Hide and Seek

"See?"

"Spooky," said Kim.

"That's it."

For a while we just stood and listened, and then Steve said, "I guess

that's what we're here for," and the tone of it was more relaxed, and I

liked it better. I suppose it's a problem, being rich and spoiled.

Even if you grow up pretty decent the only things you have to fall back

on are the old, obnoxious habits, and they never make you look like

much. In times of stress they come flying back at you like ghosts of

squalling children.

We started off down the road, me in the lead, the two girls together

behind me and Steve bringing up the rear.

The road was rough and pitted, strewn with rocks and studded with

holes, more weathered than I'd thought it would be. If somebody

twisted an ankle, it was going to be a very short evening. So I went

slowly. For the first couple of yards all you could hear was the four

of us scraping along. Then the road got a little better and our

walking that much quieter.

It was eerie. Walking in front of everybody, I had the feeling of

great aloneness- we four in the empty night. And even we seemed

insubstantial. Just sounds of motion like the sea and the raspings of

insects. Kim stumbled and cursed and Casey laughed, but aside from

that nobody spoke a word. We were made of shoe leather and silence out

there, and that was all.

The road got bad again. But the trees broke apart overhead, so you

could see a little better. There was a dead branch ahead, and I kicked

it out of our way. It made a rustling, crackling sound in the bushes,

like a fire burning. Pebbles rolled along with it. On the dry road

they were hollow-sounding. The air was heavy with the scent of

evergreen.

Off to the left something moved in the brush. I stopped. The

footsteps behind me stopped too. A moment later I saw cattails waving

a few feet further on. We'd startled something. A raccoon, maybe.

Something roughly that size.

"What was that?" You could hear the thrill in Kim's voice.

"Coon. Possum. Grizzly maybe. It's hard to tell."