Trust Me if You Dare

By Alan Cook

Charlie Ebersole is good at his job as a securities analyst for International Industries in Los Angeles in the year 1962, but he is also somewhat bored at being tied to a desk most of the time. He jumps at the chance to join the fraud section of II, and is immediately put on a case that will take him and another employee, Elizabeth Reid, to Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale, and possibly to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, although the Bay of Pigs fiasco is a recent memory, and relations between Cuba and the United States are not good. Charlie and Liz find out that uncovering a Ponzi scheme isn’t all just fun and games, but it can be dangerous too, especially when somebody is intent on them not discovering the truth. Before they are through they may wish they were back at their nice safe desks in Los Angeles.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alan Cook
• Release date: Jun 29, 2019
• ISBN: 9780463051689

Alan Cook

After spending more than a quarter of a century as a pioneer in the computer industry, Alan Cook is well into his second career as a writer.ROCKY ROAD TO DENVERThe death of Roger McAllister’s wife in 1984 prompts him to take a break from his accounting firm and join a walk from Los Angeles to Denver, sponsored by Zeus Shoes. The people he encounters will shake him out of his comfort zone, providing comedy, peril and sexual temptation. In addition, his dead wife appears to be keeping an eye on him. Roger’s life will never be the same.DEATH AT MONKSREST--Charlie and Liz No. 3Liz Reid flies to England in the 1960s because of a poem about an ancient curse that her coworker, Charlie Ebersole, has sent her, which may have led to the murder of the sister of Charlie’s English friend, Reggie, whose father is the owner of the hereditary estate of Monksrest. Liz works with Lord Wheatley to find clues in spite of the risks involved.EAST OF THE WALL--Charlie and Liz No. 2Charlie Ebersole and Liz Reid are recruited by the CIA to go into East Germany in June 1963, to attempt to obtain intelligence about a secret project of the Germans during World War II, about which information has been lost. The Berlin Wall and the Stasi (East German secret police) make this a perilous mission, but the two suspect that they are the most appropriate people for the job.TRUST ME IF YOU DARE--Charlie and Liz No. 1Charlie Ebersole is good at his job as a securities analyst for International Industries in Los Angeles in the year 1962, but he is also somewhat bored at being tied to a desk most of the time. He jumps at the chance to join the fraud section of II, and is immediately put on a case that will take him and another employee, Elizabeth Reid, to Buffalo, Fort Lauderdale, and possibly to Fidel Castro’s Cuba, although the Bay of Pigs fiasco is a recent memory, and relations between Cuba and the United States are not good. Charlie and Liz find out that uncovering a Ponzi scheme isn’t all just fun and games, but it can be dangerous too, especially when somebody is intent on them not discovering the truth. Before they are through they may wish they were back at their nice safe desks in Los Angeles.YOUR MOVE--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 7Carol looks for a serial killer who likes to play games. As she attempts to figure out the game and its significance for the killer she realizes that events occurring when she was a college student but are lost to her because of her amnesia may be significant in tracking down the killer. Does the killer want something from her? If so, what? This is becoming too personal for comfort.FOOL ME TWICE--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 6Carol Golden is asked to help Peter Griffenham recover a chunk of money he's lost in a scam, but he doesn't want to go to the police, and by the time she gets involved the prime suspect, a dazzling redhead named Amy, has disappeared along with the money. Or has she? Perhaps that was only the first chapter, to be followed by a much larger scam. Can Carol help prevent chapter two?GOOD TO THE LAST DEATH--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 5When Carol Golden's husband, Rigo, disappears, she not only has to look for him, but elude the FBI at the same time, because there is evidence that she was involved in his disappearance. She doggedly follows a faint trail, keeping her location a secret from everybody except her friend, Jennifer, a spy-in-training, who takes time off from her top-secret job to help Carol.HIT THAT BLOT--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 4The fourth Carol Golden novel takes Carol into the exciting and dangerous world of tournament backgammon. She listens to a caller who calls himself Danny on the crisis hotline Carol volunteers for say he is afraid he'll be murdered. A backgammon player, herself, Carol, disobeys the hotline rules and sets out to find and help Danny. She needs all her experience with spies and detective work to survive this adventure.DANGEROUS WIND--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 3In the third Carol Golden novel, Carol is abducted by a shady government group and required to help find an old boyfriend of hers she doesn't remember (because of her amnesia) who is trying to bring about the "downfall of the western world." She will travel to all seven continents before she can figure out what's going on.RELATIVELY DEAD--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 2Having recovered her identity (lost in FORGET TO REMEMBER) if not her memory, Carol Golden seeks out some of her cousins in the second Carol Golden novel, only to find out they appear to be targeted for murder. While trying to figure out what's going on, Carol encounters the Grandparent Scam and a Ponzi Scheme, and finds out that she may be one of the targets of the murderer.FORGET TO REMEMBER--CAROL GOLDEN NO. 1Carol Golden isn't her real name. She doesn't remember her real name or anything that happened before she was found, naked and unconscious, in a Dumpster on the beautiful Palos Verdes Peninsula in Southern California. After some initial medical assistance, government at all levels declares her a non-person. She can't work because she doesn't have a Social Security number, which she can't get because she doesn't have a birth certificate. She can't even legally drive a car or fly on an airplane. This is the first Carol Golden novel.Alan's Lillian Morgan mysteries, CATCH A FALLING KNIFE and THIRTEEN DIAMONDS, explore the secrets of retirement communities. They feature Lillian, a retired mathematics professor from North Carolina, who is smart, opinionated, and skeptical of authority. She loves to solve puzzles, even when they involve murder.RUN INTO TROUBLESilver Quill Award from American Authors Association and named Best Pacific West Book by Reader Views. Drake and Melody are teamed up to run a race along the California Coast for a prize of a million dollars—in 1969 when a million is worth something. Neither knows the other is in the race before it starts. They once did undercover work together in England, but this information is supposed to be top secret. The nine other pairs of runners entered in the race are world-classmarathoners, including a winner of the Boston Marathon. If this competition isn’t enough, somebody tries to knock Drake out of the race before it begins. But Drake and Melody also receive threats calculated to keep them from dropping out. What’s going on? The stakes increase when startling events produce fatalities and impact the race, leading them to ask whether the Cold War with the USSR is about to heat up.HONEYMOON FOR THREE--GARY BLANCHARD NO. 2Silver Quill Award from American Authors Association and named Best Mountain West Book by Reader Views. Suspense takes a thrill ride. It is 1964, 10 years after Gary Blanchard’s high school adventures in The Hayloft. He and his love, Penny, are going on the trip of their lives, and, oh yes, they’re getting married along the way. What they don’t know is that they’re being stalked by Alfred, a high school classmate of Penny who has a bellybutton fetish. The suspense crackles amid some of the most scenic spots in the western United States, including Lake Tahoe, Reno, Crater Lake, Seattle, and in Glacier, Yellowstone, and Grand Teton National Parks, as well as the redwood trees and rocky cliffs of the northern California coast.THE HAYLOFT--GARY BLANCHARD NO. 1This 1950s mystery, takes us back to bobby sox, slow dancing, bomb shelters—and murder. Within two weeks after starting his senior year of high school in the 1950s, Gary Blanchard finds himself kicked out of one school and attending another—the school where his cousin, Ralph, mysteriously died six months before. Ralph’s death was labeled an accident, but when Gary talks to people about it, he gets suspicious. Did Ralph fall from the auditorium balcony, or was he pushed? Had he found a diamond necklace, talked about by cousins newly arrived from England, that was supposedly stolen from Dutch royalty by a common ancestor and lost for generations? What about the principal with an abnormal liking for boys? And are Ralph’s ex-girlfriends telling everything they know?HOTLINE TO MURDER, his California mystery, takes place at a listening hotline in beautiful Bonita Beach, California. Tony Schmidt and Shahla Lawton don't know what they're getting into when they sign up as volunteer listeners. But when Shahla's best friend is murdered, it's too late for them to back out. They suspect that one of the hotline's inappropriate callers may be the murderer, and they know more about them than the police do.ACES AND KNAVES is a California mystery for gamblers and baseball card collectors. Karl Patterson deals in baseball cards and may be a compulsive gambler, so he's surprised when his father, Richard, CEO of a software company, engages him to check up on the activities of his second in command. It doesn't hurt that Richard assigns his executive assistant, Arrow, an exotic and ambitious young woman, to help Karl, but none of them expects to get involved in murder.PICTURELANDThe second Matthew and Mason adventure finds the boys going into a picture in their family room with the help of Amy, a girl in the picture. The dystopian world they find there with everyone's movements tracked, leads the three to attempt to bring personal freedom to the inhabitants at great risk to themselves.DANCING WITH BULLSIn Alan's first children's book, Matthew and Mason are on vacation on the Greek island of Crete when they are whisked back in time 4,000 to the Minoan civilization at Knossos Palace. Captured, they escape death by becoming bull dancers on a team with other slaves. Beautifully illustrated by Janelle Carbajal.FREEDOM'S LIGHT contains quotations from 38 of history's champions of freedom, from Aristotle to Zlata Filipovic, from George Washington to Martin Luther King, Jr. Included are Jefferson, Adams, Franklin, Anne Frank and many more.Alan splits his time between writing and walking, another passion. His inspirational book,WALKING THE WORLD: MEMORIES AND ADVENTURES, has information and adventure in equal parts. It has been named one of the Top 10 Walking Memoirs and Tales of Long Walks by the walking website, Walking.About.Com.Alan lives with his wife, Bonny, on a hill in Southern California.

Book preview

Charlie was hungry and thirsty and his head was throbbing where he had hit it on a rock when he had been taken prisoner. His brain was foggy, but this is what he knew. He was in a locked room without much light in a city where people spoke Spanish. He had been brought here on a boat that had traveled overnight from Florida. He didn’t know why or what was going to happen to him.

How the hell had he gotten himself into this mess? Two weeks ago he had been a first-rate if somewhat bored securities analyst working for International Investments in Los Angeles. Then a series of events had occurred that completely changed his life. Images flashed through Charlie’s mind, and in a lucid moment he wondered whether he was hallucinating as a result of his head wound.

He thought he remembered taking a weekend trip to Death Valley, a place he had always wanted to visit. Something bad had happened there, but he couldn’t remember what it was. That had been the start of his problems. Or had it? How had he gotten to Florida? More questions filled his brain with tiny question marks that converged and became one giant question mark threatening to overwhelm him.

There was a knock on the door…

CHAPTER 1

March 1962—two weeks earlier

Charlie’s car wouldn’t start. His Volkswagen Beetle, one of the most reliable cars on the road, wouldn’t start. It wasn’t the battery; the starter was cranking just fine. It had to be something else. He tried it a couple of more times with the same result. Then he stopped; he didn’t want to drain his battery. Not here. Not in Death Valley, miles from civilization.

The car had run fine going up and over the ridge on Route 190 as he approached the Valley from Lone Pine. It had purred like a kitten driving up the road from Lone Pine toward Whitney Portal earlier. Why had it died here of all places? He was at the Stovepipe Wells Campground on the flat valley floor, surrounded by the harsh beauty of the desert and the mountains. He wanted to drive to Scottie’s Castle, made famous by con artist Death Valley Scottie. But he couldn’t go anywhere if his car wouldn’t start. Including home to Los Angeles.

The day, which had seemed like so much fun when he’d set out this Saturday morning in March 1962, was turning into shit. He had awakened to a beautiful red sunrise, visible from his apartment window, and a lust for adventure had bubbled inside him. He’d decided a couple of days earlier to take this trip, and the sunrise confirmed that it was the right thing to do. He’d thrown some food into the car and headed north on Route 395. He had a full tank of gas, and his camping gear was already in the backseat from a previous weekend outing.

He decided to drive to Whitney Portal before going to Death Valley. The portal was on the shoulder of Mount Whitney, the highest peak in the continental United States. He wanted to climb it someday. Of course, you couldn’t climb Mount Whitney in March. In fact, you couldn’t even drive to Whitney Portal in March, as he found out when he approached it. The snow was too deep to drive through at the 8,000-foot level. He did manage to hike to the Portal, just so he could say he’d been there, and then back to his car.

Charlie drove down to Lone Pine, up the mountain range on the other side of 395, and then down into spectacular Death Valley. He stopped at the Stovepipe Wells Campground and set up camp. He had his tent and some food. What more did he need? He walked over to the restroom to freshen up. When he came back he found out that his car wouldn’t start.

He took out his wallet and counted his money. He had about twenty dollars on him. He hadn’t thought about that when he started out. He was used to traveling without a lot of cash. Although credit cards were gaining traction, he hadn’t succumbed to getting one of them yet. The short business trips he’d taken hadn’t required one. He didn’t have his checkbook with him either. He knew he couldn’t even get his car towed out of the Valley for the money he had.

He opened the cover of the rear-mounted engine, hoping that some obvious problem would jump out at him, but his knowledge of auto engines was about as comprehensive as his knowledge of nuclear physics. To him it looked the same as it always had. He jiggled a metal part that looked as if it should be jiggled, and then tried the starter again, but with no better luck.

Don’t panic, he told himself. There’s a way out of this. There’s always a way out. Okay, what was it? He saw the pickup truck of a park ranger nearby and decided to ask him for help.

***

The tall and lean uniformed ranger rubbed his chin with his fingers. Well, the nearest car service is in Beatty, Nevada. It’s a little under forty miles from here. They’ve probably got a tow truck. I can take you to a phone if you want to call them.

He was trying to be helpful. Maybe Charlie should accept his offer. If he could get the car to Beatty without revealing his financial condition, once there he might be able to use the Wittnauer watch his parents had given him as a present for graduating from college as collateral until he could get the money to pay for having the car fixed.

A young couple had walked up while Charlie and the ranger were talking. The male member of the duo, who wore something resembling a cowboy hat and had a wispy mustache, said, You got car trouble, man? This is a helluva place for that to happen.

Charlie didn’t need anyone telling him how bad his situation was. He admitted that was his problem. He added, Looks like I’ll have to get it towed to Beatty, Nevada to get it fixed.

The man whistled. That’ll cost you a bundle.

The woman said, What kind of a car do you have?

Charlie hadn’t really looked at her before. She was much too pretty to be with this homely guy. A wave of blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and she wore short shorts and a T-shirt that read, I’m with stupid, and had an arrow. He thought her eyes were blue, but the glare of the afternoon sun made it difficult to distinguish a color. He realized he should answer her.

It’s a Volkswagen Beetle.

She looked at her partner. Jake, you could tow his car to Beatty. She turned back to Charlie. His pickup is all rigged up for towing, and we’re headed in that direction anyway.

Jake thought about that for several seconds and then nodded. Yeah, I can do that. I got a hitch and a bar. I hope you don’t mind waiting until tomorrow. We’re headin’ out for Scottie’s Castle this afternoon.

***

The bench seat of Jake’s Ford pickup truck held three people. Jake, whose last name was Watson, drove, the girl was in the middle, and Charlie was by the window. He had found out her name was Elizabeth Reid, but she went by Liz. Jake had invited Charlie to go with them to Scottie’s Castle since he was without wheels for the moment, and he had accepted gratefully. He still wasn’t out of the woods, but things were looking up. Hopefully, he’d be able to get the car fixed tomorrow and drive home.

Charlie and Jake were wearing shorts, just as Liz was. It was warm in Stovepipe Wells, which was at sea level, but now they were climbing several thousand feet during the thirty-some miles to Scotty’s Castle and the air was getting cooler. Charlie was glad he had his sweatshirt with him.

Liz had a guidebook and was showing some of the pictures to Charlie. With its varied colors, ground cover, and rock formations, Death Valley is unique.

The valley floor ranged from flat rocky areas to salt flats to huge sand dunes. The colors of the cliffs ran the gamut of an artist’s palette. They passed what Liz called alluvial fans—huge fan-shaped rockslides coming down the mountains that had taken thousands of years to form. The altitude of the Valley and the surrounding area ranged from below sea-level at Badwater to 11,000 feet on top of Telescope Peak, which was still covered with snow.

The road wasn’t bad, but there were some minor bumps. After going over one of the bumps, Liz’s bare leg brushed against Charlie’s bare leg. He felt something akin to an electric shock and instinctively pulled his leg away, thinking it was an accident. A few seconds later her leg touched his again, and this time it stayed in contact. He didn’t know what to do. If he moved over any farther he’d be out the door. He glanced furtively at Jake. Jake was concentrating on driving and apparently oblivious to anything else.

***

There ain’t any more tickets available for today. They only take so many people for each tour.

Liz had sent Jake to get tickets, and he had returned empty-handed. Jake’s report shouldn’t have surprised Charlie. It was late in the afternoon, and it had been a long day. Actually, he was secretly grateful because he needed to conserve what little money he had.

Liz wasn’t fazed. We can walk up the hill behind the castle. Scotty’s buried up there.

She took off up a gravel path and Charlie followed her. The castle was impressive to look at with its white walls, towers, and multi-colored tile roofs. He was panting when he caught Liz. Seeing that, she slowed down a little and took on the role of tour guide.

It isn’t really a castle and it wasn’t owned by Scotty; it was built by Albert Johnson as a vacation home in the 1920s. Scotty had conned Johnson out of some money, saying he was developing a gold mine, but Johnson forgave him and Scotty would regale visitors with stories before he died in 1954.

He must have been quite a character.

They stopped in front of a plaque to Scotty with a carving of his head on it. His real name was Walter Scott and it featured a quote of his: I got four things to live by: Don’t say nothing that will hurt anybody. Don’t give advice—nobody will take it anyway. Don’t complain. Don’t explain.

Charlie looked around and didn’t see Jake. He mentioned this to Liz.

Oh, Jake’s not much of a hiker. That’s okay; he’s got other uses. He’s a handy guy to have around.

That didn’t sound like a hearty endorsement to Charlie. He thought, not for the first time that Liz was out of Jake’s league in intelligence and looks. They found Scotty’s grave and then Charlie pointed out that it would be dark soon and it was a long haul back to the campground. Liz agreed and they headed down the hill.

***

Charlie, Liz, and Jake sat at a picnic table in the Stovepipe Wells Campground, lit by a lantern and more stars than Charlie had ever seen. Charlie and Jake sipped bottles of beer; Liz, who said she was a teetotaler, was drinking a bottle of pop. Charlie had put long pants on against the coolness of the evening, and was feeling more relaxed than he had since finding out his car wouldn’t start. That seemed like a minor problem he could face in the morning.

Jake and Liz had supplied dinner—steaks brought in a cooler packed with ice and cooked on a Coleman stove along with chips and guacamole dip. Charlie was adding up the things they had done for him and promised himself he would pay them back. He had leveled with them about his financial situation, and their response was not to worry. They would help him get through it. Jake might not be a super-brain or a hiker, but he acted like a nice guy. He didn’t seem to mind the fact that Liz was paying a lot of attention to Charlie.

Charlie looked at his watch. It was after eleven. I think I’ll turn in. I’ve had a long day.

Jake said, Would you like to sleep in our tent? We got lots of room, and no creatures can get in it.

Charlie was surprised. Thanks, but I’ve got my tent set up. I’m used to sleeping in it alone.

Liz smiled, and Charlie realized what he had just said. She pointed into the darkness.

There are a multitude of nighttime critters out there. Aren’t you worried you might wake up and find you’re keeping company with a rattler?

Charlie hadn’t thought about that. I’ll keep the entrance zipped. Hopefully, that will keep the snakes away.

CHAPTER 2

Charlie usually felt as snug as a bug in a rug in his sleeping bag, a phrase his mother liked to say, but he awoke in the middle of the night because of the noise. Rain was rattling on the tent and wind was attempting to blow it away. He sat up in his sleeping bag and turned on his flashlight. He checked for leaks but didn’t see any. The aluminum poles that held up the tent were in constant motion, swaying back and forth when gusts hit the tent. If they gave way the tent would collapse on him. He held onto the roof pole and hoped everything would stay together.

Rain was an unusual event in Death Valley, Charlie knew, but when it came it came with a vengeance, the product of an angry god. For an hour he tried to avert disaster, although he realized his efforts were puny. Finally, the wind and rain abated a bit and he began to relax. However, he lay awake for a long time, thinking about Liz and other girls he had known. What did Jake have that he didn’t have? He wondered whether he would ever find the right one, or whether he was doomed to live alone. It was his wide-awake nightmare, and he was having it more frequently.

***

The next time Charlie opened his eyes it was light inside the tent. He looked at his watch. It was almost eight a.m. Startled, he quickly slid out of his sleeping bag and pulled on his pants. Outside the tent the dirt of the campground was still wet. A rushing stream had materialized where it had been bone-dry yesterday, fed with rainwater flowing down from the mountains.

He saw something move beside the water. On closer inspection he identified it as a baby rattlesnake. Liz had been right about the critters. He was glad it hadn’t gotten into his tent. He walked to the restroom, checking the campsite of Liz and Jake on the way. There was no sign of life. Their tent had withstood the gale, and they were evidently still snug inside.

On the way back he wondered whether he should wake them. His sense of urgency grew like a weed. Today was Sunday and tomorrow was Monday, a workday for him. In order for him to get home today, events needed to be set in motion in a hurry.

Jake. Liz.

Charlie called softly at the entrance to their tent. No sound issued forth from inside. He called again. Same response. He didn’t know what else to do, short of setting off fireworks. People were active at some of the other campsites. Perhaps their noises would wake the pair. He went back to his own campsite and packed up. The tent had dried, and he placed it and his sleeping bag in the car.

He contemplated eating some of his food supply for breakfast, but just as he was about to act on that thought he glanced toward the campsite of his new friends and saw activity. Jake was out of the tent, bustling around. Charlie walked over; by the time he got there Jake was lighting the stove.

Morning.

Jake looked up and responded in kind.

Charlie said, I see you didn’t get blown away last night.

Nope. Tent’s sturdy. How about yours?

I had a few anxious moments, but everything held together. How is Liz doing?

She’s not a morning person, but she’s stirring. Noise last night kept us awake. I’m making oatmeal. Sit down and I’ll have coffee in a few minutes while you wait.

I’ve got some food with me. I can make my own breakfast.

No need. Plenty for all. Oatmeal’s good for you. Gives you strong bones and teeth.

Jake sounded like a commercial. Charlie was about to demur again, but then he realized that the best thing he could do was to stay close to the pair and try to hurry things up.

He said, Have you ever been to Beatty?

Nope. By the way, Liz would like to stay here another day. She’s never been to Death Valley before, and she doesn’t want to rush off. One thing she wants to do is see Ubehebe Crater.

Charlie felt nauseated. What should he do now? Coherent thoughts wouldn’t come to him. He decided against making an angry response. That wouldn’t help his situation.

Uh, I have to be at work tomorrow in Los Angeles. Maybe I’d better find another way to get my car to Beatty.

No need. We’ll get you there first thing tomorrow morning.

But I—

Don’t you have any vacation days coming? Everybody needs to get away from the job once in a while.

Liz’s voice sounded behind Charlie. Please stay with us another day, Charlie. I need someone to walk down to the bottom of the crater with me. It’ll be so much fun. Jake isn’t a hiker but you are.

Charlie wondered whether he could trust them to do what they said they were going to do.

***

Charlie wasn’t quite sure how it happened, but they were on their way to Ubehebe Crater. They’d had a good breakfast of oatmeal and toast with strawberry jam that Charlie had produced from his food supply, heating the bread in a frying pan on the stove. Then they had vacated Charlie’s campsite by pushing his VW over to the campsite of Jake and Liz. Liz steered while Jake and Charlie provided the muscle. The small car was easy to push, and although they attracted attention from the other campers, they didn’t need any help.

Charlie weighed staying with the pair against the difficulty of finding another way of getting his car to Beatty that he could afford, and came up lacking. As far as missing a day of work, he could call his boss from Beatty on Monday morning and clear that. He hoped he could, anyway. The more he thought about it the more he agreed with Jake that he deserved some time off. He hadn’t taken any vacation days for months.

Charlie asked Jake how the pickup truck was fixed for gasoline. Jake said not to worry; he always carried extra cans of gas with him when he went out into the wilderness. At that point Charlie ran out of things to worry about.

The route to Ubehebe Crater was the same as the route to Scotty’s Castle except for the last few miles. Liz and Charlie were wearing shorts again, since it would be hot work climbing the steep path out of the crater. Charlie was more relaxed than he had been yesterday, feeling more comfortable in the company of Liz and Jake.

However, his comfort evaporated soon after they started out when he felt Liz’s leg against his leg again. He had to admit to himself that he liked the feeling, which still had the same electricity, but even though Jake didn’t seem to notice he didn’t feel right about what was happening. He told himself there wasn’t a damn thing he could do about it, but he was on edge.

Liz appeared to be oblivious about how she was affecting Charlie. She summarized information she was reading from a guidebook.

Ubehebe Crater is a volcanic crater 600 feet deep and half a mile across. It’s the result of an explosion that could have occurred as recently as 300 years ago. The cinders from the explosion are all around the crater, up to 150 feet deep in places. It’s an easy walk to the bottom, but can be an exhausting climb to get out.

She looked at Charlie. You may have to carry me.

Jake said, Don’t let her sucker you into anything. If she starts crying just leave her to the rattlers.

***

Charlie and Liz ran part of the way down the steep cinder path. It was invigorating until Charlie remembered they would have to climb up this same path. The other side of the crater consisted of multi-colored rock in horizontal layers, with orange predominating. When they reached the bottom they sat on a patch of dirt from a former lake bottom that had already dried after last night’s rain, drank water, and watched a few other hardy souls make their way down and up the path.

Charlie said, This is the opposite of mountain climbing, because you go down first and then up.

Liz said, I think I’d rather do the hard part first. Have you done a lot of mountain climbing?

Charlie told her about some of the mountains he’d climbed in California, but also in New York and New England with his father and brothers when he was young.

Liz said, a bit wistfully, That sounds like fun. I’d like to climb a mountain sometime.

Although the trail up was steep and they had to go slowly, Liz plugged along and didn’t complain. They made the top without undue difficulty and then looked for Jake’s pickup truck. Charlie didn’t see it in the parking area.

Liz was also looking around. He must have taken off with the truck. He doesn’t like to wait for people. Not to worry though. He’ll be back to get us. I’m glad you brought some food with you.

There were a lot of things Jake didn’t seem to like to do. Charlie had worn his daypack, containing water and some of the food he had brought with him on the trip. As time went by they became hungry and ate most of it, including the gorp that Charlie liked to carry when he was hiking, consisting of nuts, raisins, and pumpkin seeds.

Charlie had told Liz something about his life, so he asked Liz some questions about hers. She said she lived in Bakersfield and worked at a McDonald’s. Jake was a neighbor and had been a classmate of hers in high school. They had mostly ignored each other then. She had been a cheerleader and socially prominent while he had been a borderline delinquent, getting into trouble more times than not.

The problem, she said, is that since I didn’t go to college my pick of men in Bakersfield, post high-school, is slim. I wasn’t very motivated when I graduated from high school, but I’ve resolved to do something about that and working for minimum wage. I’ve enrolled in community college and will be starting soon.

Charlie looked at his watch. It’s two-thirty. Do you think Jake’s deserted us?

That bastard. He’d better not. I’ll kill him. We’ll wait for him another half hour and then try to hitch a ride back to Stovepipe Wells.

***

Charlie was hesitant to ask someone for a ride to Stovepipe Wells, even though he realized they couldn’t spend the night here. He didn’t like to admit that he needed help. Liz, however, showed her outgoing personality and was on the verge of talking to an older couple who didn’t look like ax murderers when Jake showed up with his truck.

Liz was furious with him. She called him a lot of names not in the high school English curriculum, at least not officially. Jake was relatively unruffled. He explained that he’d gone back to Scotty’s Castle and taken the tour. Charlie estimated the time required to do that and suspected that Jake was several hours overdue, but he didn’t say anything, not wanting to stir up any more trouble.

When Liz calmed down a little they drove south beyond Stovepipe Wells to Badwater, so they could say they’d been at the lowest point in the western hemisphere, almost 300 feet below sea level. They wandered around on the salt flats while Jake produced a camera and took pictures of them with the snow-capped peaks in the background.

***

Dinner back at the campground in the dark was leftover food from the cooler, which Jake had replenished with ice at a small general store. Charlie had to admit that Jake was good for something, and he was also a pretty decent cook. After dinner, Charlie and Jake drank the re-chilled beer well into the night while Liz sipped her soda. Charlie was finally relaxed, and was convinced he could make things right with his boss and get his car fixed tomorrow. As he became sleepy he considered the sleeping arrangements.

I’d better get my tent set up. He’d completely forgotten about it.

Jake shook his head. No need. Plenty of room in our tent. Assuming you don’t mind sleeping at the back end. Then, if you need to take a piss in the middle of the night you’ll have to crawl over us to get out. He chuckled.

Charlie looked at Liz. She nodded. Yeah, sleep in our tent. It’ll also make packing things up easier in the morning.

Charlie used the restroom and cleaned his teeth. When he took his sleeping bag into the tent he realized that because of all the beer he’d drunk he probably would have to get up during the night, but the tent was wide enough that he wouldn’t have to literally crawl over the other two. He quickly took off his pants and climbed into the bag, so that he would be covered when Liz came in. She’d said she was going to bed