Two Sides of the Same Coin (31 page)

“Buddy, it’s gettin’ dark. We better get away from the road and make camp.”

We walked half a mile away from the road and found a little hollow between some boulders that would block the sight of a fire from the road. Usin’ the boulders and some branches together with the clothesline, I was able to make a frame over which I could drape two of the tarps. I gathered a bunch of pine tips and put one of the tarps over them. The other tarp would be the only blanket we’d have. Mike had gathered some wood, and pretty soon we had a small fire going. We each had a bottle of water and jerky, trail mix, granola bars, and dried fruit.

“See, buddy. This ain’t too bad is it?” We were leaning back against one of the boulders. Mike was snuggled against me, and my arm was around him. Just then we heard in the distance the faint sound of a motorcycle passing. “I reckon that means that Porky went back to wherever he is stayin’.”

“How far you reckon we come today, Jeffy?”

“Maybe about eight miles.”

“Sure feels like a lot more don’t it.”

“Yeah, it does. Tomorrow’s gonna be the day we get a lot of mileage in.”

“Sorry I lost my head today.”

“Mike, I understand. You don’t gotta apologize.”

“Here you’re plannin’ how to get us out and bein’ level headed and workin’ toward a plan, and I was startin’ to panic.”

“Enough. We’ll look back on this and laugh in a bit.” I decided it was time to change the subject. “When we get home, I’m gonna fuck you. How’s that sound?”

“Wonderful.”

“This time I’m gonna fuck you while you’re on your belly. We’ll put a few pillows under your hips, so that sweet ass of yours is up in the air, displayed all pretty like, and then I’ll get you all primed and ready. I’m gonna slide in and nibble on your shoulder and neck, and you can turn your head to the side so we can kiss. It’s gonna be fantastic.”

“I’m lookin’ forward to that, Jeffy. It’s funny. I never imagined that my favorite sex thing to do would be to get fucked, but it is.”

“That’s ’cause I’m the one doin’ the fuckin’.”

“You’re right on that.”

“Let’s try to get a little sleep, buddy. Tomorrow is gonna be a long day, and we done used up this one.”

“Night, Jeffy.”

“Night, buddy.” Mike seemed to fall asleep right away. It took me a bit longer. I wasn’t about to say I wasn’t worried. But what was done was done, and we’d gotten through the first day and made some good progress.

T
HE
sounds of the forest coming to life woke me up. I could hear the birds starting to chirp and sing. I could hear a raven cawing. My grandfather was Nez Perce, and he had told me ravens are lucky if you respect them. I resolved to leave some jerky out. The air smelled clean and fresh, and the fire had gone out. Everything was damp, but not wet. Mike was lying with his head on my chest and snoring softly. We needed to get going. I rubbed his head and said, “Mornin’.”

“Hey.” We both stretched. I was stiff, sore, and it felt like I already had a couple of blisters. From the way Mike was hobbling around, he was in the same boat. I still had a thermos of coffee. It was lukewarm, but much better than nothing. Jerky, granola bars, and dried fruit were breakfast. We had the tarps down, shaken off, and folded pretty quickly.

“Up and at ’em, buddy, walkin’ should work all the stiffness out.” We made it back to the road just as dawn was gettin’ a bit lighter. The drizzle had let up a bit. We walked along the side of the road, doing our best to not leave any obvious tracks.

“Jeff, you reckon Porky’s mixed up with the rustlers?”

“It’s crossed my mind a few times. If so, he’s just gotta be labor or somethin’. From what I’ve seen, he doesn’t know enough about cattle to herd ’em. Plus he doesn’t really strike me as smart enough to do anythin’ more than follow orders. I just wonder how they found us.”

“Reckon we could’ve just been in the wrong place at the wrong time?”

“Maybe, but we didn’t see anything. Why go through the trouble and risk to ruin our gear and my truck? We were armed, so we certainly could’ve fought back.”

“Could it just be Porky carryin’ a grudge?”

“Very well could be, but I dunno; somethin’ just don’t seem right. When we get home, let’s sit down and write down everything we know about what’s goin’ on. There’s got to be some common denominator we just ain’t seein’.”

“What’s the first thing you wanna do when we get home?” I was glad to hear Mike asking that question since it meant he wasn’t in despair anymore.

“Strip these clothes off and get in the hot tub. I just wanna soak away this stiffness and soreness.”

“Sounds really good. Then let’s sleep for a week.”

“You got it. Just remember, you’re gonna get fucked when we wake up.”

“I’m countin’ on it.”

“What do you want to eat, Jeffy?” We had just enough food for lunch. We were gonna be pretty hungry when we got home.

“There’s some chili in the freezer. I would love to heat that up, make some cornbread, and have the chili with onions and cheese in it. Sound good to you, Mike?”

“That sounds great! And let’s have a beer or three.”

“After drinkin’ half a gallon of water. Hey, you were askin’ me where I learned Spanish?”

“Uh-huh.”

“How about I teach you a song in Spanish? Ever hear of ‘La Bamba’?”

“Ritchie Valens sang it, didn’t he?”

“Yep.” Within an hour, Mike had the words down pat. We began to sing together.

We kept singing and singing, stopping between verses to listen for motorcycles. We were keeping up a pretty good pace. My feet were killing me. I wasn’t going to take off my boots tonight because I was afraid my feet would swell up. We made pretty good time. I reckoned by the end of the day when it was time to make camp, we’d gone another fifteen miles or so. If that was the case, we’d make it home tomorrow. Camp that evening was under a pine tree, which had broken off and fallen over. The branches at the bottom were dry and the ones to the sides formed a roof frame to drape the tarps over. We risked a bit bigger fire since we’d seen neither hide nor hair of Porky or anyone. There was a small stream near where we camped, and we got water from there to drink. I didn’t mention to Mike anything about giardia or any other danger of untreated water. I figured it was more dangerous to be dehydrated. By the time I got back to camp, it was dark and Mike was worried.

“Where the hell were you?”

“Gettin’ water for us.”

“Why didn’t you tell me what you were doin’? All this horrible shit was goin’ through my mind. I was seein’ you dead with Porky standin’ there and laughin’.”

I thought he was going a bit overboard, but we certainly weren’t havin’ an easy day. I just apologized.

“I’m sorry, buddy. I just didn’t think. I wanted to water before it got dark.” I took him in my arms. “I sure didn’t mean to worry ya.”

“No, Jeff, I’m the one who should be sorry. You’re pretty incredible, ya know?”

“Now that you realize that, let’s drink.” After we had drunk a good amount of water, we felt a lot better. “I reckon we ought to make it back to the road tomorrow by early afternoon. I hope we can catch a ride, but if not, it isn’t that far to home.”

“I’m still dreamin’ about that hot tub.”

“And a real bed with sheets and covers.” We drifted off to sleep almost immediately.

W
E
WERE
woken up by a hard rain well before dawn. Despite the tarps forming a tent, and those we were wrapped up in, we got pretty wet. Mike spoke up first.

“This is miserable, Jeff. I’m just gettin’ colder and colder sittin’ here. Let’s break camp and start walkin’. We can follow the road in the dark, and walkin’ should warm us up a bit.”

“You read my mind, Mike.” Actually I was gettin’ worried about hypothermia. We were both shivering, which was the first sign. We got the tarps down real quick. We were both as stiff and sore as hell, but I suggested to Mike we jog to get warm. We kept up a slow jog for a couple of hours until the sky started to get light. By this time, we weren’t shivering anymore, but we were both pretty uncomfortable. We kept slogging along. Finally about mid-morning, we heard the occasional faint sound of traffic. That spurred us on to another slow jog. Finally, we saw the highway. I grabbed Mike and kissed him. We were safe!

The minute we got out on the highway, we both stuck our thumbs out, but continued to walk. I couldn’t blame anyone for passing us up. We must have looked like hell. After about a mile, a trucker slowed his rig down and picked us up.

“Where you fellas heading?”

“Just a few miles down the road. We were out huntin’, and the truck broke down.”

“How far did you have to walk?”

“About thirty miles.”

“Damn! How long did that take you?”

“Today’s the third day.”

“Is there anything I can do for you boys?”

“Just the ride is more than enough.” He dropped us off at the turnoff to the ranch. It was only a half an hour slog uphill to the ranch house. First thing we did when we got in was strip off our clothes in the mudroom. Second was call the sheriff. He said he’d come out and take a report. I told him just come in. We’d be in the hot tub warming up.

We rinsed off in the shower in the bathroom off the mudroom and went to the hot tub. On the way, I got a couple of pitchers of water. We drank several glasses apiece and got in the hot tub to wait for the sheriff. We’d made it!

Chapter Thirteen

I
FELT
like a chicken with its neck wrung. Both Mike and I had spent most of the day just lying around. Hell, we didn’t even bother to get dressed. Getting back home yesterday afternoon was almost anticlimactic. We were both stiff and sore as hell and in the beginning stages of hypothermia. I’d called the sheriff, and we jumped in the hot tub to warm up. Sheriff Johnston had arrived just after we’d gotten out of the hot tub. He was a lifesaver since he’d stopped at One Eyed Jack’s and brought us each two burgers and two orders of fries. We’d wolfed those down before he even started asking us about what had happened. We’d spent a couple of hours going over our experience. The sheriff arranged a tow truck for my truck too. It was going to be as expensive as hell since it had to be a flat bed truck. He asked us to go with him on patrol to see the spot where we were hunting. We were going tomorrow. Both Mike and I had needed a day to rest. We’d spent most of the day on the couch in the living room cuddling together with a blanket thrown over us. We were stiff, sore, and tired. Finally on toward dinner time, I’d made a dish of scalloped potatoes, browned some pork chops and put them on top of the potatoes, and set the whole thing to bake. After doing that, I came back to the living room and back to Mike.

“Buddy, just makin’ dinner tuckered me out. I guess I still need another good night’s sleep.”

“I did go into the mudroom and put our clothes in the hamper. They stunk pretty bad.” We’d come in the house last night, stripped off our dirty, smelly, muddy clothes and just left them there.

“Thanks. How do ya feel about goin’ back there tomorrow with the sheriff?” I asked because Mike had been close to panicking a couple of days ago when we discovered we were about thirty-five miles from home with only our feet to get there.

“If it helps get whatever asshole or assholes put us in that predicament, I’m all for it. I still do want to go huntin’ with you again when this is all settled.”

“We will. I’d just about forgotten, I got an e-mail from Dad’s attorney about his will. Day after tomorrow I’m gonna go to Wenatchee to meet with him. Do you wanna go with me?”

“Isn’t that family stuff? I don’t wanna be in the way.”

“You are my family.” When Mike was getting really upset out in the woods, I told him I loved him. It was certainly true. Although we hadn’t met all that long ago, I knew I cared about him deeply. I just wasn’t sure how that declaration and his answer back would change things. We’d both been quiet all day, just huddling under blankets, reading and watching TV. I wondered if I should bring it up again or not. I guess we’d just see.

“You about ready for dinner, buddy?”

“Yep. I could eat a horse.”

“I understand that. I’m gonna jump in the hot tub again after dinner.”

“Mind if I join you?”

“Only if you wear your birthday suit.”

“I reckon I can do that.”

“Ya know, Mike, when I said I love you out in the woods?”

“Yeah?”

“I want you to know I really meant it. It wasn’t just somethin’ I said to motivate you.” I was a little red, since I do find it a bit difficult to talk about my feelings at times.

“You blushin’ there, Jeffy?” Mike was smilin’ at me.

“I reckon I am.”

“Rest easy, I know that. I see it every time you look at me. Is that why you were kinda quiet today? You thought I might think you was just tryin’ to tell me what I wanted to hear to encourage me?”

“Uh… well… yeah.”

“Here I thought you was all upset about your truck.”

“I am, but I didn’t want you to have any misunderstandings.”

“I’m here sharin’ your house, your bed, and you. We ain’t played in several days since leavin’ for huntin’, yet I still want to spend every minute I can with you. And it seems you want to spend that time with me. Believe me, there ain’t any misunderstandings.”

“Okay. Now let’s eat.” I was anxious to change the subject, and Mike laughed at me. I felt like when I got up I was creaking like a door hinge that needs oiling. Mike followed me stiffly. He got plates and forks, and I got the pork chops and potatoes from the oven. The food sure hit the spot. We cleaned up and headed out to the hot tub. I brought a couple of big liter bottles of Gatorade. We took some aspirin, too, thinking it might help with the muscle aches.

As we were undressing to get in the hot tub, I mentioned to Mike, “I was thinkin’ of askin’ you if you wanted to do a week-long hike on the Pacific Crest Trail, and just that thirty some miles really whooped our asses.”

“But we wouldn’t do most of the thirty miles in one day either. And I’m sure we woulda worked up to it. This was just off the cuff.”