Campfire Part 4

Chapter 4

Ashley watched Sheri every step of the way until she walked out of the Flying Star. Sheri had looked so sexy dancing around in her black lacy bra and panties. Ashley flushed at the thought.

She was instantly transported back to reality when the waiter brought the bill to the table. Ashley needed to go home, but she dreaded it, so she sat looking out the window watching students rush back and forth. Finally, she opened her wallet and stared at the few remaining bills from her last paycheck. Her dad was going to kill her when he found out she lost her job. He should be proud though, she was following in his footsteps. Ashley had worked in the childcare center at Design Fitness since she was sixteen, almost three years now, but when she went in drunk on Sunday morning, they fired her on the spot. The funniest part about it was she had worked more days drunk in the last three months than she had sober. She was just a little over the top on Sunday, and she finally got caught. Ashley thought it was ridiculous though. She was responsible for the three and four year olds, and she could play blocks just as well drunk as she could sober.

Her skinny little waiter came over to the table. “Was there anything else I could get for you?”

“No.” Ashley wasn’t rude this time just focused on something else. The kid nodded and walked away. It wasn’t crowded anymore, so it wasn’t like he needed her table, but she had to go. She threw two twenties on the table and spoke out loud to herself, “Fuck.”

It was almost time for her Introduction to Literature course, but instead of walking to campus, she walked a half a block down Central Avenue and sat at the bus stop. She hadn’t been to Lit class since the second week of school. In fact, she hadn’t been to any class except chemistry for weeks. She kept going to chemistry because that’s where she met Jacob. Ashley was only keeping up the pretense of school now, and she knew she couldn’t pull it off much longer. If she was going to get that key and get the money she’d have to do it soon. Besides in another few weeks it would be too cold to camp in the Jemez Mountains. It would be pretty cold at night already, but if she didn’t get her hands on some money soon it might be too late.

Ashley jumped on the sixty-six bus and head west across town and then walked the eight blocks to the house her parents now rented in the South Valley. She didn’t call it home; it was the place they found on short notice after her dad pissed away nearly fifteen years of government service when he showed up to work drunk one too many times. He would probably yell at her for losing her job, but she would throw it right back in his face when he did. Besides what was her nine-dollar-an-hour job really going to do to help them out anyway?

“Mom, I’m home,” Ashley called as she walked through the house to her mom’s bedroom. It smelled of old plaster and the floor in the front room was so warped that Ashley nearly tripped every time she walked across it. “Fuck,” she mumbled under her breathe. She hated this disgusting little house. Even months of remodeling wouldn’t help it. Ashley visualized a wrecking ball going through the front door. That was the only real solution for the rat hole.

“Hi honey,” Catherine pulled her dark wavy hair back in an attempt to get herself together.

“How are you feeling, mom?”

“Oh, I’m fine, honey.” Catherine patted the side of her bed so Ashley would sit next to her. She looked pretty good today. Some days were definitely better than others. Just a few months after her dad lost his job, Catherine had been diagnosed with Lyme disease. For years she had struggled with memory loss, muscle coordination and a variety of other symptoms that caused her to first be misdiagnosed with multiple sclerosis. After the doctors confirmed that it wasn’t MS no one would believe anything she said. They told her it was all psychosomatic—all in her head—even though it was obvious she had lost twenty pounds and often didn’t have the strength to stand without assistance. Even Ashley’s dad, Nathan, had accused her of making it up. Ashley met a girl while she was working at Defined Fitness who told her about her symptoms and the effect of Lyme. Ashley took her mom to a specialist the next week, and they finally got an accurate diagnosis. That was the good news, but the bad news was the cost of the treatment. With no insurance now, they could barely afford an aspirin let alone two hundred dollars a week to pay for the antibiotics she needed.

Campfire part 3

Chapter

Seven Years Earlier at Georgia O'Keeffe Elementary School

Sheri turned to her friend when the teacher walked out of the study hall room. “I’m going to get that little bitch as soon as we get out of here.”

“Who?” Ashley bright blue eyes darted around the classroom and back to the door. Then she leaned down close to her desk and looked over at Sheri.

“Relax. Miss Martin is gone.” Sheri spoke loudly to prove to Ashley that it was safe to talk. “I’m going to get Missy. She’s the one that ratted us out?”

“How do you know?”

“She’s the only one who saw us leave. Remember she was in the hall when we ran out of the building on Friday. She’s going to regret messing with me. I’m going to kill her.” Sheri thumped her fist on the small wooden desk. “Are you with me?”

Sheri and Ashley almost got away with skipping school last Friday afternoon. All they did was walk up to the base of the foothills and spend the afternoon smoking cigarettes. Ashley had snagged a whole pack from her brother’s jacket pocket the night before. But somehow the principal found out and called Ashley’s dad. He insisted they be punished at school. Sheri’s mom was too busy trying to take care of Drew, Sheri’s Autistic older brother, so she just agreed with Mr. Masson. Sheri and Ashley were assigned one week in detention. Sheri didn’t mind detention so much; she was good at school and would catch up with whatever she missed, but she hated getting caught.

“Miss Gilbert would you like to add another week to your detention?” Miss Martin stood leaning against the doorframe with her arms crossed in front of her chest.

Sheri just stared back at the teacher without a word.

Finally, Miss Martin gave in and dropped her gaze, “Ashley, move up here in the corner so Sheri won’t be so tempted to talk to you.”

The rest of the day Sheri plotted out her plan for revenge. She even had drawings and checklists detailing every part of her plot. She didn’t look up from her notebook all afternoon. Miss Martin, who was expecting Sheri to be a problem, was pleasantly surprised and never even considered looking at what she was working on. Sheri had a way of making a teacher’s life difficult.

The second the final school bell rang, Sheri jumped up and throw everything in her book bag. She ran to the front of the room and grabbed her friend by the arm and towed Ashley behind her until they got to the edge of the school grounds.

“Hey what are you doing? I’m going to miss the bus,” Ashley kept trying to explain to Sheri. They were both supposed to ride the school bus even though their houses were close enough for them to walk. Their parents had scolded them for walking home in the past. It seemed they always managed to get distracted and get in some kind of trouble when they walked home. Once they had gotten caught stealing some candy bars from the Walgreen’s pharmacy on the way home. What most people didn’t know is they had gotten away with it about a half a dozen times before they finally got busted. All they had to do was apologies to the store manager and pay for the candy bars. The worst part was, they were not allowed in that Walgreen’s anymore, but fortunately, there was a CVS store across the street. It was a little harder to take things from that store, but they had managed a couple of times.

Today Sheri had no plans of candy bar theft, she needed to get home quickly, but she also had to talk to Ashley. Their houses were just on the other side of the school. If they took the shortcut through the arroyo, they would be home long before the bus would get them there.

“Not today, no bus. We need to talk. I got this all planned out. Are you going to help me?” Even at eleven years old Sheri knew exactly what she wanted, and normally she got it.

“What are you talking about?” Ashley was following willingly now having to jog every other step to keep up. It was too late to get back to the bus stop now anyway.

“I’m talking about Missy Ingram. I’m talking about getting revenge,” Sheri said revenge in a husky voice and opened her eyes wide. “You know…I’ve never liked her anyway. She’s like too perfect and always gets straight As. And she talks about stuff she doesn’t know anything about.”

“So…are you really going to do something to her?” Ashley moved away from Sheri and slowed to nearly stopping. “Sheri, we’ll get in big trouble.”

“We won’t get in trouble. We just have to fix it so she can’t tell on us.” Sheri raised her eyebrows as she thought about what she wanted to do.

Ashley and Sheri walked in silence the rest of the way home. They crossed the park and slid on hands and feet down the rough concrete side of the arroyo and helped each other up the other side. Back on the sidewalk and just two blocks from her house, Sheri looked at her cell phone to check the time. “I got to get home, Drew’s bus will be there in a like five minutes.” Sheri took off running and then turned and yelled back to Ashley, “call me tonight after supper; I’ll tell you my plan.”

Ashley waved back and walked slowly down the cracked sidewalk to her street. 

Campfire Part 2

Chapter 2

Sheri sat her tray down on the table Ashley selected in the back corner of the crowded café. It was almost noon, and the local Albuquerque chain store next to main campus always filled up for lunch. They slid into the booth and cleared off their trays placing their assigned numbers on the edge of the table, so they were easy for the waiters to see. 

“Okay what is all this crap about DB Cooper?” Sheri sucked on the straw in her large iced tea.

“So…you know Jacob is from South Africa, right?”

Sheri nodded. She had only talked with him a couple of times, but she liked his accent. Sheri had to work hard to mask her jealousy when it came to Jacob. Sheri knew she didn’t really want a boyfriend, but she hated it that Ashley was dating someone.

“Do you know why he came back to the states?”

“Seriously Ash, are we playing twenty questions or are you going to tell me why you got it in your head that DB Cooper is Robert Cooper? I only have about an hour left.” Sheri Gilbert and Ashley Mason had been best friends since they met in first grade. Sheri’s family had just moved back to Albuquerque, where her mother’s family lived, after her dad left them, and she didn’t have any friends. Ashley had moved from across town to a new school and didn’t know anyone either. After the teacher made them color a calendar together to display September’s school activities, they were instant friends. Sheri usually liked that it took Ashley forever to tell a story, but she didn’t have time for it today.

“Shhh…” Ashley hushed her friend. “Fine, I’ll just tell the story but chill out someone will hear you.” She looked around to see if anyone had noticed Sheri’s rant. “Okay, so…Jacob’s father moved the family to South Africa for a business opportunity after Jake’s mom died when he was, I think like, four, and he grew up there. About a year ago, his dad gave him a package. Apparently, it was mailed to him sometime in 2004 from his grandpa—Robert Cooper,” Ashley said the name slowly emphasizing every syllable. “He was Jacob’s mom’s dad, but Jake had never really met him. I guess he saw him once when he was really little, but Jake says he doesn’t remember him. Anyway, Jake had no idea he was dead because his dad put the package away until…” Ashley stopped suddenly as the waiter approached the table with their food. 

A tall skinny kid sat their salads on the table and asked, “how’s everything look?”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s good,” Ashley snapped at him, and he walked away.

“So…where was I? Oh…so his dad gave Jacob the package when he turned eighteen. Turns out, it was a letter with his grandpa’s will and a safety deposit box key. You see, Robert Cooper died in 2004. And in the letter he describes how he was DB Cooper—the infamous hijacker, DB Cooper.” Again she spoke slowly to make her point. “Apparently, the key is for a safety deposit box in a bank in Seattle. Jake thinks the money DB Cooper stole back in the seventies is in that box.”

Sheri put down her fork. “Wait. No wait. Are you kidding? And he believes it’s all for real? Why did he tell you about it? I mean…why hasn’t he gone to get the money? How do…” 

“Hold on, hold on. I guess he hasn’t got around to getting the money yet. He just got back to the states this summer, and he went to work for his uncle as soon as he arrived. I think he told me because the secret was driving him crazy. Besides he trusts me,” Ashley shrugged. “He says he wants to go to Seattle on Christmas break, and he asked me to go with him.”

“Ashley, this sounds…well…like bullshit to me,” Sheri had resumed eating. “Too many people have made claims about DB Cooper.”

Ashley finally started to eat her salad. “According to Jake everything his grandpa said made sense. It all adds up.”

“Did Jake’s dad know anything about it? And what makes him think there would be any money left? It’s been over forty years.”

“I don’t think he told his dad what was in the letter. Jake didn’t mention it. But Jake said the letter explained how DB didn’t spend any of the money because he was too afraid of getting caught,” Ashley laughed. “That’s a little funny since the man wasn’t afraid of jumping out of an airplane to get the money in the first place. I guess he was more afraid of jail than a ten thousand foot jump.”

“Still…there’s no proof. I think it’s crap.” Sheri leaned back in the booth and kicked her feet up on Ashley’s bench.

“Maybe it is, but…what if it’s true? If we could get a hold of that key, we’d be rich.”

This time it was Sheri who laughed. “Rich? Really, you know it was only two hundred thousand dollars minus the money that kid found in 1980. That was almost six grand. Besides how do you think we’re going to get the key?”

Ashley leaned in and motioned for Sheri to do the same. “So…I was thinking maybe we could take Jake camping, and maybe three of us go camping but only two of us come home.”

Sheri frowned, “Are you serious? Ashley! You can’t do that.” Sheri looked at Ashley to see if she was joking. Seeing nothing, she went on, “you want to kill your boyfriend for two hundred grand? That’s crazy. You can’t do that. Besides, I thought you liked him.”

“Would you be quiet?” Ashley scolded and looked around the room, and then she shrugged. “You’ve done worse for less.” Ashley winked at her friend.

Sheri stared at Ashley and then just shook her head. “You’re serious.”

“Come on Sher. Let’s just talk about it. I mean for fun,” Ashley said trying to lighten the mood. “Maybe there’s a story in it for you. Let’s get together tonight and come up with a plan. You’re good at stuff like this.”

”I can’t tonight. You know Tuesday is Drew’s night,” Sheri said.

“See Drew another time? You see him every week.”

“No Tuesday is Drew’s night. Besides this is messed up, Ash. Even if it’s true wouldn’t it be better for the truth to come out. Maybe being a part of solving this crime is better than the money.” Sheri scooted across the booth to leave.

“Don’t get all private detective, mystery writer on me. Okay tomorrow after your last class, we talk. Maybe there’s a way we can turn a little bit of cash into a lot of cash. Ralph is really good a poker you know.”

“What? Seriously? That’s how you turn a little cash in to no cash. Your brother just plays those stupid online poker games. You know he’s not really good at poker.” Sheri looked down at Ashley in the booth. “I got to run.”

“Think about it Sheri. This could be a good thing, and it would be easy for you.” Ashley grabbed Sheri’s hand and squeezed.

Sheri pulled away and rushed out of the restaurant, the heels of her riding boots clicking on the sidewalk. She was going to be late for her class. Sheri looked up and down Central Avenue for traffic and jogged across the street. She couldn’t stop running Ashley’s last comment through her head. Sheri wondered if Ashley was threatening her to get her to participate in some stupid scheme her and her useless thug of a brother came up with. Ashley was the only person who knew what happened in sixth grade.

Campfire Part 1

Chapter 1

Sheri was dancing in her underwear in the narrow space between the two twin beds when Ashley opened the door of the bathroom that separated their dorm rooms.

“When are you going to finally give up the 1980s?” Ashley asked while Bruce Springsteen’s rough baritone wailed, “This gun's for hire even if we're just dancing in the dark.”

“Shit, what are you trying to do?” Sheri spun around at the sound of Ashley’s voice. “You scared the crap out of me!” Sheri made no attempts to cover her nearly-naked body. She just brushed her long brown hair out of her face. “I thought you were in class.”

“Cancelled.” Ashley walked to the IPad’s external speakers and punched the volume down. “That’s a pretty fancy matching bra and panty combination you got going on for history class. Are you hoping to get lucky?”

“Screw you. No, it’s just, I feel more in control—you know with power-woman confidence, when I’m wearing a matching bra and panties.” Sheri went to the tiny closet she shared with her mostly-absent roommate. Every inch was filled with clothes and shoes. She tugged at a white blouse that was wedged in between countless other items of clothing on the rod, and then she grabbed a pair of jeans from a hook on the back of the closet door. 

Ashley watched her, and then without preamble asked, “so…do you know who Robert Cooper is?” She snuggled in amongst the pile of pillows on top of Sheri’s thick comforter and kicked off her black leather Vans.

“No, should I?” Sheri pulled on her jeans and then finished buttoning her blouse.

“What about DB Cooper?”

Sheri kneeled down in front of her closet. “Yeah, of course, everyone knows the notorious DB Cooper.” Sheri looked over her shoulder from her position on the floor where she was pulling out unmatched shoes. “Ah ha.” She tossed out a knee-high brown riding boot.

“I love those. I wish you had a normal-sized foot. If you did, I would so borrow these. I don’t think I could get my big toe in this tiny thing.” Ashley held up the boot and ran her hand across the smooth brown leather. She dropped the boot and looked over at Sheri, “For your information not too many people know about DB Cooper anymore. The only reason I know about him is because of you and your crazy interest in unsolved crimes. If having an assload of useless information about true crime makes someone a good mystery writer well then you’re going to be more successful than Angela Lansbury.”

“She wasn’t a real author. It was a TV show.” Sheri pursed her lips and shot Ashley a disgusted look over her shoulder.

Finally, Sheri pulled her head out of the closet and flipped over on her bum to pull on the matching boot she just uncovered from the closet. “I bet I could find ten people who’ve heard of DB Cooper before you could find ten who haven’t.”

“Whatever, only if they’re like sixty,” Ashley rolled her eyes. “Focus for a minute, will you?”

Sheri shrugged and crawled over and grabbed the boot Ashley had just dropped. She was trying to ignore the irony of Ashley telling her to focus.

“So…it turns out Robert Cooper is DB Cooper.” Ashley sat up on the edge of the bed.

“You just made that up. No one knows who DB Cooper was. Last thing I read was from like three or four years ago when some girl was claiming he was her uncle, but her story didn’t add up. I think she was saying his name was LD Cooper though—not Robert.” Sheri got up and began kicking all the stray shoes back into the closet while quickly

closing the door to trap them inside.

“I didn’t just make it up. I assure you; it’s the truth. How much time do you have before your next class?” Ashley pushed her feet back into her skateboarder shoes without unlacing them.

Sheri looked over at the digital clock on her nightstand next her bed. “I got like an hour and half. It’s going to take longer than that for you to prove to me that you know anything about DB Cooper.”

“No, come on. Trust me. Let’s go over to the Flying Star. I’ll buy, and in less than an hour you’ll be a believer.” Ashley got up and pulled Sheri toward the door.

“I’ll take the free meal, but…whatever.” Sheri grabbed her book bag, and keys.

A Christmas Story

  “Ryan, come in here and give me a hand.” Ryan’s dad, Dave, called out from the kitchen.

As she walked in to see what he wanted her to do, Dave was laying two filthy stainless-steel horse bits on a brown paper sack that he had placed on the kitchen table. Ryan had been around horses her whole life and was not easily grossed out by anything that had to do with them. She’d washed the sweaty animals after long rides, cleaned out dirty horse hooves and even shoveled plenty of manure, but those bits on the table were nasty looking. “Dad they’re gross, what are you going to do with them.”

  “We are going to clean them.” He pulled old toothbrushes and rags out of the bag he was holding and finally a round tin of metal polish.

  “Why didn’t you just get new ones?” Ryan asked her dad, but she was already organizing things neatly on the table to help him. She always wanted to be with her dad, even if it meant cleaning tarnish and disgusting horse slobbers off of a used bit.

  “New ones are expensive, and besides there’s joy in working hard to have something nice.” Dave put his hand on her shoulder then pulled out the chair for her to sit next to him.

  Ryan shrugged and picked up the smaller of the two bits. One was for a horse and one a pony. Ryan didn’t know for sure, but she assumed one was for her small horse, Jupiter. He wasn’t a pony, and she hated it when people called him that. He was a horse—just a little horse. She also assumed the other one was for her dad’s horse, Sundance Kid.

  “So you want to help me?” He asked her.

  “Yeah.”

  “How about, yes dad.”

  “Yes dad.” She knew how he hated it when she said yeah, but at twelve years old hanging around all her friends who talked like that…well sometimes she forgot.

  “So here’s what you do.” Her dad dunked the two horse bits in the bowl of soapy water he had on the table and started scrubbing with a toothbrush. Together, after about an hour of elbow grease and sharing two cups of coffee both bits were shiny and sparkling brighter than if he had bought them brand new.

  “Now that’s what I call good work. Your bit looks very nice. Good work Ryan.” He patted her on the back, and then she helped him put everything away.