The hike back to camp seemed to take much longer than when Ellie and I had initially walked down to hang the bear bag. At least our bear bag was far from where we would sleep, though. When we came into hearing range of Lydie and Marshall, Marshall called out, “Everyone okay?”
Sawyer nodded, “Now that Ellie and Marlee scared the pants off an inquisitive bear, we should sleep well tonight.”
Lydie’s eyes grew huge, “You had an encounter? I wish I would have seen it! Tell me all about it!”
Ellie shook her head, “I’m glad you weren’t there, Lyd. This bear was pretty aggressive. It was all Marlee and I could do to convince him to leave us alone. We thought sure he was going to charge,” she said shakily.
Marshall’s face erupted into a grin, “Well, good work, girls! You did exactly what you were supposed to do.”
Ellie and I nodded, still feeling nervous. I knew that Sawyer and Marshall were right that he likely would not bother us anymore, but I was still scared about sleeping without a tent. This was the only scary bear encounter I’d ever had. I’ve seen probably a dozen bears in the wild, but never before had one challenged me or acted aggressively. True, the expression in the bear’s eyes was fear, but he weighed more than double what Ellie and I weigh together, and he was built to catch and eat food. Black bears do not eat tons of meat, except maybe an occasional calf or fawn, and certainly not people. Still though, if he had attacked, we would have been seriously injured.
Reading my thoughts, Sawyer squeezed Ellie’s and my shoulders again and whispered, “God has us under the shadow of His wings. The bear left, didn’t he?” We nodded. “And a bear has no reason to go above the tree line. Let’s stoke this fire and prepare for bedtime.”
Sawyer and I began placing sticks strategically onto the fire while Ellie and Marshall continued to build on the windbreak that the boys had started. Lydie chatted happily, as if we were in the best of circumstances. I was glad for her carefree outlook. It was beyond me how she remained so positive when she was the injured one. Thinking of injuries reminded me that when Sawyer met us after the bear encounter, I vaguely noticed his limp returning. No doubt he was overexerting and worsening his injury from the avalanche.
“Careful not to stack them too densely,” Sawyer reminded me. “Oxygen has to fuel the fire, so if the branches are too tight, the fire will run out.”
“Oh, yeah, thanks. Hey,” I lowered my voice, “how are you doing? Your leg?”
Sawyer shrugged, then glanced around to make sure he did not have an audience. “It’s pretty sore. I took an anti-inflammatory with supper, but it still bothers me.”
Yikes. How would we hike tomorrow? I had figured Sawyer would carry Lydie, but if his leg was that sore, what would we do? “Do you have any idea what it is?” I asked. I wondered what the severity of his injury was.
“I’m no medic,” Sawyer said, “but I think it might just be deep muscle bruises. When I was bounding to the ridge to miss the avalanche, I fell and smashed my leg against a rock. I am sure nothing is broken, and I don’t think any tendons or ligaments are damaged, but the muscles in my thigh and calf are pretty blue.”
I nodded and prayed that he was right that the injury was not more severe than bruising. Sure, it would make hiking difficult, but at least it wouldn’t be an injury that would require us to carry him, too. And at least it was not an injury that would haunt him throughout life. Dad talks about an old friend of Grandpa’s who suffered an injury to his knee that still caused him pain decades later, even with normal everyday activities. It sounded awful.
Sawyer turned his attention to me, “How are you doing from the avalanche? How is your head? Does anything else hurt?”
Once again, I was reminded of my forehead. I had forgotten about it until I had put on my stocking hat about five minutes ago and bumped it then. My fingers gingerly felt around my forehead, and I winced when I touched the laceration. “I guess it hurts when I touch it, but other than feeling an overall soreness, I think I made it through well.”
“Good,” Sawyer nodded. “Before we forget again, let’s clean that right now. Sawyer walked over to Ellie’s pack lined up with the others. “Ellie, may I grab the first aid kit from your pack?” Wow, good manners. Ellie also noticed and looked appreciative of his consideration to not just dig right into her bag.
“Of course,” she smiled. There it was again. Sawyer and Ellie were smiling at each other. I winked at Lydie. Marshall missed it since he was still absorbed with digging a burrow between two hefty-sized snow boulders with Sawyer’s ice axe. Digging with the palm-sized adze end, which is usually used for digging steps into a mountainside, was a slow process. Apparently people who plan to spend time in high-risk avalanche areas carry along shovels; we weren’t that prepared.
“What a relief that you two are cooperating on this trip!” Lydie announced. I nearly burst out laughing at that. Ellie’s face immediately turned red and Sawyer instantly refocused on digging for the first aid kit. He looked like he was trying to act cool and collected, but he had begun furiously plowing through Ellie’s pack in search of the first aid supplies.
“Watch it, Sawyer!” Ellie growled. “You’re going to mess up my bag.” She marched over and stepped in his way, forcing him to move. I saw him grimace and favor his lower leg, but Ellie yanked her pack out of his hands and efficiently located the first aid supplies. “You sure made a mess of this in a hurry,” she grumbled. I looked at Lydie, who shook her head and rolled her eyes at Ellie. Marshall noticed what was happening and threw up his hands and looked at me as if to say, ‘She was being so nice. What happened?’
I guessed that once Ellie realized that the rest of us noticed them smiling at each other, she became highly self-conscious, and acted angrily, even if she did not intend to act mean. But I could see that the damage was done. Sawyer was now about ten feet away, looking confused and maybe even a little sad. I approached Ellie, thinking that since she was holding the first aid kit she would help with my cut. But she chucked the small zippered pouch at Sawyer and sneered, “Better let him take care of it since he’s obviously in charge.”
Sawyer ducked as the first aid kit sailed above his head. “Ellie,” I scolded, feeling shocked and embarrassed.
“Let her,” Sawyer stated, standing up and retrieving the first aid kit. “If that’s what she thinks, she might as well say it to my face.” There was anger in Sawyer’s voice. Yikes.
At that moment, Ellie seemed to suddenly remember our earlier conversation, the ‘middle-school gossip’ talk, and her eyes flashed with pain at the realization of what she had said and done. She shook her head, apology in her eyes, and began, “Sawyer, I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean that. I can’t believe I just threw a first aid kit at you. I could’ve hurt you. That would be ironic. To hurt you with the very kit that is intended to heal.” She was talking fast now, trying frantically to fix her mistake. But it was clear to the rest of us that Sawyer had been hurt emotionally, and Ellie’s rambling would not heal the wound.
Ellie kept on jabbering for a moment before she realized that Sawyer was completely ignoring her, and he had walked about thirty feet away. I wondered what I should do. Ellie knew she had messed up, so I didn’t see the need to talk to her. If I went after Sawyer, what would I say? I chose to check in with Lydie.
“Are you comfortable, Lydie? Can I do anything for you?”
She looked upset. “I was only kidding about them getting along. I had no idea she would erupt like that.”
“It’s not your fault, Lydie. We’re all hungry and tired and scared, and people act differently when they’re in survival mode. Do you need me to carry you over there so you can, you know, pee before bed?”
She nodded. I summoned Marshall to help me carry my sister. Though she was three years younger and considerably smaller, I was tired enough that I knew I needed help carrying her. Marshall and I each wrapped an arm around her low back, and then braced our other arms underneath her thighs. On the count of three we stood up and carefully carried her off to a somewhat private spot behind a few snow boulders, then left her for a moment. She said her leg felt alright, but Marshall said we would be sure to give her another anti-inflammatory before bedtime.
“I am so sorry that happened,” I muttered to Marshall while we waited for Lydie to relieve herself.
He shook his head ruefully, “You can’t be responsible for your sister. But hey, at least this time she realizes that she was too gruff. That should help considerably in the future.”
I nodded. “Lydie feels awful for trying to tease. She had no idea Ellie would blow up. I think Ellie probably got super self-conscious when she realized that we noticed them smiling at each other. Then her embarrassment came across as anger toward Sawyer. Poor guy.”
Marshall gave a half-smile, “He’s used to it. Used to her, I mean.”
I smirked, “Yeah, that’s for sure.”
We checked on Lydie and carried her back to our makeshift campsite.
“Let’s prop up your leg, Lydie. We need to keep it elevated as much as possible,” Marshall said as we started building a sort of snow pillow for her leg. Digging in this snow would have been impossible if not for the ice axes and trowel.
I teased Marshall, “You could be a professional snow sculptor after this trip.”
He laughed until Sawyer interrupted, “Good one, Marlee.” I slowly turned, hearing a sarcastic tone in his voice. He looked mad and he continued, “Yeah, Marshall could be a snow sculptor after this trip I brought you all on. And you can be a personal counselor. And Lydie can wear a cast for six weeks. And Ellie can keep despising me. And I can forget my plan to earn my mountaineering guide certification. This trip was such a terrible idea that I regret ever suggesting it. Can you imagine how disappointed Dad will be when he sees what I did to us? I wish I’d never even dreamt up this trip.” With that he marched over to the beach chair and hung his head in his hands.
Marshall shrugged as if to tell me that nothing we could say right now would help, so he and I awkwardly worked to situate Lydie for the night. By now the sun had dropped behind the ridge, so daylight was waning quickly. I pulled my stocking hat lower onto my head, flinching when I again bumped the cut. Marshall noticed, but for now we kept trying to help Lydie feel comfortable. By now we had a nice ledge for her leg and we cautiously lifted her lower leg onto the elevated ledge. Lydie held her breath when we moved her leg and it was clear that she was in pain. I again wondered how severe her injury was. Mom and Dad would be sick if they had any idea that their ‘littlest lady,’ as they called her, was hurt.
Suddenly I heard Sawyer let out a sigh, and I saw him quickly wipe his eyes before turning to me with the first aid kit. “Alright, kiddo, mind if I help you with your forehead?” He seemed almost normal, but I knew he was swallowing many emotions to act so composed.
