Chapter 20

© Copyright 2011 by Elizabeth Delayne





They were back on the trail early the next morning. They’d packed up camp as the first rays of the sun came up over the mountain side. They opted to eat dry provisions on the trail, instead of taking the time to cook up the last of their provisions.

Jamie smiled a little as she walked in the lead beside Cameron. Felicity had opened up last night over the camp fire, and finally the tension that had built between her and Thessa seemed to melt away. As a group they laughed and talked and steam rolled over Cameron’s ghost stories.

“Check it out?” Cameron whispered and stopped, leaning around Jamie to point.

She looked over into the meadow and found herself grinning at the family of deer in the meadow.

“Amazing,” she whispered.

“Yeah.”

She turned to find the rest of the group watching as well. Tyler and Thessa had lowered the orange board to the ground between them. George peered out his binoculars. It was nice, she thought, to just stop and enjoy. Like sitting out on her grandmother’s front porch and taking the time to rock.

To just simply rock, and enjoy the simplicity of being. Sometimes she was just sit there and pray scripture, letting I roam through her mind like a gentle moving stream. In the day to day bustle, she’d forget.

But when she stopped, like this ... the verse came back easily.

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? My tears have been my food day and night,

while people say to me all day long, “Where is your God?” These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng.

“Make you think, doesn’t it?” George said, his voice a reverent whisper. Jamie simply nodded and took the binoculars he passed her. She found the deer, watched them up close, then passed the binoculars to Cameron.

The deer didn’t seem to mind their presence, if they even sensed it. Jamie watched, enthralled, as they bounced around playfully, chasing each other, free—Jamie was sure—from any stress.

Then they darted off together, across the meadow. She stood, with the rest of her team, and watched them disappear into the woods on the other side of the wide open space.

They started forward reluctantly.

“Could’ve been a bear,” Cameron said, surprising her. She looked over at him, raised and laughed at him.

“I’m just saying. We just happened to run across animals playing in the wild. It could have been bears.”

“You wanted it to be bears.”

“I don’t know. The ranger made the bison seem worse then the bear,” Cameron said. “Besides, I can see dear running across the road back home. That makes life a whole lot more exciting.”

She thought of an operation she’d assissted on recently, where a car a swerved when deer ran across the road. But she kept that to herself.

“Besides pointing out that’s not exactly the same, I don’t need you to give me any more nightmares.”

“What about skunks?” he asked, after a few moments.

“What about them?”

“You think there are some here? I’ve never seen one in the wild. It would rock right? I mean, how often do you have the chance to see a skunk up close and personal?”

“If you find a skunk and get close to it, you’ll be walking back alone, then riding on top of the RV.”

“Doesn’t sound so bad. Just like surfing.”

Since he was joking, she elbowed him lightly. “Maybe, but if it’s a long trip you’ll get tired.”

“Maybe I could ride with the producers.”

“Smelling like a skunk?” she asked, then grinned. “There’s a plan.”



It was clear when the bus came into view that their trusty production staff had made the decisions and plans for all of them.

If they had wanted to check out the secret message, it was taken out of their hands. Literally. The giant orange foam board flag, lamp and black light bulb disappeared into the producer’s realm. The rest of them got on the bus, without their treasure and were sent to a hotel to bathe.

“Make yourselves pretty,” they were told.

They each got their own shower, their own bed, and were told they would get instructions later. Jamie showered for what felt like an hour until she was sure the filth and stench of three days on the trail was gone. Then she fell face first onto her bed.

At the knock on the door, she pushed herself up—glanced at surprise at the clock.

She’d slept clear into the next morning ... nearly 12 hours. She pushed herself up, out of bed, and managed to stubble toward the door.

Felicity stood on the other side with a sack, and walked in when Jamie held the door open for her.

“So I missed it,” she said.

“What?”

“Putting it all together, reading the message. Whatever.”

Felcity shook her head and dropped down on the bed. “No—that’s for tonight. They wanted us rested, pre-trail though.” She held up the sack. “Apparently someone came in and got our laundry during the night so it could be laundered for us.”

“Great,” she said, though she wasn’t sure she liked the idea of someone else she didn’t know pawing her very dirty, very sweaty set of clothes—even what she’d taken off and replaced on the trail.

“They want us in what we wore when we started up,” she said and for the first time, Jamie noted that was what Felicity wore.

She took the sack and disappeared into the bathroom.

“Did you sleep and make up the bed?”

“Didn’t bother,” Jamie called out. “Just slept right on top of the covers.”

“My mind was wired. I had a hard time going to sleep.”

Jamie stuck her head out of the bathroom as she finished tugging her t-shirt over her head. “You slept better than the rest of us out there. You see Thessa?”

“The person who brought these said she was already up, working out.”

Jamie grinned as she stepped out and picked up her shoes on the way to the bed, “That’s our Thessa. How much time do we have?”

Felicity glanced at her watch. “About 30 minutes.”

“Does that include breakfast?”

“Unless you want to eat on the bus.”

Jamie finished tying her hiking books and stood. “Then lets go.”

* * *

After breakfast, they were back at Yellowstone. Partly exploring, partly following directions. They were given time together as a group, then split into pairs. The producers paired her up with Tyler, given assignments, and stuck a camera with them.

“This is your fault, you know,” she told him as they headed in the direction of Old Faithful.

“What?” he asked.

“This you, me thing.”

“Is it?” he asked.

“You’re the one who flirts. You’re the one who puts it out there in front of the camera.”

He grinned, slid an arm around her shoulders. “Do you mind?”

“You?” she asked. “Not particularly. The cameras? Yes.”

“So you don’t mind me,” he repeated and let his arm fall away. “You can’t just go with the flow?”

“Tyler,” she stopped, spotted the camera on them and started walking again. Up ahead she saw the crowd gathered around where Old Faith was waiting. She walked in that direction, tried to work in through her head.

“You’re used to this,” she said at last, without looking at him. The camera was focusing on the shot that was scheduled to come in less than two minutes. “And you can’t tell me you would have shown up in Iowa and found me remotely like a person you would want to flirt with.”

“Who says?”

She turned, glared at him. He only smiled.

“What if there are higher powers at work here?” At her look, he back tracked. “I mean, I’m not saying it is, I’m not trying to manipulate you. I’m just saying ... what if.”

“Okay,” she said. “But in the middle of a reality T.V. show?”

“I experience it,” he said, and turned when someone called out. He saw the brush of mist right before the explosion of water.

Old Faithful was still faithful. A symbol of power, strength, longevity.

“You’d have to meet Frank,” he said absently as he watched the water go up and up, felt the mist of spray.

“Then tell me about him,” she offered.

He looked over, spotted an ice cream parlor. He resisted, for the moment, reaching for her hand. “Then lets just have some ice cream.”

“Here?”

He pointed and she looked. Sure enough there was an ice cream shop near by. In the middle of Yellowstone, next to an old geyser.

“Alright.”

“But we’re talking about Frank.”

“Then maybe you’ll let me talk you into talking about something more.”

She laughed and he took it as a good sign. He wanted to wear Jamie down. He wasn’t exactly sure why, but it was something that felt right.

Finally.

* * *

Biking through Yellowstone—it was something her mother and father would have loved to do. They’d hit all the major camping sites a day’s ride from the different places they’d lived, but they’d never made it here.

Felicity peddled behind Cameron, wondering if she’d made a mistake following his lead. He was ruthless. Strong arms, strong body, he hunched over his bike like he could fly. He concentrated on his path, focused.

And missed the scenery around him.

As they took a curve, the view opened up and the world turned into a golden paradise. Yellow fields, mountains–and in the distance, a natural herd of buffalo.

She stopped, she couldn’t help it, and leaned to the side, stripping her back pack off to find her camera. Behind her, she heard Louie, the camera man assigned to them, come to a stop. Up ahead, Cameron disappeared over the hill. It didn’t bother her. Cameron would find his way home.

She lifted her camera and framed her shot. Oh, mom ... I wish you could see this.

Her camera preserved the image with a digital click, but it wouldn’t compare to standing here in this moment. Nothing would. Cameras never picked up the layered glory of nature so open and free.

She closed her eyes as it washed over her—the wide open pain. Her mom would have gotten such a kick out of seeing a buffallo.

And the land. She loved nature, and said that she always felt so close to God when she was out in it, enjoying it. Such a thing for her was a gift, a playground.

Felicty frowned—her mom would have the perfect thing to say. It left her feeling ... empty.

I don’t know how to do this without her.

She wanted to turn away from the beauty, turn inside herself and weep. Instead, she focused on the sound of a bike coming back her way. She watched as Cameron came back up over the hill.

“Hey–what happened?” he stopped beside her and slid off his helmet.

“I didn’t think you were paying any attention to me.”

“I always know where my opponent is.”

“So I’m a competitor?”

“The goal is for my opponent to be behind me, that’s all,” his dark eyes studied hers for a moment. “I would have thought you would be enjoying nature.”

“I am,” she turned and studied the mountains, than the field and the buffallo that still grazed there. “I was just thinking of my mom. She would have totally loved this place.”

“She would be happy that you got the opportunity to see it and enjoy it.”

“She would ... she really would,” Felicity forced a smile. “But ... she had this connection with—she would have been able to quote a number of verses that she just ... felt at this moment.”

“Like poetry?”

“Sometimes. She liked John Dunn—the English poet? But, in this kind of moment, she’d say something from the Psalms. The Bible. She just felt so close to God out here.”

“I suppose if you’re going to feel close to God, it would be out here. Not much else to be close to.”

Felicity laughed and shook her head. “I guess we need to head on so we can get back.”

“You go first. I don’t want to know what Tyler would say if I lost you on this trail.”



When they got back, she showered in the RV’s tiny lavatory and tugged on fresh clothes, hoping they were done with the filming. When she got out, she found Cameron—who must have gone elsewhere, either to the camp ground showers or the producer’s bus, sitting at the computer.

He looked back at her as she packed her toiletries.

“Check this out.”

She left everytihng on her bunk and sat next to him in the booth. He turned the labtop so she could see.

Then grinned.

“I thought I’d help you find something your mother would have said.”

He’d pulled up a number of verses. She reached up and ran her finger over the one that sounded like her mother as gratitude rolled over her for Cameron.

Praise be to his glorious name forever; may the whole earth be filled with his glory.

She looked over at Cameron, feeling so much ... joy and pain that she could only swallow against the emotions.

“Thank you.”


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