by R E Swirsky
CHAPTER 18
Sunday 08:25 Bow Valley Provincial Park, near Canmore, Alberta, Canada
The breakfast sausages were already crisping and were only minutes away from being ready to consume. Richard turned them once more on the grill and closed the lid. Smoke spewed out from the edges. He popped his head inside the trailer and saw Tawnie standing in front of the stove. Steam rose from the pot of boiling water in front of her.
“How’s the water for the eggs coming?”
She seemed happy this morning. “Water’s ready. Just say when.”
“Michelle’s not back yet. Let’s give her a few more minutes.”
Michelle had walked up to the campsite store to pick up the early edition of the Calgary Sun. It was her Sunday morning ritual to read the paper, online or hard copy. She was after the Sunday Food Section. She had expected to miss out on this weekend’s ritual until she discovered the campsite store received the early edition of the paper on weekends during the summer. The early edition was off the presses by 2:00 a.m. each morning, loaded onto trucks, and headed out for delivery to various kiosks, airports, hotels, and locations out of town. Bow Valley Campground was fortunate to have the truck stop off at its store en route to Canmore, Banff, and beyond.
Michelle made a point of reading all food and restaurant reviews; she was always eager to see what others were reporting and, more importantly, to see how bad her own latest article had been revised and butchered before it made it to print.
Michelle appeared just as Richard stepped out from the trailer.
“She’s back. Drop the eggs,” he called out to Tawnie.
“Okay. It’ll be about three minutes.”
Michelle strode quickly into the campsite. “Sorry I took so long. The paper hadn’t arrived when I got up there. I had to wait.…”
“No worries. Table’s set and Tawnie’s got the eggs just about ready.”
Michelle sat down on the picnic table and rifled through the paper until she found the Food Section.
“Do you mind if I have a look at the rest of the paper?” Richard asked.
“Of course not.” She pulled out the Food Section and handed the rest over to Richard. Both scoured the pages for a few moments. Richard read the sports pages.
“I’m ready with the eggs,” Tawnie called out from the trailer.
Richard folded the paper and set it down next to his plate before stepping over to the grill. The sausages were perfectly crisped.
Tawnie came out with the eggs as Richard dished out the sausages. “Toast is cold, but, hey…that’s camping.”
“Looks delicious, Tawnie,” Michelle said and smiled.
Tawnie forced a smile back at her. She hovered a slotted ladle with one egg towards Michelle. “Want it on your toast or on the side?”
“On the toast, please.”
Tawnie placed one poached egg on Michelle’s toast, did the same for her and her father, and sat down next to him opposite Michelle. She glanced at the paper resting between her and her father.
“Look, Dad. That must be about the hiker from yesterday.”
He looked down at the page. The headline was printed near the bottom.
Hiker Falls from Mountain near Canmore. Page 3
Richard stopped eating. He picked up the paper and flipped forward to page three. He read the article aloud.
“Listen to this,” he said.
“One person is dead after falling from Heart Mountain on Saturday morning.
“Police were called to the mountain early Saturday after an anonymous caller reported that someone had fallen from the mountain. Details are very limited at this time. It is not known if the hiker was hiking alone or with others. The name of the victim is being withheld until notification of next of kin.”
“They didn’t tell us the hiker died,” Tawnie said.
“They didn’t tell us much of anything. But when anyone falls off that side of the mountain, there’s a pretty good chance they will be killed.”
“Yeah.”
Richard set the paper down and continued eating. “I just wonder where exactly they fell from.”
“The trail going up follows the ridge most of the way up. It’s full of scree and drops off steep along that edge,” Tawnie said. “It’s dangerous near the edge.”
“I was thinking the same thing.” He waved his fork in the air. “But if the hiker was behind us, then why didn’t those two other hikers we saw going down stop when we called out to them?”
“Maybe they didn’t hear the scream,” Tawnie suggested.
“You really think so? We were already on the top and we still heard the scream below us. Those two surely would have been much closer to where the scream came from.”
Tawnie frowned and munched on her egg and toast deep in thought.
“Why does it matter, Richard?” Michelle asked. She was clearly annoyed at the content of the conversation. “You always go on about things like this.”
He looked up at her. “It doesn’t matter,” he replied.
“Then stop talking about it. It has nothing to do with us and we have more important things to talk about, like packing all this up after breakfast and getting back to see what’s up with your son.”
He stared at her in disbelief. Leaving a day early to find out what was going on with Michael was certainly a high priority. But it felt like Michelle was agitated somehow because she didn’t approve of the closeness he shared with Tawnie.
“Just because it doesn’t interest you doesn’t mean I can’t talk about it with Tawnie. This accident happened yesterday while we were both still on the mountain. We want to talk about it. At least I do.”
“You do this too much, Richard.”
He was suddenly annoyed. He didn’t often become annoyed at her.
“And I want to talk about it, too,” Tawnie said.
Richard gave her a quick nod. “See? Tawnie wants to talk about it.”
Michelle waved her hand dismissively at them. “Then you two carry on. I’ll just finish up my breakfast while staring out at the trees on my own.”
Tawnie ignored her and jumped right back into the conversation. “Those two must have heard the scream. We didn’t even see those two appear for over thirty minutes. What were they doing all that time?”
Michelle turned her gaze from the trees onto Richard. “You see what you’re doing, Richard?”
“I’m not doing anything.”
“Oh, come on. Do you hear how she’s talking now?” She flicked her fingers towards Tawnie.
Richard was bewildered. “Yes, I do hear her, dear. There’s nothing wrong with what Tawnie’s saying.”
“You are getting her all worked up and now you two are chasing some crazy conspiracy. A hiker fell off the mountain yesterday. Just leave it at that.”
Richard chuckled. “We’re just talking. It’s what people do. It’s how we deal and cope with things that are out of the ordinary.”
Michelle stood her ground and shook her fork in his direction. “It’s silly talk like this, Richard, that starts these nonsense theories. You certainly don’t want to encourage such crazy ideas in Tawnie’s head.”
Richard laughed and watched as Tawnie rolled her eyes. “Tawnie’s old enough to make up her own mind on such things. We’re just talking.”
Tawnie continued eating her breakfast, seemingly unfazed at Michelle’s rant.
Michelle grunted and shrugged her shoulders dismissively.
Tawnie suddenly slammed her fork onto the table and stared at Michelle. “I like talking to my Dad. We talk about stuff when we get together. It’s what we do. We don’t solve the world’s problems or take any of this shit we talk about seriously, for fuck’s sake. We just talk like normal people talk. Fucking get off our backs already.”
Michelle gasped and her eyes grew large. “Richard? I don’t know if I can put up with that kind of talk.”
He forced a laugh to lighten the mood. “Tawnie’s just saying it like it is, Michelle. We talk bullshit
.” He raised his arms. “It’s all bullshit. Isn’t it?”
Michelle shook her head, grabbed a napkin, and dabbed her lips. “I’m done eating. I’m going inside to start cleaning up.” She excused herself from the picnic table, removed her half-empty plate and cutlery, and stepped inside the trailer.
Richard raised his eyebrows at Tawnie as she continued to eat. “It’s tough, I know it is.”
Tawnie caught his stare and released a heavy sigh. Her shoulders dropped.
“I am glad you came,” Richard said. “I am, Tawnie.”
She looked up at him. Her gaze was somewhere distant. “Hmm,” was all she could manage.