The Last of the Twenty: The Setting of the Board

Chapter 12

"You can’t seriously be thinking of going back up there.”

Back in their small apartment in Boston, Sarah threw Jason an irritated glance; she had been in a bad mood all morning. He watched helplessly as she threw clothing and camping supplies into a large hiking pack, mumbling to herself. The night before the New Hampshire Fish and Game office had left a message on her phone to tell her that no evidence was found of possible wolves in the area and that no warnings would be issued throughout the state parks. Jason tried to tell her to just forget about it, that they can start going somewhere else to camp and hike. She responded by going out and buying another camera and camping gear, as well as ammunition for her father’s rifle.

“How are you going to feel when somebody gets killed up there?” she snapped. “Those wolves are dangerous and need to be removed, and if it takes me shoving pictures of them down their throats to make them do something then that’s what I’m gonna do” she quipped!

If that damned cop had just pretended to take her seriously she wouldn’t be doing this, he thought to himself. Jason threw his hands up, walking out of the room, then thought better of it and turned to try and reason with her. “Well how am I going to feel if you get yourself killed? And is this really about you being worried about someone getting hurt, or are you just mad that nobody took you seriously, and now you have to prove them wrong?” He yelled.

For the first time that morning she hesitated, a mixture of hurt and shock spread across her face as she looked back at Jason. She knew what he said was true, but this was the first time he had ever talked to her like this. For a moment she considered putting everything away and not going, but her stubborn streak kicked in and she kept packing.

“Look,” she said taking a deep breath, “You’re probably right about me, but the fact of the matter is I know if I don’t go up there and some hiker, or worse, some kid gets killed I’m not going to be able to forgive myself. Look, I have my dad’s rifle, plus if anything goes wrong we’ll have our cell phones if we have to call for help. I just really think this is something I have to do, but I can’t and won’t go up there without you. If you’re determined not to go, if you really think it’s too dangerous, I’ll stay.”

The pleading look in her eyes filled him with guilt. Sure, it was dangerous but they were caught by surprise last time, and this time they would at least be armed. He let out an exaggerated sigh and shook his head. He knew she was like this when he married her; in fact it was part of what made him fall for her. No point in trying to change her now, he thought.

“Just pictures right? You’re not going to try to do anything silly like shooting them are you?”

She smiled up at him; she knew she won the argument. “Nope, I promise, just pictures. I’ll set some bait up around trail cameras and not even leave the campsite. It’ll be fun, like an adventure.”

“What about work” he asked, already knowing what the answer would be.

“We have laptops, you know that” She was in a much better mood now, and Jason knew it was because she had gotten her way.

“Ok, let me cancel all of our meetings at the office for the next week. That’s all you get though. One week then we’re back here, proof or not, deal?”

“Deal” she said with a grin.    

With a final sigh he left the room to start packing a few of his own things. I have got to stop letting her talk me into this stuff, he thought. If he had known this was going to be the last trip they ever took, he might have taken his own advice.