Killjoy

She clasped her hands behind her back and twisted her torso, then shook her arms and legs to loosen them and started ru

She suddenly stopped, doubled over, and took a couple of deep, gulping breaths. Then she put her hands on her hips and slowly straightened.

"You okay?" he asked.

Why wasn't he winded? He was human, wasn't he? She made up her mind that, no matter what, she wouldn't utter one word of complaint. Not one frickin' word.

"Can't see the forest for the trees." She tried to sound flip. Cheerful was simply too much to ask for.

John Paul was sympathetic. "Do you want to rest?"

Is the Pope Catholic? Does it always rain on picnics? Hell, yes, she wanted to rest.

"No," she said weakly. Then, more forcefully, "I'm good to go… unless you want to…"

"No," he said. "Let's keep moving."

"Are we still heading north?" she asked, stalling for another minute to catch her breath. The air was so thin, she felt light-headed. "I can't seem to get my bearings. If the sun were out…"

"We're going northeast."

One foot in front of the other, she told herself. Steady as you go. Come on, Delaney, pick up the pace. Time's a-wasting. Suck it up.

She kept up the steady barrage of psychological nagging as she ran through the forest. She tried not to think about her soggy underwear sticking to her skin or the fact that she was lugging around at least a pound of mud on each of her hiking boots.

She didn't quite clear the dead branch she tried to jump over, tripped, and would have gone headfirst into a tree trunk if John Paul hadn't grabbed her. The terrain was getting steeper, more treacherous. As she raced along, the muscles of her calves began to burn, and she was finally forced to slow down when they broke through the trees.

She suddenly stopped. They had reached a shelf of rock that hung out over the side of the mountain. Spread out before them

was a panoramic view of the lower hills. Lush green meadows were tucked in between towering peaks with hundreds and hundreds of trees, their branches stretching toward heaven. Everything was so green, so alive. And not a soul was around.

People surely flocked to this paradise, didn't they? So where were they all hiding?

"Isn't it picturesque?"

"Yeah, yeah, it's picturesque," he mumbled.

Desperately trying to stay positive, she said, "Is your cup always half empty? Can't you appreciate-"

He cut her off. "Have you noticed where we are? It's going to take us a couple of days to get back to civilization." He studied

the lay of the land below looking for roads, but he wasn't having any luck. He had, at least, gotten his bearings back.

"We don't have that much time," she said. Her shoulders slumped, and as she looked around her, the beauty suddenly turned menacing, and the realization of their predicament sank in. Could it get any more bleak? She wanted to cry, but she didn't give

in to the urge. Suck it up, she told herself. "It'll be okay," she asserted.

"Yeah? What makes you think so?"

She had to think about it for a minute before she could come up with anything. "Because we're due for a break."

And that was when it started raining again.

Chapter 21

A

to laugh about, was there? As long as A

She was also the woman in charge, giving them orders as they worked side by side. Punching a large hole through the

Sheetrock with a fireplace poker didn't take any time at all. The insulation was messy but not difficult to remove. They filled a

leaf bag with the stuffing. Luckily, there weren't any wires or pipes in the area they uncovered. Next, they sliced through the sheathing with kitchen knives.

Then they got to work on the boards. That was a bitch. Carrie had to take a break when her thumb started bleeding. While

A

By three o'clock in the morning, they were all worn-out.

Sara and Carrie had Band-Aids on every finger. A

"How's the sheet rope coming?" Sara asked. She pushed the sleeves of her striped blouse up to her elbows and fell into the chair.

"It's ready to use," A

"I'm too tired to eat," Carrie said.

"You'll need to keep up your strength," A

Sara noticed A

"What did you just take?" Sara asked.

"Oh, nothing," A

"Aspirin?" Carrie asked.

"Yes," A

"Not aspirin. They were pink capsules."

"You're very observant," A

Carrie was barely listening. She had one eibow propped on the table, resting her head in her hand. She was too beat to care

about table etiquette.

"What kind of illness?" Sara asked. She was swirling the soup with her spoon.

"Nothing much," A

to the doctor," she explained. "As it turned out, it was no big deal."

"Thank goodness," Carrie said.

Sara was watching A

"In my right breast," she said. "I had the biopsy and then got on with my life. Like I said, it was no big deal."

"So it wasn't malignant," Sara said.

Carrie wondered why she was persisting with the subject. Hadn't A

Sara was being nosy.

"She just said…" Carrie began.

Sara didn't look at Carrie as she nudged her under the table. "But it wasn't malignant?" She repeated the question.

A

Carrie straightened. "Is that what the doctors said?"

"Oh, you know how doctors are," A

make money if they can do a lot of procedures… and surgeries… when it isn't at all necessary."

Carrie glanced at Sara before she asked, "Did they recommend surgery, then?"

"Of course, but Eric said they would, and of course he was right. They thought they could talk me into having my breast

removed. Can you imagine what that would have done to our insurance premiums?"

"No, what would it have done?" Sara asked.

"The rate would have gone sky high. Besides, the insurance company wouldn't have paid for the little procedure anyway."

Removing a breast was a little procedure? Carrie was too stu

"Eric had made some wonderful investments with our cash surplus. He's so clever," she said. "They were good, sound investments that I, of course, approved when he told me about them."