Chapter Six

"Now I understand why my fiction manuscript was rejected by BBB Publishing. When I think about it now, it was terribly boring and lacked excitement. It actually reads more like a collection of facts or a documentary than a fiction. I must have needed to experience a real adventure like this, in order to understand what was wrong with it.”

Becky was seriously considering apologizing to the publisher who had read and rejected it.  

“I really should." She still wanted some further input on it, from his perspective, as well. “I will call him when I get home.” 

She watched as a squirrel and several chipmunks scurried across the gravel road, then spotted a skunk a while later. The number of animals crossing the gravel road was decreasing and the birds were coming back, too.

"I love the sound of birds. They wold warn me of imminent danger, too. But I still need someone to rescue me. I know that may not happen for a while. It is more likely that my ingenuity will get me out of this predicament.”

Becky looked at the wet ashes of her fire, wondering what would be the best way to rebuild it.

“Evergreen branches usually catch fire very easily. All I need is some dry newspapers and a couple of smoldering branches to create enough smoke to raise an alarm. The smoke will be visible for miles and the branches will dry out and burn eventually. Later on, I can add some pieces of dead wood. There is no wind now, so the smoke will rise straight up.”

She wondered what else she could do. 

"I should put my sleeping bag back on top of my car as the roof has dried off in the sun." She did just that. "No one is going to steal it here and it certainly won't blow away." She placed several rocks on it, just in case.

Suddenly, Becky spotted a doe and fawn watching her through the trees and was able to capture photographs of them. “They are so beautiful!” "This is a good sign," she decided, smiling as she watched them cross the gravel road and disappear into the trees. A little while later, a mother bear with two small cubs, led them across the gravel road. It was fun to watch them, as the cubs tumbled and rolled down a slight embankment. 

“I have to remember not to try to play with any bear cubs while I am here, as the mother bear can become very aggressive if she thinks she has to protect her babies.”

Becky snapped pictures of them. She knew her camera phone should be re-charged, but there was no way to do it. She also tried to start her car again. This time, it groaned, but almost started. She quickly turned the key back off.

"I knew that I should have waited a while longer before I tried again. Maybe it will run next time. I am determined to remain optimistic!" 

With the increasing heat from the sun, the likelihood of getting her car started without a boost was gradually increasing. There were still no other vehicles on the road, which did concern her. If no one came along or she could not get her car going, she would have to walk back to the highway.

"This is camp country,” she reminded herself. “Someone has to show up eventually. I know that is a possibility."

She envisioned the surprise on the face of a young, good looking, romantic ranger if he spotted her car on the gravel road and smiled.

Being relatively cautious because of the wild animals in the area, Becky headed to the mountain spring to refill her water bottles. She had not touched the ones in her backpack yet, but decided to put fresh water in them anyhow. Fresh water like this tasted wonderful.

"This mountain stream may be one of the reasons why the animals use this particular animal trail."

Looking upwards towards the top of the rock cliff, she spotted a white, mountain goat standing there watching her. Several others appeared too. She wondered if they could tell that someone had been up on their rock cliff. As she tried to photograph them, they quickly disappeared, but she did manage to capture them in a photograph.

"They are curious and will be back. I will catch them then."

Becky's fire was burning again by suppertime and she was able to make some coffee.

“That tastes so good!”

She could no longer see any sign of smoke rising to the west. The smoke from her fire was rising straight up, so she knew that it was relatively safe. The rain had obviously put out the forest fire, but Becky realized that she would have to be careful with her own.

“I certainly do not want to start another forest fire. In fact, I would rather not have a fire burning at all and would not have one if I did not need help.”

Inwardly, she was silently pleading with God for help.