Different Circles

Laura and Celia both had the eggs benedict with a bloody Mary accompanying. Jake ordered a southwest scramble and orange juice. He gave a healthy portion of the egg and vegetable parts of his scramble to Caydee, putting it on a little plate on the high chair tray. She picked up pieces and put them in her mouth, usually saying “do” after each bite. She was getting a lot better at putting the food entirely in her mouth instead of wearing half of it, so all she required was a quick wipe-down with a baby wipe when she was done.

After Jake signed for the meal and added a generous tip—the waitress had been polite, efficient, and had not handed Laura a WEAVE card or accused him of Satanism, so she was suitably rewarded—they went back upstairs and packed up all of their things. They stacked them in the middle of the room for easy collection.

“This has been a great vacation, guys,” Celia said with a smile. “Thanks for bringing me along with you.”

“It was our pleasure,” Jake said. He gave a lecherous grin. “Literally.”

Celia chuckled. “That part was fun too,” she said, “but I was talking about the hiking, and the canoeing, and the helicopter ride we took. I can’t wait to see all the pictures I took! This place is so beautiful. I want to see it in the winter sometime. Do you think we can do that?”

“Sure, why not?” Jake asked.

“Sounds fun to me,” Laura said. “We never did get to go snowmobiling.”

“And we have to go to Venezuela again,” Celia said. “After the tour, we need to book a trip. We could visit my family and then fly south to Canaima National Park! That’s where Angel Falls is. The highest waterfall in the world. I’ve heard it is so beautiful there but I never got to visit. The only real way to get there is by air, which we couldn’t afford when I was a kid, but you have your own plane, Jake! Does this sound like something we can do?”

Jake and Laura looked at each other for a moment and then back at Celia. “Uh ... sure, we can do that,” he said. “Make a couple hops to Miami and then bounce over to Caracas and then Barquisimeto.” He smiled. “Yeah. That sounds like a lot of fun.”

“It really does,” said Laura, catching some of the enthusiasm. “I always did want to see more of South America.”

Celia smiled. “Let’s start thinking about it then,” she said. “After the tour, I want us to do this.”

“Then we’ll do it,” Laura said. She walked over to Celia and gave her a big hug. And then she kissed her softly on the mouth. “I love you, C,” she told her.

“I know,” Celia said, smiling back at her. “And I love you too, Teach.”

The Many Glacier Lodge was on the east side of the park and the Avanti was parked in a hangar at Glacier Park International Airport, thirty miles west of the park. The distance between the two places was only about sixty miles by air, but they were not traveling by air, they were traveling in a rented Toyota 4-Runner and, not only did they have to cross several high mountain passes, there really was no direct route from one point to the other. They had to exit out of the park to the east, drive for more than forty miles through the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, and then re-enter the park at the main east-side entrance. From there, they took the Road to the Sun up over the mountains and past the glaciers, seeing spectacular scenery during the trip, before finally coming down to the west entrance of the park and then driving another thirty-five miles to Kalispell. In all, the trip took three and a half hours. None of them minded, not even Caydee. They stopped frequently at the scenic overlooks so she could stretch her legs, crawl around a bit, and get her diapers changed. Celia took lots of pictures.

Jake parked at the rented hangar and they loaded all their baggage and belongings into the Avanti. The portable crib was a particular pain in the ass as it would not fit into the cargo hold and had to be strapped to the rear seat using bungie cords. Once everything was secure, Jake began his preflight of the aircraft while Laura returned the 4-Runner and Celia let Caydee sit on the wing of the plane while she kept her hands on her. Caydee thought this was a particularly cool thing to do, but expressed discontent that she was not allowed to actually crawl around on the wing.