Joy in His Heart (8 page)

“What’s your name, honey?” he asked.

“She’s Candy Merrick,” the boy with the red hair said. “I’m Chad Fremont and Adam is my big brother.”

“I’m Kevin Jaffe,” a boy with close cropped brown hair said in a surly tone. Kevin, if Brian didn’t miss his guess, was a problem. He figured they’d find out what kind later.

“I’m Mike Cabot. Dan’s my brother. I’m sorry I teased you, Candy.”

He’d have picked them out as brothers anywhere. They both wore their dark hair long and had the same features. Same stoic forthrightness. Brian put his hand on Dan’s shoulder. “Hang tight, Dan. I’ll be right back. Try not to move, okay? I’ll see if I’ve got something in my bag for the pain. Have you ever taken a medicine that made you sicker than you were before taking it?” he asked. He was leery about treating a child with pain medication without parental permission, but Dan’s leg was definitely broken in two places and it had to be set.

“I don’t think I have any allergies. Is that what you needed to know?”

Brian smiled and nodded. Then he stood and propped his hand on his hips as he surveyed the area. There were sleeping bags spread over every available bush drying out in the sunshine. Several backpacks lay in a pile under a tree that shaded a grassy part of the clearing. The rest of the clearing was in the sun and was covered by grass and brush. The stream and banks were littered with storm refuse, giving every indication that it had receded in the past days. It looked like as good a place as any to spend the next few days.

“Now that we all know each other, boys, suppose you get that pad off the top of my pack and help Joy settle down over here by Dan’s head. Then I’ll have a job for each of you. We’re going to camp here for a few days, gain our strength, then see what we can do about getting us all home. How does that sound?”

All the boys nodded but little Candy stepped for
ward, a pugnacious look on her face. She reminded him so much of Joy at that age. “What about me?” she demanded. “I’m not so little that I can’t help. I help all the time when Daddy and Mommy and me go camping.”

“Yeah, right. They probably tie you to a tree to keep you from getting lost,” Kevin Jaffe sneered.

Joy visibly bristled.

“That’ll be enough of that,” he said and glared at Kevin, who turned and went with the others. Brian returned his attention to Candy. He didn’t know how much help she could be when you measured it against how much danger she could get herself into if they let her out of their sight. Brian glanced at Joy. She merely shrugged but he knew she waited with interest as he debated what to say. Finally he said, “Suppose you collect firewood and bring it over here. You’ll be looking for any wood that’s lying around dead. But stay within sight of the camp and away from the water. Okay?”

All smiles, Candy skipped off but she stopped and ran back to young Dan. She whispered something in his ear, gave him her bear, then set about her assigned task. Brian grinned, noticing most of what she picked up were twigs. “At least, I’ll have plenty of kindling,” he muttered.

He heard a chuckle and he looked at Joy. He realized he’d scored a point with her when he saw her bright smile. “You’re good with kids,” she said. “You made her feel like part of the solution and not a burden.”

Brian stared into her pretty face and had to swallow another apology for the damage he was afraid all that childhood teasing had done to her. There was a sadness
that lay deep in her soul. He saw it in unguarded moments like this one. She might face each day with confidence and determination but that was in spite of something that burdened her heart. He wished he knew what it was. He wished he knew if he was the cause.

Joy had a stubborn pride that bordered on dangerous, besides that hint of sadness. She still hadn’t mentioned her fever and he was nearly sure she wasn’t entirely comfortable in the wilderness. There was even a possibility that she’d been willing to face almost certain death to avoid facing that fear in front of him.

He sighed. “It looks as if this crew has been working overtime to make Candy feel like a burden. And some of them have been teasing her unmercifully. My money’s on Kevin. I never knew that what seemed like fun for me could hurt you. I said this once before when we were younger, but maybe it needs to be said again. I’m sorry for all the ribbing and practical jokes, Joy. I was a rotten kid.”

“Yes, you were.” She smiled sadly. “But I usually gave as good as I got, Bri. And I forgave you long ago.”

He didn’t think she had. Brian also noticed that, as had happened in the past, she hadn’t admitted or denied any hurt feelings and added that to his growing list of things he needed to sort out with her. They couldn’t go on the way they had been for the past twelve years.

But personal matters between them would have to wait for another time. He had four boys standing around watching them from across the clearing and awaiting instructions. This wasn’t the time to debate ancient his
tory and settle up old scores or explore new and troubling insights. That time was quickly approaching, however.

But first he knew he would have to gain her trust.

B
rian went to where the boys had gathered around his discarded pack and Joy hobbled over to try to keep Dan’s mind off the pain. Brian looked back at her, still worried. She sat on the thick black pad and smiled down at Dan. The boy looked up at her as if she were a hero. In many ways, Brian thought she was. He wondered how many men owed their lives to the rescues she’d so boldly executed and how many children owed their lives to her Angel Flights.

He turned away, determined to organize the camp so he could get back to her and make sure she wasn’t sicker than he thought. He knelt and looked through his med kit and told the boys, “Check your sleeping bags to see if they’re dry. Dan’s and Candy’s, too. If they are, give them a good shake then zip and roll them. You all know how to do that?”

Chad Fremont nodded and said, “It’s the first thing Pastor Harry taught us. We’re supposed to do it so nothing crawls in them before we do.”

Brian chuckled. “Right. Do you still have the two sleeping bags from your pastor and the boy he jumped in the stream to save?”

“That was Bobby Hood. Dan said we should keep their stuff in case we needed it,” his brother Mike said, pride in his tone. “Last night we laid their sleeping bags on the branches of that tree.” He pointed to a one-hundred-foot white pine near the steam. “Then we crawled under and stayed dry for almost the whole night.” The pine had several low branches that, with the sleeping bags, would have helped form a near perfect roof over their heads.

Ingenious for a kid, Brian thought, but it did mean the bags might not be dry enough for him and Joy to use that night. Luckily, they still had the woolen blankets he’d taken from the plane and the solar blankets from the emergency packs. “It sounds as if Dan is a pretty good leader,” Brian told Mike. The boy nodded with enthusiasm. Mike had a substantial case of hero worship for his older brother, much like the one Brian had had for his own brother, Greg.

“Okay then,” Brian said, getting back to his instructions. “After you check and handle the bags, I want you to lay out everything you have in your packs so we can take an inventory.” He handed them one of the solar blankets. “Use this and go sort the packs out on it, but do it in the sun. If a plane flies overhead, the reflection may signal them. And I mean everything in the packs, kids. Spread it all out so we know what we have. Nothing belongs to any one person except maybe your change of clothes. And if your buddy gets wet and you
don’t, then you share your clothes, too. We have to pool our resources and pull together as a team.”

“Does that include Candy’s stupid bear?” Kevin demanded.

Brian glared at the irascible boy. “Actually, Candy already shared her bear with Dan hoping to comfort him. That was very good of her. And, rather than hurt her feelings, Dan took it from her even though I’m sure he didn’t need it. She seems to care about that bear a lot. It would be a shame if it got lost again,” Brian said pointedly. Kevin looked away guiltily, clearly having gotten the message.

“After that’s done,” Brian went on, “give Candy help collecting firewood.”

“How much should we get?” Chad asked.

“You can’t collect too much. Sort it by size and lay it in the sun to dry. We’ll be here a while. Make sure you stay in sight of the camp and try to keep an eye on Candy.”

Later he’d show them all how to form a human chain in their search for dry wood and other resources. It wouldn’t do for anyone to get separated from the group.

“Yeah, we don’t want her to get lost again,” Kevin said sarcastically and turned away.

Brian let the remark pass. Kevin was a problem he’d need to deal with for more than one reason, but right now it was critical they get organized before night fell.

The boys moved off to handle their chores and Brian returned to Joy and Dan. The next thirty minutes weren’t easy and all three of them breathed a sigh of relief once he got Dan’s leg set and splinted. The pain medications had begun to dull the boy’s agony but he
was still lucid enough to clear up a few mysteries. Brian hoped the distraction would help take Dan’s mind off the pain, too.

Joy seemed to be on his wavelength because she asked the teen to recount the events that had led them all to where they were presently. Their eyes met and there was another moment of silent communication between Brian and Joy, and he felt his world shift. How could they be so different yet think so much alike? He pondered that while she shifted carefully to recline on her side and propped her head on her bent arm to listen to Dan.

The story that evolved went from good to bad to worse. After a perfect day in the woods, they’d all bedded down in a lean-to. But Candy was a sleepwalker and sometime in the middle of the night she’d wandered away from camp. That had been the pastor’s first mistake. He should have set up safeguards against the problem.

Brian began to understand the root of Kevin’s antagonism, because when they couldn’t find her, the pastor had the kids pack up their meager supplies and took them all off in search of his daughter. As far as Brian was concerned, that was his second strike. He should have gone for help then and there.

It had taken until dark to find her and it had been raining for hours by then. They were all wet and hungry but hiking back out at night would have been too dangerous. They’d taken refuge under the overhang of a cliff but had remained cold and wet all night.

They started their return home the next morning but were blocked because the heavy rains through the night had swollen a creek they’d easily forded the day before.
It was now a swiftly moving torrent. The pastor decided they would stay and camp near the stream that night, but by the next morning the current had only grown swifter and deeper as water flowing down from high country swelled it even more.

That was when the pastor made his third big mistake. Food supplies had already run out. Instead of waiting for the water to recede, Pastor Harry hoped to walk the children out another side of the preserve. But, at that point, he must’ve been hopelessly turned around. Instead of taking them out, he’d led them deeper into the forest.

When they came to a second swollen stream, they started to follow it since they couldn’t safely cross it. Bobby Hood then strayed too close to the crumbling bank. The earth fell away and the stream sucked him in. After a failed rescue attempt with a broken branch, the pastor jumped in to save the boy. The rest of the children tried to follow the stream as he’d told them to, thinking they’d catch up to him.

Unfortunately, the one stream eventually branched into three streams and the next mistake was Dan and Adam’s, but it was hardly surprising. They forded the dwindled stream nearest them and followed the swiftest moving one. Dan and Adam thought the pastor and Bobby would have been pulled along that one or they’d be waiting there for them.

The stream had lead them deeper and deeper into the most remote area of the preserve and by then they were so hopelessly turned around that they began wandering in different directions, hoping to come upon signs of civilization.

Brian glanced at Joy when Dan finished his tale. She had pillowed her head on her good arm and had fallen asleep somewhere in the middle of the boy’s explanation. Brian didn’t have the heart to wake her.

Dan asked how the pastor had been rescued when they were still so lost. Brian explained what they’d learned from Russ Dempsey and speculated that the fordable stream they’d crossed had probably dwindled to its usual flow after it had swept Bobby and the hapless pastor along.

“How long have you been without food?” he asked the kid. Dan’s eyes were also growing heavy now, too, but Brian needed a little more information.

“Almost a week,” Dan replied on a yawn. “We heard you could eat bugs but we aren’t that desperate yet. Then we saw a plane flying low. It sounded kind of weird and then it crashed. But we saw parachutes. We thought maybe it was someone who could help us. Is that why you’re here? That was your plane, right?”

Brian glanced again at Joy, a niggling worry haunting him. There was a frown creasing her brow and flags of color on her cheekbones that he thought had more to do with fever than any short exposure to the sunshine. He needed to confront her soon about her condition but it wasn’t time for more penicillin. At least now that they’d located the kids, she could rest and heal a little.

“It was Joy’s plane,” Brian told Dan, pride for her seeping unconsciously into his voice once again. “I was just the passenger with the binoculars looking for you.”

Dan shifted uncomfortably. “Adam found the trail up the mountain, but we got tired halfway up. I guess we
messed up pretty bad. Everybody felt really sick after that and then when I tried to climb up the rocks my legs just wouldn’t hold me anymore.”

Brian squeezed Dan’s shoulder. “Don’t be so hard on yourself. We found your tracks on that deer trail and followed them here. If we hadn’t, we would have wasted hours going down the mountain toward where the plane crashed. It looks like we would have come to a cliff and been stuck. We would have needed to backtrack in order to get off the mountain. I can tell you, son, Joy never would have made it.

“Now suppose you try to rest here with her while your friends and I get this camp in order. It’ll all work out. We’re in the Lord’s hands. He’s kept everyone relatively safe so far and He made sure we found each other.”

Dan closed his eyes and nodded. Brian found his gaze drawn to Joy. He took one last look at her before forcing himself to get to work on the camp.

A cool sensation woke Joy from a sound sleep. She opened her burning eyes to find Brian wiping her face with a cool cloth. Then she looked down at her arm to make sure it wasn’t on fire. She knew she should push his hand away—refuse his ministrations but she felt too heavy. Too leaden to move. As if picking up her head would take an act of Congress.

She stared up at Brian, at his solemn expression—one she had to read by a nearby campfire. She knew that look meant something worrisome but she couldn’t quite grasp what.

“Welcome back,” he said. “You’re pretty sick.”

“I’m fine,” she assured him.

He pursed his lips and shook his head. “No, you aren’t. Not at all. Here. I need you to take these,” he said holding out a some pills and a squirt bottle. She decided not to argue. Brian was a doctor and a pretty good one from what she’d heard. If he said she was sick, maybe she was.

“What’s wrong with me?”

“It looks like a strep infection settled into that wound on your arm.”

She frowned. “I thought you gave me penicillin to keep that from happening.”

He smiled, his white teeth gleaming in the firelight. “They called it a wonder drug when it was invented but it can only do so much. Your body needed rest and didn’t get it. Now it will. You’ll be fine.”

Her brain felt like mush. Boiled mush. “Earlier did you say we’d need to stay put here for a few days?”

“Don’t go feeling guilty. The kids need the rest, too.”

“Of course.” Her mind cleared just a little. It was dark. She was in a shelter much like the one he’d built last night. “How did I get in here?”

“I built your shelter right behind where you fell asleep so it was easy to drag you inside on the gurney pad.”

She supposed she must really be sick if that hadn’t awakened her. Joy gathered her strength and pushed herself up onto the elbow and forearm of her good arm. She looked out at the blazing fire. He’d built it against the pile of boulders Dan had fallen from. The stone reflected the heat back toward her shelter and the rock sparkled like a thousand stars in the night sky.

Fear blossomed. That’s what was wrong. She was in
the shelter. It was night. That meant she’d have to spend another long miserable night alone with only wood and cloth between her and an alien world. Last night she’d at least been able to see Brian’s shelter across the fire. How far away would he be tonight?

“Where are the kids? Did you build them a shelter? Are you sleeping near them?”

“I cobbled together a bigger shelter the way you suggested. It’s next to this one. I’ll bunk with the boys and Candy till you’re up to watching out for her. We’ll be a little crowded but it might be an advantage. Dan and Adam have been tying a shoelace around Candy’s ankle and one of the other boys’ so she can’t sleepwalk again and wander away.”

She winced remembering that part of Dan’s story, though she must have fallen asleep on the tail end of it. She’d heard enough to know Pastor Harry might be a nice man but he shouldn’t be let out without a keeper. “Is it necessary to tie the child up? It seems sort of barbaric.”

Brian shrugged. “She isn’t exactly tied up but that’s what I thought.” He leaned back on his elbows with his back to the fire and crossed his ankles. “Then as I was getting them bedded down for the night, she insisted. The poor thing looks at that stupid shoelace like a lifeline.”

“I suppose to her it is.”

Though his posture was entirely casual he seemed…watchful. “I guess so. Think how afraid she must have been when she woke up wandering through the forest, so far from her father and all alone with no idea how she got where she was.”

“I can imagine,” Joy said and, of course, she could
imagine that very easily. More easily than Brian knew. More than he ever would if she had her way.

“Kids are surprisingly resilient but I still can’t believe she isn’t a basket case. Anyway, Mike volunteered to be her safety net tonight. He seems very good with her. I already told them we’d be staying here for a few days till we’re all feeling a little better.”

“I remember. How are they generally?”

“Dan and Adam are exhausted, but that and Dan’s fractures aside, they’re in a lot better shape than Mike and Candy. Those two show pretty dramatic weight losses considering how loose their clothes fit. Kevin and Chad are somewhere in the middle. One thing is sure, I have to come up with food for all of us.”

Talk about mission impossible. Because Brian’s face was in shadow she couldn’t read his expression to see if that was a worry to him. “It isn’t as if you can go to the grocery store, right?”

“It may not be that big a problem. I’ll put together a fishing pole or two in the morning.”