Posted As Missing

Chapter Thirty-One

After the last of the hunting party had disappeared among the trees below them, David said, "Let's head back up the slope and into the hot pool to warm." He kissed Maria then added, "Good morning, Mama. How are the crutches working?"

"More awkward to use on the uneven ground, but I'll quickly master them in this stuff." Rachel started up the slope, using them to ease the weight from her ankle. "They're wonderfully crafted, really quite ingenious."

They arrived back at the tent, and the girls continued along the ten yards to the hot pool, while David took some towels and walked across to the cold stream to wet them.

"Keep your ankle up on the lip, Mama, elevated and out of the hot water," Maria said as they slipped out of their jackets and boots and slid into the deep pool.

David arrived less than a minute later and wrapped Rachel's ankle in a cold towel. "We've got to keep the swelling controlled for a while longer. Possibly heat will be good for it later, but now we need to make sure the swelling is controlled."

He slipped into the pool between them, and they were all quiet for a long while as they warmed and allowed the tensions of the last while to dissolve.

"I was intrigued watching you pee over there, Mama," David said, finally breaking the long silence. "I had never thought of how women pee, or from where. That's such a beautifully complex system you girls have down there, but I don't know where the pee comes out without a hose. You were squirting as far as I was."

"I'm getting a bit warm," Maria said, "Come over to the moss and I'll give you an anatomy lesson."

As they lay entangled half an hour later, still connected and along the slow descents from their summits, she quietly said, "I'll be starting my monthly bleeding down there tomorrow or Thursday. I'll have to wear cottons to absorb the flow for four or five days."

"Can we still play like this then?"

"Mama said it's fine, just a bit messy. Would you mind that?"

"Mess can always be cleaned, especially now with this abundance of hot water... Speaking of hot water, we should get back into the pool before we catch a chill."

"I've been in and out a few times," Rachel said as they slipped back into the pool beside her. "This is such a wonderful spot."

"We also did a lot of in-and-out. We explored that wonderful spot you told me about." Maria giggled. "Both of them. How's your ankle?"

"It's feeling much better. The throbbing has stopped, there's only a dull ache now, and the swelling appears to be going down. I've been playing with putting it in the pool for a minute or so, then resting it back up on the moss. The heat feels wonderful, lessens the ache, then back out, the evaporation cools it, not as much as the cold towels, but it sure feels nice. The alternating heating and cooling must be doing some good; it certainly feels so."

Maria moved around to her mother's ankle on the moss and examined it. "The swelling is definitely down; the taping around your foot is now loose." She placed one hand along the injured left side and her other hand along Rachel's shin. "The heat which was here last evening has nearly gone," she said and swapped hands. "Feels almost normal now."

"The throbbing is gone," Rachel said as she lifted her foot off the moss and put it in the water. "I'm going to do one more hot soak on it, then we should think of something to eat."

David watched the women interact, enjoying their close friendship. 

From their physical looks, it's easy to see they're mother and daughter, but from their interactions, they could easily be mistaken as sisters. They treat each other as friendly sisters, as equals.