The Hard Truth About Sunshine(28)

When we reach the edge of the group, we hear the park ranger say, "Now …  if everyone will just stand very still, we should see it soon."

Jillian, who has never met a stranger, asks a woman standing near her. "What are they doing?"

The lady looks at Jillian with excitement. "There's another park ranger in the woods over there, flushing a brown bear this way so we can take pictures."

That is fucking cool.

Jillian apparently doesn't think so as she immediately starts backing up. I reach out, snag her hand, and pull her to my side. "Oh no you don't. You're going to stay here and see a bear."

She shakes her head. "My eyesight isn't that great, so I'll just go back to the-"

"Scaredy cat," I tease her, gripping her hand tighter.

"Christopher," she whispers almost hysterically. "They're flushing a bear this way. Bears eat people."

"It's a brown bear," I tell her with confidence. "They eat berries, not people."

She looks skeptical. I'm pretty sure bears are omnivorous and a hungry one could eat a person, but I don't tell her that. Instead, I add, "And there's no way in hell the rangers would be flushing it our way if it were dangerous."

That seems to calm her down. After about a fifteen-minute wait, a brown bear comes meandering through the edge of the woods, walking parallel to the parking lot. It doesn't seem to care there are dozens of people gawking. Doesn't even look our way. He just ambles past, cuts back inward, and eventually disappears.

"I think that was a trained circus bear," Barb mutters, and I laugh so hard I almost piss my pants.

Getting back in the Suburban, we travel through Hayden Valley on the way to see Old Faithful, stopping again when we see several buffalo grazing in a herd. We walk up a slight hill to get a better look downward into the valley, and as we crest the hill, I come to a dead stop. On the other side of it, just twenty feet away, is a massive bull. Those things are as big as cars. When we entered the park, we were given a yellow flyer stating the bison are extremely dangerous and should not be approached. It even had statistics on it with the number of people killed by buffalo the prior year. They are no fucking joke.         

     



 

I immediately grab Jillian's hand by pure luck and start backing away. Connor does the same, but Barb doesn't. She halts right there on top of the hill and just stares at the buffalo as it grazes. It seems docile and bored, not bent out of shape by her presence. It even raises its head, mouth chewing grass, and looks at her with indifference. Then it starts to walk toward her, its gait slow and without any seeming purpose.

"Barb," I whisper as I back away, still holding Jillian's hand, my eyes pinned to Barb. I can hear Connor behind me, also moving back down the hill.

Within just a few steps, I lose sight of the buffalo as we make our way down the small incline, but Barb just stands there at the top, not moving.

And then I see something brown come over the top of the hill's horizon and the buffalo comes into view. It is now ten feet from Barb, towering over her as it still slowly chews the grass in its mouth.

"Barb," I whisper again, more harshly so she knows I mean business. "Get the fuck away from that thing. Back slowly down the hill."

But she doesn't. She just stands there and stares at the buffalo. It doesn't come closer to her, just stares right back. I realize in that moment that Barb still very much wants to die. Apparently, she holds no fears about it whatsoever, not the way I do.

Eventually, the buffalo moves on, slowly moving away as it grazes. Barb turns with an almost disappointed look on her face as she comes down the hill. By then, Connor and Jillian are already safe in the Suburban. I stand on the outside, having been ready to call 911 if the buffalo charged and gored Barb like a shish-kabob.

When she reaches me, her eyes are filled with challenge. I ignore it and growl at her. "That was really stupid."

She just shrugs. "Why do you care?"

I take stock of that question and evaluate it very carefully. Do I care if she dies? I'm not absolutely sure how I'd feel about it because while I've developed a fond tolerance of the dour goth chick, I don't know if I actually care about her.

The answer comes to me quickly, though I'm not sure if it's the only reason. "I care because it would have totally crushed Connor and Jillian if something happened to you."

"They don't care either," she mutters as she tries to brush past me.

I grab her arm to halt her, and she at least has the decency to look at me. Behind her, I can see Jillian's face as she looks out of the window with worry. I know she's thinking the same thing I am …  Barb's death wish just manifested for all of us to see and take heed.

"They care about you a lot," I tell her firmly. "How can you not see that?"

"That's at their own peril," she snaps back at me, yanking free and getting in the Suburban.

No one approaches what just happened when I get in and drive us out of there. It's getting late in the day, and we're all exhausted. My plan is to leave from the west exit of Yellowstone, which leads into Montana. From there, we'll need to cut south again to pick up the interstate that will take us toward Portland. But we can't leave without checking off the coup de grace of all buckets-lists items when coming to Yellowstone.

Seeing Old Faithful erupt.

The park literature says the geyser goes off around seventeen times per day with intervals ranging from sixty to one-hundred-and-ten-minutes long. There is no way to perfectly time it, but when we arrive, we're lucky. The countdown clock in the general store has predicted eruption in just ten minutes.

We all hurry over to the geyser. The benches along the safety perimeter are already filled with people waiting, and the people standing behind it are four to five deep. I lead our group a bit further away so we don't have people right in front of us. The geyser itself is situated far enough back from everyone that we can still see the entire thing.

It's like the longest ten minutes ever. It's really only a prediction, but it's pretty accurate. I know something's going to happen when I see the base of the geyser start to froth and bubble, spits of steaming water shooting up a few feet. I can hear the rumbling underneath the crusty top layer around the geyser's mouth, and the water gets more animated.

"This is so exciting," Jillian says as she steps into my side. Her arm circles behind my back, and she presses a warm hand to my hip. It's what people in a relationship do …  embracing the person they care about. It feels right and good and in no way awkward. While Connor sort of knows there's something there, I have no clue what Barb knows, and I find myself not fucking caring. I let my arm reciprocate, sliding it behind her back. Instead of curling my hand around her hip, I slip my fingers down into her back pocket. It's a bold move for sure, and Jillian looks up at me briefly with amusement. I just give her an innocent look and turn back to the geyser.         

     



 

Holding each other, Jillian and I watch Old Faithful as it comes to full eruption. The steaming water, which I'd read was over two hundred degrees Fahrenheit, shoots almost a hundred feet into the air.

"Wow," Connor says in amazement as he holds his iPhone out, taking pictures as it goes off. I'd also read that the eruption lasts anywhere from two to five minutes. I bet that kid will take about a thousand pictures in that time period.

"That is amazing," Jillian murmurs.

"You can fucking say that again," Barb says from my other side.

"That is amazing," Jillian repeats at her with a waggle of her eyebrows.

Barb rolls her eyes, muttering, "Har-har."

"Hey, let me get a picture of you two," Connor says, and he can only be talking about Jillian and me. We look over our shoulders at him, and he grins. "Turn around and face me."

Jillian doesn't hesitate, turning her entire body and pulling me around with her as she loops a thumb in a belt loop at my hip. Connor backs up a few paces and holds his phone out to frame us with Old Faithful spouting up high behind us.

"Okay, smile," Connor says goofily.

I don't have to look at Jillian to know her smile will be bright and full of sunshine. My scar pinches as I do my best to match her. I even pull her in a little closer, and we tilt our heads in toward each other.

"Oh, that's going to be an awesome photo," Connor says as he snaps a few frames. "Now, Barb …  you get in there."

Barb jolts, spins to look at Connor, and says, "Fuck no. I hate having my picture taken."

"Pl-e-e-e-a-s-e," Connor whines with pitiful eyes. "I'm dying."

Jillian and I snicker, and Barb snaps at him as she stalks to my side. "You little shit …  that's not always going to work with me."

Connor smirks as he takes our picture. Barb doesn't do anything but stand next to me stiffly. I think about putting my arm around her waist, but knowing Barb, she'd probably pull out a knife and cut it off, and well, body parts are a precious commodity to me.

"Okay, now we need a selfie with all of us," Connor says cheerily.

"Jesus Christ," Barb mutters as Connor trots up to us.

He hands me his phone. "You have the longest arms, so you take the photo."