by J. Blanes
In the end, it was not fatigue but hunger that made them stop for the day. They returned to camp at two in the afternoon. Keira was not back yet. Albert decided to start a fire so they could grill the catch of the day and make it the main dish. Meanwhile, Dylan cleaned the fish and prepared the picnic area by leveling a patch of sand and extending a sheet over it. Less than an hour later, they were sitting around the fire, drinking beers and waiting for Keira to come back.
“It’s almost three,” Dylan said. He was worried and hungry. “She said she’d be back by now.”
“I know, but she’s very independent and likes to be left alone. She sometimes loses track of time, especially when something catches her attention.” Albert wasn’t entirely convinced himself, but he didn’t want to appear hasty. “Let’s leave her alone; she’ll be back soon.”
At a quarter past three, Dylan couldn’t wait anymore. He told Albert to wait for Keira at the camp and hurriedly went for his horse.
Dylan was already in the saddle when he heard Keira’s voice behind him: “Where are you going? Are you leaving already?” He dismounted and walked straight to her.
He was at a loss for words. “You…you…” He wanted to be angry with her, but he couldn’t. He knew Albert had been right, and he was embarrassed.
Keira frowned. “Are you OK?” She still was trying to understand what was going on. In the distance, Albert grinned.
“I’m hungry, and we were waiting for you,” Dylan complained finally.
“You could’ve started without me,” she said plainly, knowing how Dylan’s mood worsened when he was hungry, and still not really grasping the situation. “I think I enjoyed my picture trip too much and lost track of time.”
At hearing the same words Albert had said, Dylan grumbled something and went back to the fire, where he took one of the grilled fish and started eating it.
“Did you find anything interesting?” Albert asked Keira moments later as they were all sitting around the campfire.
“There are lots of beautiful places, but the birds are the best,” she replied excitedly. “I saw big and small ones, in every color you can imagine. I took hundreds of pictures, and I almost ran out of memory. And my camera has lots of memory.”
They still had some daylight hours, and they spent the rest of the afternoon doing almost the opposite thing they had done in the morning. Albert went for a stroll, and Keira decided to take a shot at fishing. Albert taught her the basics before leaving and figured out an easy way for her to hold the fishing rod even with the bandages on her wrist. Dylan was the only one to repeat his morning endeavor. His love for his newly learned hobby was too much to let the chance go to waste.
An hour later, Keira and Dylan were still in the water when they saw Albert running toward them, coming from the shore from their left. He was waving crazily and shouting, but he was too far away for them to understand what he was saying.
“What does he want?” Keira wondered while getting out of the water. Dylan followed her at a short distance.
“I don’t know. It seems he wants to tell us something,” Dylan replied when, suddenly, a deafening roar from behind shocked them.
They both quickly turned around. A huge grizzly bear was standing upright a few yards in front of them. It was the biggest and most frightening animal they had seen in their lives, and they were paralyzed in terror.
“What do we do?” Keira whispered, her legs trembling.
“I don’t know. I think we should run,” Dylan suggested. “At the count of three?”
“OK.”
“One, two, and—”
“No, don’t run!” Albert shouted behind them, interrupting Dylan’s count. “If you run he’ll follow you. Just remain still and extend your arms to appear bigger,” he explained.
They both did what Albert told them, even when their primary instinct was to yell at him instead and then run like hell. The bear was now back on all fours, still an imposing and menacing animal, and roaring like thunder.
Albert slowly approached one of the fishing baskets and grabbed some fish. “I think he wants these. When I tell you, back away slowly, and don’t stop until you get to the horses, OK?”
“Yes,” they both replied.
Albert threw the fish in front of the bear and told his friends to start moving carefully. The bear seemed pleased with his new banquet and paid no attention to their retreat. It was a slow and tense walk back to the horses, but they finally arrived, saddled their horses, and got ready to leave. Albert untied the other two, riderless horses and released them.
“My camera!” Keira abruptly remembered she had left her camera at the picnic area. She dismounted her horse and ran back to fetch it.
“What are you doing?” Dylan shouted before dismounting and rushing behind her. Albert took the reins of their horses and followed a little behind.
“Here it is!” Keira grabbed the camera just as the bear seemed to become interested in them again and started walking toward them.
“Come on, let’s go!” Dylan shouted at Keira, grabbing her arm and pulling her with him toward Albert and the horses.
Suddenly, the bear got tired of waiting and launched his attack, running fast toward them. They hastily mounted the horses that Albert had pulled with him. The bear was faster than it seemed and quickly got close to Keira’s horse. He almost sank his huge claw into the horse’s flesh, but the horse’s survival instinct made him kick the bear in the mouth, disorienting the aggressive animal at that crucial moment. They seized the chance and galloped away, none of them knowing for how long, until Albert told them to stop. The horses needed a rest, and so did they. They were out of danger and dismounted for a while. They sat down on the ground next to their horses, their hearts still pounding in their chests like crazy.
“Phew!” Keira sighed, relieved. “It seems wild animals want a piece of me these days.”
“Yeah, you’re really dangerous. Everywhere I go with you, I always end up running for my life,” Dylan said sarcastically.
“What about the other two horses?” Keira suddenly felt worried for them.
“Don’t worry about them. I released them and they know their way back to the farm. We’ll see them there tomorrow.” Albert calmed Keira while secretly hoping the bear had not gotten to them first.
Keira inspected her camera for signs of damage, but it was fine. She started looking at the pictures and burst out laughing, startling the other two, who looked in amazement at her, thinking she had finally gone crazy.
Still laughing, Keira handed the camera to Albert. “Look…look at…” she stammered between laughs, unable to speak clearly.
Albert looked at the picture. Keira had accidentally taken a picture of Dylan’s face just at the moment he grabbed her arm as she was fetching her camera. In the picture, Dylan appeared crossed-eyed and open mouthed, with his face contorted in a stupid comical way, looking at the bear in the background. It was too much even for Albert, who joined Keira in her laughing.
“Oh my God!” Dylan exclaimed when he saw his picture. “If you post this online, I’ll kill you!” He seriously threatened Keira, who, looking at him, recalled the picture again and renewed her laughing with force. Dylan stammered, angry at first, but slowly let their laughter win him over. It was a magical moment, all three of them laughing out loud, twice in less than twenty-four hours, letting their adrenaline settle and forgetting, for a few minutes, all their problems from the last few weeks.
Little did they know it would be a very long time before they would laugh again like that.
THREE
Keira didn’t remember the last time she had slept so well. Her watch told her she had overslept, but she didn’t care. She was looking at her face in the mirror, and for the first time in a long time, those darn dark circles under her eyes had faded away a little. That put her in a good mood. She finished applyin
g her makeup and went downstairs, where she found Dylan in the kitchen eating his breakfast already.
“Good morning!” she greeted him cheerfully.
“Aha! Someone is in a good mood today. What’s the occasion?” Dylan said without stopping eating.
“Nothing special, it’s just a beautiful day, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t know. I haven’t been outside yet.” Dylan never missed a good chance to tease her.
“You’re a mood killer, you know?” Keira complained. “You don’t need to see a beautiful day; you just need to feel it.” She crossed her arms over her chest.
Dylan put the fork on the table and crossed his arms over his own chest, mocking her. “Hmm…” He closed his eyes, pretending to feel something. “No, I don’t feel it either,” he said, grinning from ear to ear.
“You idiot!” Keira slapped him on his shoulder, realizing, at last, his intentions.
“Ouch! OK, I’m sorry,” he apologized, still grinning and not feeling guilty at all.
“You know what? I don’t care. You can mock me all you want. I won’t let you ruin this perfect morning. By the way, what are you having for breakfast?”
“Breakfast? I’d say brunch. Do you know what time it is?”
“Yes, I know.” Keira was perfectly aware of the time. “Are you going to answer my question or not?”
“Don’t you see? It’s scrambled eggs, the only thing I know how to make,” he confessed.
“Did you really cook them?” Keira was surprised, not about Dylan’s poor cooking skills but because Albert was the one who always made breakfast for all of them. “Where’s Albert?”
“I don’t know. Maybe he’s still sleeping.”
“Really?” Keira found it odd. On normal days, she usually was the last one to come down in the morning. Maybe yesterday’s trip had really gotten to him. She prepared her brunch and sat in front of Dylan at the table. They both ate in silence.
“Didn’t he say yesterday,” Keira spoke finally, “that this morning we were going to get some supplies at the grocery store?”
“Yes, I think so,” Dylan confirmed. “Maybe he left without us, although I woke up early today, and I didn’t see him leaving.”
“We can ask Mr. Cowell,” Keira said. Mr. Cowell was the farmhouse gardener. He tended the garden twice a week, and he always started working before sunrise. Keira knew he was there today because she could hear the lawn mower outside. If Albert had really left early, Mr. Cowell would have seen him leaving.
They finished their brunch and went outside looking for Mr. Cowell. Keira was almost sure Albert was not in bed, because it was impossible to sleep with the lawn mower noise directly under his bedroom window. She confirmed her hunch when she didn’t see the pickup truck in its usual spot.
“Hello!” Dylan shouted, waving in front of Mr. Cowell, trying to get his attention.
Mr. Cowell saw them and smiled while turning off the lawn mower. “Good morning, guys! What can I do for you?” he said with his crackling voice. He was a nice old man always ready to help.
“Good morning, Mr. Cowell,” Keira greeted him back. “By any chance, did you see Albert leaving this morning?”
“Oh, yes, I saw Mr. Blake Junior drive away, just when I got here this morning,” he replied. Mr. Cowell always called Albert by his last name, Blake, adding the “junior” part to differentiate him from his father.
“Did he tell you where he was going?”
“No, I didn’t have the chance to talk to him.” He paused, frowning. “Hmm, now that I think of it, he really seemed to be in a hurry,” he remarked.
They both said good-bye to Mr. Cowell and went back inside the house. Where would Albert have gone so early in the morning? The stores would be closed so early, and he would have returned already. This thought somewhat troubled Keira, but she let it go, Albert never did anything without a good reason. He would explain at his return.
“It seems Albert left us in the cold today,” Dylan said, a little bit annoyed. “Should we call him?”
“Forget about it.” Keira dismissed the idea. “He’ll tell us what happened when he comes back. For my part, I’m going jogging. Do you want to come with me?”
“No thanks, I’d rather practice my favorite sport,” Dylan said. “Baseball video gaming.”
“Ha-ha, very funny,” Keira mocked him. Dylan smiled and left for Albert’s gaming room while she went upstairs to her bedroom and changed into a more appropriate sports outfit before leaving.
Albert was driving his pickup truck on an unfamiliar, unpaved road. The pickup raised so much dust that the whole rear window was completely covered in it. Up to this point, his cell-phone map app had been working fine, and he had been able to follow its directions without any trouble, but the app required a constant online connection that it had lost a few miles back, rendering it useless. Since then, he had to follow an old, obsolete paper map—a primitive and almost hopeless thing by Albert’s standards, but he had no choice. His pickup didn’t have a GPS device installed on its dash, and he cursed himself for not bringing one with him. It was too late to go back now, and he was determined to follow through until the end.
The lushness of the valley had completely disappeared after crossing a mountain chain ten minutes ago, and had given way to a completely dry, barren desert. Albert had never imagined that two completely opposite landscapes could coexist so close to each other. The road traced the upper right side of a small canyon, about fifty feet deep and a couple hundred yards at its widest. Only rocks and some solitary trees, of a species unknown to Albert, thrived in this God-forgotten environment. The canyon seemed to extend forever in front of his eyes, and he wondered how it would compare with the much bigger and spectacular Grand Canyon. He regretted not having visited that natural wonder and promised himself he would visit it in the future, as soon as the opportunity arose.
He was now miles away from any known settlement and a few more from his destination. Without a GPS he could not locate the exact spot with precision, but he remembered the overall area where it should be and had highlighted it on the map with a circle. He didn’t know what he would find there: an elaborate, sophisticated prank or an exciting new breakthrough. He prayed for the latter, but his logical, analytical mind bet on the former. No matter what, he needed to find out.
The monotony provoked by the repetitive terrain bored him to death. He turned on the radio, plugged in his MP3 player, and turned the volume up to distract himself with his beloved jazz music. He immersed himself in the music, humming along and tapping rhythmically with his fingers on the wheel as when playing his saxophone. It made the road much more bearable.
He had been in this trance for a long time, lost in the music, when the road ahead of him just disappeared off a cliff. He had only a few seconds to react and hit the brakes hard, but the pickup tires could not grip on the dusty road. He lost control, and the vehicle started skidding fast toward the void ahead. All his life, his reasoning and logic had allowed him to maintain a complete self-control in difficult situations, shielding him from impulsive, erratic thoughts that could induce him to make the incorrect decisions. But now, for the first time in his life, he disregarded that reasoning and logic and let his primal instincts to take control of his body and mind. For the first time in his life, Albert panicked.
His instincts were telling him he was going to die. It was a fact; the pickup would not stop on time and would fall off the cliff. It was inevitable, and he needed to assume it. He closed his eyes, focused on the music, and waited for the worst. Isolated from everything else and in peace with himself, he made a sudden, apparently crazy decision against his instincts; he lifted his foot from the brake. This simple movement allowed the pickup to go unimpeded for a split second, until he floored the brake pedal again. He repeated this maneuver again and again until the pickup miraculously stopped just at the edge of
the cliff, with one wheel completely hanging in the air. Albert opened his eyes and leaned forward, resting his head on top of the wheel, his heart racing and his hands trembling. He breathed deeply and smiled. His reasoning and logic had saved him again.
He put the pickup in reverse and carefully pulled back. Then, he got off and approached the cliff’s edge. A landslide had wiped out a stretch of the road, and now a huge pile of rocks descending into the canyon occupied its place. It was impassable by his truck. He needed an alternate route, but it was past three in the afternoon, and without the guide of a good GPS map, it would take too much time and would be too risky to drive on these dark, solitary roads at night.
He knew his destination wasn’t far from here, somewhere near or inside the canyon, but no GPS meant no way to know the exact location. Even so, he went back to his pickup to fetch his binoculars. He scrutinized the whole canyon with them, looking for anything odd or out of place, but he could only see the same trees and rocks. It seemed that his prank assumption had gained strength, and that would explain why he had been able to decipher the coordinates so easily last night, but nothing would discourage him from coming back tomorrow, or any other day after that, until he could reach the exact spot indicated by those coordinates.
On his way back, he stopped at the grocery store to get the supplies he was supposed to have bought that morning with Keira and Dylan. He knew he owed them an explanation, and knowing Keira, he was convinced she would not let it go without a very plausible one. He needed to tell them what had happened. Thinking about it, he felt surprisingly relieved; maybe they could bring some fresh insight into this matter and discover something he could have overlooked. There was always the possibility they could find a flaw in his reasoning and make him laugh at his own stupidity. On the other hand, if they believed him, he wouldn’t feel as crazy as he felt right now.
That evening Albert arrived at the farmhouse well beyond nightfall. On his way there, he had called Keira. She’d pretended not to be worried, but Albert felt the concern in her voice. He had told her that he would be there in about two hours and that he would explain why he had left. As soon as he said this, he noticed the change in her voice, now more calm and reassured. “OK, see you later” were her last words before hanging up, as if nothing had happened.
