RUNNING SCARED CHAPTER IV


“I appreciate all your help, Aaron,” I said. “I’ll get my things out of your way, but it may take me a couple of trips to get it into town.” I realized it was the first time I’d had a chance to size him up. He was wearing sunglasses and a khaki baseball hat. He was a compact man, lean and maybe a couple inches taller than my 5 feet, 5 inches.

“No problem,” he said, turning away from my scrutiny. “Let me help you pack it out. That way it will take just one trip.”

“You’ve done too much already,” I protested.

“So sue me,” he said and ducked into the cleft in the tree. I could hear him securing the ladder. He thrust the garbage bag of my things toward me, and efficiently loaded up the tent and stove into his backpack. I watched as he turned around and put a pile of animal scat near the entrance to the tree.

“Won’t that attract animals?” I asked.

“It’s been treated with an animal repellant, and most people will find it repellant as well.” A faint smile teased at his mouth.

“Wait,” I said, “here’s your key.” He took it and tucked it into a shirt pocket buttoning it in. I quickly stuffed as many of my things as I could into my backpack, carrying the bag with everything else in one hand.

“Okay,” he said, “where to?”

“Rose’s café,” I replied, “she’ll let me stow my things in her back room until I decide what I’m going to do next.” I started off down the trail and we walked in silence for a while. As we approached town I said, “How about I buy you breakfast?” I needed to find out as much as I could about the guys who had my campsite staked out. .

I thought he might refuse my offer, but he finally said, “It’s a deal.”

“I have some questions,” I warned.

“I’m not very good with answers,” he warned back, “but I’ll do what I can.”

At the back door of the café I said, “Wait here,” and shrugged my backpack onto the small picnic table. “Do you know what you want for breakfast?”

“Pancakes and black tea,” he said, taking a seat at the table.

I found Rose and got permission to stow my things as well as to work off the extra breakfast. I turned in the breakfast order, and Aaron and I transferred my things into a corner of the back room.

“I hope you don’t mind eating out back,” I said. I always tried to keep as low a profile as I could in town. Rose herself brought out our meals. I could see her bristling with curiosity. “Rose, this is Aaron. Aaron, Rose.” They nodded at each other and Rose went back inside. I knew I’d get third-degreed when next I saw her.

After we ate for a few minutes Aaron said, “So, who’s out to get you?”

He had caught me off guard. “I’m not at liberty to talk about that,” I said, feeling I’d phrased it awkwardly.

“I’m impressed,” he said. “That’s usually my line. So, what’s your question?”

“Questions,” I said. “First, what can you tell me about the guys who had my campsite staked out, and what does that mean?”

“It just means they were coming back from time to time to see who might be there. I’d usually see them early in the day, so I followed them from town this morning. Then I made sure they saw me take the tent down. I don’t think you’ll have any trouble with them again.” I asked if he knew who they were. “A couple of brothers, local teenagers looking for trouble,” he said. They’re known around here for petty theft and public drunkenness. Garden-variety bullies who are not interested in a real confrontation.” He paused and looked at me quizzically.

I sighed with relief and, changing the subject, said, “Your treehouse is wonderful. Thanks again for sharing it with me. But how do you know you can trust me not to talk about it.”

“Calculated risk,” he said taking off his sunglasses and giving me a penetrating stare. I noticed his eyes were blue. “Are you going to talk about it?”

“No, of course not,” I said defensively.

“That was my best guess.” He stacked his mug on his empty plate and started to get up. He looked ready to bolt, but paused with a half-smile on his face. “Looks like exchanging personal stories is out for both of us, so what’s left?”

“There’s always safe topics like religion and politics,” I said with a smile. “Do you want more tea?”

He considered the question for a moment. “Sure,” he said and settled back down.. By the time I returned with his tea he had disappeared. Somehow I wasn’t surprised.