The Reckoning

The next day the sheriff and park ranger were back to the office and asked me to have Zach come there. He reluctantly agreed; this second interview took no more than three minutes, all of which I caught with my rabbit ears.

"Zach, little Ambrosia says that there was a bad man there that you saved her from. Why would she say that?" the sheriff inquired.

"Little kids tend to fantasize," Zach shrugged.

"She seemed very sure of herself," the ranger responded. "She told us that the bad man threatened to hurt her and then she heard a loud bang and then he let go of her and fell to the ground."

"She's obviously confused, as you would expect for a three year old out in the woods for two days," Zach shrugged again.

"That little girl is smart as a whip. She already reads first grade books - I saw it with my own eyes," the sheriff stated.

"The fact that she's book smart doesn't tell you that she is accurately recounting what happened in the wilderness. If book smarts and wilderness smarts were the same her mother and father would have found her and you wouldn't need me," Zach retorted.

"Are we going to find a man's body somewhere out there in the forest?" the sheriff inquired.

"I don't know - maybe some hunter fell and broke his leg and died of dehydration. All I know is that I won't be out there looking - but help yourself. By the way, I'm done answering questions. Now have a great day gents," Zach said, the last line delivered with a smile and handshake.

After Zach left the sheriff turned to me. "He's an odd one isn't he Betsy?"

"Lucky for both you and Ambrosia that he is; you would have found her dead a few days from now without Zach's help," I replied. After both the sheriff and ranger nodded agreement I continued "By the way, if Zach did shoot a sex offender out there you will never find the body - don't waste your time looking."

Both guys smiled. "I do believe that you're right about that, Betsy-girl," the ranger chuckled.

"This case is closed," the sheriff laughed, "thanks for letting us use your office and talking Zach into helping," he continued as they exited.

I saw no reason to tell him that I wasn't the one who convinced Zach to help; nor would I be telling anyone else how that came to be.

****************

Anadyomene never made a visit to Wilderness Challenge over the next year, nor did Zach ever leave for more than a few days. This puzzled me in view of the deal that Anadyomene struck with Zach, but I wasn't about to inquire. Cecil did visit for 48 hours, however, a few months after Ambrosia was rescued and again Cecil never seemed to leave Zach's cabin. I have to admit that I was jealous when she walked to her helicopter even more bowlegged than the last time and with a facial expression that only could be described as a dazed grin.

"Zach must really like laying pipe in that pussy," I grumbled to myself - and then had another session with my fingers stimulating my clitoris.

Then came the day about eighteen months after Zach had rescued Ambrosia when now thirty one year old Zach announced to me and the two other co-owners of Wilderness Challenge that he was taking a sabbatical.

"For how long?" I reasonably inquired.

"I don't know - maybe six months," he replied. When the three of us were silent he continued "If you want to buy me out cheap, I'll agree; but I'm not staying around."

"Do you need money?" I asked.

"No - I never told you three jackals, but when I rescued that heiress held hostage by those two murderers her father was the most grateful man that I've ever encountered. With the reward he insisted that I take I don't really ever have to work for money again - although I will," he responded, the "although I will" delivered with a smile in response to obvious looks of dread on his co-owners faces since he was the person most responsible for the considerable success of Wilderness Challenge.

"No, no...don't worry about selling us your share," I responded with the two others nodding approval. "We'll get by. But please at least let us know where you stand every two or three months. Just a quick phone call, text, or email will do."

"No problem," he replied, gave each of us a big hug; and then he again was off like an apparition.

**************

It was less than a month after Zach took off that I received a visit from two Oregon State Police detectives. They wanted to know where Zach was. "He left a few weeks ago and said that he was taking a sabbatical," I honestly replied.

"For how long?"

"He said about six months."

"Where?"

"He didn't say."

"Has he communicated with you or anyone else at Wilderness Challenge?"

"No ... but he said that he'd call, text, or email about every two or three months."

As the lead detective handed me his card he said "Be sure to let us know as soon as you do hear from him."

"What's this about officer?" I asked.

One detective looked at the other; the one said "It's in all of the Portland papers," so the lead detective replied to my question. "A woman by the name of Anadyomene Grimes and her daughter Ambrosia have disappeared. We think that Mr. Walton may know something about their whereabouts."

"You do know that Zach rescued Ambrosia, likely from a sexual predator although that was never proven. There is no way that he would hurt her or Anadyomene," I forcefully announced.

"We know about the rescue; we don't presently think that if they are with Mr. Walton that he will harm them; but nevertheless we believe that they are with him against their will."

"I'll call if I hear anything," I shrugged my shoulders, and they left.

When I received terse emails from Zach over the next seven months I reported them to the lead detective - but they provided no clue as to where Zach was, or where Anadyomene or Ambrosia were if they were with him - which I believed to be the case. Then, out of the blue, seven months and two days after he had left Zach returned. With him was an obviously pregnant Anadyomene and a seemingly very happy and well adjusted, as well as precocious, Ambrosia.

While we waited in Wilderness Challenge for a helicopter to pick up Anadyomene and Ambrosia, the now five year old insisted on showing me all of the really cool wilderness things that Uncle Zach had taught her, and she retrieved a wilderness survival book from Zach's backpack (a book that Zach had written that I didn't even know about) and proceeded to read to me from it, including words and passages that I could barely read or pronounce myself.

Anadyomene was actually smiling when lounging in the office, and she and Zach said only pleasant things to each other. When I asked her how she was feeling she candidly replied "This pregnancy is easier than my last one. I'm sure its Zach's son, however, so ultimately he'll get rambunctious, but so far so good."

What could I say to that?

When a large helicopter arrived with all of Winston, Cecil, and Justin - as well as the two pilots - Anadyomene was very nonchalant as she hugged everybody. Winston looked pissed when he saw Anadyomene's condition. Justin looked apoplectic but said and did nothing, wise in view of the evil eye that Zach was giving him. Anadyomene kissed Zach on the cheek and Ambrosia gave him a two minute long hug and dozens of kisses before she hopped on the helicopter with a tear in her eye. Cecil gave Zach a "chaste" hug, but a coquettish look.

I didn't care whether Zach would be pissed at me for asking all of the questions welling in my bosom, because I was compelled to ask. "Are the State Police going to be coming here to arrest you?"

"No," he shrugged.

"Didn't you kidnap Anadyomene and Ambrosia?"

"They may have felt that at one time, but that's not how they look at it now."

"So how are they going to explain their absence for almost seven months?"

"They wanted a real wilderness experience, and I gave it to them."

"I see that you gave Anadyomene something else too, stud."

"Yeah, funny isn't it," he laughed. "She conceived asshole's kid while married to me and now has conceived my kid married to him. Life sure is strange."

It was apparent that he was now done talking about his sabbatical because he said "So, any groups on tap that need a real wilderness adventure; I'm available."

**************

It's now been a year since Zach has returned. Ambrosia came to visit for a week this last summer, and wished that she could stay another month. Zach took her everywhere with him and they both seemed to be laughing half the time. Cecil came for three days this fall - and you probably can guess how that turned out; her look when she left was even more serene than the previous times and I do believe that her feet were a meter apart as she walked toward the helicopter. In part due to those visits, as well as seemingly weekly letters from Anadyomene, Zach is back to being his old happy self.

Yesterday my pent-up curiosity boiled over when a letter arrived from Anadyomene with the latest photo, which I snapped out of his hand, of her blond-haired blue-eyed already muscular son, named Xavier.

"When is Xavier coming to visit?" I asked.

"Probably when he's three," Zach smilingly replied.

"Will his mother be coming with him?"

"Only time will tell," Zach laughed.

"Will his maternal grandmother be coming with him?"

"I sure hope so," Zach laughed even harder, and I swear that I saw his crotch pup tent.

*************

Like I said at the start - Zach's relationships are complicated.