Southern Stars Read online

They left the comfort of the cabin and went into a faintly smoke scented early dawn light, heading across the center of the complex toward a helicopter pad behind the lodge.

  It was quiet, and ethereal, the air dry and clean. A faint breeze stirred their hair as they came around the side of the lodge to where the rest of the team was assembling, stifling yawns and stretching as the light slowly grew around them.

  “Hey, morning!” Dave said as they arrived, and added their bags to the pile waiting for the helicopter. “We ready for this?”

  The college girls were all seated on the ground near their duffels, half asleep, but they waved faintly. “Shh,” the dark skinned and dark haired PJ added. “We had to finish the tequila we brought last night.”

  Kerry chuckled a little under her breath. “Oh, I remember those days.” She leaned against the post rail fence surrounding the pad.

  “Me too.” Marcia leaned next to her. She and Donald were in their mid-fifties, rough and weathered and dressed in matching lined and waterproof jackets. “Now I stick to a glass of white wine.”

  “Beer,” Kerry said.

  “Milk,” Dar chimed in drolly. “Chocolate milk when I really get wild.”

  “Please don’t say chocolate milk,” PJ begged. “My stomach could barely handle the oatmeal this morning.”

  A young man, wearing a blue jacket with the name of the lodge on it, came over and opened the side of the helicopter. “Okay, folks. We go six at a time, and I’m Jimbo, your pilot.” He started loading the bags in, then paused as Tamara came up next to him with a clipboard. “Hey, Tam.”

  She leaned close and whispered to him, displaying the clipboard.

  “Oh.” Jimbo paused in his loading. “Okay, let me do that first then.” He ducked around the side of the helicopter and motioned at two people standing off to one side. “C’mon, then, let me get you down, okay?”

  Sally folded her arms. “Ah. The grumbles.”

  The two disgruntled customers got into the helicopter, refusing to look at anyone as Jimbo got their bags loaded and then closed the door.

  “Man, that’s going to be a drag,” Rich said. “It only takes one sourpuss, you know? Everything’s gonna be wrong for them. The weather, the seat, the river, the food.”

  “Well, you never know,” Kerry said. “Let’s give it a chance.”

  Dar had her sunglasses on, as the sun was now splashing over the plateau. She leaned next to Kerry against the fence and watched the helicopter spool up. The blast from the rotors fluttered her jacket against her skin, and seeing the profiles inside the window she privately considered that Rich was probably closer to the truth than Kerry was.

  Tamara watched the craft take off, then came over to them, looking more than a little apologetic. “We have two late additions, “she said. “They were supposed to have a different guide, but we had a conflict.”

  “They look kinda pissed off,” Dave said.

  “Well, it’s our fault,” Tamara said. “We’ll try to make it up to them, and hopefully it won’t bother the rest of you because you’ve all got such a great attitude. Anyway, sorry about that.” She turned and headed toward the lodge, breaking into a run as she went past the fence.

  “Into everyone’s lives a few assholes must fall,” Dar intoned, pushing her sunglasses up on her nose a little.

  Rich heard her, and laughed. Sally’s sister, Trisha, did as well. “Yeah.” Rich mock sighed. “There’s always that one guy. Or gal. Or both.”

  The sound of the helicopter returning got them all stirring around and a moment later Tamara and one of her colleagues returned with a tray with cups on it. “Hey, guys, here’s some hot chocolate to start the day off. With a little bit of extra.”

  PJ took a cup and sipped it. “Kahlua, nice.”

  “Hair of the dog,” Jan said. “Just what we needed.”

  Kerry took a sip, tasting the rich creamy beverage, and noted a hint of cinnamon along with the Kahlua. “That’s good.”

  “It is,” Dar said. “They can serve this for dinner every day far as I’m concerned.” She straightened up and drained the chocolate, setting the cup on the tray as Tamara came around to collect them. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.” Tamara smiled at her. “Have a great trip, ladies. Take lots of good pictures.” She winked at Kerry. “Already had six or seven comments on that owl.”

  Six of them boarded the helicopter, including Dar and Kerry, and a moment later they were airborne, lifting into the morning sun to tip over the edge of the canyon and down into it. The sound of the rotors echoed off the striated walls, and the colors spread with the sun as it chased them downward.

  Below they could see the green blue of the river, with splats of brown through it. On one side was a landing with sturdy wooden posts bracketing a set of heavy well-built raft boats.

  They were odd looking, square in parts and pontoon in parts, like no other boat she’d ever seen. Dar watched with interest as the river guides bounced all over them, loading gear.

  The chopper landed on a pad on a little rise and Jimbo jumped out and popped the side door open to let them out. “Here we go, peeps. Don’t worry about your bags. We’ll handle them.”

  They scrambled down out of the craft and Dar smelled the distinct scent of the water, and now, closer, they could see the current rippling past.

  Rich, Dave, Sally and Trisha were with them, and they moved away from the landing pad and toward a set of picnic tables under a sturdy tarp that shaded them from the sun, as the helicopter lifted again to pick up the rest of the group.

  The other couple was already there, seated at one of the tables. As the rest of them wandered in and started to settle, Rich went over to them. “Hi!” He sat down at the table. “I’m Rich. I guess we’ll be spending the next week with each other.”

  The two of them stared at him, but after a moment the woman unfroze a little and cleared her throat. “Hi,” she said. “I’m Amy, and this is Todd, my fiancé.”

  “Hi,” Todd added, briefly.

  He had a crew cut, and a squared face with a muscular jaw and very pale hazel eyes. Amy was pert and pretty, with long blond hair, a creamy complexion, and gray eyes. She was dressed in what Kerry considered haut outdoorsman.

  They looked like they were in their early twenties.

  Dar took a seat next to her and leaned on the table, tipping forward her sunglasses a little as she regarded their surroundings. The boat team was busy loading all their gear into deck boxes, calling to each other and paying more attention to their tasks than their passengers.

  Sally and Trisha joined them at their table, while Dave wandered over to join Rich at the next one.

  “Nice day,” Trisha said. “Going to be great weather for rafting.” She and her sister had their hair pulled back into identical pony tails and they were wearing similar waterproof rain jackets and multi pocketed cargo pants.

  Dar and Kerry were also wearing cargo pants with tank tops under their hoodies. Dar was glad since she could already feel the air warming down at river level in the canyon. She left Kerry to continue the casual chatter and looked around at the striated walls, their craggy outlines and shades of color appealing to her eye.

  “I’m looking forward to seeing those slot canyons you told us about,” Kerry said. “They sound amazing.”

  Sally immediately smiled. “Oh, they are! I mean, the river’s nice and I like the rapids, but the hikes into those slots for me, that’s the best part.”

  “Hope we don’t get flash floods,” Trisha added. “I got caught in one once, and that was no fun, let me tell you. Do you guys swim? I think you said you did.”

  “We’re divers,” Kerry said, then they fell silent as two of the boat crew came over, a guy and a gal with clipboards.

  The rest of the group had now joined them and they had twelve passengers, who turned looks of various levels of attentiveness toward them.

  “Hi there, folks,” The woman said. “My name is Janet Wilson and I’ll be yo
ur trip coordinator for our first run down the river this year. Everyone excited?”

  “Yes,” the group answered back.

  “This is Douglas. He’s the raft captain. So, he’s in charge of everything that moves and I’m in charge of everything else. Okay?” Janet had a confident, no nonsense attitude and looked as though she expected everyone to be okay with that.

  “So, we’re going to go through the safety basics, even though I know some of you have not only done this before, but done this before with us,” Janet said. “Because we really want everyone to have a great time, and really enjoy themselves, but what the most important thing to all of us is, that we all do that in a safe way.”

  Dar nodded.

  “How many of you have rafted or done whitewater?” She scanned the raised hands. “Okay great, about half of you. That’s awesome.” She half turned. “Doug, you want to go over the safety features of our custom made, cool looking rafts?”

  Doug smiled. “Sure.” He had a backpack on his back, and a sparse beard and was probably in his mid-thirties. “Let’s get this party started,” He said. “C’mon over to the boat.”

  They went as a group along a rough rock lined path down to the river’s edge. The raft was pulled up to a wooden pier, and Dar could see the current tugging at it, rippling past at a good clip. The craft was cross tied against it, with a walkway set from the pier to allow them access.

  “So, you can see we have lots of seats,” Doug said. “We can take a total capacity of twenty people on one of these, so you all are going to have lots of space and you can move around to different seats depending on how you feel that day. “He stepped onto the surface. “These seats up here, on the front pontoons are the action stations. You feel every bump.”

  Rich grinned. “My kinda ride.”

  “Behind them, that row, you get plenty wet, but it’s more stable. Behind them, more stable again. There in the middle, and in the rear of the raft where I stand, it’s the Barcaloungers,” Doug said. “You can walk around while we’re between rapids, but we do recommend you sit down to go through em.”

  The group chuckled.

  “Now let’s talk about water safety.” He looked across at them. “I don’t have any mariners this trip, do I?”

  After a brief pause, the older man, Donald, raised his hand, and a moment later, Dar did also, and then they looked at each other. “Navy?” Dar hazarded a guess.

  Donald grinned. “Coast Guard. You’re Navy, right?”

  “Only by proxy,” Dar said. “But I have a captain’s license.”

  Doug regarded her with interest. “OUPV?”

  “Masters,” Dar replied in casual tone.

  “Nice.” He grinned at her. “Not useful on the river, though.”

  “Not in the slightest,” Dar said. “Since you’re driving and I’m used to salt water.”

  “But I don’t have to explain port and starboard to ya.” He looked around at the rest of the group. “For the rest of you, the boat does have two sides, port and starboard. Easy to remember that port has four letters, and so does left. So, left is portside, and right is starboard. Got it?”

  Dar saw some rolling eyeballs. She put her hands in her pockets and watched the group, as Todd walked past where Doug was talking and started inspecting the boat on his own.

  Doug swung around to watch him, and drew a breath. Then Janet touched his arm and shook her head. He glanced at her, then shrugged and went back to his briefing. “So, anyway the most important thing to know is what to do if you fall off.”

  “Oh, yeah,” Kerry muttered. “There aren’t any seat belts on that thing.”

  Dar regarded the craft. “No. You don’t want to be strapped down if it flips.” She glanced at Kerry, whose eyebrows were lifted. “Well think about it, hon. We carry those seat belt cutters in the car for a reason, right? Besides you can swim.”

  “So, if you go into the water, the most critical thing is not to freak out,” Doug said. “You’ll be wearing safety jackets that have enough lift to keep you at the surface, and we’ve got enough horsepower to come after you. Don’t worry.” He grinned. “When it’s calm, you don’t have to wear the jackets but we’ll let you know when you do.”

  “Mm,” Kerry rumbled under her breath. “I hate when someone says that.”

  Dar rocked up and down on her heels. She could see the rest of the group was getting restless. “Let’s get this moving. Want to see new things.”

  Chapter Two

  RICH CLAIMED ONE of the pontoon seats on the front. So did Trish and PJ. Donald and Marcia settled in the middle, with the rest of the collegians in their row. Amy and Todd took seats in the back, near Doug.

  Dar, Kerry, Sally and Dave decided to take the front row and settled there, arranging their dry bags that clipped onto the relatively sturdy seats. Dar stood up and took off her hoodie, stuffing it in the dry bag along with a handful of peanut butter crackers and a bottle of water.

  The air was still cool, but the sun slanted down over them and it felt good on her bare shoulders. She left her lurid orange life vest on the back of the chair and strolled around the decking that bordered the seats. In the middle of them were long, large lockers where their gear was stowed, and near the back of the raft, two of the crew were loading beer and wine into floating coolers that they then pushed into the water.

  “Natural refrigeration.” One of them smiled at Dar. “Next one has the margaritas in it.” He pointed at the gear lockers. “We put the chow in the lower level of those, keeps everything nice and chilled.”

  Janet saw her standing there and came over. “And it’s ecofriendlier. Which is cool.”

  “It’s cool,” Dar said.

  “You’re...ah, Dar, right?” Janet said. “Roberts?”

  She nodded. “That’s me. First time on white water.”

  “A lot of first timers,” Janet said, “and that’s really cool for me. I love sharing the Colorado with new people. Just seeing the faces.” She grinned and her serious demeanor eased.

  “I feel the same way about diving,” Dar responded agreeably. She noticed Todd come back to his seat and slump into it, a can of beer in his hand. His safety jacket was on the floor and as she watched, he put his military booted feet on it and popped the top on the can.

  Janet saw it also, and frowned. Then she just shook her head and focused on Dar. “What kind of work do you do?”

  “Computers,” Dar said. “I co-own a small private tech company.”

  Janet regarded her with a faintly puzzled expression. “And you’re a boat captain too?”

  Dar put her hands in her pockets and nodded. “I’ve been on the water since I could walk, so when I inherited a boat, I figured I should learn how to drive it.”

  Doug was fiddling with his station, and looked up with a grin. “Good idea. How many screws?”

  “Twin diesels,” Dar said. “Eight hundred horsepower.”

  Doug stopped in mid motion, and looked at her. After a minute he laughed, and Dar did too. “So now I know who I can ask to spell me, right? I thought you were just messing with me with the license.”

  “Totally different type of driving,” Dar said. She half turned as one of the crew came over with two plastic tubes of liquid and offered her one. “Thanks.”

  “Raspberry lemonade,” the crewman said. “We’re ready, Janet.”

  “Excuse me.” The woman smiled at Dar and edged past. “Okay, Doug, let’s line off, and get going.”

  Dar took her tube of lemonade back to her seat and settled into her end seat next to Kerry. She opened it and took sip, then offered it to Kerry. “Ready?”

  Kerry had taken off her hoodie as well, but sat with her safety jacket on, snugged firmly around her body. She took the tube and sucked in a swallow, swishing it around a little. “Mm.” She licked her lips. “That’s good.” She closed the tube and clipped it to her vest with the small plastic ring on its top. “Ready, Dardar.”

  The lines came off and the crew boa
rded. The staff onshore pulled the gangway free and waved as the raft backed out into the current. With a brief gun on the engine, the raft turned and started downstream.

  It was sunny and breezy. The river before them was relatively placid and calm and Dar drew in a breath of contented well-being as she relaxed in her seat, and absorbed the new scenery.

  Ahead of them, she could see what looked like eagles circling, and the cliffs that rose on either side were strange and craggy. It was an odd juxtaposition between a desert like environment and the river, which burbled and splashed all around them.

  In front of them, straddling the pontoons, Rich raised both hands and let out a whoop, that echoed back to them from the walls as the launch point disappeared behind them.

  DAR REALIZED RATHER quickly that just sitting on a raft, going down a river didn’t really do that much for her. Kerry at least had her camera to entertain herself with, and was busy taking shots of the moving scenery, and her raft mates, while she waited for something to happen.

  When booking, Dar briefly considered signing them up for one of the paddling trips, but after some mental tug-of-war decided on the posh run, given they’d never done anything like it before. Seven days was a long time if you found out you really didn’t like paddling a canoe.

  Ah well. She draped her arm over the back of Kerry’s seat. Just then Kerry swiveled and tilted backward to lean against Dar’s body so she could take a picture of a bird.

  Dar rested her cheek against Kerry’s pale hair and listened to the little sounds of the shutter and the low chuckle of achievement, deliberately refusing to think about what was going on back in Miami.

  It was at least easier now, with the projects their company was working on. None of the accounts so far required the kind of attentive support she’d been used to in her previous job. She was confident that once out of the canyon their phones would not contain multiple increasingly agitated voice mails.

  “What does that piece of rock look like to you, Dar?”

  “A piece of rock,” Dar amiably supplied. “Are you suggesting it’s something else?”