JC: Ed Biggers
Part 5: Stasis
Chapter 3
By
Lazlo Zalezac
Copyright (C) Lazlo Zalezac, 2004

Uncomfortable in hiking boots, Ed followed behind Albert as he 
slipped through the woods. While Ed was proud of being an 
outdoorsman, the Ranger was amazing in how quiet he could move 
through very rough terrain. Ed was no match for him and poor 
Howard, following behind the two men, was positively miserable. 
After years of not wearing regular clothes, the khaki cotton jeans 
rubbed him in all of the wrong places, the shirt felt confining, and 
his hiking boots were rubbing blisters on his feet. 

Coming to a sudden stop at the tree line, Albert pointed at a small 
herd of deer at the tree line on the other side of the meadow. 
Howard shouted, "Wow. Look at all those deer."

The moment that Howard spoke, all of the deer took off into the 
woods. An irritated voice from less than fifty feet away shouted 
back, "Who's the idiot that scared off the deer?"

Grinning at Howard who flushed from the anonymous comment, 
Ed answered, "That would be my intern, Leroy."

A feminine voice called out, "Is that you, Ed?"

"Yes, it is Ling."

The three men stepped into the meadow as Ling and Leroy stepped 
out a short distance away. Ed studied Ling and liked how she was 
dressed like a Forest Ranger without all of the insignia. He had 
never pictured her as an outdoor type and this was actually a nice 
look for her. Leroy called out as he approached, "Is that a Ranger 
with you?"

"Yes, it is."

"No wonder you found us out here in the middle of nowhere," 
replied Leroy. The Rangers were famous within certain circles for 
their tracking ability. 

Howard decided that the group was going to stand around and talk, 
so he sat down on the ground to relax. He didn't understand what 
they were doing there in the middle of nowhere. After a few 
minutes, he started itching. Looking down, he realized that he had 
sat on an ant pile. Jumping up, he shouted and slapped at himself 
trying to brush off all of the ants that had swarmed over him. 

While Ed and Albert were amused, Leroy was not. He shouted, 
"Be quiet! There won't be a deer within twenty miles of here by the 
time you're done."

Ed interrupted the tirade that Leroy was about to launch. "Leroy. 
We are here to hunt monsters and not deer. A Ranger's body was 
found not too far from here."

All thoughts of deer fled as Leroy turned to face Ed. Shocked, he 
echoed, "A Ranger's body?"

"Yes. Albert came out here to investigate and I came with him," 
answered Ed. He pointed to Howard and said, "This is Howard. 
He's my intern from the College. He has little to no experience in 
the woods, so forgive him while he learns."

Mollified somewhat, Leroy asked, "So is he learning anything?"

"Yes, he is," replied Ed. Considering that they had only been out 
here for three days, the kid had learned a lot about moving through 
the woods. 

Albert said, "Let's get over to your camp and pack up so that we 
can move out. We've still got about four hours of daylight."

Grinning at Albert, Ling replied, "No need. We're already packed 
up and ready to go. We've been following that herd for the past 
four days."

Relieved, Albert pointed to the north and said, "We need to go that 
way to the site where the Ranger's body was found. I'm sure that 
all clues have been disturbed, but there might be something."

Ed asked, "Would it be faster to go back to where we left the car?"

"No. The car is a two-day hike from here and the site is a day's 
hike. We'll be able to get a ride to pick up the car."

Howard, having spent three days tramping through the woods, 
asked, "So how come it took us three days to get here?"

"We didn't know where here was. I had to track them down."

"Oh," replied Howard. The idea that Albert had no idea where he 
was going seemed odd to him. After thinking about it, he asked, 
"So how did we end up here?"

Even though Leroy hadn't been with them, he knew exactly how 
they had been found. He looked at Howard and said, "He tracked 
us. He went into the woods looking for signs that we had been 
there. Once he found them, he followed our tracks. It's a pretty 
impressive feat."

"How difficult is that?"

"Leroy and Ling were somewhere over there. Why don't you find 
out exactly where they were by looking for signs of where they had 
been?" suggested Ed with a smile.

This digression irritated Albert who was ready to go. Perturbed, he 
said, "Let's go. I don't have all day to waste here."

Holding up a hand, Ed replied in a firm voice, "A student has 
asked to learn. We teach him."

The rebuke brought Albert up short. He remembered the number of 
times that he had wasted time helping his students learn more 
about woodcraft. Lowering his head, he said, "I'm sorry. There are 
only three dozen of us and the loss of one hurts me more than I 
thought possible."

Nodding, Ed replied, "Believe me. I know how that is. When a 
Druid was killed by organized crime, we put a lot of effort into 
taking those responsible down."

Howard had wandered towards where he thought Ling and Leroy 
had been. He walked around trying to see something that might 
help him determine where they had been, but it all looked like 
grass, brush, and trees to him. He was about to take a step, when 
Albert shouted, "Stop."

One of the things that Howard had learned over the past three days 
was that when someone shouted stop, you froze in place. He did as 
he had learned. Albert walked up to him and said, "Set your foot 
down."

Howard did it looking around for whatever might have caused 
Albert to shout at him. There wasn't a snake. Albert knelt down 
close to where the young man was about to step. Pointing to the 
ground, he asked, "What do you see here?"

"Nothing."

"Look again. Look at the grass and compare it to the grass around 
this area."

Howard squatted and looked where Albert was pointing. The grass 
looked like grass to him. He followed Albert's finger as he pointed 
out various blades of grass. Albert said, "Do you see how these 
blades of grass are all bent in this direction while these others are 
standing straight up?"

"Yes, I do."

"Look at the pattern that the bent blades make. What does it look 
like to you?"

Howard examined the area that Albert was pointing at while trying 
to figure what it looked like. After a minute, he said, "I guess it 
looks like the front half of a shoe."

"Good. Now look back here. Do you see how the ground is 
indented a little and a few of the grass blades are broken?"

"Yes, I do," answered Howard. It was clear when pointed out to 
him and he realized that was the result of the heel being set down. 
Excited he said, "That's the heel of the shoe. Whoever it was, was 
walking towards me."

"Right," replied Albert pleased that the guy was taking the clues 
and putting them together to tell a story. He said, "Knowing that, 
where would you look for the previous footprint?"

Howard looked around the ground and then said, "It should be a 
step back from that footstep."

"Find it."

The grass was slightly bent about eighteen inches back from the 
step that he had been examining. Pointing at the spot, he said, 
"There."

"Who do you think was walking?"

Taking a guess, he said, "Leroy."

Recognizing the questioning tone in his voice, Albert asked, 
"Why?"

After thinking about it for a minute, the answer came to him. 
Smiling, he answered, "The length of the step."

"Exactly. Now there are several secrets in tracking that will help 
you find signs that someone has been through an area. One is that 
people and animals tend to walk in a straight line unless there is an 
obstacle in their way. The other is that you never step on sign that 
you have already located. You walk off to the side and behind, 
close enough to spot the next sign."

Taking a few paces over to the side, Howard moved forward 
slowly looking for the next footstep. After a few steps, he saw 
where the entire area was matted down. Stopping, he pointed and 
said, "That is where they were lying when we came along."

Albert had watched Howard follow the tracks of Leroy back to the 
spot where they had been watching the deer. Nodding his head to 
confirm that Howard was correct, he said, "That's right. Now look 
at the area and tell me where Ling was."

For a full minute Howard looked at the area and decided that it was 
right in front of him. He pointed at the spot and said, "Right there."

"Okay. So where did she walk when she left?"

The question was easiest to answer by visualizing them laying 
there and then standing up to walk over to them. After a second, he 
said, "About where I'm standing?"

"Exactly. Of course, you wiped out all trace of her sign by 
trampling all over them."

Embarrassed, Howard looked down at the ground and said, "I 
didn't know."

Grinning, Albert said, "That's what makes tracking hard."

"I had the advantage that I knew where they had been. You didn't 
know, so how did you find their sign to begin with?"

Albert gestured for the others to follow them. As he led the way 
towards his destination, he answered, "There are all kinds of 
methods to use. I had a good idea of where they would be. I'm sure 
that you didn't notice that we made a very circuitous circuit for the 
first day and a half as I was searching for some sign of them. I 
came across a set of tracks yesterday afternoon."

"Oh, I didn't notice," replied Howard as he thought about how 
much his feet hurt. 

As the pair walked towards the site where the Ranger's body had 
been found, Albert would stop and point out things for Howard to 
notice. Ed, Leroy, and Ling followed behind the pair. For Leroy, 
much of what Albert was saying was old news although he did 
learn a trick or two from the Ranger. For Ed, tracking in the woods 
was an entirely new topic and he listened with his full attention. 

After an hour, Ling broke the silence when she said, "Ed, I bet you 
could show him a thing or two about tracking in the desert."

"I don't know about that. He's pretty observant," answered Ed.

Laughing, Leroy said, "out here, he knows what to look for and 
how to interpret it. In the desert, you know what to look for and 
how to interpret it."

"Maybe," replied Ed in a voice that expressed lots of doubt.

"You find a cactus with a nip taken out of it. There is still moisture 
around the nip. When was the nip made?"

"Less than ten minutes before you found it," replied Ed 
automatically. Cactus was tight with water and healed itself very 
quickly. 

Leroy smiled at Ed and didn't say a word. Noticing the look that 
Leroy was giving him, Ed nodded and conceded the point, "You're 
right."

Albert had heard the exchange and asked, "Who would have 
thought that a little nip out of a cactus meant something. What 
would have caused it?"

"A bird, but you would have to see the exact type of cactus and the 
kind of nip to know what kind of bird it was," replied Ed. 

Looking over at the student beside him, Albert said, "You may feel 
that you are the least knowledgeable amongst us, but we are all 
students. Every minute out here, we learn new things about the 
way that nature behaves. When I'm given the opportunity to see 
some new sight, I take the time to watch it. It doesn't matter if it is 
an insect that I've never seen before eating a leaf or the mating 
ritual of a pair of birds."

Thoughtful, Howard dropped back to think about what he had 
learned. The courses on biology at the school had not prepared him 
for the lessons that he was learning out here. Although he had not 
felt that he had learned much the first three days, he had adapted to 
the new environment in a fashion that would allow him to learn 
more over the next few days. It was true that his feet still hurt from 
the boots, but Albert and Ed had made sure that he changed his 
socks frequently, put powder inside the boot to reduce the rubbing, 
and took care of his sores. 

Ed, uncomfortable with the continuous weight of the pack on his 
back, shifted his backpack and looked over at Leroy. With a grin, 
he asked, "Why would you possibly want to carry this stuff when a 
horse would do that for you?"

Laughing at his husband's obvious discomfort, Leroy asked, "Did 
you pack your cast iron cook set?"

"By the Gods and Goddesses, no! I'm not that stupid," replied Ed 
to the laughter of Ling and Leroy. He added, "Of course, I haven't 
had a decent meal out here. That aluminum cookware just doesn't 
have the same effect on the food."

Albert allowed them to catch up as he added, "Ed has burned 
everything that he's tried to cook."

Shaking his head in disgust, Ed said, "At least the steaks came out 
good."

Exchanging a glance, Ling and Leroy both know how important 
food was to Ed. Ling said, "We'll let Leroy cook tonight."

"Speaking of tonight, we had better camp early and near a stream. 
We've got to wash our clothes and some fresh fish would be a real 
treat," said Leroy.

Looking a little irritated, Albert was about to reply that he hated to 
waste daylight. However, a moment of reflection reminded him 
that Leroy and Ling had been out in the field for at least a month. 
He had seen how they had harvested food along their path, making 
occasional detours to get food. Taking a more gentle tone, he 
asked, "How are your supplies holding up?"

"They are okay. We've been grazing as we traveled," replied 
Leroy. 

"I'm sure that you are tired of eating roots and leaves." 

"You can say that again," replied Ling. She wasn't going to be able 
to face a tuber for months after getting out of here. There had been 
the occasional rabbit and squirrel, but even that was getting old. 

Albert stopped and mentally visualized the area from the map that 
he had studied. Pointing in a direction that was somewhat off their 
intended destination, he said, "There should be a nice stream over 
that way within an hour's walk from here."

Howard stopped and asked, "You say that you've never been here 
before, but you know where a stream will be. How can that be?"

"I studied a map of the area and I have a good idea of where I am," 
replied Albert with a smile. He walked along for a few feet and 
then added, "I know that you didn't have to do anything to prepare 
for this trip as that was taken care of by Ed and myself. However, 
you do have to realize that preparation is everything."

Suffering from a headache, Howard satisfied himself with 
following the others. The hour hike passed by and the group found 
themselves walking along a stream searching for a good spot to 
camp. After about half a mile, they came to a nice meadow by the 
stream. With relief, everyone dropped their packs and sat on the 
ground. 

With a smile, Leroy said, "Since I'm cooking tonight, that means 
everyone else has to set up camp."

"I'll go after firewood with Howard," said Ed as he looked over at 
his student. This would give him a chance to talk with his intern to 
see how he was holding up. From Howard's reaction, the thought 
of walking around must have hurt. 

Looking around, Albert said, "I'll set up a fish trap. We should 
have some nice fresh fish for breakfast."

Shrugging her shoulders, Ling said, "I guess that leaves me setting 
up the fire pit."

Everyone went to work on his or her individual jobs. As Ed and 
Howard walked to the woods to pick up deadwood, Ed asked, "So, 
how are you holding up?"

"My feet are sore, the pants chaff, the pack is killing my shoulders, 
and I'm tired."

"I bet you'd kill for a coke about now."

"You can say that again."

"Sorry you came?"

Howard bent down to pick up a rather nice size branch. 
Straightening up, he answered, "Not at all. I've learned a lot on this 
trip that I don't think I would have learned anywhere else. I was in 
the Boy Scouts, but they didn't prepare me for this."

Ed picked up several smaller branches that would make good 
kindling for starting the fire. With their arms full, the pair returned 
to camp to drop off the wood. As they walked back towards the 
woods, Howard said, "Albert is a pretty amazing individual. He 
really knows his way around the woods."

"That is where he is at home. He is one with the woods."

Howard asked, "Where are you at home?"

"The desert. A lot of people find it inhospitable, but I love it out 
there." Ed looked up at the sky, finding it cut off by the trees. He 
missed the open sky and dry land beneath him. Everything seemed 
so closed in out here in the woods, that he was left with a slight 
feeling of discomfort. He asked, "Where are you at home?"

"I don't know. I never thought about it," replied Howard. Could 
one consider an American Suburb home in the same way that one 
could call the woods home? It was populated with fast food places, 
strip malls, streets of similar houses, and middle class schools. He 
didn't know if there were enough similarities to call it home. 

Smiling, Ed gathered some larger pieces of wood and said, "Don't 
worry. You'll find your place. It might be a city, the shore, the 
open plains, or the mountains. The day will come when a place 
will call out to you."

Before starting dinner, everyone went down to the stream to wash 
themselves and their clothes. Although Albert knew to expect it, 
the ease with which everyone stripped and the joy they took in the 
water amazed him. There wasn't the least restraint in their actions. 
Even Howard had joined in the activities perfectly at ease with the 
nudity and concentration on the now. For several long minutes, he 
had stood on the bank watching them frolic in the water. Splashes 
and shouts of pleasure echoed across the landscape. 

He stripped, but it was with much greater hesitancy and 
embarrassment on his part. His cock had reacted to Ling in a 
predicable manner. Discretely, Ling came over and took care of his 
problem by giving him a quick handjob. Standing behind him, she 
reached around his body and wrapped her hand around his cock. 
With a fast easy motion, she jacked him off. Throughout the 
handjob, Albert could do little except watch the hand playing with 
his cock. It took several minutes for him to come, spraying his seed 
onto the grass in front of him.

Looking around, he realized that none of the other men had 
watched, despite the fact that they couldn't have helped but notice 
what Ling was doing to him. The complete lack of voyeuristic 
tendencies was striking. That observation had shocked him more 
than anything else that he had experienced with the Druids. They 
really did respect people's privacy even in conditions where 
privacy wasn't available.

After swimming, the group retired to the campsite to prepare 
dinner. Leroy worked his magic over the coals, cooking the canned 
ham that Ed had carried in his backpack. With the canned corn that 
Howard had packed in and a few potatoes that Albert had brought, 
they had a nice wilderness meal. 

After cleaning up after dinner, Howard asked, "How come we 
didn't fish?"

Smiling, Albert answered, "There are five of us. It would be very 
difficult to assure that we could catch enough fish for all of us 
before supper. I set up a fish trap that shall work for us all night. In 
the morning, we will know how well it did. If it didn't catch 
anything, we will just cook what we would normally have 
cooked."

Nodding at the reasonableness of the answer, Howard was silent. 
There was so much that he had learned today and he needed some 
quiet time to reflect on it. Albert and Leroy were clearly at ease in 
the woods, able to walk around without making a sound and seeing 
everything around them. Ling had a natural grace that allowed her 
to move in any environment. Ed wasn't that comfortable hiking, 
but he was very aware of his environment as well as the 
capabilities of the people around him. 

Sitting across the fire, Ed watched his intern with interest as his 
thoughts expressed themselves on his face. After a period of time, 
Howard was frowning as unpleasant thoughts crossed his mind. 
Interrupting his intern's thoughts, Ed asked, "What are you 
thinking about, Howard?"

"Why did you bring me on this trip? I'm not contributing 
anything," answered the young man. 

Ling sat between Ed and Leroy staring into the fire. She looked 
over at the student and was about to suggest that it was important 
to train for the future. Instead, Leroy said, "That's a good 
question."

In the mean time, Ed and Albert offered each other the opportunity 
to answer. Ed finally took the lead and said, "Preparation is one of 
the most important things. When we are gone, if you aren't 
prepared to carry on our work, what will happen then?"

"Are you saying that I'll be tramping around out here after I 
graduate?"

Ed laughed as he shook his head recognizing that the possibility of 
that was depressing his intern. He answered, "Who knows what 
you will have to face in the future. My job is to prepare you the 
best that I can. That means you will tag along with me all of this 
year. I've never done this before and I'm making it up as I go. The 
advantage that I have over you is that I have experience with 
similar circumstances."

"You also serve the Two-Sided One," remarked Howard.

The observation brought a smile to Ling as she heard the remark. 
She wondered how Ed would reply to that. He surprised her when 
he said, "If you are lucky, you will also get to serve one of the 
Gods and Goddesses."

"So I am basically here to learn," summarized Howard.

"And to contribute when you can," replied Ed. 

"What can I do that you can't?"

"Would you like to answer that Leroy?" asked Ed as he turned to 
his husband.

Leroy was surprised to be pulled into the discussion and looked 
around for a moment wondering if anyone was going to intercede 
on his behalf. Ling smirked at him, an action on her part that was 
of no use to him. Finally, he said, "There is a lot that you can do."

"What?"

Giving Leroy a breather, Ed replied, "When the community where 
his father lived was under attack, it was Leroy that helped organize 
the people there to resist. He brought the people together and 
cleaned up the entire neighborhood. There is much that any 
individual can do when faced with evil."

Howard looked over at Leroy and asked, "Do you feel the same 
way as Ed? That I might be of help rather than useless?"

Seriously considering the question, Leroy saw that Ed had seen 
more into his actions that he had consciously put into them. 
Coming to a decision, Leroy answered, "Yes. I agree with Ed. 
Each of us can contribute something unique to a situation. 
Sometimes, it may not mean much to you when you do it, but to 
others it is invaluable."

Later in the evening, Howard was awakened by the screams of a 
woman. At first, he thought there was something the matter, but 
when he heard the kind of begging that often came with sexual 
relations he relaxed. Lying on his bedroll, it was impossible not 
hear the activities going on a little distance from camp. The noises 
suggested that both her husbands were servicing Ling. 

Horny after four days of no sexual activity, he stood up and 
stepped a short distance from the camp. Undoing his pants, he 
fished out his stiffening cock. He wrapped his hand around his 
cock and started stroking like he had done hundreds of times when 
masturbating. As he listened to the noises from the woods, he 
imagined that he was the one pounding into Ling. When she 
announced another orgasm, he let loose jets of come that fell onto 
the grass at his feet. 

Cleaning up the best that he could, he slipped his cock back into 
his pants and then zipped them up. Turning, he was surprised to 
find Albert standing not too far away jerking off. He had assumed 
that the older man wouldn't have the same sex drive that a twenty-
two year old man had. 

He returned to his bedroll and watched the sky overhead as noises 
of pleasure continued to sound from the woods. Shaking his head, 
he realized that she was the loudest woman he had ever heard 
announcing her pleasure when she was having sex. 

As Albert returned to his bedroll, he commented, "She sure does 
announce her pleasure."

Nodding, Howard answered, "Yes, she does. It must be nice to 
have a lover like that."

Both men were quiet as they lay on their bedrolls. They knew that 
it would be impossible to sleep with that noise going on in the 
background, but also felt that there was nothing that they could talk 
about without it seeming surreal. Each man lay there thinking his 
own thoughts before giving up all pretense of trying to sleep. 
Turning, each of them sat up and stared at the fire.

It was at least an hour later when Ed, Leroy, and Ling returned to 
camp. They noticed the two men staring at the fire and not talking. 
Leroy asked, "Did we wake you?"

Albert and Howard were about to answer, but looked over at Ed. 
Even a polite lie wouldn't go unnoticed. Howard, the junior of the 
two, replied, "I guess you did."

Even by the light of the fire, it was easy to see that Ling was 
blushing. She hit Ed softly on the arm and said, "I told you we 
should have gone further into the woods."

"It wouldn't have mattered. Out here, noises that loud can carry for 
miles at night," observed Albert without intending to comment on 
her volume.

Leroy nodded his agreement while Ling apologized, "I'm sorry. I 
hope that we didn't disturb you too much."

"No problem," replied Howard. He would have preferred a real 
sexual experience, but the chance to jack off had been a release as 
well. The only thing that he really missed was getting enough 
sleep.

Ed heard the truth in his answer, but there was also a sense of a lie 
there. He wanted his intern to be truthful around him, so he asked, 
"So what was the problem?"

Groaning, Howard said, "It's not what you think."

Believing that she understood what he was implying, Ling said, 
"I'll be glad to jack you off if that is your problem."

"Really?" asked Howard before he thought about it. Realizing that 
he was talking to Ed's wife, he added, "No. I took care of that 
myself. The truth is that I'm dead tired and really need my sleep."

Ed laughed at the initial reaction and the truth of his addition. It 
amazed him how well the students accepted the rules. "Sorry. Let's 
all get some sleep now. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

As everyone else settled onto his or her bedrolls, Ed sat staring into 
the fire. His intern surprised him at times, but that was nothing 
compared to Ling's easy acceptance of jerking off Albert and 
Howard. He wondered if it wasn't a backlash from her current 
problem. She had been out here with Leroy for six months and had 
not yet managed to get pregnant. 

Earlier, she had confessed to Ed that the time in the woods had 
destroyed her cycle and she hadn't had a period in four months. 
She had tested herself with one of those home pregnancy kits and 
found that she wasn't pregnant. With that much time passing since 
a period, she was getting worried that something was wrong with 
her.
