Some Like It Wild

by M. Leighton

  I roll slightly to the side and point to the back of my leg. Jake examines it and then looks back to my face. He gently takes my chin between his fingers and looks closely at me.

  “Which way did it go, Laney?” he asks quietly.

  “Off the back of the log, into the woods.”

  “I need to find the snake. I need to know what bit you. Stay here. I’ll be right back,” Jake promises. He brushes my lips with his, so tender and sweet it makes me want to cry, before he stands up and turns a complete circle. Before I can ask what he’s doing, he takes a good-sized rock from the ground and hefts it a time or two, as if to check its weight. With it tucked against his palm, Jake walks to the log, steps cautiously over it, and moves farther into the forest.

  I pray hazily for God not to let him get bitten, too, as I lie back against the cool ground. I would be devastated if something happened to him because he was trying to help me.

  I don’t know how much time has passed when Jake comes back. Gone is the rock, replaced by a length of wiggling snake body.

  I gasp in shock. “Jake, it might—”

  He holds the snake up just long enough for me to get a good look at it. And see that it’s missing its head. “Is this what bit you?”

  I look closely at the snake. The color and markings are unmistakable. “Yes, that’s it.”

  “It’s a copperhead,” he says, tossing it back into the woods. Jake’s face is solemn, which worries me. He bends and gently sweeps me into his arms, careful not to jostle my leg or put too much pressure on the bend of my left knee. “We need to get you out of here.”

  I’m not panicking. Mainly, I’d say, because my leg hurts so badly it’s hard to think of much else. I just want the pain to stop.

  “Copperheads are poisonous, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “Aren’t you supposed to cut it and suck the poison out or something like that?”

  Jake grins, but it doesn’t completely erase the look of concern on his face. “Do you want me to cut you and suck the poison out?”

  “Well, if that’s what you’re supposed to do . . .”

  “With some venomous snakebites, that might be the case, but with a copperhead, fortunately their strike is their warning, so they don’t often inject very much venom. I’m going to get the first aid kit and clean it then we’ll head down the mountain.”

  I consider this new information, feeling somewhat relieved. But still, my leg is hurting so bad!

  “What about all your stuff? The camp?”

  “I don’t care about all that shit. My main concern is getting you to the hospital so they can give you some antivenom and something for the pain.”

  Jake sets me in one of the chairs in front of what used to be the fire. I watch him dig through a metal box in the back of his Jeep and produce a small white square. As he walks back, I notice the fresh blood on his arm and one thigh. When I twist my leg and look down at it, I see the blood running from the wound at my knee.

  “Bleeding is a good thing, right? To clean out the bite or something?”

  “Copperhead bites bleed quite a bit. It has something to do with the way the venom affects your blood cells.” Jake kneels in front of me, opens the white box and sets it on the ground at my feet. “This is gonna sting, but I need to clean it before I put some gauze on it, okay?”

  I nod.

  Whatever Jake pours onto a cotton ball is liquid hell. I’m sure of it when he presses it to my already hurting leg and it makes it hurt even more.

  “Almost done,” he says, dabbing gingerly.

  I glance down and see the blood trickling even as he swipes at it. Nausea creeps over me like a swell of unbearable heat. Sweat beads on my forehead. “Jake, I feel sick.”

  “Slow deep breaths. We’ll be on the road in a minute.”

  With quick-yet-competent movements, Jake folds a few squares of gauze into a thick pad and presses it lightly to the snakebite. He then winds a roll of gauze loosely around my knee and fastens it with tape. It’s just enough pressure to keep the gauze in place.

  “Not the best job, but it’ll do,” he says, closing the white box and then standing to his feet. “Let’s blow this joint.”

  Before he can scoop me up into his arms, I have a moment of clarity. “Aren’t you going to get dressed?”

  He’s still naked. And I’m still mostly naked.

  Jake looks down at this body then back up at me. “Well, you’re wearing my shirt. How ’bout we settle on a pair of shorts for both of us?”

  I nod. “Sounds good.”

  Jake ducks into the tent and, after a few seconds, emerges wearing shorts and tennis shoes, carrying my shorts from last night. “Here,” he says, holding the shorts open at my feet, “step into these and then I’ll carry you to the Jeep.”

  He pulls me slowly to my feet and I put my hand on his shoulder to steady myself as I step into my shorts. It’s so sweet that, before I can do it for myself, Jake pulls the shorts up and fastens them at my waist.

  When he meets my eyes, he winks. “Strange. I never seem to fantasize about getting you into your shorts.”

  His calm charm makes me feel more at ease. Careful to mind my leg, Jake reaches for me, swinging me up into his arms and heading for the Jeep. I lay my head on his chest. I know I should be afraid. Up here in the mountains, hurt. All alone with a bad boy, someone the whole town looks down on. But I’m not afraid. I’m in good hands. I have no doubt.

  The drive back down the mountain seems twice as long, although, according to the dashboard clock, it’s actually shorter. Of course, I wasn’t in pain on the way up, either.

  When we pass over the river at a spot I remember as being fairly close to the bottom, Jake takes out his phone and powers it up.

  “I should have signal by now,” he says by way of explanation. He punches in a short couple of numbers and then holds the phone to his ear. “Yes, ma’am, I’m on my way down the mountain behind the Theopolis peach orchard. I have a friend with me who’s been bitten by a copperhead. Could you send the paramedics?”

  Jake answers a few of her questions and then gives the woman his address. After a few seconds of listening, he thanks her and hangs up.

  “Why did you do that? I can make it to the hospital.” I’m not sure how to take his actions, but I’m not feeling good about them. Should I be more worried? Is this bite more serious than I think? Or is Jake just trying to get rid of me?

  “You need the antivenom as quickly as possible. The sooner you get it, the more effective it is. By calling it in now, the ambulance can be at the house by the time we get to the bottom of the mountain, giving you at least twenty minutes. And by calling it in as a snakebite, the hospital can make sure the ambulance has it on board when they come out.”

  “Oh,” I say with a nod. That makes sense. False alarm.

  We ride in silence the rest of the way down.

  The paramedics are just coming down Jake’s driveway as we drive up from the field. They pull to a stop, we pull to a stop, and then Jake hops out and comes around to the passenger side to get me. He carries me to the back of the ambulance just as the EMTs are extending the legs on the stretcher. He sets me gently on the thin mattress and backs away.

  The emergency techs are both older guys, which makes me feel at ease somehow. Maybe it just seems that the older they are, the more experience they should have. Or at least that’s my way of thinking.

  “Where were you bitten?” This comes from paramedic number one, on my left.

  “The back of my left knee.”

  He nods to paramedic number two, who begins placing a cuff around my arm as paramedic number one lifts my leg to examine the bite.

  “What’s your name, ma’am?” the one on my right asks as he starts placing stickers on my chest.

  “Laney.”

  “Is this your husband, Laney?” he asks, nodding to Jake.

  “No, he’s, um, he’s a friend.”

  I use Jake’s term. It feels just a
s cold and hopeless as it did when I heard him use it on the phone.

  “Do you have family in the area, Laney?”

  I feel a moment of dread. I gulp, feeling tears threaten. This is not the end I had thought our wonderful camping trip would have. Not at all. And now my parents will be involved.

  “Yes, I do.”

  “What are their names?”

  “Graham Holt is my father and—”

  “Graham Holt, the preacher?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Well, all right then, Laney, we’ll get a hold of your father and have him meet us at the hospital.”

  “I’d prefer you not, actually. Can’t Jake just come with me?”

  The men look at one another across me, and then the one on my left clears his throat and answers. “Sure he can, but we’ll need some family member present in case something should happen.”

  My stomach sinks and I nod. “Okay.”

  I look to Jake. His smile is tight and his hands are shoved down into his shorts pockets. “I’ll meet you at the hospital, Laney.”

  I nod and smile, knowing that it’s a pathetic one, what with my chin trembling.

  “Laney, are you allergic to any medications?” EMT number one asks.

  “No, sir.”

  “Good. When we get you in the back here, I’m going to start an IV and give you some pain medication. Then I’ll be giving you some medicine to help neutralize the snake venom, okay?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “It’s important that you tell me how you’re feeling, all right?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  With a jolt, the two men collapse the legs of the stretcher and stuff me in the back of the ambulance. I lift my head and my eyes meet Jake’s as one of the guys closes the doors. He looks pale. And upset. And it’s all because of me. I’ve ruined what was supposed to be a fun weekend. What could quite possibly be our last weekend.

  When I can no longer see him, I don’t hold back the tears. I let them flow.

  “I’ll have that pain controlled in just a few minutes. You hang in there, Laney,” he says as he unwraps tubing and punctures a bag of fluid.

  I give him a watery smile. I don’t think he can numb the pain I’m feeling right now. It has nothing to do with a snakebite.

  * * *

  I know I’ve looked at the doorway a dozen times. Where is Jake?

  In my stomach, there’s a sinking feeling that he just won’t come, that this will be the end of us. This isn’t the fun he was looking for. This isn’t the kind of rush he enjoys. And I’m probably not the kind of girl that he’d ever give more than a few weekends to.

  The doctor finishes examining my leg. He’s tall and gaunt with a head full of wild salt-and-pepper hair, but he has a warm smile. “Well, Ms. Holt, you’re one very lucky young woman. You’re not out of the woods yet, but based on the reaction of the tissue surrounding the site, I’d say you were only very lightly envenomated. What that means for you is minimal tissue destruction, no systemic effects like nausea, vomiting—”

  “Sorry to interrupt, but she said she was nauseous right after she was bitten.”

  My heart swells inside my chest. He came.

  “Jake,” I say, unable to keep the silly smile off my face. He winks at me quickly then turns his attention back to the doctor.

  “Sorry I’m late, sir. I’m Jake Theopolis. I was with Laney when she was bitten.”

  The doctor nods, taking in this new information then turning back to me. “Are you feeling nauseous now, Laney?”

  “No, sir.”

  “It was only something you experienced directly following the bite?”

  “Yes, sir. I, um, I . . .” I feel my cheeks sting. I already feel stupid for what I’m about to say. “I get that way sometimes at the sight of blood. Especially my own.”

  He smiles kindly. “That’s nothing to be embarrassed about. And it was a traumatic experience, which only heightens your senses. But it’s a good sign that you’re not feeling poorly anymore. If you’d been more heavily envenomated, you’d be experiencing nausea and vomiting now, along with a variety of other side effects of a copperhead bite. What I believe is that you’ll have some local reaction like pain and swelling, possibly some bruising, but for the most part few lasting effects or disability in your leg. I think this young man’s quick thinking probably saved you quite a bit of suffering.”

  Jake looks unaffected by the doctor’s praise, but he doesn’t look as miserable as he did at the house, either, so I’m sure it’s welcome, whether he’d admit it or not.

  “So when can I go home then?”

  “Not for a couple of days.” The doctor flips through my chart and glances back down at me. “But I’ll do my best to have you out of here before your birthday.” With a wink and a fatherly pat to my hand, he nods to Jake and then turns to walk out of the room.

  “You’ve got a birthday coming up?” Jake asks.

  “Yeah. Thursday.”

  “Why didn’t you—”

  “What on earth is going on here, Laney?”

  I feel the blood drain from my face when I hear the booming voice and then see my father appear behind Jake.

  “Nothing, Daddy. I’m fine.”

  “You’re lying in a hospital bed. You are most certainly not fine.” He comes around and sits on the edge of the bed, taking my hand in his. “What happened, baby girl?”

  I see the worry in his eyes, etched on his face. “I went camping and got bitten by a snake.”

  He closes his eyes and brings our joined hands to his forehead. He’s silent for the longest time. I know he’s praying. “Thank the Lord you’re okay,” he says finally, opening his eyes to look at me.

  “If it hadn’t been for Jake, things might’ve turned out much differently,” I say, hoping Jake’s heroics will help my father to look more favorably upon him.

  “Well, who were you camping with?” Daddy asks.

  “Jake. That’s what I mean. The doctor says his quick thinking probably saved me a lot of suffering.”

  “But isn’t he the reason you’re in this predicament at all?”

  “Of course not! My getting bitten has nothing to do with him.” I tug my hand free of my father’s and sit up straighter in the bed. I don’t like feeling as though he has such an advantage over me. He’s lorded over me my whole life, and with him sitting and me half lying, it makes me feel intimidated. And I don’t want to feel intimidated. I want to have the guts to make my father see what I see in Jake. Not what he thinks he knows about him.

  “Well, if he hadn’t taken you up in the mountains unsupervised you wouldn’t have been bitten by a snake.”

  “Unsupervised? Daddy, I’m an adult. In a few days I’ll be twenty-three years old. I’m long past needing supervision.”

  “That may be the case, but if you weren’t up there doing things you weren’t supposed to be doing, maybe this wouldn’t have happened.”

  “And how do you know what we were up there doing?”

  My temper flares. I can only imagine how Jake must feel, being the object of such harsh judgment and criticism most of his life.

  “I’m not stupid, Laney. You think I don’t know what happens when a man and a woman shack up together?”

  “It’s not like that, Daddy. Jake let me stay there when I didn’t want to stay with you. If anything, that’s on you for not respecting my decision about Shane.”

  “You can’t blame me for loving you and wanting what’s best for you.”

  “No, I can’t. And I don’t. But I do blame you for using such underhanded tactics. And for being so domineering. Daddy, you have to butt out of my life and let me make my own decisions. I don’t need you to run my life.”

  “It appears that you do. Look what a mess you’ve already made of things.”

  “I haven’t made a mess of anything. Things are going along just fine, just the way I want them to.”

  “Is this what you want? Is he what you want?”

&nbs
p; His question isn’t overtly insulting, but the emphasis he put on the word he makes his opinion of Jake crystal clear. And what’s worse is that, with Jake looking on, I don’t know how to answer that without incriminating myself. But I have to say something.

  “What if I said yes? Would you stop?”

  “Laney, you can’t expect me to just step aside and watch you ruin your life.”

  Jake clears his throat and steps forward. The look on his face is unfathomable. But something in it breaks my heart. And makes me feel panicky. “Mr. Holt, it was nice to see you again, but I’ll be leaving now. I don’t want to upset Laney. She’s been through enough today.”

  And with that, he turns and walks away.

  The bigger man. And, in this case, the better man.

  Tears sting my eyes. “How could you be so cold and mean, Daddy? What happened to the loving man I used to know?”

  “I’m still that man, Laney. Can’t you see that I do all this because I love you? Because I want what’s best for you?”

  “Don’t you get it, Daddy? He is what’s best for me. I’m in love with him.”

  The words slip out before I can stop them. They pour from my heart in anger and frustration, but also in truth. Truth I hadn’t even consciously admitted to myself.

  My father leans away as if I slapped him. “Don’t be ridiculous. You are destined to be with Shane. Everyone can see it but you.”

  “No, I’m not. And everyone can see that except you.”

  TWENTY: Jake

  There’s a lot to do around the orchard. Between that and working a few shifts at the fire station, I’m keeping busy. The problem is, none of it is enough to make me stop thinking about this mess with Laney.

  I wasn’t ready for it to be over just yet. But it has to be now. As if it weren’t enough to hear how terribly I fit into her perfect life and perfect future (at least in her father’s eyes), fate stepped in and let her get bitten by a snake. Her hospitalization and subsequent inability to continue immediate work on my family’s estate meant that the law office sent someone else to tie it up. Turns out that Laney was finished but for a few minor things that the new guy wrapped up in two days’ time.