Chapter 21

Seated atop his horse, Ed surveyed the canyon, taking in the geological features of the walls around him. Millions of years of geologic history were exposed for all to see. Geologically, his life would be represented as a dust speck on the wall of the canyon. It was humbling to think about it. Speaking aloud to no one in particular, Ed said, “By the Gods and Goddesses, this is magnificent.”

Nora, still not used to his openness about his feelings, nodded solemnly. It was a grand sight, as layer after layer of natural history was laid bare for all to see. As her horse moved a little under her, she replied, “Yes, it is.”

Having forgotten for a moment that he wasn’t alone, Ed turned to look at Nora. She was settled comfortably on her horse, adapting to the slight movements of the horse with natural adjustments that were unconscious. He asked, “Getting tired of riding?”

Shaking her head, she replied, “Not really. I can go another hour.”

“There’s a seep about a half an hour from here. We’ll camp there.”

She relaxed on the horse, relieved that they would be stopping soon. Five hours on horseback could be tough on the body, particularly when you weren’t used to riding that much. Odds were good that her ass would be sore the next morning. At least this wasn’t the first day of the trip, but nearly the last. Smiling, she said, “That would be perfect. I’ll admit that I’m worried about my ass getting a little sore.”

“Sorry about that. I didn’t realize that we would take that long to get back here.” They were about to end a very successful trip. She was amazed at how considerate Ed had been over the duration of the trip.

They started riding on through the canyon. It was another four hours to the mouth, but they would make that trip tomorrow. She watched the canyon floor from habit, a trick she had learned from Ed for finding good sites. After a few minutes of riding quietly, she said, “I have really enjoyed this trip. It’s so nice to get away from it all.”

“Yes, it is. There are times when I get so fed up with all of my responsibilities, that I just have to get out here into the desert.”

The entire trip had been spent with her avoiding discussions about their lives outside of rock hunting. Nora had hired a private investigator to check his background. Although she trusted Kim and her judgment, it was still a good idea to check up on someone that she was going to be alone with in the desert. She had been shocked when she learned about Ed and wondered how it was that she hadn’t known about him. She replied, “I know what you mean. You have no idea what it’s like to be a public figure. I’m surprised that we haven’t had a helicopter overhead trying to take pictures of us.”

Laughing, Ed said, “That’s why we are here. This is reservation land and the Chief holds absolute control over who comes on the land.”

Entering the reservation had been quite an experience for Nora. She was used to having people fawn all over her, but they had been practically indifferent to her presence. The people on the reservation had acted like Ed was some sort of holy man and treated him with the same kind of respect as they showed the Chief and the tribal Medicine Man. A couple had basically fallen all over themselves making sure that he was comfortable. Glancing at Ed, she asked, “Do they always treat you with that kind of respect?”

“I’m a member of the Carter Clan,” replied Ed as though that explained everything. As far as he was concerned it was explanation enough.

It didn’t tell her anything. She asked, “What does that mean?”

“John funded the Native American College.”

“There was a bit more than that in their treatment of you,” she countered.

“I’m a Druid. The Medicine Men of the tribes recognize us as holy men,” replied Ed.

It was easy to forget that he was a Druid out here. He was wearing blue jeans, western shirt, cowboy boots, and his hat. Sitting on his horse, he looked exactly like a cowboy, which made sense since her investigation had shown that he used to work as a cowboy. She replied, “It seems to me that you’ve known this particular tribe for a while.”

“Yes. We have a standing deal that I give them an equal share of the stones collected. That’s why I have insisted that we take three samples of each mineral we find. They like to sell them to the tourists at some of the trading post stores on the border of the reservation,” replied Ed.

“Why don’t they mine the stones themselves?”

Ed pulled up his horse and answered, “They don’t want to hurt the land.”

After pulling ahead of him, she pulled up her horse and turned to look at him. She asked, “So why do they let you look?”

“I don’t hurt the land. A few samples here and there is a far different thing than a mine.”

She sat there for a moment thinking about what he said. It made sense, but she knew that he was opening a mine. Rather than pursue the topic further, she turned to look around. She heard Ed climb off his horse and turned back to look at him as she asked, “What?”

“We’re here.”

She looked around and noticed the small patch of green plants along the canyon wall; a sure sign of a seep, a place where water collected under the ground. Digging a small hole there would give them access to the water, which they would use to water the horses. Ed had been careful to take them from seep to seep as they traveled. They were good places to camp as it made watering the horses much easier.

She climbed down and felt the muscles in her legs complain. Stretching, she said, “I’m going to be stiff tonight.”

In a teasing voice, Ed said, “We’ll turn you into a bow-legged cowgirl before long.”

Laughing, she replied, “That would kill my acting career.”

Looking over at her, Ed asked, “Is that a bad thing?”

The question shocked her. He was the first one to realize that her acting career was the hobby and collecting rocks was her passion. She looked over at him and said, “The pay is so good.”

“I bet that you spend most of your money leading a lifestyle that you detest.”

Shocked by his insights, she asked, “Why do you say that?”

Looking at the canyon walls around him, he said, “You are too comfortable here to be comfortable surrounded by lots of people.”

Stunned, she stared at him in disbelief. In one insightful sentence he had laid bare a fundamental truth that she had worked so hard to hide in California. She looked down at the ground and said, “True.”

“So what are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. I feel trapped by my job,” she answered. She owned a house that required her to work to continue the payments. Her clothes were expensive, often costing several thousand dollars for a single outfit. When you lead a lifestyle intended to impress, you hemorrhaged money faster than you could earn it.

“You can always sell your property and move out of that area after your next movie,” replied Ed.

“What about everyone that depends on me for a living?”

“Will they get other jobs? Would they stand beside you if your career started to fail?”

The question made her think about what she really wanted. Was she as trapped as she let people make her think she was? Would they stay with her if bad things happened? The answer to that last question was that the majority of people that leeched off her would be gone in a second. Maybe two people would be upset, but they would get on with their lives. She smiled as she looked at Ed and realized that his questions were exactly what she had needed to hear. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting her to answer as he had started to unsaddle the horses and set up camp.

The two went to work establishing a camp. She laid out the bedrolls and he set up the latrine. There wasn’t any significant amount of dead brush with which to build a fire for cooking. They could get a reasonable fire for lighting the night, but not to cook. After searching far and wide, Ed said, “Cold dinner tonight.”

Nora said, “I can make some soup. I have a small can of Sterno.”

The idea of having a cup of hot soup sounded good to Ed. He hadn’t thought about packing Sterno for cooking in the field. Nodding, he replied, “That sounds good.”

Dinner was soup, canned fruits, some left over rolls with canned deviled ham, and accompanied with tang. It was an odd selection of food, but it filled the stomach and was easy to make. It didn’t take long to eat, so the pair was done with their dinner well before sunset. Clean up was a simple affair, both of them shared the duties and the job was soon done.

Ed went to work setting up a fire that would burn long and produce a constant low level light around the camp. Laying down on their individual bedrolls, they watched the sky slowly darken. The western horizon was not visible and being in the canyon meant that dark arrived early. Nora, rolling over onto her side, asked, “We’ve been camping for four days and tomorrow is the last day. You haven’t hit on me once throughout the entire trip. Why?”

Glancing over in her direction, Ed replied, “It’s not time for that yet.”

“What do you mean?”

Yawning, Ed answered, “I want to make sure that if we sleep together, then it will be for all the right reasons. I want you to know why I’m doing it. Right now, you’d think the wrong thing.”

“What? I’m not pretty enough for you?” she asked irritated at his attitude. She knew that there were lots of men that jerked off to pictures of her.

“You’re pretty enough. I’m not all that interested in looks even though my wives are three of the most beautiful women in the world,” replied Ed.

She knew about his inability to lie. Sitting up to face him across the fire, she asked, “Don’t you want to sleep with me?”

Pursing his lips as he gave careful thought to what he was about to say, he finally answered, “More than you can imagine.”

“So why don’t you?”

Laughing at her lack of understanding, Ed said, “Because you don’t understand why I’m not sleeping with you.”

Angered, she threw herself back on the bedroll and growled out her frustration. This man was infuriating. Laying on the bedroll, she looked up at the sky as the stars finally came out. Even in the canyon, the number of stars overhead was amazing. It was impossible to see this many stars in LA.

Ed was quiet as he considered his situation. Nora was a beautiful woman, who believed that all men were interested in her only for her body. It was a glorious body, but she had a much better mind than she allowed others to see. Over the past few days, she had shown signs of brilliance, but would quash it when he commented on it. He made love to the woman and not just her body. She hid behind her body and he wasn’t going to make love to her until she stopped hiding.

He liked Nora almost as much as he liked Kim. In many ways, she was as good of a rock-hunting partner as Kim and in a few ways she was better. She didn’t feel a need to talk as much as Kim but knew how to stay quiet and listen. She was just as enthusiastic about finding a good sample as anyone else. That was always an advantage in a partnership.

The night sky slowly darkened, but the stars shone brighter. In a couple of hours, the moon would reach a height where it could be seen from within the canyon. Ed sat up and put a few more little branches on the fire. They would slowly burn, giving forth enough light to see around the camp.

Settling back on his bedroll, he continued to look up into the night sky. Finally, she said, “How am I supposed to know when you would sleep with me without you letting me know?”

Knowing that the question would burn within her for a long time, Ed replied, “You will know when you have accepted yourself as you really are.”

She frowned and lay back down on her bedroll. Ed slowly dropped off to sleep and didn’t hear the questions of frustrations that she asked before realizing that he was asleep. Getting up, she undressed in the hope that the sight of her naked body in the morning would tempt him into relieving her need for physical release. Lying down, she fingered herself to an unsatisfying orgasm and fell asleep afterwards.

Ed woke in the morning before Nora. That didn’t surprise him since she tended to wake up well after him. He looked over at her and saw that she was sleeping naked atop her bedroll. It was a gorgeous body and one that most men would pay every cent they had to sleep with. It was a shame that the woman was trapped within the body, unable to expose the real person inside.

It took him a little time to build a fire with the small amount of wood that remained. It would be just enough to make two servings of Greek Coffee. He didn’t want to go through her pack to locate the Sterno, as that was her property. Filling a cup with a little water, a couple of spoons of fine ground coffee, and some sugar was all that was required. Once the fire had consumed the majority of the branches, he set the cup on the few coals that had formed. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to boil half a cup of coffee. Once the coffee was started, Ed sat back and watched Nora as she slept. Asleep, the real self, the insecure, focused, and ambitious woman, was evident in her body and face. Ed appreciated the chance at having a glimpse into the real woman.

Wandering over to the latrine, Ed took the opportunity to take a leak. There are times when the first piss of the day feels so good and this was one of those times. Finished with his business, he zipped up his pants and headed back to the fire. After using a baby wipe to clean his hands, Ed checked out the coffee and found that it was ready. Taking a second cup, he poured half of the coffee in it.

Sipping the hot strong coffee, he felt the caffeine kick in and could feel his mind starting to clear. Leaning over, he moved the cup with the rest of the coffee off all the coals but one. That single coal would keep it warm until she woke. Finishing his cup, he rinsed it out and went over to water the horses.

Watering the horses was a simple matter of clearing out the hole that he had dug the night before. He took the horses over there giving them turns at the hole. As they drank the water, the hole slowly refilled. Once they were watered, he fed them some of the oats from the pack. While they were eating out of the feedbags, he checked their hooves to make sure that there weren’t any problems. All four horses were in excellent condition.

Returning to the fire, he found Nora watching him with a frown. Taking another cup out of the pack, he poured the remaining coffee into it and handed it to her. She accepted the cup, but didn’t bother to say thanks. It only took him a minute to clean the cup in which he had brewed the coffee. Reaching into the pack, he pulled out two packages of pop tarts and threw one of them to Nora. Still naked, she tried posing to get his attention but he was busy trying to get the pop tarts open. She had no problem getting hers open; she shredded it in frustration.