Rendezvous: a hypertext adventure

by Nowick Gray

Summer was off-season at what was primarily a ski resort. I wandered through the deserted buildings until I found someone who could tell me about the bikes. They were available only on Sundays and Tuesdays, cost twenty-five dollars a day, and had no panniers. I took this information to the bar terrace and sat for half and hour over a watery draft beer, scribbling out a bewildering matrix of dates, distances, risks and benefits, pros and cons. Maybe this harebrained scheme, I was starting to think, just wasn't in the cards.

Getting nowhere, I phoned Faron. Her plans were complicated by trying to arrange days off from babysitting, and to find someone to come along on the hike. The basic idea was to have help carrying Suze. The so-called "double-date" idea had fallen through; David had decided he'd had enough of Harris's whip cracking, and had left this morning to drive home. Faron's best bet at this point was a mutual friend, Ron; but he hadn't made a final commitment as yet. I told Faron that a fellow planter named Matt had expressed interest in accompanying me.

"Oh?" she said. "What's he like?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Just curious. He will be sharing the cabin with us, after all."

"Okay--he's tall, dark and handsome, and a helluva planter. He flails away at the slash and duff like some six-foot-five bear. Let's see, what else? He has black hair and a beard. He's a theology student. And he's just broken up with his girlfriend Janet, who's--"

"Woman friend, you mean. Or just 'friend.'"

"Whatever. She is pretty attractive, herself. She's been planting, and tenting, with Matt all season. But now it looks like that's finished. Matt says he's ready for a break, something more challenging than the usual days off hanging around camp or town."

Faron said, "It won't be quite the same as just us, up there together."

"It wouldn't be just us, anyway, with Suze there. Or whoever you get to come with you."

"That's true."

"Anyway, it still makes sense for both of us to go with someone."

"I know. Ron was telling me that Mirror Pass is called the grizzly capital of the world."

"Oh, great. Well, I hope he decides to come along. Bears or no bears, anything could happen."

"We'll be all right."

Was that just her characteristic confidence at work, I wondered, or some greater understanding that was not yet clear to me?

"I'll take your word for it, hon."

By the end of the call, Faron's voice was shaky with emotion. "Will you call me again as soon as you find out more about your days off?"

"For sure. I can't wait!" I realized as I said this how true it was for me, and I realized also the truth about Faron's approach to difficulty: you just had to want something like this badly enough, to make it happen. One way or another.

There was a long, palpable silence. Then Faron said, "I guess we should hang up. We're spending all the money you're making."

"Yeah, isn't it terrrible? But it's worth it. Bye--I love you, Faron."

"I love you, too, Will."

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