"Don't be ridiculous," Judy said as she slid past. "You desk jockeys are all chickens."
She stepped onto the narrow ledge and grabbed at the rock wall for hand holds. She shimmied carefully along the ledge without ever looking down and without hesitation. At the other end of the ledge, about fifteen feet away, she hopped onto the cliff and turned around. She motioned with her arm. "Come on, it's easy."
"Nothing like a girl to make ya feel like a complete wuss, huh?" Afram said, smiling.
David nodded. "Go ahead while I clean out my pants."
Afram started across, much slower and much more careful than Judy.
Although the ledge scared David, Elves Chasm had turned out to be a blast. After a leisurely lunch, they had hiked up to the lower falls and played for over a half hour. They climbed up behind the waterfall and maneuvered until they were all in the picture. Per Keller's promise, he played the photographer. Of course Becky and Sam had their arms around each other. It ended up being one of those screwy scenes where Keller had everybody's cameras around his neck and the group had to stay in place while he took a picture with each one. David's leg was stretched across a wet rock and it felt like it was going to slip. He needed to stand up and adjust it, but Keller kept yelling for them to hold still for a couple more.
After the pictures, Judy jumped down the waterfall into the pool at the bottom, something David had not even considered. After some amount of prodding from Judy and Keller, Afram followed, then Sam and Becky. David would never have done it, but after watching the girls and seeing that it was no big deal, he mustered up the courage and jumped in himself. After resurfacing from the cold water David realized that it had been no big deal after all. The entire group climbed back up and jumped again. Afram must have jumped five times, the last time holding one knee into his chest to splash everybody. At one point the whole group floated around in the pool under the waterfall. The weather was incredibly hot so the cold water felt good for short periods of time, but after a few minutes of sitting in the pool, the whole group felt hypothermic. Becky's teeth started chattering. Everyone climbed out and sprawled on the hot rocks to get warm.
Keller told the group how to get to the upper falls, then he headed back to the rafts. The group climbed higher. A short hike later they had arrived at the ledge where Sam and Becky had just made their way across, practically holding hands.
"Okay David," Afram called.
David approached the ledge, still nervous. However, watching the rest of the group go across without incident had convinced him that it was possible. His feet seemed heavy and unresponsive. When he gripped the rock with his hands, in spite of the great handholds, he kept imagining the rock breaking loose or his hand losing its grip, neither of which happened. He reached the other side and took what must have been his first breath since leaving. His heart was racing, but he'd done it.
Judy patted him on the back. "You need to get out more."
They continued up, hiking over and around some large boulders until they came around the bluff and could see some of the upper falls of Elves. The first thing they noticed was that they were not alone. A couple was lying next to the large pool completely naked. The group stopped when they saw the sunbathers, except for Judy who hadn't seen them yet.
"Hang on, Judy." Afram said in almost a whisper and Judy stopped.
David noticed that the sunbathers had noticed them too, but they didn't seem to mind, not even bothering to cover up. He had a better view than he wanted and even from thirty feet away got an instantaneous refresher on male and female anatomy. Aside from their lack of clothes, he noticed the almost white hair on the guy and the obviously non-shaven armpits on the girl. He guessed Europeans, which explained their comfort in lying around naked. Although he'd never actually been to Europe, he'd always heard about them hanging around without clothes in city parks, and beaches. Since there were no other rafts at the bottom, David at first wondered how the couple came to be at the site, and then he spotted the backpacks.
When the naked couple noticed them, the man stood and waved them over. "Come, we can share this place."
The accent seemed German to David. They were obviously friendly, but who wanted to walk up and shake hands with a naked guy? The girl must have figured it out, because she said something to the guy in another language. He nodded and they both retrieved some shorts and pulled them on. By then, the rafters had reached the pool. The man and the woman walked over to shake hands, neither of them wearing a shirt, which for the man was normal enough, but for the woman, well, not something you see every day.
"I am Ralph," the guy said, but it sounded more like Rolph. "This is Anna." He pointed to the smiling topless girl.
The groups shook hands. David had never shook hands with a topless girl before and although he was extremely nervous, she was not, and so he relaxed slightly. He tried to keep his eyes high. Each of the rafters introduced themselves. David happened to glance back while Sam was shaking hands with Anna, and he couldn't help notice the scowl on Becky's face in the background.
David waited until Ralph was looking, then pointed high on the cliffs. "You hiked down from above?" He over-enunciated to make sure he was understood."
"Yes, we hiked down from Royal Arch this morning." He pointed up above the falls. "There is a small cliff that requires a rope to descend. We left the canyon rim the day before that."
The English was near flawless and David regretted the way he had asked the question. He had heard that Germans spoke better English than most Americans and Ralph seemed to have driven the point home.
Afram asked the question that David wanted to. "Are you from Germany?"
They both smiled and nodded. David found his eyes drifting back to Anna and tried to control them, aiming them someplace safe.
"How far does this go?" Judy asked, pointing above the waterfall.
Ralph explained. "There are a few more small waterfalls and many pools above this one. If you haven't seen them, you should go. They are very beautiful. Anna and I will wait for you here. When you return, we can talk for a while. Yes?"
Judy answered, "Okay, we'll be back in a while," and she started heading up a trail.
David and the rest of the group followed. David consciously avoided taking a last glimpse toward Anna.
Julie watched the gas pump count past fifteen gallons. "That's enough!"
Greg held the nozzle. "No. A little more, just in case."
Paul and Erika both stood and nervously watched as the gallon numbers counted higher.
Julie looked back at the boats behind them. There were even more than when they arrived an hour and a half before. She pitied the poor people who would be leaving hours from now.
Greg released the lever, climbed out of the boat and replaced it in the pump. He jumped back in the boat and fired up the engine. Julie noticed the gas gauge climb up to just over half full. The other boats made a space for them to back out of the slip, and Greg expertly backed the Mastercraft into the small spot. Immediately, another boat pulled into the space. Paul jumped up on the bow to prevent the boat from hitting anyone else, and Greg began a slow tedious meandering through the crowd of boats waiting to get fuel. Julie saw what looked like envious glances from other boaters.
When they finally passed the last boats and were out in open water, Greg pushed the throttle forward, ignoring the low speed buoys. The rangers had more important things to worry about than speeding tickets.
Julie cupped her hand so her husband could hear her. "How long to the houseboat?"