Lost on the Water

by D. G. Driver

  A few yards farther and we came to an embankment that blocked our path. The only way past was to step up on a tree root sticking out of the dirt and pull up. Lamont stood there waiting for me.

  “Do you need help?” he asked.

  “No.”

  I stepped on the root, but even with that boost, the rise was still about chest height to me. I stuck my arms over the top and tried with all my might to use my arm strength to lift the rest of my body up and over. My arms weren’t strong enough, and I wasn’t tall enough to kick a leg over. The last thing I wanted to do was ask for help. I kept my face forward, pretending that some magic superpowers would enter me, and I’d be able to climb up with no problem.

  After a moment I felt two warm hands on my sides. Lamont’s hands were big and stretched from my hip bone to my bottom ribs. My sweatshirt and T-shirt underneath had lifted up, and his hands were on my skin. The tingles rushing through me at his touch made me light-headed.

  “Do you mind?” he asked, his voice low. I shook my head. I couldn’t speak.

  His hands lowered to my hips, almost cupping my butt, and then he pushed me right up like I weighed nothing to him. I got my knees underneath me and stood up just as he was hoisting himself over the top. He stood up and brushed dirt off his jeans. I swiped at the dirt all over my still damp shirt, but I knew the effort to clean myself off was hopeless.

  “Thanks,” I said.

  “Just so you know, I didn’t help you because you’re a girl. I helped you ’cause you’re short.” He dug his knuckles into my head, not enough to hurt but definitely hard—the way he might if I were in fact the boy I had claimed to be. He was smiling. I rubbed the tender spot on my head and smiled back.

  “I really am sorry, Lamont,” I said. “I didn’t mean to upset you guys.”

  His smile faded, but he didn’t look angry like he had back at the camp. “It’s partly our fault. We weren’t looking close enough. I didn’t notice what I notice now.”

  “Like what?”

  “Well, you’ve got a tight backside.”

  “Oh my gosh!” I raised my hands to my face, mortified, while he laughed—hard.

  He stifled his laughter and took one of my hands, turning it over in his like he was just noticing how small it was compared to his. “Seriously, though. You might not think you lied to us, but you did. Not saying the truth is the same thing as lying. It’s not the best way to make friends.”

  “I know. I’m so sorry.”

  “I stood up for you, you know? They didn’t want you to come on the campout, and I said you should. You embarrassed me and made me look stupid.”

  “I’m—”

  “Don’t apologize to me again. I heard you.”

  By then the other three boys were pulling themselves up behind us. Once all three of them were on their feet, Jasper approached us and said, “I should take Vivian out hiking. I had no idea it was so romantic.”

  “Vivian wouldn’t be caught dead hiking,” Lamont said back to him. “She couldn’t wear her high heels.”

  “Mmm, I love my gal in those heels,” Jasper moaned.

  Brian said, “There’s not a girl in town that would be out here doing what Dannie’s doing, you know that? Not one. Can you imagine Jaycee, Lizzie, or Darla?”

  “Natalie maybe,” Chris said. “She’s our best athlete. Everyone’s sure if she has another year like this last one, she’ll get a scholarship to MTSU for cross-country running. Full ride, I bet.”

  “Natalie’s pretty hot,” Brian said.

  “Uh-oh, boys!” Jasper teased. “Sounds like Brian’s finally got a crush!”

  I walked behind them and listened to them go on and on. After a minute, Lamont, way up front called back to me, “Dannie, are you my partner or not? Catch up, already!”

  I grinned and dashed around the boys to get back to Lamont’s side. He put an arm around my shoulder and squeezed me like he might a younger brother and then let go. “I’m over it, okay? Just relax.”

  “Okay.”

  But I couldn’t relax. Not really.

  We continued to creep through the woods, and over time the calls for Alex got farther and farther apart. People stopped talking as tiredness crept over them in the early hours of the morning. The guys in my group were stumbling a lot and bleary-eyed. Contrary to how everyone else was feeling, I was getting a fresh wave of energy. What was left of my adrenaline had started kicking in, I guess.

  Over time, the beams from the flashlights became sparser as the batteries began to die. Chris’s went out on him suddenly, causing him to step in a hole and trip.

  “Aw c’mon!” he shouted as he stood back up. He shook the flashlight and smacked it with his other hand. It was no use. The flashlight was done.

  Lamont’s and Brian’s were growing dim now as well. Soon, we wouldn’t have any light left at all.

  “What should we do?” Brian asked.

  “No smooching up there in the dark, you two!” Jasper said to Lamont and me. I was glad it was still too dark for him to see me blush.

  “We have to go back, don’t we?” Brian continued. “We need to get back before we can’t see anymore.”

  My chest tightened at the concept of giving up. I looked up at the sky through the treetops. The stars had become as faint as the flashlights, and the black background of night was giving over to the gray of predawn.

  “It’s getting lighter out,” I said. “We might be able to see pretty soon without the flashlights.”

  Lamont stopped moving. “Look, I’m tired, Dannie. We all are. Let’s go back and rest for a couple of hours until it’s light. Then we can try again.”

  I felt my mouth form the word, but the voice came from Chris.

  “No!” he said forcefully, surprising all of us. “I’m with Dannie on this. We need to keep looking.”

  “This is pointless,” Lamont argued. “We’ll never find him this way. We’re too tired, and we can’t see anything. What good are we to him right now?”

  In the distance we heard some dogs barking. A moment later Officer Willoby’s voice rang out, “I need everyone who hears my voice to come this direction!” He said it four more times to make sure he was heard, but we were busy arguing over all his attempts.

  “See that,” Lamont said as we aimed toward the sound of Officer Willoby and the dogs. “The dogs can’t even find him, ’cause you know they’ve been coming from the opposite direction.”

  “He’s here somewhere,” I insisted.

  “But where?” Lamont asked. “This forest goes on for miles and miles. What exactly do you think we’re going to be able to do for him?”

  “I don’t know,” I said firmly. “I just don’t want to give up!”

  “Me either,” Chris said. The other two stayed silent through the whole thing, but it was clear by the way they kept their eyes averted from Chris and I that they sided with Lamont.

  When we got to where we could see Officer Willoby, we fell into a wide circle of searchers. Many of them I recognized from the beach earlier, but there were twice as many people now than before. Officer Willoby stood up on a fat, fallen log, so he’d be visible to everyone in the vicinity.

  Jasper pointed to a man with shaggy black hair standing behind the policeman. The expression on his face was pure worry. Even from across the six yards of trees and shrubs that separated us, I could see that his shoulders were hunched with tension. “That’s Alex’s dad,” Jasper told me. I didn’t need him to tell me that. It was obvious.

  “He looks terrible,” Brian said. “I’ve never seen him like that. He’s always been so cool and in charge.”

  Lamont turned toward me. “If he’s this worried, then maybe there’s something to worry about. You think?”

  I didn’t answer. Instead, I focused on what was happening on the log, and that forced the other guys to do the same. An older policeman with a hint of gray sticking out from under his cap stepped up on the log beside Officer Willoby. He wobbled a bit as he fought to get h
is balance. I wondered if he might be the sheriff or captain or something, because he spoke with a big, sturdy voice like he was in charge.

  “We’ve been combing the woods from Highway Fifty-Six to this point with no success, hoping he made a straight shot from the lake to the road. The dogs haven’t found a trace of him. So, we’re thinking Alex didn’t make it this far. We’re going to need to widen our search area in case he got turned around and is headed away from the road.

  Brian shouted out and interrupted the sheriff’s speech. “Our flashlights are running out!” Several other people in the crowd shouted that they were having trouble with theirs as well. Most of the people with the dim or dead flashlights were the campers or the parents that had been on the lake. The folks coming from the other direction seemed to be faring a little better.

  Officer Willoby raised his hands to hush everyone again. “We see that,” he said. “There’s a clearing up ahead a little way. All of you who are out of light go there and wait until sun up.” He leaned over and spoke to a man who was fairly close to him. We couldn’t hear what he said. Then he straightened up again. “Max here knows the way. All of you can follow him.”

  Brian, Jasper, and Lamont made to follow, but Chris and I hung back.

  “What are you going to do?” Lamont asked, frustrated with the both of us. “Are you planning on getting lost too?”

  “Yeah. Give it up,” Jasper said. “It’s still too dark. Just stick with us.”

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, guys. I’m going to see if I can walk with Officer Willoby. I’m supposed to be in his custody right now anyway.”

  “I want to go too,” Chris said, checking to see if it was okay with me.

  “Look, Chris,” Lamont said, trying to keep his voice low so I couldn’t hear him. But I heard him. “You don’t have to go just to prove that she’s not tougher than you. If you’re tired and need a break, it’s okay. She’s the one being stubborn.”

  “It’s not about that,” Chris said. His eyes flicked over to me and then back at Lamont. “I’m not as tired as you guys. I’ll be fine.”

  Chris’s behavior really confused me. Was Lamont right and this was about him not wanting me to best him? Or was it something else? He didn’t like me. That was clear. I knew he didn’t want to keep me company. Where was his bully attitude? Why did he care about Alex all of a sudden? All he’d done since I met him was say rude things to or about Alex. Wasn’t he the one who thought Alex had just wimped out and gone home?

  Part of me suspected Chris had some ulterior motive, like maybe he was trying to get me lost in the woods and then ditch me. Only, that would be a stupid thing to try to do when I just said I was going to walk with a policeman. Chris might be a Class A jerk, but he didn’t strike me as stupid. So, I took him at his word, and decided to be glad that he was going to trust me in return.

  “Sure, you can join me, Chris,” I told him.

  The big guy smiled at me for the first time since I met him, and it seemed genuine. “Let’s go, then.” He swung his arm as if to slap me on the back in the friendly way these guys always did with each other. I braced myself for the sting. Just before his palm hit me, he stopped himself and gently patted me instead.

  Lamont looked disappointed that we were breaking up the team, but he didn’t change his mind and tag along. I wished he’d say something sweet to me, like to be careful and come back to him. That was a silly thought, I knew. I couldn’t think of anything to say to him either. I’d already embarrassed myself too much. “Come on, guys,” Lamont said to the brothers. “Let’s catch up with the others before my flashlight completely fails on us.”

  Chris and I watched them walk away and then pushed through the trees and slow-moving people to get to Officer Willoby. He now had a dog leash strapped to his wrist.

  “You sticking with us?” he asked us. We nodded.

  “If that’s okay,” I said.

  “No problem, but you’ll need to stay very close to me since you don’t have a working flashlight. It’ll be light enough to see in about an hour.”

  “Yes, sir,” Chris said very respectfully. I was impressed. I don’t think I’d ever called anyone sir before. I wondered if that was a Southern thing.

  “Can we help you with the dog?” I asked. “We could take turns.”

  Officer Willoby said, “No. If he gets a scent, he may take off running. You’re not trained on how to make him heel.”

  The man I thought was a sheriff divided up the remaining searchers, which were mostly cops and grown men now, into two teams and sent them in opposite directions. He gestured to Alex’s dad to come forward. Alex’s dad pulled out a green striped T-shirt from where it was stuffed in the back pocket of his jeans. Slowly, he walked in front of the dogs, letting each one get a new, fresh whiff of Alex’s scent. When he’d passed all the dogs, he turned away from everyone. I don’t think he meant for anyone to see, but I noticed that he put the shirt to his own nose for a moment before stuffing as much of it as he could back in his pocket. He kept his back to us as the dogs started leading the way, their noses sniffing everything they passed.

  I left Officer Willoby’s side and walked over to Alex’s dad. Immediately, Officer Willoby shouted at me, “Danielle! I told you to stay with me!”

  “I’ll catch up in a second.”

  “Dannie, come on!” Chris said.

  “I can’t keep the dog still,” Officer Willoby added.

  “Go ahead,” I shouted back. “Just give me a second.”

  Quietly, nervously, I tapped Alex’s dad on the shoulder. He turned around and faced me. “Who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you before.”

  “You haven’t, sir,” I said, trying out Chris’s polite way of talking to the men here. Alex’s dad responded well to the formality. “I’m Oleta Garrison’s granddaughter.”

  “Oh,” he said, recognition settling in. “You need to get yourself home right now, honey. She is worried sick about you.”

  “I know. I will as soon as we’re done. Officer Willoby told her where I was.” I paused, thinking through the best way to ask what I needed to know. I really wished I knew Alex’s last name. I didn’t know what to call the man. “Sir?” I tried. “Alex was really cool to me this morning, staying behind with me in his kayak while the other guys went on ahead because I was going so slow. Anyway, he was worried that we were lost on the lake because he couldn’t recognize the cove where he and his grandpa go fishing together.”

  “That’s right,” Alex’s dad said. “I told him to look for it because it would be just opposite where the island is.” He rubbed his hand over his face. “I don’t know what happened,” he confessed to me. “Alex was a good Scout. I taught him to read maps. He should have known where he was going.”

  “He really tried, sir,” I said. “It was confusing out there. Everything looked the same.”

  His eyes were a little wild as he crouched down and looked up at me hard, as if searching my face for more information about his son. “He’ll be okay,” he said. “I know that. Alex knows how to start a fire. He knows what plants are safe to eat. He can hunt and fish and skin animals for cooking.”

  “He didn’t have a gun or a fishing pole, sir.”

  “I taught him how to make a slingshot,” he told me. “Alex could get a rabbit that way.”

  I shuddered a bit as I imagined Alex as some wild Lost Boy from Neverland, running around shooting at animals with rocks. I pictured him putting the critter on a stick and eating it with the head still attached and the eyes all bugged out. Trying to shake the image away, I said to Alex’s dad, “That fishing cove? The one I just mentioned? I think that was where he thought he was when he landed. Is there any place that he knows of that he would go to around that fishing cove? A cabin or something like that?”

  His dull eyes lit up and he gasped. “I didn’t even think of that. His grandfather has a log cabin he uses when he goes fishing and is going to stay for more than a day.”

  “Is i
t anywhere near here?”

  “Yes, it is!”

  Alex’s dad rushed forward to Officer Willoby. I chased after him. They spoke for a moment, and then both men started nodding and pointing. The policeman got on his walkie-talkie and organized who would be going with us.

  “All right, y’all,” Officer Willoby said. “Let’s go find him.”

  15

  The Hideout

  We switched directions, and although my sense of where I was in the world was seriously off-kilter, I thought it felt like we were headed back toward the lake. We continued to the left and eventually passed the cove where we had started, and then we kept moving parallel to the water. I guessed that Alex had parked his kayak at the wrong fishing cove. So much of the shoreline looked the same, getting confused was natural. I should know.

  Chris asked me what was going on, and I told him about the cabin. I could see that he felt relieved to have a place to aim for instead of wandering around in the woods. We walked for a long time, the dog continuing to lead the way with its nose. As morning took over, I was finally able to see the hands on my watch again. It was almost 4:15. My mouth was dry and had a sticky feeling that I’d only felt once before after a sleepover with Jenna when we never actually went to sleep until after breakfast the next morning.

  Slowly, the sky brightened, and light began to descend upon the woods. When it touched the tops of the trees, birds began to stir and tweet. A few flew from their nests in search of morning worms. Minutes later, the light came down the trunks of the trees and the daytime animals poked their heads out of their holes. Squirrels and chipmunks jumped to life. At long last, the light broke through to the ground, illuminating the rocks that I’d been stubbing my toes on all night long and the pokey shrubs that had shredded the skin on my ankles. I could see the spiderwebs now, so I didn’t have to get any more on my face or in my hair. The mosquitoes finally gave up eating me and retreated to wherever it was they slept all day long.