Pride's Prejudice (7 page)

"Do
you think she needs medical attention?"  The man in the uniform
asked.

Les
bit his bottom lip, and looked vastly relieved to see Beth walking toward
him.  "What do you think, Beth?  Is she getting worse?  I
thought she felt a bit warm this morning."

"Well,
she is in a lot of pain, but I don't think it's too serious.  We do need
to get her home as soon as possible, though."

"Well,
that's the problem, miss," the ranger interrupted.  "There was a
mudslide early this morning after all the rain last night, and the mouth of the
canyon is completely blocked.  No one coming in or going out."

"What?! 
How are we supposed to get her home?"  Beth felt hysterics coming on.

Les
looked thoughtful.  "How long before the mouth of the canyon is
open?"

"It'll
be at least two days to get it cleared, barring any more storms like the last
one.  In the meantime, I have a first aid kit in the jeep.  We can
wrap her ankle and at least give her something for the pain."

As the
ranger went to his jeep for the first aid kit, William trudged back into camp,
a few trout swaying from his fishing line.  Beth almost burst out laughing
at the sight of him in his fishing hat.  It was all wrong; like a GAP
model milking a cow.  He glanced up at her briefly and then back down
again, as if she hadn't been there at all.  He walked over to the picnic
table and very unceremoniously plopped the trout on the table next to
Kara.  She jumped and shrieked.

"What
is
that?"

"These
are called fish, Kara.  Tonight's dinner, actually.  Unless you had
something else planned?"  William feigned innocence, his eyes
swiveling from Kara to Lucy.  Beth had to suppress the urge to laugh.

"Oooooh! 
Is that salmon, William?  I
love
salmon."

William
rolled his eyes.  "No, Lucy, it's trout.  And, just so you
know," he added, eyeing the two heaps of crumbs atop the griddle,
"you're supposed to use this handy little spray on the griddle before
cooking pancakes on it."  He set a can of Pam cooking spray on the
table between them.  "Helps it not to stick."  He turned
his back on them and grinned, a very satisfied expression on his face.

When
William's eyes lighted on Beth's and she couldn't decipher his expression, she
looked away.

"Oh,
and make sure you get all the bones out of the fish," William charged the
girls.

Les
beckoned William over to meet the ranger, who recounted his mudslide narrative,
while Beth snuck into their midst to grab the first aid kit and then hurried to
Jenna.

After
wrapping an ace bandage around Jenna's ankle, applying a cold pack, and giving
her some pain killers, Beth rummaged in her back pack and was relieved to find
a chocolate bar and half a can of Pringles left.

"Sorry
Jenna, this is all I could come up with.  Kara and Lucy attempted
pancakes, but I don't think either of them aced HOMEC."  She propped
Jenna up with some pillows so she could eat, then handed her the Pringles can.

Jenna
sighed, her pale eyes fluttering in exhaustion as she munched.  She had
only made it through one chip when she snapped the lid back on the can. 
"I think I'm getting a cold.  My throat's sore."  With
that, she snuggled down in the sleeping bag and turned onto her side.

Worry
bubbled up in Beth's chest.  People didn't die from sprained ankles, did
they?  She thought of the ridiculous television shows her father watched
on the weekends -
Testosterone Vs. Nature
and the like.  Beth could
never tolerate the staged drama of the whole thing.  It always seemed so
preposterous.  But if she'd paid attention once or twice maybe she
could've fashioned a splint out of twigs and vines or something.  Of
course, it would be no surprise if Jenna ended up with a head cold.  She
had been soaked through yesterday.  Sighing, Beth watched Jenna for a
moment before quietly slipping out of the tent.  At least the injury had
been wrapped and medication had been given.  Hopefully with some quality
rest, she would be okay soon.

After
restoring the kit to the ranger, Beth decided to try and be of some use around
camp.  She dumped the water out of the camp chairs, leaving them topsy
turvy to dry while she disposed of the crumb heap on the table and gathered
trash around camp, tossing it into the fire pit.  Then she nipped quietly
into the tent for her novel, noting with pleasure that Jenna slept
peacefully.  Before she could zip the tent closed, Kara and Lucy met her
at the door.

"How
is our poor little patient, Beth?"  Kara's tone of earnest concern
brought Beth up short.  Had the moon's gravitational pull on the earth
been disrupted, upsetting the earth's axis and inciting odd behavior?

"She's
getting a cold, but I think she'll be okay - she just needs rest." 
Beth hoped they would get the point from her overly quiet tone.

"
Poor
thing,
" Lucy crooned, a hand splayed across her heart in
empathy.  Her concern didn't come off as well as Kara's.  Beth
decided that Lucy was probably more sincere and that Kara was simply the better
actress.

Lucy
stood in her show of concern, but Kara had a devastated expression as she
looked beyond Beth, into the tent.  Beth scowled and followed her line of
vision, not understanding the sudden change in her countenance.

"Beth,"
Kara began sweetly, finally tearing her tortured face away from the tent door
and rearranging it into a hospitable grimace, "you really should bunk up
in our tent tonight.  I can't believe the four of you squashed up like
that in there last night.  Lucy and I have air mattresses; I'm sure we
could work something out."

'Working
something out' would most likely mean trading her bed on the floor of this tent
for a bed on the floor of theirs, but Beth kept this observation to herself.

"I'd
probably better stay in here with Jenna.  Can you imagine Les trying to
help her to the outhouse in the middle of the night?"

The
silence was awkward, to say the least.  Beth stole a surreptitious glance
into the tent but could see nothing offensive - just Jenna cocooned in her
bedroll, Les's blanketwich next to her, and then Beth and William's
things.  Had she seen the empty Pringles can and the chocolate wrapper?

"I'm
tired, Lucy," Kara announced abruptly.  "Let's get some rest so
we can help with Jenna when she wakes up."

"Jenna's
probably contagious, anyway," Lucy agreed.

Kara
glared at Lucy, presumably for blowing her altruistic cover.  Then she
hooked Lucy by the arm and hauled her off in the direction of their
palace-tent.

We
have a regular Mother Theresa on our hands,
Beth thought wryly as
she zipped up the tent and wandered over to the fire pit.

The
up-ended chairs had dried and been righted, and Les sat in one of them, looking
dazed and worried.  Beth, deciding that Les was the only person she could
remotely tolerate at the moment, pulled up another chair and seated herself
beside him.  The self-same instant he launched an assault of inquiries
about Jenna.  Once he was finally out of verbal ammo he fell silent and
thoughtful.

William
was at the picnic table gutting and cleaning the trout.  Beth wondered
what Kara's reaction would be if she found a slimy pile of fish entrails on her
pillow.  Would asking William for the innards raise any suspicions?

"Les,
how long have you known William?" Beth asked in a low voice.

"I
guess it's been about five years now.  We were roommates in college. 
Complete opposites," he admitted, grinning.  "I majored in art
and he majored in finance."

Beth
smiled at Les's confession.  "You're still good friends, after all
this time, though.  I guess opposites attract."

Les
shrugged, smiling.

 "What's
his family like?"

"He
just has one sister, Gianna.  Both his parents passed away before I met
him."

"What
happened?"

"His
mother died when he was really young….she got sick or something.  His
father just died a few years back…..a heart attack, I think."  Les
looked as though the gears in his mind were creaking with the effort of calling
up the details.  "Anyway, since then he's had legal guardianship of
Gianna.  He takes good care of her.  She goes to some kind of private
school for girls, so during the school year William kind of travels
around."

"How
old is she?"

"She
just turned seventeen, I think."

"That
makes William……?"

"He's
twenty-six, a year older than me."

"Hm,"
was all Beth said.  A few minutes later, "What does he do?  I
mean for work?"

"He's
an investment banker - independent.  He's been working from my
house.  He has an office in New York, though, and an apartment - where
Gianna comes home for holidays and that sort of thing."

Beth's
eyes fell on William as she digested the information.  As if she'd called
his name he glanced up, doing a double take when he took in the continuity of
her gaze.  She looked away casually, glad to hear Les talk about something
else.

"Jenna
says you guys have known each other practically your whole lives."

"Pretty
much.  She moved to our town when we were four."  William joined
them now, drying his hands with a paper towel.

"You
must know everything about each other, then," Les said, looking hopeful.

"Ooooh,
yes.  No secrets."

"Typical. 
That's how all girls are," William piped up, plopping into the chair on
Les's far side.  He closed his eyes and leaned back, as if trying to take
a cat nap.  "They're not happy unless they're talking."  He
unscrewed a bottle of water and took a drink.  "Blah-blah, blah-blah,
blah."

Les
passed a hand over his eyes.

Any
discomfiture Beth felt melted away as her irritation flared up.  "I
agree completely," she began airily.  "Bonding time is
much
better served over Sports Center and X-box with a hand down your pants."

William
opened his eyes and let his head loll forward.  Looking directly at Beth,
he said, "You need two hands for X-box."

When
Beth's affected indifference melted into a glare, his face split into a wide
grin.  A grin that showcased his perfect white teeth and made his dark
eyes dance.

"Your
serve," he prompted, still smiling.

When
Beth didn't answer, William sat back in triumph.  Holding up his hand he
ticked off his fingers one by one.  "Game.  Set.  Match,
sweetheart."  Then he winked.

Beth
stood.  "This has been fun, boys, but I'm going to check on the
invalid."

~:~

William
watched Beth's progress to the tent with a smirk.

"Dude."
Les said in an accusatory tone.  "You're shooting yourself in the
foot."

"Nope,"
William said in a firm tone, swigging his water generously.  "I'm
coming in at an angle."

"You
honestly think she's ever going to like you if you keep this up?"

"I'm
not onto the 'liking' phase of my plan yet.  Right now I'm on 'getting her
attention even if it's negative.'"

"She's
going to hate you," Les said candidly.

"She
already does.  But love and hate have a common denominator: 
passion."

Les
just shook his head.

"Oh,
go back to your angelically passive girlfriend, and leave me alone,"
William said somewhat grumpily, shoving Les's head.

"Better
not," he laughed, running his fingers through his hair.  "Beth
might come out here and kill you if I leave you alone."

William's
head tilted in concurrence.  "There's no might about it."

STARGAZING

"Those
who do not complain are never pitied."

~Jane
Austen, Pride & Prejudice

Beth
spent the remainder of the afternoon in the tent with Jenna, reading her book
after pulling its sodden pages apart.  Jenna's nap spanned several hours,
and Beth came to the last chapter when she woke.  As sorry as she was for
Jenna, she was somewhat glad to have an excuse to stay in the tent, rather than
mingle with the rest of the happy campers outside.  When she finally
ventured outside around dusk, she found everyone except Les in a bad mood.

Kara
and Lucy were uncomfortable, and did not scruple to keep their complaints to
themselves.  Gone were the barely audible whispers and the secretive
huddling.  The high point in the evening came when Kara choked on a fish
bone and Les had to perform the Heimlich maneuver.  Maybe William had
purposely left a few bones in.  As soon as her airway was cleared, Kara
robustly expressed her displeasure that fish were not boneless, and continued
to abuse the poor vertebrate creatures all night.  ("What do they
need spines for?  They have fins!")

At
that point William declared his intention of turning in, and Beth was certain
that, had he been the only other person besides Kara in the camp, she very
likely would have choked to death.

Beth
waited over an hour after he left, then followed.  No one was awake when
she finally climbed in her knapsack, for which she was grateful.

The
next day passed relatively uneventfully.  Les and William went fishing for
a couple of hours, and as Kara and Lucy found themselves quite bored during
this time, they visited Jenna at the sick tent, bringing a deck of cards and
some of Kara's homemade cookies.  Beth took one to be polite and had to
exert a great amount of self-control not to spew it all over the tent. 
She guessed that Kara had perhaps substituted flour for sugar.  They were
the texture of lumpy concrete and tasted about the same (not that she'd ever
actually eaten concrete).  Beth shrewdly saved Jenna (and her teeth) by
telling Kara that she was allergic to gluten.

The
swelling in Jenna's ankle went down considerably, although her cold was as bad
as ever - but Beth could tell she was feeling better.  The four girls
played a couple games of spades, and when Les and William returned (bearing
more fish, much to Kara's dismay) everyone, Jenna included, grouped around the
campfire.  Les assisted Jenna into a camp chair and propped up her ankle,
then sat faithfully at her side.

Beth,
lacking the patience to deal with Kara and William by herself, felt immensely
grateful to Jenna for joining them.  Jenna's being beside her, and looking
better than she had in days, made Beth feel light and free.  Even William,
lobbing imaginary tennis balls up in the air and then spiking them in her
direction, couldn't douse her mood.

After
a dinner of roasted hot dogs and potato chips, the chocolate, marshmallows, and
graham crackers came out for s'mores.  Beth was quite amused to see that
in Kara's attempts to captivate William's attention, she kept char-broiling her
marshmallows until they resembled chunks of coal.  She would peel the
blackened skin off, only to stick the gooey innards of her marshmallow back
into the coals and pull out another briquette.  Kara had finally gone to
her tent fuming when Lucy, trying to extinguish her own marshmallow by waving
it around in the air, accidentally launched the charred goo into Kara's
hair.  That was the marshmallow that snapped the roaster, so to speak.

Beth's
first impression of Kara at the quad movie had been that she was calculating,
artful, even smart.  She decided that the assumption may have been a
little too generous.

The
recollection drew her eyes to William, and she found him staring up into the
night sky.  She looked up as well, awed to see billions of pin-pricks of
light peaking through the expanse of blackness.  The moon was nearly full,
casting a luminous silvery glow over everything.  She could even make out
one of the arms of the Milky-Way, and thought she spotted Jupiter, set high in
the sky with a steady peach glimmer, almost directly above them.  Her
stargazing was interrupted when she heard Jenna laughing; the sound was like
discovering an endangered species.  Searching for the cause of Jenna's
glee, Beth saw Les strumming a guitar, attempting
You Are My Sunshine
for Jenna.  Beth smiled broadly - likely first authentic smile she had
allowed herself in days.

When
Les finished, Jenna and Beth applauded enthusiastically.  Kara and Lucy
rejoined the group after taming the marshmallow-streaked tresses into a
baseball cap.  It actually suited Kara quite well.  Beth watched her
for a moment, deciding that she could be pretty if she didn't try so
hard.  Then her eyes shifted a fraction to the left, and found William
scrutinizing her with a look that was part amused, part…..something she
couldn't name.  Their eye contact was broken when Les, in response to
something Jenna said, bounced over to Beth with guitar in hand.

"Why
didn't you tell us you played?!" he accused, holding the instrument out to
her.

"Oh,
no - that's okay," Beth tried to refuse, but Les wasn't having it.

"Please,
Beth," he begged.  "Jenna told me how good you are."

"Maybe
she's just got stage fright," Kara suggested innocently.  "You
really have to have a lot of self-confidence to perform in public."

Any
reservations Beth harbored died quickly and painlessly.  Cause of
death:  Kara trying to show her up and William's smirk.  Fueled by
adrenaline and a desire to prove them both wrong about her, she took the guitar
and plopped back in her chair.

She
began tuning the guitar absently while mentally flipping through the songs in
her musical arsenal.  Strongly considering something by Alanis
Morrissette, and almost settling on
You're So Vain
by Carly Simon, she
finally chose a folk song from her childhood. 
Moonshadow
by Cat
Stevens.  Her father used to sing it to her when she couldn't fall asleep,
or when a bad dream made it impossible to go back to bed.  Beth strummed
softly for a few bars, and then she began singing.

I'm
being followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
And if I ever lose my hands
Lose my plough, lose my land
Oh, if I ever lose my hands - Oh, if...
I won't have to work no more

Her
voice grew stronger as the song progressed, and she strummed louder.  A
sense of peace settle over her as she remembered clamoring onto her father's
lap in her flannel night gown.  Suddenly it didn't matter that she was
baring her soul for people who despised her.

And if
I ever lose my eyes
If my colors all run dry
And if I ever lose my eyes - Oh,
I won't have to cry no more
Yes, I'm being followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Leaping and hopping on a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
And if I ever lose my legs
I won't moan and I won't beg
Oh if I ever lose my legs - Oh if...
I won't have to walk no more
And if I ever lose my mouth
All my teeth, north and south
Yes, if I ever lose my mouth - Oh if...
I won't have to talk...

She
let her eyes settle on William during the bridge, wanting to make sure he knew
that he didn't affect her.  But in place of the self-pleased expression
she'd anticipated, she found him watching her solemnly with dark eyes. 
When his expression progressed to discomfit and then pain she continued,
pleased with herself.

Did it
take long to find me?
I ask the faithful light
Did it take long to find me?
And are you going to stay the night?
I'm being followed by a moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow
Moon shadow, moon shadow

As she
finished, applause broke out from Jenna and Les, and she couldn't help
smiling.  Lucy could have been a bystander at a golf tournament for all
her clapping, and Kara looked remarkably like a deer in the headlights, wearing
the same devastated expression she'd had outside the tent  earlier. 
William sat rooted to his camp chair, looking positively uncomfortable and possibly
even nauseous.  So, she'd done it.  She'd gotten through William
Darcy's bravado and unsettled him.  The impression was confirmed when he
stood abruptly and strode out of camp, vanishing into the hulking trees.

It was
clear he couldn't stand her.  He didn't scruple to conceal his dislike for
her the way Kara and Lucy did.  In a way, she had a certain appreciation,
if not respect, for his honesty.

Kara
and Lucy retired to their tent complaining of violent fatigue (code for their
urgent need to gossip), and Jenna looked tired and spent.  Les had eyes
for no one else as he swept Jenna up into his arms and carried her to the tent.

Beth
stared into the fire for several minutes, then began picking another tune on
the guitar. 
Might as well get a practice in,
she told
herself. 
Maybe I'll be drowsy enough for bed after.
  Twenty
minutes later, she was as far from tired as she was from being BFFs with
Kara.  She carefully propped the instrument against the empty chair beside
her, and leaned back to take in the show of stars.  It occurred to her
that she might be able to see more of them away from the firelight, so she
stood and stretched.  Then she left camp, walking opposite the direction
William had gone.  It simply would not do to run into him.

~:~

William
strolled along the bank of the river, taking his time getting back to camp.
 A cool breeze had picked up, teasing the leaves into a rustle.  The
moonlight was brilliant, casting a cool blue glow over everything.  The
water, dark in some places but luminescent in others, broke over the protruding
rocks with patient splashing.  He had traced almost a complete circle
around camp, leaving in a northern direction, and coming back in from the
south.  Now he stood in the same place he'd been when Beth had shown up two
days ago.

The
very recollection of the sight of her tonight still stopped his heart for a
beat or two; Beth strumming the guitar, her face bathed in a golden glow from
the fire and her long, dark hair falling around her face and shoulders in thick
waves; and her
voice.
  There were no words to describe it.  It
was lower in pitch, soft and somewhat raspy.  When the song began he'd
been brewing up a snarky comment to deliver after, like 'who sings
that…..?  Oh, you should let them.'  But afterward, he couldn't even
bring himself to look at her, let alone speak.  He could only walk away,
the tightness in his chest making it impossible to draw breath.  The only
other thing that made William feel so powerless - well, it wasn't something he
liked to think about.

Feathery
steps whispered in the leaves, pulling him from his dark thoughts.  A
shadow approached, silhouetted against the rushing liquid onyx of the river.

~:~

Beth
didn't know what had drawn her toward the river.  Maybe she needed its
rushing to fill her and flood out all the other sounds in her head.  Maybe
it was the attraction of throwing off all restraint without regard for the
consequences.  Maybe it was the savage pleasure of knowing she'd offended
William to the point that he couldn't be within ten feet of her.

Beth's
thoughts were broken up by a gust of frigid wind blasting her in the
face.  She wished she would have brought some kind of jacket.  Then
again, if she had known she would be stranded in the first place, she would
have perhaps thought to bring extra clothes as well.  And more
chocolate.  Tilting her head to look up into the black expanse of the sky,
she was thrilled to see twice as many stars as she had by the fire.  She
spotted Jupiter with its yellowish glow again, and looked around for other
planets.  The astronomy website she often visited had said that Venus and
Saturn could be seen somewhere in the west at this time of year.

As she
stepped closer to the river, her eyes fell on the rushing water and she made a
mental note to not fall in.  It was then that she heard her name whispered
from the shadows.  Knowing that she was completely alone, this startled
her and she lost her footing and fell, splashing into the icy water.