Far Country (21 page)

           
“Perfect timing!” Chuck announced. He turned back to the girls. “Lisa, Amy,
this is my buddy, Steve Williams, the cliff jumper I was telling you about.

           
Steve raised an eyebrow in alarm. “Cliff JUMPER?”

           
Chuck shrugged and shot Steve a totally disarming smile. He leaned closer to
Steve so that the girls couldn’t hear. “You’ve got to admit, it sounds better
than ‘the guy who fell off of a cliff,’” he whispered seriously.

           
Steve’s mouth formed a silent “oh”. He rested the icy can against the throbbing
knee and nearly groaned in relief.

           
“Did you really fall off a fifty foot cliff?” Amy, a blonde with large brown
eyes and a ridiculously small bikini, asked skeptically.

           
Steve winced, unable to block the momentary flashback of himself as he pushed
off desperately from the
cliffside
the last time, and
felt the sickening lurch as the rope gave way…he shook himself and smiled
weakly into Amy’s rapt brown eyes.

           
“More like 20 feet, actually.  I was already more than halfway down when
he…” Steve caught himself. “…when the rope broke,” he finished, aware of
Chuck’s sudden intent gaze, studying him closely. Steve shifted uncomfortably.
He had never told anyone that David had cut that rope, and no one had bothered
to check, since he had told them it was an accident. Still, it unnerved him how
swiftly Chuck had focused on that tiny slip…

           
“But still,” Amy prodded. “Twenty feet! How terrifying!” She shivered
appreciatively.

           
“How long before you were rescued?” Asked Lisa, a bleached blonde with short
loose curls and possibly wearing less bathing suit material than her friend.

           
“A long time,” Steve replied quietly. “Almost too long.”  He paused again,
remembering, and had to shake himself back to the present. Then he flashed a
smile at Chuck.  “Did you get to the part yet where you and Pete led the
daring rescue, rappelling down the same cliff in the middle of a wild
thunderstorm?” The girls’ attention riveted immediately back on Chuck, who attempted
to look modest but failed miserably.

           
Chuck took a huge swig of his soda and wiped his lips on his arm.  “I was
just coming to that part,” He responded with a nod to Steve.

           
Chuck picked up the story at the top of the cliff telling of how he and Pete
had searched feverishly despite the dangers of high winds and
lightening
strikes, until they had spotted something at the
base of the cliff.

           
Steve sipped his root beer quietly, nodding occasionally to agree with Chuck’s
highly embellished version of his rescue while surreptitiously massaging the
swelling knee. Steve’s eyes wandered over to where the girls lounged in their
beach chairs following Chuck’s tale with apparent delight...except for Amy, who
much to Steve’s surprise, caught his eye.  She deliberately licked her
lips in a way that did not mistake her meaning, and smiled an invitation. Steve
blinked, stunned. She was just a kid, he thought. He doubted that she was old
enough to vote, even!

Slightly
uncomfortable, he looked away, glancing furtively toward Pete and Deborah, who
still lay contentedly on their towels, fingers entwined.  Then he spotted
the tall blonde woman standing near the foot of the dunes in a soft peach and
white sun dress, holding a huge picnic basket.

           
Beth!
Relieved, Steve waved and shouted until Beth spotted him. 
She came across the sand toward them, but as she drew closer, her smile of
greeting froze, and she paused to survey the young girls who were sitting with
Steve and Chuck with a distinct coolness.

           
“Hello, Steve,” she said stiffly, setting the large wicker basket down in the
sand. “Are these your friends from the mountains that you are always talking
about?”

           
Steve flushed at her tone. The sudden possessive jealousy in her voice
irritated him. So what if he was sitting with some girls?  It wasn’t as if
he and Beth were dating!

           
“Not quite,” he replied, forcing himself to appear at ease despite her tone of
voice.  He nodded up the beach. “Pete and Deb are working on sunburns over
there, and this shaggy beach bum is Chuck.” Chuck leaned forward, eyeing Beth
appreciatively, and squeezed her hand in greeting. “And these young ladies,”
Steve continued, have been kind enough to share some cold sodas while Chuck has
been going into some fascinating detail about how he rescued me from certain
death.” He smiled. “Amy and Lisa, this is Beth, my friend and diving
instructor.”

           
Beth nodded curtly at the girls. Amy’s nod of acknowledgement was equally curt,
but Lisa was another story. “Are you really a diving instructor?” She gushed
eagerly. “I was hoping to take diving lessons this summer! What’s the name of
your school?”

           
Beth’s frosty smile warmed slightly at Lisa’s enthusiasm. “It’s a private
school, really,” she responded. “I’m still a full time nurse. I’ve only
recently started taking pupils.  Steve is my first, actually.”

           
“Oh,” Lisa said, slightly disappointed. “Could I call you still?" She
pressed Beth hopefully.  "Are you in the phone book?”

           
Beth fished in her purse and pulled out a card. “Give me a call. We’ll see if
we can’t work out a time.” She said, looking pleased. She turned to
Steve.  “How about helping me with this thing?” She asked nodding at the
huge picnic basket. It’s pretty heavy.

           
Steve gritted his teeth, unwilling to admit he had injured his knee again.
“Sure,” he answered, getting up slowly and reaching for the basket handles. Chuck,
however, moved quickly. “I’ll get it,” he announced.  In one swift fluid
motion he scooped up the basket onto his shoulder and headed up the beach.
Steve hid his relief and strolled more slowly beside Beth, doing his best to
mask his discomfort.

           
After about ten steps, Chuck paused to readjust the basket, and shake his head
at Beth in wonder.  “You sure you didn’t pack rocks in this thing instead
of food?” He asked wryly, switching shoulders.

           
“Only some finger foods and drinks,” Beth reassured him. “But if Pete is as big
as you are, maybe I should have brought two baskets! Steve didn’t mention that
you’re the size of a mountain.”

           
Steve raised an eyebrow, noting her appreciative gaze following Chuck as he
walked ahead of them. Was she flirting with Chuck? “
Naw
,”
Steve told her, suddenly wanting to shift her attention back to himself. “He
only looks big here on the beach.  Stand him next to a real mountain, and
he looks kind of puny.”

           
Beth looked Chuck up and down, “If you say so,” She replied with a dubious
smile.

           
Chuck gave Steve a look of mock contempt. “Don’t believe a word he says,” Chuck
advised. “He’s just jealous.” Chuck continued toward the distant figures of
Pete and Deborah. “Next to a mountain he pretty much disappears from view,”
Chuck tossed over his shoulder in a mock serious tone.

           
“Here we…” Chuck froze, looking down at tableau before him. Pete and Deborah
were still holding hands as they basked in the warm sunshine. A grin of
satisfaction spread across Chuck’s face as he contemplated the meaning of the
scene. “Well
looky
there!” He muttered, nudging
Steve. “It’s about time, too,” he said approvingly. He kicked a little sand
their way. “You two lovebirds need to wake up!” He announced.  “We got
company –
and
she brought lunch.”

           
Deborah sat up, flustered, and snatched her hand out of Pete’s guiltily.

           
“No need to do that,” Chuck advised kindly. “We already saw the kissy hands,
and we all approve.” He set the basket down and gave Pete a thumbs up sign.
“Wondering if you’d ever get around to making a move, mate,” Chuck said.

           
Pete stretched and grinned happily, unabashed to be found out this quickly.
“Everything in its season and everything in its time,” he quoted.

           
“And it appears that your time has come at last,” Steve teased, “if that lip
lock I witnessed earlier is any indication”   Deborah blushed,
mortified by his words.

“Don’t
be like that,” Steve cajoled. “I’m happy for the two of you.” Deborah gave him
a long look. “Thanks,” she said at last.

           
“By the way, I’m Beth,” Beth said in the pause that followed. She leaned
forward and shook hands with Pete and Deborah. “I’m pleased to finally meet
you, and I offer you my congratulations as well. I hope you’re all hungry,” she
said.  “I brought a ton of sandwiches.”

           
“Starving!” Chuck agreed.

           
Beth knelt beside the basket and began pulling out a table cloth, plates,
sandwiches, chips and drinks. Everyone watched in fascination. Like Mary
Poppins
’ carpet bag, it never seemed to empty.

           
“Beth, this is a feast, not simply snacks,” Steve said, slightly awed by the
amount of food and drinks she had managed to stuff into the wicker basket.
Chilled fruit had followed the chips and sandwiches, and a whole cheesecake
appeared, in case they had room for dessert. “Were you planning to feed the
whole beach?”

           
“No, silly.  If  I’d intended to do that, I would just have needed
two fish and five

 loaves of bread!” She
quipped.

           
“Someone read her lesson this week,” Steve said smiling.

 “I
thought it was five fish and two loaves of bread.” Pete pondered aloud as he reached
for a thick ham sandwich.

Deborah
smacked his hand away.  “I don’t think the numbers mattered nearly as much
as the
blessing
that came
before
it was served,” she admonished
him sharply.

“She’s
got you there,” Steve laughed.

“What
are you all talking about?” Chuck asked in bewilderment.

           
“Right now, the blessing before the meal,” Steve replied.  “Uh, shall we
bow our heads?” He cleared his throat, suddenly self conscious.  He
realized that he had never given the blessing before in public.

           
“Heavenly father, we thank you for the bounty of this meal, and for the friends
who have gathered here to share it. May it strengthen our bodies so that we
might better serve you in the world. I ask these things in your blessed name.
Amen.”

           
“Amen,” came the reply all around, with Chuck, the only nonbeliever in the
group, adding a slightly stilted and delayed, ‘amen’ of his own.  Pete
handed out the sandwiches, Beth passed the bags of chips, and Chuck opened and
passed around the soda cans.

           
“What was all of that talk about fish and chips a minute ago? Chuck asked
between huge bites of his cold cut sandwich.  “I didn’t follow the joke.”

           
Deborah smiled sweetly at Chuck.  “Fish and bread loaves,” she corrected
him. “It’s from the Bible, Chuck. One day, Jesus was preaching far out of
town.  Many people had walked there to hear him. He kept on preaching, and
the crowd kept on growing. It got late in the day, and the people were hungry,
but no one wanted to leave and miss anything that Jesus was saying.  There
was one little boy who had thought to bring himself a lunch, though it was just
some fish and a couple of loaves of bread.  Jesus took the basket and
blessed the food, then told his men to share it with the crowd.  The Bible
says the basket never ran out of food. Jesus fed 5,000 people that day.”

           
Chuck was silent for a moment. “So, you’re saying this was like a fast food
restaurant?”

           
Laughter exploded throughout the group. Pete choked on his sandwich. Deborah
shook her head affectionately at Chuck as she pounded on Pete’s back. “You
never cease to amaze me, Chuck.” She said, still giggling.

           
Chuck smiled a little uncertainly.  “Thanks,” he said, still looking as if
he’d missed the whole joke.

           
As the meal wound down, Deborah studied Beth, who was watching a group of
children working on a sand castle a few towels away.

           
“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” She asked Beth at last.

           
Beth glanced at Deborah, and shook her head. “I don’t think so,” she replied
lightly.  “I haven’t lived here that long. But, perhaps you saw me at
church?”

           
“Perhaps,” Deborah agreed, although she looked doubtful.

           
“Beth is in the New Believers class with me,” Steve reminded Deborah, leaning
forward to lay his leg out straighter in front of him. “She’s the one that
taught me to dive.”

           
“That’s right,” Deborah replied.  “Which diving outfit did you say you
worked for?” Deborah asked politely.

           
Beth shook her head, still not meeting Deborah’s direct gaze.  “I
don’t.  I’m a full time nurse. I just got my diving instructor’s license
this year.  Most of the time, I just ferry small charter groups out to the
wrecks on my boat.”