Chapter 34

February 5 - 17, 2000

Florida and Tennessee

The month in the Bahamas on the Phoebe Lee flew by. Not all of it was trying to drink the Bahamas dry -- or at least guy's wallets -- partying hard, barroom brawls, and singing dirty songs, but there was enough of the sort to hold them. There also was some great sailing, some great lying back in quiet harbors and chilling out, some idle shopping in the island markets. For a week there was a lot of hanging out with Art and Don, and they weren't the only guys they had good times with, before or after.

The trip was winding down one evening when they lay in the harbor of Cat Cay, not doing anything in particular but watching the sunset. "You know," Michelle said, "This has been a damn good trip all around, but it's still two months till the season opens and that's too damn long."

"It's not like we're back in Flag yet," Crystal protested. "And we still have a few things to do."

"Yeah, but we're past the peak," Michelle grumped. "It's like the next to the last trip of the season, you know the season is coming to a close, and you're trying to wring the last bit out of the trip."

"I see what you mean," Scooter said thoughtfully. "God, no matter how much fun we've had, I'm still mostly jonesing to be back between the walls."

"As many trips as I've had, I am too," Michelle said. "Last summer didn't help one damn bit, either, watching all those trips go out and wishing I was on every one of them."

"Well, we can stretch it out some, I guess," Crystal observed. "I mean, we never made up our minds if we were going to head back to Buddha and Giselle's and surf some more. That'd eat up a few days."

"Might as well," Michelle agreed. "We're probably not going to get the chance again, unless we head back early and decide to fly to Hawaii."

"Sounds like a hell of an idea," Scooter agreed. "But I have to say that I'd be tempted to take a pass on Hawaii before tripping season. I don't want to say I'm down near the bottom of the well, but I'm getting pretty deep." She'd spent very little money during tripping season last year, but had pretty well spent it as she needed to since. The three had come close to splitting things evenly, but she'd made three and a half runs as a swamper the previous summer, so she was starting from a little further behind the other two. She was drawing Arizona unemployment on this trip, and that helped, but still... "I've had a hell of a good time, but I'd like to leave some cash in the bank just in case something unexpected happens."

"Well, Buddha and Giselle's would be cheap," Crystal nodded. "Some of the other stuff will be, too. You're right, Hawaii is sort of expensive, and it'll keep for next winter."

"I wouldn't mind coming down here again," Michelle said. "I mean, this is a nice boat. The price seems steep, but I got to thinking about it, and for our four weeks we're paying half of what three customers pay for two and a half weeks on the river, so we don't have any right to complain."

"That's true," Scooter agreed. "Yeah, I'd be up for it another year. But, I'm not anxious to get back, and I could hack some more surfing."

"Works for me," Michelle said. "Except that we really should check in at the office. If the guys are falling behind on the maintenance work list, there's such a thing that Al may need us back there."

"Well, yeah, if he needs us, we go," Crystal agreed. "But I want to give him and Mom some elbow room. I'm not sure what's going to happen in the divorce, and what I don't know I can't testify to."

"You're probably overreacting," Scooter suggested.

"Maybe so," she replied. "But I know that asshole she married, too. I want to be on the safe side."

"It would be nice if we could get back in time for me to watch the office for a while so they could go someplace if they wanted," Michelle suggested.

"Yeah, I'll give you that," Crystal nodded. "Let's check in when we get back to Orlando and spend a few days at Buddha's if there's no rush before we head north. I mean, I can stand surfing, but I wouldn't mind getting some more snowboarding in, either."

Thus it was that when they got back to Orlando, they got the surfboards and snowboards out of the van, tied them onto the roof racks, and then called Al. The upshot of the discussion was that Al and Karin thought it would be fun to take off and go somewhere for a few days, no idea where but they'd work on it. However, it shouldn't be right before the season opened, either, since things always got busy in preparations. "How about if we shoot to be back before the first of the month?" Crystal asked.

"That'd work just fine," Al said. "You're still planning on going past that place where Scooter worked, aren't you? The staffing situation here is still goofy. I'd still like to see one, maybe two people that's had a season or so of eastern rafting and would like to work the Canyon a full season, starting as a swamper and maybe getting a raft next fall."

"I could ask around up at Ducktown, too," Crystal suggested. "Ocoee Adventures, and there's a couple more places. It's the wrong time of year, but Tom might be helpful."

"I'll leave it up to your judgement," Al told them. "But you, Scooter, and Michelle add up to a pretty good selection board. Just remember, whoever you bring in is going to have to be on a trial basis until we see how they work out for us out here. I mean, same deal as Scooter had."

"We'd have time to give someone a trial before the Ocoee and Nanty seasons get going good," Crystal observed. "That way they'd have a fall back, too."

"I'll let you three work on it," Al told them. "I take it that the Bahamas survived and that you're not out on bail?"

"It was fun," Crystal giggled. "We played a little hard from time to time, I'll admit that."

"It'll be interesting to see what stories you tell us face to face, and how they morph when you get them out around a campfire on the river," Al laughed. "You kids have a good time, drive safe, and party hearty."

"We've done pretty well at that," Crystal giggled again.

A couple hours later the minivan was turning into the shell-paved parking lot at B&G's Surf Shop again. It was a little busier than it had been at Christmas; there were several cars around, and some surfers out working a nice break. Buddha and Giselle, not unexpectedly, were out under the awning enjoying the nice day. "Heard you were coming," Buddha grinned. "How was the action in the Bahamas?"

"How'd you hear we were coming?" Crystal asked, a little surprised at the announcement.

"Oh, your dad called, just a little while ago," Buddha grinned. "He wanted to know if Giselle and I were going to be here right after the first of the month. Guess I'm getting him back into surfing some. Your mom, too. We told them they're welcome to be house guests so they don't have to mess with camping gear."

"What'd I say?" Crystal giggled at her friends. "Turn my back on them and they sneak off surfing."

"Well, it is a family tradition," Buddha laughed. "How long are you staying?"

"Hard to say," Crystal said. "If it stays nice we may be a while. If it turns flat we may hit the road."

As it turned out it stayed nice for several days. There were half a dozen surfers around, mostly college guys on an early break, but a couple of girls, too. The three of them were a little old for college guys -- how the hell did that happen? -- but a couple of them were fun, and they had some good times before the surf went flat and they decided to head north.

It had been not quite ten months and a couple lifetimes since Scooter had been in Wesser. The NOC sales room seemed to be strange indeed, something out of a dim and distant past. There was some college-age girl working there who said she was going to work out the month, then take off and start the AT. Scooter wished her luck; she had been there, and done that, from this very room. It all seemed very surreal, now.

After Leon got off work, they headed over to his house, and loaded Scooter's stuff in the van while his wife made dinner. They spent a lot of the evening telling Grand Canyon rafting stories, and having a good time. "Scooter," he said finally. "I thought it was a long shot when you went out there, and probably not going to work out for you. It looks totally the opposite to me, and things are working well for you. I'm glad to see it."

"In spite of some tough times, it has worked out pretty well," she told him. "As far as I'm concerned, I'm staying. Don't look for me to take over from that girl starting out on the AT."

"I somehow suspected that," Leon laughed. "People keep changing around here. You hung around in that job longer than most."

"That's one thing I miss from working there," she said. "Talking with the thru-hikers. I mean, I did it once, and I'd love to do it again, even though I realize now, it's not likely to happen. Every now and then I see someone I remember meeting from here, and it's always interesting to see what happened. I talked to one back at the first of the year, in fact."

"You hear some stories, that's true. Every now and then someone gets the hankering to try it, like that Lauren who's working in the sales room. We had a rafter from the summer before last take off and give it a try last year. He dropped by a while back and told us he had a hell of a trip. He was looking to come back here and get in a raft again. Good kid, competent, not a cowboy, but I just don't have anything open until rafting gets going again, so he's working the Micky-D's over in Waynesville for a while."