Page 28 of The Hitchhiker in Panama
“What do you think, Lila? Should we go explore the base?” Jonas asked.
“I’m in,” I said, and Eivind pumped his fist.
The crew ofEikand I separated from the group, waved goodbye, and walked deeper into the jungle.
We came upon a huge vine hanging from the canopy into the path. It was thicker than my wrist and barely had any leaves.
Eivind grabbed the vine and tested its strength. He looked at his brother, who grinned at him.
Launching himself as high as he could, Eivind grabbed the vine and pulled himself up. His feet wrapped around it, knees clamped together. With a few heaves, his feet were up over my head.
Oh dear God, please don’t let this vine break.
Eivind stopped and bounced on the vine a little bit. He climbed a few meters more and carefully slid down. When his feet were on the ground, he said something in Norwegian to Jonas.
Grabbing the vine, Jonas pulled himself up the same way his brother had, muscles straining as he rose hand over hand. He stopped and said something to Eivind, who laughed but never took his eyes off Jonas.
“What did he say?” I asked.
“I told him getting down was the harder part and not to go too high. Jonas basically said, ‘Oops.’”
Jonas fumbled a little bit getting his feet to slip through the vine as he descended. When he stood on safe ground again, Eivind pulled his shirt off and wiped the sweat from his face. Tucking the shirt into the back of his shorts, he faced me.
“Your turn.”
“Wait, what?” I squealed as Eivind grabbed my hips from behind and lifted me up. I gripped the vine and Eivind tried to release me gently.
“Hold on to the vine,” he said.
“I am!”
He chuckled as he lowered me down until his hands left my hips and I dangled off the vine. I lasted two seconds before I dropped off and Eivind caught me.
“How do you even do that? I don’t know what to do.”
Eivind held me up while he showed me how to tangle my feet in the vine. It was tough; the vine was thick and didn’t flex much under my feet. But once I had my feet right, I grabbed the vine again with my hands.
Eivind let go and took a step back.
“Ah!” I shouted into the jungle. “I’m doing it!”
Eivind chuckled and encouraged me to try to climb up. I leaned back and looked at him upside down, standing with his arms out, waiting to catch me if I fell.
“Nah, I’m good.”
He grinned. “You are good there? Just hanging out?”
I giggled. “Push me.”
Eivind laughed and grabbed my hips, pulling me back and then letting go. I swung out toward Elayna, who caught me and, laughing, pushed me back to Eivind.
I went back and forth a few times, but then I had to call it quits, so Eivind helped me down. My legs shook, the insides of my thighs sore from holding on so tight with my feet.
Elayna and Marcella took turns, and I watched, impressed by Elayna’s upper body strength. While she didn’t climb anywhere near as high as Jonas and Eivind, she managed to climb a few strides up the vine.
They took turns swinging, the rest of us pushing them around our group. I absentmindedly fended them off, but my eyes kept drawing back to Eivind. His biceps were swollen and sweaty and flushed . . .
He caught me looking at him and winked. I blushed and kept my eyes to myself until everyone had taken their turn swinging and we moved on.
