Bad Call by Stephen Wallenfels

Author:Stephen Wallenfels
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Disney Book Group
Published: 2017-01-10T05:00:00+00:00

Colin scrapes the remains of dinner into the coals while Ellie pours water into the cooking pot, puts it on the stove, stands back to wait for the boil. Colin stands beside her, hands in the pockets of his jacket.

“Alone again, again,” he says.

“Strange how that keeps happening.” She remembers what Grahame said—date-dumping—and wonders if he’s right.

They watch two headlamps move from tree to tree. She glances at the water. Bubbles are forming. Steam rises from the surface in feathery wisps carried away by the wind. She senses he has words in him, feels the tension of the unsaid by the way he stands stiff against the cold and shuffles his feet and keeps looking at her to see if she is looking at him. Well, she has words too. But time is working against them. The guys must have found a good tree because they are throwing a rock tied to a rope at a high branch. It shoots out like a spiderweb in the beams of their headlamps. The rock arcs over a branch on the second throw, and they lower it to the ground. As the stuff sack with their food rises up and up, Colin turns to her and says through a cloud of cold, “It’s boiling.”

“Oh.” She uses her gloved hand to lift the pot off the stove. He holds out their plates, and she pours a little water in each. Their eyes catch and release. He swirls the sludgy water around, dumps it on the coals that hiss and steam. While he wipes the plates dry with a paper towel she looks out at the two guys and says, “I get the feeling that Grahame likes pot.”

“He told me he wants twins just so he can name them Fattie and Blunt.”

“And Ceo?”

“He’s more on the retail end. His twins would be named Supply and Demand.”

Ellie watches Colin stack the plates on a rock next to Ceo’s pack. He returns to the fire and asks, “How did Ceo do it?”

“Do what?”

“Get you to say yes to a camping trip with three guys.”

“Do you have a problem with it?”

“No. I’m glad you’re here. Seriously glad, in fact. I’m just wondering how he did it.”

She glares at Colin over the sparks. “You make it sound like it’s all him. Like I didn’t have a choice.” As shock registers on his face, she adds, “Or maybe you think I’m some soccer slut looking for a romp in the woods with three racquet swingers.”

“Hey, I’m sorry. That’s not what I meant. If you’d—”

Ellie elbows him in the ribs. “Just kidding. I’ve been asking myself the same question.” Ellie looks across the fire and into the woods. Ceo and Grahame are standing under the food sack hanging ten feet above their heads. They’re passing something between them in the beam of their headlamp, smoke and vapor rising. She figures she has as much time as it takes them to share a joint. Back to staring at the flames, she says, “Ceo told me that he was coming with friends.

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