THE TEACHINGS OF DOÑA DARIA

by Galen Hardesty

Part Eleven

~*~

"What are you thinking, Daria?" Helen asked.

"He needs a self-esteem boost, and he wants to beat his Old Man at something. How about if he rescues Quinn?"

"But Qu... hmmm. Hmmm. Go on."

Just then Quinn returned and replaced the toilet paper in Helen's pack. She glared frequently in the direction Jake had gone. "I hate this effing place!"

"Relax, Quinn," Daria said. "He didn't see you. He didn't even see us."

"I don't care! I want a bathroom, with no bugs and a lockable door! I'm not a damn bear! I don't wanna sh..."

"We get it, Quinn," Helen replied, holding up a warning finger. "Maybe if you help us out here, we can leave a little early. Daria, tell us what you have in mind."

"Quinn goes off a little way along this trail I marked," Daria pointed, "toward that clearing where you were. We find Dad again and tell him we need him to help find Quinn. We split up, making sure he's the one who goes in Quinn's direction. Quinn, when you hear him coming, you make like 'Oh, deah, I'm lost in the forest. What shall become of me?' and make sure he finds you."

"You mean like "Yoo-hoo! I'm a wee tiny elfling, and I'm losted!" Quinn smirked. Daria glowered at her.

Helen looked puzzled. "Well, lose the part about the elfling."

Daria added, "And don't try to con him out of his gold card." Quinn glowered at Daria.

Helen said, "I'm sure you wouldn't do a thing like that, would you, Quinn?"

"Of course not!" Quinn continued to glower at Daria.

"Of course not. Meanwhile, Mom and I will be shadowing him on the right and left, staying just close enough to see and hear. If he tries to do anything other than rescue you, we'll close in and go to Plan 'B'." Daria held up a short piece of rope with loops in each end.

"Sure, I can do that. I'm pretty good with Dad," said Quinn.

Helen held up a hand. "Hold on. It sounds good, but it also sounds like a good way to get us all lost in the forest. We don't have a whole lot of daylight left."

"Well, I'm not gonna get lost. I'm almost familiar with this part of the forest, and anyway, I've got my compass. All I need to do is walk straight east till I cut this trail. And Dad seems to be pretty familiar with this patch of woods too."

"What about Quinn? And me?"

"Quinn is going to be following my marked trail, and she'll only be going a hundred yards or so. If any of you gets turned around, I'll blow the horn to guide you back to camp."

"It still sounds risky."

"Coming out here in the first place was risky. We did it because we thought it'd be good for Dad. I'd rather not end the trip with him beating himself up over endangering his family. Not if we can make him feel like he did something good, something worthwhile. But it's up to you."

Helen stared into the circle of stones where the fire had been. "All right, we'll do it. I'll go find Jake. Daria, be sure Quinn knows where she'll be and how to read your trail signs. Any questions?"

~*~

Daria looked down the trail to the remains of the little bridge. The part of it on this bank of the ravine was more-or-less intact, but there were only a few splintered logs left on the other side. The center section was gone. The gap was clearly too wide to jump, and there was no good place to land on the opposite bank.

Helen stood at this end of the bridge, blocking it, talking to Jake. Jake was using a lot of arm gestures. Helen stood firm, arms crossed. Jake turned off the trail and headed toward the ravine, holding onto the bridge timbers as he went. This didn't look good.

Suddenly Jake was making with the arm gestures again. No, he was batting at something, and retreating back up the bank as fast as he could. Now he was running back up the trail, straight towards her, with Helen right behind, also batting at something. Inferring the presence of wasps or yellowjackets, Daria looked around her.

There were some tall thin weeds growing by the path here, a kind that looked like dusters. Daria quickly opened her knife and cut a couple. As Jake ran up, she said, "Stop. Turn around," and brushed him off with the weeds. She knocked one red wasp off his back, and quickly stomped it. Helen didn't have any on her, and the wasps hadn't followed them this far.

"Darn you, Old Man! You'll have to do better than that! A few wasps aren't gonna stop me!" Jake shouted, shaking his fist at the sky. He turned back toward the bridge.

Daria managed to get in front of him. "Are you saying that your father has the power to control insects from beyond the grave?" she asked him.

Startled, Jake stopped dead and stared into his daughter's eyes. "Well, when you put it like that... I'm sorry, honey, your old man's just a raving idiot! Got no more sense than a goose, just like..."

Daria interrupted, to keep him from going into another rant. "Dad, we need your help. Quinn's lost in the forest, and we need your help to find her."

Jake looked down at the ground. "Aww, hell, I'd probably screw it up, just like..."

Seeing that Helen was about to rip a strip off him, Daria tried one more time. She took hold of his arm. "Dad, Quinn needs you," she said.

A look of determination slowly formed on Jake's face. "Come on, let's go," he said, and strode off up the trail.

Daria set off behind him, half-trotting to keep up. "Dad, we need you." That doesn't work. "Dad, Quinn needs you." That works. I'm not even gonna think about that. Daria shoved the thought firmly out of her mind.

~*~