Nadia used the map and her compass to find a stream three-quarters of a mile away. She’d studied cartography during summer camps and was an expert with a compass. Once she found the stream, she continued toward high ground to find a campsite.
Finding a source of water quickly cheered her up. She was able to look around and enjoy the sights. She loved the Appalachian Trail and the surrounding forest. Loved everything about it. Plants and animals were nice. People weren’t. Out here, no one threw dodgeballs at her head at recess when she wasn’t looking.
Danger also lurked on the AT, sometimes disguised as beauty. She picked her way through a giant ravine filled with storm-tossed birch trees: severed branches, strips of white bark, and tree rot scattered as if aliens had nuked the place. Amidst the rubble, moisture had given birth to a supersized colony of spectacular white mushrooms.
Nadia sidestepped the fungi, miniature flying saucers docked on rippling stalks, a preview of life on Mars. To the inexperienced hiker, they might have looked like tasty appetizers for the grill. Nadia knew better. Mrs. Chimchak had taught that certain fungi were lethal. Best not to mess with Martian spaceships when you’re living off the AT.
Nadia paused at the top of a hill and looked around. The terrain had flattened out. Water would flow down from here. A small gap amidst a grove of spruce trees would allow the flames of her fire to rise without burning down the entire East Coast. And a pair of young trees were set wide enough apart for her to build a lean-to.
This was the spot.
Nadia dropped her knapsack and turned around to memorize the path she’d taken.
Mrs. Chimchak stood before her with a blank expression.
Nadia jumped and shrieked. She covered her mouth with her hand. Cursed at herself for having shown weakness. But how could she not have been surprised?
There’d been no noise. No sign of a human being approaching.
Of course there hadn’t been. Kids called Mrs. Chimchak the Razor Blade for a reason. If she stood sideways, sometimes you couldn’t even see she was there. In the forest, she moved like a fern with invisible legs. She stood relaxed but poised, the way she always did, in a navy blue work shirt and pants. Never had such a tiny person looked so big and scary.
“Hotujsh,” Mrs. Chimchak said in Ukrainian, the traditional greeting among young scouts.
Nadia snapped her feet to attention, returned the greeting, and saluted her elder. The salute consisted of a V formed with the second and third fingers of her right hand. The odd thing was that in the English-speaking world it was the peace sign. But the greeting that went along with it in Ukrainian had more to do with war than peace.
Hotujsh. Prepare yourself.
“What are you doing here?” Nadia said.
Mrs. Chimchak studied the terrain. “This is good,” she said, ignoring Nadia’s question. “Good spot for a fire. No branches overhead. You won’t burn down the entire forest, will you?”
“Uh-uh,” Nadia said. “Why are you here? I mean, it’s an unexpected surprise.”
“I wanted to make sure you put the right stakes in the fire. You must use live trees. You must cut down two saplings to stack the logs that will roll into the fire and feed it when you sleep. If you use dead trees, they will burn, your fire will die, and you will be at risk.”
“I know.”
“And be careful not to suffocate the fire with too much brush. Let it breathe when you light it.”
“A-huh.”
“And your mess kit. When you boil water from the stream, don’t touch it with your hands until it’s cooled down. Use a stick to lift it off the fire. Young people get all excited, sometimes they forget and they make mistakes. I’ve seen burns on hands like a roasted pig’s behind.”
“Uh-uh.”
“You have your poncho? Packed at the top in your knapsack?”
“A-huh.”
“Good. Good.”
What was up with Mrs. Chimchak? This was basic camping stuff. Nadia knew it cold, forward and backward, like the number pi rounded to eight decimals.
“PLAST was abolished in 1922 when the communists took Ukraine. It survived in secrecy until we brought it to America. You’re the best girl scout we have in this troop. You and others like you are the only hope for a free Ukraine someday.”
Nadia cringed. Why was someone always telling her she was the future? She wished she had a Mounds bar. She wanted to run away but nodded instead.
Mrs. Chimchak’s eyes grew larger as though they were tearing up. Nadia couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Everyone knew that Mrs. Chimchak didn’t have tear ducts.
“I want you to know how proud I am of you,” she said. “If I had a daughter, I’d want her to be just like you. Will you remember that?”
“Yes,” Nadia said. She had no choice but to be polite, but the comment weirded her out. It was hard enough having two parents. She didn’t need to worry about pleasing someone else, too.
Mrs. Chimchak pulled a small tin box out of her pocket. “Here. Take these mints. Keep them close to you. When a person doesn’t feel well, a mint will always improve her spirits.”
Nadia wanted to roll her eyes but didn’t. Stupid Altoids. What she needed was an industrial-sized Hershey’s Mr. Goodbar, not a box of mints.
Nadia thanked her.
“Now, my young and fearless warrior, would you share a sip of water from your canteen with an old woman before she sets off on her journey home?”
“Of course.”
Nadia hustled over to her knapsack and grabbed her canteen. When she turned around, Mrs. Chimchak was gone.
No noise. No sign that another human being had been there.
Nadia stored the Altoids in her knapsack and went in search of two saplings to act as the feeding mechanism for her fire. Mrs. Chimchak’s words rang in her ears: Nadia was the only hope for a free Ukraine. Great. And she was her father’s only hope, too, given he considered Marko to be a hopeless delinquent. Her father worked on the assembly line in a gun factory. His daughter had to do better. Terrific. Oh, and let’s not forget her mother, who had told her she regretted ever marrying her father. Nadia was the only hope for her mother, too.
Couldn’t all these people get a life? It was hard enough to survive a school year or a summer camp. How could she make everyone happy at the same time? Did they have no clue that she was a person, too?