Page 19 of Lines We Cross
“Hi, honey!” Mom waved at me from over Max’s shoulder, her face lit up with a level of excitement I hadn’t seen in years. She leaned way over the rope that had been tied between the line of trees to keep the spectators back from the area where the racers were hurtling through the line of trees bracketing the grassy park. Suddenly it was track and field day in elementary school and my parents were there to get a photo of me and my participation ribbon as if I were destined to be in the Olympics one day.
“Oh, Lord…” I moaned.
Max waved back to my parents, a big goofy grin on his face.
“See? Aren’t you glad you’re doing this?” Max squeezed my hand.
“Um, no, not really. I don’t even know how I got on the list of participants.” I tried to focus on the huge wood wall we were approaching and not the thick fingers still laced through mine. Racers were slowly pulling themselves up and over the wall with the help of knotted ropes that lay against the wood.
“Yeah, about that—”
“There’s no way I can get up that wall!” I interrupted, dismayed at what we’d have to do to continue the race.
“Well, I’m here to help you, and technically, the rule books states you only have to give it three good tries before you can skip the obstacle altogether and keep going.”
A woman flew by me, her shoulder clipping me as she went. Max tugged on my hand and kept me from stumbling from the blow.
“I think that was Suzie from the post office,” I said in shock.
These racers were no joke. We reached the wall right behind Suzie and I waited patiently for her to be done with the rope, glaring at her the whole time.
“Okay, grab hold and get your feet on the wall. I’ll push from below,” Max coached me.
I nodded, my eyes wide and my brain certain I was either going to die or embarrass myself in the next few seconds. The rope was rougher and thicker than I originally thought. I grabbed above a knot eye level and walked my feet onto the wall. Then I inched my hands up the rope, already feeling the scrape and burn of the rope on my sensitive skin. I got up about three feet before one of my shoes slipped and I panicked, every muscle in my body locking. I froze, just barely dangling above the ground, unsure what to do next.
A choking noise hit my ears and broke me out of my paralyses. I looked around wildly, seeing Max covering his red face with a hand. He was laughing. Of course he was. Hello, humiliation.
“Seriously?” I shrieked.
He came forward, that handsome face twisted with barely concealed laughter. In different circumstances, I would have laughed alongside him, but as it was, I was stuck. Did I keep trying to climb up or did I jump down and hope I landed well? My arms were starting to burn worse than my hands, so I needed to make a decision soon.
Max stepped right below me and placed his hands on my low back. He pushed so I could get both feet back in contact with the wall and then those hands moved south, pushing my butt up and helping me climb higher. My face flamed bright red at the personal contact, but I took the help, inching my hands up the rope and getting close enough to the top of the wall I could reach out and grab that instead of the rope.
“Swing a leg up, Rae!” Max shouted to me. He was below me now, so far below he couldn’t push me anymore.
I followed directions and got an ankle hooked over the side of the wall. It wasn’t elegant. It wasn’t smooth. But I got myself on top of the wall. The other side held a huge crash mat so I let gravity take me and jumped down. As I rolled off the mat and got my clothes and hair situated, I realized I should have been concerned with Max getting over the wall. He was the one just weeks out of surgery, after all.
I didn’t worry long. He sat on top of the wall, all smiles and good humor. He didn’t jump down, but belayed down the back side of the wall with just his good leg.
“Come on, Gingersnap!” He grabbed my arm and tugged me after him, racers all around us shouting out encouragement as we traipsed through the forest together.
The dry pine needles were slippery under my feet, my white Converse not quite the footwear of choice for such an athletic event. A giant flash of furry brown hit my vision, a growling noise accompanying the paws clawing at the air mere inches in front of my face. I choked out a strangled scream and jerked back, yanking loose of Max’s hold and falling on my backside.
The Bigfoot mascot chuckled and resumed his hiding place behind the huge tree trunk. I gave the spot he used to occupy a dirty look and then turned my stink eye on Max, who was doubled over, his hands on his knees. His laugh, the carefree one that held more joy than consideration for what he sounded like, broke free and made me smile in return, despite my heartbeat still in my throat. His man-giggle was contagious.
I picked myself up and swiped the back of my jeans, the pine needles falling off and drifting to the ground where they belonged. I pointed a finger at Max, nearly laughing too hard to get the words out.
“Mark my words. If another one of those things jumps out at me, I’m going to punch him in the face.”
Max straightened up, his eyes sparkling with unshed tears of laughter. “You do that. Maybe drop the little-girl scream while you’re at it?”
I rolled my eyes and stomped off further into the forest, knowing he’d follow. “Whatever. That dude was unexpected, okay? I was simply happy to be alive after that wall climb and then he did me dirty.”
Max whooped behind me, a new peal of laughter pinging off the trees and drawing curious glances from the racers still neck and neck with us. Our first log challenge lay in front of me, a short line of racers queued up to dash across the fifteen feet of wood.
“This doesn’t look too bad,” Max said right behind me, his lowered voice and puff of breath on my neck doing weird things to the butterflies in my stomach. I nodded and refused to look behind me. The less I looked at his handsome face and all those muscles straining his shirt, the better off I’d be.
All too soon it was my turn. Max put his hands on my waist to help me climb up on the massive log on its side. The pine trees here grew for hundreds of years, so the trunks were normally my height in circumference by the time one fell over to spend the rest of its days on the forest floor. There was no way of getting out of this race, I resigned. My current thinking was to simply do it as quickly as possible and be done with it.
