Authors: Liv James
Unlike most Pennsylvania towns of its size, Valleyview
was isolated by the mountain range, with nary a metropolitan area to cleave to
for commercial support. Its main economic driver was the state park itself,
which lured thousands of ill-prepared campers from New York and New Jersey to its fold each summer. In the
fall, hundreds of blaze-orange hunters descended on the town, postcard-sized
state hunting licenses dangling in waterproof pouches from ugly hats that
smelled of basement storage.
Its isolation kept Valleyview off
Wal-Mart’s lead-target list and in a permanent state of soda-shop commerce,
with a
A left turn at the end of
The town survived on the park’s business
because the state legislature had yet to figure out that it could produce
maintenance revenue by opening its own camp store.
Valleyview officials didn’t bother to point
it out to them, preferring instead to keep the revenue for themselves.
As Josie inched past the darkened visitor’s
center at fifteen miles per hour, which was ten miles per hour over the posted
five-mile-per-hour limit, Clara wondered how long it would take medical help to
arrive should she accidentally injure Rebecca.
She twisted her lips to keep a wicked smile
from staining them.
“We’re looking for the cabins,” Meg called
up to Josie as they passed by a short black stake decorated with fire-branded
wooden arrows that pointed toward various sections of the park. “Our cabin is
called Firelight Falls.”
The park road was narrow and darker than
the main road had been leading up the mountain. The canopy of pine and
deciduous trees blocked what was left of the fading sunlight, leaving it cool
and dark beneath. Clara rolled her window down and clicked off the air
conditioning.
The air outside was cool and humid,
instantly replacing the cold-filtered air in the van with the fragrant
heaviness of the woods around them, a mingling of pollen from hidden
wildflowers and woody shrubs, the sweetness of hemlock trees and decaying
leaves.
Lightening bugs danced among the
mountain laurels as the van emerged onto a gravel road that wound through a
section of tents and passed signs for the lake.
The road narrowed, forcing the van to
squeeze through a stand of maple trees and underbrush, then turned from gravel
to dirt. Firelight
Falls emerged at the end
of the dirt road, half-hidden by its position among the tall trees.
Clara had expected the cabin to be made of
logs, but it was built from wide wooden planks instead, making it look more
like the cabins from summer camp than like the hunting camp she’d anticipated.
The wide windows were open, pushed out from the bottom and anchored with long
sticks. There was a fire ring about twenty-five feet in front of the cabin’s
long front porch.
“This doesn’t look so bad,” Josie said.
“No, it looks peaceful,” Clara agreed.
Josie parked next to the cabin and the
women piled out, Meg first. Meg sprinted to the front porch and pulled the door
open.
Josie helped Rebecca get Elizabeth out of the car seat while Clara
grabbed her bags and clomped up onto the front porch, which looked like it had
been recently swept with a straw broom. She pulled the door open and joined Meg
in the cozy living room.
She was pleasantly surprised at the state
of the old wooden cabin, which had been made ready for their arrival. There
were fresh flowers and a tablecloth on the rustic kitchen table and a bottle of
champagne chilling in an ice bucket near the couch.
“Wow,” Meg said as she went to the door and
ushered Josie, Rebecca and Elizabeth
inside. “This isn’t what camping was like when I was a kid.”
“Welcome to life with Karen,” Josie said.
“She never misses anything.”
“What are these?” Clara asked. A set of
lime green note cards were fanned across the kitchen table. Clara picked one up
and quickly scanned it.
“It’s our agenda,” she said.
Spritzer
& Spritzer, Inc.
Corporate Retreat
Friday
Evening
Agenda
7:00 p.m.
Settle
in, unpack
8:00 p.m.
Congregate
for campfire at Slippery Cabin
Opening
Remarks/ Get Acquainted
10:00 p.m.
Adjournment
Clara pulled out her cell phone and looked
at it. The lack of service meant the clock stopped working, too. She pushed the
button and turned it off.
“Anyone know what time it is?” she asked.
“It’s
7:15
,” Meg said. She was the only one who’d thought to
bring a watch. Meg was always prepared, thinking three steps ahead to
anticipate what someone might need. That was the main reason she did so well
for Clara’s father. “We need to be over at the men’s cabin in forty-five
minutes.”
“I’ll get the rest of the bags,” Clara
said.
Rebecca stood in the middle of the cabin
holding Elizabeth,
appearing unsure what to do.
“Are you okay?” Josie asked lightly.
“Fine, Mom.”
“Okay, just asking,” Josie said as she
flitted over to the kitchen and opened the refrigerator door. There were
several more bottles of champagne chilling there. “Everything seems in order to
me!”
“I’ll bring in your things, too, Rebecca,”
Clara offered.
“Don’t bother, I can get them,” she
replied. “I wouldn’t want you to strain yourself or anything.”
“Can you give it a rest, Beck? Please. I’m
trying to be nice here,” Clara said.
“It’s two nights ladies. Two nights,” Josie
interrupted. “In what I would call pretty lush surroundings. It’s getting dark
now but wait until you see this place in the morning.”
“You’ve been here before?” Meg asked,
pulling green plastic champagne flutes down from the wooden cabinet above the
stove.
“Once, with husband number two, Rebecca’s
father. He was outdoorsy and we had no money so we used to camp all the time.
We didn’t stay in one of these cabins, though,” she said looking around. “We
stayed down the trail a ways in a pup tent, frying up the fish we caught on an
old Coleman stove. You’ll be amazed by the hiking and the trails, they’re
gorgeous. So give it a chance.”
“Pop the cork on one of those
bottles, Mom,” Rebecca suggested, looking a little taken aback that Josie had
dared to offer a pleasant memory about her father. “That will help take the
edge off.”
“Good idea,” Clara said, heading out onto
the porch.
She pulled the rest of the luggage out of
the back of the minivan, and with Meg’s help brought it all inside. In addition
to the kitchen and living room, the cabin had three bedrooms and a queen-sized
pull-out couch. Josie volunteered to take the couch. They gave Rebecca the
biggest room to share with Elizabeth.
Since she didn’t have a travel crib, Elizabeth
would have to sleep in the same bed with Rebecca.
Clara took the room on the opposite end of
the kitchen. It had its own outside entrance, which Clara liked because she
could go running in the morning without disturbing anyone.
By the time they unpacked and drank a toast
to a successful retreat it was time to head to Slippery Cabin.
Since Rebecca didn’t have a stroller, she and
Josie decided to take turns carrying Elizabeth
over to the men’s cabin, which was about a half a mile away.
Clara tightened the laces on her hiking
boots, grabbed one of five flashlights that were lined up on a table by the
door and stepped down from the cabin’s porch while the others were still
inside. She didn’t wait for the rest of the group as she started down the wide
dirt path, although she knew they would be following behind her soon.
A few minutes later she had a vague sense
of Josie and Rebecca whispering about something. Clara had a feeling she should
go rescue Meg from them but she needed a break herself. Josie was so happy to
have Rebecca there. Clara braced herself for the fallout.
The woods were dark, and every so often a
small animal would rustle in the deep foliage that lined the path, startling
Clara enough to make her move faster. She swung the flashlight back and forth
across the trail in front of her, watching for sticks and rocks that could trip
her up. She could make out the light from the fire at Slippery Falls Cabin up
ahead. As she drew closer she heard men’s voices, deep, laughing. A nervous
cackle rose above them.
Karen.
Clara checked to see how far back the
others were and then slowed her pace. As much as she didn’t want to walk with
the others, she dreaded being the first to arrive in Karen’s radar. She clicked
off her flashlight and stepped onto the side of the trail, hidden in the
darkness. As the women passed she quietly stepped out behind them and followed
them to the cabin.
“There you are!” Karen ran over and hugged
Josie, then turned to hug each of them in turn. She was decidedly older than
Clara remembered, which made sense since she hadn’t seen her since she and
Josie used to go out on Friday nights when Clara and Rebecca were still in high
school. She’d cut her long dark hair very short, in a close-cropped pageboy
that framed her pale face. The look was becoming on her. After a moment,
however, Clara realized that the hair was the only thing about Karen that had
changed. She was still the same über-positive ball of energy that Clara
remembered bounding into Josie’s little house all those years ago. Only now
she’d zeroed in on Clara.
Clara stiffened and smiled politely as
Karen seized her. “There’s our future leader!” Karen announced, holding her out
and sizing her up, an unnaturally large smile overtaking her otherwise
attractive face.
“Hi Karen,” Clara said. “Nice to see you.”
“Oh, we’re going to have such a successful
retreat with you here!” Karen replied, pulling Clara close into a tight hug.
“Josie has told me all about what you’ve been up to and I just know we’re going
to be able to utilize the human capital you bring to the table to maximize our
learnings on this retreat.”
“I’m sure we will,” Clara said, not sure
exactly what Karen meant but unwilling to ask her to explain. She glanced over
Karen’s shoulder and caught her father’s eye. “Oh, Karen, you’ll have to excuse
me,” she said, as politely as she could muster. “There’s my father. I need to
speak with him.”
“Oh, okay. Go ahead, go ahead. Yes,” Karen
said, stepping to the side so Clara could get past. “We’ll have lots of time to
dialogue over the weekend.”
Clara nodded politely and stepped quickly
away.
“Hey Dad,” she said, relieved to see him.
“Hey, Clara, I’m glad you guys finally
decided to show up,” he said. “I thought I’d have to come get you. You know,
from over the cliff?”
“We’re here,” she laughed. “Mostly in one
piece.”
“Yes, you are. Hey, you know the new team,
right?”
Clara looked around at the group of men
pulled up next to the fire.