Tread Softly

but gave no distance. The arrow pointed to the left, where a narrow trail joined the main one and dropped away from the slope. Benny peered into the trees. He saw no trace of a lake.

'Where's the lake?' the ponytailed girl asked, frowning at her mother.

'Down there,' Mrs. Gordon said.

'I don't see it.'

'Me either,' said the sister.

'Right there ' Benny told them. He pointed down the trail at the shadowy forest. 'Can't you see it?' he asked.

'No. Where?'

'See? Through there?'

Both girls scrunched up their faces and squinted into the trees.

'Maybe you need glasses,' Benny suggested.

'Do not.'

Quite a while later, well after reaching the bottom of the hill, Benny spotted a pale area through the trees ahead. The lake surface. About time.

'There it is!' cried one of the twins.

He grinned to himself, and kept on walking.

'Well now.' With a sigh, Flash slung his pack to the ground.

Scott took off his pack, too. The clearing, at the foot of the trail, was close to the shoreline. It had obviously been used often as a campsite. There were logs laid out as benches around a fireplace. There was a small pile of firewood. Plenty of flat area for sleeping.

Listening carefully, Scott heard the breeze stirring the leaves, the quiet lap of waves. But he heard no running water that would indicate a nearby stream.

'Why don't you all take a load off,' he suggested. 'I'll scout ahead. There might be a better place farther on.'

'This looks all right to me,' Flash said.

'Well, I'd rather be near a stream. Running water.'

'Good point,' Flash said.

'I'll come with you.' Karen swung her pack off, set it down, and joined him.

Benny, sitting on the ground against his pack, started to get up.

'You wait here,' Scott told him. 'We'll just be gone a few minutes.'

Looking disappointed, the boy settled back.

Karen followed Scott along a path near the shoreline. Without his pack, he felt nearly weightless. He walked with a springy step. The breeze was cool against his damp T-shirt. And he was alone with Karen, at least for the moment. He turned to her. 'Howdy, stranger.'

She ducked under his outstretched arm, and leaned against him. He cupped her shoulder. They walked along the path, holding each other. 'Now, this is nice,' she said.

'You surviving the kids all right?'

'Sure. They're fine. Benny's quite a guy.'

'I think he's fallen for you. Can't blame him.' 'I've fallen for him, too.' She patted Scott's side. 'Good thing for you he's just a kid.'

'I wish Julie'd shape up. Maybe she will, now that Nick's around.'

'They seem to be getting along okay.'

'Yeah.' He sighed.

'What's wrong?'

'Well, I've been thinking about the sleeping arrangements. I really don't see how we can manage. '

'I know. I've thought about that, too. I guess I tent with Julie, huh?'

'I can't figure any way around it, what with the kids and the Gordons.'

'That's all right. Maybe we'll be able to sneak off, sometime.'

'You can bet on it.'

Karen's hand moved down, and pushed into a rear pocket of his trousers. It stayed there, curved against his rump, caressing, as they walked along the path.

'If Julie gives you any trouble,' Scott said, 'let me know.'

'I'm sure we'll be fine. It'll give us a chance to get to know each other.'

'She's really not a bad kid. I've been trying to figure her out. It hit her pretty hard when her mother split. But it was never 'How could she do that to me?' She only seemed upset that I'd been dumped on. She really holds it against June, won't even talk to her on the phone. Both kids are pretty bitter about what she did, but with Julie it seems to have spilled over onto you. It's not you personally. She'd have the same feeling toward any woman I got serious about. I'm sure of that. She seems to feel it's her duty to protect me.'

'Maybe she'll get over it once we know each other better.'

'I sure hope so. I feel bad, though, that you have to be put through this kind of thing.'

Karen smiled up at him. 'Hell, you're worth it.'

'Is that so?'

'That's so.'

They rounded a bend in the shoreline, and Scott heard the sound of rushing water.

'Success!' Karen said. She squeezed his rump, withdrew her hand from his pocket, and stepped ahead through a narrow passage between two trees. Scott watched her hurry forward. She bounded up a small, rocky rise, glanced down, then whirled around. 'Voila!' she cried.

Scott climbed up to join her. A few feet below, a stream tumbled and swirled over rocks on its way to the lake.

They stepped down to it. Kneeling, Karen dipped a hand into the water. She cupped some to her mouth, and drank. 'It's luscious,' she said. As Scott tried the chilly water, she splashed her face. Then, to his amazement, she unbuttoned her blouse. She spread it open, scooped up water with both hands, and flung it against herself. He watched it splatter her bare skin. It slid over her breasts, dripped from the jutting tips of her nipples, rolled down her belly. Bending over, she cupped more water to her mouth.

Scott reached across her back. He lifted the hanging side of her blouse out of the way, and curled his fingers around her breast. The skin was wet and cool, the nipple springy against his palm. She turned her face to him, and they kissed. 'We'd. better not.'

He kissed her again, then let go. As Karen buttoned her blouse, he caressed her back beneath it. Then they stood up. Scott filled his lungs with the fresh air. 'Well, let's see if there's a decent place around here to pitch camp.'

They leaped across the stream, walked up a low slope of broken granite, and looked down at a clearing. 'All right,' Karen said.

They made their way down to it. In the middle stood a nicely built-up stone fireplace with a grate across the top. Large, flat-topped rocks and smoothly sawed logs for stools were placed around it. Someone had even gone to the trouble of lashing branches together in the semblance of a table. Best of all, Scott saw plenty of level ground for the tents.

'It looks ideal to me,' Karen said.

'Me, too.'

They headed back to tell the others.

'Let's get organized here,' Flash said, rubbing his hands together. 'Nick, you help me with the tents. Alice, why don't you and the girls scout around for firewood? We'll get this show on the road.'

'Benny,' Scott said. 'You want to go with them?'

The boy shook his head. 'I wanta do the tents.'

As Alice led the twins into the trees, Flash turned to Scott. 'Where do you want to set up? You should get first choice, since you found this place.'

'Makes no difference to me,' Scott told him. 'Right here's fine for one. Maybe pitch the other over there.' He