Chapter 21
After almost two weeks in the wilderness Dixie was tackling life with fresh enthusiasm.
She couldn’t completely gut the van and rebuild it like she’d seen some people do in YouTube videos because she was living in it, but she could still transform it.
Plenty of video clips and photographs of the before stage highlighted to her how much she needed to do.
It felt like she’d accepted the state Elsie was in and now it was time to change that mindset and do something about it.
She had already brought with her what she needed in the way of fabric and sewing equipment, as well as a few things she might not need, which were all rammed into any free space, including the passenger footwell.
All she needed to do was work out what to do first.
It was a sunny summer’s day and she was sitting in her fold-up chair outside, studying the instructions for fitting the utensil rack she’d bought, when she saw movement in her peripheral vision.
She turned slightly to see Arnold the squirrel.
Dixie stayed still. She had toyed with the idea of putting out some of the walnuts she’d bought from the service station for him, but had decided that she wanted him to know who they were from, otherwise he’d just think it was a lucky find and would have no gratitude towards Dixie.
The least she deserved was to take the credit for supplying them.
Slowly she took out her phone, zoomed in on the squirrel and began recording.
He hopped a little closer so Dixie took a walnut half from her pocket.
Walnuts had been all they had at the service station, apart from wasabi-coated peanuts and she knew he wouldn’t like those.
She held it up and Arnold stopped what he was doing.
His tail immediately went into angry wag mode.
‘I brought you food. Don’t get cross.’ Dixie waved the walnut. Arnold stared her down. ‘Fine. Here, have the nut.’ She tossed it in his general direction, making him flinch and back away. ‘Sorry!’
There was a stand-off for a couple of minutes.
Dixie stopped filming as it wasn’t the most exciting footage and viewers had short attention spans.
Arnold inched closer, keeping eyes on Dixie.
He moved cautiously towards the walnut, grabbed it in his mouth and raced off.
Success! But she’d forgotten to film it.
A couple of minutes later Arnold was back and eyeing Dixie warily.
‘It’s OK, I won’t bite,’ she said, setting her phone to record.
‘But she might,’ said Ned, making her jump.
‘Goodness me! You scared the life out of me. Oh, and Arnold.’ She pointed to where the squirrel had been.
‘Arnold?’
‘You can mock but since I named him he’s been much friendlier,’ said Dixie.
‘Not mocking,’ said Ned. ‘It’s just that Arnold is a girl.’
‘What? Really?’
Ned nodded as he sat down on the doorplate of the campervan. ‘When she was sitting up with her paws in front of her like she was about to start knitting, you could see her, um, teats.’
‘Well, that’s a turn-up for the books. She’s surprisingly aggressive.’ Dixie would have hoped for a little female solidarity.
‘She’s probably got kits somewhere nearby. She’ll be on red alert for anything that would be a threat. Plus she’ll be defending her feeding grounds.’ He was clearly knowledgeable about wildlife.
‘Then I’ll cut her a bit of slack. But I’ll keep the name. She still looks like an Arnold to me.’
‘Fair enough,’ he said with a chuckle. ‘Sorry for running off the other day.’
‘I’m sorry I angered the squirrel,’ said Dixie. ‘Kettle was boiled not long ago. Did you want a mint tea or anything?’ She felt her hostess options were somewhat limited.
‘Please. Have you been foraging?’ he asked as she went inside the van.
‘Only as far as Marks and Spencer,’ she said, waving the box of mint teabags.
‘I can show you where there’s wild mint growing if you like.’
‘Yes please. I think properly foraging for my food would be so cool. It’s what we should be doing, right?’
‘I guess it is. Are you vegan by any chance?’
Dixie pulled a face. ‘I’d really like to be but you see I love bacon … and eggs … and cheese is an essential food group for me. If only vegan cheese didn’t taste like poo.’
Ned snorted a laugh. ‘I agree with you on the bacon. You can’t beat a bacon sandwich in white bread. It’s the perfect hangover cure. Not that I drink to excess.’
‘Don’t worry, I run a weekly cocktail club,’ she said, handing him a mug.
‘Shall we go for a forage once we’ve drunk these then?’ he asked.
‘I’d love that,’ said Dixie, feeling that things were heading in the right direction for a change.
*
Nora was frozen to the spot. She heard shouting and anxious voices below her. She clung to the rockface, turning a fraction to look down. Trent was lying on his back with everyone around him. Her breathing was fast and her pulse even faster.
‘Is he OK?’ she called and a few faces glanced in her direction.
Trent let out a groan. ‘He’s fine,’ said Jay. ‘Just winded himself probably.’ But the number of people running about implied otherwise.
‘Shall I bring her down?’ asked her belayer.
‘But my shoe is stuck in that crevice,’ she called, but nobody replied.
‘Do you want to let go of your holds and abseil down?’ called up the leader.
‘On one leg?’
‘Yeah.’
It didn’t seem like Nora had a lot of choice but it was a relief to let go of the rock, she had been gripping so tightly her fingers were cramping.
She was worried about Trent. He’d fallen a long way and while he still had his helmet on, he could have done untold damage to the rest of his body.
She pushed herself awkwardly away from the cliff with one foot until she landed at the bottom and thanked her belayer.
‘Are you all right?’ asked Jay, who had been waiting for her. He steadied her with strong hands and immediately set about getting her out of her harness.
‘I’m fine. I just lost a shoe,’ she said, but her shaking hands and rasping breath told a different story. She couldn’t pull her eyes away from Trent, whose face was scrunched up in pain. Panic gripped her. ‘He’s in a bad way, isn’t he?’
Jay paused what he was doing for a second. ‘Let me look after you. There’s an ambulance on the way for Trent, they’ll take good care of him.’
‘How the hell are they going to get an ambulance up here?’
A few minutes later her question was answered as the sound of a helicopter got louder and louder.
Nora wasn’t sure how long she’d been sitting on a rock with a foil blanket around her shoulders.
It had probably been a while, given the state of the piece of Kendal Mint Cake in her hand that someone had said would be good for shock but had made her a little queasy.
The air ambulance landed nearby and Trent was soon stretchered away.
She felt awful – she hadn’t meant for him to climb up but because he had it seemed like her fault.
Jay came over to her. ‘Here you go,’ he said, handing over her climbing shoe.
‘I didn’t see you get it.’
‘I didn’t, one of the professionals went up for it. I belayed for them.’
‘Thanks,’ she said, taking the shoe. How had a single piece of footwear caused so much drama?
Jay crouched in front of her, watching her closely.
Was it the shock? Or was it the light on his face, highlighting his features and making him look every inch the leading man?
‘Why was Trent free climbing?’ she asked.
‘Hang on,’ he said. ‘I need to stand up because my thighs are burning.’ He made an O shape with his mouth as he straightened himself. He sat down next to Nora. ‘You know Trent. He was trying to be a hero.’
‘He didn’t deserve that though. He could be paralysed.’ The thought took her breath away.
‘Nah, he was moving his legs. Mainly when he was being told not to, but still. The first-aider said they think he’s badly bruised but he’s got off lightly. Anyway, let’s get you back to the minibus. It’s three-bean chilli for dinner,’ he said and they both pulled a face.
Back at the hostel everyone else seemed on some sort of weird high following the excitement of Trent’s accident and subsequent carting off in the air ambulance, which Nora found a little disturbing.
She was sitting in the corner of the communal area and all the chatter around her, which she tuned in and out of, was about what had happened.
Those who had witnessed it were keen to tell their version of events and those who missed it were desperate for information.
Someone had made her a very strong, sweet coffee, which was utterly disgusting, but she worried it was bad form not to drink it so forced it down in little sips.
She’d never sleep tonight. She’d be wired from the caffeine and more hyper than a toddler on Haribo thanks to all the sugar in it.
But there was another, bigger reason why she’d likely not sleep.
Nora kept reliving the climb and the scene of her kicking Trent off the cliff and him falling.
The look of shock on his face as her Cookie Monster sock made contact with his cheek and the terror in his eyes as he fell would stay with her for a long time.
‘Hey, how are you doing?’ asked Jay, appearing in front of her. She had no idea how long she’d been staring into space.
She jiggled her head. ‘So so. Still a bit freaked out, if I’m honest. Don’t want to be a drama queen or anything.’
‘Oh, I would totally be a drama queen,’ said Jay, sitting on the arm of her chair and making it creak in protest. ‘It’s basically what I do for a living. Anyway, this is for you.’ He handed her his water bottle.
‘Thanks but I’m OK.’ She held up her half-drunk coffee.
Jay took the mug from her and swapped it for the water bottle. He leaned in and whispered, ‘The hair turban came good.’
‘Is that some sort of code? Because I have no idea what you mean.’
‘Renee had wrapped a tin of ready-made gin and tonic in the hair turban so I’ve decanted it into my water bottle. Drink it, it’ll do you good. Well, it probably won’t, but it might make you de-stress a little.’
‘Thanks.’ She undid the cap and took a swig. It was strong and she almost choked on it.
‘It said on the label it was double strength. Probably should have mentioned that.’
‘And you found it inside the hair turban?’
‘Exactly, it was all bundled up. I must say I did wonder why she’d made me bring that but I found it really useful. It stopped my wet hair dripping all over me while I was trying to dry myself. I would definitely use one again and would recommend it to others,’ he said.
Nora couldn’t help smiling. ‘You don’t think the hair turban was just a ploy to smuggle in a gin and tonic?’
For a moment Jay seemed perplexed. ‘Well, now I do,’ he said.