Page 2 of Flashback

It was going to be a hot one though. Even in her light trail pants and moisture-wicking tee, she was sweating. The air washeavy with smoke. She’d had to fight to find a cancellation to get this spot when she’d reserved it last month, but a good chunk of the campsites remained empty now, thanks to a wildfire outside of Ember. It had already burned hundreds of acres, but it seemed to be contained for the moment, according to the last report she’d found. It kept her friend Emily Micah, a hotshot firefighter, too busy to meet up with, but that was okay since Allie was here to train Scout.

He finished his breakfast and went back to sniffing around the trees.

Allie dug through her supply tote for the percolator and coffee grounds.

“Nice doggie!” A little boy in a striped shirt and floppy-rimmed explorer hat left the campground gravel road and crossed the sandy dirt to approach her useless campfire ring. With the burn ban, it was propane fuel only for heating up her water.

He reached out to pet Scout.

“Nolan, you shouldn’t pet a strange dog without asking.” An older boy—probably a brother, given the similar blue eyes and tawny blond hair—pulled the younger one away.

Allie smiled at the boys. “It’s okay. You can introduce yourselves if you like. Let him smell you.” The boys moved closer. Allie knelt by Scout and held his collar. “This is Scout and I’m Allie.”

Nolan squatted in front of Scout, who proceeded to lick a sticky purple smear off the boy’s cheek. The older brother stuck a hand out in Allie’s direction. “I’m Ethan. This is my brother Nolan.”

Allie shook the proffered hand. “Nice to meet you.”

“We’re here for the weekend. We’re over there with the blue tent.” He pointed a few spots down the way with a black truck parked next to the metal fire ring.

“And where are you off to so early? You look like you’re ready for an adventure.” Their tent was zipped up, no adults in sight.

“We wanna get another hike in before we hafta go home.”

“Alone?” The older boy could’ve been nine or ten, but his younger brother looked like he was barely in kindergarten.

“We’ve been here a bunch of times. I keep Nolan safe. And we always have our survival packs.” He pointed to his rather full backpack.

“What about your parents? Do they know you’re going on a hike?”

Ethan balked. “Of course my mom knows. We do this all the time.”

Nolan stopped petting Scout long enough to nod.

“That’s pretty…brave.”

Ethan pulled his shoulders back and puffed out his chest a little.

“Ethan knows these trails real good. And he is super-duper brave. Like when we hided and runned away from that bad man, or when Ray tells scary stories about grizzly bears or ghosts. He never gets scared.” Nolan moved over and grinned up at his big brother.

But wait?—

“A bad man? On the trail?” Allie asked them.

Ethan elbowed his little brother. “He’s just making that up. Like the ghost stories. Right, Nolan?”

Nolan’s face scrunched up. “We saw that scary?—”

“Bear. Yeah, we saw the bear, but it was a black bear. Not a grizzly. And it was far away.” Ethan backed away, pulling Nolan with him. “We better go if we want to do the Green Hiking Loop. Mom said we’re leaving after lunch. And you know Ray hates it if we’re late.”

Something flashed in the little boy’s eyes, but it dissolved into giggles when Scout gave him one more lick. “Okay. Bye, Scout! I’ll come say goodbye before we go home!”

The boys skipped off in the hazy air. Oh, to be carefree and excited like a child. Following the siren call of adventure and imagination only caused trouble. Trouble she was still paying for every day.

But she wasn’t their parent.

And didn’t that send a shaft of pain straight to her heart.

If their mother was okay with them hiking alone, hopefully they’d be all right. But she couldn’t quite settle the unease in her middle as she watched them go off down the gravel road.

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