Sweet Like Honey

“This tree here is an example of a hazard tree,” says a Ranger. He’s been showing us several power points on outdoor safety the past two days. I look at the picture of a pine tree with a dead top and my eyes start to feel heavy with sleep. If I close my eyes for one minute surely my sleepiness will go away. The room goes dark and I see several different trees all asking me to climb them.

“Abigail.” My eyes flutter open I’m back in the conference room at the Forest Service. Everyone in the room is looking at me causing my face to feel hot.

“Abigail. I know these are dry and boring but please bear with me,” says the man that’s been giving us all the presentations the past two days.

Everyone turns their backs to me and they continue watching the PowerPoint. I can’t help but look behind me at Zack to see his reaction. He is in in the last row of tables and I can’t see his face because he has a baseball cap on. His legs are stretched out and he is leaning back practically sinking into the chair. He sits there silently and it takes me a moment to realize he is asleep.

“No fair!” I say in a not so quiet voice. I catch myself and look to the front of the room again. The man that is presenting pauses for a moment until he is sure he has my full attention and begins again.

During lunch I find a nice picnic table outside of the building and sit there alone. I bet that guy hates me now. I’ve slept through most of the presentations and when he asked me questions I was never able to answer them correctly. I wouldn’t be surprised if he complained to Zack, our privileged crew leader that can sleep the entire time and not get called out on it. Just as I pull my lunch out I spot Zack making his way over to where I’m sitting. Here it comes I know I’m in for a lecture on attentive listening.

“Hey,” he says and sits down in front of me. I watch him curiously as he pulls out his lunch. I wait for the lecture to come but it doesn’t.

“You’re . . . not going to get me in trouble for falling asleep?” I ask sheepishly.

“Nah,” he says coolly and takes his baseball cap off. He runs one hand through his hair and it instantly comes to life with volume and fluff. Why would he come and sit with me if he isn’t going to lecture me? Maybe he enjoys my company . . . the thought makes me giddy for a reason I can’t quite understand.

“You wanna swap snacks?” he asks with an eye on my fruit roll up.

“What do you have to offer in exchange?” I ask. I take the fruit roll up off the table and hold it away from him. Wouldn’t want him stealing my snack and leaving me with something lame like steamed asparagus.

“This,” he pulls a small glass container with chocolate pudding in it.

“Done!” I exclaim and give him the fruit roll up. I can’t help but give him a toothy smile because I am so far beyond happy that I have pudding for lunch. Especially after Harvey decided to exile all types of pudding from the house.

Hater.

“Ryan made it himself. He said you’d like it.” He rips a strip of fruit roll up and eats it with a smile on his face. For some reason the expression on his face reminds me of a kid that has just tricked his little brother into giving him all his candy. I look at him suspiciously and he says, “What?” still smiling like he’s got something to hide. I look down at the pudding and there’s a sticky note on the side.

I heard Harvey was being . . . well Harvey and denying
you pudding. Hope you like my recipe more than you like
the delivery boy.
Love, Ryan

The pudding was meant for me the entire time. “Hey!” I whine catching on to Zack’s evil plan. “You took this as an opportunity to take one of my snacks.” I try to take my fruit roll up back but he doesn’t let me.

“A deal is a deal,” he says triumphantly taking the last bit of the fruit roll up. He eats it slowly and I notice that the candy has left a hint of read on his lips. I’m not sure which I want more the fruit roll up or . . . I quickly look away and take a giant spoonful of pudding. Must not think of my boss in that way. Must not think of anyone in that way.

After I practically lick the glass container clean I realize that Zack is still sitting here eating his lunch. I thought he’d be gone by now but he doesn’t show any desire to leave. If anything it looks like he’s very comfortable.

“You fell asleep too,” I say.

“I’m an expert at hiding it,” he says and points at his hat.

“Genius!” I say playfully.

“I try not to brag about it,” he says confidently. He gives me his hat and says, “Give it a try.”

I put it on and lean back against the tree behind me. I try to position my body the way his was when I saw him sleeping. He shakes his head and reaches over the table and fixes it. When he sits back down he nods and I try another position.

“So you’re really not going to lecture me on paying better attention?” I ask one last time. He shakes his head and fixes the hat again.

“But I could have missed something important,” I insist.

“Pay attention next time,” he says in a stern voice but I can tell he’s only playing around.
And then the reality of the situation hits me. I really could be a danger to everyone and he’s not going to do anything about it. What kind of a crew am I going to work with? One that doesn’t enforce safety obviously. A red flag goes up in my head.

“It’s all common sense. The only reason we have to give those power points is because it’s Forest Service policy. The real out door safety training comes after lunch when we start preparing everyone for backpacking,” he explains.

“Oh ok . . .” I respond still full of doubt.

“Relax.” He starts packing up his lunch and I check the time. Lunch is over and I start to clean up too. When I hand him the glass container he gives me a charming smile and asks, “So which one is it?” I pause and give him a confused look.

He continues to give me a heartwarming smile, “Pudding or delivery boy?”

Delivery boy

“Ugh . . . .”

He winks, takes his hat off my head and walks off to talk to other rangers near the entrance. What would have happened if I had answered? What would he have done? I shake the thoughts from my head and continue the day. I keep my distance from Zack and talk to everyone else.

We get a lecture on backpacking safety which ends up being more interesting than the other stuff. Later we are split into groups and we try to figure out the equipment.

“You’re doing it wrong,” says Jessica the crew member that’s my age. She takes the nifty mini stove from my hand and starts to build it. She doesn’t even give me a chance to figure it out and I find myself glaring at her while she takes a lighter out and gets the stove going.

“There you go,” she says and then turns around to the group next to us. As she turns her golden blond pony tails smacks me in the face. She reminds me of a girl I once knew as a kid. She seemed nice but she always took my sweets! I never forgave her for taking my slice of chocolate cake during a friend’s birthday party.

I turn the stove off and try to take it apart. While I struggle I listen to Jessica brag about her experience outdoors. I’m Jessica I’m super fit. I’ve backpacked all over the world. I’m attractive and I know it so I’m going to flirt with almost every guy. Blah Blah Blah. That’s all I hear when blondie talks.

“Righty tighty lefty loosey,” says Zack watching me struggle with the stove. My annoyance quickly fades and I try what he says while building the stove.

“Yes! Take that stove.” I yell and start to dance around when I finally get it. Zack laughs and I realize I am not at home and should act normal. He’s about to say something when blondie interrupts.

“It took you a while Amy,” says blondie.

“It’s Abby,” I correct her and the annoyance is back.

Zack wants to say something and she interrupts him again.“So where have you backpacked?” Jessica asks but she doesn’t ask me. All of her attention is on Zack. She starts to lead him away from me by lightly pulling on his arm in another direction. If I had a cupcake I would accidentally rub it all over her golden hair.

After work I sit around in the front waiting for Harvey alone. Everyone else gets in their cars and drives off only after Jessica invites them out for a drink. She asks everyone but me. Jessica is last to leave because she is busy working her evil blonde magic on Zack. I can hear that laugh all the way from where I’m sitting. It may be confused as a cute little giggle but anyone that’s not under her evil spell can tell it’s really the sound of nails on a chalk board.

When she leaves Zack walks over to me and says, “Ready to go?”

“Yeah but Harvey is nowhere in sight.”

“He asked me to take you home,” he says.

“Of course he would,” I respond.

“Do you have anything to do right now?” he asks.

“No,” I respond feeling really bummed out. I feel like a toad in a pound full of swans. Swans that are all really fit and have way more experience than I do.

“Good. I want to show you a nice spot in town,” he says. Is he asking me out on a date?

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” I ask.

“We’re friends aren’t we? And friends hang out don’t they?” he says coolly.

“Right . . . friends,” I say.

He starts walking toward his car and I hesitate. Friends . . . but I don’t even know him all that well. What if he’s a serial killer? What if he’s a sex offender? What if he’s a drug dealer? What if he’s in the mafia?

“You coming?” he asks.

"Aren't you supposed to go out with Jessica and the rest of the crew?" I ask trying to get out of hanging out with him

"I'd rather hang with you. So what do you say? Are you coming?" he responds

And then I do something stupid. I say yes without hesitation.