Part 2: A Ranger's Journey
Chapter 8: How to Strike Out with the Ladies
Cody had been a seasonal employee at Glacier National Park, he stayed on to finish getting his chopper pilot license. Micky had been encouraging Cody to search for a full-time ranger position and one that would allow him to get more skills as a pilot. Cody had earned his chopper pilot license, there had been no openings at Glacier National Park. Cody had been looking around and interviewing at several parks. However, most wanted someone with more experience. Cody found a position that was willing to take a newbie but only as a part-time pilot and part-time ranger. This would give him more experience in both areas. He was excited about this opportunity and going to Yellowstone National Park. The interview went well, and Cody got the job. Only after one season he found his full-time ranger position. Mark had recently transferred to Yellowstone too. Mark and Cody's positions were both in the same area of the park, so Cody and Mark were able to get a two-bedroom apartment together.
Cody knocked on the door to the apartment. Mark opened the door, "Cody, good to see you man. Did you just get in."
"Yes, just rolled in. You see pictures on how beautiful Yellowstone is, but until you see it in person you can't even imagine it." Cody said.
"Let me help you unload," Mark said. "So glad you are here. I have met some terrific women."
"Excellent, maybe we will both find the woman of our dreams." Cody teased.
"If we are so lucky," Mark said.
The two men unloaded Cody's truck and Mark showed Cody around to all the employee hangouts. There was a young crowd there in the summer, but much smaller group in the off season. Cody and Mark sat down in one restaurant for dinner. "Cody, so what is new."
"I have a new little niece," Cody said. "That reminds me. I just picked up these pictures before I left. Literally as I was leaving Tahoe."
Cody went into his backpack and pulled out the pictures. "These pictures are from when she was first born. Matt and Robin, you met. That is Izzie Flowers, one of the rangers, Frank Avila, he is the Chopper Pilot with the rangers. That is his wife Priya and their two-year-old daughter Jessica. Jessica is named after my dad."
Cody paused for a moment, Mark asked, "Who is that?"
"Must be Jennifer Jacobs. She was this little girl that used to follow me around the mountains."
"Maybe you should get your eyes checked man. She does not look like any little girl I know."
"Ha… Ha… She moved to the mountains when she was twelve after her parents died. She lived with her grandfather. Jennifer and I used to fish, hike and sometimes camp together. She is about four years younger than me. I think I was about sixteen at the time."
"What grandfather was okay with a sixteen-year-old boy, taking twelve-year-old girl camping. Was it just the two of you?" Mark asked.
"Sometimes yes, sometimes my dad was there too. She was like a little sister to me. My dad would have skinned me if I did anything to her. The last time I saw her was at Matt and Robin's wedding. She must have been around sixteen then. I was still little old for her than, but we did dance at the wedding. Honestly, we were dancing so close together, I came so close to kissing her. I knew my dad would skin me and her grandfather would never let me see her again if I had." Cody said.
"She would be in her early twenties now?" Mark asked.
"Yes, she would be. If I saw her again, things would be different. We are both adults and our age difference does not matter so much anymore." Cody said.
"She looks so sad," Mark said.
"The day Kelly was born was the day of Jennifer's grandfather's funeral. This picture was taken probably an hour or so after she buried him. Unfortunately, she has no other family, and no one was there for her, she was alone. I could not get away, my dad was a no show, the rangers were called away in an emergency, and Robin went into labor. Matt thinks she had a rough time of it. The next day she met with the lawyer about the will and then immediately left. We have not heard from her since. I know Robin has tried to get in contact with her but has had no luck."
"That is sad, to be so young and alone," Mark continued to flip through the pictures. "Now that is a picture of the proud uncle," Mark said. The picture was one of Cody changing Kelly's diaper and the picture was snapped at the right time to capture Cody's grossed out expression. "Oh… that is the best picture." The two men just laughed.
"So, you were saying the women scene is pretty good hear?" Cody asked. He just looked at the picture of Jennifer and then put it back in the photo sleeve.
"Yeah. I just started dating Roxy and she is fantastic. She has a few friends; I will introduce you to them this weekend and you can see if you hit it off with any of them."
"Sounds good to me," Cody said. "Maybe we will both be lucky enough to meet the women of our dreams."
"I think I already have," Mark smiled. "So, you start tomorrow?"
"Yep at 8 am," Cody said.
Next day Cody walked into the HR Office and filled out some paperwork and went to orientation. In the afternoon he met with his boss, Jerry Milham, and met with some of the other chopper pilots. For the first few weeks he will be working closely with his boss to get used to the terrain in the air and ground.
"Cody tell me about yourself? You have been out of college two or three years?" Jerry asked.
"About year and a half," Cody said.
"You had pretty good marks at Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy. And you have a great reference from your mentor, Micky." Jerry said. "I have worked with Micky before, and he is a good guy and good judge of character."
"He was a great mentor, I so enjoyed working for him and learned a lot," Cody said.
"So why did you leave?" Jerry asked.
"I was a seasonal employee there and I was looking for a full-time position. I also just got my pilot license and there were no openings there for pilots. Micky encouraged me to look at other parks with open pilot positions. My roommate from Park Ranger Law Enforcement Academy, just got a position here and he loved it. I liked the sound of the position that was open, and everything just fell into place."
The weekend arrived Mark took Cody to a bar which had many of the younger staff members from the Mammoth Hot Springs Area.
"Wow, you were not kidding. There are a lot of Foxy ladies here." Cody exclaimed.
"Your funny man." Mark said.
"Who is that babe by the bar?" Cody asked.
"That is Lizzie Donavan. She is way out of your league. You don't have a chance with her. She is practically married to that dude that just walked in the door," Mark said. A large muscular man walks into the bar and goes over to Lizzie. He kisses her on the cheek. "She is not worth your time."
"I suppose you are right, but she is beautiful," Cody was in love.
Three women walk up to Cody and Mark. One of the women said, "Hi handsome, who is your friend?
Mark and Cody both stand up. Mark kisses the women on the cheek, "Roxie I want to introduce you to my friend and roommate, Cody Hawkes. Cody, this is my lady, Roxie Harris."
"Roxie, it is nice to meet you," Cody said.
Roxie introduces Cody to her friends, "Cody, these are my friends Debbie and Sophie."
Cody gets a smile on his face, "Nice to meet you, Debbie and Sophie."
"Very good," Roxie said.
"Why do we move out to the outside patio," Mark said.
Mark and Roxie sat at one end of the table and Cody sitting between the two ladies. Cody had one arm wrapped around each ladies' shoulders. Lizzie and her boyfriend moved to a table nearby.
"So, ladies tell me about yourselves?" Cody asked.
Sophie said, "Well, like we are both here for the summer, to get like our school internships done."
"Yeah, like totally here for the credits and to have some fun," Debbie reached over and kissed Cody on the lips.
"Like party every night!" Sophie said and she reached over and she kissed Cody on the lips.
"Wow, ladies," Cody said.
"We like to party," Sophie said. Both ladies started taking their hands and rubbing them across Cody's chest.
Cody's eyes popped out of this head, and he mouthed, "HELP."
Lizzie and her boyfriend were watching what was going on at Cody's table. Her boyfriend rolled his eyes. "Can you believe some people. Let's go babe," Fred said.
"Just ignore them, it is too nice out. Let's stay a while. Ginger and Peter are supposed to meet us." Lizzie said.
Fred got up, threw some money down, and grabbed Lizzie by the arm. "Let's go."
"I told you no," Lizzie said sternly.
"Now," Fred said.
Lizzie got up in a huff and left the bar with Fred.
Back to Cody and Mark's table. Cody had noticed Lizzie and Fred had left the bar. Some reason he just wanted to get up and go after them, but he was bit trapped by two ladies. Mark and Roxie looked at each other.
"Okay ladies, you can let him go now." Roxie said.
"What?" Cody said. The two ladies stopped rubbing him and moved back a bit.
"We totally got you," Sophie said.
Debbie said, "Like totally."
"Sorry man, we had to do it," Mark laughed. "You should have seen the look on your face."
"Let me formally introduce us. I am Ranger Debbie Arnold, and this is Ranger Sophie Ruby. And we work at the front gate. It is a bit of a bore, so we need to have some fun somehow."
"Nice to meet you," Cody said.
"Don't worry man. They like to do this to everyone. They did it too me as well, but Roxie was with them too. But I won her over." Mark hugged Roxie.
"Sorry, it is a game we like to play on all the new single male park rangers. Think of it as an initiation into being a park ranger," Sophie said. "When Mark said his best friend was coming, we had to pull out all the stops."
"Well, can't say things are not interesting here," Cody said. "Can you give me a minute." Cody got up and went in the direction that Lizzie and Fred had gone. Mark got up and followed Cody.
"Cody, are you mad?" Mark asked.
"No, I just need a minute," Cody said.
He went back out to the parking lot. Fred and Lizzie were just driving away.
Monday morning came and Cody was going to tour Yellowstone with his boss. He was learning the flight pattern for the area he would patrol. Cody was flying the chopper this go around. "So, I heard you were welcomed by Sophie and Debbie Friday night," Jerry said.
"What? How did you hear about it?" Cody asked.
"They are legendary. They love to have fun, but they are best to stay away from. They like to tease but will never be serious." Jerry said.
"There was another lady that caught my eye. Her name is Lizzie. She is a pretty blonde with long straight hair. She is dating someone named Fred." Cody said.
"Yeah… she is a sweetheart, but he is one to stay away from," Jerry said. "Are you interested in her?"
"Yes, no, I mean…. Yes, if she was not dating someone. She just caught my eye. Mark said she is out of my league." Cody said.
"Mark is right, she is out of your league," Jerry said.
A week or two later, Cody had to run over to the main visitor center, and he walked past a room where Lizzie was giving a presentation on the history of the Mammoth Hot Springs area. Cody walked in the room and just listened for a bit. Afterwards he stuck around and watched her talking to some visitors. As he stepped out of the room, he was approached by a young boy working on his junior ranger badge.
"Excuse me, Ranger? I was wondering if I could interview you for my ranger badge?" little boy asked shyly.
"Sure, what is your name?" Cody asked.
"My name is Jackson. First question, what is your name and where are you from?" Jackson asked.
"I am Ranger Cody Hawkes, and I am from California." Cody answered.
"How long have you been a ranger and how long have you worked at Yellowstone?" Jackson asked.
"I am on my second year as a National Park Ranger, and I have been at Yellowstone for about a month," Cody answered.
"Cool, I have been here for about a week," Jackson answered. Just then, Lizzie walked by Cody and Jackson.
"Then I will need to look to you for some help. What are your favorite sites?"
"I love the Hot Springs and Old Faithful. It is cool when the elk walk by the cabins," Jackson answered.
"Have you seen any bears or bison yet?" Cody asked.
"No bears, but we did see a lot of bison," Jackson said. "Have you?"
"I have seen the bison from the air, I am a pilot here. I have not seen any bears in Yellowstone. But I have seen them where I grew up. Be very careful if you do see them, keep a good distance from them, as they are very dangerous. Just like the bison are."
"Will do, Ranger Hawkes," Jackson said. Cody signed his paper for the Junior Ranger program. And they said their goodbyes.
Cody followed Lizzie back to the Ranger area. He walked right up to her while she was talking to another ranger and interrupted them. "Lizzie, I wanted to let you know you did a great job with that presentation."
"Do I know you?" Lizzie asked.
"Sorry, I am Cody and I think you are one of the most beautiful, I mean foxy ladies I have ever seen," Cody said.
"Oh…okay… thanks. I have a boyfriend," Lizzie said.
"Sorry I did know that, but I just arrived and thought maybe you could give another guy a chance. What do you say," Cody asked. He was nervous talking to her and did not know what he was saying.
"I am sorry, my boyfriend and I are exclusive," Lizzie said.
"Well, if you ever break-up, just know there are other men out there waiting in line to ask you out." Cody said.
"I will keep that in mind. I need to go now," Lizzie said. Lizzie and her friend walked away. "Can you believe that guy." They both giggled.
Cody took a deep breath and murmured to himself, "Smooth going Hawkes, I doubt she would ever talk to you again."