The Wildman (13 page)

Jeff realized he’d been taking short, shallow breaths, and he forced himself to breathe evenly and deeply as he moved closer to the building. When he was only a few feet from the door, he saw that it was still there, intact. It had been painted bright green back when he was a camper. Maybe because it was protected from the elements, the paint hadn’t faded as much as he thought it would have, or maybe in the intervening years someone had repainted it or replaced it. The front steps leading up to the small front porch, he noticed, were missing.

Jeff’s heart was racing fast as he stepped up onto porch, reached out into the darkness, and tried the door handle. It clicked, but when he pushed against the door, it didn’t open.

No surprise there.

Feeling around in the darkness, he found a lock and hasp just above the door handle. It struck him as odd that the building would be locked up like this.

Was there something of value still inside?

Jeff felt the lock more carefully, surprised that he didn’t feel a coating of corrosion on it. Was it new?

Perhaps Evan or some of the construction or surveying crew had been out here and left some equipment behind until next spring. That made some sense, but why not use the dining hall? It was definitely more secure. Besides, in an isolated place like this, anyone who wanted to break in could make as much noise as they liked without disturbing any neighbors, who were a mile or more across the lake.

Jeff gave the lock one last, frustrated tug and then slammed it against the door. Almost immediately, from inside the building, there came a soft thump.

The sound startled Jeff. He froze where he was, thinking there had to be a raccoon or skunk or something inside the building. Probably a big rat. There had been a recent outbreak of rabies in the area among the raccoon population, so Jeff was ready to run if he heard or saw anything else.

But after that first thump, the silence of the night remained unbroken. The sound wasn’t repeated, and no animal came charging around the side of the building to attack. After a while, Jeff realized he’d been holding his breath, so he let it out slowly. Then he turned and walked away.

He followed the trail back to the open area of the campgrounds, feeling a surprising measure of relief when he saw the faint glow of firelight in the windows of the dining hall. He quickened his pace, covering the distance to the building and was practically running by the time he leaped onto the porch
and shouldered the door open, unmindful of any noise he was making.

“
Christ!
” someone shouted. “’S almost four o’clock.”

Jeff drew
up short. He realized someone had gotten up while he was gone and placed more wood on the fire. The high blaze was warm and cheery, but as he looked at the sleeping shapes of his friends, no one was stirring. Then he saw that Evan’s sleeping bag was still unoccupied. He jumped when Evan stepped out from the shadowed doorway that led into what used to be the kitchen.

“
Where’ve you been?” Evan asked, eyeing Jeff narrowly.

Jeff couldn’t miss the hint of challenge in his voice. He shrugged and rubbed his hands together. “Just out … for a walk.” It took effort to keep his voice from trembling. “It’s a beautiful moonlit night, in case you hadn’t noticed. I woke up and, when I didn’t see you, I went out and strolled around the grounds a bit.”

“
See anything interesting?” Evan asked.

There was still a slight threatening tone in his voice, but when he stepped out from the shadows of the doorway, Jeff caught the tight smile that lit his face.

“
Nah,” Jeff said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Same old place, far as I can tell.”

He knew he shouldn’t say what he wanted to say next, but no matter how hard he tried to hold it back, it came out anyway.

“
So where were you going?”

Evan lowered his gaze and sniffed with laughter as he shook his head and rubbed his nose with the back of his hand.

“
Like you,” he said simply. “Just out walking. Enjoying the natural beauty.”

“
Until your crew comes and tears it all down.”

Evan shrugged as he took a few steps closer to Jeff. Although he had a warm, welcoming expression on his face, Jeff couldn’t help but feel threatened somehow.

Why had Evan been hiding in the shadows like that?

It was almost like he’d been caught doing something he didn’t want Jeff or anyone to see.

“
It won’t be as bad as you think,” Evan said. “They—I plan on working around the natural landscape so we can retain as much of the woodsy feel as we can, you know? It doesn’t make much sense to move out to the country and then destroy what you came here for, right?”

“
Pave paradise and put up a parking lot,” Jeff said under his breath.

Evan chuckled. “Joni Mitchell had it right, didn’t she?” He yawned as he looked past Jeff. When Jeff turned and looked out the windows, he could see the faintest hint of gray streaks of dawn in the east.

“
Morning’s coming, and here we are pulling an all-nighter like a couple of idiots.” Jeff yawned and then looked at their three friends, all sound asleep on the floor in front of the fire. “Lucky bastards,” he said. “Sleeping like little babies.”

“
Think we ought to grab an hour or two of shuteye?” Evan asked.

Jeff nodded, but he noticed the odd expression frozen on Evan’s features. It didn’t dispel any of the doubts he’d been having about what his childhood friend’s real motives were for having them out here for the weekend. The sudden paranoid thought crossed his mind that it might not be safe for him to fall asleep, but he pushed it aside as he walked over to his sleeping bag and started taking his clothes off. The air in the dining hall had warmed up from the re-stoked blaze, but his teeth were chattering as he ran the zipper of the sleeping bag down and slipped into it.

“
Have a good snooze,” Evan said. “I’ll rouse you around six or seven. I have a fantastic breakfast planned.”

“
I’ll bet,” Jeff said as he lay down and rolled over so his back was to Evan. His eyes were grainy with sleeplessness, and his body felt wrung out, but he thought there was no way he’d be able to fall asleep … not as long as he knew Evan was still awake, watching him.

For the next two hours, he lay there with his eyes wide open as he watched the sky to the east gradually brighten. Red and orange streaks flared across the sky like angry welts, and all Jeff could think of was the old sailor’s saying: “Red sky in morning, sailors take warning.”

CHAPTER SIX

Morning Walk

Jeff didn’t feel very rested. An angled beam of sunlight shot across the dining hall floor, casting long, blue shadows over the worn wood and shining directly into Jeff’s face.

He might have nodded off a little, but he had never fallen into a deep sleep. Images from his moonlight walk around the campground mixed with other, more unsettling images that had something to do with the Indian demon Hobomock and the lonely ghost of Jimmy Foster. All of this left Jeff feeling sad and lonely and maybe a little bit frightened as he began to stir.

But Evan hadn’t lied about one thing.
He
did
have a fantastic breakfast planned. The sounds and smells of frying eggs and
bacon got him and everyone else stirring just as the sun was rising.

“
Up ‘n at ‘em, boys and girls,” Evan called out when the other guys started to shift about on the floor, moaning and grunting. Mike let a loud, sputtering fart that got everyone laughing.

“
You know, I learned something,” Fred said.

“
What’s that?” Mike asked.

“
That sleeping on the floor just ain’t what it used to be.” He groaned as he sat up with his legs splayed out in front of him, and, leaning back, drove a knuckled fist into the small of his back and rubbed. “I didn’t sleep for shit.”

“
Like hell you didn’t,” Tyler said, scowling at him. “You were snoring louder than a goddamned chain saw.”

“
No way.”

“
Way. You kept me awake practically the whole night.”

Jeff smiled at the bickering, thinking how they sound exactly how they sounded in Tent 12 thirty-five years ago. He sighed and shook his head.

“
All three of you were sleeping like little babies,” he said. “And Tyler—you shouldn’t be accusing anyone of snoring … not the way you were sawing wood last night.”

“
Bullshit! I don’t snore.”

Evan caught Jeff’s eye and smiled, then turned back to his cooking. He slid a pile of bacon onto a platter lined with paper towels and then started cooking another batch. Three wire racks leaned against the inner wall of the fireplace above the coals, each with six pieces of bread in them, toasting. They were already a nice golden brown.

It was Tyler’s idea to go down to the lake and wash up before breakfast. Everyone except Jeff and Evan went. Ten minutes later, they came back, their feet covered with sand, their hair stringy and dripping, and their teeth chattering like machines.

“Fuckin’
invigorating
is what
that
is,” Mike said, shivering as he danced up and down on his toes and hurriedly pulled on a bulky sweatshirt. The logo read: SOME DAYS IT’S NOT EVEN WORTH CHEWING THROUGH THE RESTRAINTS. It made Jeff chuckle.

In the brightening light of day, so much of what Jeff had been thinking and worrying about last night now seemed totally irrelevant. He could almost convince himself he had been asleep and dreamed his moonlit walk around the campgrounds. It was already fading into a distant memory. Still, he was left with a vague sense of disquiet, and he wished he could pinpoint what was causing it. He vowed to try not to think too much about it today. They were here to have fun, not mope about and get suspicious about everyone and their motives.

Typically, Evan took charge of all the cooking and refused any offers of help until it was time to set everything out. He cooked the eggs sunny-side up in a huge cast iron skillet that Jeff thought must have been left behind when the camp closed. It certainly looked like something old Herbie and Ben-the camp cooks—would have used. As soon as the first bunch of eggs was done, Evan started another while urging the guys to dig in.

“
You gonna eat, too?” Jeff asked Evan. He never ate much for breakfast and was waiting for the second round, thinking there would be less bacon grease than in the first batch. He had to watch his cholesterol these days.

“
I’m the host,” Evan said with a wide smile. His eyes shined like quicksilver in the early morning light. “I won’t eat until all of my guests are satisfied.”

Tyler, Fred, and Mike apparently had no qualms about digging in without him. Muttering approval, they sat down cross-legged on the floor and ate and drank with gusto. In the corner by the kitchen door was a huge aluminum industrial urn filled with steaming coffee. Jeff was surprised he hadn’t noticed the smell of it brewing when he had been lying there awake.

Maybe he had slept a little. He still didn’t feel rested.

“
So,” Tyler said as he tore off a piece of toast and mopped up egg yolk from his plate. “What’s on tap for today?”

“
Whatever we want,” Evan said with a shrug. He turned his attention to the sizzling eggs and flipped them over.

“
How about first we take a tour of the old camp grounds,” Fred said.

“
Gonna have to, to work off these calories,” Mike said before stuffing some more bacon into his mouth. “I haven’t eaten like this in … years.”

“
Gotta watch that cholesterol,” Tyler said.

“
Fuck cholesterol. I gotta die of something.”

Jeff caught the quick glance Evan shot at him and wondered if there was any meaning behind it.

“
No, seriously,” Fred said after swallowing what was in his mouth.

Tyler chuckled and said, “My wife’s got me on this low fat diet. She’s got me eating so much goddamned fiber I practically shit sawdust.”

Jeff didn’t eat until Evan did. They shared the last batch of bacon, eggs, toast, orange juice, and coffee while the other guys lazed around, slurping their second cups of coffee. Fred slipped outside to have a cigarette on the front steps even though Evan and everyone else said it was okay if he wanted to smoke in the building. Fred said he was used to being ostracized and went outside anyway.

Once everyone was finished with the meal, they carried their plates and utensils down to the lakeside to wash them. Jeff volunteered to clean the frying pan, which was a big, black, heavy piece of cast iron. He dipped it into the water a few times, watching a rainbow swirl of grease fan out across the surface. Then he took a handful of sand and started scrubbing it. The grating sound set his teeth on edge.

“
Make sure you dry that, too,” Evan said, watching him carefully as though the frying pan was a prized possession. “That’s cast iron. It’ll rust if you don’t dry it completely.”

Jeff was tempted to tell him he already knew that, but he let it drop. He didn’t like the way he still bristled at Evan, resentful at feeling as though he was bossing him around like he had when they were little. Kneeling beside the water’s edge with tiny waves lapping the sandy shore, he stared over to the far shore of the mainland as he scrubbed. The sun had long since cleared the horizon. The sky was a deep, rich blue that hurt his eyes to look at. Out on the lake, the water was gray and riffled by the wind. It looked like corrugated steel. The camp was in a sheltered cove, so they were protected from the westerly wind.