To the Wild Country

Chapter Four.

Bill Maxwell crept around Pam Davidson's tent, stopping where he knew her head was on the other side; he could hear her muttering in her sleep.

He whispered to her, "Scotty, come on, the Office needs us in Walterville, Oregon! We've got our next assignment!" He covered his mouth to quell the laugh that was begging to come out.

His voice penetrated Pam's dream, and he heard her moan louder, then she said something that sounded like "Kell? That you?"

"None other, dollface, c'mon, up and at'em!" He thumped on the tent wall to get her attention.

Bill thought she was awake when she said, "Darn it, Kelly!"

Huh? he thought. He cleared his throat and said, "C'mon, Counselor, get up! There're fish out there waiting to be our breakfast!"

Pam, seeing Kelly in her dream, wondered why he'd be calling her Counselor. How'd he know she was an attorney? Fish? Breakfast? In her dream, she ran to the net to meet Robinson, holding her hand out to shake his, conceding to his winning yet another tennis match.

"Great game, Kelly," she said out loud. In her dream, she couldn't help looking the handsome man up and down, his tanned sweaty skin, the flush of health in his face, both serving to intrigue her. "Hmmm," she moaned out loud again.

Bill realized she was still asleep and dreaming an unknown dream. He thought she was continuing their I Spy game.

"PAM, come on, let's get to the fishin' before we head to town!" he said louder.

That did it, and Pam jumped awake, looking around her tent in confusion for a moment. "Bill?"

"Who're you expecting, Kelly Robinson?"

"I wish," Pam muttered. She reached for her discarded overshirt, shivering in the early-morning chill. She slipped the shirt and her sweatpants on and crept out of her tent on her hands and knees. She was startled when she saw Bill come around from the other side of her tent, dressed in his fishing gear and ready to go.

"How long have you been up, Bill?"

"Long enough to get the coffee fixed. Go get you some, get your gear and join me down yonder," he said, pointing to a clearing at the shoreline. "I don't think we'll need waders today, let's just fish from shore, see what we can get. If we don't have anything by 8:00, we can head to town and buy breakfast there."

"Sounds good, Bill, I'll be there in a little bit."

Pam joined him at the river's edge about fifteen minutes later, feeling much better after sucking down her first cup of coffee and freshening up somewhat. She got her hook baited, threw on her fishing hat and stood close to Bill. When she expertly cast her line, he nodded at her, smiling in admiration. Girl knows how to fish, he thought.

The two were quiet, as fishermen tend to be, enjoying the sound of the rushing river and the early-morning chorus of wildlife as the world began to wake up around them. Every so often, one or the other would spy an animal coming to the river for a morning drink and point it out. The flocks of birds coming to the water made them laugh, the way they'd go to the water's edge on sandy shores and take their morning baths, splashing and fluttering about to wet their wings.

"Look, Pam!" Bill exclaimed as two Bald Eagles flew overhead, going east toward a small river beach and landing. "They're fishing for breakfast too!"

They watched the eagles for a time, and smiled when they saw the bigger of the two launch herself into the water and nab a big fish. She brought it to the beach she was patrolling with her mate, and the two began to tear into their meal.

"Probably the female that caught it," Bill pointed out. "Birds of prey, the larger of the pair is usually the female. Eagles mate for life, you know."

"I didn't know you knew so much about Nature, Bill."

"Oh sure, this is near my favorite spot, I practically know these critters by name!"

Pam's line began to tug, and she and Bill yelped in surprise.

"You got it, Counselor, easy, easy!" Bill encouraged.

"I know, Bill, I know! I grew up fishing, Dad and Mom and I used to go whenever we could."

"All right, I'll shut up, I'm just excited is all."

Within minutes, Pam had a trout in her net. Bill's own trout wasn't too far behind, as if the two had been traveling up the river in a school.

He proudly held his fish up, exclaiming, "Breakfast is served!"

"Is one enough for each of us, Bill?" Pam asked, her face flushed with the excitement of landing two fish so quickly.

"Sure, how 'bout you start making the biscuits and I'll get these two ready for the frying pan! Just grab the biscuit dough, add water and throw it in the pan. Campfire biscuits are the best, no muss, no fuss."

She laughed at his enthusiasm as the two grabbed their gear, picked up any litter that may've fallen from their tackle boxes, and walked the short distance back to the campsite. They both set to their tasks, not talking, comfortably silent. Every so often, Pam would look at Bill and the continual sensation of how very much he resembled her dream Kelly kept creeping in.

She shook her head out of her reverie, telling herself, STOP it, Pam! Her thoughts turned to Ralph, and she tried to imagine what he was doing right now. Sleeping, I hope. ALONE, she emphasized to herself, reinforcing that conviction.

She went to Bill with the pan of biscuits and set it on the big iron rack over the fire, next to the pan of sizzling fish.

"Bill, I want to call Ralph when we get to town, see how the conference is going for him."

"Okay, you do that and I'm going to start walking about town, get a feel for anything that's going on. With Walterville being the biggest town in the McKenzie area, I'm sure if other, um, protestors are going to be here it'll be there. Well, you know what I mean."

"I'll call Ralph, then get to the county office like I said yesterday."

Bill winked at her and said, "Remember, if anyone asks, I'm Robinson, not Maxwell."

He didn't understand the blush that moved up her neck and face when she said, "Uh, yeah, Robinson. Right."

"Not 'right,' Pam, it's 'true, true!' C'mon, get with the game!"

The conspiratorial wink and the upturned smirk of his mouth caught Pam once again, and she stared into Bill's brown eyes, eyes that were more and more beginning to captivate her.

"Long as we remember it's a game," she said quietly, almost as if she was talking to herself.

"Huh?" Bill asked, confused by her stare.

Pam shook herself from his gaze and turned to tend to the biscuits. "Um, nothing, BILL," she said, emphasizing his name more for herself than for him.

"You all right, Counselor? You've been actin' kinda weird this morning."

She poked at the biscuits with her spatula and said, "Um, just thinking hard is all, Bill, about this and Ralph, and, um...."

She couldn't continue. Bill, who knew both Pam and Ralph very well, was realizing something HAD happened yesterday between them. He didn't miss how flustered she was acting around him, hadn't missed the surreptitious glances she'd been giving him all morning. He'd been playing it off, once again assuming he was misinterpreting the signals he was getting from her, but now he wasn't too sure.

"This?" he asked quietly. "As in me and you camping together, with no Ralph and no suit around?"

Pam blushed but met his gaze. "Yes, pretty much. I was feeling kind of guilty and wanted to call Ralph and talk to him."

Bill's soft chuckle startled Pam. "Counselor, you don't have anything to worry about, you're safe as can be here with me."

Bill shifted almost uncomfortably when Pam didn't reply for a few moments, her grey eyes drilling into him as if she was considering her response.

"Yes, but are you safe here with me?" she asked quietly.