Chapter 6: Last Light of Summer

On the following Tuesday, Carrie Ralston and her mother returned from their summer in Indiana. Carrie had discovered that I was at work when she stopped by the house earlier in the day, and was waiting for me on the porch when I got home. I think that she was way beyond surprised and on her way to shocked at my appearance.

"Sammy? Oh my God!" She said before I'd even hit the first step.

"Hi Carrie."

"What happened to you?"

"I had a good summer, grew a little, put on some muscle."

"I guess! You're so tall!"

I could see it, the totally lost look in her eyes, and I offered her a quick bit of comfort.

"Its okay. I'm still me." I said. That got a nervous giggle at least. "It just seems like a big change cause you weren't here to see it happen."

"How?" She asked, as I stopped to sit down beside her. Ned was at my side immediately, expecting his after work walk. I gave him a good pat and stood again."

"Feel like a walking and talking?" I asked.

"Sure."

I grabbed Ned's ball from the porch and we headed down the road towards Burnside.

"First, and I guess it has to be kind of obvious, and its embarrassing, as you do remember, but puberty, you know?"

"Yeah, I figured that one, I guess."

"You remember how stupefied Benny and I were last year when you had your big changes?"

"Yeah, and I don't like the way you say 'big'." She said, but she giggled when she did.

"Well, to us that was the operative word, unless you wanted us to use impressive or amazing."

"I remember what you guys were like, trust me."

"Yeah, but we got to see it happen gradually, and it still made us stupid."

"Okay, I got that part."

"Well, the timing might have something to do with the rest. I started running Ned every morning and working at Nileson's, and the work was pretty physical, you know? Hauling bags of feed and seed and that stuff, so the combination of things really had an impact on me, just as I was getting the word from my body that it was time to unleash the hounds, so to speak.

"Unleash the hounds ... You goof."

We talked about the summer, and what each of us had missed, and I told her about Mr. Greer, and the big game, and she was sorry she had gotten back too late for that.

"What are you going to do for your birthday?"

"Oh man! Well, Joe Porter, he's someone new that I played baseball with all summer. Anyway, his family lives on a ranch about halfway between here and Charlestown, and they're going to have a big horse camping trip, and I can invite some of my friends."

I got it out in a rush, and perhaps an ill-considered rush, because it wasn't until I'd said it that the thought of Carrie and Greta meeting each other entered my mind.

"Oh darn, and I haven't been here all summer. The Porters wouldn't think I belonged, would they?"

I didn't really want to go where I could see the conversation heading, but I owed it to Carrie, so I went on anyway.

"Well, they left it up to me, and the only one I've invited so far is Benny. Joe has four sisters, so I assumed there would be girls along, so I don't think they'd rule it out for that reason."

"Do you really think it would be okay?"

"I'll call Joe when we get back to the house and find out. You'd better make sure its okay with your parents too."

"You're right. I'll ask them as soon as I get home. I don't think they'll be worried as long as there are adults along to watch us."

That got us as far as the start of the trail leading to the spot, and I let Ned chase the ball pretty hard a couple of times, throwing it across the dry wash that marked it off. With a good coat of dust in his coat, we turned and headed back up the road, letting Ned run off most of the dust.

We talked about Indiana for a while, and about how the summer had been at the spot, or rather about how it had not been. Too many of us had been too busy this summer, or gone, I slyly reminded her. We had spent very little time there at all.

We stopped for a moment at the gate in front of my house, and had our first awkward moment in a long time.

"Well, I'd better get in there and call Joe before it gets to late." I said finally.

"Right. I'll ask my folks first thing about the camping trip."

We managed a clumsy wave, and I headed in the house to call Joe.

Joe had no problem with another girl who was not one of his sisters coming along, and he confirmed that his parents wouldn't either, as long as they had the approval of Carrie's parents. Since I was using my precious phone time, I called Luther and invited him too. He had been the only one on my list besides Benny.

Thursday, the 24th of August, Dad and I sat down with Mom and I told her the entire story. Dad's confirmation of my prediction of the Berlin Wall going up was a big help, but it was my sure knowledge of how the home run race ended up and that year's world series results that brought out her practical side.

"Dear, shouldn't you be planning a trip to Las Vegas or something?"

"What?" Dad stuttered.

"Well if you believe in what Sammy has told us, and he has given you that kind of information, shouldn't you be making bets or something?"

"But I know how much you hate gambling!"

"Well this isn't exactly gambling, now is it?" Mom answered with the utter logic only a mom can have.

So Dad began planning a trip, and so did I. My planning was hindered at first when Mom began attempting to outfit me for a safari to the plains of the Serengeti. I reminded her it was going to be horse camping, not the typical family car camping that she was used to. My horse was going to have to carry everything I packed.

Carrie called or came over practically every day to talk about what she would need, and to ask questions, which for the most part I had no answers for. To be fair, Benny was almost as bad. Finally, I called Joe and related my tale of woe. He put his Dad on the phone and he gave me the short list. A warm sleeping bag or trail blankets if we preferred. Along with that, two changes of clothes and a few spare pairs of socks and underwear. Denim jeans or other tough material suitable for being on horseback. Toothbrush and whatever other toiletries we felt we would need, walking shoes and swimming gear, and that was it.

Yes, Mr. Porter actually used the word toiletries.

I think the parents network went into high gear after my phone call, and the relevant moms were informed, because Mom stopped trying to get everything but the kitchen sink into my bag.

Friday afternoon at two, I finished my last day at Nileson's for the summer, and maybe forever. School would be starting the fifth of September, just after the Labor Day holiday, and in the intervening time I had a weekend camping trip, a birthday, and a Mom-sponsored shopping trip to Portland. This all took place during the glorious ten days off I would have between today and the fifth.

I got home, showered, changed into my camping clothes and had my already organized and packed bag on the front porch, and all in half an hour.

Mom dropped me off at the field. The three friends I'd invited, Benny, Carrie and Luther Harwell, were already there, and we were going to be picked up by the Porters. Benny had seen Carrie already since she had gotten back but Luther hadn't, so the two of them got caught up while we waited.

The wait wasn't very long, as The Porter's pickup, with Janet at the wheel and Joe in the seat beside her, pulled up only a few minutes later.

"Well, this'll be fun," Janet said with a snicker when she got a look at us. When I spotted the looks on both Joe and Carrie's faces, I suddenly had to agree. Especially when Joe abandoned his seat in the cab of the truck and jumped in the back with us.

Janet waited while we got ourselves and our bags arranged in the back of the truck, and then with a wave at the parents, we were off.

"So, you're a friend of Sam's?" Joe asked Carrie, who had managed to wind up sitting next to her. Luther answered before she did.

"Her, Sam and Benny have been like the three musketeers since they were in diapers. Right down to the all for one and one for all motto."

"One for all and all for one," Carrie, Benny and I corrected simultaneously, causing a round of laughter.

I saw Joe's attraction to Carrie, and realized that it appeared to be mutual and, from the way the two of them were acting, high-powered.

As we rode I wondered again about how so far I kept finding things that didn't happen in my first life not happening in the second one either, for different reasons. I was tempted to be a little put out at first, because of course I'd always believed that one day Carrie would be my girl. But I also had a little case of Greta on the brain, so the older me was able to peek through enough to keep the younger me from letting all those new emotions run away with us.

"Damn Joe," Luther added a few minutes later, "I think you and I have the two hottest older sisters in Oregon."

"You're the one?" Joe responded.

"I'm the one what?" Luther asked, confused.

"The first time Sam came out to the ranch with me, Janet picked us up like she did today, and he made some comment like — 'geez, why are all the older sisters of my friends so gorgeous.' or something like that. I'm guessing he must've meant your sister then."

That had everyone, but mostly Carrie and Benny, going on about the beauty of Celia Harwell. I tried to stay out of it entirely, not wanting to give Luther or anyone else more ammunition.

The arrival at the Porter ranch house was almost as interesting as the introductions at the field had been. Rose and Lily came running out and the two of them introduced themselves to Carrie, who they hadn't met yet at all, and reintroduced themselves to Luther and Benny, who had met them at the picnic after the big game. Greta arrived a moment later, and I swear that when Greta and Carrie spotted each other it was like an invisible force sprang up between them that prevented them from making contact, like trying to push two mismatched magnets together. Greta had an odd expression on her face, and when Joe introduced her, the expression altered, but didn't go away.

"Carrie, this is my younger sister Greta. Greta, this is Carrie Ralston. She, Sam and Benny have been like, best friends forever."

"You're the girl who was away for the summer?" Greta asked.

"Yes," Greta answered. "You're Joe's little sister?"

Carrie emphasized the word little, and Greta grinned at that. "Yeah, I'm about six months younger than Sam, and a year younger than Joe."

So it stayed a little silent in the truck for a moment, before Janet reminded us that we all had gear to get out of the truck, and we all got busy.

"Bring your stuff out to the horse barn," Greta said. "You'll be able to pick out a horse and get your stuff reloaded into the saddle bags."

The last time I had been here, I had seen a big log building going up on the other side of the horse barn from the house, and it looked pretty much finished on the outside now, though you could tell that things were still being done on the outside due to all the tools cords laying around it.

I had the feeling Mr. Porter was planning on running some sort of dude ranch or other tourist operation. The old me thought it was a pretty wise move. The Columbia River had gotten a lot of press in recent years, and there would be a lot of curious people who would be willing to come experience it.

-oOo-

The ride down to the river was nice, but I could have seen doing it early in the morning when it was cooler. By leaving in the middle of the afternoon, we bore the brunt of the day's heat, both from the sun, still high enough in the sky to be a factor, and from the heat of the ground, which had spent the day absorbing it, and which seemed to radiate it back up at us through the dust.

The dude ranch scenario for the Porter ranch seemed even more likely when we finally got across the highway and down to the river. A group of people had obviously arrived in advance of us, and tents and cooking gear had been stockpiled in the area we were going to be camping in. We were just off the edge of what I thought would have been the actual Hat Rock State Park, once they got around to creating it. We had a nice stand of black cottonwood for shade. The river itself looked inviting, but swimming was dangerous in the main current, even for strong swimmers, so we had to stick to the side shallows where the river's flow was slowed.

The supplies may have been delivered in advance, but we had to set up all our own gear, and there were some immediate discussions amongst the group as to who would be in what tents. It was going to be Joe and I in one tent and Luther and Benny in the other. The tents we had were actually big enough that all four of us guys could have slept in one of them, as much as Benny, Luther and I were used to making do during previous camp outs.

I confess as well that the thought of Carrie and Greta sharing a tent had me nervous as well.

The dinner on our second night, officially my 'birthday dinner' in fact, was prime rib roasted over the campfire, accompanied by sweet ears of Walla Walla Corn roasted right in the fire. The horseback riding, the canoe trip earlier in the day, even the laying in the sand soaking up the sun in the late afternoon was fun, though in a way I wasn't really used to.

At one point I sat in the afternoon sun, my back against an old snag of a tree trunk that had been captured and half buried by the sand. I was reading The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone. It was my birthday present from Carrie, and though I had seen the Charlton Heston movie version in my first life, I'd never read the book.

I had been intrigued by the book from the moment I'd unwrapped it, and I might have kissed Carrie over it, but the looks I saw from both Joe and Greta, and the way Carrie pulled back from the hug more quickly than she might have in the past confirmed what I already suspected. I'd thanked her again out loud and told her I'd start reading it right away, which was what I was doing out here by myself.

Greta came walking up when I'd about gotten the first chapter read, wearing the aquamarine one piece swimsuit she'd worn for the canoing, along with a light open shirt as a cover up and a straw hat.

"Hi!" I said.

"Hi," she answered, suddenly shy. "Can I sit with you?"

"Sure!" I said, with totally unfeigned enthusiasm. I put in the fancy Indiana University Bookstore bookmark that had come with it and closed the book, setting it carefully on the towel I had brought with me.

"Is it a good book?"

"So far. Michaelangelo was an interesting guy, and those were very different times."

"I wouldn't have thought to buy you a present like that."

"You haven't known me as long. Carrie and I have been close friends for a long time, we know each other's likes and dislikes pretty well."

"I've only known Carrie for a few days, but I sure know one of her likes," Greta said with a certain conspiratorial tone to her voice.

"Yeah, I think your brother has stolen the girl I once thought was going to be my high school sweetheart."

"You see it too then? They went for a walk downriver a bit ago."

"I see it too. I'm not sure whether it was an at-first-sight thing with Joe, or whether there was something about the new me she didn't like."

"I think its a little of both. She keeps saying you're so tall now, and she doesn't smile when she says it."

That made me think. Joe was about as tall as I used to be before my growth spurt, and practically the first thing she'd said when we saw each other had been about my being so tall.

"I think you're right. Joe is as tall as I was at the beginning of the summer."

"Does it bother you then, Carrie and Joey?" Greta asked, and her tone changed completely then.

"No ... to be honest, No. Maybe in a little of the lost-dream sort of way, you know? The regret about something not happening that you thought would be good."

"Yeah, I can understand that."

"I might start to not miss it at all, maybe, if you decided you wanted to sit a little closer," I said. It was all the old man me could do to get the fourteen year old me to say it, but I got it out, and Greta gave me a wicked smile and slid over to sit beside me, close enough for me to slide my arm around her and let her lean in. We sat like that for several minutes in absolute silence, and for me at least, absolute bliss.

"I like tall boys," Greta said at last breaking the silence.

"Good," I said in return. "I like beautiful girls named Greta."

We did not have a make out session. We did find the opportunity to kiss a couple of times, but they were pretty chaste, but unhurried, at least until we heard the clanging of the dinner bell calling us to lunch. We both stood then, me grabbing my book and towel, and both of us dusting the sand off. Greta stepped in close for another kiss, and finally this one moved us beyond chaste, as we were pasted against each other with some heat and dueling tongues.

"Wow!" I said when it ended.

"Yeah," Greta agreed breathlessly. "I wanted to do that the first time."

To make sure there was no mystery remaining about the new situation, we walked back hand in hand. I saw the smile on Carrie's face, and the quickness with which she reached for Joe's hand right away. We were all smiles as we sat side by side, two couples together and friends, to chow down on our hamburgers.

We were back at the ranch and headed home Sunday night. I had a pretty normal Sunday supper with Mom, Dad and Ned, who had missed my two day absence as much as, if not more than my parents. He certainly was more transparent about it. My birthday was tomorrow, almost tonight, since I was born at 1:43 am, and Dad suggested that since I didn't have to work, we could do the family birthday celebration whenever I wanted.