Fire and Spark Page 4

  Chapter 4

  Jenni paddled a little bit towards the other canoe, then let the momentum and a slight breeze carry her the rest of the way.

  The guy in the pink canoe stopped paddling too late, drifted past her, and had to paddle backwards. “You’re from the lodge!” he said. “Have you got your phone with you?”

  “You’re Allen?” Jenni guessed. She had read the names in the lodge register but did not know the people themselves.

  “I’m Clayton. Allen’s got a broken leg. We need to call for help. Liza’s injured, too.” Clayton looked like he hadn’t slept for a week.

  “Let’s get back to your camp and I’ll phone from there.” Jenni didn’t want to take a chance on dropping the only phone into the lake.

  “Ahh, sure. Follow me.” Clayton gave her a look like he was used to people doing anything but the obvious.

  When she arrived at the campsite Jenni got her first hint of what had happened. One of the tents was propped up rather haphazardly. Lying by the other tent was a recently fallen pine; couple of branches lay on top of the flattened tent.

  Clayton helped Jenni out of her canoe, talking all the while. “We got caught in the storm out in the lake. We should have gone right to shore, but we thought we could make the campsite and maybe get the tents up. One of the canoes rolled over in the wind, and when Saundra and I tried to help, the others rolled our canoe, too.” He shook his head as if bewildered and waved at the lake. “We lost both phones somewhere out there.”

  “But you managed to get to shore.” Jenni climbed the steep shoreline with the aid of Clayton, who grabbed her wrist.

  “We rescued the tents. They were all wet. But the sleeping bags were dry.”

  “And then the tree fell….”

  “On Allen and Liza’s tent. About dark.”

  “Let me have a look.” Jenni didn’t have much first-aid training, but she knew enough to check a few things. “You’re right,” she told Clayton, while Saundra and Allen looked at her. Liza seemed to be out of it, but she was breathing steadily. “Allen’s leg is probably broken. “You are certainly going to need help.”

  First, she called the emergency line to Bancroft. When she explained the situation, the operator transferred her to emergency services.

  “Bancroft. Emergency Services here. How can I help you?” The woman’s voice sounded like she knew what she was doing.

  “My name’s Jenni Williams. I’m at a campsite on Poplar Lake….”

  “Poplar Lake?”

  “North of Hawk Lake by a couple of portages.”

  “Got it. Continue.”

  Jenni took a deep breath. "We have….There are a couple of people here who need medical help. A tree fell on their tent last night.”

  “Can you tell me the nature of their injuries?”

  “Sure. The boy – the guy – has a broken leg. They’ve put a splint around it and wrapped it with duct tape, so maybe it’s okay if he doesn’t move too much.” She paused. "The woman got a lot of bruises and a couple of puncture wounds that don’t look too deep, but she’s only semi-conscious.”

  “I don’t like the sound of that. I’m going to try to arrange an evacuation lift, okay? The bad news is that the same storm banged up our one and only helicopter here.”

  “Oh.”

  “First I’m going to see if we can get a chopper in from Trenton, from the rescue unit at the air base. If not, I’ll see if we can get a float plane in. Can you give me your number? I’m Olivia, by the way. Do you have any medical training?”

  “Thanks, Olivia. A couple of first-aid courses a while back.”

  Then Jenni called Emilia at the lodge, and explained the problem. Emilia was a bit shocked. “Good thing you went there,” she said. “ But I’m going to let you call me when you need me; I suspect your phone’s going to be busy. I'll get hold of Lonnie and tell him the situation.”

  First things first, Jenni thought, after talking to Emilia. She asked Clayton to get wood for the fire. Allen was suffering, but coherent, but Liza was starting to shiver; not a good sign on a warm afternoon.

  With Saundra's help, Jenni managed to pull another sleeping bag from under the squashed tent, and wrap it around Liza. Then the phone rang.

  "Jenni? This is Olivia. I haven't got any good news for you yet. Our helicopter's still out of commission for a few hours at least, and the two they have at Trenton are out over Lake Simcoe looking for people in the water. I guess they got hit pretty good yesterday and drowning people take priority over injured people."

  "I've got a fire going," Jenni said, "but Liza's starting to shiver and I'm afraid she might be going into shock."

  "Damn. I'm trying to locate an available float plane, but most of the owners seem to be away. I'll keep trying. There's another storm coming our way, Jenni, and I'm not sure if anyone will be able to take off till the weather settles down a bit. Anyway. do your best to keep the girl warm and I'll see if I can get a nurse or doctor on the line to help."

  "Will do. Thanks, Olivia."

  With the fire going better, Jenni, Saundra, and Clayton moved Liza closer to the warmth. Then, after Saundra lay down beside Liza, Clayton and piled on anything, including the lifejackets, that might help keep in some warmth.

  That done, Jenni went and sat on a rock overlooking the lake, holding her head in her hands. It all seemed a bit too much. Clayton was quiet, nervously walking around.

  Finally, reluctantly. Jenni decided to call Matt, if only for the reason that it couldn’t hurt and maybe he could help. On the first try, she got a repair shop in Waterloo, but that was because she'd written Matt's number on her arm and, what with sweat and all, she mistook a nine for a four. But on the second try, she got through. It took while for him to answer the phone.

  "Sorry." Matt sounded a little breathless. "By the time I put down the paddle and the rod, and I find where in heck this phone is in some pocket under the lifejacket, it's a wonder I'm still in the canoe. So, hi."

  "Matt?" Jenni didn't know why she phrased it as a question. "This is Jenni, over at Poplar Lake. You said to call if I needed help."

  "Jenni. Sure. Yeah. Did you find the people you were looking for?"

  "Sure did." Then Jenni gave him a run-down of the situation and the problems getting a rescue. "I'm feeling a bit lost and overwhelmed," she said, "and I couldn't see how you could help, but I thought we might have to portage at least one of them out. If I can get to Hawk Lake, Lonnie might be able to meet us."

  "You're worried about the girl?"

  "I am really worried about her."

  "Then hang on. I'll be over as soon as I can get my first-aid kit."

  Jenni was still trying to figure a better way to keep Liza warm, and had just settled down, lying beside Liza when she heard Clayton, say, "Hi, man." She got up to see Clayton holding Matt's canoe as Matt stepped ashore. She was surprised at how fast he had seemed to get there.

  Matt got up the steep bank and strode up to the campsite carrying a small red bag. "Hi," he said to Jenni, then knelt to inspect the two injured people. Clayton, Saundra, and Jenni just watched as he did.

  "Do you know any first aid?" Saundra asked.

  "Not much." Matt opened his first-aid bag. "I took a short course with the company a year ago, but I've probably forgotten most of it." He looked up at Saundra. "Unless anybody thinks otherwise, I think you've got Allen pretty well stabilized with that splint. Allen; would you like a strong pain killer?"

  "Jesus, yes!" Allen tried to move then his face contorted. "Whatever you've got, I'll take it."

  Matt opened a little plastic container and took out two pills. He looked to Jenni. "Can you help Allen swallow these?"

  "Sure. You think they'll work?"

  "A doctor friend gave them to me, under the table more or less. In twenty minutes Allen will be offering to take the canoes back, and portage them as he goes." He looked around. "You'll have to make sure he stays still until help gets here."

  Jenni took the p
ills from Matt and found a bottle of water. "That might take a while, you know," she said as Allen swallowed the medicine.

  "We'll see. Can you check Liza all over to make sure she's not bleeding? And while you're doing that, roll her onto her side; we don't want her to choke if she vomits." Matt took out a phone and pressed a couple of buttons. "Kevin? Right; Matt again. How's it going?" He explained the situation at the campsite. "Yeah, I see the thunderheads coming, and I don't want you risking your neck." A long pause. "Well, the company won't want to have to train a replacement helicopter pilot, so take care. Right, hang on." Matt squinted at the phone, then read off a series of numbers that Jenni recognized as GPS coordinates. "Good luck. Thanks."

  "Helicopter?" Clayton asked.

  Matt was about to reply when Jenni's phone rang. "Yes. Oh, hi, Olivia. We're still here."

  "I may have lined up a pilot with a float plane," Olivia said, sounding tired, "and he thinks he can get there before the next storm, but he can't guarantee he can land on Poplar Lake. Says there's not much room for error because there's some rocks right in the middle."

  "Oh." Jenni had never thought of checking that. "We might have another solution, anyway, Olivia. I'll let you talk to Matt here. He was over on Bass Lake and came to help." She passed her phone to Matt. "This is Olivia at the emergency response in Bancroft."

  Matt took the phone. "Hi. I'm Matt Canning. I was camped over at Bass Lake when I got the call…. Yes, the guy looks like he's just got a broken leg but the girl is only semiconscious and we're trying to keep her warm." He looked at Jenni who gave him the thumbs up. "Yes, we've just checked her and there's no sign of bleeding. It looks like shock, but I'm no expert….. That's right; but I've got a guy with a helicopter who tells me he's on his way from Stony Lake…. It's got floats, so we don't need a solid place to put down…. Great; I'll keep your number and let you know if it doesn't work out. Thanks, Olivia. Bye."

  For a while there was nothing to do. Six people at the campsite, and with Allen now asleep and Liza still semiconscious, it looked for a moment as if it might come down to casual conversation. Then Matt asked Clayton what had gone wrong. When he hesitated, Saundra spoke up. “We were halfway across the lake – this lake – when a big gust of wind came up.”

  “We were trying to get to the campsite before the thunderstorm,” Clayton said.

  “The guys thought we could make it,” Saundra said. “There were big clouds everywhere and there was a lot of thunder and lightning.”

  “We were paddling as fast as we could.” Clayton seemed like he blamed the storm for playing unfairly or something. “We should have made it but….”

  “Whoosh,” Saundra said. “You could see the waves just pop up from the lake and the next thing we knew, we were all in the water.”

  “But we got to shore,” Clayton said. “And Liza and I swam back to get the canoes and the paddles and the other stuff.”

  Saundra nodded. “They’re good swimmers, and they got the tents and sleeping bags. The tents were wet but the sleeping bags were in plastic bags so they were dry.” This time Clayton said nothing, so she continued. “We got the tents up and crawled in just before it started to pour.” She looked around. “We lost one of the cell phones when the canoes tipped. We were only supposed to bring one, Clayton said, otherwise we’d be on them all the time.”

  “I brought another one, anyway,” Clayton said. “But it got wet and didn’t work at all.”

  “Allen said to wait till the storm blew over and we’d make a fire, but it rained and there was lightning all over the place, and blam….” She shook her head. “A tree came down right on the one tent. We could hear it crashing as it came.”

  “It took us a long time in the dark to get the branches off their tent.”

  “We thought Liza was dead.”

  “It was pitch dark and the saw was out in the lake. We had to wait till morning to know if Liza was alive or not.”

  “That’s the way it goes,” Jenni said. She felt there was some blame for recklessness, but saying so seemed a bit pointless. She couldn’t bring herself to find praise, though. Thunderstorms and canoes were not a good combination. It would have been a good idea to sit out the last portage until the skies had cleared. But then, she thought, remembering her marriage, youth and being optimistic go together all too well. The thought was interrupted by rumbling thunder and a darkening of the skies. Little winds danced in various directions on the lake and the tops of the poplars started to sway. There was a hissing sound among the branches.

  There was no phone call. "Maybe," she told Matt, "we'd better put up a rain shelter, in case." They strung a rope between two trees, then threw the tarp over it. Jenni was still tying the edges of the tarp to trees when Matt looked up. "I think that's Kevin coming." She listened, as the sound of the helicopter rapidly grew louder, the noise competing with the thunder.

  The bright blue and yellow machine bounced a bit in the wind, rocked backwards just a bit, then put its pontoons onto the water so close to the campsite that Jenni's canoe filled with water and the tarp blew loose.

  "Jesus!" Clayton shouted over the noise. "That was either crazy or good."

  "Guys," Matt yelled as the helicopter blades slowed, "meet Kevin Gawne." A big guy stepped onto one pontoon then threw a rope to Matt, who hauled the floating machine to the shore then tied the rope to a cedar. Across the lake, a bolt of lighting hit a treetop.

  "You going to fly?" Matt yelled at Kevin. Kevin just nodded, then slid open a side door, but he was watching the sky all the while.

  Matt shrugged and turned to Clayton. "Let's get our patients." First they helped Allen down the bank and into the helicopter, then they carried Liza, still in a sleeping bag over, where Kevin slid her inside.

  "One more." the pilot shouted. "I may need help." He looked at Matt, and Matt looked behind him. Saundra pointed to Clayton. "He can help move them better than I can." Clayton looked like he was about to object, but the other three didn't seem to have any better idea, so he ran down, leapt onto the pontoon, and scrambled into the helicopter. Kevin slid the cargo door closed, cut the rope with a knife, and fired the engines to full throttle, chopping a few branches with the tips of the rotors.

  Rain came walking across the lake in a curtain, but the helicopter dodged it and was suddenly gone into a dark cloud, the sound vanishing abruptly as rain hit the campsite. The big stage that was Poplar Lake was set for the next act, as the hissing of the rain grew closer. The lake had become a riot of waves and flying spray while along shore the trees were writhing in the wind.

  Matt looked at Saundra and pointed to her tent. She dove inside the door, then stuck her head out, but Jenni had already rescued the tarp from some bushes and beckoned to Matt. He didn't hesitate, but crawled under the tarp with Jenni, wrapping it tightly around them. Together they sat back to back as the wind flapped loose edges and the rain drowned out all possibility of talking. Whenever an edge got loose, one of them would reach out and haul it in.

  "Kinda hoping a tree doesn't fall on us," Jenni said after a couple of minutes.

  "I think…" Matt paused for a roll of thunder, "that most of the loose stuff must have come down last night." That was followed by the thump of a branch close enough to the tarp that a few twigs and leaves slapped the plastic near Matt's foot. "I take that back," he added. That was followed by a tremendous flash and bang and the acrid smell of burnt ozone, but the bolt at least missed the camp by a bit.

  When the noise let up for a minute, Jenni yelled, "You okay, Saundra?"

  Saundra's voice came back, "I'm starting to lose my affection for this particular campsite!"

  "You and me both," Jenni yelled. Odd, she thought. Me and this guy sitting back to back under a tarp. Probably as close as I'll get to sharing a tent with him. For a moment, she couldn't decide whether to giggle or cry. She started making a list of people to call after the rain stopped. Lonnie, for sure, to get the lodge's boat. And Emilia because she'd be worried. And Tanya
…. Well, maybe she'd wait a bit. Tanya didn't know she was where she was, and Jenni couldn't really ask for any advice at the moment.

  "Sounds like that's it," Matt said, and Jenni realized that the rain had stopped and the thunder was moving away. She and Matt pushed the tarp up and away at the same time. Matt stood up first, then offered her a hand to help her get up. She was about to refuse, then realized she was stiff from sitting still, so she took it, wondering what he felt about that, but he let go abruptly and went over to Saundra's tent. "Anybody in there?" he asked.

  Saundra's voice came from the nylon tent. "Has it stopped raining?"

  "That's just water dripping from the trees. It's not as bad as it seems." Jenni was glad she had a Tilley hat on; every breeze brought a shower of drops onto their heads.

  The last remnants of the storm left a sky full of shafts of sunlight slanting through torn clouds. The air was cool and fresh and the larger waves were already starting to fade from the lake. There was the smell of ozone and wet leaves.

  Saundra unzipped the door and came out on hands and knees onto the wet pine needles. She turned, reached into the tent, and hauled out a rainproof jacket and a hat.

  "You managed to keep those dry, yesterday?" Matt seemed surprised.

  "Nah," Saundra said. "They got wet when the canoes rolled over, but we had a fire this morning and some of the stuff got dry." She shivered. "Just glad we had the tents and sleeping bags all wrapped up so they'd float." She looked up. "Is that the sun over there?"

  "We're either between storms or it's over for the day. Hopefully." Jenni stretched and caught Matt deliberately not watching her, walking away. "We've got a few calls to make. I'll call the lodge, then you can use my phone." Matt, she saw, was already on his phone, facing the lake.

  While Saundra hauled things out of her tent, Jenni pulled the tarp over the rope strung between trees again. There was lots of rope left, so she made another line between trees and threw anything wet over it. That included various lifejackets that had been left outside.

  Then she walked to the canoes, hers, Matt's, and the two brought by the teens. All had water in them, from the rain and from the waves kicked up by the helicopter. She tilted her canoe to the side and began hauling it out of the water to dry it out. When she felt someone grab the rope, she turned and saw Matt helping her, and Saundra, brushing her blonde hair, just approaching.

  For a few minutes they worked together, draining the water out of the canoes then dragging the canoes away from the lake. Jenni's canoe had been almost empty, except for the paddle and the legal kit (bailing bucket, whistle and rope), and the teens had emptied their boats. Matt's canoe had been only partly awash, but that had been enough to drench his tent. His sleeping bag and other stuff, Jenni noted, were safe in plastic garbage bags.

  "Should have bagged the tent, I guess," Jenni said.

  Matt looked annoyed. "When you called, I came as fast as I could. I didn't bother to do a proper job of packing up."

  Jenni sighed. "You're right. Sorry. Thanks."

  "No problem."

  "Did I see you with a phone?" Saundra sat onto a stump, squeezing her hands together.

  "Sorry," Matt apologized. "You must have a bunch of questions. Yes, I got Kevin on the phone. He says he got to Bancroft alright, although there were a bunch of thunderstorms he had to dodge."

  "How are Allen and Liza doing?" Saundra was starting to show her exhaustion.

  "Kevin says the doctors are looking at them now. He won't know much till later. You can use my phone to call whoever you need to call, if you want."

  "Thanks. How much time can I have?"

  "I've got a spare power unit; a 'juice pack'. You can have ten or fifteen minutes, but try to keep it to that."

  Saundra took the phone and went over to the other side of the campground.

  "I'm going to call Lonnie. The helper at the lodge. See if he can get a boat up to the portage before it gets dark," Jenni said, taking out her own phone. "It'll be nicer than spending the night in a wet tent. Trust me on this one." She frowned. "Especially since I don't have a tent, wet or otherwise." She got Emilia on the phone.

  “Emilia?” As if someone else was going to answer Emilia’s phone.

  “Jenni!” Emilia sounded surprised. “How are you? Where are you? What’s happening? Give me the scoop, but you'll have to shout; it's raining like crazy down here.”

  “I’m still at the campsite.”

  “Alone?”

  “There’s Matt….”

  “You’re going to share his tiny tent!”

  “Cut it out. Saundra’s here. The others got helicoptered out an hour ago.” Jenni gave her a summary of the situation. She could hear thunder coming over the phone. "I'm beginning to suspect that asking for Lonnie to come get me wouldn't be a good idea," Jenni said.

  "Sorry about that," Emilia said. "By the time this is over it'll be dark, I imagine, and Lonnie told me the outboard is acting up. Can you stay there till morning?"

  "Looks like I'm going to have to." Jenni sighed. "I'll make a tent out of the tarp I brought."

  "You can always snuggle up to Matt, you know."

  "Sure," Jenni said.

  "Where'd you guys get a helicopter?"

  "Beats me. I'll phone you back if I need anything else."

  "I'll have a root beer and chips and think of you all night." Emilia didn't sound too concerned. Jenni didn't know whether to take that as a compliment or not. "Oh," Emilia added, "Here comes that Lenny guy; he just got in. Boy, does he look wet!"

  "Glad to hear he made it back safely."

  “Hey, you rescued somebody. Two somebodies, actually. Congratulations!”

  “Well, Matt did the rescuing, mostly.”

  “Able assistant he was. If you hadn’t got mother-hen worried, those kids would be in serious trouble by now. How are they doing, by the way. Heard from the hospital in Bancroft, yet?”

  That stopped Jenni. “I have to check with Saundra. She called them I imagine, but I didn’t ask her. She’s over talking to Matt.”

  “I’m sure glad you phoned. This has been a wild afternoon across Ontario. Thunderstorms and downdrafts and maybe a tornado south of Orangeville. You going to try to make it back tonight?”

  "I don't think so. It's too late even if we had good weather and no wind. The portages will be slippery by now." She was feeling tired. "And another storm might come up.”

  "Do you want me to call Lonnie anyway? He’s home, but I can bail the boat if it stops raining before he gets here.”

  Jenni closed her eyes, feeling tired and no longer in control of things. “No, Emilia. Don't do that. We have enough tents and sleeping bags here, and probably enough food, and I don't want to risk lives out on that lake."

  "You sure you'll be okay?"

  "Well, I was expecting to be back long before dark, and I brought only light clothes and a couple of sandwiches. But I can scrounge and maybe borrow from anything left behind by the guys gone to Bancroft. Anything that's not too wet, anyway."

  "I'll phone back to check. We're all following your adventures here."

  "And who is 'we all', I'd like to know…."

  "Actually, it's me and Lonnie and Lenny and Hank Dayton the cat so far, but who knows what'll happen after supper. Oh, and did you catch the name on the helicopter?"

  "Tanglewood Surveying and Consulting. Never heard of them before," Jenni said.

  "Let me write that down." A pause. "Okay, Jenni, lost out in the deep dark woods with nobody between you and a man but one sweet young redhead."

  "She's a blonde."

  "Worse. Much worse."

  "You're a blonde," Jenni noted.

  "That's how I know so much. "On the good side," Emilia began.

  "Yes?"

  "You've got another woman to talk to."

  "That's true."

  "You have no idea how little sensible conversation there is with just a man at a campsite. It's all computers or cars or engines. You ask them ab
out washing or toilet facilities, and all you get is a blank look and a guy waves his hands vaguely somewhere. But I gotta go. Bye."

  After disconnecting, Jenni turned to Matt. "We're going to have to spend the night here. Can't get a rescue boat in till morning. Got another helicopter? And where the heck did you get that helicopter from, anyway?"

  “That was handy,” Matt acknowledged.

  “Well, yeah. I can’t remember the last time I called in a private helicopter to do me a favour.” Jenni bent her head and looked sideways at him. “Can I get Kevin’s number?”

  “Right. Kevin and I go way back. We worked together in a couple of previous companies before we got jobs with Tanglewood.” Matt looked up at the clearing sky before continuing. “He’s doing some geological survey work in the area for a mining company.”

  “Mining company?”

  “Yeah. You know. Those people that rip up the land and pollute the waters and leave the taxpayers to pay the cleanup bills after making a few people rich.”

  “Hey, I wasn't going to say that….”

  “It’s not usually like that any more, at least it doesn’t have to be. And Tanglewood does a lot of contract work for ecological organizations at the same time.” Matt smiled. “The company sometimes makes money from both sides before a decision is made.”

  “And they think there’s something worth looking for up this way?”

  Matt looked at her for a moment. “That’s one thing I can’t talk about or I’d be in deep trouble with the boss. Don’t want to have to find another job if I can help it.”

  “Kevin seems to know what he’s doing.”

  “Kevin,” Matt said, “can fly that thing anywhere, anytime. I’ve taken up every religion known to man flying with Kevin. Rumour has it a guy can be peeing off a dock and Kevin can give him a circumcision.” Matt stopped abruptly and blushed. He looked like he was about to apologize, but didn’t.

  Jenni changed the subject. “Did he notify the air force?”

  Matt nodded. “Kevin doesn’t forget details – its’ one of the things that keeps him alive, I guess, even if people in the air with him get heart attacks the way he flies.” He had another thought. “He said that he had to cut over the north end of Hawk Lake. He said he saw a fishing boat and a guy in a canoe. He thought they were nuts, with all the storms around.”

  “The fishing boat would have been Lenny, trying to get back to the lodge. Emilia says he made it safely.” Jenni went quiet. The canoe was probably just some cottager running for home, but she was wondering just how crazy Julio was. "Did he say what color the canoe was?"

  Matt gave her a quick, puzzled, look. "No, but you usually can't, in a helicopter. You're seeing it from above, and you're seeing the inside. Canoes look pretty much alike on the inside." He looked across the lake, where a trio of loons helped the scenery without really intending to. "If you get close enough to a canoe in a helicopter, it gets the canoe in trouble."

  "You know this from experience?" Saundra's voice announced her arrival.

  Matt looked at Saundra and smiled. "The guy in that canoe was an old friend who'd been making an ass of himself lately, and the guys at head office had, for sure, asked us to see if that was him in the canoe."

  "Was it him?"

  "Of course. The bottom of the canoe was readily identifiable…. " He turned to Jenni. "Was there someone you were looking for?"

  Jenni paused a long time. "No. I don't think so." The silence got longer, so she said, "Like I said we have to spend the night here."

  "I never thought of that!" Saundra seemed concerned.

  Jenni shrugged. "It would take us at least an hour to reach Hawk Lake over the two portages, and what, two hours the length of Hawk Lake?" She looked at Matt.

  "I took more than three, but I was exploring."

  Saundra said, "We took a little less than two hours, but of course, our group's younger and half of them were running on surplus testosterone."

  "We might make it before dark, but it'll be close." Jenni pointed to the sun, which was getting low in the sky. "Unless you've got another helicopter ride for us?"

  Matt shrugged. "If you want to break an arm or leg, I can try, but otherwise, no. Kevin said the storm was coming in there pretty fast, and helicopter time is very expensive. Besides," he waved his hand around, "how would we get all this stuff out?"

  Saundra dug Jenni's phone out of her pocket, then handed it over like her fingers didn't want to let go of it. Kids today, Jenni thought, and grabbed the phone with relief. She checked the battery, frowned, then walked to the firepit area, where Matt and Saundra were talking about motorcycles. They stopped when she waited. Into the sudden silence, Saundra asked, "Can I borrow someone's phone again?"

  Jenni hesitated a moment. "It's getting low on battery. I'd like to save a bit for emergencies." She wondered if Saundra was going to protest that notifying people that she'd be another night in the woods constituted an emergency.

  Before that happened, Matt interrupted, taking out his phone. "Take mine, Saundra; I actually brought two juice packs for it." He seemed a bit embarrassed. As he handed the Blackberry to the blonde, he said, "I can loan you one of the juice packs, Jenni. It'll charge your phone again in an hour or so."

  "I'd like that Matt. How come a guy brings extra power for a phone he didn't want to turn on?"

  Matt laughed. "Overanxious maybe? A bit of a Nervous Nellie? Unsure of my convictions? Or just like to be prepared? A cub scout who never quite grew up? I don't know…. What's your theory?"

  "No theories on men from this chick any more," Jenni said firmly. I'm a slow learner, but I get there, as my grade two teacher used to say." She had a sudden daydream of herself dressed up in a strappy top and some high heels, having made an effort to be looking utterly casual without having tried at all.

  "Rather matches my conclusions about women, I guess. But while Saundra's phoning everybody she knows and posting everything on her sites, maybe we can do an inventory of what we've got for the night."

  "You're thinking of camping here? Rather than going back to Bass Lake?"

  He looked over at Saundra-on-the-phone for some reason (other, Jenni assumed, than that Saundra was well worth a guy looking at). "The thought of being alone over there has its appeal, I guess. A lot of appeal. And I know that you two are both campers…. You'd do fine."

  Jenni waited him out.

  "I guess," Matt said, "it just somehow seemed like fate and circumstance put us three here and we might as well stay and see what happens." He pursed his lips tightly. "I've learned not to stupidly hang onto plans when things change."

  "Gotcha. Makes sense to me. Personally…. Yeah, it's the best thing to do. Let's get on with that inventory." He handed Jenni his power pack; she connected it to her phone and set them on a stump.

  ***