinks we’re weird, Dar,” Kerry said, as they walked out of the lodge and down the steps. Outside, three of the four cop cars were gone and a vehicle from the local reservation was pulled up next to it, covered in mud.

  “Yeah, probably,” Dar said. “Or monumentally unlucky.”

  Kerry cleared her throat a little. “I was going to tell those cops, you know, that I think I have some pictures of Josh’s body in my camera.”

  Dar stopped and turned to look at her. “What?”

  “I took pictures,” Kerry said in a mild tone. “But I was afraid they would just confiscate my camera or the card, and you know, Dar, I’ve got a lot of other pictures in there I don’t want to lose.”

  Dar blinked.

  “So I’ll send them to the police department, after I copy it,” Kerry continued, putting her arm through Dar’s. “C’mon. Let’s skedaddle.”

  “Isn’t withholding evidence illegal?”

  “Isn’t burning evidence illegal?”

  Dar frowned.

  Kerry smiled. “You’d have made a lousy politician, sweetheart.” She tugged her forward. “They never asked me about pictures, so I never had the opportunity to say I didn’t have any. I could have forgotten I took them. A lot of stuff happened between then and now.”

  “All true,” Dar said. “Besides, it wouldn’t tell them a damn thing anyway.”

  “Nope, but it might convince them it wouldn’t.”

  The sun had come out, and it was painting the area in warmth. They walked through across the grounds, a light wind blowing the scent of sagebrush and pinon over them. The rest of the group they’d been in was standing around a picnic table, listening to a tall man in khakis holding a clipboard.

  Todd and Marcia and Pete were long gone to the hospital, Amy and Don with them. “Sorry we won’t get to say goodbye to Don and his wife.” Dar said. “They were nice.”

  “They were. I liked them. And Pete.”

  “Mm.”

  They paused near the table, and a man motioned them over. “We need to get a record of your lost gear so we can reimburse you.” He added, “I’m David Scintah. I own the operation.”

  He was tall, and spare, with gray hair cut close to his scalp and a clean shaven face. He had clear gray eyes and was dressed in a company polo shirt and jeans.

  The others were busy filling out forms, but they looked up and waved as Dar and Kerry joined them. “Do we want to be reimbursed for a bunch of clothes?” Dar mused. “Really?”

  “Meh.” Kerry waved off the form. “We’re okay,” she said. “Nothing there of much value.”

  “Hey, don’t make us all look bad!” Rich protested “C’mon!”

  “Sorry,” Kerry said. “We knew we were going to go on a river so we packed our oldest and rattiest stuff. And we didn’t have the fancy camping stuff you all had.” She paused and eyed Rich. “Right?”

  He grinned. “Right.” He went back to filling out the paperwork.

  David put the rejected form back on his clipboard with a snap, without any sign of regret. “We’ve already put a credit back on your cards for the trip, and the night you stayed before we left,” he said. “I’m really sorry. I don’t know what else to say.”

  “What I say is it’s a lucky thing Dudley Douchebag isn’t here or this would never end.” Rich scribbled another line on his form.

  Dave said, “I don’t wish bad stuff on anyone, but he got what he deserved.”

  The owner perched on the edge of the table. “Is that Todd Evangeline you mean? The fellow with the dislocated shoulder?”

  “That’s him.” Rich stood up and handed over his form. “I’m sure you’ll be hearing from his father, the famous lawyer.”

  “Hm.” The man seemed thoughtful. “How did he get hurt?”

  “Trying to climb up the wall out of the canyon,” Rich said. “After abandoning the rest of us.”

  Dar put her hands in her pockets. “What really went wrong?” she asked. “Were your people just that unprepared, or we just that unlucky?”

  The man put the clipboard down and folded his arms over his chest. “That team was very experienced,” David said. “Real river veterans. I talked to them, and I think I can defend most of their decisions. Though not all of them. Everyone makes mistakes, sometimes.”

  “True,” Dar said.

  “And the weather is the weather,” David said. “Not sure they told you all, but we found Doug. He had hauled out and was making his way down an old riverbed and ended up in a washout. One of the guys from the reservation found him.”

  “That’s great,” Kerry said, sincerely. “I was hoping he was okay. It was a really brave thing he did, trying to get help for us.”

  “I’m just really glad that Army group was doing their training exercise and spotted you all. Now that was a bit of luck,” David said, with a faint smile. “What with them having all that gear, and the helicopters and all and in the right place to see you coming out of the rapids.”

  “No kidding, was I glad to see ”˜em,” Sally said. “Never say a bad thing about the military ever again.”

  David nodded gently and smiled. “Yes.” He looked over at Dar and Kerry. “I hear you ladies did some brave things too.”

  Dar shrugged.

  Kerry shrugged.

  “We did our part,” Kerry finally said. “Anyway we’re taking off so we wanted to say goodbye you all.” She could feel the tug of the RV, and privacy and somewhere down the road, a cheeseburger. “I think you all gave me your e-mail addresses for copies of pictures?”

  “You got mine for sure,” Rich said. “And I have Don’s in case you don’t.”

  “Here’s mine.” Sally handed over a folded slip of paper. “I’ll share with the college kids. They’re at the hospital with PJ.”

  They stood up and hugged awkwardly. “Won’t say it was fun, but it was an adventure,” Rich said, wrinkling his nose. “Give me plenty of stories for next time.”

  “Yeah, enjoy your drive back home,” Sally added, stepping back. “Nice to have met you.”

  “Okay, see you all.” Kerry lifted her hand in a wave. “Bye.”

  “Bye!” Sally and Rich said together, and the others waved back. “If the rest of them come back from the hospital we’ll say goodbye for you.”

  They walked away from the table, along the rock lined path that led to the road and the RV parking, somewhat aware that they were being watched by the group, by the owner, probably by the staff lingering on the grounds.

  Dar put her arm around Kerry’s shoulders, and pulled her closer, giving her a kiss on the head. “Glad the Army didn’t out us.”

  “Me too. Didn’t really want to have to explain all that,” Kerry said. “Let’s get out of here before someone changes their mind.”

  “Booyah.”

  DAR DISCONNECTED THE connections on the RV, slid the hoses inside the hatch on the side and closed it up.

  There were two other campers near them, and as she came around to the front again a new RV pulled into the lot and trundled past them, headed for an open spot nearby. Dar looked at her cell phone and grunted. “Is tomorrow really Sunday?”<
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  She opened the door and entered, closing it behind her. She settled into the driver’s seat to start up the engine. “Ker?”

  “Yes?” Kerry arrived at her side, sans shirt. “Want to take a shower before we move this thing?”

  “No.” Dar started up the engine. “I want to get away from this place before our vacation curse hits the next set of people who want to have an innocent ride down the Colorado River.” She glanced aside. “But go ahead if you want to.”

  “I will.” Kerry winked at her, then retreated back into the body of the camper, to resume removing her clothing as Dar started to back out of the lot.

  It felt amazing to be back in their little temporary world, without anyone else around. Kerry opened the door to the small bathroom and slid inside, turned on the shower and ducked under the lukewarm water with an appreciation even for the slightly chlorinated scent of it.

  She picked up the natural sponge scrubbie and added some soap to it, enjoying the scrape of it against her skin. Even though they had spent most of the week wet, the shower felt warm and good and she spent a moment shampooing her hair, sure she could still feel sand from the canyon in it.

  Ah. She stepped out of the shower and pulled a towel around her body, tucked the end in under one arm as she picked up a brush from the tiny sink and glanced in the mirror.

  The RV rocked gently as she met her own eyes in the reflection facing her. “That could have gone a lot worse than it did. Our guardian angels must have been fist fighting with our WTF vortex and they won.”

  Because really, that was true. Through all the chaos and danger, she and Dar, unusually, had come through without a scratch.

  Literally. Where others had gotten cut, hit poison oak, suffered back injuries, arm injuries, terrible colds...despite Dar climbing walls and her wrangling mountain sheep, here they were, having suffered no more than hunger and in Dar’s case, milk deprivation.

  Pretty amazing, actually.

  She shook the brush at the mirror then she slid out of the bathroom and into the back section of the RV which had a slide out and contained the queen size bed and small closet. She changed into clean clothes and gave the bed a wistful look, before she went out into the main area and over to the galley. “Feel like coffee, hon?”

  “Feel like a steak and a baked potato?” Dar asked. “Want to find a restaurant for us to stop at?”

  Kerry came over and sat down in the seat next to her in the cockpit, relaxing into the comfort of the soft leather as she regarded the road ahead of them. A mostly empty trek.

  Mostly empty, because there were two cars coming toward them at a good clip, and as they passed them they felt the RV rock a little from the air displacement. One was a sleek looking Mercedes and she considered the possibility that it was Todd’s father zooming to his rescue.

  She was glad they were headed in the opposite direction. “Let me see what the Handspring can find.” She started tapping on the device as Dar shifted a little in the driver’s seat, leaning forward as another pair of cars came up over the horizon and sped past them.

  They were both momentarily silent, then they looked at each other. “Anything at the end of that road but the ranch?” Dar asked. “Anything past that?”

  Kerry shrugged a little. “I don’t think so.”

  “Hm.”

  Kerry went back to her search. “Hon,” she said, after another moment’s silence. “Are you thinking about turning around?”

  Dar cleared her throat and tapped her thumbs against the steering wheel. “I was.” She admitted. “But honestly, Ker? What the hell are we going to do? Whatever it is ”“ not a problem we can solve.”

  “True.”

  “Besides, the Army is there, and they have my phone number. Find me some spuds.”

  “How about Big E Steakhouse and Saloon?” Kerry suggested, with a grin. “I think they’ve got us both covered and we can bring a doggie bag for the doggies since it’s about ten minutes from their spa.”

  “Now that’s a damn plan.”

  KERRY KICKED BACK and crossed one knee over the other as she regarded the sparsely seated patio around her, and the pretty scenery in the distance. It was dry and sunny, but a nice breeze fluttered past and she gave the waitress a benign smile as she set a frosty mug down in front of her. “Thank you.”

  “Anytime. You ready to order?” the woman asked. “Or should we wait for your friend to come back.”

  “We can get started. Since your patio is pet friendly she went to go get our pets,” Kerry said. “So let’s go with two of the ribeyes, with baked potato and mushrooms, medium rare. And we’ll need a porterhouse cooked rare and cut up in pieces.”

  The woman was scribbling. “For the pets?”

  “For the dogs,” Kerry said. “Thanks.”

  “No problem.” The woman took the menus and disappeared, and Kerry settled back in her seat with her mug of local amber.

  Her phone rang, and she lifted it. “Hello.”

  “Oh, Kerrisita! Are you and Jefa okay?”

  “We’re fine, Maria,” Kerry reassured her. “Dar just went to pick up the dogs, and I’m about to start on a beer. We’re on our way back out of the canyon area.”

  “Thank goodness!” Maria said. “We were all so worried! Especially since we saw that place you were going to on the television this morning!”

  Kerry took a sip of her beer. “Yeah, I guess the rescue got some press. Anyway how are things there? Everything okay?” She paused, then frowned. “Wait, you saw it on television in Miami?”

  “Si, on the CNN,” Maria said. “Things are very good here, yes. Two of the new contracts have signed the legal, and Mark has put in some more bandwidth. So you will be coming home now?”

  “Yep, we will. We’ll probably stop at some swanky camping place tonight and then get a full day drive in tomorrow. I know Dar’s looking forward to getting back.” She spotted the RV approaching the front parking lot. “And here come the dogs. Let me call you back, okay Maria?”

  “Si, no problem Kerry. I am glad you are not with the dangerous people anymore,” Maria said. “I will talk with you later, bye-bye.”

  The call ended, and Kerry leaned back and took another sip of her beer. “CNN? Wow it must have been a really slow news day, huh?” She mused, then frowned. “Wait, the dangerous people?”

  DAR SCRIBBLED HER name on the release form and handed them back to the smiling attendant behind the desk. “Were they good kids for you?”

  “Oh, Ms. Roberts, they’re wonderful,” the girl said, with sincere enthusiasm. “Everyone loved them and I think they had a great time.”

  The inner door opened, letting a cacophony of pet sounds emerge. A man, dressed in dark purple scrubs, came out with two dogs on leashes.

  “Hey guys.” Dar smiled as the dogs spotted her and let out howls of happiness, making the attendant lunge forward as they bolted toward her. She knelt quickly and then was freight trained by Chino, as half-grown Mocha galumped in her wake. “Hey girl.”

  Both dogs started a tail wagging, foot dancing lickfest of her as the two spa workers stood there with indulgent smiles. They had new, woven, desert themed collars on and smelled like sage, and Dar was glad to hug them both.

  “Hope you had as much fun as they did,” the man said. “You went rafting, right?”

  “Right.” Dar took possession of the leashes. “Now we’re heading home. Ready kids?”

  “Grouf.” Chino sat down next to her and barked, her tail sweeping the floor.

  “Hey, you weren’t by any chance in that whole thing on the news, were you?” The girl asked as she walked around Dar to open the door for her. “That sounded crazy!”

  Dar put her sunglasses back on and got herself sorted out with her two pets. “Haven’t seen the news, so I have no idea,” she said. “Gotta go. Thanks for taking care of them.”

  “No problem. Anytime!” The two waved as Dar got down the steps and headed for the RV. “Come back soon!”

  �
�Nope, sorry.” Dar glanced down at the bouncing dogs. “Glad to see you guys, you know that? We missed you.”

  “Yap!” Mocha hopped along and stood up, his paws now almost reaching to her hips. She gave him a pat on the head and opened the RV door, waiting for the dogs to rush up the steps and followed them. “Let’s go find your other mom, and some steak. How about that?”

  “Growf!” Chino hopped up onto the couch and sat down.

  Dar started up the RV and backed out, pausing when her cell phone rang. She glanced at it, then hit the button to answer. “Hey, Dad,” she said. “Thanks for sending in help I...” She paused. “What?”

  “Growf.” Chino repeated, tongue hanging out.

  “What?”

  KERRY SMILED AT the sight of the two Labradors, full-sized Chino and half-sized Mocha bounding toward her with ears flapping and tails wagging so hard they were just a blur. “C’mere kids!” She held out her hands to them and wiggled her fingers in welcome.

  Dar jogged behind them, leashes over her shoulder. She hauled up as Mocha hurtled through the air and landed in Kerry’s lap. “Mocha!”

  Kerry just had time to squawk as she ended up with an armful of brown puppy, rocking her back in her seat as Mocha eagerly licked her face. “Hey, little man!” She spluttered. “Aw, I missed you too!”

  Dar dropped into the seat across from her and patted Chino’s back, as the cream colored lab waited her turn for attention with far more decorum. “Hey.”

  “Hey.” Kerry reached past Mocha and gave Chino a scratch behind her ears. “Hey, Cheebles! Did you miss us?” She glanced at Dar. “That rescue they did ended up on the news, I hear. I talked to Maria.”

  “It did.” Dar regarded her. “Mostly because CNN’s reporting the op was full of suspected terrorists.”

  Kerry went still. “What?”

  “Remember Janet said her family was Iranian?”

  Kerry blinked. “What?” She repeated. “How does that mean they’re terrorists?”