by Marian Stack
The walk was slow going at first as the early morning darkness had chosen not to release its grip, and allow the sun rays to ignite the sky above, as per normal during the spring rainy season. The storm had chosen to remain directly above their heads and the sun had chosen to remain hidden above the thick storm cloud coverage. As much as the wet suits were a burden in the sun, now they seem to be at least keeping them dry from the stinging pelting rain drops, and the sudden short burst of hail.
Turtle’s travelling gait was much more surefooted and quicker as they continued to drudge along the somewhat easy path that nature had provided, thus she was the first to discover that an extremely large bolder had been dislodged by the previous storm or quite probably during this storm but whatever the case their now easy path to the cave was severely blocked.
Sadly she knew exactly where they were but with the mountain in a constant state of change she was not certain of what was ahead and if the danger level would continue to rise. She knew what she would do if she was travelling alone but knew that her responsibility firmly rested with the safe return of her guest so she decided to hold up and wait to allow for an agreed conversation regarding their next move.
Before Blair could respond once she noticed the extremely large bolder blocking their path Turtle chimed in to make light of the never ending challenges. “How do you like my decorating skills? I should have gotten the smaller one, right?” Turtle spoke as she presented the bolder as if it was a housewarming gift.
“Really,” Blair sarcastically responded as she sat down on the nearest fallen tree stump and pulled out the bag of dried cranberries that she had stuffed in her pocket from the previous day.
Then taking in a huge deep breath she asked, “Was it on sale and can it be taken back? I really don’t like the shape. It seems a little too round to me.” Her voice continued to sound bored.
“Nope, sadly it came with a no return policy.” Turtle spoke as she sat next to Blair on the stump and then reached into the bag for a few berries.
Both women knew that normally this would be a very funny situation but they just decided to leave the conversation at this point and just sit and stare at the dilemma.
Blair was the first to respond. “Well, what do you think?
Taking a deep breath and exhaling with annoyance Turtle responded, “Well I think you should just stay put and I will search on up ahead to see what is facing us. To tell you the truth this mountain that I knew so well is turning out to be a larger challenge than I ever thought possible. Whatever happened was clearly very damaging. Nothing is where it’s supposed to be.” Her voice trailed off expressing great sadness, as if she was talking about the loss of a friend.
Noticing her guide’s momentary loss of confidence, Blair reached over and grabbed Turtle’s hand and spoke as if talking to a loved one, “Honey, we will get out of this mess because you are the only person that can save us both. I will wait here for your return. I promise to be brave and no screaming, unless of course I’m being eaten by a wild animal and then maybe I will squeal just a little.”
“Smart ass, nevertheless you are absolutely right, I am the only person that will get us out of here, however scream if you want, I’m getting used to it. It’s now almost refreshing.”
Blair leaned into Turtle’s shoulder and then gently moved her arm to cradle her waist and then leaned her head on her shoulder. “Miss Dove, I have complete faith in you that you will get us out of this situation alive and well, and with a gigantic story to tell all our friends and family. But first you need to stand up and find us another path to take. I really want to see this cave and rest, so off with you. Continue to be my hero.” And then with a swift movement of her arm she cradled Turtle’s head with her free hand, and gently pulled it towards her waiting, kissing lips.
Pleasantly surprised by all that just occurred in the last few minutes, Turtle awkwardly and swiftly stood to do as she was told, which was to find the best path to take to get to the cave.
As she watched Turtle’s sturdy frame escape into the thick forest brush that hopefully would lead around the boulder, Blair sat back and pondered about her uncontrolled affection towards this stranger. She knew perfectly well that her recent behaviour was way off base and that everything about her feelings was completely out of character for her.
“I never in a million years would ever think to associate any part of my life social or otherwise with a person that was soooo not feminine.” She thought, as she adjusted her position to now sit on the ground and lean against the fallen tree to wait for good news.
As she dug deep into this thought filled moment she really began to consider why she had these feelings of affection for the person that just went off to find an easier path to keep her safe. As she sat her mind floated towards her past life. She thought about her chosen sexuality and that to her there was never any double or questions in her mind, even from a very early age, that she very much enjoyed the female species. She always knew what she wanted and she knew how to ‘get the girl’. She knew she was the one everyone wanted to be associated with because of her natural charm, beauty and money and she used it to her advantage starting in secondary school and then onwards to university and then law school. What she also learned was that her elegant well-proportioned frame also allowed her to float in and out of both sexual societies. Her desires to love another woman was always her path however she was intelligent enough to use her beauty and charm to get whatever she wanted from the opposite sex without giving what all heterosexual men want.
But this was completely different. Turtle represented everything she disliked about butch lesbians. “She cares very little about appearance or enhancing her femininity to the ninth degree. Her walk is without grace, and her voice is as low and as raspy as a young man’s, not to mention the short, stocky strong build...” Her active thoughts began to raise Blair’s anxiety level as she attempted to explain to herself her reasoning for not enjoying Turtles’ sexual company.
Then suddenly and without warning, another voice seemed to take over her thoughts, her real voice…her voice of reason, “What the fuck is wrong with you? This is not your life, just a screwed up three day vacation that went really, really bad. The kiss was just a reaction from the stress and lack of “everything.”
“For Christ’s sake when is she going to get back? I want out of here!!!” Blair’s outside screaming voice over took both conversations.
Not realizing how long her mind and voices were controlling her time she was very surprised to hear, coming from the bushes just ahead of where she remained seated, “Hello, Miss Foster, its Turtle. Are you being eaten by a wild animal?” Then without skipping a beat she continued, “I found a way to the cave. But there’s a wee problem…”her voice lowered to a whisper as she approached her seated guest anticipating another negative reaction from her always reactive guest.
“Of course there’s a problem…I wouldn’t expect any less.” Blair intended her voice to sound aggressive in an attempt to mask the anxiety that her inside voices and thoughts had just stirred up. “Well show me the way.” Purposely and forcefully she changed her voice as she eliminated all energy from each spoken word.
Startled by the change of personalities and posture Turtle hesitated in responding about the wee problem and thought better to just take the risk and show her guest the way. “If you just follow me and be careful, the thick brush is only a few meters and then the ground levels off.” Turtle decided to start to lead before Blair could react.
Turtle was thankful for the third trip through the brush as she without meaning had trampled and paved the way for Blair to follow with relative ease. She was thankful of course until, and true to form, the second Blair touched the first branch she began her normal angry repartee of vulgarity and promises of suing the company for every penny.
Confused by the almost instantaneous personality change Turtle choose to remain silent, and contemplate over the sudden switch. She pondered over whether she was deal
ing with a person with mental issues. Or had her guest mentally snapped because of the constant chain of bad luck events? Hesitant to speak aloud, but knowing it was her responsibility, she meekly asked as she noticed her guest fully exiting the brush and was beginning to stand upright because of the clearing, “Miss Foster are you alright? Did something happen while I was gone? I thought I was rather fast in returning, and it seems that you were not attacked by any wild animal’s sooo…” she tried in vain, to inject humour to lighten the mood, but sadly her guest did not revert back to the nice one.
Standing upright from the crouching position, Blair’s sarcastic tone of voice had returned with purpose and she did not try to hide it, “Really, again with the happy bullshit. Just show me the wee problem.” She spoke as she ran her fingers through her very tangled hair.
“Sorry, yes the slight problem is just up ahead. It’s really rather astonishing, if you look at it from a nature’s lovers point of view. I mean this little tiny slow moving stream that once gracefully ran over the earth is now a full blown rushing river, pretty amazing…right?” Turtle had stopped walking and now once again presented another one of Mother Nature’s amazing changes. She knew that by looking at the one hundred percent changes to this stream that something really big had happened to her mountain.
Always living in the moment, Turtle unceremoniously walked over to Blair and gave her a huge full frontal body hug. Her amazement and fear were uncontrollable as she stared at the river that had already carved this deep channel in the ground that twisted violently from point to point, as it demonstrated the degree of damage.
“Holy shit… is this not the most amazing thing you have ever seen? And all we have to do is get to the other side of it, now. The storm clouds are just above our heads again and we need to cross on that…” she continued to speak as she turned her body and pointed to “log or tree over there.” So let’s get right to it.” She voiced as her body inadvertently decided to hop up and down with delight.
But all her guest saw was another freakishly dangerous problem ahead of her that she had no talent for getting across, not to mention the plain fact that she was scared to death. “Please just get me out of this nightmare. I cannot believe that we have to get back into the water again?” Her voice tired with fear, as she stood staring at another water problem.
“No… what… I’m sorry, I guess I misinformed you. We are going to get across ON the log. It will be easy. Just hold on and use the branches as a hand railing to help you walk over. It will be easy. I promise. I will help you. You do not need to be afraid.” Without realizing her God-given talent as she spoke, Turtle was able to instinctively interject compassion and hope into each spoken word.
“Trust me.” She spoke as she took Blair’s hand without asking for permission and gently guided her towards the root end of the waiting log. She knew they were out of time and that another temper tantrum was not going to happen.
Reaching the end of their side of the log, both women were surprised at the sheer size of the fallen tree. By anyone’s standards it would probably be one of the largest fallen trees they would ever have seen on this mountain.
Sizing up the problem Turtle positioned her body directly in front of Miss Foster with her fingers interlocked turning her cupped hands into a sort of foot step for her to put her foot on to use as a step up, and stated, “You go first. I will boost you up. This tree is huge. Nothing will ever move this beast.” And then looking straight into her guest eyes she continued her admiration towards the tree, “What a beautiful gift from mother earth. Miss Foster I believe our luck has turned.”
“Yay… Yay… Blah Blah… Blah, let’s get this over with.” And as she was mouthing off her foot slipped out of Turtle’s interlaced fingers, which pushed her body forward, landing the two women breast to breast and lips to lips.
Stunned by their rapid change of positioning, both women, instead of reacting normally, which should have been to push each other’s body apart they instead stood perfectly still as if flash frozen for what seemed like an eternity in this awkward embrace.
It was Turtle that reacted first as she pulled them out of the lip-holding awkward moment and backed up all the while pleading for forgiveness. “Oh my, that was a terrible foothold and a very unprofessional accident. Please trust me again and this time I will not lose my grip.” She then prepared her body in the correct position for hoisting a fully-grown body, and then set her body stance to resemble her to be waiting to be hit by a professional linebacker.
“Yes, I’m up and holding.” Blair broadcasted as she secured her footing on the magnificent trunk of the fallen tree. She remained astonished at how easy it was to get to the bridge of the tree, with Turtles’ help…of course.
As she surveyed the landscape through the huge branches of the tree, she felt her mood settle as she took in the beauty of the fallen tree, not to mention how much larger it seemed now that she was standing on it. Also concluding that once again her guide was correct, the tree seemed as steady as if it had been constructed to remain this way all eternity.
Once Turtle completed the climb with relative ease, and as her body came to a full upright position, Blair repeated Turtle’s bear hug but also planted a huge kiss on the cheek. “You were right, this is amazing.” She was about to continue to be nice but then noticed the bewildered look on Turtle’s face and decided to become herself again, “What… don’t be so surprised. Even a city girl can appreciate real beauty,” she maliciously voiced as she turned her body to face forwards and proceeded to climb the tree to get to the other side to find the cave and rest.
Everything about her hurt, her mind was set to explode, her body cried for proper rest and her heart needed to stop pounding out of her chest.
Back on solid ground Turtle swiftly repositioned the gear bag on her back and proceeded to walk in the direction of the cave. She took a fast backwards glance at her guest, who also had reached solid ground safely, and ensured that she was moving and following. Suddenly their eyes met, and Turtle quickly turned to look forward, so not to upset her guest and offer some much needed space after their two close encounters of confusion.
Blair however did not turn away or remove her gaze as she stared straight at her guide’s forward movements and purposely kept her eyes following the graceful movements, as Turtle moved over the rocks and tree limbs and other forest debris as if she was born to live on this earth, not one created by man.
“She is not without grace, at all.” This thought entered her mind as she watched and then, without warning, tripped over a slightly elevated part of the ground and stumbled awkwardly in an animated clown-like fall.
Turtle had turned around just as Blair tripped, and swiftly moved to assist, “Are you alright? Did you get hurt?
“No I’m fine. Not paying attention. Clearly I’m more suited for concrete than dirt.” Blair’s voice showed signs of exhaustion as she adjusted her body to stand tall.
“We will be at the cave very soon.” Turtle spoke as she turned to carry on with their hike. “Providing nothing else has been moved or destroyed.” She thought to herself, not wanting her guest to notice her worried expression.
Remaining on the path, Turtle was the first to turn the corner and notice that the path leading to the cave was unobstructed. It appeared to be untouched by the entire calamity that had occurred to her mountain.
“Look Miss Foster, the cave! And it appears to be the same as always.” Turtle’s voice changed back to its normal happy tone as she suddenly dropped the heavy gear bag and ran up the slight incline of shale and gravel to inspect the entrance to the cave.
“You wait here.” She had shouted out to Blair without offering reason.
Blair understood the rapid escape up to the entrances, but as she stood waiting her fear of being alone was hard to control.
Even though only a short time passed, “What the fuck is taking her so long?” Blair mumbled as she began to pace back and forth in a very small square as she anxiou
sly waited for her guide to reappear.
“Well this is just great, I finally get to the place to finally get out of this incessant rain storm and now I still have to wait for permission. What the fuck is next?” With her patience at an all-time low, and, as she stood on the slippery shale and gravel pathway she stupidly decided to tilt her head backwards in an attempted to stare into the huge rain drops and in doing so she completely lost her balance as the rain water filled her nostrils, ears, and in her mouth, causing her to instantly fling her head forwards to empty and choke out the rain water, and in doing so she began to slide on the slippery shale that caused her to fall directly onto her buttocks.
“That’s it, it’s the god damn rain… you are the reason for my constant anxiety and mood swings.” She declared to the wet world around her as she quickly stood, hoping that her guide did not notice the foolish fall.
“Miss Foster the cave…”
“Jesus Christ, don’t ever do that again. Sneaking up on a person while they’re alone in the wild, could stop a person’s heart! I mean really, make some god damn noise next time for heaven’s sake.” Blair’s chastising outburst regarding Turtle’s sudden appearance and declaration clearly was over the top and she knew it, however it was really directed towards her own inability to become a better traveling partner during this difficult time.
Blair had begun to despise her own personality without realization.
Feeling the effects of the encounter Turtle waited for a few more moments to allow her guest to get control of her fear before she spoke again. “Miss Foster, again I’m truly sorry for the delay but I wanted to be sure that the cave was void of any wild creatures and that the storm hadn’t caused any damage to place you in more danger. I should have realized how long I was gone for and for that I am truly sorry. But now I can firmly state that the cave is safe and more importantly dry and we can enter without risk.” Finished with her message she bent down to pick up the gear bag but was stunned by Blair’s offer to carry the bag into the cave.
