Chapter 6
Since I’d lost all my gear with the Pathfinder, I’d had to go to REI and buy new stuff, which bothered me. It was like going into a war zone with a brand-new clean combat vest, unsoiled by dust and sweat and usually blood; suggesting you were a newbie.
“You’re late,” I said.
“I’m doing you a favor,” Luke calmly replied as Maggs ran over to him and rubbed up against his leg. He reached down and rubbed behind her ears. “Who’s a good girl, huh Maggs?”
“Traitor,” I muttered as I grabbed my ruck.
“Jackie wanted me to stay in bed,” Luke said. “So, I stayed in bed.”
I couldn’t argue with that.
Luke looked at me. “First lesson, Grasshopper. You’re not on the clock. There’s nowhere you need to be at any certain time. A radical concept, I know. But the more you accept it, the better it will get.”
“I don’t think—” I started but Luke held up his hand.
“Max, how much training did you go through in the Army and after? Ranger School. Special Forces Q-Course. At the Farm with the Agency. All those other schools like mountain climbing, scout swim, scuba, jumpmaster, sniper. Did they change you?”
“Well, yeah.”
“So why do you doubt that doing this will change you?”
I hadn’t thought of it that way. A training exercise.
Luke wasn’t done. “You’re a lucky man, Max. Act like it. Best thing that ever happened to you was walking into Rocky Start and meeting Rose. You know how many of our contemporaries, the ones who’ve survived as long as we have, end up all alone, eating their own gun?”
“Well, you’re just a bundle of joy.”
“That’s exactly what Jackie told me this morning.” Luke smiled. “Come on.”
We trooped downstairs and loaded the minivan. I tossed my ruck in the rear. Maggs had the back row to herself and settled down. I took the passenger seat up front.
Then Luke started talking as we drove off, which was unusual.
“You know what helped me?” Luke asked and didn’t wait for an answer.
“My son, of course. Darius was young and needed taking care of. It isn’t the same with you and Poppy.
She’s older. Hell, Poppy is more mature than you on most things, Max.
But what also really changed me was helping out and coaching the Bearton football team. ”
Then it hit me. “Hold on. You all have been talking about me, haven’t you? Has this been some sort of group intervention?”
“We talk about you because we give a shit about you, Max.”
“Right.” I looked away and watched the countryside as we headed southeast. Luckily, Luke fell silent and the late winter, early spring countryside passed by.
To get to the southern start point of the Appalachian Trail from Asheville, you drive through the mountains of western North Carolina and into northern Georgia. That side of the Smokies hadn’t been hit anywhere near as hard as Rocky Start, so we were able to take that route.
“Remember Mountain Phase?” Luke asked me as we passed into Georgia.
He was referring to the second phase of Ranger School, based out of Dahlonega, not far from Springer Mountain.
In fact, Camp Merrill was only a couple of miles from the start point.
And Ranger patrols occasionally crossed the Trail, but usually in the dead of night, stumbling around in the dark.
“Not something it’s easy to forget,” I said. Ranger school was two months of suck but a rite of passage for those officers going into the Infantry in the Army. It seemed forever ago.
“The good old days,” Luke said, “when we were young and manly. You know, Max, that the life we led wasn’t normal right?”
“Duh,” I said.
“The problem is that a normal life is abnormal for us,” he continued.
I bit back another ‘duh’.
“In fact, we are socially stunted,” Luke said. “Look at this as your unstunting.”
“That’s not even a word.”
“Destunting.”
“Still not a real word.”
“Growth, Max. You’re gonna grow.”
“Right.”
“You’re going to blossom as a person, Max. I can feel it.”
“Right.”
Maggs was in the back seat, sleeping. Probably storing up energy for the trek ahead. Or ignoring us.
My Satphone buzzed with a text message. I pulled it out.
Rose had arrived safely in New York and had a restful night.
I texted her back that we were on the road and wrote that all was fine.
Poppy had tried to show me those little symbol things that young people used, but it was too complicated. We had words for a reason.
Eventually, we pulled into the parking area at Amicalola Falls. I was surprised, and chagrined, to see that there were a bunch of other cars here—early season thru-hikers, with shiny new gear and optimism. I had the shiny new gear.
Luke killed the engine and we get out. I shouldered my pack.
What we would call a ‘nerf’ ruck. Not overloaded with ammo or munitions.
Just the things I’d need for the Trail. It settled onto my back like a familiar weight.
Shouldering a ruck is a movement that had been ingrained in me, and I realized that Luke might have something with his training analogy.
“Watch your six out there, Max,” Luke said.
“Always do."
I could tell he wanted to say something more. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it. I clipped Maggs’ leash on, since there were other people in the parking lot and some people get nervous around her. She could roam free once I got going.
“What?” I finally asked him.
“For men like us,” Luke said, “having a woman like Rose around us is priceless. But here’s the dangerous thing, Max.
What I want you to keep in mind. Even if you don’t change, Rose will hang with you.
That’s who she is. But it will be hard on her instead of what it could be.
Something good. After all, she hung with Oz and he was a miserable old coot, even if he did take care of her and Poppy.
He certainly didn’t bring much joy into her life.
So make this worthwhile, buddy. If not for you, for her. ”