Chapter Thirty-Five
Lily leads us toward the less steep incline, and we haul ourselves upward in the hopes of meeting up with the trail. The
effort to climb even a few feet is making me want to curl up in a ball on the forest floor and cry. It doesn’t help that now
my other ankle is sore, having slipped on some loose rocks, lost my balance maneuvering around a large fern, and pogoed on
one leg like I’m playing the world’s longest game of hopscotch.
“You’re going to have to get out of here the same way you got in. Crawling,” says Lily.
“I’m down here anyway. What’s a little more humiliation?”
Eventually the sound of the creek becomes more distant, and an opening up ahead turns out to be a path. When we finally climb
up and out of the ravine, we’re exhausted, covered with mud from head to toe, and crying from relief.
We still need to get back to camp, so Lily pulls me up on my feet. “Time to find a second wind, Big.”
“My second and third wind are down there at the bottom.”
“You can rally. You’re stronger than you think.” She walks off a few feet and brings back a long stick, like a wizard’s staff,
and hands it to me. “This should help.”
It takes a moment, but I do conjure up my next wind.
Lily tucks herself into my armpit and holds onto my waist. I drape one arm around her neck, my free hand gripping my new walking stick for dear life.
Eventually we find a rhythm, a real one-step-forward-two-steps-back situation with me halting and losing balance and begging for a rest.
After what seems like weeks on the trail, we stumble into camp. The place is silent; everyone is still asleep. We would have
gotten away with it, our secret mission, but even if we manage to tuck ourselves into our yurt and clean up, there is going
to be no hiding our injuries. Before we can slip behind our canvas walls, we hear a bang, and this time we know exactly what
it is. Ian stepping out of the outhouse again. This time he sees us, and even from a distance I can see his mouth form an
O in surprise.
He runs up to us in his plaid pajamas. “Good God, what happened to you two?” I slide out of Lily’s grip and drop to the ground
with a groan. Ian runs his eyes up and down both of us. The filth and sweat, the leaves and sticks in our hair, blood dripping
down Lily’s face, give him more of an answer than either of us can provide right now. “Wait here. I’m going to get Brick.”
He sprints off, and my heart sinks. Brick will be furious. I realize now why he insists, time and time again, that no one
wander off. We risked our lives and, I guess, in a way, his business. The bad publicity might kill them. I can see the headline:
“Middle-aged, out-of-shape suburban sisters mauled to death by two bears fighting over a granola bar.”
We didn’t think we were taking a chance. Straight up, straight down, we thought. It was an opportunity to share an experience
of a lifetime with my sister who needed one. And despite the pain and suffering, something important, really important, happened
out there. It wasn’t witnessing a spiritual awakening—as Lily had put it—it was better.
By the time Brick and Jace, carrying a first aid kit and a walkie-talkie, come running into the camp from their tents tucked back in the woods, the whole crew has gathered around us.
Ian’s shouting must have given them all a shock.
They step back as Brick leads us to the logs around the campfire, kneels next to Lily, and lifts the hair from her forehead.
“Not as bad as it looks,” he says. It was definitely better coming from him than me. “I’m concerned about a possible concussion.”
Lily is acting dazed, and isn’t saying much, but she basically dragged me out of the ravine and back to camp—even with her
own injuries. She’s got to be exhausted.
Brick dabs at her cut with the gauze from the first aid kit and turns to me. “Do you want to tell me what happened?”
“We went for an early morning walk?” I ask, as if I’m questioning whether that is an acceptable answer. I didn’t think my
face could get any hotter after the exertion, but I am wrong.
“And?” He peers into Lily’s eyes and turns her head slowly in his hands.
“And the footing was bad. And it was hard to see where we were going. And, well, we took a tumble.” I don’t tell him about
getting lost on the trail, the bears, the creep, the fighting, the yelling, the ravine.
“This looks like more than a tumble,” he says, now turning my sister’s wrist in his hands. She flinches. “This might be broken.”
“And what about Bridget?” asks Ian. “She was hopping on one foot when I found them.”
“It’s nothing,” I lie.
Brick leaves Jace to wrap an ace bandage around Lily’s wrist and takes my foot in his hands. The swelling has gotten so bad
my ankle feels like it might burst. He unlaces my hiking boot, but an attempt to pull it off turns me green. “Yeah, okay.
This is not nothing. Wait, you’re soaked all the way up to . . . what’s this stain?”
“Let’s just say the bear spray worked.”
“You saw a bear?” asks Xavier, his eyes wide.
“I didn’t say that,” I answer weakly. Well, I didn’t say it.
“Here’s what I’m thinking,” says Brick. “These injuries don’t require a Helivac, thank God, but you both need X-rays—and a
better concussion assessment. I’ll radio Frank and tell him to bring the van. I’ll drive you two down to the ER in Palmer,
and Jace, you and Frank can take everyone on the hike. We’ll have one of the Denali rangers bring you all down later so you
don’t miss your flights. Hank Robertson owes me a favor, ask him. Bridget, I’m going to take this boot off. It might hurt.”
Gently, Brick works my boot back and forth as I squeeze my eyes shut and bite my lip. Finally, the boot is off, and the damage
is obvious. My ankle has doubled, probably tripled in size. I’m waiting for my I-told-you-so, but it doesn’t come. Whatever
Brick thinks of what Lily and I did has been surpassed by his responsibility to take care of his clients. That makes me feel
worse than getting a talking to.
Brick walks off to call Frank, and when he comes back, he addresses the rest of the group. “Everything is going to be fine,
folks. We’re still expecting a beautiful day, the visibility from the lake will be spectacular. Go get yourselves ready. Jace
will start rustling up your breakfast, and you’ll be off soon.”
The men and Xavier return to their yurts, but my own angels, Luna and Mimi, remain at my side. Luna takes my hand in both
of hers and says to me, “You are full of surprises,” and then to Brick, “Can we at least help them out of these clothes while
you wait for Frank?”
He points at where the bear spray stained my pants and says, “That’s got to smart. Yes, sure. If you can.”
“Cut them off.” Lily adds, “And burn them all while you’re at it.”
I pull myself to a standing position and tiny Luna and Mimi wrap their arms around my waist. “Wait,” says Brick.
“She’s put enough weight on that ankle.” My friends step aside, and he lifts me up, An Officer and a Gentleman style, and carries me to my yurt.
Chivalry, even when this gentleman wants to throttle you, is not dead.
“I’m really sorry,” I say to him. “I know we broke the rules. We really wanted to see the sunrise. And we thought we’d be
fine on a trail we’d already been on.”
“The rules are there for your safety,” he reminds me. Inside the tent, Brick puts me down on the cot. Lily, Luna, and Mimi
follow us in.
“Yes, I can see why,” I say. Classic me. First time coloring outside the lines and I make a huge mess of it. “I guess there
will be some kind of penance for this. Whatever it is, I deserve it.”
“You mean we,” says Lily. “Stop trying to take the credit for everything.”
Brick actually smiles at my sister’s attempt at playful sibling rivalry. “Alaska gives gifts, but she also teaches lessons.
I’m thinking you both learned yours.” Lily and I turn to each other like six-year-olds who got caught drawing on the walls
with permanent marker. “Besides,” he says, “you should see some of the stunts clients have pulled. Approaching grizzlies,
wandering off trails. You wouldn’t believe the stupid things some people do.”
“What idiots,” I say, but I can’t meet his eye.
Lily smiles. “So, we’re not your worst clients? That’s saying something.”
“Jury is still out,” says Brick. “Let’s see what the doc says about these injuries.”
Frank arrives with the van; I can hear it groaning and squeaking down the dirt path to the campsite.
Brick and Jace help us in. I get my own row so I can elevate my leg.
Lily lowers herself onto the seat in front of me slowly, wincing at the pain in her ribs.
Brick climbs into the driver’s seat and talks into the rearview mirror.
“Make yourselves comfortable, ladies.” That’s a laugh.
Frank starts to pull the back door shut but stops midway as Luna steps up into the van. Followed by Mimi. They slide past
me and sit down next to Lily.
“What’s going on?” I ask.
“We’re coming with you. You’ll need someone to hold your hands. We happen to have a few spare ones.”
“No, guys,” I protest. “You’ll miss the hike. It’s your last day.”
“And this is how we choose to spend it,” says Mimi. “With our friends.”
I start to cry. “With your clumsy, klutzy friends.”
“Those are the best kind,” says Luna.
“Hold up!” says a voice from outside the van. A moment later, Dane jumps in. “I hear there is a party at a hospital nearby.
They’re saying it’s the place to be.”
“Oh, Dane, don’t be silly.” Lily says it as if she couldn’t be more annoyed with him, but only I see a slight smile appearing
on her lips.
“What? I played an orderly in New Amsterdam—that’s practically a doctor. I could do your stiches, if they’d let me.”
“The more the merrier,” I say to him. I’m not surprised that he wants to make sure Lily is okay. And I think it’s sweet.
“Are we all ready to go?” asks Brick.
“Not yet,” says Frank, who had started to slide the door closed again. “Looks like we got a few more coming.”
The passenger door slides open wider, and Ian climbs in next to Brick.
Xavier jumps in the back and plops himself down in the last row of seats.
I’m really confused. Ian is the last person I thought would allow our dumb mishap to interrupt his father/son Outward Bound experience.
Everyone is quiet. They all must be thinking the same. Even Brick doesn’t put the van in gear.
Finally, Ian twists around and shrugs at all of us. “Xavier insisted,” he says. Luna reaches back and ruffles the boy’s hair.
And finally, we set off on our last Alaskan adventure.