Daria felt that she now knew what the first lungfish must have experienced when it first crawled out of the primordial ooze. Under the noise of the falls, chilled to the bone, she drank in lungfulls of air.
Rolling on her back, she saw something rise from the water. Her thoughts went back to that "Sick, Sad World" episode on the Carolina Swamp Creature. The apparition gave an eerie wail.
"EWWWWWWWW!!!"
"Just be glad you're alive," Daria told her.
"This is, like, so... ultimately... GROSS!"
Daria stood up, her muscles and bones protesting each new move. Her waterlogged clothes seemed to weigh a ton and water poured from her pack.
Sandi stared at her. "How can you, like, stand having that slime in your hair?"
"Same as you. I didn't know it was there until you mentioned it."
"Ewwwww, gross! Do you have a comb?"
"No," said Daria, rummaging through her pack. "Just a brush." She pulled out her spare glasses.
"Well, you can't, like, brush wet hair."
"I wasn't planning on brushing wet hair. Getting my hair wet was way down on my list of things to do today, right after 'licking an electrical socket.'"
"Trust a brain to come up with an answer like that. Gyah, I'm, like, freezing!"
Daria looked at her through the distortion of wet glasses. "Then sit on a rock and let the sun warm you." Like the lizard you are, she thought.
"Sit on a nasty old rock?!"
Daria was deeply wishing for something to dry her glasses on. "Is it any dirtier than the stump? Gods, everything is soaked."
Sandi sat down distastefully. "I know. Even if I had a tampon in, it would be soaked."
Daria gagged.
"Gyah, Quinn's right, you are a wimp."
Daria glowered at her, then turned her gaze upriver. "Look, um... I do want to thank you for what you did back there."
Sandi blushed and looked downriver. "It was, like, nothing, you know. You'd have, like, done the same for me." She paused and thought. "Matter of fact, you did. Thanks."
Daria mumbled, "You're welcome," and they both lapsed into an embarrased silence.
"So, I guess it's, like, back to insulting each other?"
"Works for me," said Daria, pulling her boot off and marvelling at the amount of water in it. She picked up a minnow and tossed it back in the river. I thought that only happended in cartoons, she mused to herself.
Jane hated to admit it, but her landing had done her ankle no good. With each step, new, sharp pains would radiate from it.
There was no way she could stop, though. Not when Daria's life was in danger. Nor Sandi's.
Sandi... she wouldn't be doing this had it just been Sandi.
She decided to persue this subject to get her mind off the pain.
She decided she wouldn't be risking her ankle for Stacy or Tiffany either. Quinn, though, was Daria's sister. Daria, despite protests to the contrary, would feel bad if something were to happen to her, so she'd run for Quinn. She'd allow herself the luxury of favoring her ankle, though.
Kevin and Brittany, probably not, but definitely Jodie or Mack. None of the teachers, thought, save Ms. Defoe. Oh, and maybe that handsome new physics teacher, but only 'cause he's a looker. *sigh*, If it weren't for the math...
Morris, Hell no, Jane would have stood there and tossed rocks as the old nazi fell. This amused her momentarily until she rememered Daria disappearing down the landslide. She tried to squeeze out a little more speed.
She was gratified to see her goal as she rounded a turn, brushing past two elderly day-hikers, who gave her a piece of their minds. She ignored them.
She started yelling for help as she ran past the snack bar and up the steps of the ranger station. Her yell became a cry of pain as she caught her bad foot on the top step.
Daria and Sandi had moved from the rocks up onto a shelf formed by large tree roots. The sun had moved so the roots were no longer in the shade, thereby making a more comfortable perch.
Sandi was in full fret over whether her sunscreen had washed off or whether the cut on her forehead would leave a scar. Then she found a blood-smear on her leg.
"Oh, my God, another one!" she complained. "If these leave scars, I'm just going to die!"
So die, Daria thought, then your blod won't clot, your wounds won't heal, and voila, guaranteed no scaring. You don't scar, I get peace, we're both happy.
"Um, Quinn's cousin? Hel-lo, are you listening to me?"
"It's not as if I can avoid it, but tell you what, if you say anything interesting, I'll let you know."
"Ha, ha, very funny... what are you doing?" Daria had picked up her pack and was opening it. "I'm going to spread these things out in the sun to dry. Maybe I can salvage something. Any objections?"
"Yes, your not, like, planning on staying here, are you?"
"As a matter of fact, yes. When you're lost, you're suppose to remain in one place until you're found. Didn't they mention that in the outdoors edition of Waif?"
"There was no outdoor edition of Waif."
"Oh, so you missed it?"
"Listen, Quinn's cousin, or whatever, if you want to wait here and get eaten by a bear or raped by a hillbilly, you are more than welcome. As for me, I'm going to go find someone to help me."
"Like a bear-raping hillbilly?"
"Do what you like. I've seen 'Deliverence.'" With that, Sandi got up and walked off.
Daria thought about "Deliverance" for a moment, then said, "Wait up!"
"Hey, hey, Ted!" said Shane, "You call this a trail?"
"I think I'd have chosen a different term, but that's what it says on the map."
"It is pretty badly overgrown," said Mack. "Watch your steps."
"Oh, boy," said Shane, "Blackberry bramble. Pity it's not summer."
"I know what you mean," said Ted, "My Mom makes a wonderful blackberry cobbler."
"Yeah, now all we have are briars." Shane started laughing. "Hey, Mack, you remember when we sent Kevin throught that bramble patch to see if that hornet's nest was occupied?"
"Yeah," he chuckled, "we didn't know the fool was going to poke at it."
"Didn't know the hornets would get us, either." They laughed at the memory.
"Kevin was a Scout, too?" asked Ted.
"Not a very good one," said Mack.
"He quit after two years of not getting first class," added Shane.
"How about you, Ted?" said Mack. "For a fellow who looks like a tenderfoot, you sure know your way around the woods."
"My parents consider the modern world to be a corrupting influence. They're very 'back to nature.' We go out to harvest stuff like wild grapes, watercress, berries, what have you."
"Dandelions?" grinned Shane.
"Not from the lawn," he grinned back, "Too many pesticides."
"You hung around Daria and Jane some, didn't you?"
"Yeah, Daria mostly. She showed me around a while, but she could be so stand-offish at times. After she took me to the arcade, we never really got together anymore. Kinda sad, actually. My parents finally sent me to public school to learn the socialization skills I wasn't geting from home-schooling, but somehow I think I'm a little better at it than she is." He shook his head sadly. "I hope she's alright."
Daria's pretty resourceful," said Mack. "I'd worry more about Sandi."
"Why?" said Shane.
"Good question," he replied.
"Listen," said Ted, "I hear water!"
Daria caught up with Sandi. "A suggestion..."
"What?" She gave Daria a sour look.
"It's better if we go downstream rather than up. We're more likely to run into a road that way."
"Hmmph."
"Plus, it's easier than going uphill."
Sandi stopped short. She turned around with a thoughtful look in her eye.
Daria frowned. "Don't even think of claiming this as your idea.'
She glowered back. "I wouldn't dream of it." She started back downhill. Daria sighed and followed her.
After a few minutes, she said, "Actually, Quinn's cousin, or whatever, you're lucky to be with me. As a popular student, they'll spare no effort in finding me."
Daria said nothing, but her eyes bored into Sandi's back.
"I'm, like, sure we'll be found in no time."
"Then why didn't we just sit still?"
Sandi stiffened noticeably. Daria indulged in a slight smile. "Ah," she said, "the armor cracks."
"And just what do you mean by that?"
"You were saying that as much for your own benefit as for mine. You aren't as confident in your popularity as you claim."
"Yes, and, like, maybe you're not as smart as you think you are!"
"Who knows, maybe I'm not. But I do know this; if you were as confident in your popularity as you claim, you wouldn't be as frightened by Quinn."
She turned and faced Daria. "I am most certainly not afraid of Quinn!"
"Then why are you such rivals? Why don't you just brush her off like the conniving twit she is, rather than doing your best to thwart her at every turn? You're afraid she's more popular than you."
Sandi looked as if she might explode. Daria decided it was best not to push it. She walked past her muttering, "I really don't think you two have that much to worry about."
"I don't expect an outsider like you to understand it anyway," she sniffed, regaining control of her temper. "It's not that easy, being on top."
That's okay, thought Daria, you've already told me all I need to know.
Mack stood and lifted something out of the water with a stick. It was a purse, very much like the one Sandi caried. They all felt a chill as Mack fished the wallet out from the cosmetic cases and opened it. Sandi smiled out from her drivers license.
Behind them a pileated woodpecker called out. It was as if it were the fates themselves laughing at them.
Mack tapped the wallet against his hand a couple of times, then put it back into the purse. He cleared his throat. "I guess she'll be happy to get this back," he said, trying to sound confident.
"Yeah," said Shane, "girls are funny about that sort of thing."
They stood in silence for a moment.
"Well, we're not going to find them like this," Mack said finally. "Let's see if they're around the falls."