'Herbie, this thing weighs a ton,' I say. 'What have you got in here?'
'Nothing much,' says Herbie.
I open it up and reach in. Out comes a six-pack of soda. Next are some cans of spaghetti. Then come a box of candy bars, a jar of pickles, and two cans of tuna fish. Beneath a rain coat and rubber boots and a bag of tent stakes, I pull out a large iron skillet. And off to the side is an army-surplus collapsible steel shovel.
'Herbie, why did you ever decide to bring all this along?' I ask.
He looks abashed. 'We're supposed to be prepared, you know.'
'Okay, let's divide this stuff up,' I say.
'I can carry it!' Herbie insists.
'Herbie, look, you've done a great job of lugging this stuff so far. But we have to make you able to move faster,' I say. 'If we take some of the load off you, you'll be able to do a better job at the front of the line.'
Herbie finally seems to understand. Andy takes the iron skil- let, and a few of the others pick up a couple of the items I've pulled out of the pack. I take most of it and put it into my own pack, because I'm the biggest. Herbie goes back to the head of the line.
Again we start walking. But this time, Herbie can really move. Relieved of most of the weight in his pack, it's as if he's walking on air. We're flying now, doing twice the speed as a troop that we did before. And we still stay together. Inventory is down. Throughput is up.
Devil's Gulch is lovely in the late afternoon sun. Down in what appears to be the gulch, the Rampage River goes creaming past boulders and outcroppings of rock. Golden rays of sunlight shift through the trees. Birds are tweeting. And off in the distance is the unmistakable melody of high-speed automobile traffic.
'Look!' shouts Andy as he stands atop the promontory, 'There's a shopping center out there!'
'Does it have a Burger King?' asks Herbie.
Dave complains, 'Hey, this isn't The Wilderness.'
'They just don't make wildernesses the way they used to,' I
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tell him. 'Look, we'll have to settle for what we've got. Let's make camp.'
The time is now five o'clock. This means that after relieving Herbie of his pack, we covered about four miles in two hours. Herbie was the key to controlling the entire troop.
Tents are erected. A spaghetti dinner is prepared by Dave and Evan. Feeling somewhat guilty because I set up the rules that drove them into their servitude, I give them a hand with cleaning up afterwards.
Dave and I share the same tent that night. We're lying inside it, both of us tired. Dave is quiet for a while. Then he speaks up.
He says, 'You know, Dad, I was really proud of you today.'
'You were? How come?'
'The way you figured out what was going on and kept every- one together, and put Herbie in front-we'd probably have been on that trail forever if it hadn't been for you,' he says. 'None of the other guys' parents took any responsibility for anything. But you did.'
'Thanks,' I tell him. 'Actually, I learned a lot of things to- day.'
'You did?'
'Yeah, stuff that I think is going to help me straighten out the plant,' I say.
'Really? Like what?'
'Are you sure you want to hear about it?'
'Sure I am,' he claims.
We're awake for some time talking about everything. He hangs in there, even asks some questions. By the time we're fin- ished, all we can hear is some snoring from the other tents, a few crickets... and the squealing tires of some idiot turning donuts out there on the highway.
Davey and I get home around 4:30 on Sunday afternoon. Both of us are tired, but we're feeling pretty good in spite of the miles. After I pull into the driveway, Dave hops out to open the garage door. I ease the Mazda in and go around to open the trunk so we can get our packs.
'I wonder where Mom went,' says Dave.
I look over and notice that her car is gone.
'She's probably out shopping or something,' I tell Dave.
Inside, Dave stows the camping gear while I go into the bed- room to change clothes. A hot shower is going to feel absolutely terrific. After I wash off the great outdoors, I'm thinking, maybe I'll take everybody out to dinner, get us a good meal as kind of a celebration of the triumphant return of father and son.
A closet door is open in the bedroom. When I reach to shut it, I see that most of Julie's clothes are gone. I stand there for a minute looking at the empty space. Dave comes up behind me.
'Dad?'
I turn.
'This was on the kitchen table. I guess Mom left it.'
He hands me a sealed envelope.
'Thanks Dave.'
I wait until he's gone to open it. Inside is just a short hand- written note. It says:
Al,
I can't handle always being last in line for you. I need more of you and it's clear now that you won't change. I'm going away for a while. Need to think things over. Sorry to do this to you. I know you're busy.
Yours truly, Julie
P.S. - I left Sharon with your mother.
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When I'm able to move, I put the note in my pocket and go find Davey. I tell him I have to go across town to pick up Sharon, and that he's to stay here. If his mother calls, he's to ask her where she's calling from and get a number where I can call her back. He wants to know if something is wrong. I tell him not to worry and promise to explain when I get back.
I go rocketing to my mother's house. When she opens the door, she starts talking about Julie before I can even say hello.
'Alex, do you know your wife did the strangest thing,' she says. 'I was making lunch yesterday when the doorbell rang, and when I opened the door Sharon was standing here on the step with her little suitcase. And your wife was in the car at the curb there, but she wouldn't get out and when I went down to talk to her, she drove away.'
