It took Lucy, Alistair and Cameron 40 minutes to walk back to camp. It had been raining all afternoon and it continued to piss rain on them the whole way back. The three of them walked straight into the dry shack. Wet socks and rain gear hung on lines everywhere. It was a bit like a nightmare where you are lost in a hall of mirrors. Only the mirrors are lines of filthy, muddy sopping wet clothes. Still, even if they were mirrors, they would still reflect pretty much the same picture - more sopping wet and filthy clothing slowly moving in response to external forces around them.
In the centre of the dry shack was an overworked homemade iron stove stoked to the point of red-hotness surrounded by a cluster of filthy planters. Lucy, Alistair and Cameron pressed their way to the inner circle of warmth. Other drier planters made way for them.
All of the planters stood staring at the stove. Cameron repeated "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" over and over again under his breathe and hopped gently up and down. Alistair jammed his hands down his bib overalls and inside the crotch of his pants. "Sweet Mother of grapefruit! My God, my balls are warm!" he said.
Lucy stood there with her shoulders stooped, staring at the stove. She was shivering. After a few minutes she got the energy to hold her arms out towards the fire. Raising her arms made the sides of her body suddenly cold. She dropped them again and shuffled closer to the fire. She raised her right arm slowly above her head and turned carefully to face her right side towards the stove. She stayed in that position for about a couple of minutes and then turned so her back was facing the stove. She dropped her right arm and raised her head. Water dripped from her hair on to her face. She sputtered the wetness from her lips and raised her left arm. She turned slowly and faced her left side to the stove.
Brendan came into the dry shack with an armload of wood. It was wet so he piled it up just to the side of the stove. He was caked in mud from the chest down. His face was speckled with mud. "Damn fine weather for ducks," he said.
"Or loons," said Alistair.
Brendan stuck his head under a line of wet socks and grimaced as they dripped down his neck. "Anyone showering?" he asked.
"Kathy and I are next," called out Amber. "There's no one after us though."
Brendan looked at Lucy. "You want to join them? I can wait."
She nodded, her left arm still raised towards the tent ceiling.
"I'm going to get my stuff," said Brendan. "Do you want me to grab your towel?"
Lucy nodded. She dropped her arm. "If you're going by Kent's tent, could you grab my sweats as well?"
"No problem." He backed out of the tent.
"I think I'll shower as well," said Alistair. "You?" he asked Cameron.
"Too cold."
Lucy took off her rain jacket. She shoved some socks over to make room and hung it on a line near the fire. She walked over to where Amber and Kathy were, stooping under lines of clothes on the way. They stood on a wooden pallet on the near side of the tarp separating the shower from the rest of the tent. She undid the bib of her rainpants and shoved them down past her boots. She stepped out of them on to the pallet beside the other girls. Her foot slid slightly because of the wetness of her socks. She took her socks off. One by one she wringed brown water out of them and then draped them over the top of her boots.
Two planters, Matt and Paul, came out from behind the tarp where they had been showering. They wore trousers and had bare feet. They carried the rest of their clothes in their hands. The three girls carefully traded places with them, as all five struggled to stay out of the mud and on the comparatively dry pallet.
Once behind the tarp, the girls started to undress.
Lucy stuck her head around the edge of the tarp. "Matt, if you see Brendan can you ask him to give me a yell so I can grab my towel."
"No worries."
The shower had three faucets nailed to the wooden frame of the tent. Plastic pipes provided the water. The shower heads were plumbing caps that had holes drilled in them to allow the water to spray out. One of the faucets was clogged. Lucy stood under one of the others. Amber and Kathy shared the remaining shower.
"Can I borrow your soap?" asked Lucy.
"Sure," said Kathy. "Just a sec."
Lucy stood under the shower and let the water warm her as she waited for Kathy and Amber to soap themselves up.
Kathy stepped over to Lucy and handed her the bar of soap.
"Thanks."
She rubbed the soap quickly over herself, then rinsed it off in the spray and stepped over to hand it back to Kathy.
The other girls finished their shower and started to get dressed. Brendan shook the tarp. "Are ya naked?" he asked.
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