Saucer in the Dunes

43 The Hike Day 1

Friday morning, Ronnie and I had our packs ready and were waiting in the kitchen, listening to Mom run down a list of her last-minute worries, when the Chief's rattling truck bounced over the curb into our driveway. We hugged my mom, took the extra sack lunches she made for us, and ran out the kitchen door to the driveway. Kema was already walking up. The Chief was a little slower getting out.

Kema helped us get our heavy packs into the back of the truck, still laughing at us for how heavy they were. Of course, Mom came out and talked to the chief for a minute or two before we left. Kema, Ronnie, and I got in the back with our packs and waited in the warm morning sun. Mom finally said her piece, came to the back of the truck and patted me on the arm. I could tell she wanted another hug, but she didn't try it.

"You boys, be careful. I'm still not crazy about this whole thing, but your father says it's okay. I'm trusting in all of you," she said, looking at all of us.

"Mom, come on," was all I could say to try to keep her from making it too embarrassing.

Then, before she walked back inside, I swear to God, she hugged the Chief. The Chief! It wasn't much of a hug; he was way taller than her, but she managed to get in there. You could tell he was surprised, too, but he patted her on the shoulder, and she released him and waved to us. Ronnie and I were stunned. Kema just laughed. Wait until Dad hears about that. I almost wished the trip were over so I could tell him.

And, if that weren't enough, just as we were about to pull off, Jimmy's Dad suddenly stopped behind us. Jimmy jumped out of the car, tugged his backpack out of the trunk, patted his Dad on the arm, and piled himself and everything quickly into the back of the Chief's truck. I hadn't seen him move that fast since I had known him. He couldn't even speak; he was breathing so heavily.

"I drove 'em up the wall," he finally said triumphantly.

"No one wanted to babysit me; I made sure of that!"

On the way to the woods, we talked about the plan. The Chief would drop us off near the Reservation, a flat meadow on the other side of a creek. We would hike out like normal, not trying to cover our tracks or anything. Tik wouldn't start to hike after us until that evening, giving us all day to get good and ahead of him. Tik had an expensive radio, too; the Chief had the other one. All we had were my walkies, but they were good enough for us if we got separated.

Chief dropped us off in a scrubby field full of grasshoppers, and after we were all strapped with our packs, he gave us all a simple pat on the shoulder and said something to Kema in Creek, and we were off. Kema led the way, then Ronnie, then Jimmy, then me. I looked back as we crossed the field. Chief stood beside the truck, leaning on the hood until we disappeared into the brush. It was hot. Moving into the brush helped a little because it got us into the shade, but the walking was much worse.

Kema pulled out a machete that had been swinging from his pack.

"This is called trailblazing. It's when you make a trail where there wasn't any. Normally, we wouldn't do this; it's a sure sign for a tracker, and we aren't supposed to give Tik any help. We won't do it much, but we will do it some. I don't want to make it any harder for him than we have to. Stay back about three paces when I'm swinging this."

Kema wasted no more time standing around. He began steadily swinging back and forth as he moved slowly forward, leaving a jagged yet clear path for us behind him. It wasn't too terribly long before the undergrowth thinned out enough on its own, and Kema put his machete away.

We walked for hours, talking, cutting up, and occasionally chopping through dense undergrowth. We ate lunch in the middle of an old pine forest service road. All the trees were growing again and looked to have been for years, and the strange thing was the trees were all planted in rows. Dad had told me about that. Paper and lumber companies came through, harvested them, and replanted them occasionally. From some angles, it looked like a dense pine forest, but if you looked just right, you could see everything was planted in rows. It was actually kinda neat, and the tall pine trees gave us steady shade, which I think we are all happy about. Kema had to go spooking everyone, though, especially me.