copyright by LBDunn, 2014
Two
rafts floating down a smooth, somewhat fast, stretch of river, new rafts with
four first-timers on board. On day one they had somehow managed to wrap a
boulder right in the middle of the river with 20 yards of clearance on either
side. On night one a gale had blown down their kitchen, leaving trash all over
the beach. At the moment Seth was waving his arms at them one was studying a
map, another making sandwiches, and the two oarsmen were looking down river.
Seth was flabbergasted. Iris was embarrassed. “I am so sorry.”
“You
know what?” Seth said. “Why don’t you stay after all?”
“The
search parties.”
“Yeah,
you’re going to be reported missing. I can’t think of any way to deal with
that, but you know what?”
“What?”
“
Search parties were looking for a cop killer and they didn’t find me here.”
“That
guy who killed a policeman in Cortez?” Iris knew all about that. “You were
already here then?”
“Yep.”
“God,
it’s like this place has some kind of spell over it.”
“It’s
the Garden of Eden.”
“What
about food?”
“We’ll
both be alive in November. My friends will pick us up and, well, you’ve got to
have some kind of story to cover yourself for what happened here. I mean a
story about the missing time.”
“I
guess.”
“I
don’t have an answer for that. Not now anyway. Well, I need to show you
everything. We’ll have to be discreet and careful, but I think we’re safe, you
know it?”
“Yeah,
I believe you. And I’ll pull my weight.”
Five
months later Billy and Josh pulled up. Seth was waiting so they were relieved.
“You fucking did it, man,” Billy said.
“Yep.
I’d like you to meet my wife. Iris?”
And
Iris stepped out, four months pregnant and radiant.
The
end (for now)
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