“I’d like to. My wife and I were planning to come through here on our way home. Of course, I don’t know which way she went since I haven’t heard from her.”
He had made a show of pretending to try to phone his wife’s parents a couple of times in the last two days, saying that his wife might be in touch with them. When Don and Mattie asked him if he’d reached them, he said no.
“She might be back in L.A. by now. Do you want to try and call her from here?”
“No thanks,” Alfred said quickly. “I…I don’t want to try to talk to her over the phone. I’ll wait until I get back to L.A. and deal with her in person.”
“You never told me your wife’s name.”
“Uh…Penny. Her name is Penny.”
“Nice name, Penny. Shiny new Penny. Or a bad Penny. Sorry, couldn’t resist. If there’s anything I can do to help you two get back together…”
“Thanks. I’m afraid not.” She was transforming into mother mode. “What I was thinking, since I’m here, I might spend a couple of days sightseeing. See the redwoods and the coast and everything. If you’re not using the camper, maybe I could rent it from you. Of course, I’ll pay for the gas and everything. I’ll even get it washed and leave you with a full tank.”
Mattie chuckled. “Well, you were the one who fixed it. It’s running great now. You’re a pretty good driver. I don’t think Don would object. I’ll tell you what; you can take some of the food we had left over from the trip. I’ll even give you a change of underwear and socks. I don’t think you can wear Don’s pants-your waist size is a little larger than his-but his shirts shouldn’t be a problem.”
Now she was definitely acting like a mother. Things were working out just fine.
Gary and Penny reached the coast at Crescent City. They turned south on Route 101 and found themselves almost immediately in a forest of redwood trees. They stopped at Redwood National Park and took a hike along a path with the giants towering above them. The vista reminded Penny of pictures she had seen of the interiors of large European cathedrals, with the ruler-straight tree trunks representing the cathedral columns. This was on a much grander scale than any cathedral.
“ The tallest tree in the world is somewhere in this area.” Penny read from her guidebook. “It’s almost four hundred feet tall.”
“ Taller than a football field is long.”
Penny looked up the trunk of one of the trees, imagining what it would be like to be in the relatively stubby branches at the top. She felt dizzy and almost fell over backward. She quickly looked down and went back to the guidebook.
“ They need a damp climate, with moderate temperatures all year long.”
Tendrils of fog drifted past them, and they were none too warm in their sweatshirts. The place was enchanting, but it was also a place where Penny didn’t want to linger. The canopy of branches high above their heads blocked out most of what sunlight there was, leaving an eerie aura.
A half hour of feeling like Lilliputians was enough for them, and they headed back to the car. Penny said, “Let’s find ourselves a nice sunny beach.”
Alfred stationed the camper in a parking lot facing Route 101, which was also the main street of Crescent City, near the intersection where Route 199 came in from Oregon. That was the route that Mattie, Don, and he had taken last night to get there, and he was positive that Penny and Gary would be coming the same way.
The question was when? He hoped they hadn’t already passed this way. If they didn’t show up by mid- afternoon, he would return the camper to Mattie and take the bus back to Los Angeles. Mattie had provided him with plenty of food so he wouldn’t go hungry as he waited. She had gone from trying to be his lover to being his mother. He was more comfortable with her in that capacity.
A green Volkswagen Beetle approached from the north. Alfred glanced at his watch. He had been here less than two hours. His excitement grew as he became more and more certain it was them. He started the engine of the camper. His excitement peaked when he saw Penny’s profile in the side window of the small car as it passed.
He pulled out onto the highway, keeping enough distance between them that they wouldn’t become suspicious. At least they had no reason to be looking for him in a VW camper. He hadn’t followed them very far when they slowed down and pulled into the entrance of a park containing redwood trees-the trees Alfred had told Mattie he wanted to see. Now he would get to see them.
Alfred pulled in behind them and was careful to park some distance away from their car. He saw them walk off along one of the paths that led through the groves of big trees. He couldn’t follow them on foot without risking being seen. In addition, there were a few other people in the park. Not many, but enough to scotch any plans he might have had.
Alfred sat in his car and pondered his next move. He obviously hadn’t thought through what he was going to do. He needed them to be in a more isolated area. In addition, he needed to separate Penny from Gary. How was he going to do that? He didn’t know.
While he was wondering what to do, he saw the honeymooners returning along the path. He would keep following them. Maybe his luck would change.
They continued south on 101, through the village of Klamath and across the Klamath River. The road went inland for a bit, but it still wound through forests of the magnificent redwood trees. After the village of Orick, the road came back to the coast again.
“Let’s stop here,” Penny said.
Gary obediently pulled the car off the road at a turnout with access to the beach.
“The guidebook says that we can find black jade and agates in this area,” Penny said. “Maybe we can collect some for our table.”
They got out of the car and walked toward the water. As they came to the top of the sand slope that led down to the beach, Gary stopped in amazement.
“Have we shrunk or are we in the land of the giants?” he asked.
“ Holy cow. That driftwood on the beach is…those are redwood trees.”
“How did they get there?”
“ Remember, there was an earthquake in Alaska last March. It was one of the biggest quakes ever recorded. It caused a tsunami. I remember hearing that several people in Crescent City were killed by the tsunami.”
“So the tsunami uprooted redwood trees, washed them out to sea, and then they were deposited on this beach. Holy cow, as you say. That was some powerful wave.”
“I want my picture taken with one of the tree trunks.”
Penny ran down the slope to the sandy beach and raced over to a gargantuan piece of driftwood. Gary ran after her, holding the camera. They took pictures of each other being dwarfed by the white trunks of what used to be redwood trees. They felt insubstantial, like a mouse would feel when encountering ordinary driftwood.
When they had their fill of photography, they walked down close to the water.
“Look,” Penny said. “This is black jade. And here are agates.”
“Aren’t the pieces of jade too big for our table?”
“ They’re so beautiful. Maybe we can use them for something else.”
Penny began picking up the rocks. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Gary joined in. When she was happy, he was happy. They soon had an armload of the rocks.
“We’re going to have trouble getting these in the car,” Gary said. “Let me take a load back and see how many more we can fit in.”
