“Are those the only goals you think a woman can have?” shechallenged.
“No. But you can’t spend your life living in parks. What happens after you get to Canada with your brother? Are you staying up there with him? Are you going to getajob?”
“Wow.” She backed away. “Now you sound like my old man. I thought you were... you know what,nevermind.”
She turned and stomped back toward the camp. It wasn’t the first time she’d encountered a man who thought that a woman’s place was barefoot and in the kitchen waiting for her man to come home from work. She couldn’t picture herself trapped in a house, married to a man who would control everything about her life. The women’s movement would ensure that would never happentoher.
How could she have been so stupid to want to kiss a guy like him? Ugh, she’d been blinded by lust. Hadn’t she learned not to let her carnal interest in a man cloud herjudgment?
“Wait,” Gregcalled.
“We’ll be gone in the morning,” shesnapped.
“Let me—” He grabbed her arm. “That didn’t come outright.”
“It came out the way you meant it. Don’t apologize for that.” She yanked her arm away. “Anyway, goodnight. We’ll be gone before the sun comes over themountains.”
She scrambled into her tent and zipped the flap closed. Her breath came in short bursts as tears formed in her eyes. Why did his comments bother her so much? She didn’t want to become another unhappy, barefoot and pregnant housewife like her mother. Was that so wrong? Was it terrible that she wanted to live a life filled withadventure?
When she didn’t hear Greg leave, she shivered with trepidation. He didn’t seem like a violent man, but he did have a shotgun. How much did he hate hippies and draftdodgers?
She listened carefully to the sound of him picking up the shotgun. He paused at the entrance to her tent. Her heart thundered in her chest until he trudged off into the forest. When she released her breath, a single tear trickled down her cheek. He thought she was a loser. Somehow that hurt her far more than her father’srejection.
* * *
The next morning,Daisy woke with a kink in her neck. She crawled out of the tent and into the chilly pre-dawn air. A rosy glow illuminated the sky and cast a faint glow on the mountains. She smiled. No matter what happened the day before, a new day always brought with it the promise of a newadventure.
“You’re up early,” River said as he walked up fromthelake.
“Youaretoo.”
“I thought you might have snuck off with that guy lastnight.”
“No,” she said. “He wasn’tmytype.”
River shrugged and set another small log on the campfire. She moved closer and warmed her hands over theflames.
“So I figure we could stop for breakfast in town and then head into the park,”hesaid.
“Do we have enough money left?” sheasked.
“Yeah. When we get to Mammoth, I’m going to set up near Minerva Hot Springs and play for tourists. We should be able to make plenty upthere.”
“What if the park rangers kick us out?” sheasked.
“Once they hear me play, they won’t have the heart to stop me,” he said withagrin.
“They stopped you in Salt Lake City,”shesaid.
“Mormons.”
“No. I think the cops were upset that a group of hippies were gathering outside the church and blocking the sidewalk,”shesaid.
“They really flipped out when they brought out the tear gas,”Riversaid.
“Yeah. The cops are turning more militanteveryday.”
“It’s only going to get worse,”hesaid.
