by Linda Mackay
He pointed to the back corner of the cave where a stack of wood from kindling to large logs was stacked. “Looks like the last person here left the hideout ready for use.”
“Then I’m done carrying in wet wood.” Amanda dropped her armload next to the other wood, where it could dry.
“Me too. We’ll replace this stash in the morning before we leave.” I looked around and couldn’t see any sign of animal droppings or bedding material for an animal den. Why hadn’t animals used this cave?
“Joe wondered the same thing.” Frank patted me on the back sensing what I was thinking.
“Did he come up with a reason?” I asked.
“Sure did.” Frank said laying his saddle away from the fire and rolling out his sleeping bag. “Said the first time he found the cave it was littered with bones. He almost didn’t use it, but the weather was so bad and the bones so old he took a chance. After the storm broke he realized the cave was indefensible. Even a cougar or bear wants to see what’s coming and have an escape plan. Come morning you’ll see neither of those are possible.”
“What happened to all the old bones?” Todd asked.
“Joe was stuck here for two days so he cleaned out the cave. Figured if he ever had to use it again he’d learn if his theory was right. Couple years later when we used it, only thing in here was small rodent droppings and the wood he left behind.”
“How long ago was that?” I asked.
“At least three or four years ago.”
“Thank you for leaving us dry firewood.” Todd stirred the fire into a blazing frenzy.
“I wonder how Dad found the cave?”
Frank hooked his hands behind his head and stretched out on his sleeping bag. “Joe said a ‘damn cow elk’ chased him in here. Swore it must have been possessed by the spirit of your mother cuz it was bellowing at him just like she did.”
“She was definitely a champion bellower,” I said. I spent half my time trying to make her love me, and other half hiding from her rages. Luckily for Dad and I she was back east at least eight months a year.
“That is a serious storm.” Mac said shaking the water from his coat. “Even the horses are standing just inside the protection of the cave.”
“Jorie treats her horses like family, and the others have learned to follow them,” Amanda said.
“I went outside one morning to have coffee on the covered porch and found four horses standing under cover from the rain,” Todd said. “They’d jumped a low spot in the fence and ran for cover.”
Frank scratched his nose and snorted. “Told her to stop coddling those animals. Next thing you know they’ll be inside the house if they aren’t in a warm barn.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t shit all over my floors,” I said. Actually, Arikira and Chimayo had been in my cabin once and did exactly that. I didn’t let them in on purpose. I’d left them standing saddled outside while I went in to use the bathroom before leaving on a trail trip. When I came out, they’d pushed open the door I’d left cracked and walked in. Chimayo was happily eating the apples sitting on the counter, while Arikira was nuzzling the blanket on the back of the couch. Before I could scurry them out Chimayo dropped a load that I swear I can still smell when the cabin gets hot in the summer.
“I’m going to make pizza for dinner if I can find the pizza sauce.” Todd said digging through the packs.
Amanda licked her lips. “I want pepperoni, green peppers, extra jalapeños, onions and black olives on mine.”
My stomach turned just listening to her. “I’ll take the green peppers and black olives only please.”
Mac was looking at us like we’d all lost our minds. “Since we’re all fantasizing. I’d like a BBQ chicken pizza with pineapple.”
“Now that sounds good,” Frank said. “Can you pull that off Todd?”
“It won’t be a perfect specimen but it’s doable.”
“You people have lost your minds,” Mac said.
“Irrelevant.” I didn’t know why he hadn’t figured that out by now.
“Voila!” Todd pulled out the prepared pizza pies. “Now if I can just find the damn sauce.”
“He’s serious?” Mac asked.
I almost felt sorry for Special Forces. Okay, not really. “Completely serious, we’re not newbies.”
“All I have to do is dig a little pit and create an oven and soon we’ll have the best pizza you’ve ever eaten thirty miles from the nearest road.”
“Screw MREs,” Mac said. “This should be the new army.”
“Wait till you have his egg muffins in the morning,” Amanda said. “They’re killer.”
I walked to the cave entrance and patted the horses. They all seemed to be settled in for the night, and while there wasn’t any grass for them to eat, they were safe from the storm outside.
The thunder and lightning show continued none stop. More worrying to me was the immense amount of rain the storm was dropping. The trail could easily become impassable if this kept up. The mountains could care less it was summer; they thumb their snow-covered tops at the calendar. At this elevation, it could also snow any day of the year, and in feet not just inches. Frank was right to bring us here.
Mac snuck up behind me and I jumped when he spoke. “Lucky we were close to this place.”
“Not luck.” I offered, checking to be sure he hadn’t scared the pants off me. “Anywhere you travel with Frank or my dad, they have secret spots for emergencies.”
“Smart men.”
“Too smart for their own good sometimes.”
“Why’s that?”
“Both Frank and Dad seem to always be in the middle of some trouble. They say they always have a plan, but I worry that someday that plan might not be enough.”
“You worry too much, Jorie,” Mac said.
“Someone has to.” I turned around and looked at Todd and Amanda drawing in the dirt and building a fort out of sticks. I pointed at them.
Mac laughed. It was a deep booming, happy sound. “You could be right. Those two need adult supervision.”
I turned back around trying to see the sky that seemed to be fighting with itself. “This is quite a storm.”
“I’ve seen worse. And I’ve slept outside in worse. Be happy we’re safely tucked in this cave.” Mac put his arm around me and pulled me close. “What were you thinking about so hard that you didn’t see or hear us turn off the trail?”
“Nothing.” I really didn’t want to talk about it.
“Jorie, you were certainly somewhere else, you didn’t even respond when I rode up next to you.”
Well, crap. “I couldn’t hear you.”
“I was yelling.”
“I mean I literally couldn’t hear you.”
Mac pulled me directly in front of him and whispered near my left ear, and then my right, “can you hear me?”
“Yes.”
“Could you hear me if I was whispering from over there.” He pointed next to Chimayo.
“No.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Most people don’t lead with the statement, hey I’m deaf in my left ear so could you yell in my right.”
“I suppose if I paid attention, I’d see the others talk to you from your right side?”
I shrugged. “ They try to. I do pretty well, unless you come up from behind me on the left, or the wind is blowing, or there’s a lot of background noise.”
“I’m sorry I yelled at you.”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t paying attention.”
“Since we’re all sorry, how about we get back to the fire where it’s warm?” Mac pushed me toward the fire and swatted my butt.
I bent down pretending to pick up something off the ground. When he walked around me I stuck my foot out and tripped him. He hit the ground, rolled and popped back up, moving with a speed that came from practicing that move over and over. “Special Forces, you may have the moves, but didn’t your mom teach you not to mess with women?”<
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“Sugar, my mom taught me lots of things, but my best moves don’t come from my mom.”
“Ew, TMI and LOL,” Todd said.
“We’re all in this cave together tonight so chill the loins.” Amanda shook her head in disgust.
The worst of the storm had moved on by the time we finished dinner. A light rain was still falling and the temperature continued to drop. “Anyone wanna bet on snowfall amounts? How about a dollar an inch to the winner.”
Todd was first to take up the bet. “I’m in for three inches.”
“I’ll take two,” Amanda said.
“Six,” I said.
Frank stood up from resting against his saddle, brushed his jeans off, walked to the entrance, sniffed the air and said, “Four and a half.”
“He’s getting precise,” Todd said. “We could be in trouble.”
“Mac, final bet is yours.”
“I guess I’ll take one inch. You guys are serious about it snowing in July?”
“Dead serious,” Frank said. “One of the biggest mistakes novices make at altitude in summer is not being prepared for winter.”
“I’m putting on my long underwear.” Amanda said sitting on her sleeping bag and pulling off her pants. Mac turned his head and pretended to check the zipper on his bag. The rest of us were used to the loss of privacy in the backcountry. We’d all seen Amanda in her tiny bikini floating the river, so this flash of panties was nothing.
“I’m already wearing mine.” To prove his point, Todd dropped his pants. I can attest we were all grateful he was most definitely wearing long underwear.
I hate the stuff. I acknowledge it’s a necessity, but it’s a last resort necessity. I don’t like the feel of long underwear rubbing against my jeans while I’m riding. Frank and Dad however, live in them almost all year. Disgusting, if you ask me.
“Pass the sleeping med, Todd.” Frank said walking back into the cave from one last necessity before bed.
Frank took a swig and passed the bottle to me. “Ye who snores, sleeps outdoors.”
“Might as well move your bed outside now, Frank,” Todd suggested.
“I don’t think I’m the only noise maker in the group.”
“You’re certainly the loudest.” Todd added three logs to the fire before sliding into his sleeping bag, taking the medicinal bottle from me.
A couple minutes later I looked around. Frank was quietly snoring, Amanda was curled in a ball completely inside her sleeping bag, and Todd was sound asleep stretched out straight as a log. Mac waved from across the cave. We were the bread to the sandwich meat between us. It usually took me a long time to fall asleep. My brain wasn’t happy and restful until it had rehashed the day behind and prepared for the one ahead.
Tonight, I had way too much clogging up my brain. I wondered about government goon balls roaming in the Thorofare. I thought about my dad. And how tomorrow we’d be close enough to see the explosion site. Mac had great biceps. The animals were quiet.
That’s it! There wasn’t any animal noise in my head. On every other occasion when I was in the Thorofare my brain rattled with their incoming thoughts. Tonight, there was nothing. Not even a mouse fart.
I always slept on my good hearing side. That way my deaf ear was turned to any extraneous noise, like Frank’s snoring. I rolled over. Not a sound. Even the rain had stopped.
The quake and explosion were far enough behind us the animals should be back to normal routines. Wolves should be howling. Coyotes yipping. Annoying screeches from marmots should be disturbing the night air. Why the silence? I yawned; I’d worry about it tomorrow.
Chapter 9
I won! Eight inches of snow blanketed the ground. Thirty-two dollars lined my pocket. Todd’s famous egg muffins filled my stomach. And we weren’t going anywhere. I’d hit the backcountry lottery.
“At least the horses are out of here,” Amanda said. “I was starting to get claustrophobic.”
“To bad you’re not manic about cleaning up horse shit.” Todd said using two sticks to scoop the manure and throw it away from the cave entrance.
“I don’t do manure.” Amanda pinched her nose.
“Do you do dishes?”
“Rarely.”
“Guess what. This is a rare opportunity for you then.”
“I don’t think it’s my turn.”
“Dishes, now!” Frank said.
I needed to start taking Frank in the field with me. I had no control over my employees and he made them jump at the sound of his voice. Dishes, now! Not even in my head did that have an authoritative command to it.
“I hate being stuck in here.” Amanda said waiting for the snow to melt in the pan over the fire so she could wash dishes. “When can we leave?”
“I guess whenever Frank and Mac pull the trigger.” I was happy not to be moving. I was dry, warm and had a full stomach. Not things you always get in threes in the backcountry.
Todd sat next to me. “I hope no one pulls any kind of trigger soon. Those military dudes had way too much firepower for my liking. I’m happy to hide out like Butch and Sundance where it’s nice and warm.”
“What a lazy bunch of bums,” a familiar voice said.
I jumped over the fire pit and flung myself into the arms of the best sight I’d seen in days. “I’m so glad you’re safe. I love you. I was so worried.”
“I’m fine girl.” Dad said hugging me tight. “You worry too much.”
I pulled away just enough to give him the once over to be sure he really was fine. “How the hell did you find us?”
“Didn’t really find you.”
Frank stepped around us. “He snuck up on Mac and I, said we were trespassing.”
“I’m still not sure how he surprised us,” Mac said.
“Ah hell, these two losers were so interested in searching for an army they completely missed the lone hiker.”
“And everyone knows a lone man walking in snow is the sound of silence,” Frank said. “Todd get Joe some coffee and breakfast.”
“On it, boss.” Todd said hugging my dad. “Sure is great to see your ugly face.”
“Yours too boy. It gets uglier every day.”
“I knew you were okay.” Amanda hugged him also.
“Smart girl. It’s why I like you best.” Dad winked at her.
I helped Dad off with his pack, took his hand and sat next to the fire. “You saying you accidentally stumbled onto to us?”
“Hell no, you know better than that young lady.”
I did know better. I smelled a rat. A damn dirty rat. “I followed Frank’s clues.”
“You fucking what?”
“I thought it was worth a shot,” Frank said.
“You were talking to Dad all this fucking time, and never fucking told me. What the fuck is going on?”
“Watch your mouth young lady,” Dad said. “No one was talking to anyone.”
Mac, who’d been standing in the shadows walked up to the fire. “Once the radio starting receiving signal Frank thought it would be a good idea to mention landmarks that only he and Joe would know by the names they’d given them. That way if Joe was listening he would know we were coming, and know where we were if he was moving towards us.”
“Damn brilliant idea too, Frank.” Dad took the cup of coffee from Todd. “Ah that is heaven in a cup.”
“And you geniuses didn’t think I fucking deserved to know about this?”
“Joe wasn’t responding, so there was no point,” Frank said.
“Screw all of you.”
“At least she isn’t saying fuck anymore,” Todd said.
Amanda laughed. “Yeah, the fire is cooling.”
“I’ll give you fire.” I started to move toward the fire.
“Enough, Marjorie. If you kick that fire, I’ll turn you over my knee.”
“I’d pay to see that.” Mac said to Frank.
Mac’s words were like a bucket of water. His raised eyebrows the wet blanket to my anger. Dad wa
s here. No more worries. I sat down and hugged Dad again. “At least we can go home. That’s all that real matters.”
“Speaking of home,” Dad said, “I felt a quake that I’m pretty damn sure was caused by the blast. How close to home was it?”
“Close enough,” Todd said.
Amanda scrunched up her nose. “Close enough Todd ran out of the house without any pants on.”
“Good lord, son, you’ve got to stop sleeping in the buff,” Dad laughed. “Any damage other than to your eyesight?”
Frank stood up and poured himself more coffee. “Too damn much, that’s for sure. Fences and corrals down. Windows broke. All the trucks took a dive into the river. And my favorite rifle fell off the mantle and hit the floor.”
“How about my house?” Dad asked.
“Well…” Shit! I never went in the main house.
Todd rescued me. “We bugged out to look for you before any structural assessment was done, but I hope you’re not too fond of your plates. Those pesky tectonic plates did a number on them.”
“At least the TV and bookcases were tied to the walls,” Amanda said.
Dad looked at me with that father-look that says he knows I screwed up. And he’d be right. I never seemed to find the time or the will to tie off anything. “Yes, I’m a bad daughter. My new television and all my bookcases bit the dust.”
“I tell you over and over to tie everything off, but you never listen.” Dad smacked me on the knee. “So, where was the epicenter?”
“Northern end of Jackson Lake,” I said.
“The dam?” Dad asked.
Todd shimmied. “Rocking and rolling.”
“But still holding,” Amanda added.
“Would I be correct in assuming it was between 6.5 and 7.0?”
“Closer to 7.0 is my guess,” I said.
Dad took a bite and wiped his mouth on his sleeve. “I’m going to enjoy breakfast, then we’ll talk about the assassination.”
Chapter 10
If Dad had walked in naked singing Springsteen’s Born In the USA, with a parakeet on one shoulder and a jar of pickles on the other, we wouldn’t have been more surprised.