Page 37 of Valley Girls
He took the bag, but didn’t eat any.
“How long have you guys been climbing together?” Petra asked.
“We just met the other day. I didn’t even know he was diabetic until we started. I didn’t think it was a big deal.”
“Usually it wouldn’t be. He was prepared for it,” Rilla said. His partner wasn’t. If something had happened to Petra or Adeena, she’d have been the one unprepared. Rilla didn’t want that to happen again.
In fifteen minutes, she checked again, before giving him another dose of glucose and repeating until he was on his feet, color returned to his face. He gave each girl a warm hug in thanks—along with his partner—and they all headed toward the descent.
Rilla walked backward down to the sub-dome, slowly feeding the cable through her gloved grip as she lowered from board to board, like Adeena instructed. Trying to keep from puking.
Halfway down the back side, it was as if someone snapped their fingers and Rilla woke. The nausea lifted. Her heartbeat calmed. Her fingers were cold but not buzzing with numbness, and the heaviness left her body. The cold wind kissed her cheeks, and she carefully walked down the face, staring blissfully at the fathoms of open space. Adrenaline flooding the places the sickness had left vacant in her blood, sweeping her spirit back up into heady ecstasy.
She was alive.
•
Rilla continued to die and come back. Her feet were freezing in the sub-dome snow. But swelled once they warmed. Her legs and arms and back stiffened and gnarled. It was just hiking down; but down had its own woes. After the first four miles, her toes pushed against the front of her shoes so much they were numb and aching, and her thighs trembled from supporting each step.
“How did you two meet?” she asked Petra as they descended the never-ending turns of the forested trail.
“Um ... what was it, that comp?” Petra asked, looking to Adeena.
“Yeah,” Adeena said. “At a climbing gym in L.A. I did this competition, and Petra came up and started talking. She was putting together this group for the summer, and offered a spot in the house. So ... we kept in touch. I wasn’t sure what I was going to do this summer, but figured Yosemite was a chance I couldn’t pass up.”
“We climbed together after the comp too ...” Petra said.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.”
“Adeena is new to sport climbing,” Petra said.
“Well, not new. But yeah,” Adeena said.
“What’s the difference?” Rilla asked, hobbling around a boulder.
“Alpine uses a variety of climbing tools and techniques to climb a mountain. Ice, snow, just plain hiking ...” Adeena said. “Or climbing like we did today.”
“Sport climbing,” Petra said. “Or traditional climbing is more like a blank sheer wall. In sport climbing you always clip into bolts. In traditional climbing, you place the protection along the way. It’s shorter and more intense than alpine.”
“It’s not more intense,” Adeena said. “It’s just a different kind of intensity. It’s more like a sprint and alpine is a marathon.”
“We used a bit of gear today,” Petra said. “But mostly just quickdraws for the bolts.”
Rilla nodded, still not sure she understood. “How did you get into climbing?” she asked Petra.
“I didn’t actually climb until the end of high school. I was a soccer player,” Petra said. “Until I busted both my knees.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
Petra shrugged. “I started climbing during rehab. It’s hard and required my brain to engage in a way that let me forget I couldn’t play anymore.”
“Is that why you’re so competitive?” Adeena asked. “Your American sports complex?”
“I’m not competitive,” Petra said.
Adeena snorted. “Okay. That’s why you told Caroline you got the Pink Panther redpoint?”
Petra narrowed her eyes. “I did.”
