by Rula Sinara
Lily sniffled and Mom handed her a box of tissues. “The important thing is I’m here now and I—I want to contribute to your life.”
“And how do you think you’re going to do that?” Caleb asked.
“I know you think I can’t do anything without a job or a place to stay.”
Mom spoke up quickly. “If you need housing, I can probably find you a spare room for the time being, Lily. There are people who knew your folks who still live on the rez. We might even be able to find you a job of some sort.”
“And who says I want to have a relationship with this woman?” Angela looked at Caleb and her grandmother, then turned to Lily. “I think that’s the first thing you ought to think about.”
“You care,” Lily said. “You broke a window trying to get my attention.”
“Maybe I did it to tell you to go away.”
“You can at least agree to see your mother a few times,” Mom told Angela gently. “We inherit a lot from our parents—physical traits, psychological inclinations—whether we want to or not. You need to find out about them.”
Lily was pulling herself together. “When I get settled, you can stay with me.”
“I don’t want to stay with you.”
Thank goodness for small favors. If a fifteen-year-old didn’t want to stay with one parent, the law would surely listen to her, Caleb thought.
“You need to get to know me.” Lily sniffed and wiped her eyes.
Mom started negotiating. “How about if you meet with Angela once a week for now. Here, in my house. That way, she’s in a neutral environment.” She looked at her granddaughter. “Wouldn’t that be okay, Angela? Your mother does have a point. And, legally, she does have some rights.”
Caleb said, “I think that could work.”
He doubted he’d be able to trust Lily Trejo anytime soon. Angela’s gaze slid from her grandmother to him, then to her estranged mother. “I guess we can talk.” She sounded reluctant. “You’ve been hanging around here for a while. You haven’t been deliberately avoiding me, have you?”
“Of course not. I just wanted to get settled. Is that what you’ve been thinking, honey? I’m so sorry!” Lily leaned forward to hold out a hand to Angela.
But Angela scooted back in her chair, away from her mother. “We can do what Gran says, I guess.”
Caleb tried to assure himself he wouldn’t regret the decision.
* * *
GRACE STILL FELT badly about the fight she’d had with her father by the time the weekend rolled around. They hadn’t made up, though he’d called to tell her he was going to Milwaukee for a couple of days for the business. He’d sounded neutral and hadn’t mentioned pressing charges with the police. Alex Novak was waiting for Grace to get back to him about appropriate community service for the teenager. Not that he had an official position here since she wasn’t pressing charges. But she felt she owed him that much.
Grace had a couple of ideas ready to run past Caleb when he picked her up early Saturday morning. The back of his truck was loaded with camping gear, and in the middle sat a couple of students. Grace exited her apartment with the duffel bag and backpack she’d just recently bought. Her regular luggage was in no way appropriate for a camping trip.
Caleb eyed the large duffel bag. “It’s only one night.”
“I know. I just couldn’t decide what to bring, so I probably packed too much.”
“Any food in here?” asked the skinny young guy to whom Caleb handed the duffel.
“I’m afraid not,” Grace said with a smile. “Unless you count the bag of trail mix for later.” She held out a hand. “I’m Grace Huber.”
“I’m Jimmy.” The skinny guy shook her hand with a grin. He had curly blond hair and an abstract blue tattoo on his forearm.
“And I’m Graham,” said a quiet-looking student who wore glasses.
“Nice to meet you both.” Grace then got into the truck when Caleb opened the door.
The students’ stares followed her, making Grace wonder if something was wrong with her outfit, designer blue jeans paired with the oldest T-shirt she owned and her walking shoes.
“Take a picture, why don’t you?” Caleb called to the students before climbing up into the driver’s seat and fastening his seat belt. He grumbled, “Sorry about the leers.”
“They were leering?”
“You’re a good-looking woman, Grace. And you’re with me. Students always like to gossip about their professors.”
Grace smiled at the compliment. She also loved being “with” Caleb.
They took the main highway out of town, rolling green hills with small stretches of timber on either side. High above a meadow, Grace noticed a red-tailed hawk soaring on the wind.
“I’m looking forward to this,” she said with a sigh. “The peace of nature.”
“We hope it’ll be peaceful. Only six students of fifteen chose to participate—the rest will meet us there. Everybody pretty much knows what they’re supposed to be doing.”
She was so looking forward to seeing Caleb, Grace hadn’t thought much about the students. “You said they’re working on extra credit projects, right?”
“Yeah. Graham is doing a study of indigenous plants versus those that were introduced by Europeans. Jimmy is looking at the impact humans have had on some of the fauna in the forest preserve.”
“Sounds interesting.”
“I particularly like the initiative of three of the students who are going to meet us there. They’re planning to take water samples from several key areas, then test them in a lab for pollutants.”
“Sounds complicated.”
“They’ve taken biology and chemistry already, so I think they can handle it.”
“And you’re there for questions and guidance?”
“As well as supervision,” Caleb admitted. “About that peace you’re hoping for—these are college students but a couple of reckless eighteen-to twenty-year-olds are fully capable of sabotaging the experience for everyone else.”
“Surely no one would do that.”
“Some kids like to party wherever and whenever. They get carried away.”
“I suppose so. In a way then, we’re chaperones.”
Caleb gave her a sly grin. “You’re there to inspire and support the professor.”
She smiled back, raising her brows. “I’ll do the best I can.”
He seemed to be in a good mood, considering he must have been dealing with his daughter. Thinking about the teenager again, Grace said, “I’ve come up with a couple of ways Angela can do some meaningful community service.”
“What did you have in mind?”
“She could help Heather Scofield with the landscaping at Green Meadows.”
He was thoughtful. “I like that she would be helping improve the place she tried to destroy. But is there something else? Angela has never shown any interest in gardening. Mom has an herb garden and tried to get Angela to help her with it. Mom said she wandered off after about ten minutes.”
“There are lots of tasks in landscaping besides actually putting plants in the earth,” she told him, “but I’ve also got another idea.” One that might appeal to the girl enough to make a change in her attitude. “We have a community center that could use some decorating, like a mural on the inside wall.”
“A mural? She already did one of those,” he reminded her.
“One that was inappropriate, yes. But Angela is so talented. I saw the paintings you have in your home. Maybe she could design and execute a nature scene.”
“Hmm. Paint a mural?” He glanced at Grace. “You know, that might be very appropriate. If you really need a mural, that is.”
“We definitely could use one. I like using creative, individualistic details to beautify the place.”
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“Will that really be punishment, though? She might enjoy it.”
“She doesn’t have to hate what she’s doing, does she? It will take a lot of work and give her time to think about things.”
He seemed to consider the idea for a minute. “And it’s constructive, using her creativity for a positive, rather than a negative, purpose.”
“Exactly what I was thinking.”
They slowed to take an exit onto another highway. This one was blacktop and a bit beaten up in places. The trees grew closer to the sides of the road.
“I’ll ask Angela for some ideas on Sunday when I get home,” Caleb went on. “A mural could keep her busy. That and the meetings we’ve set up with Lily.”
“Meetings?”
“I don’t want Angela living with Lily, but she could spend some time with her.”
“That sounds reasonable.”
Grace hoped something good would come out of interaction between mother and daughter. If her own mother had been willing to communicate and relate to her as a teenager, she was certain that would have helped her get through the emotional turmoil that had put her on the wrong course.
The campout was at a site in a state park about twenty miles from Sparrow Lake. Driving through the entrance some time later, Caleb reached in his jeans pocket for a crumpled hand-drawn map.
“We’re at campsite 32.”
“Want me to keep a lookout for it?” Grace asked.
“Not sure that it’ll be marked that clearly. I know we have to turn to the right.”
They drove for a while longer through thickening stands of trees, the truck’s tires crunching on gravel. Finally they arrived at a clearing where the other students were waiting. As they pulled up under a tree to park, Grace noticed a building on the other side of the road.
“Do we have plumbing?”
“Sinks and flushing toilets over there. Students appreciate having a few amenities.”
Graham and Jimmy leaped out of the back when the truck stopped, then started taking out the gear: a couple of tents, sleeping bags, a box of what seemed to be cookware.
“Let’s get everything set up before taking our first hike,” said Caleb.
He introduced Grace to a burly, bearded young man named Steve, and three young women: Lindsey, Beth and Sheridan, a girl with red hair and bright pink fingernails.
They put up three tents, one that Beth had brought for herself and her two friends, a pup tent for Graham, and Caleb’s small green tent, which he insisted on giving to Grace.
“That way you’ll have some privacy,” he told her. “I’ll roll out my sleeping bag near the fire along with Jimmy and Steve.”
“What if it rains?”
“It’s not supposed to rain this weekend, but, if it does, the rest of us may have to jump in the vehicles.”
Caleb had brought a large cooler, which he told Jimmy and Graham to put back in the truck. He instructed the rest of the students, “Keep the food in your car trunk unless you’ve got trail mix or sandwiches to bring along on the hike. We’ll eat lunch wherever we find ourselves today. Meanwhile, we don’t want critters getting into our stuff while we’re gone.” He explained to Grace, “You can hang food in bags from tree branches. But we don’t need to go to that much trouble for an overnight.”
Grace hadn’t brought anything but a couple of bottles of water and the aforementioned trail mix, since Caleb had insisted he was providing the meals. When he handed out sandwiches, she took one for herself. Then she prepared for the hike, doing some stretches and making sure her shoelaces were tied securely.
Soon they set off on a narrow, rocky path that wound between towering trees. Dappled sunlight fell through the canopy overhead and the sound of the wind made music through the thick leaf cover. Grace stared up at a patch of sky overhead and took in a deep breath of fresh soil and crisp vegetation.
“You can almost taste the beauty of the woods, can’t you?” asked Caleb from behind her.
“I was just thinking that.”
“The Japanese have done a study that proves walking through a forest lowers blood pressure and decreases the heart rate. They call it shinrin-ryoho or ‘forest therapy.’” He laughed. “Pardon my pronunciation. I never learned Japanese.”
Grace turned back to him with a grin. “Neither did I, so I wouldn’t know whether you pronounced the term correctly or not.”
They slowed to make their footing through a maze of huge roots surrounding a big oak tree. On the other side, Caleb stopped.
“Hey, everybody, stop and take a look.” He pointed at some plants growing in dappled shade. “Especially Graham. What do you see here?”
The student quickly pulled out a plant ID book and shuffled through the pages. “I’m not sure.”
Caleb bent to pull a leaf off one of the plants. He crushed it in his palm. “What does this smell like?”
“Garlic,” said Graham. “Garlic mustard plant?”
Caleb nodded. “Right.”
“Yum,” muttered Jimmy. “Wish I had a hot dog right now.”
“I’m not trying to whet your appetite,” Caleb said with a laugh. “Though garlic mustard can indeed be used in cooking. Why is it here, Graham?”
“An invasive species introduced from Europe,” said the student, reading from his book. “Once it takes root, seeds can also hitch rides on the fur of animals.”
“And it’s a rapidly spreading woodland weed,” said Caleb. “Once it takes over, it crowds out indigenous plants.” He unfolded a larger map he had in his backpack. “Take out the maps you were supposed to bring. We have to mark this and report it to the park authorities.”
“Why don’t we just pull them out?” asked Jimmy.
“It’s not legal,” Caleb explained. “I might teach environmental science, but I’m a regular citizen, not an expert hired by the state. I can’t take it upon myself to remove or add species to the park.”
After they’d marked the area on their maps, the group went on, Caleb leading the students in a discussion on endangered, as well as invasive, flora and fauna.
“There’s a spring up ahead with a swath of grassland around it. A long time ago you’d probably find prairie white orchids growing there.”
“Orchids grow in Wisconsin?” asked Grace.
“They used to, in wet areas. You won’t find prairie whites any more except in a few places in the southeastern part of the state. Other invasive species crowded them out.”
“I guess that happens everywhere.”
“But we can do something about it if we’re ecologically aware.”
Grace realized she had lots to learn, having mainly investigated green building until now. She decided she would ask Caleb for a reading list before she went home.
The group stopped near the spring for lunch.
“This is such a peaceful place,” Grace said, joining Caleb under a large tree a few yards from the group of students. Dandelions edged the shade cast by the tree, a ring of gold in the sunlight.
“They’re even talking more quietly than they would in a classroom.” Caleb nodded toward the students. “It’s the wilderness influence. People feel better when they have something larger than themselves surrounding them.”
“I’m glad you think so.” His view was a positive one and she knew it was another reason she found him attractive. She pointed at the dandelions. “Those are really pretty, but I’m sure they’re just a weed, right?”
“Another invasive species.” Finishing his sandwich with a couple of bites, he leaned back to pluck a few of the yellow flower heads here. “At least we can make a healing tea out of the roots and leaves.”
She leaned forward to take the dandelion from his hand, their fingers brushing, then held it close to his chin with a flirty smile. “And we ca
n also find out if the person likes butter.”
He laughed, the look he gave her warming her insides and making her wish they were alone in the glade. “An old folktale.” He leaned closer but was interrupted by a call from one of the students.
“Hey, Professor Blackthorne, come look at this.”
Caleb gave Grace a look as if to say “later” and rose to join the students, who were foraging around.
The spell broken, Grace gathered up the sandwich wrappings and stuck them in her backpack. By the spring, the girls were doing water testing with Caleb supervising.
A few minutes later, the group decided to split up, a couple of the students saying they would follow the spring to its source. Before they left, the music of a cell phone jangled the air.
“Hey, who brought a phone?” Caleb looked around.
That was soon obvious as Sheridan pulled hers out to answer it. After a few remarks, she quickly slid the phone back in her pocket. “Sorry, Professor Blackthorne. I had to change a hair appointment.”
Caleb scowled. “Hair appointment?”
“It was an emergency.”
“Emergency or not,” Caleb told the students, “turn your cell phones off, at least for this weekend. You can’t experience the woods if you’re waiting for a text or a call.”
Grace and Caleb returned to the camp with only Jimmy in tow. The others had wandered off in other directions.
“They won’t get lost, will they?” Grace asked. She’d heard that this campground was one of the largest in the state.
Caleb shook his head. “They have maps. And I told them to bring compasses.”
Something scrambled through the branches overhead and Grace looked up. A squirrel? But whatever it was had quickly hidden itself.
“Can’t you just imagine this place as primordial forest?” asked Caleb. He reached for her hand. “Just us and the wilderness.”
She enjoyed his touch, his fingers firm and calloused, then nearly jumped out of her skin when Jimmy suddenly came up behind them. “Yeah, just me and you and Professor Blackthorne in the wilderness. Big trees and scary animals all around.”
