In the Midst of Tribulation Read online

  "You're reading my mind, darling." Susan replied, running her hand down Martha's back and cupping her firm buttocks. "I'd like to get my hands on your skin." Giving the butt of her lover a final pat, she turned to go fetch the bathing supplies.

  Martha called Cody and Carol over. "Hey, guys. Why don't you watch the fire while your Mom and I go down to the stream?"

  Carol blushed as she thought of her parents bathing. "The water is awful cold," she warned.

  "Hmm, that may put a damper on things." Martha ruffled Cody's hair as she walked past him to join her partner for a trek down the hillside.

  The youngsters sat down around the campfire and just stared into the flames. It took too much energy to do anything but blink tiredly.

  "Yo, the camp," Piper called out a short while later as she approached. She raised her fist. Dangling from it were two brown rabbits. "We're lucky tonight."

  "Man, I'm getting sick of rabbit," Cody complained.

  Doris glared at him. "You should be grateful. We've had more meat on this journey than in the past year."

  "I know. I just wish we could have a bigger variety."

  Eva retorted. "It's better than squirrel."

  "You've got that right," Martha agreed as she and Susan returned to the camp, their hair wet and ardor temporarily cooled.

  "I saw a doe," Piper offered. She placed the bow and arrows near her backpack and pulled out a sharpening stone. "She was about a half mile back. I could probably pick up her trail again."

  "No. Right now we would waste too much of it." Taking the rabbits, Martha handed them to her adopted son. "Since you opened your mouth, you get to clean them."

  "Try and keep the fur in one piece this time," Carol joked. "Nobody is going to trade for holey pelts."

  "Carol, I'm sure I can find something for you to do if you have nothing better to do than torment your brother," Susan warned. She balanced the pot of water on the grill and began to sift through their dwindling supplies. Finding a few soft potatoes, she quartered them and added them to the pot with several wild onions they had picked yesterday.

  When Doris stepped up for a closer look, Susan shook her head. "We don't have much left."

  "I hope your friend is feeling generous."

  Piper looked up from cleaning her knife. "We could always have stone soup."

  "Stone soup?" asked Eva.

  "Don't you know the story?" All three of the teenagers shook their heads. Their eyes were big as the usually taciturn woman began to tell them the fable.

  "See, this beggar came to a town during a famine. Everyone was hoarding food and they said they didn't have anything to give to him to eat. He said no problem, that all he wanted was stone soup and, in fact, he was going to make enough for everyone to share." Piper put down the knife and sharpening stone. Using her hands, she mimicked stirring the pot. "He pulled out a big cauldron and filled it with water. He made a pretty big production of pulling out his special magic stone and adding it to the water. For a while he just stirred, occasionally tasting the soup and smacking his lips. Intrigued, the villagers came closer. He casually mentioned that once he had stone soup with salt, pepper and paprika and it was the best he had ever had. An old woman stepped up and offered him some spices. He thanked her and stirred some more. He warned them that the soup might be a little thin, as he has been using the same stone for a week. Perhaps if someone had a little barley, that would make it all right. And, lo and behold, one of the villagers found that he had a double handful. After more tasting, the beggar began to reminisce about other pots of soup he had made better with just a little potato, diced into the soup to give it a robust flavor. One of the farmers remembered about a couple of potatoes in his basement and those were added. Slowly and surely, as the pot simmered, more and more folks found things they could spare. Someone had a scrap of meat, another had some carrots, and someone else brought forth an onion. Soon, all the villagers had added their portion to the pot. When he finally served the soup, everyone declared it to be the best thing they had ever tasted. The beggar just sat and absorbed the praise because it was the truth."

  "I heard that it was a lost soldier," Doris said.

  Susan sighed. "It doesn't matter whether the main character is a peddler, a vagrant or a soldier. The point is that individually, we might have very little to spare. Once we combine our efforts or our supplies, we can work miracles."

  "He deceived them into giving up their food. How can that be a good thing?"

  "Sometimes you have to fool people into doing what's right." Martha winked at Piper. "Of course, we wouldn't know anything about that."

  "So, is Jay the villagers or the beggar?" Cody asked as he handed the quartered rabbit to his mother.

  "Jay? She is one of the most open handed people I've ever met. You do remember her, don't you?"

  "I sort of remember playing around during the summer." Cody flicked his long bangs out of his eyes. "I haven't really let myself think of the time before."

  Martha reached over and squeezed his knee. "I know, buddy. It's better not to dwell."

  "Anyway, she and Harmony had all of you up several times before the war. I was working all the time and needed a place for you three to go when you were out of school for the summer."

  "I remember swimming in their pond."

  "Good."

  "It will probably be dry," said Doris with a sniff.

  "I doubt it. The mountain has a spring fed stream."

  "Tell me more about them."

  "They've both got hearts of gold." Susan set the meat on the grill for a quick sear. Turning the pieces with her knife, she added, "I don't think we are going to need to trick them into taking us in."

  "How did you meet, mom?" Carol asked.

  "We played soccer together in the women's league." She smiled at the memory. To have time dedicated to leisure or play was now as far away from their current lives as the moon. "When we moved out of that apartment in the Mission, I found another team and then we stayed best friends. We made much better friends than lovers."

  Doris coughed. "She's your ex-lover? Did you know about that?" she asked Martha.

  "I knew Jay because we worked together when she first moved to the Bay Area. I met Susan much later when I taught that self defense class."

  "You were seeing them both?" Doris asked, aghast.

  "Absolutely not. Jay and I were hardly ever serious and, besides, it was over long before I ever asked my instructor out for a cup of coffee." Susan tossed the browned meat into the simmering water. She stirred the pot and sat down near her partner.

  "To think I almost declined."

  "You knew a good thing when you saw it." Susan picked up Martha's right foot. "Let me look at your heel while we still have some light. Why don't you check your boot?"

  "Good idea." Reaching down to the other side of the stump, Martha picked up the shoe and loosened the laces. Running her fingers along the insole, she could feel a raised place on the heel. She couldn't get a grip with her short nails and pulled out her knife. When she pulled the insole up, there was a hollow in the shoe.

  "What have you got?" Cody asked.

  "I don't know." She worked a folded piece of paper out of the recess and gently opened it. Reading it carefully, Martha shook her head. "It's a deed to a plot of land."

  "Where?" Doris demanded. "Maybe we should go there instead."

  "It doesn't belong to us."

  "More so to us than to a dead man. How far is it from here?"

  Susan stood up. "Enough. We're going to Jay's place. If we find that there is a problem, we can consider other options later."

  "She's right. This doesn't change anything." Martha placed the refolded document in the pocket of her windbreaker. Standing up, she walked to the edge of camp and pulled up some grass to stuff into the hole in her boot. "All it's done is give me a blister."

  Piper stretched and asked, "Is dinner ready? I'm starved."

  "Yep. Everyone have the bowls out?" Susan asked as sh
e started to ladle out the stew. "After chores tonight, we should turn in. I know it's early but we're all tired."

  "We seem to be walking the same amount," Eva stated. "Why am I so wiped out?"

  "We've been hiking up hill. We are quite a ways above sea level now and it's just going to get higher."

  "Piper, you take first watch and I'll take second." Martha chewed a piece of rabbit. "Thanks for doing the hunting."

  "No problem." The dark haired woman slurped the rest of the liquid from her bowl and went down the hill from the creek to wash her dishes and get ready for the night. She decided to patrol the area around the south side of the camp until dark. After that, she would walk up and down the road until her relief.

  The group fell quickly to their evening tasks and crashed in their tents in exhausted slumber. They dreamed of journeys end and hoped that the next day's march would bring them closer to a safe haven.

  Chapter Three - Abide With Us

  Abide with us; with heav'nly gladness

  Illumine, Lord, our darkest day;

  And when we weep in pain and sadness,

  Be Thou our Solace, Strength and Stay.

  Words: Henry F. Lyte, 1847. Music: "Eventide," William H. Monk, 1861

  The afternoon sun was burning down on her head as Susan tried to recollect her last trip up this road, almost seven years ago. She had driven up here to pick up her three kids after they had spent a summer with their honorary aunt. At the time, her biggest worry had been if she was going to be able to get to able to get back into town before the grocery store closed. A big account had dropped in her lap and, instead of having the weekend off; she had to return to the office the next morning to work on the new ad campaign.

  Everything about those days seemed slightly surreal to her life now. She thought about all the things that once were the mainstay of her daily existence. Commonplace things like taking the kids to after school activities, driving around to find the cheapest gas and celebrating convenient parking spaces when she went shopping in Piedmont and Berkeley. Walking along the ruined highway five years after the end of everything she had known had given her a new sense of normalcy.

  "How's it going, babe?"

  Susan growled in frustration, "Do you have any idea how hard it is to translate the difference between driving and walking the same road?"

  "I don't envy you." Martha took her hand and they smiled at one another. "Does anything seem familiar?"

  "Not really."

  "Why don't you try and remember the things she told you to look for when she gave you directions?"

  "You know, that's a good idea. Jay always did pepper her maps with numerous landmarks." Susan grimaced. "Things have changed, there is so much more overgrowth. We might have already missed the turn off."

  "You really think so?"

  "I don't know. I'm just so frustrated."

  "Don't work yourself into a lather. Just let the memories come to you," advised Martha. "We haven't passed it yet, trust yourself." The taller woman squeezed her hand gently.

  Wracking her brain for scenery clues, she recalled that there was a tiny rest area at the foot of Jay's mountain. She began to describe it to her partner when she spied the remains of a small building just off the road.

  "Hey, everyone. Hold up a second." Susan practically bounded across the decrepit bridge. She walked around the ruins and saw an overgrown driveway leading up the side of a mountain. She came racing back. "I think this might be it."

  Doris crossed her arms. "Might or is?"

  "Look, it's been a long time. I'm as close to positive as I can be." She took off her cap and ran her fingers through her hair. "Guys, what do you think?"

  Cody and Carol looked at one another. "Mom, it was a long time ago," Cody began. "It could be. I don't remember."

  "Yeah, we were just here to enjoy the summer, not to think about how to find it again. Sorry."

  "What was this place?" asked Doris.

  "The last rest stop before you entered Trinity National Park." Susan answered absently as she surveyed the area. "Why don't we bring the cart over here and I'll go up and look. If it isn't the right place, we can still camp here tonight."

  Doris looked at the sky. "We could go a little farther."

  "No, Susan's right. We're all pretty tired and we haven't seen anybody today. I think it would be safe." Martha hoped over the bridge and lean her gun and backpack against a convenient sapling. "Ready to heave?" she asked the group around the cart.

  "On three," Cody said. "One, two…three."

  Working in tandem, they maneuvered the two-wheeled cart over the broken bridge and into the shadows at the side of the building. Susan left her group relaxing in the shade and headed up to see if there was anyone or anything up the road to welcome them.

  She stepped over the rusty chain that was stretched across the bottom of the weed choked gravel road. She walked forward around the bend and stopped in dismay. Blocking the road was a ten-foot section of concrete pipe. It was taller she was and she had to scramble around the open end that hung off the edge of the cliff.

  Not very fond of heights at the best of times, she didn't look down as she made the traverse. She was breathing hard as she wiped her hands on her shorts and continued up the road. The path wound its way under the Douglas firs and redwoods. Her footsteps muffled by the rich red dirt, Susan shook her head at a rusty, bullet hole riddled sign with its warning against trespassing.

  Coming to a three-way fork, she was overwhelmed with memories of long ago visits. Shaking her head clear, she chose the middle direction. Following it around the first turn, she was surprised to suddenly be on pavement. Striding up its wandering course up the mountain, she arrived at a two broken down columns blocking the entrance. She climbed over the bricks and went forward to the house she could see ahead of her.

  Before she reached it, three large dogs suddenly surrounded her. Disconcertingly, they didn't bark. They just circled around her in malevolent silence. She held out her hands but they didn't come close enough to sniff.

  "May I help you?"

  Susan started at the voice. She looked up to see a woman of medium build with short black hair that was starting to gray staring at her. The woman was holding a crossbow pointed in her general direction.

  Despite the threat, she couldn't help the smile that drifted across her face. "Have I changed so much, Jay?"

  The woman took several steps closer. "Should I know you?" She studied the smaller woman for several minutes before her eyes widened in recognition. "Susan?"

  "Yeah."

  "Wow."

  "Same here."

  "I'm glad to see you survived."

  "You too."

  "My god but you're a sight for sore eyes."

  The two of them smiled for several minutes, drinking in the sight of one another. "After coming all this way, do you suppose I could I get a hug?" Susan finally asked, hesitantly.

  Jay ordered the dogs to relax and they all plopped down on the ground with their tongues lolling out. The two women embraced. Under the dabbled shade from the overhanging trees, they took simple comfort from each other's arms.

  "Where's tall, dark, and dangerous?" Jay asked as she released her.

  "I left her with the others at the bottom of the hill."

  "Others?"

  "Yeah." Susan didn't know where to start. "Um, well."

  "Sounds like there's a story there." Jay stated dryly. At Susan's hesitant nod, she said, "All right. Come into the house. It sounds like we've got a few things to talk about." Jay put her arm around Susan's shoulder and pulled her forward. She made a motion with her other hand and said "Watch," to the dogs. With doggie smiles, they left their supine positions on the ground to range around the yard.

  Jay led her old friend into the two storey stone house. The coolness was a welcome contrast to the heat of the day. A massive fireplace dominated the open living and dining area. The sofa, armchairs, and dining room table with room eight chairs seemed to take u
p very little of the available space.

  As they walked through to the kitchen, Susan felt almost angry. "This place doesn't seem to have changed much." Susan was surprised by the bitterness in her voice.

  "It's true. We didn't see much action up here." Jay responded mildly.

  "I don't know what I expected but it wasn't this." Spreading her arms, Susan indicated the calm, quiet interior.

  "Wasn't I always trying to convince you to expect the unexpected?"