“ They could be waiting for us up ahead.”
“ How could they do that?”
“ If they know the jogging path crosses the creek about halfway between here and the mountain.”
“ Jeez, do you think they know about that?”
“ I’ve only lived here for three months and I know about it.”
“ I didn’t.”
“ But you don’t like to come into the woods.”
“ What are we gonna do?”
“ I don’t know,” she said. “We could go on ahead and maybe get caught, because they’re waiting for us. Or we could head back along the creek and maybe get caught, because they’re coming up that way for us. Or we could head back to the jogging path, and take it either toward Palma, or back to the park, hoping they came up the creek after us. Or we could stay here and hide, till we’re sure they’ve gone home.”
“ I don’t wanna stay here.” He slapped another insect.
“ Me neither, so we have to make a choice.”
“ What if they split up?” he said.
“ They won’t.”
“ How do you know?”
“ They’re too stupid for that, besides, without Brad egging them on, the other two would just go home.”
“ Then let’s go up the creek and over the side of the mountain.”
“ Why that way?” she asked.
“’ Cuz we gotta make a choice.”
“ Okay,” she said, smiling at him, “let’s go.”
They pushed their way through the brush and in a couple of minutes they were at the creek. Arty followed as she turned right and started walking against the flow of running water. She seemed to have endless energy as she followed the creek, sometimes leaping from stone to stone, where he had to stop and take a breath, say a small prayer and jump like an ungainly elephant, but miraculously he landed on every stone with enough balance intact to keep from falling in.
But sometimes there were no stones and he had to step in the wet, coarse sand along the creek’s bank. A couple of times he had to step in mud. His new Nikes would never be the same. After about thirty minutes, he found himself huffing and sweating and feeling every extra pound.
“ I gotta rest,” he said, ashamed of himself.
“ Okay.” She stopped and pointed. “Right up there is the widest place we have to cross over.”
“ It looks dangerous.” He hoped he didn’t sound like a chicken.
“ It’s not that bad, really. It looks a lot worse than it is. Besides, the water is only about six inches deep, so even if you fall in, all’s that’s going to happen is that you’ll get wet.”
“ That’s not so bad,” he said.
“ But you’ll probably freeze to death.” She laughed and he found himself laughing with her.
“ Alright, I’m ready,” he said.
She got up and led the way to the stones that crossed the twenty feet to the other side of the creek.
“ There they are!” Brad’s voice rang through the forest.
“ Come on, we have to hurry,” she said, but Arty didn’t need any urging. She skipped across the rocks like a ballerina and he followed like a lumbering, sure footed bear.
When they reached the other side, she said, “Come on, up the side.” She started to climb out of the gully the creek had taken thousands of years to make. It was only six feet to the top, but there were no easy hand holds. By the time they scrambled and clawed their way up, Brad Peters and Steve Kerr were at the other side. Ray Harpine wasn’t with them. Either he’d gone home or he was waiting up ahead.
Brad charged to the first stone and was moving to the second when something hit him in the chest, causing him to lose his balance and fall in the water.
Arty stared at Carolina, dumbfounded. “Come on you big lemon, pick up a rock,” she said as she sailed another that splashed in the water, missing Brad by inches.
He stood up in the stream, soaking wet and yelled, “You guys are really asking for it.”
“ Yeah,” she answered back, picking up another rock and letting it fly. Brad scurried through the water, tripped and did a belly flop, sending up a splash, like a snotty kid doing a cannonball. He started to get up, but another of Carolina’s rocks hit him square in the back. He sloshed the rest of the way back to the other side on his hands and knees, mad and getting madder.
“ Come on, Arty, now’s your chance to get back at him for yesterday.”
Arty grinned and picked up a rock. Brad and Steve didn’t have a chance, he thought. He and Carolina had the high ground. It was a lot easier to throw a rock down than up. He saw Brad, pick up a rock and start a wind up, like he’d seen pro ball players do on TV. Arty aimed at his chest. Both boys let fly at the same time.
Arty missed by six feet. The hefty piece of granite that Brad had thrown hit Arty hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him.
“ Damn, he’s good,” Carolina said as Arty bent over, coughing and gasping for breath.
“ We got all day,” Steve Kerr yelled up at them.
“ So do we,” Carolina said, ducking another one of Brad’s blazing missiles. She picked up the same rock that Brad had hit Arty with and threw it back at Brad as hard as she could. She missed, but the rock hit Steve on the side of the head, ripping a gash along his right cheek that would get seven stitches at Tampico Emergency in about an hour.
She was ready to fire another, when Steve started crying. She held her fire as Brad turned to see what was wrong.
Steve put his hand to the side of his face. He cried louder when he removed it and saw that it was covered with blood. “We gotta go, man,” he wailed.
Carolina yelled down to Brad, “You better take him home or he might bleed to death.”
“ He’s not gonna bleed to death,” Brad hollered back.
“ Is too,” Carolina yelled.
“ No, he’s not.”
Carolina didn’t have to answer, because Steve, still crying, stood up and said, “Brad, we gotta go. I’m bleeding bad.”
“ We gotta get ’em,” Brad said.
“ No, I gotta go. You gotta come with me.” Tears were mingling with the blood.
“ Okay,” Brad said, then he turned toward Carolina and Arty and hollered up at them, “This isn’t over.”
The victors watched the vanquished leave the field of battle, but they both knew that tomorrow was another day and that Brad was going to be gunning for them.
“ Did you see him throw?” she said. “We were lucky I accidentally hit Steve or he would have clobbered us.”
“ He clobbered me,” Arty said.
“ Yeah, he’s a real good shot.” Then she changed the subject, saying, “You want to follow them down or keep going the hard way?”
He wanted to take the easy way down, but he didn’t want her to think he wasn’t up to it so he said, “Let’s keep going.”
“ All right,” she said with enthusiasm, “Let’s go.” She slid down the embankment to the stream bed. He followed, sliding on his butt.
“ Gosh, that felt great.” He stood up and brushed the dirt off.
“ What?” she said, “chasing Brad away or sliding in the dirt?”
“ Both,” he said.
They were five minutes into their trek when Ray Harpine jumped out of the bushes shouting, “We’ve got you now.”
Carolina made to run, but Arty stepped around her. “Back off, or I’ll kick the shit out of you.”
“ Oh, man, one karate lesson and you think you’re tough.”
“ Look around. You see your bully pal Brad anywhere? We whipped him and now I’m gonna whip you.”
