by Lucy Quinn
Dora glanced around and slunk back a bit further into the camper. “I suppose. It is only for one night.”
“And we’re going to make it a great one, Dor. A night to remember. Heck, a freaking Hallmark Movie moment.”
Dora shook her head at her friend, but Evie saw the way her lips twitched with amusement. “Did I ever tell you about movie night at Y-camp?”
Evie had been a counselor at the overnight camp one summer, and Dora did know all her stories since they’d been besties since kindergarten, but she said, “Please tell me about the bats peeing on you again.”
Evie laughed and gave Dora a version of the story that had been embellished so many times it was the stuff of legends. She launched from there to a few more, and by the time Dora had finished a plastic cup full of wine, she had relaxed her shoulders and had even inched her way back to the open side door of the VW to dangle her feet over the edge.
The sky was darkening, and Evie got up to throw another log on the fire. Sparks flew and Dora said, “I’ve been thinking about Matt. The shooting could have been an accident. Like maybe the guy was cleaning his gun and it went off and shot the woman. He panicked and ran.”
“Or…” Wine splashed in Evie’s cup as she poured herself more. “Maybe he caught her in bed with a lover and got so furious he shot her.”
“Maybe, although he sounds like he was a really nice guy.”
“Okay, what if he meant to shoot the guy and hit her instead?” Evie asked as her storytelling mind took off.
Dora laughed, “Not sure that makes him any nicer.”
“True. Maybe he was a gambler and she was a loan shark?”
Dora laughed at Evie, but she jumped in to play along. “IRS agent, and he’d been fudging the books and didn’t want to pay back taxes.” The moment the words came out of Dora’s mouth she scowled and said, “Or maybe he caught his boss doing something illegal and there was a struggle before he shot her.”
“Dor—”
“It’s okay, Evie.” They were silent as Dora took another sip of her wine. Evie held her tongue. She was waiting for her friend to say what she was thinking. “Maybe I need to talk about it more,” Dora said. “Keeping what happened bottled inside might be why I’m having trouble sleeping.”
Evie thought she had a point. “Talk away.”
“I took a man’s life.” Before Evie could say anything to comfort her friend, Dora said, “I know. It was an accident. But Evie, it still happened. Steve died because of me.” She wiggled her fingers in front of Evie’s face. “I have blood on my hands, and because I ran, I’m also a criminal. How does that make me any better than Steve and Marco?”
Evie knew her friend was a little tipsy, but she thought Dora really did believe what she was saying. She took her hand and squeezed Dora’s fingers tight. “Keeping yourself alive doesn’t make you a bad person. The blood never would have been on your hands if Steve hadn’t been the kind of man he was. He pulled a gun on you, for god’s sake!”
“I’m not sure he—"
“Stop. It doesn’t matter if you think he would have used it. The man was dangerous, and you protected yourself. Did he deserve to die? Probably not. But I do know you deserved to live.”
Dora nodded as her eyes shone with tears.
“I get it, hon. Life is precious, and because of a horrible accident you watched someone die,” Evie said as she pulled her friend into a hug. “But he brought it on himself the moment he pulled that gun out. What happened will stay with you for the rest of your life, but use that pain for good. Treasure life and those around you because you are now keenly aware of how quickly it can all change.”
Dora sniffed. “Thanks for making me feel better. I don’t deserve you.”
Evie chuckled, thinking about all the trouble she’d caused Dora over the years. They had always been there for each other no matter what. “Don’t I know it. But we belong to each other for life, Dor, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.”
12
After her heart-to-heart with Evie, Dora’s conscience felt a little lighter, and she realized that she had needed to talk about shooting Steve and how it made her feel. “I think it’s time for those s’mores you promised me, Evie.”
“Definitely, but we’re going to need sticks.”
Dora eyed the woods surrounding them. It was fully dark now. She knew she was being foolish thinking bad things were lurking behind the trees, but she was tempted to ask Evie to get the sticks for them until it occurred to her that if something did happen to her friend while she sat there doing nothing, she’d never forgive herself.
She hopped onto the ground from the bus and closed the door, making sure Sunshine didn’t get loose while they went on their scavenger hunt. She grabbed her phone from her pocket and turned on the flashlight. “Okay, but we need to be quick.”
“Scaredy cat.” Evie teased as they made their way into the forest.
“Definitely.” A branch creaked as Dora pushed it aside and trained her light onto the ground, looking for a long, straight stick to use to toast her marshmallows. “Who knows what’s out here.”
“Probably nothing more than squirrels, chipmunks, and maybe an owl or two,” Evie said as she moved further into the darkness. “Jeez, these woods have been picked clean. People must be using all the broken branches for firewood. We may have to resort to breaking one off of a tree.”
“That seems kind of cruel to the—found one!” Dora picked up a small tree limb.
“Great,” Evie said. “We can shove two on the same stick.”
“Sounds like a plan.” Dora realized that the wine they’d consumed had given her a more pressing need. “I need to use the facilities.”
“Facilities?” Evie asked. “If you mean you have to pee, then we can trek all the way to the bathhouse in the dark if you want, or you can utilize the facilities pioneers used. That’s what I’m going to do.”
Dora frowned. She wasn’t a fan of letting her backside hang out for mosquitoes to snack on, but Evie did have a point about trekking to the bathhouse. From what she remembered from the map, it was quite a distance, and she wasn’t looking forward to that hike in the dark. She let out a heavy sigh. “Fine. And I suppose we can brush our teeth with the water we have in our bottles, too.”
The zipper of Dora’s shorts hummed as she lowered it, and she grabbed onto a tree to squat down and relieve herself. Her thighs were just about to complain when she heard a loud crack. Her heart jumped into her throat. “Evie? Please tell me you fell.”
“No.” Evie replied in a timid voice. “Tell me you—”
Another crack sounded louder and closer this time, and Dora didn’t need to hear anymore to know it was time to run. She let out a scream as she stood up to flee before yanking her shorts and underwear up, and she promptly tripped and fell, leaving her sprawled out on the ground as her phone skittered away.
“Evie!” she cried. Her friend held out a hand to help her scramble to her feet, and once she was standing, Dora snatched up her phone with one hand as she tugged her shorts up with the other.
“Dora!” Evie cried out, seemingly annoyed she’d taken the time to retrieve her cell, or to pull up her pants. “Run!”
I’m trying to, Dora thought as she ran after her friend. She was breathing too hard to speak. It wasn’t more than fifty yards to the bus, and when she got there, Evie already had her hand on the back door, holding it open and waiting for Dora to jump in. She launched herself inside, and Evie slammed the hatch shut behind her. Sunshine bounded from the front seat and jumped into Evie’s lap.
The two friends huddled together in fear. Dora whispered. “Do you think it’s gone?”
“Shhh.” Evie hushed her with wide eyes, and the two listened for more sounds.
After a while, it was clear whatever they’d heard was no longer moving. Hopefully because it was gone. Dora whispered as quietly as she could, “What’s out there?”
Evie shook her head and spoke in a normal voice
. “If it wanted us, we’d be dead by now.”
“Way to be logical,” Dora said. She chuckled as she inspected her skinned palms and knees and then refastened her shorts. They had acted like kids running up the stairs from an imaginary monster. “Talk about being caught with your pants down.”
Evie grinned at her. “Your lily-white backside was doing more than hanging out when you were starfished out there on the ground. It was like a shining beacon.” She waved her fingers. “Come get me, Bigfoot.”
Dora let out a little gasp. “Like you didn’t stick yours out for him when you peed. That round, luscious derriere of yours is way more tempting for—” She held up her hands like claws and lurched in Evie’s direction. “Bigfoot to chomp on.”
Evie let out a little squeal before both of them broke into laughter.
Dora said, “We’re such city folk. We probably heard a squirrel.”
“Naw, too big for a squirrel. I’m going with us mooning Bigfoot. It makes a much better story.” Evie reached up and turned on the interior lamp. “Now, where is that citronella candle?”
“I’ll get it.” Dora hadn’t noticed any bugs, but she trusted Evie’s judgement and figured her friend might want to light it as a precaution. She made her way to the front of the bus where she’d stored the bag of supplies they’d purchased at the grocery store. She noticed the half-eaten bags of their road food. Since she didn’t want the bus to smell like Cheetos when she woke up in the morning, she took that bag and opened the door to set it on the roof of the vehicle to keep it safe. Evie would be looking for them later.
“Bring the whole bag,” Evie said. “We’re going to make s’mores the apartment way.”
Dora crawled back to Evie and handed her the bag of dessert supplies. “How do we do that?”
Evie took out the candle and a match sizzled when she lit it. “We need something we can use as a stick.”
“How about the reusable straws Windy packed for us?”
The girls hadn’t used them for their spinach juice, both taking one sip of the foul-tasting drink and pouring out the contents, so the metal straws were at least clean. Dora grabbed them, and after she gave them to Evie, she watched her put a marshmallow on each one. “We’re going to toast them over the candle? Does that work?”
“Sure does. Try it.”
Dora held her marshmallow over the flame and found that it did begin to turn toasty brown. “You’re so clever! Hand me my graham cracker and chocolate.” She made her treat and took a bite. When the sweet flavor combination filled her mouth, she sighed with pleasure. “Now that makes camping worth it.”
After the two women finished their dessert, they decided it was time to settle down for the night and cuddled next to each other inside their sleeping bags so they could peer out the pop-top of the camper.
Dora gazed up at the stars and sighed. “You made this the perfect camping experience, Evie. I got my fire, s’mores, and even a good ghost story.”
“Good.” She chuckled. “Our kids are going to think we actually were chased by Bigfoot by the time I’ve spun this adventure.”
Dora smiled as she imagined how the tale would grow each time Evie told it. “And it’ll be the best ghost story ever.” She let out a yawn. It had been an eventful day, and she was as emotionally exhausted as she was physically. Dora believed she was finally going to get a good night’s sleep.
It was warm in the sun as Dora enjoyed a peaceful afternoon floating on the lake. The low rumble of a motorboat sounded, and her body swayed with— Dora jerked awake to realize that the swaying she felt wasn’t from the wake of a boat. The bus was moving like someone was shaking it. “Evie!” she hissed as she hit her friend on the arm to wake her up.
Evie blinked in confusion. “Wha—” She bolted up and stared at Dora with her mouth open in a perfect O.
The bus was rocking back and forth as something bumped against it. Something big and as dark as the night sky. Dora whispered, “That is not a squirrel.”
Evie nodded her head.
“And it’s not an owl.”
Evie’s constant nodding made her resemble a bobblehead.
Dora whimpered as she grabbed Evie’s hands. “Can you go Krav Maga it?”
“What?” her friend asked, finally finding her voice. “Do you plan to come with me? Because as I recall, I taught you my moves.”
Dora had no intention of going out there and fighting off Bigfoot with her bare hands, but she could hardly expect Evie to do it by herself. “We need a weapon.”
“Hairspray.”
“Hairspray?”
“In the eyes,” Evie said with authority. “He’ll be blinded, and then we can kick him where it counts.”
Dora imagined the numerous ways that could go wrong. “I’m not kicking anything. I just want him to go away.”
“Maybe he’s hungry,” Evie suggested. “We do look like a big lunch box. Throw him my Cheetos. Everyone loves Cheetos.”
“First off, why am I the one who has to throw him the Cheetos? And secondly, they’re already outside.”
“What?” Evie gasped. “You threw out my Cheetos? I thought you loved me.”
“I do love you,” Dora said as she scrambled up to the front of the bus to find the junk food she remembered seeing earlier. “I put them on the roof to keep them safe and this van from smelling like an old shoe in the morning.” She grabbed a partially eaten bag of veggie chips, chocolate candy, and licorice.
“I hope you put your sneakers out there, too,” Evie said. She climbed up front and grabbed the licorice from her. She looked at what Dora was holding. “Veggie chips? Really, Dor? Nobody likes those.” The window crank squeaked as she turned it to unroll the window a crack, and then she shoved the licorice out.
Seconds later, they heard a low growl and the bag rustling. Sunshine, who’d curled up at the back of the bus, let out a whimper and covered her face with her paws. The two women exchanged a wide-eyed glance, and Dora reached over to shove the veggie chips out. They were met with a loud grunt and the whoosh of what sounded to Dora like the creature discarding them in disgust.
“Told you,” Evie said as she grabbed the bag of candy to toss out next.
When that was met with what they assumed was satisfaction, they followed up with the graham crackers and chocolate.
Dora handed Evie the marshmallows. “This is all we have left. What do we do now?”
Evie shrugged, and when she pushed the marshmallows out, she yelled, “That’s all we’ve got!” She quickly rolled the window back up, and they retreated further into the vehicle.
Dora crossed her fingers that Evie’s words would do the trick, and both women sat in silence, waiting to see what would happen next. Evie’s proclamation must have worked, because a short while later they heard the thud of footsteps as whatever had attacked them walked away.
Dora let out the breath she was holding. “Do you think we’re safe now?”
“Only if Bigfoot doesn’t come back. We just gave him a feast of the best kind of road food.” Evie turned accusing eyes on Dora. “You gave him my Cheetos!”
“I was doing you a favor,” Dora insisted, though she did have a vague recollection of something about food needing to be stored in trees. Maybe putting the snacks on the roof hadn’t been her smartest move ever. “Sorry, Evie. I’ll get you some more tomorrow.”
“Forget it,” Evie said with a yawn as she slid back into her sleeping bag. “I’m probably going to move on to Funyuns instead. I haven’t had those in ages.”
Dora groaned, already smelling the scent of stale onions in the air. She should’ve just let Evie have her Cheetos. Now her nose was going to pay for her haste. “Just get some breath mints or gum to go with them. We can’t have you smelling like Funyuns while we’re talking to people about Matt tomorrow.”
Evie gaped at her friend. “What do you take me for? An amateur? Please. When have I ever let my breath get the better of me?”
“Right now, it could us
e some help,” Dora joked.
Evie rolled her eyes and then turned her back on Dora. “Try to get some sleep before the next big and hairy creature comes for us.”
Laughing and completely surprised that they’d managed to run off Bigfoot, Dora curled up next to Sunshine and Evie, and this time she fell into a deep sleep until the sun shone high overhead.
After a trip to the bathhouse, Dora got behind the wheel of the bus.
“We’d better stop by the office and tell the manager about Bigfoot,” Evie said while running a hand down Sunshine’s back.
“You think?” Dora asked, not sure she wanted to deal with the older man. He’d successfully creeped her out the night before.
“Come on, Dor. You don’t want anyone else to get attacked, do you?” She raised one eyebrow in challenge. “Even if it was mostly your fault for leaving the snacks out.”
“It’s not my fault I’m a novice camper,” Dora muttered and eased the VW through the campground until they got to the park office.
“Come on. Time to face the music,” Evie sang as she and Sunshine hopped out of the bus.
Dora reluctantly followed and asked Evie, “You’re not going to rat me out about the snacks, are you?”
Evie glanced over her shoulder. “Of course not. What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him, right?”
“Thanks.” Dora let out a sigh of relief.
Laughing, Evie slipped her arm through Dora’s and tugged her into the office.
“Ah-ha! You survived!” the park manager said from behind the counter.
“Just barely,” Evie said dramatically while holding the back of her hand against her forehead. “It’s a miracle I didn’t die of a heart attack after Bigfoot attacked our bus last night.”
“Bigfoot?” the older man asked with a skeptical furrow of his brow. “The legend of Bigfoot is further north. You two probably had a bear in your campsite.”
“This was way bigger than a bear,” Dora blurted. “He was huge.” She raised her hand high over her head.
