Wildflowers In The Meadow

This story is a work of fiction. That said, the universe is an expanding continuum in which time equals space. Probability dissolves. Possibility is reality. In that sense, it is a true story, of the past or future in the infinity of unknown time-space.

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Chapter 1

Jane stared through the blinking of the wipers fending off the early morning drizzle. They were on the interstate, escaping the confines of the city, and the coziness of her apartment in Amherst. They had just passed Orchard Park, on their way to the Westfield exit. From there, they would drive along Chautauqua Lake on Route 430, and then on Route 17 to the Park. She knew that they had a good two hours of driving left.

"Good!" she confided to herself. "Maybe the sun will come out." That would take one thing off her mind.

Jane stole a glance at her fiancé, watching the road ahead as he drove. The camping trip had been at his insistence. David had been so determined to do it. For Jane's part, a nice Bed and Breakfast tour through the Amish Country of Pennsylvania would have been her choice. They could have searched for antiques for the new house. It would have been a romantic time in the rural setting; just the two of them, their final venture out of town together as an engaged couple. Soon the details and demands of the wedding would overtake them, making trips impossible until the honeymoon on Cape Cod. The wedding was slated for mid-August. For this trip they squeezed together their last unspoken-for days of vacation and wrapped them around the Independence Day holiday to create a five day interval for their trip.

David had that resolute look in his eyes. He enjoyed the out of doors more than Jane. She protested that she didn't know anything about camping.

"Just leave it to me!" he had told her. "We're both in good shape. I'm experienced in the woods. Summer is an easy time to camp. The weather will be with us."

David had set about the task of gathering and buying just the right equipment. He packed both backpacks and fastened them to the frames. He made sure that they had the proper clothes and boots. He dug his tent and sleeping bags out of his parents' attic in Rochester. David told her they were 'set'. Jane half-thought that he took on the project to evade shopping for silver and china patterns, and helping her plan wedding details, like the choice of cocktail napkins for the reception. The details were annoying to Jane, too, but had to be taken care of.

"Where are we going to stop and buy food, David?" asked Jane, as she broke the silence.

David broke into laughter. When he calmed down he looked at her in mock disbelief, shaking his head.

"We're not!" he declared. "This is real camping. We'll live off the land if we can. There are streams and brooks all over in the Park. I've got my collapsible fishing pole."

Jane looked at him, her eyes wide in un-mocked disbelief, wanting to speak, but unable.

"Relax, Jane. I packed some dried food in case things don't work out," he explained. "It's not the tastiest, but is more than enough to keep us going. I even 'cheated' and slipped in a few cans of tuna."

Jane rolled her eyes and slouched back into the seat. She didn't really fear for her safety. She knew that David could take care of that. One thing that she loved about him was that he wasn't afraid to make big plans, and then carry them out. She enjoyed watching him tackle them. Riding next to him, it dawned on her that in their fast-approaching married life, she wouldn't be just watching any more. The camping trip wasn't her idea of the best way to 'get away and be romantic', but Jane was not going to pout. She reached over and patted David on the thigh as he drove the Explorer.

"Just get me home in one piece and I'll still marry you," she joked to him.

David laughed. "Don't worry—you're going to love it."

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

At twenty-nine, Jane and David were a little older than most engaged couples. Although they both went to UB, they never met until four years later when they were both running in a 5K race. Eighteen months ago they became engaged. Jane was from Buffalo and worked as a pharmacist in a hospital. David was from Rochester, but stayed in Buffalo after college and became a CPA. Both had good careers started. They decided to keep separate apartments until after the wedding, in deference to Jane's traditional-minded family who still lived in the area; they had keys to each others' abode. They were somewhat traditional, themselves, so the arrangement suited everyone.

David was tall and dark-haired, with broad shoulders and a trim physique. He had a handsome look that women liked, although he never let on that he knew it. He was usually serious, but at the right time his broad smile would set people at ease. He was courteous all times. Jane's family liked him. David was a modest young man, although he had accomplished much. He always found time and patience for Jane's elderly grandparents and her many young nieces and nephews.

Jane was a good match for David. She was intelligent, as he was, and her personality was a lot like his. She was good looking, too, in a different way. She was average in height with light hair and skin. She usually wore glasses, especially when working, that made a few mistake her for 'bookish'. Her toned body, with natural feminine curves had many men's head swiveling when they were lucky enough to see her without her white lab coat.

The Explorer was carrying them along Chautauqua Lake. The rain had grudgingly let up and the sun was imposing itself through the clouds. On the forested hillsides surrounding the lake it made a mottling of shadows and brightness. The trees were in full leaf as spring had surrendered to summer. A deep green blanket ahead stretched as far as Jane could see with the lake alongside and below in contrast. As her eyes drank in the view, Jane realized that it was a work of art beyond the capacity of a mortal being.

"David, I can see why you love it out here," she said.

She looked over when he didn't answer. When he saw her searching he gave his reply.

"Yes, it's an awesome sight. It's not why I brought you out here. I wanted it because it will be our last chance before the wedding to be completely alone together, without any possibility of distraction or interruption; a retreat to 'get connected' in a beautiful place like this."

Jane contemplated the layers of meaning in David's words. She had dreamt of 'getting connected' in a nice fluffy bed at a romantic inn. She knew that David meant something else. She wondered if he had a need for more from her, a connection of spirits that Jane didn't realize was missing. The statement thrust an unpleasant stab into her consciousness.

"I thought that we were connected, David. I love you. We're going to be married. You love me. What do you mean?"

"We are; I know you do; and I do, too," he answered each point in succession. "I only wanted to say that it's not possible to be 'connected' enough."

Jane silently analyzed the contents of the answer. Finally, she decided to accept it. David glanced over and Jane made her body language tell him that she was happy again.

"You know," he resumed in a more playful tone, "getting connected can take on a lot of meanings." As he said it he ran hand gently from her knee to just short of her juncture and let his hand rest on the khaki pants that covered her thigh.

"Just relax and concentrate on your driving," she chuckled. To herself she thought "Relax now, but we'll see about later." She let his hand remain resting on her thigh and closed her hand over it. She decided to tease him.

"How do you propose to get 'connected' in a public park?" she asked in her most demure voice.

"Where we're going, Jane, it's a wilderness. I wouldn't worry about anyone seeing us do anything."

"Like Adam and Eve, I suppose." Jane was starting to become intrigued by the possibilities.

David didn't respond to her musing because they were entering Allegany State Park, their destination. He pulled into a parking space and disappeared into the office to register.

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

"Let's mount up!" Jane heard David call out to her.

"He must be kidding!" Jane said to herself. "I thought that we would drive in a ways first."

At the back of the vehicle David helped Jane mount her backpack on the shoulders. He had kept hers lighter than his and the frame that he bought helped. David adjusted the straps and she stood testing it.

"It's not too bad," Jane said.

"You're carrying about thirty pounds," he said. "Don't worry, you'll be tired enough when we reach our first campsite."

"How much is yours?" she asked.

"You don't want to know," he replied. Jane judged David's pack to be about fifty pounds, comparing its size to her own.

As they began walking, David passed on more information to her.

"This is part of the Allegany National Forest. The park is a plateau, one hundred square miles, covered by a forest. There's an area with man-made amenities that we'll pass through first. We'll head due south. Before we get on top of the plateau we'll have to trek up to it."

"David," said Jane, "there a lot of people here. I thought that this place was isolated."

"Don't worry!" he answered. "As we get farther in, we'll see fewer and fewer; then there will be no one around—just us."

They left off conversation for a time as they worked to get on top of the plateau and out of the populated area. The ground and vegetation was still wet from the early morning rain. As they walked along the trail Jane saw her new boots getting dirty already, and water was slipping off the vegetation onto her as she passed it. She still felt strong, defying her heavy load. The sun was still out but the clouds would not burn completely away. The half-sun, half-shade lent mystery to their journey. They soon fell out of sight from other hikers.

The struggling patches of sunshine reminded Jane of the earlier view of the verdant hills that she had enjoyed so much during their drive along the lake. It had been a distant vision then, a daunting blanket in pureness of green, daring and beckoning them at the same time. As she looked about her, she realized that what had been the idyll of the mind's eye a few hours ago formed her surroundings.

Treading along, following David's lead, she glanced upward to the canopy of trees over the narrow path. Green surrounded her. Leaves, vines and fronds closed over and surrounded them. As quickly as David would break through them, they closed behind as Jane went through the opening. Although no words passed between Jane and David, there was no silence. Unseen birds sang out in claim to their unfenced territories. Droplets of the earlier rain spattered as they fell from the high tops to the ground. The four boots of the pair brushed the ground underneath them in a ceaseless marching—forward, upward, forward, upward. Here and there was a quick hustle through the underbrush as a rabbit or chipmunk sprang to avoid them. The smell of the wet forest, a musty, musky scent, peeked out from every corner.

Every half-minute or so a quiet breeze would shake the trees and Jane felt a cold spent raindrop strike her face. When the hike first started it felt like a tiny stab. With the onset of fatigue in the uphill trudge, it became a caress. As it ran down her face it mixed with her sweat, giving a salty taste as it seeped between her lips. The air on the forested hillside was surprisingly cool. The overarching trees drank up the warmth of the sunlight before it could descend to earth. She was tiring, but felt good.

The universe inside the canopy enveloped her. Her every sense was invested in the forest. She strove to digest the totality; what had appeared to be a blanket in the distance was, in truth, a menagerie of a trillion tiny pieces. In the midst of the non-silent silence, there she and David existed in the flesh, finding harmony with all that was around them. She wondered if they were guests in the infinity or if they had been engulfed by it—two of those trillion bits. She knew that they could be removed at once, and the deep forest would remain as before, never missing them, or even with knowledge of their fleeting presence.

In her state of mind Jane had consciousness of the present only. Her job and apartment were left behind. The yearning for antiquing in Pennsylvania escaped her. Wedding concerns had been hypnotized out of her soul. The weight of her pack seemed not present. She could not feel the clothing covering her body. Only Jane remained, with her man breaking trail in front of her, naked to the forest. "Does David feel this, too?" she wondered silently. "Would he 'connect' to me over this strange reality? Is it this that he is seeking? Would he understand me, if I tried to explain it? What is the force that pulls me into the forest, away from my private existence, longing to be inside ever more deeply? Why can I not resist it; why don't I want to resist?"

"Let's stop for some water," called out David from in front. His voice shook her from her reverie, but the ethereal questions remained. How could she express them to David without him thinking her gone mad?

They stepped off the trail into the woods to where they heard a brook coursing over the stones in its path. David dipped his canteen in and filled it, then put in a white tablet and shook it. The couple found a large rock to sit on. They eased off their packs and set down on it while they waited for the tablet to dissolve.

Jane was silent, searching for a way to ask David her questions. It wasn't easy. Jane and David were down to earth people. There was reticence to delve into the mystic and spiritual. She was afraid to portray superstition or silliness. Worse yet, David might think that she was patronizing him after his 'connecting' speech during the drive over.

"It really feels different here in the forest, doesn't it?" David spoke up without warning. "You feel isolated from all your cares and worries. They can't get to you—or you to them, if you wanted to. You keep walking; every patch looks just like the one before it, but the forest just draws you in deeper and deeper. You can't stop going on; the forest won't let you; you don't want to. A line dissolves, that separates being 'in it' and 'part of it'." David paused in his speaking and looked at Jane. They sat silent for long seconds, gazing at the other.

"After you're out here a little while longer, you'll feel it too." He finished and looked at her again. Jane thought it was a look that said he understood.

David's revelation stunned Jane. As she had struggled to reveal herself to him, he defined the words. She felt herself being drawn into him, like the pull of the forest. A chill coursed through her as she adapted to the new feelings. They were neither thoughts nor emotions, but reality on a higher plane. Retreat from them was impossible. They aroused and challenged her soul. She had to understand them. She would patiently watch and wait for more revelations.

"Yes." she finally answered softly. In her state, it was all that she could say.

After a short rest, they were back on the trail. Jane followed her guide through the forest as he blazed ahead of her.

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

By two-thirty the couple had been hiking for more than six hours.

"Time to set up camp!" David announced.

Jane let out a sigh of relief. She had never been so tired. She, nevertheless, had that good feeling that comes with the completion of hard toil. David found a good place for the campsite. It was off the forest path, in an opening in the trees on flat ground, where nearby the terrain descended to a creek. They put up the tent. Then they worked to haul in enough firewood to serve them through the night.

"There were some raspberries back that way," he pointed. "I'll see if I can catch some fish."

David disappeared into the tent and emerged with his pole and a small kettle of five inches, which he handed to her. They went separate directions to provision the end-of day meal.

Jane returned to the camp first. She had filled the little kettle with ripened berries. She set it aside and started to arrange their things neatly in the tent. She unrolled the sleeping bags atop the insulating foam pads and zipped them together. She shook her head as she contemplated the logistics of making love to David in the fluffy cocoon

The afternoon sun was hot and the work was done for the time being, so she remained in the tent, away from the heat and glare. She removed her boots and stretched out on the unrolled sleeping bags. Only then did Jane start counting off the aching and tired muscles from neck to ankle. She debated with herself to relax and rest them, or to keep moving to prevent them from stiffening. She decided on the first, since she had little to do, and her muscles were bound to stiffen up sooner or later, anyway.

Her brain was not tired. It was aching for exercise. In her relaxed state of body, her mind was free to wander. Which item on the rich menu would she select for meditation: the inspiring view of the hills and lake as they drove by Chautauqua; the mystery of the forest's infinity that had enveloped her on the hike to the campsite; her plans for ravishment at the hands of her beloved David this night after they consumed their meal?

In the background of her consciousness she heard the song of the brook. It was so relaxing. She felt weight on her eyelids. She thought of David fishing a ways upstream. It reminded her of her eagerness to make love to him. In her mind's eye she painted him, erect, nude as she was, kneeling above, smiling, preparing to take her. She was below him, spreading her legs, opening herself. She was panting, eagerly awaiting his entry. She reached out her bare arms in welcome. He lowered himself, bending his face down to her chest, taking nipples between lips. The instant sensation signaled pleasure to her center. He rose up and kissed her. She grasped his hips, pulling him forward to where his penis hovered over her waiting lips. Her tongue caught his dripping fluid and tasted it. He lowered himself into her hungry mouth below him. Then he withdrew and eased himself back down until they were face to face. She felt his hardness pressing and searching. She reached below and helped guide him to his destination. As he inserted himself into her she rose her hips up to meet him until he was fully within her. She ...

"Hey, wake up in there!" It was David rousing her. "We'll eat well tonight; I caught some fish.

Jane poked her head out from the tent. The sun was much lower than when she had seen it the last time. David already had a campfire started. Nearby lay eight fish, cleaned, scaled, with heads removed (thank goodness!).

"Are they trout?" she asked.

David chuckled, "No, just some perch and rock bass, but they'll make good eating. There's a bag of rice in my pack; we'll have some of that, and the berries that you picked, too."

Jane emerged with the rice. "I saw that you have some oatmeal in your pack. We can have it in the morning and I'll pick some more berries and we can put them on top."

David gave a nod of approval. She watched him intertwining some green sticks into a sort of grate with two long sticks serving as handles.

"How are you going to cook the fish?" she asked.

"We'll just fix them between the splines on this frame and roast them over the fire. We'll do four pieces first, and then roast the second round while eating the first."

Night had fallen by the time they started eating. The only light came from the hot coals of the fire; David had banked it down to make cooking easier. The fire gave out plenty of warmth, but away from it the air had taken on a chill. They sat on the ground side by side eating. They used their packs as 'chair backs'. Jane had forgotten how hungry she had been. The food tasted good. Part of it was the way that Nature had deposited it in their hands as they reached out for it. They had earned their nourishment after the long, hard day's labor.