While it’s true that many women have noticed Beau’s growing discomfort, they have other concerns that surprise Willa right into silence. In the end, there’s only one thing to do and that will be to ask Beau his opinion of the suggestions offered by the group.
Unfortunately, Willa is elected to be the one to ask him, her being the one who knows Beau best and the person closest to him. It isn’t going to be the conversation she thought it would.
They wait for hours for the return, worried about all the things that might go wrong. They cover their worries with activity, which is also normal for them. Bee teaches archery. It’s an important skill to learn. Ammunition for their few weapons is hard to get and will eventually run out. Silence is also important, and the sound of a shot carries for miles.
Most of them aren’t very good archers yet, but they’re making progress and that’s all that matters. Already more arrows wind up in the targets than fly past and into the trees. Between sessions, the retrieval of lost arrows is a break. Soft laughter and teases waft through the trees and back to the camp.
Willa works on construction with Ellie. They’re digging a pit, which will later be lined with wood and stone. A short structure that looks a bit like a yurt will go over the pit when it’s done. This will make for a much warmer sleeping place during the winter. They’re hoping to build two of them, which will be enough to hold everyone in their camp as it is now, plus room for a few additional members. It won’t be roomy, but it will give enough space for every person to lay down on a snug pallet and share warmth.
It’s messy work, and difficult too. The ground is hard below the shallow, spongy surface, and despite the fact that they’re in a natural clearing, tree roots snake through and have to be carefully trimmed away. The rock of the mountains below is uneven. They can never tell where it will show itself in the form of some broken piece sticking up, but so far, they’ve gotten lucky with this pit.
The first pit was more than half complete when an inconvenient, sharp-edged shard of mountain was uncovered. That pit had to be refilled. When it rains, that area is still a muddy mess. Twice Willa has caught Claire rolling about in the mud after a rain. The wild girl says it makes her invisible.
All the activity helps the hours pass and disguises the worry. When the faint sound of an engine reaches them from below, everyone stops what they’re doing in a flash. The radio on the log in the center of camp crackles. Everyone seems to hold their breath, waiting. Three short beeps sound out and Willa can hear relieved sighs from every throat.
Three beeps mean the party has returned, that no one is following and finally, that they’re all safe and accounted for. They have elaborate and counter-intuitive signs and signals, and those beeps mean that everything has gone well. The women on watch don’t beep until all the signals are passed properly. A driver’s calm wave means danger instead of greeting. The rider in front turning their face away means someone is in the truck or nearby that shouldn’t be. A smile means there is trouble. There are many more such signals. None of those things happened if there are beeps.
The watch stationed at the bottom of the pass will remain in place, making sure their beeps are true. The midway watch, hidden in the trees where the little service road for park vehicles ends, will greet the returnees. And those left up in the camp? Well, they drop what they’re doing and get ready to haul.
Willa hurries down the path like everyone else, but she hangs back a little too. It’s not much, but she’s not looking forward to the pointed looks from the other women she knows she’ll receive, each look silently urging her to talk to Beau. She needn’t have worried. They have far more to look at when they arrive at the terminus to the park service road.
Not one, but two trucks wait there. One is a large flatbed, almost a semi, with the logo of a home improvement franchise emblazoned on the side. Willa is amazed it managed to get over that rutted, unpaved road and she has no idea how it’s going to return the way it came.
That’s not the only surprise. There are women. Lots of women. New women with tentative smiles more akin to the nervous showing of teeth in primates. Hands are squeezed together at waists and eyes are wide. Feet shuffle nervously.
“That’s more than a new person,” Willa says when she reaches Beau.
He smiles at her, a smile full of relief and happiness. The stress of these trips is enormous and after the stress falls away, he’s like this. Buoyant almost. “Yeah, but it’s a good thing, right? And they brought things.”
“Things?”
He points to the big box truck and says, “That’s full of food. Well, where it isn’t full of the ladies, it is.” Shifting to the flat truck, he says, “That’s got two outbuildings on it.”
“Outbuildings? What for?” She would normally be embarrassed by such a question, but Beau knows she’s a city girl through and through.
Grinning and pushing back his iron gray hair, he says, “Have you ever seen the displays of little buildings that look like barns or small houses in the parking lots of home improvement stores?”
Willa has, and her eyebrows rise in interest, trying to make sense of the tied piles on the truck. “Yes. I’ve always thought they were cute.”
“Well, we’ve got two of them, plus enough materials for good foundations. Big ones too. One has a loft. Food storage
