Free Perfect Family by Pam Lewis

guy’s eyelids; the pupils were huge and fixed. The guy was dead, beyond CPR. William took Chris aside. “You want my help?”
    Chris said yes. He was shaking.
    â€œWalk people back to their cars and get help. I can stay here. I need one other person to stay with me.”
    Chris called for two volunteers. Alan’s hand shot up. Chris explained that he and Alan would take the group back to the trailhead and to their cars. He said William would wait with the body. He needed one other person to stay, too.
    Which was how Ruth and William ended up on the Appalachian Trail, watching over the corpse of a stranger as light drained from the sky and the air became chill. After a time, Ruth said, “There’s a wife somewhere, or kids, parents, friends who don’t know yet. Their lives are about to fall apart.”
    William had been thinking the same thing.
    â€œThat was good you helped Chris out,” she said.
    They heard the helicopter just before the last of the daylight vanished. It set down out of sight. Chris and the EMTs broke through the woods with a folded stretcher and flashlights.
    After the helicopter left, Ruth took the lead and William followed her back out, lighting their path from behind with his flashlight. At the car, she surprised him. She put her arms around his neck and kissed him. He held her tightly to himself, feeling how small she was and how strong. Their kiss was filled with something ancient and delicious. Being so close to death. Feeling so alive.
    William followed Ruth to her apartment. She lived not far from William on the third floor of a house belonging to a man who wrote books about medicine. She made them some tea, and they talked for a long time about the man who had died. It was late, and by then his family must know of his death. They made love. William fell into a deep, exhausted sleep but woke often during the night to find Ruth wide awake and staring at the ceiling. She couldn’t get the family off her mind. She kept imagining the way the news would be rolling out, the midnight telephone calls, the dark hours of grief. She imagined a great sad network spreading over the world, the information about this man making its way to the people he’d loved. She just couldn’t get over it.
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    Now, from the shower in their motel, William watched Ruth in the bedroom. She was sitting naked on the bed with her cell phone to her ear, checking for any messages on her home phone, just in case. She had a big job coming up in the next few weeks: A woman in Glastonbury needed landscaping and gardens put in at a new house. Ruth was lining up some people to work, getting her orders straight. She made notes on a small pad of paper as she listened to her messages. He was toweling off when she came into the bathroom, her face somber. “You’d better listen to this one,” she said.
    He took the cell from her. “Ruth?” The voice belonged to his sister Tinker. “This is Tinker Bradshaw, William’s sister. I got your number from information.” Her voice broke. “I’m looking for William. It’s an emergency. I keep getting his machine. Do you know where he is? Is he with you? If you see him, have him call me right away. Day or night.”
    William punched in Tinker’s number. Isabel answered. “Hi, Isabel,” he said. “Sweetheart. It’s Uncle William calling. Is your mom there?”
    â€œAunt Pony died,” Isabel whispered. “She drowned.”
    He couldn’t have heard that right. There were a lot of other voices in the background. Tinker came on the line. “William?” she said. “Is that you?”
    He lowered himself carefully to the bed. He felt Ruth’s close presence. “What’s going on?”
    Tinker spoke between sobs. “Pony was missing. Anita Bell called Daddy. We went up there, oh man, when? Two nights ago. I can’t think. Where have you been? We’ve been