by Darrel Bird
his wife and daughter were wide awake as they sat up in their sleep bags, “Who is it Daddy?” Brenda whispered.
He glanced over at Lou’s sleeping bag, but she was gone.
“Be quiet.”
“We’re coming into the camp, we won’t hurt you, will we Wendell?”
“Not atall Frank, not atall.”
The two men walked up to the camp, “You got grub?” The one called Frank asked. He could see the men were dirty and unkempt.
“We have a little.”
“Where did the other woman go?”
“I don’t know.”
Oh God, we’re going to have trouble. They don’t want food, they want the women! Oh heavenly father protect us!
Frank lunged over and grabbed Brenda, clutching her in front of him, “Well, these two will just have to do. Wendell likes it young anyhow.”
He didn’t see Lou as she came up behind him. Wendell screamed, “Watch it Frank.” But Franks throat was already cut from ear to ear. His eyes looked wildly ahead as he realized his swift death.
“Damn you!” Wendell rushed at Tom, but before he reached him, Tom shot him between the eyes. Linda grabbed her daughter, and pulled her to her, and they were both screaming.
“Where did you get the gun Tom?” Linda asked as she stood looking wildly around at the blood spattered camp. Her sleeping bag was quickly soaking with blood, and she reached down and grabbed it away from Frank’s body.
Tom stood there shaking, and stared at the blood, “I took it off the dead man.”
“Its ok, the angel says it’s ok Tom.” Lou said, as she knelt to roll her sleeping bag.
“Let’s get out of here!” Tom said, and began rolling his. His shaking hand lashed the poorly rolled sleeping bag to the pack, and then he rolled Linda’s quickly. In minutes they were back on the road. He realized that Lou was a dangerous person, and they would have to go careful with her if they found the people they were looking for. He had never seen anyone move so quickly, she had moved as fast a cougar.
They walked until about noon when Tom said, “I think that is the Pleasant Valley road ahead. We turn up the mountain there according to the map.”
None of the rest said anything, as they were getting exhausted after the fast walk there. Tom knew that the roughest was yet to come, as they had to climb the steep road up the mountain. They would stop and make camp when they got to the top of the mountain.
“Let’s all fill our canteens in the branch there, we’ll need full canteens.” He walked to the side of the road where water was spilling off the mountain, He held the canteen under the small falls, and it quickly filled. The rest followed suite.
They were a long way up the mountain before he called a halt. They sat beside the road and looked back out over the panorama of the Columbia River. He opened a can of corn, “Last of the corn, in fact the last of anything.” He stuck a spoon in the corn, “Everybody try to eat an equal amount.”
“I have two candy bars in my angel bag.” Lou announced.
“Bless you, you can share it around in camp tonight if you want to.”
“I want too.”
After an hour rest they continued on up the mountain. Tom had thought about making camp for the night on the side of the mountain somewhere, but instead, kept walking until they reached the top. He sat down by the side of the road, and fanned his face with his cap. He could see the group was very tired as they trailed up beside him, with Linda coming last.
She eased down beside him. “I’m so tired Tom.”
“I know you are, but I think we will be glad we went on in the morning. We will have a much easier walk tomorrow.”
She stared off at the panorama of the Columbia River valley. “It looks so peaceful down there Tom.”
A house sat a little way from the road. “Let sleep in that car port over there.”
“Do you think it is safe?”
“No place is safe, but I’m getting tired of waking up wet with dew, we’ll chance it.”
As the sun set over the great panorama of the Columbia River basin, the small group shared the two candy bars, and slept that night under the canopy of the car port. The stars were out in an unclouded sky and they sparkled like diamonds. It was very seldom clear at night in this part of the Pacific Northwest.
Tom awoke at first light. He shook the others awake, and they made their packs quietly in the hushed still air of the mountain top.
“I got to pee Daddy.” Brenda complained.
“Just squat right over there honey, we have to go, we are out of food, and we probably won’t be able to find anything. I’ll give the house a quick search. I’ll be back in a minute.”
He walked around back of the house, and tried the door. It opened easily, and he walked into a kitchen. He searched the cabinets quickly, but they were bare. He was just going when he saw a small cabinet built into the wall. He opened the small door, and there was a small jar of pickles. He grabbed them up and went out the door, not bothering to close it.
He shared the pickles with the group as they walked on down the road. The trees were growing thick in places, and he could see the trees had been planted no more than twenty years ago.
“My stomach hurts Daddy.”
“I told you not to drink the vinegar honey, your stomach will settle in a little while.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t listen Daddy.”
“Its ok honey. Maybe we’ll have food tonight.”
They walked the day out, only stopping to rest a little. Tom saw how the group was getting weak, and he knew that without food, they wouldn’t be going anywhere much longer, and he wondered if the little valley they sought would be their death. Their death would be on him, but he had believed what the man said. What if I am only chasing a pipe dream? I suppose up here is as good a place to die as any.
They walked until very near sundown, the long shadows were creeping into the hollows, and the forest was growing dark. He saw an old log road with a tin pie plate nailed to a tree, and he stopped. Wasn’t that what the man said? A pie plate nailed to a tree? There were tracks of people in the dirt.
“Listen!”
The group stopped moving around, and he listened off down the forest road, “That sounded like laughter, did you hear it?”
“Angel said follow this road.” Lou said.
“Did your angel hear something Lou?”
“No, but she told me back there to follow the next road.”
He stared at the strange woman, and his inner senses said listen to her even though it sounded crazy. How could she know there was even a next road to follow, there were many roads to follow.
“Ok Lou, lets go on the advice of your angel.”
“Are you sure Tom?” Linda asked.
“No, but why not? We can at least camp for the night down this road.”
They walked down the road and as they got further Tom again thought he heard laughter. “I Know I heard something.”
“I heard it too, it’s the children laughing, they know we will be going home soon.” Lou said.
Tom looked over at her. He had begun to get used to her strangeness, yet some of the things she said were way out there. Not that we are not? What is sane in a world like this?
He stopped in the road as he distinctly heard voices, “Ok, there are people ahead, so we may be pulling up to trouble, stay close, and be prepared to run.”
“We won’t have too run, the angel feels them. There are other angels around too, the people don’t know it but they are.”
“Will we get to see the angels Lou?” Brenda asked.
“Not here, but soon honey, very soon.”
“Lou, sometimes you creep me out.” Linda said.
“She don’t creep me out.” Brenda said, and she took Lou’s hand.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude Lou.”
“Ok, lets quit talking, I can hear them plainly. They walked another two hundred feet before coming to a clearing where they saw the first tent. Wh
en he could see down the valley he saw what must have been a hundred tents. The tents sort of made a circle, leaving the field open in the center. Some of the tents were made up of crude truck canvas, but most were common sporting goods store tents. A man was sitting in front of the nearest tent, and when he saw them, he began walking toward them.
“Hello, and welcome.” He said when he got close. He was a man of about sixty years old. He had a ruddy face, a grey beard, and kind eyes.
“Hello.” Tom said, he reached out his hand and the man took it. “I was told by a man the other side of Portland that good people were here…Christians who didn’t want to war.”
“That is true, we are Christians. It’s getting very late, if you want to erect your tents over there, you are welcome.”
“We don’t have any tents, just our sleeping bags.”
“We may be able to find you some tents in the morning, in the mean time; you can sleep here by my tent if you like. There is some meat still warm, if you haven’t eaten.”
“Meat? You have meat? We haven’t eaten meat in weeks.”
“This is fresh Elk, it tastes much like beef. We even had a cow wander in here sometime back.”
Tom picked out a spot to lay their packs over by the trees about twenty feet from the mans
