Page 11 of Red Rabbit
“That’s because you’re not really looking,” he said.
“What do you mean? It’s just a forest.”
He shook his head in disappointment and I heard him sigh.
“There’s more going on, you just have to pay attention.”
“Pay attention to what?”
He chuckled. “I take it you didn’t see the deer grazing a few miles back? Or the bear in the tree we passed a few minutes ago? And earlier this morning the light split through the trees in such a way it looked as though God himself wanted to shine a spotlight on his creations. If you believe in that sort of thing of course.” He shrugged. “Every step is a new adventure out here.”
I was speechless. He looked back at me when I didn’t say anything with a look like I couldn’t possibly understand. And maybe I couldn’t. He seemed to have a far deeper connection to nature than I could ever hope to have.
“Okay, but why didn’t you tell me about the bear?” I said finally and when he just shrugged I went on. “I guess that’s why you’re the wilderness expert,” I said. “Did you used to do guided excursions or something?”
“Or something,” he muttered, fixing me with a stare that said he didn’t want to continue this conversation.
“Ah, the—” I held out my hands in front of me like they were cuffed. “—got in the way I imagine.” He scowled at me and turned away.
“It’s okay, I think I have a pretty good idea of who you are now too,” I continued smugly.
“Do you now?” He said quietly.
“Yup,” I said, popping the P. Although after what he said, I looked around the forest from a different perspective and sure enough, I saw all the details beyond the trees. I saw the way the mushrooms grew in strange patterns up the trunks and the patches of beautiful wildflowers that littered the places where the sun filtered through the canopy. I saw the birds hop around just out of reach as they chased each other and called out in pretty melodies and not even thirty minutes later, I stopped and gasped.
“What?” He stopped to look at me.
“Look,” I whispered.
Three deer grazed in a small clearing through the trees. One had a massive rack of antlers. The animal lifted his head and looked at us, his body tense as he tried to determine if we were a threat. I heard Graham chuckle.
“See?” He said and continued on.
“Alright,” I muttered grudgingly as I fell into step behind him again. “I see what you mean.”
Later that evening we stopped to make camp and once a fire was going, we shared a dinner of granola bars and water. He leaned back against a rock and looked at me over the fire.
“So you think you have me all figured out?”
“I thought you didn’t want to talk about yourself.” I pulled the space blanket tighter around my shoulders.
“I don’t.”
“Then why do you care what I think?”
“I don’t.”
“Fascinating,” I said sarcastically. We stared at each other for a long moment.
“I’ll tell you only if you tell me what is true and what is false afterwards. You don’t have to tell me details, just if I got it right or not.”
He studied me and from the frown on his face I was worried he’d say no. But finally he nodded slowly. Elated to finally be getting somewhere, I took a breath and dove in.
“You’re some type of ex-military, probably army or marine but definitely special ops—you know your way around a gun but you’re too—” I waved my hand at him and tilted my head. “—criminal-ly to be a cop or something. You enjoy nature because it doesn’t talk back and ask you silly questions. It just is and you like the simple but brutal way of life out here. It’s survival. It makes sense. You had trouble with the law—yes, obvious I know—but you have that look in your eyes of someone who’s gone through some dark aspect of human depravity—either prison or maybe something else—so I bet it’s not your first time in handcuffs. I don’t think you’re a rapist because I highly doubt, and according to you, you don’t have any trouble getting women to sleep with you,” I cock my head at him.
His face is a careful blank mask but the dangerous shadows in his eyes told me I was on thin ice. “I also think you’ve experienced a loss of some kind—”
“That’s enough,” he said quietly.
