"A grave," Julie whispered.
"Naw."
"Sure looks like one."
Leaning into the straps of his heavy pack, Nick hurried toward the mound. Julie stayed close to his side. He was nervous and excited, as if they were the first ever to discover this forbidden site. He stopped at its foot. The hump of ground was roughly the size of a small man. Words had been carved into the wooden marker. His eyes followed them as Julie read aloud in a hushed voice: " 'Beneath this earth lies Digby Bolles. Poor man ran out of Dr. Scholl's.' "
Nick felt a mixture of relief and disappointment. "It's a joke," he said.
"I guess so."
"Somebody went to a lot of trouble for a practical joke."
"Some people do," Julie said, and gave him an amused look. "Doreeeen," she called softly. "Audreeee."
Nick nodded. He thought of their brief, wild run behind the tents, the screams of the twins, how daring he'd felt through the whole experience. Running in only his T-shirt and shorts, Julie close to him in the dark. The way he'd wanted to grab her and pull her tight against him, and kiss her.
"We'll have to do that again sometime," she said.
"We'd catch hell," he told her. "I wouldn't mind, though."
"Whatcha got there?" Dad called from behind. He was trudging up the trail with Mom at his side. The girls were a short distance back.
"A grave," Julie said.
"No kidding? Not a real grave?"
"Have a look," Nick said. He and Julie stepped aside to make room for them.
"Holy Toledo," Dad said.
"Who is it?" asked Rose, pushing forward.
"A poor guy named Digby Bolles."
Mom read the epitaph aloud.
Heather wrinkled her nose. "Who's Dr. Scholl?"
"It's not a who. It's a brand of foot powder."
"And the guy died when he ran out?"
"No, honey. It's just a joke. Nobody's buried here."
"We oughta get a snapshot of this," Dad said. He swung down his pack. While he opened a side pocket, Rose and Heather stared at the plot of ground.
"Someone's there, all right," Rose said.
"How do you know?"
"I just know."
"A grave," Benny gasped, arriving out of breath.
"Mom says it's not really," Heather told him.
He frowned as he read the inscription. Then he grinned. "Hey, that's neat."
"I better use the flash," Dad said. "All these shadows. Want to make sure the saying comes out." Everyone moved out of his way. He crouched at the foot of the mound. The flash cube made a quick burst of silvery light.
"What's all the excitement?" Scott asked. He was striding up the trail, Karen close beside him.
"It's Digby's grave," Benny explained.
They walked over to it. Karen read the verse aloud, and laughed softly. "That's a shame."
"He should've been more careful," Scott said.
Benny looked up at him. "What do you think's down there?"
"Digby Bolles."
"I mean really."
Julie glanced at Nick. Her eyebrows went up and down. She turned to her father. "What-say we dig it up and find out?"
"What-say we don't?"
"Come on, aren't you curious?"
Half grinning, he said, "Noooo."
"What about you, Karen?"
"I think we should let him rest in peace."
"Now, let's stop all this talk," Mom said. "It's scaring the girls. We all know there's nobody buried here."
"Yes, there is," Rose told her.
"See what I mean? It's just somebody's rotten idea of a joke."
"We've got a lot of ground to cover," Dad said. "I say we haul ass."
"Arnold!"
"Why don't you guys go on ahead?" Julie suggested. "I'll catch up later."
"Julie. "
"Why not? What'll it hurt? I'll put everything back just the way it is."
"What are you hoping to find?" Scott asked.
She smiled mysteriously. "Answers."
"Oh, for heaven's sake," Mom muttered. "Nothing's there."
Dad was smiling, obviously pulling for Julie. "Wouldn't hurt to know for sure, though."
"Arnold!"
"I'll stay and help," Nick said.
"This is absurd," his mother muttered.
"Hell, let 'em satisfy their curiosity, Alice. You said yourself they won't find anything."
"That's right," she said. "They won't. But if they want to waste their time and energy, far be it from me to stand in their way."
"Atta girl."
She gave him a quick, humorless smile.
"Don't stay too long, kids," Dad said.
"We'll catch up as soon as we can."
Heather gazed at Nick with wide, frightened eyes. "You gonna dig it up?"
"Probably nothing there but an old shoe," he told her.
Rose narrowed her eyes. "You'll be sor-ry," she said in a singsong.
Both girls turned away and hurried to catch up with their mother and father.
"You want to stay?" Scott asked Benny.
The boy made a face as if he'd been invited to taste a worm. "I don't want to see any stiffs," he proclaimed.
"I don't blame you," Karen said.
Scott turned to her. "Shall we be off and leave Burke and Hare to their grisly chore?"
"I'm with you."
The three of them started up the trail, leaving Nick and Julie by the grave. "Mission accomplished," Julie said. Nick grabbed her pack while she slipped her arms out of the straps. "Thank you, sir," she said, then took it from him and set it down. He swung his own pack to the ground. "I've got a little shovel in here someplace," she told him, propping her pack against his. Crouching, she slid a plastic clamp down its tie cord and peeled back the cover.
Nick stepped behind Julie as she rummaged inside. Her T-shirt clung to her back with sweat. The tint of her skin was visible through the fabric. So was the narrow white crossband of her bra, and the thin straps running up to her shoulders. He could see the bumps of her spine pushing out the material and remembered the way her nipples had shown last night. Hey, you can look at me all you want. I was looking at you.
"Here we go." She stood up, a green plastic trowel in her hand.
"Perfect," Nick said.
They stepped over to the mound. "Where'll we dig?"
"In the middle?"
"Good a place as any." She smiled, looking a bit nervous, and knelt beside the border of stones. Nick stepped around her, and dropped to his knees. Her shoulder brushed against him as she reached out with the trowel. Using its edge, she scraped away a layer of pine needles to expose a patch of earth. With its point, she scratched out a pair of crossing lines. "X marks the spot," she whispered. She pushed the plastic blade into the soil, and hesitated. "You don't. you don't really think anyone's down there, do you?"
"Naw."
"Me either." She pried out a heap of dirt, and dumped it next to the small hole. "I mean, who'd bury someone out here?"
"I don't know." Nick's mouth was dry. His heart beat fast. He didn't know whether he felt so tense because of the grave or because Julie was so close to him.
"What if we do find a body?" she asked, frowning at the tiny hole.
"It's unlikely."
"It's possible, though." She turned her face toward him. Her eyes were so blue that even the white seemed to have a faint bluish color. There was a smudge of dirt on her cheek. Her tongue curled out from a corner of her mouth and caught a trickle of sweat. "It is possible," she said.
Nick felt breathless. "Yeah," he managed.
"Oh, what the hell." Her face turned away, and she reached out with the trowel. Its tip hovered above the hole, quivering slightly. She sighed. "You know, I'm not sure this is such a hot idea after all."