Hunter's Choice, page 7
Hunter focused all his attention on cutting his steak, not wanting to meet anyone’s eyes. Why couldn’t everyone just let this go? Why hadn’t he just shot the stupid deer?
“My point is, I would rather be out there with a hunter who refuses to take a thousand shots, with someone who trusts his hunter’s instinct, than with someone who shoots all the time, who is reckless and might get people hurt or killed.”
Hunter was glad when lunch, and the accompanying consolation lecture, was over and the Monopoly board was brought out.
“You’re welcome to join us, Annette,” Dad said. “But you should know this is cutthroat Monopoly. All chance, community chest, and taxes go into the middle of the board to be won by whoever lands on free parking.”
Annette smiled. “That’s how my family plays too.”
“But we play serious,” said Uncle Rick. “You have to pay attention to the properties you own.”
“If you fail to notice that another player has landed on your property,” Dad said in full lawyer mode, “and the next player rolls for his turn, you forfeit the rent to which you would otherwise have been entitled.”
“What?” Annette frowned. “That seems harsh.”
Hunter smiled. The only thing at their family gatherings more intense than the political discussions were the games of Monopoly.
Dad continued, “If you quit the game before it is over, you will be banned for life.”
“That’s actually true,” said Yumi. “Aunt Lorie quit a Monopoly game when her and my dad and Uncle David were around, like, ten years old. She hasn’t been allowed to play with them ever since.”
Annette laughed, but Dad did not. “Also, there are no illegal mergers, no team-ups with other players just to complete color groups and otherwise combine assets.”
Annette narrowed her eyes and nodded slowly. “I accept your challenge, Mr. Higgins.”
And the game was on. Grandpa, like Hunter, liked to play the game cool and calm. They didn’t gloat when landing on a great investment property, and they didn’t laugh when collecting rent. Hunter thought this helped later on if he ever wanted to make a deal with another player, a trade or purchase to complete a color group. But Dad, Uncle Rick, and Yumi played it brash and bold.
“Boom!” Yumi shouted when a miraculous sequence of dice rolls managed to help her complete the purple color group in record time. “Uh-oh! Look out, everyone! Houses going up already? And with two railroads, I’m already dominating the game.”
But then the dice turned. Yumi kept landing on chance, community chest, and jail. While others bought up properties, she paid taxes, fees, or scored small payments. Uncle Rick managed to pick up two massive piles of cash by landing on free parking. It wasn’t long until Uncle Rick sealed some key deals and had finally bankrupted everyone else out of the game.
Dad shook his hand. Grandpa clapped and sat back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face.
“That was intense.” Annette laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever played it quite like that before.”
“That was fun,” Yumi said. She forced a smile, but Hunter knew her better than anyone. Yumi was competitive. Once in a game, she hated to lose it. Maybe that explained why Hunter’s failure to shoot bothered her so much. But she’d been a little better at hiding her disappointment over that. Now she stood up from the table and nodded toward Hunter and Annette, who were putting the game away. “You guys got that? I’m gonna go out and get some air.”
“Sure, no problem,” Annette said evenly, apparently not realizing Yumi was upset. She never went outside just to “get some air.” What did that even mean? She was competitive, yeah. But she’d never basically stormed out after a loss before.
Hunter and Annette stood side by side, kind of close together, as they packed away the different denominations of fake money into the correct plastic slots. It wasn’t a big deal or anything. But, once, their hands had kind of brushed together as they both reached to put back some five-hundred-dollar bills. Still, although Hunter didn’t really want to leave, he needed to go see what was up with Yumi.
CHAPTER 9
WITH THE HEAD START YUMI HAD ON HUNTER, SHE COULD have been about anywhere in the woods outside the lodge, but Hunter’s cousin was also his best friend. She could have gone anywhere, but he was pretty sure he knew exactly where she would be.
Back behind the lodge, over near the firing range, a strange tower of rock rose up out of the ground due to some weird geological process about a zillion years ago, mostly flat and about eight feet across on top. When Yumi was really young, she’d gone crazy about princesses. It was during this phase that Yumi had named this rock formation Princess Tower. Later, as Yumi left royalty behind in favor of sports and the outdoors, it became simply the Tower.
That’s where he found her, sitting on the center stone that provided the perfect chair, her arms wrapped around her knees, which she’d pulled up to her chest, the way she had often done when she was upset as a little kid.
As Hunter approached the base of the Tower, he knew Yumi had seen him, but she didn’t say anything or really look at him. “Princess Yumi?” Hunter called up to her. “May I approach?” He was already starting his climb through a crack they always used as the way up.
“If you call me princess again, I’ll knock you off the Tower.”
It was a joke as lame as Hunter’s had been, but her voice lacked its usual sharp fire.
“You OK?” Hunter asked when he reached the top and sat down next to her. “I haven’t seen you looking so miserable up here on the Tower since your boyfriend Stuart Cassidy dumped you.”
That actually made Yumi laugh, and Hunter was glad to see her smile. She put her head down on her arms folded over her knees and sighed. “You idiot. That was in fourth grade. Fourth-grade boyfriends don’t count as real boyfriends. I’m not even sure if sixth-grade relationships are real.” She looked up at him. “Oh, but don’t tell Annette I said that.”
“I don’t get it,” said Hunter.
“She’s about as dopey as all that old princess stuff with the way she likes this secret someone.”
Hunter shifted to try to find a more comfortable position on the rock. “Um, who is he?”
“I don’t know, idiot! That’s why it’s called a secret.” She frowned and kept watching him. “Why? Why do you care?”
“I don’t,” Hunter said a little too loudly. And he really didn’t care. Unless he did. He shook his head. This was too complicated. Annette wasn’t even supposed to be here! “I was just curious,” he said quickly.
Yumi watched him a moment longer. “Right,” she said, drawing out the word.
Hunter had come this far. He wasn’t about to be sidetracked by Annette’s love life. “Why do you care so much about Monopoly? We’ve played a lot of games. I’ve won most of them—”
“Um, no. You’ve won a very small percentage of them. I usually destroy you because you are terrible—”
“—Because I’m awesome—”
“—at Monopoly,” Yumi and Hunter finished together. They laughed again.
Neither of them said anything for a long time after that.
“How can my dad have so much fun playing the game?” Yumi asked.
“Because he was winning?” Hunter tried. “That’s usually fun.”
“If he can do something as perfectly normal as playing Monopoly, like everything is fine, if he can laugh and have fun as though he doesn’t have a care in the world . . .” Her voice wavered and grew quiet. “Then why can’t—” A sob shook her. Hunter didn’t know what to do, so he just put his arm around her shaking shoulders. “Why can’t he come home?”
He knew it probably wasn’t the type of question to which Yumi was expecting his answer, but she looked and sounded so sad that he felt like he had to say something. “Well, I think—”
“He says that it’s not because of Mom or me, but why is he only happy when he’s away from us? He’s more comfortable around Annette, around you, than being with his own daughter!”
“It’s not like that,” Hunter said.
“Then what is it like, Hunter!” she snarled. “He’s been living out here, by himself, for over a month! Then he . . . then he makes me come out here this weekend.” She threw her hands up. “I flat-out told him no, but he kept pushing, and then Mom jumped in on his side, so in the end I managed to get them to cave and agree to let me bring Annette along.”
Hunter put his head back and looked up to the branches. So that was why Annette had come along. Some kind of special deal to get Yumi to come out here.
“Dad tried telling me something like, ‘Oh, if we go hunting together, then we’ll fix things up.’” Yumi rolled her eyes. “Does he seriously believe that we’d come out to the woods and that would magically make up for the way he abandoned us?”
Hunter frowned. That wasn’t fair. Uncle Rick was a cool guy, a hero, really. He literally had hero medals from the war.
“I don’t think he abandoned you.”
Yumi shot up on her feet. “Oh, then what would you call this? I can’t believe you’re taking his side.”
“I’m not taking any side,” Hunter said. “I know he loves you and stuff. I think maybe he’s just having a hard time.”
“Oh, like the kind of hard time where he just has fun playing Monopoly?”
Hunter frowned. “He was in a war, Yumi. He got shot and—”
“Oh, stop! I’m sick to death of hearing about the stupid war. I’m sorry. I just don’t care about Afghanistan! Those people can . . .” She stopped herself and took a deep breath. “No, I don’t mean that. I just . . .” Tears came again. “I just want my dad back.”
“Well, maybe being out here is a chance for that,” Hunter said after a long silence. “Anything can happen out here hunting.”
“Or not happen.” Yumi wiped her eyes. “You want to explain what happened with that deer?” She wasn’t asking the question as an accusation. She didn’t sound sharp or condescending. Her tone and the expression on her face were more of concern than anything else. “You’re a better shooter than I am,” she said after some hesitation.
Hunter knew that wasn’t an easy thing for Yumi to admit. But just then he was having trouble admitting, even to himself, the real answer to her question. He opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself, unsure how to explain this in a way she could understand, in a way anyone could understand.
“Come on, Higgins,” she said. “If you’re going to get all personal with me and expect me to spill on my deepest, darkest, most emotional whatever, don’t think you’re getting off the hook.”
“I wasn’t scared,” Hunter said.
“Well, that’s good. It was a deer, not a bear or a wolf.”
“I was set up for the perfect shot. I wanted to shoot it. I’ve been dreaming about this hunting trip for months.”
“Oh, I knoooow.” Yumi picked up a small stone and whipped it with her cool sidearm throw. “It’s all you’ve talked about since forever.”
“I’m not against hunting,” he said.
“Obviously.”
“It’s like, I wanted to shoot the deer. But also, I didn’t want to kill the deer. It was too beautiful. I know hunting’s not wrong, but killing it felt wrong,” Hunter said. Yumi flashed him a confused look. He continued, “I know that sounds stupid. I hate myself for being such a—”
“Cool guy!” Yumi cut in quickly. “You’re one of the best guys I know, Higgins. We’re going back out again later today. You might still get one. And even if you don’t—so what? Most hunters come back empty-handed. What’s Grandpa always saying? It’s not about the deer you take home, but about the experience.”
“Yeah, but you never hear hunters brag about their experience.”
Yumi elbowed him. “Come on, Higgins. Since when have you ever cared about bragging? You want to be like Kelton Fielding or something?”
“No.” Hunter laughed. It felt good to laugh. Yumi could somehow always bring that out of him.
“Can I ask you just one thing?” Hunter did not know where the inspiration or courage to bring up this matter had come from, but before he’d really thought about it, he was speaking, and once he’d started he had to see it through. Maybe he simply remembered his father talking about how hunting had been the last thread of connection between his father and Grandpa back when the two of them were not getting along. Maybe he simply wanted to reduce the tension this weekend. Either way, he wasn’t sure which was harder, killing the deer or bringing this up.
Yumi must have sensed the worry in his voice, because she looked at him warily. “Okaaaay?”
“When we go back out, come with me and Uncle Rick,” Hunter said. Yumi frowned and was about to speak, but Hunter hurried on. “Just because it would be cool to be on the same team. Besides, Annette was pretty lonely, I think, with you not there.”
“Oh, but surely she didn’t get too lonely with you around!”
Hunter backed away from Yumi a little. “What are you talking about? She’s your friend. You’re the one who brought her here.”
“Cut the crap, Higgins. I’ve noticed you looking at her.”
“Yeah,” Hunter said quickly. “The same way I look at you or my dad or Reagan. I mean, I have to look to know where she is, so she’s not downrange of my rifle.”
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it,” Yumi said.
“Are you two up there?” Annette called to them from below.
Hunter flashed his cousin a warning glare against her teasing smile. “Just, will you come with us or not?”
Yumi sighed. “Fine. I guess.”
Yumi and Hunter made their way to the edge of the Tower and looked down to see Annette, hand up to block the sun from her eyes, smiling up at them. “There you are. Finally. I’ve been looking all over for you.” She frowned. “How did you even get up there?”
Hunter showed her the way.
“What? Are you two hiding?” she asked with a grin. “Leave me in there with the men and their stories about ancient times?”
“Sorry,” Yumi said. “It’s complicated.”
Annette held her hands up. “Relax. I was just joking. They’re actually pretty cool. You’re both from a neat family. Makes me wish I was a Higgins too!”
How did Annette keep this up? This never-ending positive attitude. That warm, friendly smile. Even her eyes seemed to sparkle.
“Wow,” Annette said, surveying the area from her new height. “It’s neat up here.”
Hunter started to explain. “We call it the—”
“The Tower,” Yumi finished for him.
“Makes sense,” Annette said, finding a seat on some pine needles.
“Well, first Yumi named this the Princess Tower—”
“Oh, I hate you, Higgins!” Yumi interrupted.
“—because Yumi was so sure she was going to grow up to be a princess, and if she waited up here long enough, a charming prince would come rescue her or something.”
Hunter and Annette laughed. Yumi pressed her lips together to keep from smiling.
“OK,” Yumi fired back. “Laugh it up. But speaking of Prince Charming, why don’t you tell us about this mystery boy you like so much? Who is he?”
If Hunter thought he often blushed too easily or deeply, he realized it was nothing compared to Annette. Her cheeks and neck flared crimson.
“I’m not telling you,” Annette said. “Least of all around Hunter. He’d tell!”
Hunter felt a weird twist deep inside, kind of like a more intense version of opening a present he expected to be Legos or a new video game and finding socks instead. Why should any of this bother him? He didn’t care at all who Annette liked. He did not.
Hunter held his arms out and almost shouted. “Hey, I let the perfect buck get away without firing a shot! As long as we’re all being really embarrassed here.”
They all laughed, and the laughter allowed a little more of the sting of his failure to fade.
“You’ll have another chance,” Annette said. “You’ll get one when we go back out hunting later today.”
“I better,” Hunter said. “Or else Kelton Fielding and the other guys are going to give me so much crap.”
“Oh, you’re right!” Annette TapTapTapped Hunter’s shoulder and a tingle went up his neck. “That guy is so annoying. I’d lose my mind if I had to sit in front of him, the way he taps on your shoulder and blathers on.”
“Thank you!” Hunter’s voice echoed through the woods. “I’m so glad someone else understands. Miss Foudy always brings the hammer down on both of us, like I even want to talk to the guy.”
“Teachers never seem to understand,” Yumi said.
The talk continued like that, wandering from topic to topic, for a long time. Up on the Tower, out there in the deep Idaho wilderness, Hunter felt at home. And there was something else, too. Something he didn’t often experience in middle school. As the three of them talked and joked, alone in their own separate wilderness castle, he felt like he belonged, that the two of them really wanted him there, that he was more than an awkward kid who wasn’t always sure how to dress or act. Last year, Mom had warned him that middle school could be tough, and, being a librarian, she had recommended about half a dozen books with characters navigating the challenge. She’d been right. But up on the Tower with Yumi and Annette, Hunter dared to hope that middle school might turn out OK after all.
“Hunter!” Dad’s voice echoed through the woods back toward the cliff. “Yumi! Annette! Time to come in. We’re getting ready to go hunting again.”
The three of them exchanged a look, and Hunter wondered if the other two thought the same about that afternoon as he did. And without another word, they started climbing back down to the ground, to start the next hunt.
