his next drawing of Emma’s face with the sunlight filtering through the oak leaves onto it.
Josh loved the peace of this place, with the birds singing, crickets chirping, and the occasional coyote adding his voice to the mixture. But he had never liked it nearly as well as he did when he shared it with Emma.
“Is that thunder?” she asked when a low rumble sounded on the other side of the mountain.
“It’s not supposed to be stormy today.” He stood up and walked out past the four-wheeler. Sure enough, dark clouds were gathering and moving toward them from the southwest, pushing all those puffs of white to the side as if they were nothing but marshmallows. “But I guess it is. We’d better cut our trip short or else we’ll be dodging lightning bolts here in a little while.”
Dammit! he thought as he put everything back into the backpacks. He’d looked forward to a whole day with Emma, and a damned storm had ruined it.
She grabbed one corner of the quilt, and he got the other end. Together, they folded it and loaded their backpacks into the saddlebags. Then Josh hopped onto the four-wheeler and tried to start the engine, but it only made a grating sound. The noise when lightning struck a nearby tree deafened them. The thunder that followed compounded the racket, and Josh jumped off the vehicle.
“What’s the matter with it?” Emma’s eyes had gone wide with fear.
“We’re going to be fine,” Josh tried to reassure her. “I’ve had to spend some time out here before. Remember me telling you that I discovered a cave just a little way up the mountain? Well, we should be heading that way if we don’t want to get soaked.”
“I’ve never been inside one, but it sounds better than this. How far is it?” she asked.
“About a quarter mile up that mountain.” He tossed her backpack to her.
She caught it and slung it over her shoulder while he strapped his on and tucked the quilt under his arm. “I already smell rain, and it’s a steep climb, so we should hurry.”
“Lead the way,” Emma said.
The path that he’d used to go from the base of the mountain to the cave had grown over and gotten tangled since the previous fall, but it was still passable, even if they did have to sidestep a few cacti. “I found this place the year I bought the trailer park,” he said. “I was following a rare kit fox up here and happened upon the cave. I was kind of scared to go inside it at first—bats scare the bejesus out of me—but I forced myself to face my fears and go inside. There were no bats or animals of any kind, thank goodness, but I did find where my fox had probably had a litter of babies. I guess I tainted the cave, because I’ve never seen any other foxes or animals up here.”
Lightning zigzagged out of the sky and seemed to land only a hundred feet off to the side of the pathway. Thunder followed so low over their heads that Emma stopped and covered her ears.
“Just a little farther,” Josh yelled over the din just as the first drops of rain splattered on his glasses. “See that big cedar tree? It’s a few steps beyond that. Take my hand. It’s steeper from here to there.”
She grabbed for his hand without hesitation. “What happens when it all ends? We don’t have phone service to call for help. Will Filly and Arty come looking for us?”
“Not until morning,” Josh said as he pulled her inside the opening to the cave. “I told them we might not be back in time for supper, but when we aren’t there in the morning, Arty will come this way.” He went straight to a lantern and lit it.
“Oh, my!” Her eyes grew wide again as she took in the cave.
“After the first time I got stuck up here, I got prepared. There’s dry wood back there for a fire.” He pointed to the circular pit outlined with rocks. “Over there on that big rock are a few cans of beans and a couple of flashlights. Even if I don’t have to stay here, I check on the place a few times a year and make sure firewood is ready if I need it.”
“Well, thank you once again,” she told him just as the wind picked up and the rain fell outside the entrance in gray sheets. “We sure