Song of the Sand Demons-Chapter 3

         Michele Eaglehawk, Joe Whitebear, and Dave Carter all stepped off of the Mountain Trails tour bus. They had all come from different parts of the country, all with one destination in mind. To take a little time off of their regular work routine. To do a little hiking, camping, and just enjoy two weeks of getting away from it all. They had never met each other before boarding the tour bus out of Tuscon. The Mountain Trails tour company had been in business for over twenty years, and put out one of those too good to be true brochures promising the ultimate unforgetable vacation of a lifetime, all for one low discount price which covered a few different package deals. Coupons included on the back of the brochure, just incase you felt the need to take up lodging at a hotel or two, and give up the roughing it type of vacation. There were discount coupons for Elaines restaurant, should you decide to not cook over an open campfire, and seek out a delicious home cooked meal instead. There were other coupons too, some for great savings on camping gear, renting a horse for a day, even longer if you wanted to make your whole vacation an unforgettable experience.

         A few others also got off the bus, now parked at the Gila Bend State Park enterance. A family of five, two young teenagers probably sent off for a few weeks by their parents just so the parents could get a vacation, and one older couple, who appeared to be in their late fiftys, prehaps early sixtys.

         Within about ten minuts after getting off the bus, up drove a transportation van. Supplied by the park service to pick up and deliver groups of eager campers, hikers, and the everyday sight seeing types to the various areas of the park that held what ever accomoditations the travelers, visitors, and daily visitors were looking for.

         "Welcome to Gila Bend" Announced a tall, lankey, man. A glowing crown of red hair topped off his head like lumps of cotton balls.
"We hope you enjoy your stay, If there is any information I can help you with, Please do not hesitate to ask"

         Jon Manning was an odd sort, and had only recently gotten the job working for the park service that spring. He was summer employment. The temporary type who drifted from place to place on less than a days notice. He had been working a construction job outside of Tuscon that was about to run out, when he seen the ad in the paper for summer employment at the park. He wasn't the resume type of guy. He just walked off of his job site after seeing the ad during lunchtime, got into his car, an older Chevy Monte Carlo model with a large dent in the left front fender, and drove the next hundred and twelve miles to apply at the park office.

         Greg had been the one to see him walk through the door first, and to Greg, anyone who would drive that far just to apply for a job impressed him. Plus,Greg felt that Jon had what he called, a good natured look to him. Little did Greg know, everything Jon put down on his application was pretty much all made up. All except his last two jobs he had held, which were not for very long, a few months at most. Greg just assumed the guy liked moving around and would work out in the temporary summer slot opening for the parks visitor transportation service. He hired him.

         Jon Manning held his gaze to the new daily bus load of park patrons, awaiting to see if any questions were asked.

         Michele was the first one to speak up.
"I'm looking to hike and camp on the more remote trails and areas, how far out are they from a town?" she had no idea if there even was a town near the park, she had only seen one dot on her map. Tapahe. The rest of the surrounding area on the other side of the park was what appeared to her, as an Indian Reservation.

         Jon grinned an almost calculating toothy grin, he had large teeth, he did not consider them too attractive, but could never seem to open his mouth with out them gaping out from behind his thick set lips.

         "Your looking at about a fifty mile hike to the nearest town, and thats from the most remote area in the park, called Chocolate Mountain pass."

         She seemed satisfied with his answer, then went back to looking over a few papers she held in one of her hands, and waited for any of the others to speak up and ask anything they needed to ask.

         Soon enough, the older couple found out where the main camping area was, and yes they did have transportation into Tapahe for supplies. The family of five were headed to the same area and wanted to know about available drinking water.

         Joe Whitebear and Dave Carter were both more interested in the more remote areas, and also asked about renting a horse for a day or two. Eventually this small group would be split up, each going in their own directions to their own destinations and it was up to Jon Manning to get them there.

         When all were settled into the large transport van, Jon started it up and turned to take count of all of its occupants one last time. That too was part of his job, he needed to be accountable for how many he transported and to where upon their arrivals daily. He took his count and wrote it down on his clipboard.

"Alright, we are off, it will take longer to get to some areas, but I'll try not to make the ride any longer than necessary"

         He assumed he would get at least a little chuckle from the group, he did try to sound witty. But, they didn't respond and he shrugged, turned in his seat and put the gear shift into drive. The group was now on its way.

~~~

         Greg Spence opened the office door, letting in more of the noon time heat creep its way into the office behind him. Tom, still holding the newspaper in his lap looked up with a bit of a disgusted look, as a hand came up to wave at the incoming heat.

"It's going to be another hot one"

"Oh stop complaining Tom, it's always a hot one in this place, no escaping it so deal with it"

"I suppose I got no choice! and the air conditioner isn't working too well again either, Did you get alot of ice in my coke?" Tom basically blurted out in one sentance, already irritated and still wondering about the article he read about those dead sheep.

         Greg just looked at him like he was either loosing his mind from the heat, or just trying to get him to loose his own mind instead.

"You got plenty of ice, and a very large Coke" said as he shoved the brown paper bag with their lunches in it on the desk.

"Whats eating at you today?" Greg muttered it out as nice as he could do, while he dug out his cheeseburger and fries from the bag. He sat down on the otherside of the desk and began to unwrap his burger and was interrupted by the snapping of the newspaper tossed his way by Tom.

"Take a look at that"

         Greg did not look right away, instead he busied himself with his cheeseburger and began opening up the little packets of catsup for his fries first.

         Tom, reached for the bag, unloading his Turkey sandwich and a piece of apple pie tucked inside of the triangular styro-foam container, and grabbed his large, lots of ice, Coke before fishing around the bottom of the bag for his napkin and plastic fork. He couldn't wait and stuck the straw inside the cup, and took a large, long drink of his Coke. Yes, the cold felt good and hit the spot almost immediatly.
Greg glanced over to the paper, and looked over the few articles on the page Tom had tossed his way, not seeing anything of interest to him, he took a bite of his burger and looked back to Tom with a shrug. "What? whats so important? I don't see anything interesting"

"The article about the sheep found dead again, the small one at the bottom of the page"

         Greg looked again, and found what Tom had been so wound about. He read over the short article and smirked. "Must be coyotes or something, maybe some wild crazy religious cult, who knows?"

         Tom just shook his head taking a bite of his turkey on rye, and another sip of his soda. There had been a religious cult out there two years ago, a small group out on a camping trip, but they never sacrificed any animals. They had just kept to themselves, ventured into town a few times for some supplies, and fresh drinking water, and left after their two week revival meetings. At least thats what Tom thought they were having anyway. He wasn't sure, he never even knew what religion they were, he had never asked them, figuring it was none of his business, as long as they kept the area clean that they had occupied, started no fires, or done anything really out of the ordinary, he left them to do what ever it was they were there to do.

         He was a little concerned at Greg's lack of interest, because to him it was just plain strange that any sheep at all would turn up in that perticular area in the first place. He would go out there on his own after he finished his lunch. He wanted to know what was going on here if only to satisfy his own curiosity. Greg could close the office, or hang around, or go over to the tavern, which was his usual destination in the afternoons regardless of what was going on, anywhere.

~~~

         Jon made his last people delivery of the afternoon, the remote section of the park just south of Chocolate pass. Michele, Joe, and Dave were the last three out of the van. From there on, they were on their own to rough it, hike, or what ever it was they were there to do. Although the three had talked little to each other during both the bus ride, and the van ride out into the middle of nowhere, Michele and Joe did figure out they did have a little in common, they too were both Indians, and were both from reservations not too far from one another. Dave on the other hand was origionally from New Mexico, he claimed, and now lived in the Washington DC area. He too also stated he had some Cherokee in him, from which side of his family, he wasn't sure. They at least found out who each other was, and a little bit of background during the ride out to Chocolate pass. But all three had their own agendas and destinations in mind. They too would soon split up and go their own ways now that the van came to a stop, and doors were opened. Dave figured that eventually he and Joe would end up seeing one another again eventually, they found out that after about a twenty mile hike to the north, they would come across the small horse stable where they could rent a horse for the day.

         Michele was off to rough it. She had her camping gear already strapped to her back as she headed off down the hill toward a hardly used path. It was a hiking path, but rarly used, most did not want to totally rough it out during their stay, but it was on her park map just the same, and it was her choice to take it. She didn't know where it would lead, other than what the tiny line on the map led to. What was out there, she didn't care, it was her get away, and she loved to draw, and draw she would do, of any good scenery she could find.

         Dave and Joe watched her leave toward the trail, and could not help but look at each other now.

"You think she is going to be alright all alone out there?" Joe glanced to Dave as he said it. Dave didn't reply right away, he wasn't sure, but wanted to give the girl the benifit of the doubt for now, so nodded his head.

"Yeah, I think so, if ya hear a scream in the night, at least we will know what trail she took" He grinned saying that, but he had that gut feeling, that maybe, just maybe, she would not be alright out there, so he made a fast mental note as to exactly where the trail started, and with that, he turned, and went off toward another well worn trail. Joe too went along, because that same trail led to the one on the map he was looking for himself.

         He could'nt shake the uneasy feeling he had churning inside of him, and could not help but to look over his shoulder. He watched her disappear.



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