by Gail Sattler
“I don’t want your help. I don’t want anyone’s help!” Roberta screamed. “Coming out here like this wasn’t my idea. I don’t even care if I blow myself up anymore! Leave me alone!” Tears burned the back of her eyes.
Mr. Ranger stared at her. As his mouth gaped open, Roberta realized she was taking all her hurt and anger and frustration out on this helpful stranger.
Her lower lip wouldn’t stop quivering. Unable to stop it from happening, the tears that threatened earlier burst to the surface. “I’m sorry. I’m having a bad day. Please just go away,” she sobbed. Without waiting for a response, Roberta turned. She ran into the camper, slammed the door, and threw herself on one of the beds, leaving poor Mr. Ranger standing by himself, pen still poised in midair.
She knew he could hear her crying through the canvas walls, but she didn’t care. When she lifted her head to wipe her eyes, she peeked through the screened window to see him still standing in the middle of the campsite, looking around as if wondering what he should do. When he finally turned around and left, Roberta lowered her head and cried herself out.
When her tears were exhausted, Roberta wiped her face on her sleeve. She felt like an idiot for bursting into tears in front of poor Mr. Ranger. Not only had she looked like a hysterical female, she never should have screamed at him like that.
Feeling utterly useless and totally dejected, she sat at the small table. She plunked her elbows on the table, rested her chin in her hands, and stared out the screen window into the thick forest of trees while she absently twirled a lock of her hair in her fingers.
Suddenly, her hand froze. Then, slowly, Roberta placed a hand on each ear. One dangly earring was still in place, but the other ear held nothing.
Roberta groaned. Not only were they her favorite earrings, they were a gift from Molly, who would be there shortly.
First Roberta made a thorough search of Molly’s car but found nothing. Then, remembering her struggle with the door, she searched the floor of the camper, but still found nothing.
She sank to sit cross-legged on the cold floor. The movement caused her knee to ache, reminding Roberta of her earlier fall, which made her wonder if she’d lost the earring as she bounced along the ground.
Roberta pushed herself to her feet. She limped outside, carefully watching the gravel with every footstep. When she reached the right area, she sat in the gravel and began to pick through the gravel, leaves, and other debris, trying to ignore her revulsion at what unknown dirt and germs she was touching.
As she diligently searched, she heard footsteps behind her.
“Hi. I just thought I’d check and make sure you were okay.”
Mr. Ranger. Again.
Not wanting him to see her red, puffy eyes or her shiny nose, Roberta kept her head down and continued to pick diligently through the small rocks. “I’m fine, thank you,” she sniffed, knowing she looked anything but. She wished from the depths of her soul that he would leave.
He didn’t. “What’s the matter? Lose something?”
Roberta was ready to give up, except she didn’t want to stand up and let him see her face. “Yes, I lost an earring.” She tried to think of some way to tell him to leave her alone, but he got the next word in.
“Want me to help you look?” Without waiting for an answer, he squatted until he was hunkered down beside her. “What does it look like?” he asked cheerfully.
Roberta sighed. The sooner she located the missing earring, the sooner he would go away. “Just like this one.” She sighed again, tipping her head and lifting her hair so he could see it.
“Okay, let’s look for it.” He picked through the ground cover, so she resumed her search as well.
“When is your friend coming?” he asked politely as he meticulously picked through the dirt.
Roberta kept her head down but raised her eyes to study him. As before, she couldn’t see his face behind the brim of his hat and large, dark sunglasses.
He appeared to be serious in his search, but Roberta couldn’t help but wonder why he kept coming back. Since she was alone, she wondered if perhaps he was preying on her, taking advantage of the fact that she was alone and helpless. Such a situation would be prime if he wanted to pick her up.
The possibility made her wonder if this was how Mike had picked up other women when he claimed he was madly in love with her, as she now realized that Suzie wasn’t Mike’s only other conquest. The thought made her start to simmer again.
“Soon!” she snapped. She began to throw the sticks and rocks farther than necessary as her most recent memory of Mike, in the corner of the storage room with Suzie, their lips locked together, flashed through her mind.
Not fully recovered from her last bout of crying, she struggled against the telltale constriction in the back of her throat. She dared not speak, for fear of losing control again. She bit her bottom lip and held her breath to try to maintain some semblance of dignity. It didn’t help. Another river of tears rushed down her cheek, but this time she managed to keep silent.
“Found it!” Mr. Ranger raised his head and reached toward her, the earring lying in his palm.
As she met his gaze through his dark sunglasses, his bright smile faded. Her hand shook as she accepted the earring from him. Of course, just her luck, a tear dripped off her chin and landed on his wrist. He flinched, and she froze.
“Hey, are you all right?” he asked, his voice soft and gentle. “Will your boyfriend be here soon?”
Roberta squeezed her eyes shut, but she couldn’t stop her tears. She had no boyfriend, and she planned never to have a boyfriend again. It wasn’t worth the heartache.
“Why can’t you go away and leave me alone?” she sobbed as she ran back into the camper, gasping for breath.
By the time she had once again cried herself out, Mr. Ranger was gone.
Chapter 2
Ranger Lamont sat at the table at the park office, resting his feet on an empty chair. Up until today, this job had been a lot of fun, but today he experienced his first troublesome camper.
That lady in site 27 was a nutcase.
Originally, he had only been trying to help a first-time camper. Normally, he wouldn’t have interfered, but she was obviously alone and totally inept. It was almost as if she had never even seen anyone set up a tent-trailer before, let alone done it herself. She looked like she really needed some assistance setting up the camper, despite insisting she could do it alone.
He wondered if she was perhaps trying to surprise her boyfriend, whom she claimed was coming later. Most likely after he finished work, he would join her for supper, which was not uncommon. The campground was only an hour and a half’s drive out of the Vancouver city limits, about two hours from downtown, and slightly more than half an hour for those living in the suburbs.
Knowing how the poor woman was struggling, he hoped her significant other would appreciate her efforts. For her, it appeared to be a monumental undertaking.
Every time he came back to check her progress, things became worse instead of better. When he saw her lying on the ground not moving, he had almost been ready to call an ambulance.
Then when she started screaming at him, he was ready to call the funny farm. At about the point she ran into the trailer sobbing something about having a bad day, he decided to keep his distance.
He was more than willing to help a lady in distress, but at that point, this lady was more distressed than he wanted to handle. Although, he hated to do that, because he had the impression she could use a friend. Despite being a bit unstable, she seemed like a nice person.
He checked the time once more and decided to make the registration rounds again.
He shook his head. He sure hoped her boyfriend arrived soon.
Roberta sipped her coffee as she organized the inside of the camper. She hoped Molly would arrive soon, because that meant she could stay inside while Molly paid the money, and she wouldn’t have to face Mr. Ranger again.
In preparation, Roberta
rolled out the sleeping bags on the beds. For tonight, it would be only the two of them. Molly said she would get up early and go directly to work from the campsite, which would leave Roberta alone all day. But now that the camper was set up, Roberta found she actually was looking forward to a day in the great outdoors with no distractions, and especially with no men.
As she familiarized herself with the camper’s layout, she found where everything was stowed. She removed her pillow and the duffel bag with her clothes and toiletries from Molly’s car and placed them on one of the beds, then hauled the cooler out of the trunk and placed it beside the picnic table.
Molly had told Roberta not to worry about food beyond tonight’s supper and tomorrow’s breakfast. She wasn’t supposed to be concerned with any other details beyond getting a good spot and setting up. Her mission accomplished, Roberta was now ready to cast her troubles away and relax.
One of the things she discovered while digging through the storage compartments was a hammock. She had never been in one before, and from what she saw on television, they appeared comfortable. Plenty of trees graced this campsite, giving her many choices of where to tie it. Therefore, Roberta looked forward to curling up with a good book.
She tied the hammock securely to a couple of large trees, then tugged on it as hard as she could to be sure it would support her weight. She pushed on one of the wooden crosspieces and stood back. The hammock swayed and spun one complete revolution, making her wonder how she could climb on it without falling off. She knew people actually slept in these things, but she had no idea how they climbed in.
Carefully and hesitantly, with her book tucked under her chin, Roberta grasped the hammock. With a hand on each side and one knee braced up, all she had to do was lift the other leg, hoist herself up onto her hands and knees, and then she could sink into the center and flip over onto her back. Once her other leg was off the ground she could balance her way in. No problem.
Doing as she pictured the steps in her mind, Roberta raised her left leg, which put most of her weight being supported by her right hand. Roberta stiffened as she realized she was leaning too much weight on one side, because the hammock was starting to pitch. She tried to redistribute her weight, but that only made the hammock swing the other way as she balanced precariously. Her fingers clenched as hard as she could onto the sides, both hands clinging to the top portion as she braced herself on one knee, the other leg hanging over the edge as the hammock continued to lean. The ground moved precariously.
To her horror, the hammock continued in a rolling motion, the whole thing happening in slow motion like some outtake in a B-grade movie. Roberta hung on for dear life.
The hammock picked up speed as it continued to turn in its rolling motion. Her foot lifted off the ground when the hammock pitched, flipping completely over. The book slipped out from under her chin and shot into the bushes at the same time as she landed on the ground under the hammock with a thud, flat on her back.
With the wind knocked out of her, Roberta gulped for air. It didn’t hurt too bad, but she was unable to move as she struggled to breathe, staring up at the bottom of the hammock.
Gravel crunched, increasing in volume, as the running footsteps came closer.
“Miss! Are you hurt!? Can you speak!?”
Roberta looked up. Way up. She considered the odd perspective her position granted her. First she stared at Mr. Ranger’s battered and worn hiking boots, then up the length of a pair of long, hairy legs. A tight pair of lips accompanied by large, dark sunglasses and a green hat peered down at her.
He hunkered down beside her. Reaching one hand out, he waited for her to respond and offer her hand to him so he could pull her up.
Not a chance. Embarrassment flooded her as she lay on the ground, flat on her back, looking up at him. She ignored the pinch of gravel digging into her back, and the new scrapes on her bare legs. “I think I lost my book.”
Mr. Ranger smiled down at her. “Ah. I thought I saw something fly up and land in the bushes as you went tumbling over. Do you need some help getting into your hammock?”
Roberta squeezed her eyes shut as she continued to lie, unmoving, on the ground. She didn’t want to know that he had seen her newest misadventure. This whole day could have been a nightmare, except the pain in her knee and the gravel digging into her back confirmed that she was indeed wide awake.
He reached out again, and this time Roberta tried not to blush as Mr. Ranger helped her to her feet.
“I guess there must be a trick to this.”
“You know, I’ve got a hammock exactly like this. Did you buy it at Hank’s Outdoor Store on the corner of Third and Main?”
“No.”
He shrugged his shoulders, smiling. At her answering frown, he turned his head toward the bushes. “Well, then, let’s find your book, and I’ll show you how to get in.”
Roberta couldn’t believe his arrogance. First he had a camper just like Molly’s friend, and now he had a hammock exactly like this. Mike always did the same thing, always trying to impress her, but this time she refused to fall for it. Just because he was the park ranger didn’t mean he was an expert at everything. She would have eventually figured things out for herself. She didn’t need or want his help.
Without speaking, she immediately began to search for her book so Mr. Know-it-all Ranger wouldn’t find it first. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw it sticking out of a small bush, allowing her to grab it before he could. “I’ve got it!” she called out to him.
As she watched from a distance, Mr. Ranger straightened and sauntered to the hammock. He inspected the knots, probably not trusting that she was capable of tying them properly. Once satisfied, he offered her his hand and smiled again from below the dark sunglasses. She wished she could see his whole face.
“Want me to help you get in?”
Roberta backed up.
“I guess not.” He frowned. “Then watch me, and I’ll demonstrate.” He backed up to the hammock until he was almost in a sitting position, then leaned to one side as he sat down. When his back was down, he lifted his legs in. Linking his fingers behind his head and crossing his booted ankles, he appeared quite comfy as the hammock swayed slightly.
“See?” He smiled again.
Roberta glanced up and down his tall frame at the way his lithe body fit into the hammock. He looked tall even lying down, and she guessed his height to be close to six-foot-two. Even though half his face was hidden, he seemed very good looking. She wondered if he came on like this to all the lone women that came camping.
Roberta grunted in response.
Still wearing an infuriating smile on his face, Mr. Ranger continued to watch her. “This is how you get out.” She watched him get out in the same manner as he got in, only in reverse.
“Demonstration complete. Have fun.” He turned and left, tipping his hat on his way out of the campsite.
Watching him turn down the road and walk away, Roberta sighed. She didn’t know what he’d come for that time, unless he had meant to ask her to pay. In that case, he had obviously forgotten when he saw her fall off the hammock. She shuddered to think that he would be back again.
Once he was far enough away, and not likely to come back, Roberta tried once more to enter the hammock, feeling more confident of her ability when he wasn’t watching. Doing exactly as Mr. Ranger showed her, she settled in without incident, and sure enough, the hammock was indeed comfy.
As she started to read, Roberta decided that maybe camping wasn’t such a bad idea after all. When Molly arrived, which hopefully would be soon, they could start supper. Roberta had brought what she thought was a typical camping meal of hot dogs and everything that went with them, and she could hardly wait.
The more she read, the more she relaxed, and the more she enjoyed the calming sway of the hammock. Appreciating the lull and the soothing rocking motion, after a couple of chapters, her eyes drifted shut.
The phone rang in the park office.
“Parks and Recreation, Ranger Lamont speaking.”
“Garrett? Is that you?” A burst of static blurred the line.
Garrett raised his voice, trying to be heard over all the noise. “Molly? I can’t hear you very well. Where are you calling from?”
Molly’s voice screamed over the background noise. “I’m calling from the hospital. Mom had another asthma attack. She’s going to be fine, but can you go find Robbie? It looks like I won’t be there tonight. I have to stay with Mom.”
“Your friend never showed up.”
Molly gasped. “What do you mean Robbie never showed up? Garrett, she’s never pulled a trailer before, and she’s got my car and your family’s tent-trailer. If she’s had an accident or something, I’ll never forgive myself! It took awhile, but I had to really convince her because she’s never been camping before. Are you sure she isn’t there?”
Garrett’s mind raced, trying to fill in the holes obscured by the static, until Molly’s words sank in. When he had talked to Gwen, he heard only the name Rob, not Robbie. He naturally assumed it was a guy they were talking about. “Your friend is a she?”
Garrett closed his eyes. Robbie. Roberta Garland. The nutty woman in site 27. The hammock that looked just like his. The trailer with the crank that got stuck in the same place. He had thought the car looked familiar. It was Molly’s car.
“Garrett, haven’t you met Robbie before?” Molly shouted over the noise. She paused. “But then, she didn’t remember ever meeting you either. Maybe you two really haven’t met.”
Garrett said nothing. No wonder the woman was such a basket case. Gwen had told him earlier that Rob’s fiancée had been caught making out with someone else in the storage room. They had an ugly fight in front of all the staff, and after that, Rob had promptly been fired. It hadn’t dawned on him that Rob could be female. Garrett closed his eyes, remembering his own words, asking her when her boyfriend was coming. Under the circumstances, it was no wonder she had broken down and cried again.
