Far Country (55 page)

           
“No she wouldn’t,” Alyssa muttered, uncomfortably aware of how unpleasant she
had been to her Aunt Kelly this past year. “She’d probably thank you!” 
Then she sighed dramatically. “How long is this going to take, anyway?”

           
Steve shrugged as he cruised up the wide gravel trail. “It didn’t sound too
serious. Depending on whether he’s still on top or not, maybe a half hour.

           
The next few minutes passed in silence as Steve maneuvered around hikers, and
over some gnarly roots.  At last, he pulled the truck to the side of the
path and got out.  There was no sign of an injured man at the base of the
trail. Steve sighed in disappointment. “Okay. Well, this will take a bit longer
if I need to bring him down,” he commented to Alyssa as he climbed out of the
truck.

           
A group of teenage boys appeared from behind the huge rock outcropping that led
to the summit trail. One young man saw Steve and the truck, and asked, “Are you
looking for the guy that hurt his leg?”

           
“Yeah,” Steve replied.  “Can you tell me where he is up there?”

           
“He’s about halfway down, but he’s moving slow. His ankle looks pretty bad.”

           
Steve thanked them and opened a truck bed box. He pulled out a crutch and a
large blue first aid kit.  He looked at Alyssa, who was staring out the
passenger window in bored disinterest.  “I need you to get out of the
truck Alyssa.”

           
She looked up, startled and as usual, irritated. “Why?” She challenged him.

           
“Regulations.  I need to lock the vehicle.” Steve said apologetically.

           
“Well, what am I supposed to do?” She asked him plaintively.

           
Steve took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. “For starters, you can get out
like I asked you instead of arguing over a policy I did not make,” he pointed
out patiently.  “Fiona’s on a leash, so while I go help this injured man,
you can walk her around some here on the trail. Or, if you are feeling
ambitious, you can start walking back down the trail and I will pick you up
after I get this guy.”

           
“Newsflash,” Alyssa said bitterly. “I have this bum leg? I can’t hike.”

           
Steve rolled his eyes. “Medical bulletin: ‘regular exercise is necessary to
strengthen muscles and regain mobility’: don’t even go there, Alyssa.  I
spent a year in therapy, too, remember?  Anyway, if you want to sit under
a tree by the trail and work on adding some
more
frown lines to your
forehead, I don’t care, but you still have to get out of the truck. Now.
Please.”

           
Steve smiled in secret amusement as he saw Alyssa glance in concern at the side
view mirror as she slid out of the truck, Fiona’s leash wrapped tightly around
her good wrist.

           
“Thank you. I shouldn’t be too long.” After locking the truck, Steve turned and
strode quickly up the trail, fighting a desire to stop just out of sight to see
what Alyssa would do when there was no one around to put on a show for. He
shook his head. What a piece of work she was!

           
Alyssa stood hesitantly on the path and watched Steve disappear around the
rock. She bit her lip in indecision. Wait, or walk down the trail? Listlessly
she walked Fiona around the truck, stubbornly refusing to walk down the wide,
even trail, even though she knew that Steve was right, and that she was only
hurting herself by not exercising more.

           
Then her eyes fell on the orange construction barrier that stretched across the
left side of the trail. Alyssa stared in fascination at the barrier, and the
warning sign in front of it. Six months ago she had ignored that sign and
stepped around the fence.

           
Alyssa closed her eyes for a moment. She remembered falling, and that awful
moment when she had hung suspended over the ravine by the strap of her day
pack, before dropping onto that tiny ledge…almost without realizing her own
intentions, she glanced around.  No one was in sight.

           
Once more, Alyssa slipped around the fence.  She wanted to see the spot
again. But mostly, she wondered about the daypack. It had slipped off as the
branch cracked under her weight. Was it still hanging in the scrubby little
tree, or had it fallen down the ravine? She limped quickly through the trees,
Fiona trotting happily at her side.

           
At last, Steve returned to the truck with the Leland’s. It had been a slow trip
down.  Mr. Leland had severely twisted his ankle, and had had to lean
heavily on the crutch and on Steve. His face was white with nausea, and once
when he had accidentally banged the foot on a long root, he had vomited from
the pain.  Steve had wrapped the whole leg tightly in a cardboard
emergency splint in an attempt to stabilize the entire leg, but each step had
been agony for the man.

           
Steve helped Mr. Leland into the back of the truck where he lay on his back
with his foot propped on his wife’s lap to reduce jarring on the return trip.
Once he had gotten the couple situated, he looked around for Alyssa and Fiona.

           
At first, he was pleased by their absence, thinking that Alyssa had taken his
advice and headed back down the trail after all. But no sooner did he think it,
than he felt the unlikelihood of Alyssa doing anything that he suggested.

           
He smiled tightly at the Leland’s knowing he needed to get them down the trail
quickly, but he was loathe to drive off without being certain that Alyssa had
really gone on.  “Alyssa?” He called, not really expecting a
response.  Then he called loudly for Fiona, and instantly heard her
distant answering yip.  Steve frowned. Fiona sounded as if she was
somewhere off to the left, which would put her behind the barrier fence!
Surely
Alyssa would know better?

           
He called again, and this time he was in no doubt where the sounds were coming
from.  A minute later, Alyssa and Fiona appeared in the trees, coming
around the fence.

Alyssa was flushed with
exertion and a defiant light shone in her green eyes. She hadn’t expected him
back so quickly and she hadn’t planned on getting caught.

           
Steve’s eyes hardened with disappointment and anger.  “Get in the truck,”
he told her quietly.

           
“I didn’t go close to the edge!” Alyssa said, her voice just as defiant as her
eyes. “I just wanted to look.”

           
“No discussion, Alyssa. Just get in the truck,” Steve repeated, his voice
softer but somehow, much more alarming. Uncertain now, Alyssa opened the
door.  Fiona leapt in effortlessly,  and Alyssa slid in awkwardly
beside her.

           
The return trip seemed to stretch on forever. Neither Steve nor Alyssa spoke or
looked at each other the entire way back to headquarters.  Eventually,
even Fiona seemed to feel the weight of the silence and looked mournfully from
master to girl.

           
Steve drove the Leland’s straight back to their campsite, and helped Mrs.
Leland pack their tent and cooler of food. In ten minutes, he had their
equipment stowed and Mr. Leland propped as
comfortably
as possible in the back seat of their car, packed in and padded with their pillows
and sleeping bags.  Alyssa had started to get out to help, but Steve had
fixed her with a silent challenge in his blue eyes, and she had sunk back into
the seat, feeling angry and ashamed.

           
At last, Steve climbed back into the truck and drove slowly to Alyssa’s
campsite. He pulled over to the side of the road in front of the neighboring
site, and sat quietly for a moment.  Kelly and Megan were back and working
together to fix something for supper. Megan was carefully slicing an onion, and
Kelly knelt with her back to them, fanning the campfire into life.

           
Steve looked at Alyssa for the first time in an hour. His voice was icy. “Do
you want to tell me why you deliberately went into an area that's very clearly
marked as off limits to the public?  I would have thought that your last
trip down the ravine would have given you better sense.”

           
Alyssa didn’t look up. “I got curious,” she mumbled.  “I wanted to see
that spot again.”

           
“If you would have asked me, I’d have walked with you. You should never go into
these woods without a buddy. No one would have known where you were, Alyssa, if
anything had happened!”

           
“Nothing happened!” Alyssa shot back in irritation. “Last year was an accident!
I’m not stupid enough to fall down the same ravine twice!”

           
“That still does not change the fact that it was off limits. I gave you two
choices: stay near the truck or walk back down the trail in plain view so I
could see you and pick you up on the way back.  I came very close to
driving off without looking for you. If Fiona hadn’t barked, I might not have
waited. I don’t think you’re ready to hike that far yet – not to mention the
fact that you would have put us all in a panic and scared your Aunt Kelly to death.

           
“Sorry for the inconvenience, then,” she retorted. “Can I go now?”  
She reached for the door handle.

           
“No.”

           
Alyssa sighed impatiently but she slumped back in her seat.

           
“You’re right, Alyssa. I don’t think that you are stupid enough to fall down
the same ravine twice. So something besides morbid curiosity made you risk
re-injuring that leg by going out of bounds and stumbling through all that
uneven terrain.  Why would you do that?”

           
Alyssa was silent a moment.  Her hand still rested on the door handle, and
she considered briefly what might happen if she just flung it open and walked
away. Instead, she heard herself answer him in a low voice. “I wanted to see if
I could see my backpack. I wanted to get it back.”

           
Steve was silent for a moment, tasting her words and finding a miserable
sincerity in them. “Alyssa, you were wearing that backpack when you fell. You
know it went over the side.  What’s important about the backpack?”

           
Alyssa’s voice was strained as she finally whispered, “Three hundred dollars.”

           
Steve raised an eyebrow.  “Excuse me?”

           
Alyssa’s face was flushed and her eyes were watery with the beginning of tears.
She looked out the window, up at the ceiling, anywhere but at Steve.  “I
stole three hundred dollars from Aunt Kelly,” she finally burst out. “She said
I had to go on the camping trip even though I told her I didn’t want to go! I
was going to use the money to take a bus home and see my boyfriend.”

           
Steve sucked in his breath.  “Does she know that you took the money?” He
asked her at last.

           
Alyssa shook her head. “I don’t think so. It’s usually locked up in the safe
for emergencies.  She had a phone call and left the safe open, and I just
reached in and pulled out a few bills. She keeps nearly a thousand dollars in
the envelope, so I don’t think that she’s missed it.” 

           
Alyssa finally looked at Steve with pleading eyes. “I feel bad that I took it,
and I’ve wondered all winter what would happen when she found out, but I don’t
think she has yet. I wanted to put it back, if I could just find that old back
pack!” Tears of shame ran down Alyssa’s cheeks.

           
Steve waited a minute for Alyssa to regain some of her composure. 
“Anything else you want to tell me?” He prodded her.

           
Alyssa shook her head.

           
“Okay,” Steve said after a minute. “Thanks for your honesty. You may get out
now.”

           
Alyssa frowned and looked at Steve strangely. “Aren’t you coming with me?”

           
Steve shook his head.  “I’m still on duty, and I have an accident report
to complete, too.  You can tell your Aunt that I’ll be by when I get off.”

           
Alyssa hesitated and looked nervously at Steve.  “What about the money?”
She asked softly.

           
Steve let out a long sigh. “That is between you and your aunt. But Alyssa, your
chances of finding that bag are slim.  I advise you to tell Aunt Kelly the
truth, and you should do it soon. She will think better of you for your honesty
now, than after she raises a cry that she’s been robbed, to find out it was her
own niece who was the sneak thief.”

           
Alyssa looked stricken at his words.

           
“You don’t like that picture of yourself?” He said coolly. “If you don’t tell
her the truth and apologize, how will she ever trust you again once she does
find out what you’ve done?” He asked. “Admit your mistake. This is something
that could really destroy your relationship with your Aunt. I can’t believe you
want that.”

           
“N-no,” she whispered shakily.

           
Steve pointed his chin toward her sister. “Go help Megan now, and quit being
such a pill.  I still have a lot of work to do.”

           
She nodded and started to slip out the door.  Fiona whined.