Recap: Aliza’s mother had broken off the engagement, but they decided to get back together. Aliza and her brother and her mother’s chasan’s daughter all must have security guards because of the threats from the letter from Syria.
The next few days, there was a guard following me wherever I went. I felt trapped. I wanted to yell at him to go away. When Mommy drove us to the store and I ran inside, the guard was right behind me. He stood discreetly by the door. I was sure everyone must see him and know that he’s my guard.
When I got home, he waited outside in his car. I wanted to stamp my foot and scream.
“Mommy, I don’t want him to follow me. It’s creepy.”
“I’m sorry, Aliza, but it’s not safe now. You have to accept it. It won’t be forever!”
No one else had this. This was so unfair.
“No one has this but me.”
“Dalya has it,” Mommy said.
I decided to call Dalya.
“Hey, it’s Aliza. How’s it going? Yeah, I know. Me, too. It’s awful.”
She was having a similar unpleasant experience with a guard following her, too. “I feel like a prisoner,” she said. “Why should I have to be in this situation because of some terrorist. Let them be in it.”
“I agree. There doesn’t seem to be anything we can do about it. I told my mother I don’t want it, but she says I have to have it.”
“Can I come over? I feel like if you are in the same situation, it won’t feel so weird. My friends are all staring at the guard and making me feel uncomfortable,” Dalya said.
I couldn’t believe I was actually happy that Dalya was coming over.
Dalya’s father – I still couldn’t think of him as my future stepfather – dropped her off and we decided to go for a long walk together. We were still in Algonquin Park and there were lots of hiking trails.
“Maybe we could lose them,” Dalya said.
“How?”
“I don’t know. You’re smart. Think of something.”
I appreciated the compliment. I called the guard over. “Can you wait here a bit? I have some fresh lemonade for you and my friend, and I have to go do something and we’ll be back in a few minutes.”
“Not supposed to leave you out of sight.”
“Just for a few minutes,” I said.
I brought him a cup of pink lemonade and some chocolate chip cookies. Then I signaled Dalya to go back in the cabin. I had a plan. We would sneak out the back window of the cabin into the woods while he was enjoying his snack.
I signaled her and she followed me as I climbed out the back window. I looked around and decided to head towards the woods. He wouldn’t be able to find us. We’d be free!
It was a wonderful feeling to be walking ahead with no guard following me. “We’re free!” I said. Dalya and I ran down the trail. We kept going and going. The air was so fresh. I breathed the scent of pines.
We’d walked a long way when Dayla asked, “Can we stop a minute?”
“Sorry,” I said. “Of course.”
“Do you know where this trail goes?” she asked.
I hadn’t been paying attention to trail markers. I was just enjoying the freedom.
“It doesn’t matter. We just need this time to be away from those horrid guards. I’m sure we’ll all end up at the trail end eventually.”
We kept walking. I pointed out the different types of trees. The yellow birch and Lombardi trees canopied our walk. There were pretty purple wildflowers. Some I think were thistle.
We trudged on and on. I noticed the sun was lower in the sky.
“We’ve been walking a long time,” Dalya said. “I don’t want my father to worry. Maybe we should try to find the end of the trail now.”
It was getting later and a cool breeze blew through the tree branches. “Yes, let’s do that,” I said. I looked around, searching for a trail marker. “Uh, do you see any trail markers?”
Dalya looked around. “I don’t see any.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’m sure if we keep going straight, we’ll come to the end.” I tried to sound more confident than I felt.
We plodded on. I was feeling thirsty. I tried to ignore it. Why hadn’t I brought a water bottle. Dalya was drinking from hers and I watched her longingly.
“What time do you think it is?” she asked.
“I guess around four or five, “I said.
“So, we should be back soon?”
“Of course,” I said a little too cheerfully. I searched for marks on the trees or signs for the trail, but there were no sign or trail markers.
“Usually, you meet other people on a trail,” Dalya said.
It was strange that we were the only ones. We came to a fork that wound in four different directions. Going straight was not as easy as I thought.
I randomly chose one way, and we plowed ahead. My throat was dry. The sun was sinking lower. There was still no sign of any markers or any end of the trail.
“I’m getting cold,” Dalya said.
I was, too, but there was nothing I could do about it. Suddenly we heard a low whine, like from some sort of wild animal. Dalya jumped close to me. “What was that?”
“I don’t know!”
What if it was a bear or a mountain lion?
Dalya hid behind me. Well, I was the older one, but I wasn’t feeling so confident anymore. I was wishing Dovid or my mother were here or even Yeshaya.
There was this loud animal sound, and there stood a huge moose.
Dalya hid behind me. Her eyes were wide.
We backed away slowly.
“I don’t think so. Just stay still,” I whispered, not knowing what else we should do.
There was a long moment with the moose kind of staring at us and then it lopped away.
“I hope you know how to get out of here,” Dalya said.
I hoped I did, too.
“It has to be we’re near the end,” I said.
“It’s so cold.”
The sun had gone down. I’d missed davening Minchah.
I really had no idea which way we should go.
“Dalya, I think we’re lost.”
“Let’s sit over here on this tree trunk. If we keep going in farther, it will just make it harder for our parents to find us.”
Dalya brushed away tears. It was very dark, and we were both shivering. Now, I wished I hadn’t tricked the guard into leaving. Now I wished the guard would find us.
To be continued…
Susie Garber is the author of an historical fiction novel, Flight of the Doves (Menucha Publishing, 2023), Please Be Polite (Menucha Publishers, 2022), A Bridge in Time (Menucha Publishing, 2021), Secrets in Disguise (Menucha Publishers, 2020), Denver Dreams (a novel, Jerusalem Publications, 2009), Memorable Characters…Magnificent Stories (Scholastic, 2002), Befriend (Menucha Publishers, 2013), The Road Less Traveled (Feldheim, 2015), fiction serials and features in Binah Magazine and Binyan Magazine, “Moon Song” in Binyan (2021-2022), and Alaskan Gold ( 2023-2024).