Epilogue
Only an hour had passed and the men had gotten their clothes on and were huddled around the fire, lewdly recalling the events of the evening. The four bottles of whiskey had all been rapidly consumed and the men were all laden with liquor and boisterously loud.
Suddenly, from the front of the cave, a strong, young voice boomed out:
"ALL RIGHT, EVERYONE FREEZE!"
The young, efficient deputy ranger held his shotgun straight on Horse as ten gun-toting rangers rushed into the cave and covered all of the men.
"Goddammit!" Horse shouted at Paul. "The fucking fire gave us away!"
"That's right buddy!" the ranger said. "One of our helicopters spotted it! We put two and two together an ...well there's a lot of people who want to ask you and your boys some questions about some automobiles!"
Horse glared angrily at the deputy while two rangers handcuffed him.
"Hey, Mike," a dark-haired young deputy said to the ranger who had just spoke to Horse, "look at this!"
The ranger was pointing to Sally, Tricia, Don and Ron who were huddled in a dark corner of the cave. Instantly four deputies untied the husbands and helped the four exhausted people to their feet.
Mike studied the scene for a long time. "You folks aren't with these people, are you?" Mike asked.
"No," Tricia said, her voice breaking. "These men . . . "
"All right, just relax, miss," the ranger said, "we'll get to the bottom of this. Take these folks outside and take them back to town."
Within seconds, the rangers were helping Tricia, Ron, Sally, and Don down the side of the mountain and into safety.
As Tricia gazed into the dark night sky, she saw a million stars, and somehow they gave her a feeling of renewed hope. For she knew that tomorrow night, the stars would still be there, and somehow, the infallible permanency of the stars assured her that some things do not change. Maybe it would be that way with her and her husband. Maybe their relationship did not have to change, or at least they could restore it to its original state. She certainly could not think about what had happened, only what could happen.
Tricia turned her thoughts to the hopes and dreams of tomorrow . . .
...for only tomorrow would become real and the past would become a dream.