Page 70 of Class Clown

“Yes. But first, let me see if they have adult diapers inside because I think the gun shot sounds might make me pee my pants a little.”

Nico’s eyes crinkled with amusement. “I’ll get some stuff ready at the cabin. Meet me there when you can.”

“Nico,” I put a hand on his forearm before he could walk away. “I was kidding about the diapers.”

“I wasn’t going to judge.”

I laughed. “How valiant of you.”

Chapter 17

Ruby’s Truth: If you have the knowledge, you have to share it.

Nico had said the hike would take about forty-five minutes at ‘your pace’. I hadn’t been too insulted considering I was a semi-active, sort of plus-sized, thirty-something and he’d been in the Marine Corps until a few months ago. But here we were, a half hour in, and I was feeling a little sheepish about my ability to keep up.

It didn’t help that I kept stopping to point out pretty things. Mostly this was an attempt to keep from huffing so loud that he felt a duty to perform life-saving measures. Also, the further we got away from camp and up into the forested areas, the prettier I found it all.

“It’s like I’m sniffing one of those tree air fresheners,” I commented as I rubbed a hand up and down one of the ponderosa pines. “Don’t you love the way the needles crunch under our boots?” Nico handed me a canteen and I took a sip of gloriously cool water. “I wonder if the smaller forest creatures ever get pine needles stuck in the pads of their feet and have to pull them out with their teeth and then end up with a limp for a few days.”

He took the canteen back and screwed the top on. “It’s possible.”

We started walking again. “Do you think owls ever swoop down to catch a rabbit, or mouse, or whatever and get a mouth-full of pine needles?”

“It’s possible.”

“Is it possible that the Marine’s don’t chat while hiking?” I teased.

He looked over his shoulder at me, his ball cap shading his eyes, and quirked a lopsided smile. “It’s possible.”

I scooped up a handful of pine needles and threw them at his back. They harmlessly fell before touching him. “Just so you know, I attempted to attack you with pine needles, but they weren’t effective.”

“Consider me wounded.”

“What was your favorite part of hiking with your fellow Marines?”

His shoulders lifted in a shrug. “Getting there.”

I laughed. “I refuse to ask if we’re almost there.”

He glanced around and then down at some compass or something he had. I wasn’t really paying attention. “Yes, we’re almost there.”

“Do you regret taking me on this hike?”

“No.”

“Are you sure?”

“How else was I supposed to learn that trees never die of old age, or that there’s the possibility of mice getting wounded by pine needles as they go about their lives?”

“Don’t forget about those poor owls.”

“Of course, the owls. I’ve been enlightened.”

I giggled and then stumbled as I toed a rock and ended up catching myself by slamming my face into the pack on Nico’s back.

“Ouch,” I muttered, righting myself.

He turned to face me and put his hands on his hips. “Did you just ram me?”

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