The B Girls

Mothers and Lovers





"Of course we're lost. We're idiots." Jane pulled out her water-bottle and plopped down on a fallen log. "At least the protein bars will keep us from starving for a day or two."

Lucy pulled out a Power Bar. "We're not lost. That has to be Breakleg Creek down there. The GPS says we're in the right spot."

"Maybe we're not lost yet. I give it another fifteen minutes tops." Jane pulled the sport top of her water bottle open with her teeth, sucked in a mouthful of water and swallowed. "I say we turn back now."

Mae looked appalled. "We can't turn back! What about Belle? I didn't do all of this just to give up this easy."

"You should know by now when to take her seriously," Lucy said. "We're doing fine. I'll mark this spot in the GPS and then we'll search along the ridge for the site."

Jane abandoned her attempt at humor. "So what exactly are we looking for?"

Lucy didn't really know what to expect but she tried to look encouraging. "Something that looks like it might have been a clearing for a cabin or a homestead. Maybe a pile of rocks that used to be a chimney." She shrugged. "Could even be a chimney."

Mae was doing a little dance-shuffle in place while they talked.

"What's wrong with you?" Jane asked.

"I have to pee," Mae said as she crossed and uncrossed her legs.

"So go," Jane said with a wave toward the underbrush.

Mae's eyes widened and she shook her head. "I'm not going in there. There could be snakes."

"So pee next to that tree over there. We promise not to look. Right Lucy?"

Lucy nodded. "I'm sure we'll all have to go sometime."

"But what about toilet paper?"

"Biodegradable in your pack," Jane said.

"But I think you're supposed to carry it out with you. I think I read that somewhere in the rules of the wilderness area," Lucy said.

Mae shook her head more violently. "I'm not taking dirty toilet paper with me!"

"I thought Girl Scouts knew all these rules," Jane said.

Mae just continued to dance and shake her head.

Lucy loved Mae dearly but she tended to be very concrete. Thinking outside the box wasn't her strong suit. "Then just scratch out a little hole and bury it."

Mae stomped over to a tree with a relatively clear spot beneath the lowest branches. "You two better not watch."

"We've seen it before. We're not interested," Jane said.

Mae made a disgusted sound and went about her business.

Jane and Lucy discussed which direction to begin the search.

"I'm not sure it makes that much difference."

"I'm sure you're right but it looks like easier going that way," Jane said as she pointed.

"Suits me."

"Have you two decided which way we're going?" Mae asked as she pulled a wet wipe from the package to clean her hands.

"Along this ridge to the south," Lucy said. "The trees thin a little in that direction."

In this case, thin was a relative term. The trees were far enough apart for larger, thicker, underbrush to take over. There wasn't even anything like the pitiful excuse for a trail they'd followed to this point.

"What I wouldn't give for a machete wielding mountain man," Jane said.

"With or without teeth?" Lucy asked.

"Okay, maybe not a mountain man. How about a wilderness guide with an Australian accent and a nice ass?"

"Dreamer."

"A girl can hope."

Lucy pointed to the wipe in Mae's hands. "That you have to take out with you."

Mae reached into a side pocket of her pack. "Never leave home without Ziplock bags."

Jane vibrated in a mock shudder. "That's just a scary philosophy."

"Well, they came in handy didn't they?" Mae said.

Lucy put up a hand to stop them. "Let's see what we can find."

They slogged through shin-deep leaves, tripped over snaking brambles and pushed past waist-high shrubs. To make things worse, they couldn't see more than a few feet ahead. Lucy had never been in woods like this. Hard to believe they were only a couple of hour's drive from Atlanta. She led the way and paused every time a break in the trees gave her an opportunity to check the GPS.

"How far are we going?" Jane asked.

"I have no idea. It's hard to judge distances when you can't see more than ten feet in either direction." Lucy pushed her way between the latest set of bushes blocking the way and stopped dead.

Mae bumped her in the back. "What?"

Jane stepped up behind them, looking over their shoulders. "I'll be damned. I think you did it Lucy."

Lucy stared in disbelief for several seconds before pushing forward.

They stumbled out into a clearing, roughly square and fifty yards across. The most amazing part was the remains of a fireplace. The chimney was mostly gone. Only a small stub remained but the fireplace looked almost whole.

"So you think this is the right place?" Jane asked.

"Pretty sure. Belle's notes were pretty detailed."

"Well then, let's check it out," Jane said as she squeezed past Lucy into the clearing.

Lucy followed and Mae brought up the rear.

Up close, the fireplace wasn't as intact as it appeared from a distance. Weeds grew up through the shattered chimney and there were large stones missing from the surface of the fireplace.

Lucy stepped up and put her hand on the chimney. "Amazing. I can't believe we pulled it off." She turned to Mae and Jane. "Now if we can just find a clue about the Declaration or Belle . . ."

They walked around to the far side of the chimney. The view was spectacular even with the trees in full summer green. Lucy was in awe thinking about how it would look in October when the fall color peaked. In winter the view wouldn't be colorful, but without the foliage you'd be able to see forever.

"You have to hand it to Paul and Molly Morris, they knew how to pick a spot," Jane said.

"This must have been the back of the cabin. Why not have the front facing the view?" Mae said.

"Who knows?" Lucy said. "But look over there, across the valley."

Jane and Mae followed Lucy's pointing finger to a rock formation on a hillside across a small valley.

"It looks like two people hugging," Mae said.

"Looks like a pile of rocks to me," Jane said.

"Don't you have any romance in your soul?" Mae asked.

"Romance is for suckers," Jane said.

Lucy shook her head. "That is not a healthy attitude. Even after what Gary did to me, I still believe in romance." Well, in theory anyway, and compared to the fear that Belle was in physical danger, Lucy's Gary troubles were barely a blip on her personal radar screen.

"And I don't think that is a healthy attitude." Jane turned away from the view and walked back toward the fireplace.

"Wait," Lucy said. "Remember the letter? The reference to Lover's Cave? I bet it's over there somewhere."

Mae stared at the formation. "You're right. I don't see a cave but I bet the opening is there."

"So we need to find the map or clue that Paul Morris hid under the hearthstone," Jane said.

Lucy turned back to the fireplace, dug around with her toe and quickly found the hearth. Obviously Belle hadn't been here before them so she was hopeful they'd find the map Paul stashed. "This hiding place must be a family trait."

"Let's get busy," Jane said. "The sooner we find that map, the sooner we get back to air conditioning."

Lucy wasn't ruling out the possibility they'd have more searching to do after they found the map but she'd break that news to Jane if and when she had to.

After pulling up weeds around the hearthstones, they found one marked with Paul's initials.

"Well, don't just sit there! Let's pull the stone up," Mae said.

They tried to pry the stone loose from its dirt bed.

It refused to budge.

"We'll just have to dig," Mae said.

"With what?" Jane asked. "Our whistles?"

"A stick or a rock." Mae stood and walked around to the other side of the fireplace. She dug through the weeds with the toe of her shoe looking for something to use.

It didn't take her long to find a palm-sized rock with one pointy corner. "This should work. All I have to do is scrape around the edge of the stone."

Jane and Lucy watched her for a few seconds, exchanged a look, and went to find primitive digging tools of their own.

Lucy scraped dirt away from the edge of the stone and tried not to get her hopes up. Between Gary leaving and Belle going missing it didn't seem her stars were exactly aligned in a positive way at the moment.

They managed to scrape a one inch deep trench around the two exposed sides of the hearth stone, but they still couldn't pry it loose.

"Damn," Jane said. "I think we need real tools. Like a shovel and a pry bar."

"If we can just find the bottom edge and get a gap underneath I think we can do it," Lucy said. No way was she leaving without finding out what was under this stone.

"I think I see the edge," Mae said a few minutes later.

Jane crossed her fingers.

Lucy leaned close and squinted at the stone. "You're right." She assaulted the area with her rock and before long had a gap large enough to get a grip on the stone. "Let me see if I can get enough leverage to pull it up."

The other two moved back. Lucy stood and put one foot on either side of the stone, crouched down, slid her fingers into the gap under the stone and pulled. She put her whole body into it, using her legs the way a weightlifter does.

Just as she started to wonder if she was going to tear a muscle or burst a blood vessel, the stone moved. Just a tremor at first and then it tore free with a sudden soundless pop. She toppled back and wound up on her ass with the stone teetering on her left thigh.

Jane and Mae leaned over the hole to get the first look and cracked their heads together.

"Ouch!"

"Damn it!"

"That's what you get," Lucy said. She pushed the stone off her leg and got to her knees.

At first glance, she thought the hole was empty but then she caught a glimpse of blue. Blue painted metal to be exact.

She reached out and brushed away more dirt. It was a square, scratched, and battered, cookie tin. Lucy pulled it out and worked the top off. Inside was a folded paper that turned out to be a hand-drawn map.

"This has to be the map of the cave where Paul hid the Declaration--at least I hope it's the Declaration," Lucy said as she examined the map. She looked back across the narrow gorge to the rock formation, even more convinced that Lover's Cave was there. "Do you think we have time to check it out today?"

Jane shook her head. "No way. If we try to hike over there from here it could take hours and from the look of that map, the cave is pretty big."

"So, we come back tomorrow if Belle doesn't turn up?" Lucy said.

"Let's just pray she shows up. I'm not the outdoor type," Jane said.

"Well, I hope she shows up too but even if she does I want to find that document," Mae said.

"Then we're agreed," Lucy said. She prayed Belle would turn up with some wild story by way of explanation but the more time that passed, the less likely that seemed.

"Yeah, if we make it back to the van in one piece before dark," Jane said. "I don't like some of the sounds coming out of the bushes around here. It's creepy."

"But-" Mae started.

"She's right. We-"

"Shhh!" Jane cut them off.

"What?" Lucy whispered.

Jane gestured to the underbrush on the far side of the clearing. "Listen."

They all looked in the direction Jane pointed, straining to hear.

A rustling sounded and a laurel bush five yards into the woods shivered.

"Probably a squirrel," Mae kept her voice low. "Chip says sometimes when he's hunting they sound like a whole herd of deer."

More rustling. The shivering underbrush was rippling in their direction like a wave.

"I don't think that's a squirrel," Jane said.

The wave of green rolled to the edge of the clearing and a black nose appeared followed by a broad head.

"Shit," Jane said.

"Aw," Mae crooned. "It's just a bear cub."

"Exactly." Lucy could practically see the light bulb flash above Mae's head as she put the rest together.

A bigger wave and a louder rustling came in the wake of the first.

"Mama," Mae whispered. "What do we do?"

"Don't ask me," Jane said. "You're the Girl Scout leader."

"Brownie leader and we didn't get that far in outdoor skills."

"Ladies, now isn't the time," Lucy said.

Mama bear stepped out of the brush, front legs stiff, teeth bared.

Lucy didn't think it was a smile.

No one moved.

The bear lifted her head, opened her mouth wide and snapped her teeth together.

"I think we should back up toward the trail. Very slowly." Lucy kept her voice low.

The bear snapped her teeth again.

All three of them straightened out of their crouches.

They started inching backwards one cautious step at a time, eyes glued to the bear.

"Don't make eye-contact," Mae whispered. "She'll think you're challenging her."

"Now you remember something," Jane groused but she dropped her gaze to the bear's chest.

The bear bounced forward two steps snapping her teeth again.

Lucy balled her hands into fists and fought the urge to turn and run, praying the others did the same. About the only thing she could remember from hours of watching nature shows with Ryan was that running could provoke a wild animal into an instinctive desire to chase down prey.

Lucy didn't want to be prey.

Mae and Jane held on and continued their slow, measured retreat.

The going was tough. Even though the clearing was free of trees, it wasn't empty. The leaves were several inches deep and hid half-buried rocks, downed tree limbs that threatened to roll under foot, and the occasional small hole or depression. There were also laurels, briars, and other assorted growing things snagging at their ankles.

Mama bear did some more stiff-legged bouncing and teeth snapping but she didn't advance any further into the clearing.

Lucy hoped mama was content with their retreat.

They backed into the opening in the trees.

The bear seemed to relax her posture.

Lucy was the last one to leave the clearing. As they backed up the trail, she couldn't shake the feeling something was wrong but she was too focused on the bear to put her finger on the problem.

Finally, after what seemed like an hour but was probably less than two minutes, they moved out of sight of the bear.

Lucy took a last peek. "I think she's going back into the woods where she came out."

Jane and Mae breathed audible sighs of relief but continued to back up the trail for a few more steps.

They stopped next to a fallen log and by unspoken agreement sat down to get their wits about them and stop shaking.

"That was about as much adventure as I'm ever interested in having," Jane said.

"We'll have to be more prepared next time," Mae said.

Jane rolled her eyes. "There's not going to be a next time. We could've been eaten."

"I don't think the bears around here are carnivores."

"You know what I mean," Jane said.

"Yes I do," Lucy agreed. "But we're going to have to search that cave tomorrow. Unless you want out?" She'd come back alone if she had to. Until Belle was safe at home, she wasn't leaving anything undone.

"No, I don't want out. I just wish there was an easier way," Jane said.

"If finding the Declaration was easy someone else would have done it before now. Let's get back to the van," Lucy said as she looked around, still trying to put her finger on the problem that had been nagging at her since they backed out of the clearing.

"What?" Jane said. "I don't like the look on your face. Confusion is not a good thing in the navigator."

Lucy shook her head, concentrating. The trail was clear and relatively straight, leading . . . "Uh-oh."

"What uh-oh? I don't like it when the woman with the GPS says uh-oh," Jane said.

"This isn't the trail we were on before."

Mae looked around. "You're right. How did we manage that?"

"Never mind how we managed it. How are we going to find the van?" Jane said.

"Fear. We took the easy way out," Lucy said. "But we didn't come into the clearing on an easy path." Lucy studied the trail. "The big question is whether this trail will take us back to the road."

"I think it's headed in the right general direction," Mae said.

"What does your magic GPS say?" Jane asked.

Lucy checked the direction back to the point she'd marked when they came to the creek. "We're not heading back to the last point I marked."

Jane groaned. "I'm not going back where the bear is."

Lucy held up a hand. "Wait a minute. Let me check something else." She checked the point she'd marked at the fork in the road and the one for the van. Yes! This trail was leading to a point between the fork and the parking area.

She did a little happy dance. "I think this trail is a short cut back to the jeep trail."

"What is it Tolkien wrote in one of those hobbit books--'Short cuts make long delays'? Or something like that," Mae said.

"In this case, I think the short cut will make for an easier hike."

"Easier is good," Jane said. "Let's go."



###



It was easier than the climbing and clawing they'd done on the way in, but that didn't mean it was easy. The trail was still steep in spots and overgrown but they made better time on the return trip.

"I vote we pick up something really decadent for dinner," Jane said. "Protein bars and trail mix are great for energy and staving off hunger but we've earned something great."

"What about doubles at the gym?" Lucy asked.

"I think I've burned enough calories today for a huge binge," Jane said.

"Something really fattening and bad for us," Mae said as they stepped back onto the jeep trail. "Wow, that wasn't bad at all."

"Better than the first half anyway." Lucy stopped to mark the spot in the GPS. If they needed to go back for any reason she sure as hell wanted to be able to find the trail again.

"I just want air conditioning," Jane said. "Let's get back to the van."

Lucy looked at her friends as they trudged toward the parking area. They were a sorry looking trio. Dirty, sweaty, bug-bit, scratched and bruised.

She had the tin under one arm, its lid back in place and the map safe inside.

They rounded the last bend and the gravel parking area came into sight. The van was right where they'd left it but there was another vehicle parked in the lot.

When they got closer, Lucy realized it was a US Forest Service truck and Ranger Leonard was bent over the tailgate looking at something.

He looked up at the sound of their feet crunching on the gravel and walked over to greet them. "Hello ladies." He let out a low whistle. "You look like you've had a tough time of it."

"You have no idea," Jane said looking him over.

Lucy rolled her eyes. Leave it to Jane to try and flirt when she was dirty, scratched, and bug bit.

The ranger smiled and shook his head. "Oh I think I have a pretty good idea. I thought you ladies were going to check in with me before you went into the back country."

"We didn't think about it this morning. Too worried about my aunt," Lucy said.

He got the point. "She didn't come home last night?"

"No. We decided to see if we could figure out what she was working on. I admit we weren't expecting it to be as rugged as it is here. But we made out okay." Even though they hadn't found any sign of Belle, they'd made it out in one piece--with the map.

He nodded. "Well, I really hope you'll check in with me if you come back. I like to know who's in the back country and when they're expected back."

"So you can locate our bodies more easily?" Jane asked with a wry smile.

He laughed showing a beautiful set of teeth. "Something like that."

"So, did you find what you were looking for?" he asked.

"As a matter of fact. We found the homestead Belle was researching."

"We dug up a cookie tin hidden by one of Lucy's ancestors," Mae blurted out before Lucy could poke her.

Leonard frowned. "You ladies were digging for artifacts on federal property?"

"No! I know better than to mess up an archaeological site." Lucy held up the tin. "This was hidden under the hearthstone of the cabin by one of my--I'm not sure how many greats--grandparents. He fought for the Union in the Civil War. Didn't make him too popular in these parts I imagine."

"That's interesting." He held out his hand. "Mind if I take a look?"

Actually Lucy did mind but she didn't really have a choice. "Sure." She bared her teeth in a pretend smile as she handed him the tin.

He pried the lid off and reached inside, pulled out the map and unfolded it.

"Civil War era, you say?"

Lucy wasn't sure whether admitting that would be good or bad but lying to a federal agent didn't seem like a good idea. "We think so."

He looked it over. "A treasure map? Who'd you say buried this tin?"

"A man named Paul Morris. He and his wife homesteaded here before the war."

He looked pained. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you ladies to come back to the office with me."

Mae looked like a deer caught in the headlights. "You're arresting us?"