Chapter 12
A five-hour drive on
the ninth day took the group to a ranch near Antimony, Utah. Everyone was left
to their own devices for the rest of the day and the whole of the next. Groups
and pairs were formed, but not from Lutman’s perspective, not with the person
he really wanted to be with.
It was not until the
end of day ten that David Lutman had the opportunity to be alone with Claudia
again. But he had finally mustered some confidence to ask her out, and was relieved
that she said yes without hesitation. It was quite cold that evening, so they
put on suitably warm coats. For the first ten minutes she took his arm and
then, to Lutman’s surprise and excitement, held his hand.
They arrived at a
warm, brightly-lit bar which was as clichéd as Lutman could expect from
something in the Western United States. It was busy, filled with jovial chatter,
and on one wall a sixties-style jukebox was blaring out country rock. The
natives were very friendly, and an enthusiastic hello from the barman greeted
them as they approached the counter. Claudia ordered an orange juice whilst Lutman
opted for a small beer. They managed to find a quiet corner and spent the first
few minutes talking further about their countries and their families.
After forty-five
minutes and another two beers, Lutman finally felt man enough to show off a
little to Claudia, and decided to take on one of the locals who had invited him
earlier to shoot pool. This was a young, unshaven, brown-haired individual in
his mid-twenties who was dressed in a blue checked shirt and jeans. Lutman had
played pool regularly in the past, so felt reasonably confident. But he lost
the first frame quite convincingly, unused to American rules, but to his
surprise – and his opponent’s - won the second, forcing a decider. This time,
his opponent got a fortunate break-off and virtually cleared the balls in that
one visit to the table. Game over, the American shook his hand and complimented
him on his pool skills.
Claudia was impressed.
‘Do you play pool a lot?’ she asked as Lutman returned to sit down and complete
his fourth beer.
‘Not
as much as I did,’ he said, grinning. ‘But I felt I still had the skill to give
him a game.’
As Lutman felt a new
surge of confidence spread within him, Claudia glanced at her watch. ‘Oh,’ she
gasped slightly, ‘I didn’t realize that was the time. It’s gone 11. We’d better
get back. They’ll’ve probably locked up the ranch by now!’
Disappointed yet
again, Lutman had a strong desire for another beer.
*
They took a taxi back
to the ranch where, fortunately, there was still someone waiting up to let them
in. ‘Actually,’ said the grey-haired but chirpy lady standing at the door with
a smile, ‘some of your friends are still outside, if you wanna go and see them.
They’re over in that direction somewhere,’ she added, pointing.
‘I'll think we'll
pass,’ said Lutman politely.
The pair slowly
traipsed up the open creaky wooden stairs to the upper floor and their rooms. Lutman,
who had been given a room for himself, hoped upon hope that Claudia would want
to join him.
If she would just say
the word. He was still too polite to do it. No, not polite, he thought. Too
shy. This would be rather direct, too risky, if she refused…
His room was at the
end of the corridor, illuminated only by the one ceiling night-light. Claudia’s
room – sharing, as usual, with Kathrine – was the first door they approached.
With just about enough
alcohol-induced confidence, Lutman slowly wrapped his arms around her. ‘Well,
it’s been a lovely evening,’ he said quietly into her ear.
Claudia released his
grip and looked at him. ‘I’ve enjoyed myself very much too, David. Thank you.’
They stared at each
other then, after a little hesitation, they kissed. But then she forced her
lips away from his. Smiling, she then took his hands off her hips, opened her
door and entered her room. She said goodnight and told him she would see him
tomorrow, leaving Lutman disappointed and confused. He prayed that it was not
the alcohol breath that prompted her to go back to her room quicker than he had
expected.
So
another day had passed and still he had no idea. He did not want to think this,
but maybe… maybe it was not meant to be Claudia, he thought, maybe it
was meant to be someone else in the party. But none of the girls have
attracted his interest. So if it was somebody else, then who the hell was it?
*
There was a lot of
excitement that following morning at breakfast. Marcus and Raoul were
especially cheerful, being more than friendly to Jeannie, Marianne, Sylvie, and
Cindy.
More than once Lutman
had been woken up that night by the excited laughter of those girls entering
the boys’ room, which just happened to be next door to his. The girls looked extremely
happy, the Australian pair sitting down either side of Marcus and occasionally
poking him on his sides with their fingers. They had clearly discovered he was
ticklish. Lutman could only look enviously.
Jeannie and Sylvie cheerfully
sat either side of Raoul. Claudia, however, sat herself between Kathrine and
Andrea, much to Lutman’s dismay. He had sat next to Andrea, leaving one chair
free next to him, fully expecting Claudia to take it.
An hour later
everything was once more packed and loaded onto the van. A few hours later, the
group found themselves in Zion Canyon.
Only Lutman, Claudia,
Andrea, Kathrine, and Janet decided to venture into the canyon. The others made
their excuses and set off in another direction.
Although they remained
close together, Lutman and Claudia did not touch hands. He had expected Claudia
to take the inititive. She did not, so once again he felt uncertain about his
confidence. Maybe, he thought, he had been too pushy the previous night.
The walk among the
bright orange pinnacles and rocks that made up the park was filled with plenty
of light banter from the group. Plenty of photographs were taken by everyone,
and Lutman’s confidence returned when Claudia quite happily continued to pose
for him when he asked. Kathrine even offered to take a photo of them both. They
did so with some reluctance, but despite posing shoulder to shoulder, there was
no physical touching.
Six hours later they
rejoined the rest of the party.
*
Day eleven was a visit
to Bryce Canyon. There was quite a hard walk up to Angels’ Landing, a 1000-foot
plus mountain from ground level. But it was made more challenging by some of
the track having to be negotiated by chains. Despite this added difficulty,
nobody dropped out. Claudia, however, was terrified of heights. She often
gripped Lutman’s hand hard, refusing to let go. When they came to the chains,
she held on by putting her arms tightly around him. There was palatable relief
on her face when they finally reached the summit, and he was rewarded with a
big hug and a quick kiss on his lips. This gesture was witnessed by the entire group,
and prompted an enthusiastic cheer.
*
Almost two weeks had
now passed since Carl Pickover wrote his blog. Since then – and he would admit
to himself that he did not expect anything else – very little. Although his
blog had had a respectable one hundred plus hits, most of these being picked up
during the second week he posted it, when the world’s search engines finally
found it - no-one had felt inclined to comment on anything.
Now,
Pickover decided, was the time to go back and do normal things that a professor
should be doing, like studying a few equations or lecturing a few students. Or
get a woman. No, better still, take a vacation. Tomorrow. Stuff the university.
Now that was a good thought. It felt so good that he felt his spirits uplift;
that thought really did mean something.
He would pack a few
things, just go to the airport first thing tomorrow morning, and get the next
available flight. He would enjoy himself and go and do something completely
different. He would find himself a girl, have fun together, marry her, have
three kids. From this moment onwards he was going to retire from science and
education.
No comments:
Post a Comment