Bode opened his eyes slowly, reluctant to abandon the dream he'd been having.
Freddy leaned over from his bunk, "good sleep?" he asked raising an eyebrow.
"l mean... I guess," Bode answered still half asleep. "Why?" Bode asked rubbing his eyes. He looked around the bunkroom. The rest of the crew was slowly coming to life in the early morning light.
"That's the first time since you've been here that you've gotten through the night without screaming Riley and waking up the whole dang room," Freddy quipped jokingly.
"So I know I got a better sleep than I've been gettin' sleeping in the bunk next to your messed up ass," Freddy joked, which got a few chuckles of agreement from the rest of the room.
Bode rolled his eyes at his friend and dragged himself out of bed. Every part of his body ached from his injuries, but Freddy was right... he had gotten a good sleep, so he was definitely feeling better than he had yesterday morning.
As he slowly got dressed, his mind wandered back to his dream...
He was standing on a lakeside cliff with Gabriella, crystal clear water below and the sun shining down on them. The water was calm and the lake was surrounded by thick forest on every side. It reminded him of a place he'd visited on a camping trip when he was a kid.
Gabriella looked stunning. Her olive skin and brown hair shone in the bright sunlight. She was wearing a simple white bikini that fit her curves perfectly.
"Jump!" she coaxed playfully.
"No way. It's way too high for me. I'm no diver," he replied, shaking his head as he looked all the way down to the water. It looked to be at least 30 feet down.
"I'll do it with you. I've got you,'" she said smiling as she took his right hand in her left one.
"Ready? On three. One... two.. three!" she said beaming.
He felt safe when he looked into her eyes.
Safer than he'd felt in a long time.
When she jumped, he fearlessly jumped with her.
They plunged deep into the clear blue water. It felt so refreshing. Exhilarating.
Gabriella found him under the water and pulled him in for a kiss. He wrapped his strong arms around her and pulled her tiny frame into his.
When they came back to the surface. She gave him an enormous smile and with mischief in her eyes she said, "let's do it again!" Then she started to swim for the shore.
He was just about to swim after her when he woke up.
It was a snapshot of the simple pleasures of the kind of life that he'd probably never have. Guys like him don't get girls like her. Guys like him don't deserve girls like her.
"I heard Cap's daughter came to see you yesterday," Freddy said sitting down on the Bunkhouse steps next to Bode.
Bode raised an eyebrow, "who from? No one was around when she stopped by."
"You know those guards are bigger gossips than my Aunties at a church picnic," Freddy answered sarcastically.
"You be careful there," Freddy continued, his tone getting serious. "Staying on Cap's good side is how you get outta here. He's not gonna like no con gettin' tight with his baby girl."
"You don't need to worry. There's no way a girl like that would ever be interested in a mess like me," Bode said with a weak smile as he looked down at his feet. "I'm not like you Freddy, I wasn't falsely accused. I'm here for a reason. She deserves better than an addict. A thief. A felon. A guy who is responsible for the death of his little sister."
Bode continued,"it's just that I've never met anyone like her. So fearless. So driven. She goes after exactly what she wants even when people throw blockers in her way."
"I bet it doesn't hurt that she's gorgeous either, does it?" Freddy joked, standing up. "I guess I better go get ready. You better heal up soon... cutting line is so boring without someone who likes my jokes."
Bode looked up at him with a smile. "I don't remember ever saying that I liked your jokes...," he joked.
The next few weeks went by painfully slow, while Bode's was sidelined and his body healed. Cap had assigned him a bunch of administrative "make-work" projects, but he was grateful that he'd been able to stay at the camp and hadn't been sent back to prison because he couldn't work on the crew.
Following Freddy's advice, he had been trying to keep his distance from Gabriella. This had proved surprisingly easy since he hadn't left the camp since he'd been back from the hospital.
His task today was to organize and file all the hard copies of the topographic maps they had in the camp office. Cap had explained that these were used as a back-up when they were in areas with poor reception or during power outages. Bode was impressed by the detail shown on each map. He'd never really looked at maps like these before. He'd seen them in school and around the Fire Station growing up. But after spending the morning pouring over them, he was fascinated... especially since they were of the forests and mountains around his hometown. He looked over each one trying to identify any recognizable landmarks and found that he could place several of them. On his second last map, he noticed a deep lake surrounded by forest. Off one side, he saw a small backcountry campground.
It was the lake from his childhood... and from his dream. A dream that he'd now had several times over the last few weeks.
By the time Cap got back to the office, Bode had neatly organized and filed the rest of the maps. "Cap? Would it be okay if I made a copy of this map? I think this is a campground we visited when I was a kid," Bode asked.
Manny walked over to the table where Bode had been working and leaned over the map. "That's an awesome lake - a great swimming hole and not a bad place for fishing since you can't get motorized boats into it," Manny said with a nostalgic smile. "I haven't been there in years," he continued. "But, we're actually slated to do some clearing near there next week," he said pointing at a section of forest just to the north of the lake.
"If the doctors clear you on Friday, which they said they were optimistic about last week... then you might even be able to see that little lake," Manny said with a hopeful grin and gave Bode a pat on the shoulder.
It took almost 7 weeks, but Bode had been cleared by his Doctors to go back out with the crew. He couldn't believe how excited he was to do manual labour. Even though the work was tough, it felt good to be outside and put his body to work. He'd missed working with the crew... even having to listen to Freddie's seemingly endless jokes.
But mostly, he was excited to see the lake. He was so curious to see if it matched the one that he couldn't get out of his head. He knew that deep down it was Gabriella that he wanted to see... but the lake would have to do for now.