“I’d like that too, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” I said.
“Sure it is. I can be very quiet,” she smirked. “Besides, I might have something in my mouth, anyway.”
At that point, Mac and Janet came up to us, dressing as they walked. I could see John and Barb getting out of the water, with Rick, Jerry, Bill, Mandy, and Missy already getting dressed. When the group had settled again in our shelter, I said, “I suggest we wait until early evening to walk back to camp. I’m cooled off now, and I’d like to stay that way. I don’t care what the rest of you do, but I think I’m going to take a nap.” I lay down and rested my head on my day-pack. The others soon followed suit.
I’m not sure how long we would have slept if a clap of thunder hadn’t woken us. Even though it wasn’t yet six o’clock, it was pretty dark outside. I got up and looked out. I could see the rain line coming toward us, too fast for us to make it back to camp without getting caught in the storm. “This looks like a big one. I think we’d better stay put,” I said.
The rain reached us seconds later. Thunder crashed around us, but we were about as safe from lightening in here as we would be anywhere. There was wind and a little hail, but nothing so violent that I was worried for our campsite. I knew that the shelter we were in and our dig site were well above the recent flood plain, so this was as good a place to be as any.
When the storm passed, we walked back to camp, changed clothes, and prepared our evening meal. I didn’t hear anyone discuss our afternoon swim, and there didn’t seem to be any negative tension in the air between us, but I did notice several of the students looking at each other with renewed interest, no doubt remembering what they had seen. I know it was a struggle for me to keep my eyes trained on the girls’ faces, especially Liz’s. After dinner, we sat around the campfire, discussing our work, telling stories, and enjoying the cooler evening after the day’s scorching heat.
There was lightening on the horizon, and the weather service warned of more heavy rain coming to our area. We all decided to head to our campers a little early, so we wouldn’t get caught in the storm. Several pairs of kids shared trucks with camper modules in the beds, and other kids slept alone in trucks with a simple shell cap and a mattress on the bed floor. I had a big four-wheel drive van with a camper interior. It was my bedroom and office on these digs.
I stripped to my boxers and laid on my bed. I was tired, almost asleep, despite the oncoming storm, when I head the front door of the van open.
“Doc?” I heard a voice whisper.
“Yeah?”
“May I come in?”
“Who is it?”
“Liz,” she whispered.
“What are you doing?”
“Getting wet. It’s starting to rain. Can I come in?”
“Did anyone see you?” I asked.
“I’m not stupid,” Liz answered, crawling between the front seats to join me in the back of the van. “I meant what I said earlier. You have something I want, and hopefully, I have some things you might want too.”
“Liz, this could be bad if the others found out.” I sat up on my bed, very aware that I was wearing nothing but my rapidly tenting boxer shorts in front of my student.