Page 121 of Nothing But It All
I hold a tree branch back so it doesn’t smash her in the face.
“Such a gentleman,” she says, sliding by.
“Dad!” I shout. “Harvey!”
“Snaps!” Lauren adds, the word barely audible over a crack of thunder.
We slow our pace and listen. There’s no response.
Damn it.
“Should I go back and get the kids?” Lauren asks. “I feel like we got away from our game plan.”
“I’m not letting you out of my sight now. We’re already this far in.Dad!Can you hear me?”
Lauren gasps for air. “Jack, I’m worried. Wouldn’t he be answering us?”
Snaps’s bark sounds in the distance.
“I would think so,” I say, moving forward. “I don’t know whether to follow the dog or to start looking around the pathway.”
“Well, let’s be honest here—Snaps is no Lassie.”
I look at her. “If we’re really being honest—the dog is the only thing helping us right now.”
“Not sure I’d call it help. Harvey!”
“Dad!” I shout, slowing to listen.
“If he’s out here picking berries and he doesn’t need your help, he’s going to be pissed,” Lauren says. “And I’ll never be happier to see a pissed-off Harvey.”
“Me too. Dad!”
We go around a bend and hop over another fallen tree. The sky has just enough light to see, but it won’t be light for long.
We’re without a flashlight. Our phones. The emergency kit.
We have nothing.
“Lo, I think one of us is gonna have to—”
“Look!”
I pull my attention from her and to the path. Snaps is running toward us with something in his mouth.
“Come here,” I say, crouching down.
He runs full blast until he’s a few feet from me. Then he stops on a dime and sits.
Gently, Lauren reaches down and plucks the item from Snaps’s mouth. She turns to me, her eyes twinkling.
“Jack.”She holds out Dad’s red handkerchief he keeps in his pocket.“It’s your dad’s.”
I stand, my heart racing. “Hell, maybe I should’ve named him Lassie.”
Lauren looks at me, her chest rising and falling in big movements.
“Snaps. Take us to him, buddy,” she says.
