Honeymoon for Three

He obviously hadn’t thought through what he was going to do. He needed them to be in a more isolated area. In addition, he needed to separate Penny from Gary. How was he going to do that? He didn’t know.
    While he was wondering what to do, he saw the honeymooners returning along the path. He would keep following them. Maybe his luck would change.
    ***
    They continued south on 101, through the village of Klamath and across the Klamath River. The road went inland for a bit, but it still wound through forests of the magnificent redwood trees. After the village of Orick, the road came back to the coast again.
    “Let’s stop here,” Penny said.
    Gary obediently pulled the car off the road at a turnout with access to the beach.
    “The guidebook says that we can find black jade and agates in this area,” Penny said. “Maybe we can collect some for our table.”
    They got out of the car and walked toward the water. As they came to the top of the sand slope that led down to the beach, Gary stopped in amazement.
    “Have we shrunk or are we in the land of the giants?” he asked.
    “ Holy cow. That driftwood on the beach is…those are redwood trees.”
    “How did they get there?”
    “ Remember, there was an earthquake in Alaska last March. It was one of the biggest quakes ever recorded. It caused a tsunami. I remember hearing that several people in Crescent City were killed by the tsunami.”
    “So the tsunami uprooted redwood trees, washed them out to sea, and then they were deposited on this beach. Holy cow, as you say. That was some powerful wave.”
    “I want my picture taken with one of the tree trunks.”
    Penny ran down the slope to the sandy beach and raced over to a gargantuan piece of driftwood. Gary ran after her, holding the camera. They took pictures of each other being dwarfed by the white trunks of what used to be redwood trees. They felt insubstantial, like a mouse would feel when encountering ordinary driftwood.
    When they had their fill of photography, they walked down close to the water.
    “Look,” Penny said. “This is black jade. And here are agates.”
    “Aren’t the pieces of jade too big for our table?”
    “ They’re so beautiful. Maybe we can use them for something else.”
    Penny began picking up the rocks. Her enthusiasm was infectious, and Gary joined in. When she was happy, he was happy. They soon had an armload of the rocks.
    “We’re going to have trouble getting these in the car,” Gary said. “Let me take a load back and see how many more we can fit in.”
    Gary carried the rocks up the slope to the parking area. He placed the rocks on the ground, unlocked the door of the VW, and popped open the hood. He didn’t want to place the dirty rocks inside the car. He squeezed them into the storage space under the hood and returned to the beach. He saw that Penny had more rocks.
    “I’ll take these up,” Penny said.
    “Okay, but that’s the last load.”
    “Promise.”
    “I’m going to walk down the beach a little way and take pictures of some of those other trees.”
    Gary ambled along the beach, stopping now and then to take a picture. After five minutes he turned around to see whether Penny was returning from the car. He didn’t see her. Oh well, it was time for them to hit the road again. They had to keep moving. The honeymoon was winding down, much as he didn’t want it to end.
    Gary retraced his steps and went up the sandy slope to the parking area. As the car came into view, he noticed that the hood was open, but he didn’t see Penny. Maybe she was inside the car. He reached the top of the slope and looked through the car windows. No Penny.
    Where was she? Maybe she had to go—she might be taking a nature hike as they called it in the boy scouts. Bushes grew alongside the road. Penny didn’t like to go in the bushes, but if she were desperate…
    Gary went to the car to close the hood and noticed that a couple of the rocks she had brought up were lying on the ground in front of the car. He became mildly irritated. That was sloppy. He picked up the rocks and placed them inside the storage area. Then he saw a scratch on the car just below the opening that he was certain hadn’t been there before. A falling rock must have struck the car. He became more irritated.
    He would chew her out for that. No he wouldn’t. What did it say in the Dale Carnegie book he had read, How to Win Friends and Influence People ? Don’t criticize, condemn, or complain. But