by Mark Romang
Slack-jawed, Maddix watched the ghost hunters speed away, tires squealing down the road. He watched the retreating vehicle until he could no longer see its taillights. He sighed and looked back at the church. Nestled among soaring cottonwoods and a babbling creek, the church complimented the bucolic setting, yet inside its walls it had become a haunt for demons. Maddix could hardly believe it. What have I gotten myself into? What in the name of Heaven do I do now?
Chapter 3
Zion National Park
Her legs feeling as if they were made up of curing concrete, Sara Kendall turned and looked down the steep gully filled with sun-tortured sand and withered brush. Her clients lagged behind again. They plodded through the parched bunchgrass and squawbush like overburdened pack mules.
Near the ridge of the gully, Sara stopped climbing and waited for the family of four to catch up. She removed an insulated water thermos from her backpack’s webbing and took several swigs.
A lethal combination of hot sunshine and exertion from scrambling up sandy terrain had worn down the city dwellers from Chicago. The Larson family hired her to guide them on a three-day backpacking trip through Parunweap Canyon.
As far as slot canyons go, Parunweap Canyon is rated 2CIV on the Canyon Rating System. Rappelling isn’t necessary, and a person in decent shape with good backpacking skills can easily walk the 18.5 mile route in two days.
The most difficult aspect of the canyon is that the trail isn’t marked very well and requires wading through chest-deep water for several miles.
Today marked the third and final day of the trip. Sara had pushed her clients hard this morning. She wanted them out of the canyon. Thunderheads building in the west promised to dump heavy rain later on in the day.
Flash floods in slot canyons have killed many unsuspecting hikers over the years. The shallow pools and tributaries of the Virgin River fill up quickly with rain and become lethal torrents in slot canyons.
Sara removed her backpack and set it on the ground. She rolled her bronzed shoulders several times. The fifty-pound backpack she wore chaffed her back muscles. She grinned as she watched the squabbling Larson kids maneuver the ascending trail. Nine-year-old Jacob Larson was having a ball, while his fifteen-year-old sister acted as if she were being tortured by Attila the Hun. Katy Larson had been acting like a spoiled prima donna since day one of the trip. She still seethed from the loss of her iPhone. She accidently dropped the phone in the river while trying to text, and now her young life lay in absolute ruin.
Two years ago Sara gave up her corporate accounting job to start her own guide service into the slot canyons of Zion National Park. The money wasn’t very good, but the perks were excellent.
Instead of stagnating in a tiny cubicle, staring bleary-eyed at a computer screen, she rappelled down 1000 foot palisades, past sandstone grottoes and hanging gardens wet from the mist of nearby waterfalls. Her descents into the giant earthen cracks took her into a whole new world. And exploring the canyons and guiding people through the mystery of their wind-and-rain-chiseled passageways exhilarated her.
But lately she found contentment hard to come by. Since a young age she felt like God sanctified her to do something spectacular. But now she was pushing thirty and still hadn’t figured out what grand thing God wanted her to accomplish.
There was a time not so long ago that she felt like she was on the cusp of achieving the spectacular. Ten years ago she competed at the U.S. Olympic Trials as a kayaker. Her event was the K-1 500 meter slalom. She was expected by many to make the team, but nerves unraveled her in the final heat and she finished fifth.
Four years later she continued her quest to make the Olympic squad. She easily finished in the top three of the various qualifiers leading up to the final selection heat. But once again nerves killed her chances. She missed a gate in her final heat.
Despite the boneheaded mistake, her run had been so fast that she missed making the team as an alternate by only one spot. But that was all behind her now. She no longer competed against world class kayakers. She eked out a living like everyone else now.
Maybe my biological clock is making me restless, she thought. The prime of her childbearing years had come and gone, and marriage was not even a blip on her radar. The selection of eligible men in Felicity was downright laughable, and she hadn’t been on a date in months.
There was only one man in Felicity she truly found intriguing. But after the last pastor at Zion Baptist Church ran off with the organist, creating a split in the church, she didn’t think it wise to pursue Andrew Maddix. Besides, Maddix had an intense way about him she found a little unsettling.
She supposed his time in the Special Forces brought about much of this intensity. Whatever the cause, Pastor Maddix seemed to have a single-minded focus about him that couldn’t be tamed by the likes of her.
The bickering Larson kids reached her first, followed soon after by their weary parents. “I want everyone to take a big drink of water,” Sara instructed them. “We have about four miles to go before we reach the trailhead, and we’ll be out in the sun the whole time. You’ll each need to drink about three liters in the next three hours to stay hydrated.”
“This stinks. I was freezing cold slogging through the canyon. And now I’m burning up in this heat,” Katy complained as she dabbed at her forehead.
“Would you like some cheese and crackers to go along with your whine?” Jacob asked his sister while he serenaded her with an imaginary violin.
“Shut-up, Creep! You’re too dumb to realize you’re miserable,” Katy fired back.
“Guys, that’s enough. Try your best to be civil with each other. One day you’ll both look back on this trip and marvel at what you’ve accomplished,” John Larson said. He turned to Sara. “I’m sorry you’ve had to listen to them argue for the last three days, Sara. I thought going on an adventure like this might bring us all closer together as a family.”
“It’s been great, Dad. I love the slot canyons. But I still want to rappel. And I still want to find some quicksand,” Jacob said.
Katy rolled her eyes. “I wish you would find some quicksand, too.”
Sara grinned. “The quicksand was there, Jacob. I just took you around it. Sorry.”
“Me, too,” Katy echoed.
“I also apologize for making you guys take the exit route out of the canyon during the heat of the day. I usually wait until the evening to make the trek. But there’s a thunderstorm coming in and I didn’t want us to get caught in the canyon. Flash floods in slot canyons are very dangerous. Two scout troop leaders drowned in Kolob Canyon several years back. Some of their gear is still there.”
“No need to apologize, Sara. I’m glad you’re taking such good care of us. We want to be able to come back to Zion for more adventures. Don’t we, kids?”
Katy frowned. “Are you serious, Dad? We’re going to vacation here again?”
“There’s a lot we haven’t seen yet, Katy. We could hike the Zion Narrows. It’s ranked as one of top 100 hikes in the world.”
“Can’t we just be a normal family and vacation at Disney World?”
“Disney World is lame,” Jacob piped up. “It’s for wimps like you, Katy.”
“That’s okay. Disney World doesn’t allow cave boys like you in the park. You have to have an IQ higher than 20 to get in.”
“What do you guys plan to do with the rest of your time here?” Sara asked, hoping to diffuse the sibling tension building to a molten level.
John Larson looked at his wife. “We thought we’d rest up tomorrow. And then hike up Angels Landing sometime before we head home.”
Sara nodded. “Sounds like a good plan. You won’t need me for Angels Landing. Just follow the herd of people up the well-worn trail. You’ll enjoy it. The view at the top is heavenly.”
“Do angels really land there?” Jacob asked. Sara thrust her arms through the straps of her backpack. “I’ve never seen any angels there. But who knows, Jacob, maybe you will.” She too
k another swig of water from her insulated thermos. “Come on, guys, let’s push ahead while the sun is still behind the clouds.”
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