Evil Heights, Book III: Lost and Found

by Michael Swanson

  "Con mucho gusto.” Javier's tone requiring no translation. “Que una boquita dulce."

  If Phoebe's cheeks weren't already so flushed from her gyrations her blush would have surely shown through, as Javier communicated everything he was thinking regardless of the language he used.

  Lee felt something like jealously suddenly tug at him. “We're going to the river."

  All three stood awkwardly in the road for a moment, washed over by the ultra bright white light of the sun.

  "Throw those in the back.” Javier removed his keys from the ignition and walked to the back of the car to open the trunk. “I'll give you two a ride."

  Javier opened up the trunk, and Lee lugged both inner tubes around back and stuffed them inside. The trunk was huge, but he just barely managed to get the two inflated tubes in and shut the lid without pinching them. When he looked up through the rear window, Phoebe was already in the front seat having scooted over next to Javier. She'd left the passenger door open, so Lee quickly piled in beside her and slammed the door closed.

  "Thanks, Javier, or I mean, Gracias,” Lee corrected himself.

  Phoebe nudged Lee in the ribs. “You didn't tell me you could speak Spanish,"

  "Javier's teaching me.” Lee looked around Phoebe at Javier, just as he popped the clutch, and the Chevy roared off spewing gravel behind.

  "Keen-o,” Phoebe exclaimed, grabbing hold of the dash. “Whee! Go baby, go!"

  Flying past the ruined houses, the Chevy trailed a cloud of dust. In moments they were at the highway.

  While they waited for a long enough break in the traffic to allow Javier to turn right onto the southbound side of the highway, Lee asked, “Where are you heading to, Javier?"

  "I'm working today.” Javier saw an opportunity and floored the Chevy, careening it out onto the asphalt. Lee was slung into Phoebe who in turn was forced almost into Javier's lap as the Chevy's made the tight turn, picking up speed while the tires screamed.

  "Ayeeeiaaahh!” Javier pealed, sounding like a vaquero after a runaway steer.

  For some reason, maybe it was because they were so sweaty and crammed in, but Lee didn't like Javier's hot-rodding as much as when his dad did it.

  Phoebe though, was hanging on and beaming.

  Lee hollered over the roar of the engine. “You're working?"

  "I got me a job, building a tool shed for a rich Gringo over in the Groves.” Javier had to hit the breaks to keep from smashing into the car in front. “You kids gonna float those tubes down the river?"

  "Yeah!” It was Phoebe who replied. She was still had a death grip on the dash. “I hope it's as much fun as riding with you."

  "Wish I could come along,” Javier took his hand off the shifter and patted Phoebe's knee, then let his fingers give her a little squeeze.

  Lee's mouth fell open.

  Though it was still some distance ahead, Lee called out, “There's the bridge. Pull off over on the right."

  Javier was forced to remove his lingering fingers from Phoebe's knee, down shifting to wheel the car off onto the shoulder. When they stopped, the pursuing cloud of gray-white dust caught up to them and enveloped the Chevy.

  Lee quickly piled out with Phoebe right behind him. Using both hands, he fanned at the dust swirling about the car.

  Javier killed the engine and joined Lee around the back, but took his time about opening the trunk, trying two keys before he got the right one in the lock. Once he had it open he held up the lid and asked, “Where you two kids going to get out?” When Javier pronounced ‘kids,’ it sounded more like ‘keeyds,’ and of course, ‘you’ was always ‘jew.'

  "Above the Falls.” Lee already had the first tube leaning against the left fender and was working at getting the other out.

  "I'll be home later this afternoon.” Javier kept one hand on the top of the open trunk and his eyes on Phoebe. “You two should come over to my house. I'll bar-b-que up some cabrito."

  Lee couldn't help but soak it in. Still, no matter how much he had practiced, he couldn't get his R's to roll down his tongue like Javier could.

  Phoebe had to ask. “What's this cabrito you two keep talking about?"

  Javier shut the trunk lid with a tremendous slam. “It's baby goat. You like goat?"

  "I don't know. I haven't never had any.” Phoebe picked up her inner tube shouldering it lightly. “Anything like pig's feet?"

  Javier's displeasure showed plainly. “Basura,” he spat. “You come by this evening. You'll learn a thing or two.” He slapped Lee on the shoulder warmly. “You bring her, amigo."

  Lee hefted his inner tube, and shielding his eyes from the sun, faced Javier. “We'll see. I don't know. Phoebe's taking care of some babies—"

  Javier's face was transparent as he shook his head. “No. Not a little Chiquita like you. You can't be having any babies?"

  "Not me, silly!” Phoebe laughed. “My aunt. I'm helping my aunt."

  "You had me worried.” Javier flashed his smile again. He was playing with his keys, rolling the ring around and around on his finger.

  "Thanks for the ride, Javier,” Lee broke the silence. “We'll have to see about tonight."

  Phoebe fidgeted with her tube. “Nice to meet you."

  "Un placer ... a pleasure,” he translated for himself.

  Javier flipped his keys one last time and then ambled back to the door he'd left hanging open. He cranked up the motor and spun around in a quick u-turn.

  Lee gave him a wave as Javier passed by and then turned away from the road. “Come on.” He picked up his tube. “It's this way."

  They had to weave their way down a scraggly, narrow path. It led down between the rough concrete retaining walls of the bridge and the towering weeds and cattails on the other side. It was steep and they had to be careful to keep from slipping in the dust and gravel. Still, Phoebe kept up right behind Lee as he led the way, never missing a step.

  Once under the shade of the span, the going seemed to get a little easier. Under the bridge, they could see up to the long steel girders stretching out below the pavement and hear the double click of each car's tires as the traffic rushed along above. Near the bank, where the full strength of the sun never shone, were the charcoal remnants of campfires and an assortment of trash left behind by transients who had stopped to pass the night or the teenagers who came here to drink a few beers. Dozens of dragonflies were mincing through the air, and water striders were running about on the calm surface up near the base of the bridge.

  Phoebe sighed, dropping her inner tube down on the high grass at the water's edge. “Oh, doesn't the water look great?"

  The Yalahalla was broad here, more than fifty yards wide from the north bank to the cut blasted into the bluff walls on the southern bank. The transparent, green water was flowing along, swirling around the tops of a few rocks, and streaming back up river, curling into an eddy behind a mangled car body that clung to the bank, half in and half out of the water.

  Phoebe sat down and undid the straps of her sandals.

  When done, Phoebe got up and began brushing the dead grass from her shorts, and asked, “What'll I do with my clothes?"

  The question hit Lee as funny at first, until he realized she meant her shorts and shirt. From the pocket of his cut-off jeans, he produced a mesh bag.

  "We'll put ‘em in this.” He held it out, opening the pull string at the top so that Phoebe could drop her sandals inside.

  "Won't the stuff get wet?"

  "Yeah. I guess so. Does it matter?"

  Phoebe shrugged. “Just asking."

  Using his big toes, Lee removed his tennis shoes from the backs, then bent down and scooped them up, finally depositing them in the bag.

  Phoebe shook her head. “It's so easy for you, being a boy. You don't even have to wear a shirt, just an old pair of cut off jeans and you're ready to go.” She reached down and grabbed the bottom of her shirt, and with a quick move pulled it over her head scissoring it off with her arms.

  The ba
thing suit top she wore was bright red with white polka dots and trimmed around the edge of the cups in a scalloped eyelet lace. She ceremoniously dropped the shirt in the bag Lee held out between them, and then stepped back slightly to give herself room to bend down and remove her shorts. Lee couldn't help but let his eyes stay glued to her chest when she leaned over to step out of her shorts, watching as the fill of her breasts became much more pronounced as gravity took hold. When she came back up he quickly averted his eyes.

  With a dainty flourish, she dropped her shorts into the bag.

  "Come on, silly,” she grinned knowingly. “Let's get in the water. I'm about to melt."

  Lee pulled the string shut and knelt down to tie it to the long air stem of his tube. The metal tube curved down and into the center hole, hugging the black rubber. Tied where it was, the bag wasn't going anywhere.

  Phoebe had moved down to the edge of the water. She was kneeling with her back to Lee trying to get the tube positioned so that she could jump in and turn at the same time, obviously hoping to land in the center in a seated position. Lee couldn't help but admire the cut of the bathing suit's matching bottom. His eyes seemed dangerously attracted to the natural curves of her bottom. For some reason he also noticed the detail of her spine as the delicate bumps of her vertebrae scaled up the center of her back.

  With a scream and a splash, she did it, and was in the tube, drifting away from the bank flailing with her arms and kicking with her feet.

  She laughed as she splashed, calling out, “Last one in's a rotten egg!"

  Lee quickly kicked his tube into the water and expertly jumped in, so that he floated right out in back of her. In but a moment, the current had them both, and they were off.

  As they emerged from under the shadow of the bridge, reflecting on the water, a fierce water war already under way. Though Lee's splashes were stronger and faster, Phoebe's aim was more precise and each ended up getting as good as they gave. As they drifted along, at times they faced each other and feet could be brought into play as well as their hands. The worst of it was when the tube spun around and one of them had their back to the other. As soon as the unfortunate one rotated around they were treated to a face full of water.

  "Okay! Okay!” Phoebe yelled, almost out of breath. “Enough!"

  "Say uncle!” Lee hollered back.

  "Never!” Phoebe replied, catching Lee in the eyes with one of her best-aimed shots.

  Lee capsized his tube and went under. The water had just the right bite of cool. The silvery feeling when he submerged caused him to realize how hot he'd been a moment before. With his eyes open, he swam down, keeping Phoebe's tube and dangling feet in view. With a strong kick and a pull with both arms, he came up under her, pushing his head into the polka dots in the center of the tube. Over she went, flailing in the clear, green water.

  Lee came up for a breath. He took just a quick moment to look around for the tubes, lest one drift too far away. Phoebe took advantage of his being responsible by climbing up on his back and pushing him under. Lee went down, swallowing some water, as he hadn't been expecting such a well-timed, surprise attack. He came up spluttering, water streaming out of his nose, to find Phoebe hanging on to her tube keeping it between herself and Lee.

  "We're even now,” she laughed defensively.

  Lee considered going after her again, but something about her made him think it wouldn't be fair. Noticing that his tube had started to drift away, he set off as strongly as he could, working hard to take full advantage of this opportunity to impress Phoebe with his speed. Coming up rapidly, he timed it just right to get his hands on the edge and using his momentum, was able to launch himself up and over, twisting himself into a sitting position as easily as some one might sit down in a lawn chair.

  Phoebe was still in the water, hanging on to her tube with one arm crooked into the center. A few strands of her wet strawberry blond hair, which had pulled free from her ponytail, were hanging in her face. Lee paddled over using the flats of his hands for a type of back paddle stroke and quickly bumped into her tube.

  "Need a hand?"

  "Hang on,” she replied. “The water feels good."

  She switched her hold on the tube, using her elbows on the outer edges and her hands locked together in the middle.

  She looked Lee in the eyes and giggled. “I think there's a little bit of a warm current down here."

  For a moment, he didn't catch what she meant, only thinking that the water was at least a glorious fifteen to twenty degrees cooler that the surrounding air. Before he could say something to that effect, it hit him that she meant she was peeing. He'd never known of a girl to pee out in the open before, much less admit it.

  Suddenly, she kicked out below and pushed up with her arms. Phoebe rose out of the water locking her elbows into place, but hadn't planned for the turn movement necessary to come back into the tube sitting down. She was stuck for a second, eye to eye with Lee before teetering over forward to plop across the tube on her belly.

  Lee couldn't help but laugh at her plight.

  He reached out to attempt to give her a hand but she warded him off.

  "Leave me alone,” she puffed. “I can do it."

  With a twist, which really did look awkward but accomplished the task, she rolled over and found herself back with her butt in the center of the tube. In the effort, she had knocked her bathing suit's top slightly askew. Following Lee's eyes down, she must have realized how disheveled she looked. She stuck her thumbs into each cup and wiggled the thing back into a somewhat more proper alignment.

  She glared back at him seriously. “You would have liked for this to have come off wouldn't you?"

  He figured this was some sort of a trick question, damned if he did and damned if he didn't, so he didn't answer. A grin and an imitation of his dad's Groucho Marxs eyebrow wiggle was the best he could do.

  "Where'd you learn to swim like that?” she asked. “You looked like some kind of Tarzan being chased by a herd of crocodiles."

  Lee felt a rush of pride that she had indeed noticed. “We used to go over to the public pool a lot when I was little. It was free, and Maggie liked to work on her tan. I can't say why, I mean I've never had any lessons, but I can beat pretty much anyone in a race, even grown ups."

  "I'm impressed.” Phoebe's honesty showed through in her honest admiration.

  She leaned back letting her pony tail fall back into the water, and spread her feet apart, letting them just dangle. “This is great. This is soo great."

  CHAPTER EIGHT: THE CHUTES

  Lee shifted his attention down stream to gauge how far they had already drifted. The bridge had been out of sight for a while. He figured they had probably only gone about a quarter of a mile. At this pace they would be to the take out above the Falls in an hour or two, maybe three if they played a lot along the way. He felt a quick jolt at this realization. They had only just started and he wanted this day to go on forever.

  "Hey, Phoebe, don't get too comfortable.” Lee splashed water around with his feet lifting them up one at a time and watching the water drip off his toes. “You know there are rapids on this river."

  She sat upright, looking at him gravely. “You're kidding?"

  He laughed. “Well, nothing all too terrible. The Falls is the only thing we don't want to go over. Just up around the next bend is the Chutes. When there's lots of water, like in early spring, it's under water, but at this level we can get over on the right and run through it. It's a blast!"

  She didn't look convinced. “I've never done anything like that before."

  "Don't worry about it. You'll see. It's lots of fun. If you want, once we've gone through we can carry our tubes back up a trail along the bank and do it all over again."

  Phoebe paddled her tube around do that she could see down river and pointed. “Around that bend?"

  "Yeah. Not too far. Hey, look at that!” Lee pointed up into a tall dead pine tree leaning away from the bank. “An eagle!"

&
nbsp; Phoebe followed along his arm and off of his hand, shading her eyes to look up in the direction of his finger. There, on a dead, white branch at least sixty feet above the water was a tall brown bird, with an impressively curving white beak.

  "Oh, it's beautiful,” she cooed. “You sure it's an eagle?"

  Lee nodded. “There's lots of ‘em around here. They eat fish they catch out of the river. Have you ever heard one?"

  Phoebe shook her head. “I've never even seen one before."

  Holding his hands to his mouth, Lee tried to reproduce the shrill sound, but ended up feeling it hadn't been a very good imitation. The eagle must have disagreed. It turned to look their way, keenly watching them until they floated up even with its perch. Then leaping off the branch, a few pieces of pine bark falling away from the limb; it unfurled its magnificent wings and soared off, effortlessly disappearing around the far bend. At the last moment, the shrill keening of its cry pierced the air.

  "That was it!” Lee called out excited. “Did you hear?"

  "I did.” Phoebe's elation easily matched Lee's. “That was way too cool!"

  Together, they kept their eyes on the air high above the meander in the river, but the bird didn't reappear.

  Phoebe turned her attention back to the Yalahalla. “Are we getting near the rapids?"

  Lee sat up and listened, then gave her his grin. “Can't you hear it?"

  The low hiss rising up from down river was becoming unmistakable. Along with the subtle increase in the current's speed, the distinct noise of rushing water could be heard, sounding something like a busy road heard from a distance far away.

  Phoebe sat up in the tube locking her elbows, straining to see further downstream. “I can hear it, but I can't see anything."

  "Don't worry.” Lee had no trouble seeing her concern. “We'll have fun. Really. Trust me."

  Phoebe let herself slump down. Surprisingly she gave Lee the thumbs up sign.

  At that moment he really realized how much he liked that girl.

  Phoebe followed along behind Lee. They paddled lightly with their hands, positioning their tubes so they faced forward and hugged the bank on the right side as they came into the bend.