Chapter Two #2
Gwen and Tina elbowed each other. Nora had watched enough reruns of Beavis and Butt-Head with her brothers to recognize an infantile reaction to perceived innuendo, but she ignored it.
Jade directed them to a building at the edge of the forest. “This will be your group accommodation while we’re in camp. Put your gear on a cot, and we’ll head back to the main building.”
Nora looked inside. It was one big room with a woodstove in the center and a single opening toward the back. Bare cots were spaced along the walls and in the middle.
“Excuse me,” Nora said, “but I thought we were going to be in individual tents.”
Jade laughed. “Oh, we will. And this will seem like the height of luxury then. But we’ve got training and team building to do first. We’ll be here for a few more days.”
Nora suppressed a sigh and nodded, tossing her duffel onto the first cot on the east wall.
Gwen and Tina followed, choosing the next spaces along the same wall.
Fallon hadn’t moved, seeming confounded by all the choices.
Nora started to gesture to the cot across from her, but Jade put her hand on Fallon’s arm.
“I’m here in the middle,” she said quietly, setting a small backpack on the bed in front of her. “Wanna be there?” She pointed to the next one down.
“Uh, sure. Yeah. Thanks.” Fallon pulled in a small wheeled suitcase.
Hannah, Kennedy, and Delores claimed the west wall.
“The bathroom has two of everything,” Jade said, moving to the doorway. “Sinks, toilets, and shower stalls. Make use of it now if you need to. Meet back at the main building when you hear the triangle, and we’ll go over the schedule for the next couple of days.”
“Will one of those little silver things ring loud enough for us to hear?” Hannah asked.
“Oh, you’ll hear it, don’t worry.” Jade strode across the floor to the exit. “Think cowboy chuckwagon triangle, not elementary school rhythm band. And that will always be our notice to gather.”
Twenty minutes later, the clear, resonating tone was as distinct as Jade promised, and soon, they were into one of Nora’s least favorite activities: an ice-breaking exercise.
She understood the getting-to-know-you rationale.
Whether the questions were serious or funny, each person’s answers revealed something about them.
It’d help them bond and work together through the weeks ahead, but she still didn’t like the open-ended, intrusive nature of the topics.
Worse, she hated appearing hard-hearted and callous like her father, so she joined in with as much enthusiasm as she could muster, while mentally repeating, “Cash, college, career.”
“Do you fold your pizza?” was Jade’s first question.
“Is that a thing?” Fallon asked.
“Oh yeah,” Kennedy said. “New York and Chicago style, for sure.”
No one else ate their pizza folded. When Jade asked, “What’s your go-to karaoke anthem?” Gwen and Tina were all in.
“‘Only Girl in the World,’” they squealed together. They were off on the chorus until Hannah covered her ears.
“‘Need You Now,’” Hannah said for her song.
Delores quickly chimed in with “Love Story,” by Taylor Swift.
Nora hid a smile at the memory of singing Tegan and Sara’s “Boyfriend” with Addison, but she told the group her song was “Born This Way.” Kennedy made the monster hand, and they all laughed.
When everyone looked to Fallon, she shrugged. “I’ve never done karaoke.”
“What?” Kennedy said, the pitch of her voice rising. “We’ll have to fix that, first chance we get.”
“For sure,” Hannah added with emphasis.
Jade looked over her list of prompts. “How about this, Fallon? Does your car have a name? What is it?”
Fallon admitted to calling her car Big Red.
Gwen had no name for hers, and the rest didn’t have their own, although Delores said her mother called theirs a POS.
As the group giggled, Nora suspected that Jade had chosen that question to keep Fallon from feeling left out.
Maybe she’d even made it up. It was a nice gesture, not that it mattered.
“Delores, you first this time,” Jade said. “Would you go in the mothership with aliens if they landed on Earth tomorrow?”
“Oh, hell no. I was born in Texas, but way too many people have called me an alien, usually with illegal in front of it. I don’t need any more of that.”
Hannah said yes, while Fallon appeared to give the matter serious thought before agreeing to go. No one else was interested.
“Gwen, what is an easy item on your bucket list that you haven’t done yet?” Jade asked.
Gwen licked her lips. “There’s not much I haven’t done.”
Tina clapped. “Me neither.”
“I’d like a dog,” Fallon volunteered. “I’ve never had one, and I think it would be great to have a friend like that.”
The group made sympathetic sounds, and Delores showed her a picture of her dog, a medium-sized mixed mutt named Georgie.
Hannah wanted to see the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and Kennedy wanted to learn to play pickleball.
Nora said she couldn’t think of anything offhand and kept her dream of seeing one of her photographs in a national publication, or at least somewhere besides the school website, to herself.
She wasn’t exactly shy about her work, but she would have to feel a lot more comfortable before sharing something so personal and important to her.
“Okay, last one for now,” Jade announced. “What person from history would you add to Mount Rushmore?”
Kennedy asked if it had to be a president. When Jade said no, she suggested Martin Luther King Jr. Delores nodded her agreement.
“Reagan,” Gwen said.
Tina chimed in with “Lincoln.”
“I think he’s already on there,” Fallon said gently.
“Well, who would you pick?” Tina sounded like she would make any answer into an argument.
“No one.” Fallon’s tone was composed. “I think it should be left as it is. But I’d sure like to see it someday. That and the Crazy Horse Memorial.”
Nora looked between the two. “I agree,” she said in hopes of circumventing any confrontation. She didn’t think Fallon was up to dueling with Tina and Gwen. And those two obviously came as a package deal.
“Okay. Let’s talk schedules,” Jade said, unfolding a paper from her pocket. She clearly wanted to change the subject as well.
Fallon shuffled her feet, and Nora got the sense she was forcing herself to speak. “But we didn’t get your answers, Jade. Aren’t we supposed to know you too?”
Jade hesitated, and a smile stretched across her full lips. “You’re right, Fallon.” She took a breath. “I have eaten folded pizza, and my karaoke song depends on my mood.” At the sounds of protest, Jade held up her hands. “‘Unstoppable,’ when I’m single. ‘A Thousand Years’ if I’m in love.”
A whoop rose from the group.
“Which one would it be now?” Hannah asked coyly.
Jade shook her head. “We don’t know each other that well.
Yet.” Amid the laughter, she went on to list her car—an aging Toyota Corona she called the Green M&M—and her bucket list item—taking a painting class.
“For Mount Rushmore, I’d like to see a woman.
Maybe Sandra Day O’Connor or Hillary Clinton? ”
Nora nodded in approval as the group clapped. “I’d definitely want to see that.”
“Me too,” Fallon said, meeting Nora’s eyes.
That smile. Something in Nora’s gut gave a pleasant tug. Oh no. Not going there. She turned back toward Jade. “So what about the schedule?”
“Let’s start with getting the most important part of your gear,” Jade said. “Your chainsaw.”
Nora had wanted to bring her own, but the instructions were clear. Everyone could use only Firecamp equipment. It made sense. That way, the camp only needed to stock parts—chains, housing, bar nuts, and so on—for one make and model.
Relieved the touchy-feely stuff was over, Nora followed as they walked toward what Jade called the equipment hut.
It was actually one of the largest structures in the compound, which made sense, assuming all the gear was in one location.
Before entering, Nora took a deep breath of the clean, cool air, knowing that once the saws started up, the tang of gas and oil would dominate nature.
She’d always associated that smell with sweating and laboring with her father and brothers, but the feeling of accomplishment and the confidence she’d developed made that memory more pleasant.
And now one more summer’s worth of hard work would earn her the future she wanted.
Inside, Jade indicated a wide counter where a row of identical chainsaws waited.
The crew lined up two deep. A graying older man as big as a standing bear stood facing them.
Despite his menacing size, he sported a friendly grin and a playful gleam in his eye.
“Welcome, Women’s Plus Crew. In addition to your cutting equipment, we’ll be fitting you with your PPE. Can anyone tell me what that means?”
Nora answered automatically. “Personal protective equipment.”
He focused on her. “Very good. My name’s Hal. What’s yours?”
“Nora Palmer.”
“Okay, Nora Palmer. You get to go first if you can name any three pieces of basic PPE.”