“Alright girls, time for a conference,” Sawyer interrupted. Not now, I thought, this is important. Not that our plan was not important, but like Marshall confided in me, I needed to warn Ellie to be kind with her words before she said something mean to Sawyer. Based on how peaceful the atmosphere was, I doubted she had lost her temper today. But that was before she knew we were likely not going to be rescued today.
“Later,” I quickly whispered and Ellie and Lydie discreetly nodded.
“We have some options to discuss with you,” Sawyer announced as he sat at the foot of Lydie’s snow boulder. Ellie looked up while still stirring supper and Marshall plopped down next to me, obviously glad to give his feet a break. I smiled and scooted closer to Lydie so we could all talk easier.
“We could attempt to go back to our camp,” Marshall said. Sawyer nodded, and Marshall continued, “We are actually closer to where we left our parents than to the ranger station.”
That plan sounded good to me! Then Sawyer added, “The only possible problem with that is if our parents left the camp, either in search of us or the ranger station.”
We girls silently considered what the boys said. The hike from our parents to here had been fairly strenuous. What if we used all our energy to return to them, only to have them well down the trail in a different direction?
“Another option,” Sawyer continued, “would be for me and someone,” his eyes scanned between Marshall, Ellie and me, “to again attempt to make it to the ranger station. Tomorrow of course.”
We let that option sink in. Yikes. A night in the cold. Another day on the mountain with a small amount of supplies that dwindled every hour. Another day away from medical help for Lydie. That reminded me of Sawyer’s leg, and I wondered if he really felt up to hiking.
“And another option,” Sawyer stated, “would be to wait here until help comes. Assuming anyone has looked up our location on the satellite messenger, rescuers should have no problem seeing five kids in the area of the buried communicator.
Glancing at each person’s face, I suddenly felt Marshall jabbing me in the side. I looked at him, annoyed, but couldn’t ignore his urgency. He was watching Ellie with a look of alarm in his eyes. I snuck a peek and saw the reason for his panic. Ellie’s face was red and her eyes looked angry. At Sawyer. Oh, no, I thought, it’s just like Marshall said. Once Ellie settled on the thought that we were in this position because of Sawyer’s idea, she might launch into him and beat him up, verbally anyway. I had about one second to stop the inevitable verbal attack.
I jumped up, stood between Ellie and Sawyer, leaned up to Ellie’s ear, and whispered assertively, “Girls’ conference, now.”
I shot a pleading look at Marshall and tilted my head, hoping he would understand. I cleared my throat, “The girls would like to have a short conference now.” Marshall did not look at ease. Had I not just saved the day? Why was he still looking so panicked?
“I don’t think there’s anything that we girls have to discuss that the boys should not hear,” Ellie said in a disgusted tone. I froze. I had to stop her. She marched past me and up to Sawyer, reminding me of the night – just last night, although it seemed so long ago – she listed off all the reasons we should not go along with the midnight hike.
Marshall now jumped to his feet and tried to change the subject by saying, “Now, of course, we should consider weather–” but Ellie ignored him and continued to glare at Sawyer.
Lydie pretended to cough, and then sneeze, and I appreciated her effort to draw Ellie’s attention away from Sawyer.
I pulled Ellie’s arm and said in a serious tone, “Ellie, I have to tell you something.” She at least looked at me. “In private,” I stated firmly.
Ellie looked perturbed but, to Marshall’s and my relief, she shrugged. But before fully turning her attention to me, she frowned again at Sawyer and said in an angry voice, “To be continued.”
As I managed to pull her away, my heart raced. Phew, that was close. Marshall caught my eye long enough for him to mouth ‘Thank you!’ at me. I discreetly nodded. Marshall and Sawyer walked about a hundred feet away, and I was thankful for the space, just in case Ellie erupted.
“So,” I turned to face Ellie and Lydie, “remember what I started to say, about how Marshall let me in on a very important–”
“Marlee,” Ellie interrupted, “I think that whatever middle-school gossip you and Marshall talked about can wait. Right now, we need to figure out what we’re going to do, and let’s face the fact: we would not be here if it wasn’t for Sawyer and his horrible idea to take a midnight hike.” Wow, thanks, I thought sarcastically. And I’m not in middle school anymore, but whatever.
At least she said it to Lydie and me. Knowing my sister, I realized that she probably needed to let this anger off of her chest, but why would she not listen to me? I held up my hand, “I just need a minute of your attention.”
Ellie did not stop, “Now you’re all buddy-buddy with Marshall, which means that you’ll agree with whatever fool plan he and Sawyer come up with next! So you and Marshall bonded today? Well good for you, but I want Sawyer to hear it from me that this is his fault – completely his fault!”
Lydie looked worried. I bit my tongue for the moment, and Ellie continued. “Yeah, Sawyer and I worked well together today, but that was when there was hope of finding help before tonight. The thought of spending a night out in the cold with him is making me feel sick. I’m mad enough to hike through the night to make it back to Mom and Dad.”
She seemed to run out of steam, so I carefully began, “Well, while it is true that this idea was Sawyer’s, we all agreed to join him. And we were having a great adventure.” Lydie nodded and Ellie rolled her eyes. “The truth is, we need Sawyer and Marshall. None of us is as good at orienteering and triangulation as they are. We need their physical strength.” Ellie muttered under her breath, but I kept going. “And what I learned today, you know the ‘middle-school gossip,’” I shot a look at Ellie, “is that if we smack talk the guys, it hurts them. And when people are hurt, they can’t do what they were meant to do. I’m glad you said this to Lydie and me, Ellie, because if you care at all about our family friends, you will not say anything mean or blame Sawyer. We need the guys, so we need to build them up. Be encouraging. Or at least be polite.”
Lydie’s eyes were big as she took in the lesson. Ellie was listening but did not look convinced. “Or at least be polite,” I said again for emphasis. “Please, Ellie, between us three, Marshall told me that guys practically live to impress girls, and that what we say can make or break them. Let’s choose to be real friends, to treat them as brothers and esteem them, like we treat each other.”
Hearing myself tell Ellie to treat guys kindly stunned me into silence, because right then, an image of my former crush Bentley Bowers and Sierra Wainwright holding hands popped into my mind. I felt like I’d been slapped in the face. And I knew then that being kind does not always come easily.
Lydie brought me back to the present and excitedly matched my new eagerness for The Golden Rule and announced, “I’m in, Sister! I like the idea of being nice to everyone, no matter whose fault this may seem to be. Because, really, this is an adventure no matter how we look at it.” Lydie’s wisdom is far greater than any other eleven-year-old I know. I beamed at her, then hesitantly looked toward Ellie.
She was looking more convinced and responded, “So, I need to not blame Sawyer?”
“Right,” I nodded, holding her gaze.
“And,” she paused, “take this adventure as an opportunity to treat him like a brother?”
“Yup!” Lydie said.
“So we got along really well today,” Ellie whispered, and Lydie grinned mischievously, “and he didn’t annoy me like he usually does.” I listened respectfully, even though I wanted to say ‘I told you so!’ and laugh in her face. “I guess maybe he has matured a lot, and,” she looked uncomfortable, “girls, promise you won’t breathe a word?” Lydie and I consented, and Ellie pointed at me, “especially you, now that you’re all chummy with Marshall.” I rolled my eyes and nodded.
Ellie continued, “I keep thinking of Sawyer differently than I used to. I mean, it’s weird, it’s almost like I can’t stop thinking about him. I hope he thinks I’m helpful enough and strong enough and mature enough and beautiful enough.” She blushed when she said beautiful, but then continued, “but sometimes he still just drives me crazy, like going and making those packing lists for us – as if we wouldn’t know what to pack ourselves! But then after I blew up at him, I felt really bad. I mean, he’s just planning ahead and practicing for when he’s a professional guide. I shouldn’t have assumed that he thought I didn’t know what to pack.” Ellie shook her head, and Lydie and I exchanged a knowing wink. Ellie went on, “It’s just weird, the way that I feel, I mean. For as long as I can remember, Sawyer has annoyed me, but this summer, I see him as so upright and kind and smart.”
“Chivalrous,” I piped in. Ellie and Lydie looked at me.
“Huh?” asked Lydie.
Ellie smiled and nodded, “Yes! Chivalrous is a great way to describe Sawyer! Like a knight,” she explained to Lydie. “Strong, fights for what is right, polite, especially to girls and ladies,” she described.
“Oh, I get it!” said Lydie with a grin.
Lydie was still smiling, and I couldn’t help but smile at my big sister. I can imagine that admitting her crush was a big step for Ellie. “Oh, wipe those smiles off your faces, girls!” she teasingly reprimanded. We giggled. “Well, you girls might laugh, but I don’t want to have a crush. It was easier when I did not like Sawyer one bit. A crush makes our whole friendship complicated.”
“Your whole friendship?” I challenged. As if they had ever considered each other friends before. “Just be kind to Sawyer like you are to everyone else, Ellie,” I calmly said. “And everything else you said that you hope he thinks about you, you already are.” Ellie hugged me, and I said, “He needs us to trust him. No doubt he is blaming himself anyway, so we need to support him.” I felt very relieved that our girls’ conference was beneficial. I called to the guys, “The testosterone crew is welcome to return!” They started to jog over to us, and that’s when I heard our supper boil over.
6
