“Oh, no!” Ellie screeched.
Lydie’s eyes were wide. My stomach groaned. Marshall’s face was red. Sawyer expertly clipped the handle on the backpacking pot and lifted it off the small stove.
Ellie immediately apologized, “I can’t believe I let that happen! I am so sorry,” she looked near tears.
Sawyer looked in the pot and quietly said, “It’s just a thin layer on the bottom that burned.”
“I knew we shouldn’t have left the girls in charge of supper,” Marshall said with a frustrated scowl.
His sharp response surprised me, considering our earlier conversation, but I figured by now we’re all “hangry.” So hungry we’re angry. Being nice while “hangry” is nearly impossible.
Sawyer looked disappointed, as if he had been expecting a feast and now was given scraps. Ellie slipped away from the group with her hands over her face, and Lydie shot a concerned look after her. I quietly walked the forty feet to her and gently put my arm on her shoulders.
“See, Marlee? This is just one reason I don’t want to have a stupid crush. Now I’m like all the other girls my age who start chattering about some boy and then go and mess up something like this! We had one meal! And now we have two-thirds of a meal to split between five ravenous people! All because I was talking about Sawyer,” she yelled in a hushed voice.
“Maybe the boys can hunt a deer for us,” I said halfheartedly. “Ellie, it’s not your fault. I should have been watching the food, too.”
She looked up and sniffed back a tear. “I don’t want to like Sawyer. I wish he could go back to being immature, and then I wouldn’t be so self-conscious around him,” she admitted.
“Oh, I see,” her dilemma was starting to make sense in my mind. While Ellie may like Sawyer, she didn’t want to “like” Sawyer. She didn’t want to have a crush on anyone. A crush would distract her from her other aspirations. Maybe that was part of why she had lashed out at Sawyer, I pondered. If she was rude to him, and he was rude in response, maybe Ellie hoped that the affectionate thoughts toward Sawyer would stop. I finally understood Ellie’s actions.
I heard snow softly crunching behind Ellie and me, and I turned to see Sawyer approaching. I gave her back a little rub and then left to head back to Lydie and Marshall. I smiled at Sawyer, whose face looked nervous as he met Ellie. I watched the two from a distance for just a moment. Ellie raised her head and again apologized. Sawyer, much to my surprise, reached out and put a hand on her elbow. I could see him talking to her, and I wondered what he said, but rather than gawking, I returned to the remains of supper.
“Looks like we’ll each get about a quarter-cup of rice!” Lydie happily announced. Lydie could always improve an attitude, and I could see in Marshall’s smile that he also appreciated her cheerful outlook. At least it didn’t make him madder.
While I knew that a positive perspective would do wonders for our group, I also knew that we needed physical nourishment. Lydie’s injured body needed extra nutrients to help her stay strong, and the rest of us would soon wither in this environment. Especially if we planned to hike anywhere tomorrow.
“Marshall,” I caught his attention and gestured with my head to meet me a ways out of Lydie’s earshot. I needed to ask him a question, but I did not want to worry Lydie.
Before we stopped walking, Marshall said, “Thanks for stopping Ellie from tearing into my brother. Man, I saw her blood boiling, and I thought if she lit into him, the search party would hear us miles away.”
I nodded, “It was a team effort, that’s for sure. And thanks again for telling me that stuff about guys,” I shyly said. I didn’t want him to think I was boy-crazy, but I was glad for the pointers on how to treat my brothers-in-Christ. That’s how I thought about boys these days. As brothers-in-Christ. Not that I ever was super boy-crazy, like my best friend Braelynn Gunderson, who has been planning her boyfriend since she was six. But I did like Bentley Bowers for a long time. Did! And I thought he liked me, too. I mean, he held my hand a few times and asked me to dance and just when I thought he really liked me a lot, he asked out Sierra Wainwright. And it hurt. A lot. So now I try not to get crushes.
I again felt humiliated and torn down as the Bentley and Sierra drama replayed in my mind. Before I got to the scene where Bentley asked for his sweatshirt back, the one I still had from the chilly night at the bonfire, Marshall’s voice brought me back to the present, though it took me a second to remember that we had been talking about the fight that almost broke out between Sawyer and Ellie.
Marshall smiled, “I knew you would take it seriously. Some girls would use that information to tear us down all the more, but I knew you’d be nice.” Hmmm, Marshall was giving me quite an education. All along I thought girls were the vulnerable ones.
“You said the search party would hear us miles away if Ellie blew up,” I quickly said, glancing back to make sure Lydie wasn’t listening, “do you think we’re going to be rescued? Or is it up to us to hike out?” I watched his face closely as I wanted the plain truth, not a buttered-up version.
His eyebrows slightly furrowed and he looked steadily at my eyes as he stated with a shake of his head, “I really don’t know. I wish I did, though. If it is up to us, I think that our best action would be for all five of us to hike out together. No splitting up. Today, we did the right thing to have two stronger hikers look for help, but now we’re a whole day later, and we need to get Lydie to a doctor. She still has her perky attitude, but when adrenaline slows and pain sets in, she’s going to need help fast.” I listened carefully, considering what he was saying. As if he read my mind, he continued, “But, if help is on its way, we need to stay here and conserve our energy and not have umpteen trails leading away from where we are stationed now. Evacuating Lydie won’t be easy since we’re all so tired and hungry. I’m curious to see what Sawyer has to say.”
I nodded grimly, and we simultaneously looked toward Sawyer and Ellie. Ellie laughed and smiled at Sawyer. Marshall smiled and asked me if I had any guesses as to what they were laughing about. “Wow, are those happy people the Ellie and Sawyer we know?” I asked in disbelief.
Marshall laughed and agreed that the change was significant. “They didn’t torment each other today,” he said optimistically. “Can’t help but wonder–” he stopped.
“What?” I asked, knowing full well what he was wondering.
He tilted his head at me, showing that he knew that we shared the thought about Sawyer and Ellie. “Come on, Marlee, I know you’ve noticed the way they are around each other this trip.”
I smiled, “I think it’s kind of cute.”
“Cute? You girls,” he teasingly shook his head. “Cute is a duckling – fuzzy baby animals. Sawyer and Ellie acting all googly-eyed is,” he stopped, searching for words.
“Cute?” I suggested with a grin.
Marshall chuckled and gently elbowed me, “We’d better get back to Lydie.” I laughed, and we began walking.
“Marshall?” Lydie asked sweetly. I was afraid she was going to ask the same question as me, about whether we were going to be rescued. Marshall nodded at her, indicating to her to continue.
“Tell me the truth, are we–” she was cut off by Sawyer’s voice as he and Ellie strolled our way.
“Group conference time!” he announced.
“My question will probably be answered in the conference,” Lydie waved her hand at Marshall and me, dismissing her question.
Sawyer and Ellie were walking closely enough to, I couldn’t believe I was thinking this, hold hands. What a crazy thought. Normally the only time they would be that close would be if they were racing. At least once each summer they did race, and it was usually neck-and-neck. But there was no ruthless competition as they strode toward us. I forced myself to look away and tried to focus on the emergency situation.
But Marshall had noticed, too, and gave me a wink. I stifled a smile, and we turned our attention to Sawyer. Ellie sat down by Lydie on her snow boulder beach chair.
“Does anybody have an exceptionally strong hunch about what we should do, regarding our situation?” Sawyer queried.
Sawyer studied each of our faces, but nobody said a word.
He nodded, and after another moment of silence, said, “There probably is a search for us right now.” All of us were visibly encouraged by that statement, and Sawyer continued, “And that almost-certain fact gives me hope that we will be found if we stay right where we are, all of us together.” Our response was a collective, affirmative nod.
“Then again,” he said in a lower tone, “Lydie needs medical care. And we are almost out of food. This doesn’t mean we’re going to die, especially since we have drinking water, but we need to plan accordingly.” Another collective nod, this one a bit disheartened.
“Assuming a search party is on its way,” Marshall asked, “when would you expect them to arrive?”
