The Summer of Our Discontent (16 page)

“Enjoyed it, didn’t
ya
?”

“Sicko.”

*******

“She’s staring at you again.”

“Eat your gruel and quit looking over there.” Rachel eyed Faith’s cornbread muffin. “Are you going to eat that?”

Faith shook her head as she moved it to Rachel’s plate. “Are you gonna eat your asparagus?”

“Hell no.” Rachel pushed her plate close to Faith’s and glanced down the table. Lisa was staring and looked away when she caught her eye. “I would kill for a burger and a beer right now. One time, I got so desperate that I cut through the woods and went to a burger joint after everyone went to bed.”

Faith set down her fork. “Are you telling me there’s civilization within walking distance of this camp?”

Rachel nodded as she nibbled on an apple slice. “Yeah, all the other times I was here, no one kept me awake all night with their endless bantering, so I jogged the trails each morning. One day, the smell of doughnuts hit me, and I followed it. There’s a whole little town on the highway. You just didn’t see it because we turned off before we got to it on the bus.”

Faith started laughing loudly, then lowered her voice. “Only a cop would sniff her way to doughnuts. Show me this trail.”

*******

Faith was totally into the nighttime escape, so Rachel didn’t bother to tell her that she’d already cleared it with Keely. It was hilarious listening to Faith lay down the plans as though they were breaking out of a maximum security prison. She liked the mischievous glint in Faith’s eye as she spoke quietly, so no one would overhear. They’d had some pretty private conversations around the campfire, but on this night, Faith was even more guarded.

“No one really pays any attention to what we do but Lisa. We’ve already had our showers, so she won’t think anything if we don’t take turns in the bathhouse after everyone goes to bed. We’ll get our flashlights and under the cover of darkness sneak around in the shadows like that cow did. Are you confident you can find the trail again in the dark? They may not be cooking doughnuts at this hour.”

Rachel nodded. “I can still smell the sugar, the shop reeks of it. As much as I’d like to have a beer, alcohol is strictly prohibited here. We have to respect that rule. We’re here to watch the kids.”

“I don’t want booze, I want protein. After eating half-frozen tater tots all week and unidentifiable chicken products, I want breasts, lean juicy breasts, tender and succulent.”

“Are we talking about food? You’re not gonna go primal on me and try to hook up with some stranger?”

“Come on, I’m not that depraved.” Faith rolled her eyes. “I want Starburst, too. They don’t have anything sweet in the commissary.” She glanced at Rachel when the scouts got ready to lead their groups to the cabins. “Operation juicy breast is about to commence.”

They tucked Sophie and Kaycee in and said good night to each one of the girls in their cabin. Afterward, they went back to their own cabins to appear they’d turned in for the night. Faith had changed into a dark long-sleeved T-shirt and shorts when she met Rachel behind the cabins. She was mostly camouflaged except for the lighter skin of her legs and the reflective piping on her running shorts.

“You are taking this way too seriously,” Rachel whispered. “I’m surprised that you didn’t paint your skin with black grease paint.”

“And your ass is glow-in-the-dark white. Those two neon stems of yours are totally gonna give us away. Go put on some jeans.”

“I didn’t bring any.” Rachel crept along the side of the last cabin and stayed in the shadows as she led Faith across the courtyard. They relaxed when they got onto the walking trail that ran the perimeter of the camp.

“I didn’t know there were trails back here. The only ones I saw went around the lake. Why didn’t you tell me about these?”

“There are trail maps posted all over the place. You didn’t take the time to look at one?”

“They have pictures of snakes on them, they make my skin crawl.” Faith came to an abrupt halt. “Wait…I didn’t think about that. I mean, what do they do at night?”

Rachel shrugged. “Have a rat for dinner, kick back and watch a little TV, and probably go to bed around ten like everything else.”

“You’re so cavalier. What if they aren’t in bed right now but slithering all around us?”

“Thanks for that mental image, ass.” Rachel switched on her light and moved it along the trail. “You should know, if I see a snake the likes of what we encountered on the first day, I am going to climb you like a tree.”

“That’s gonna be difficult with me already on top of your shoulders.”

Rachel came to a stop and shined her light on a much narrower trail. “That’s it, ladies first.”

Faith sucked in a lungful of air and let it out slowly. “We did stuff like this a billion times when we were kids, and I was barefoot most of the time. I want those damn Starburst,” she said as she trudged ahead.

“Hey, whatever happened to Denny?”

“Our friendship ended when she betrayed me and told everyone in school that I wasn’t into boys. I wasn’t ready for anyone to know, and I confided in the wrong person. She moved away after school, but I saw her in New Orleans once. She took one look at me and ran the other direction. I guess she thought I was gonna beat her ass. She was always such a chicken, afraid of everything. I really don’t know why we were friends. She never wanted to do anything daring.”

“Remember that gully in Jackson Woods everyone used to ride their bikes in and out of?”

“Oh, yeah,” Faith said with a laugh. “I busted my ass so many times going down that slope. That’s where Alvin knocked out his front teeth on his handlebars.”

“That was terrible,” Rachel said with a shiver. “All that blood and he was screaming his head off. There were times, though, that I wished it had been me. I hated my teeth back then.”

Faith stopped suddenly and turned. Rachel couldn’t see her face in the dark when she said, “They weren’t that bad.”

“That’s kind of you, but we both know you’re lying. Braces were the best thing that ever happened to me. I had to wear them for years to correct that overbite.”

Faith turned and swept the ground with her light before continuing on. “Look at you now, though. You get a lot of attention from women and men.”

“You saying I’m cute, Leblanc?” Rachel asked teasingly.

“If I were attracted to bull-headed obnoxious women, I’d say yes.”

“Oh, the whole opposite attraction thing works for you because you just described yourself.”

Faith stopped and sniffed. “I see what you mean about the sugar smell. We’re not far, are we?”

“Nope, if you listen, you can hear the cars moving on the road.”

Faith moved more quickly and soon they emerged right behind the doughnut shop. “Asphalt…civilization,” Faith said excitedly.

The town was a quarter of the size of Michaud. There was a small grocery store and a restaurant. Both were closed because of the hour. Their choices were the doughnut shop or a convenience store.

“If you feel the need to go into the doughnut shop, I’ll go with you into that den of sugar and carb iniquity,” Faith said as she brushed off the sleeves of her shirt.

“I know this may come as a shock to you, so try to remain standing, but I rarely eat doughnuts. And here’s really bad news, I doubt you’re gonna find a succulent breast unless it’s on whoever is working behind the counter of the convenience store.”

“I’ll make do with a protein bar.” Faith headed across the street. “Hey, thanks for doing this with me. I feel like a kid.”

Rachel grinned. “I have my own motives, too.”

They hit that store like two women who had been stranded in the woods for days. Faith with all of her talk about protein loaded up on chips, candy, and soda, and Rachel did the same. They walked out with large sacks of goodies.

Faith opened her orange cream soda and took a sip. “Oh, that’s like nectar. At home when this stuff is in reach, I have no cravings for it, but being out here and drinking only watered-down sports drinks and plain
ol
’ water, I just had to have it.”

“It’s probably just psychological. We know it isn’t available, and we want it.” Rachel laughed as she reached into her own bag and pulled out the exact same thing Faith was drinking. She held it up. “Yet another thing we have in common.”

“We are a lot alike,” Faith said as they crossed the street and sat at a picnic table on the side of the tiny restaurant. I guess that shouldn’t come as a surprise. We did all the same things as kids, just not together. We always wound up at the gully at the same time, the creek, the park, the woods. You built a tree house, I tore it down. I built a clubhouse, you smashed it.” Faith took a sip of her drink. “Good times, it’s sad to see them go.”

“I’m not.” Rachel toyed with the label on her soda. “This is better, don’t you think? I’ve had a lot of fun with you.”

Faith smiled. “I’ve enjoyed you, too, and I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I like you.”

*******

“Hating you right now!” Faith’s voice echoed off the walls in the bathhouse.

“Lower your voice.
You
veered off the trail.
You
led us into that bog.
You
made me lose my peanut butter crackers, and I really wanted those.” Rachel looked at her navel in disgust. “I have mud in places it should never be.”

“Because you flailed around like a fool and pushed us both deeper into it. I was only joking when I said I’d climb you, but you totally scaled me. I think I have a bruise where you stepped on my hip bone. What time is it?”

“It was a little after two when we came in here.” Rachel checked herself over again for ticks and whatever else she could’ve picked up while they’d tramped in the woods and swamp. “We would’ve been back by midnight if you hadn’t insisted on taking the scenic route.” She switched off the water and dried behind the privacy of the curtain, then carefully slipped into her clothes but still managed to get them slightly wet. Faith’s water switched off, too, and Rachel stepped out of her stall. She gasped when she came face-to-face with Lisa. “Uh, hey.”

“What’re you doing?” Lisa asked as she glanced at the muddy clothes on the floor.

Faith stepped out of her stall, her hair standing on end from being towel dried. She held the towel in front of her and said, “Something wrong with the toilet in your cabin, or do you have trouble fitting in there, too?”

“My cabin’s right next door.” Lisa folded her arms. “I came to see what the commotion was about. No one normally showers at two in the morning, and if they did, they would have the decency to keep their voices down.”

“We went for a walk and got off the trail and were lost, then we got into mud,” Rachel explained. “I’m very sorry that we woke you up.”

“Right,” Lisa said as she glanced at Faith and walked out.

Faith sucked her teeth. “She’s gonna tell everyone we did it in the woods.”

Chapter Twenty

“They’re all staring today.”

Rachel refused to look at the other end of the table and focused on her breakfast. “They’re gonna talk about something. It may as well be us.”

Faith studied her for a moment. “Does that make you mad?”

“I got five hours of sleep last night. Fluffy pink bunnies could piss me off right now. My body demands eight hours. I have learned not to mess with that formula.”

“I’d rule the world if I got eight hours of sleep. I could cut a backflip for the five I got last night. The sugar rush wore off after the shower, and I slept like a baby. You wanna run in the swamp again tonight?”