Lie Down in Green Pastures

  "Listen up," one of the counselors who had found a bullhorn said. "Everyone from Baptist Brethren, you're getting a ride with us, so step forward."

  There was a lot of jostling as the kids hurried to get onto the bus, tossing their bags to the counselors. Counselors from every group had stepped forward to load as quickly as possible.When everyone was on board the bus headed back down.

  Two more buses from churches much closer to the camp than theirs arrived and were sent offas quickly as possible.Once they had left Jeremiah made his way over to Dave.

  "Not everyone's going to get here in time," he said.

  "I know," Dave answered, worry creasing his face.

  The roar of engines preceded the arrival of both First Shepherd vans. The driver of the first one hopped out and made a beeline for Dave just as the staffmember arrived with the update.

  "Near as I can tell the next nearest bus is at least forty-five minutes away," the man said.

  The van driver shook his head. "They won't make it then.The water's at the bridge. There's just enough room for the vans to turn around. I say we hustle everyone down there and try to ferry everyone across. It'll be a long walk down the mountain to reach a place where some of the buses can pick up, but we can help with that too. The important thing is to get everyone out."

  Dave grabbed the bullhorn. "Okay, everyone from First Shepherd and the synagogue who can't hike fifteen minutes pile on these vans. We'll meet you on the other side of the bridge. Everyone else, follow Rabbi Silverman down to the bridge."

  Kids scurried to do as instructed. Jeremiah noted that only the twins from his cabin moved toward the vans while everyone else fell in line behind him.

  "All right," Jeremiah boomed, forcing his voice to project out over the crowd. "If you're from First Shepherd or the synagogue and you're hiking down to the bridge, you're with me.Let's move out!"

  Jeremiah headed down the mountain with about twenty kids and two counselors following him. Behind him he could hear Dave continue to issue directions. "Those of you who are from other churches, we're going to need to get everyone to the other side of the bridge. Those who can't do the hike, wait here with me for the vans to return. Those of you who can hike, follow Rabbi Silverman and his group down."

  Jeremiah set a quick pace, glancing back quickly to make sure that everyone was with him. Bags were weighing several down and he had to stop a couple of times to help kids shift them to better carrying positions. After a couple of minutes the vans passed them, taking the turns at speeds that even he thought were a bit reckless.

  I should have insisted we move all the kids down. The buses could have still gone up to the top to turn around but then come back down and loaded on their way down the hill.

  It was too late to change anything. His kids and the kids from First Shepherd stayed right with him. A group from one of the other churches raced by, clearly making it a game to see who could reach the bridge first.

  The rain, which had been misting for a while, began to come down steadily again. When they were nearing the bridge, the vans passed them on their way back up.

  When the bridge finally came into view Jeremiah's heart sank. Water was already rushing over the top of it, covering the boards. A couple of boys from another group were venturing out onto it.

  "Don't!" he shouted.

  They ignored him and stepped forward. The water, though shallow, was swift and the boards were slippery. It was only moments before both boys were swept offtheir feet. The one farthest onto the bridge went down face-first and didn't move.

  Jeremiah dropped his backpack and sprinted forward. Zac appeared next to him.

  He looked down at him questioningly.

  "I'm your helper, remember?" the boy said.

  Jeremiah nodded curtly.

  Noah raced up beside them. "What do we do?"

  "Zac, I want you to brace yourself with your back to the downriver side of the bridge and very carefully inch out. Noah, lock wrists with him and do the same. I'm going to stay on the ground as anchor. We'll form a chain. Zac, grab the nearest boy and see if he can grab his buddy. Then, work your way back. If you lose your footing, hold on because we're going to pull you back."

  Zac nodded and he and Noah clasped hands. Noah did the same with Jeremiah and then, doing it just as Jeremiah had said, Zac inched his way out onto the boards. He slipped once, but grabbed the rail with his free hand and remained upright.

  Then, very carefully, he grabbed the boy's wrist next to him."Grab your friend!" he shouted.

  When everyone had linked up Zac began to retrace his steps with Noah and Jeremiah pulling gently to help give him some momentum. It was only a matter of time before Zac lost his footing too and when he did Noah and Jeremiah moved fast, pulling hard and yanking all three boys offthe bridge and onto the muddy shore.

  Jeremiah knelt down and examined the unconscious boy.There was a nasty gash on his forehead. Jeremiah pounded his back and the boy began to cough out water before breathing in normally.

  With Noah's help, they all moved out of the way of the vans, which were once again descending. Dave was in the front seat of the rear one and yelled out the window, "That's everyone from up there!"

  Jeremiah held his breath as he watched the vans roll slowly across the bridge. On the far side kids tumbled out as soon as they stopped and were led further down the hill as the vans then did a series of forwards and reverses until they had turned around.

  The water was nearly halfway up their tires as they crossed back over. They maneuvered around and then Zac helped Jeremiah put the unconscious boy across the laps of three boys after they climbed into the front seat. Kids kept piling in both vans, crouching and standing when the seats were full until no more could fit. The vans rolled back across the bridge. The first one made it across and the second one was almost there when the tires began to spin and slip.

  Around him kids began to pray and the van slowly, painfully rolled forward until its front tires gripped the ground on the far side. It lurched onto the road and the kids around Jeremiah gave a cheer.

  They hadn't yet realized what he already knew. The rest of them were stranded. He looked around. There were twelve boys, two girls, and himself left. The water continued to rise over the bridge and on the far side he could see the first van driver arguing heatedly with the second.

  Dave intervened and finally a consensus was reached. Slowly Dave grabbed the bullhorn from the person who had it. "We can't get the vans back across and it's too dangerous to try and walk or swim over. When the river goes down in a day or two we can get you out. There's plenty of food, water, activities. The rest of you are just going to continue to have camp without us."

  Dave's voice cracked at the end and he lowered the bullhorn.Jeremiah nodded and looked down at his charges. "Well, you heard the man," he said, trying to force himself to sound cheerful. "Back to camp!"

  "But we just hiked down," Bobby said.

  "I know, Bobby. I know."

  Mark walked over to Cindy where she sat huddled underneath an emergency blanket. "I just got offthe phone with Geanie. Apparently they already sent out the vans to pick up everyone at camp. It's been raining there and the river was rising so they were evacuating everyone. She said they should be in cell phone reach in a little while. I guess they made arrangements to spend the night at a covered stadium and try to finish some of the camp activities there."

  "Thank you," Cindy said.

  "It's going to be okay. You did it. You caught the bad guys."

  "And nothing's going to happen at the camp?"

  "Nothing's going to happen at the camp," he said with a grin.

  An ambulance was pulling away from the curb and she was staring at it with tears in her eyes.

  "The three guys . . . you . . . uh . . . they're going to live," he said. "We arrested everyone else, including Butler. It's only a matter of time before these jackals start turning on each other."

  She nodded and he sat down beside her. "Geanie's going t
o come take you home."

  "How come people always think I need to be driven home?" she asked him, looking up at him with dazed eyes.

  "Because sometimes you do," he said gently.

  They made it back to the cabin and this time everyone stood in the middle of the floor, looking to Jeremiah for direction. It was a marked contrast to the last time. This time, though, he had five extra kids, two of them girls. He refrained from tossing his muddy bag back up onto his old bunk, instead dropping it on the floor nearby.

  "Noah and I will take this bunk," he said. "Girls, you take this one," he said, pointing to the bunk to his left. "Everyone else will rotate between these three bunks and the floor. We'll raid the other cabins for extra pillows and blankets."

  He was surprised that there was no grumbling, just a quiet muttering as people laid claim to their spot. It was cramped, but he wasn't about to split his charges over two different cabins when there was only one of him.

  "Get washed up and let's go raid the kitchen and get something to eat," he said.

  He sat down with a sigh and Noah approached him.

  "Are you okay, sir?"

  Jeremiah nodded. "We just have to keep things fun and light. We could be up here for a few days. Got any ideas?"

  "One," Noah said with a grin. He whistled loud and everyone turned to look.

  "Listen up, crew! I officially declare this cabin home base for the Swiss Family Silverman!"

  The kids started smiling at that and there were a couple of weak cheers. But Noah wasn't done yet.

  "Since we are castaways, the old rules don't apply to us.After all, we've already broken rule number two. There are girls in our cabin!"

  The boys started cheering loudly and the girls clapped their hands.

  "In light of the situation I declare rule number one, lights out at ten, null and void!"

  There was more cheering and even Jeremiah started laughing.

  "Castaways, we need a flag!"

  "We can do that," one of the girls, Sarah he thought her name was, volunteered.

  "We need a motto!"

  "We've got that covered," Stuart said, pointing to him and Bobby.

  "And we need somewhere to pillage!"

  There was silence as the kids looked around at each other.

  Jeremiah leaped to his feet. "To the kitchen!" he roared.

  They all screamed in response and raced out the door.

  It seemed forever before Cindy finally made it home. Geanie tried to stay with her, but Cindy forced her to go. If she was going to be able to continue to live alone she knew she had to make it through the night.

  As soon as Geanie left the silence descended and her fear returned. She tried dialing Dave's cell and was relieved when he answered.

  "Dave? It's Cindy. I can barely hear you."

  ". . . terri- reception . . . offmountain . . . but . . . couple days . . ."

  "Where are you?"

  ". . . at . . . stadium . . . camping inside . . ."

  "When will you be back?"

  There was a burst of static and then she lost the call. She tried calling back, but it went straight to voicemail. She put her cell down on the counter. At least they were safe offthe mountain.

  A minute later her cell chimed to let her know she had a text. It was from Dave and it said, "Back tomorrow."

  She took a deep breath. Everything was fine.

  Food and the clean-up from it and breakfast ended up taking forever. When it was done a heavy curtain of rain isolated the camp. Jeremiah found the candles for lighting at sunset on the Sabbath in the office and took them to their cabin. The kids are an evenly mixed group, for a wonder. Six of the boys were his. Sarah was also from the synagogue. Brenda and the other six boys were from the church. They turned offthe lights in the cabin, with the blessing of the castaways, and lit candles.Jeremiah took a minute to explain why they did what they did to observe the Sabbath.

  The kids sat up and talked, but exhaustion was taking its toll and they were asleep well before the curfew they had been so excited to break. Jeremiah waited until they were all asleep and then blew out the candles. He wanted to leave them burning but fourteen kids in one room in a wood cabin asleep with burning candles seemed like a recipe for disaster.

  Then he lay down, flipped onto his side so that he could watch the room, and fell asleep.

  Jeremiah awoke to the sudden, overwhelming feeling that something was very, very wrong. He sat up slowly, eyes probing the darkness. He could hear the kids snoring softly and his eyes fell on each still, sleeping form. Fourteen. They were all there.

  Unlike the night before there was no sound coming from outside, nothing that should have awakened him. Still, he knew that unlike the toilet paper raid this was real and very dangerous.

  He rose and moved across the cabin silently, maneuvering around the kids sleeping on the floor, straining his senses for a sign of what it was that had awakened him. There was nothing.No movement, no sound.

  No sound.

  He slipped out of the cabin, grateful that he had slept in his clothes. He silently removed the fire extinguisher from its mounting. It made a good weapon both for the chemical spray inside and for the heft of it. He slowly moved around the cabin, looking for something that could have frightened the animals and the insects into silence.

  The farther he walked the more certain he was that something was wrong. He had almost completed his loop of the building when he saw a blinking red light. He approached and discovered a small black box attached to the power lines.

  A bomb, he realized.

  15

  JEREMIAH TURNED AND LEAPED BACK UP ONTO THE PORCH, KICKED IN THE door, and shouted, "Everyone out, move, move, move!"

  Startled kids fell out of their bunks and landed on the kids who were on the floor. They all struggled to their feet and ran toward him. He stepped aside. "Head for the trees!"

  The last kid out the door tripped, sprawling at Jeremiah's feet. He picked the boy up, threw him over his shoulder, jumped offthe porch, and sprinted toward the trees with the rest of them.

  Once they hit the tree line they turned and stared at him, eyes wide with bewilderment and fear.

  "Hit the dirt and cover your heads!" he roared as he dropped the kid he was carrying onto the ground. Jeremiah threw himself down on his stomach and the kids did the same.

  How long before it goes off? he wondered. And who in this country would do such a thing?

  When the explosion came he was ready for it, but the kids were not. Their screams of terror hurt him. If he closed his eyes he was back in Israel witnessing a car bombing or synagogue desecration. Cold fury settled in the pit of his stomach. They should not have had to be witnesses to such violence.

  Flaming pieces of the cabin rained down all over, but fell short of their vantage point.

  "All my stuff was in there," he heard one child whisper.

  Another one asked, "What made it blow up like that?"

  "It was a bomb," Jeremiah said. He didn't see any need to lie to them. It wouldn't help them in the coming years and certainly not in the coming minutes.

  "Did someone try to kill us?"

  "Will they try again?"

  "Why?"

  "Where are they now?" Noah asked.

  That was the question that was foremost in Jeremiah's mind.It was possible that the bomber had detonated it from miles away. It was also possible that he was in the area, watching the cabin burn and looking at them.

  "We can't stay here," Jeremiah said. "Everyone follow me and be quiet. Noah, bring up the rear. If you see something, whistle."

  Without standing up he turned around and began crawling on hands and knees farther into the forest. He turned his head and saw that the kids were falling into line behind him.

  Jeremiah just had to figure out how to make their movements silent. The thought of pushing deeper into the forest with teenage campers with no outdoor skills made him shudder.There was nothing he could do about it, though, but keep
moving and stay alert.

  Fifteen minutes into crawling, some of the kids were starting to grumble. Surprisingly, the loudest complainers were not the two girls, Sarah and Brenda. Fourteen kids aged fourteen to eighteen were not Jeremiah's ideal comrades-in-arms and the complaining made him grit his teeth. Jeremiah turned his head and whispered to the boy behind him to be quiet and to pass it back. As soon as he did he knew it was a mistake as one kid after another practically yelled out "What?" to the one in front, followed by a louder "Shhhhhh!"

  I could have done better with a herd of rampaging elephants.

  Jeremiah could take no more and came to a sudden stop.He waved all the kids in a semicircle around him and placed Noah in the rear, facing the direction they had come. Before Jeremiah could say anything, Noah turned around.

  "Sir, you said to whistle if I saw anything but what if I only heard something?"

  "Wha . . ." Jeremiah started to say.

  Just then Jeremiah heard some twigs snap a short distance to his left and held his fingers to his lips. He could hear the noises moving away slowly and he figured that it would be better to be walking than crawling. They needed distance and fast. "Everyone stand up quietly. Huddle up."

  "What are we going to do?" asked Sarah who was holding Brenda's hand in a vise-like grip.

  "We are going to move up the hill farther into the tree line.Each person step into the footprint of the person in front of you."

  All the kids nodded their heads that they understood, but they could not hide the growing fear in their eyes. Only Noah, Sarah, and Brenda seemed to be relatively calm.

  "Sarah, because you are shorter than the others you walk behind me and tell me when I take steps that are too large."

  "Okay," Sarah whispered.

  "Noah, walk drag," Jeremiah said to the boy.

  "Drag what?"

  "Sorry, drag means you follow at the rear. You stop every ten steps and scan the entire hillside from the front of the line all the way back down the hill. Pay special attention to the flanks, sorry, the sides left and right. If you see, hear, or even smell something whistle once. Got it?"