Heather grimaced, lips drawn back and teeth clenched, as she pushed her left foot into her boot. "What's wrong?" Alice asked.
"Nothing."
"Let me see." She squatted down beside the girl. "Take your boot off."
"Really, Mom, it's all right."
"I'll be the judge of that."
With a reluctant sigh, Heather pulled off her boot. She peeled the wool sock down her ankle. The skin above her heel was gray, as if smudged with dirt. She winced when Alice pressed it. "Arnold, would you come over here?"
He was crouched over his pack, securing its flap. He looked over his shoulder. "What's wrong?" "We have an injury here."
"Oh, shit," he muttered. He hurried over.
"A bruised Achilles tendon," Alice said.
Arnold gently rotated the foot. Heather's face showed pain. "It's all right," she insisted.
"How did this happen?" Alice asked.
Heather shrugged.
Rose, who'd been sitting on a rock nearby and watching, said, "I'll tell you. It was that klutz, Benny. He kicked her last night."
"He didn't kick me, he stepped on me."
"Shit."
"Arnold!"
"Does it hurt much?" he asked.
"No. Really."
"I thought I saw you limping," Alice said. "Good heavens, Heather, why didn't you tell us about it?"
The girl shrugged, and pulled up her sock.
"I bet," Rose said, "she just didn't want to get Benny in trouble. She's got a crush on him."
"I do not!"
"Do, too."
"Knock it off," Arnold muttered. He frowned at Heather. "You can walk on it okay, though, right?"
"Yeah. It's fine."
"Well, we'll try to take it easy today. If it gives you too much trouble, we'll figure something out."
"Let's leave her behind," Rose said. "So the coyotes can eat her."
"That's enough out of you, young lady."
"All right," Arnold said. "Let's haul it. I've got a feeling this'll be a long day."
Chapter Fifteen
Nick stopped at the trail sign. It read CARVER PASS, 2 MI. Leaning against a rock to ease the weight of his pack, he looked down into the valley. Lake Parker was there in the distance, as blue as the sky, its north shore hidden among the trees. The south shore was mostly barren rock. He spotted the outcropping he'd climbed down last night, and felt a small tremor of the fear that had numbed him when he came unexpectedly upon the two girls. Then he smiled, remembering Rose's shriek and the way she'd scurried up the rocks. It had been quite a little adventure. Damn it, though. Poor Heather. They should've just stayed in camp after all.
"Hand me my water bottle?" Julie asked.
"Sure."
She turned away. Nick unzipped a side pocket of her pack, and pulled out the green plastic container. He watched Julie tilt the bottle to her lips and drink. Her face was burnished with sunburn, her nose peeling a bit. The leather band of her beret was dark with sweat. When she finished drinking, she offered a drink to Nick. He took a few swallows, and slid the bottle back into her pack.
"This is gonna be a bear," she said.
"Yeah. Especially for Heather."
"That idiot brother of mine."
"Looks like it'll be switchbacks from here to the top."
"Don't you just love switchbacks?"
"On the bright side, it'll all be downhill to Lake Wilson."
"If we can just make it to the top."
Down the trail, Scott and Karen appeared, hiking side by side through the shadows. "Let's hold it up," Scott called. "Wait for the others."
"How's Heather doing?" Julie asked.
"Holding her own."
They waited. Soon, Nick saw Rose coming up the trail. His father and mother were a short distance behind the girl. Dad was carrying Heather's red backpack like an unwieldy grocery bag. Nick hurried down. Taking the pack from his father, he saw Benny and Heather. They were far back. Heather, limping along with the aid of Nick's blackthorn stick, laughed at something Benny said. A good sign. At least she wasn't whimpering with pain.
Nick turned away. He trudged up the trail ahead of his parents.
"Is that pretty heavy?" Julie asked.
"Not as bad as ours."
Karen stepped toward him. "Let me feel." She took Heather's pack from his arms. "Why don't we split up what's in it? We'll each carry some, and nobody'll be stuck with lugging around a full pack all day."
"Not only pretty, but brilliant," Dad said. "Any objections?"
Rose wrinkled her face, but nodded with defeat. Everyone else acted as if it were a great idea. Heather watched, looking embarrassed, while packs were opened and rearranged to make room for her belongings. When her father started to lash her empty pack to his own, she finally objected. "I can carry that."
"No trouble," he told her.
"I'll carry it," Benny said. His voice was a little whiny. "It's all my fault."
"Hey, those things happen," Dad consoled him. "Don't blame yourself.''
Benny looked around as if searching for a hole to crawl into. Finding none, he let out a deep sigh. "I'm sorry, everybody."
"No sweat," Scott told him.
"Sure," Julie said. "It'll be fun carrying a little extra weight."
Scott scowled at her.
"I knew we shouldn't have let them go off last night," Mom said. "Nobody listens to me. Next time — "
"Let's get this show on the road," Dad interrupted. "We've got a mountain to climb."
Shouldering their packs, they started up the trail again. The trees thinned out, leaving fewer patches of shade, then no shade at all.
Nick and Julie, in the lead, paused often to wait for the others to catch up. Finally, near noon, they stopped at one of the flat areas where the trail turned back on itself in its zigzag up the mountainside. They shed their packs and sat on a boulder. Scott and Karen were a distance down the trail, slowly trudging closer.
"Who ever said backpacking's fun?" Julie asked.
"Not me."
"Shit." She lifted the front of her T-shirt and rubbed her sweaty face. Nick glanced at her bare midriff. She pulled the shirt down again. It clung to her. "Feel like I'm gonna die."
"At least there's a little breeze."
"How'd you like to dive in a swimming pool about now?"
"I'd dive into anything that's cold," Nick said.
"You and me both. Man, this is the pits. How'd we get into this? We could be home right now, having iced tea by the swimming pool."
"A hamburger and chocolate shake at Burger King."
"On the other hand…"
"What?"
"Well." Julie looked at him, and shrugged. "If we weren't up here in this godforsaken armpit of a wilderness, we wouldn't… I wouldn't have got to know you. I mean, I'm glad about that anyway.
The words made Nick's heart pound fast. "Maybe when we get back, we could — I don't know — go to the movies or something."
She met his eyes. She smiled slightly. "By then, you'll be sick of me."
"Maybe," he said.
Julie laughed.
"I doubt it, though."
Karen called, "Where's the top?"
"Up there someplace," Julie answered.
"That's the rumor," Nick added.
"You guys are really burning up the trail," Scott said.
Julie nodded. "Regular roadrunners."
Scott and Karen took off their packs. Scott looked as if the strenuous hike had barely fazed him. He wasn't even breathing hard. Karen looked just as good. She fluttered the front of her plaid shirt, then opened the three lower buttons. She gathered up the shirttails and made a knot just below her breasts. "Nice breeze," she said. She lay down against her pack, and fanned her face with her floppy hat.