Good grief, you’d think the scar was catching. Claudia followed Ann and Ezra.
They began the laborious, heart-lurching task of checking every hillock, ditch, and snowdrift. The cold was bitter and the wind relentless, harrying the snow along any open area until it cowered against an obstacle and piled up for sanctuary.
Ann called back over her shoulder to Claudia, “The road to the deBoer home is always one of the last plowed, and of course no snowplow will even attempt to now until Amos is found.”
The sun teased them, shining brightly enough to induce snow-blindness but providing no warmth. They took turns calling Amos’s name and listening fifteen counts for a response. Half an hour later, an already-hoarse Claudia checked her watch. She estimated they had covered less than a quarter mile.
“Listen!” Ezra stopped and Claudia’s stomach tightened. No faint cry of response met their ears, just a snowmobile’s whine and sputter. “Felix Rich. Miss Alexander, you’re probably starting to recognize the sound of that beast he drives. Do you suppose he’s coming to lend us a hand?”
Ann didn’t answer but watched, frowning, as Felix rattled up. He looked surprised to see them.
“What’s going on? You’re the second group of searchers I’ve seen.”
“You haven’t heard that Amos deBoer never made it home last night?”
Felix snorted. “Since when does anyone tell me anything?”
“Why are you here? This road doesn’t go anywhere but Amos’s house. Unless, of course, you’re going to see Bernice?”
Felix glowered. “Not that it’s your business. Yes, I’m checking if she needs any groceries.”
“Bernice drives yet.”
“She lost her keys a while back.”
“She was just in Blossom’s night before last. We all know Bernice doesn’t hoof it into town.”
“She hot-wires her car. You know that as well as I do. But she’s getting arthritis and some days she can’t manage as well. I offer to run errands for her and hope she’ll give me a tip. I need to make a few bucks however I can.” Felix kept his gaze lowered, his voice aggrieved, his shoulders hunched.
Claudia, uncomfortable with the exchange, turned away while Ezra remained even-tempered.
“Do us a favor and go slow on the drive to her house,” Ezra said. “Look for any sign of Amos.”
“What’s it worth to you?” Felix asked.
Ezra looked again at the map in his hand. “Nothing, actually. I see now that Lem already had a group check there. Good luck with Bernice.”
Felix Rich spun his snowmobile and gunned the engine, cursing as it died and ruined his exit.
Claudia resumed searching after Felix left but glanced up automatically when she heard his machine slow. Not far back up the road to town she saw him struggling to turn into what looked like a copse of scrubby trees and scrubbier undergrowth.
“That can’t be a road!” she said in disbelief.
“Yup. Leads to Bernice’s house. I’m not surprised you didn’t notice. That tangle used to be a service drive for the orchards, but when that section went fallow the road sort of got lost. The Ebenezers parked their trailer at the end of it years ago, and no one ever asked them to move. Easier to just keep it tucked away back there and out of sight.”
Ann, who had stayed stiff and silent while Felix was with them, relaxed. “Bernice gives me the creeps, but it’s hard not to pity her. Of course, with Bernice, it’s safest to pity from a distance.”
Another half-hour and they barely had covered half a mile from the house. Claudia imagined she could smell the sausages still frying. Jacy must be planning on feeding the five thousand. Every so often they heard a muffled call from another search group.
Ann came panting alongside Claudia and took her arm. Her face was pale.
“It’s unimaginable that we would meet up with the town group and have no sign of Amos. Could he possibly have gotten confused and wandered away? There are hundreds and hundreds of acres of woods and wasteland and orchards that need to be covered. Even if he’s still alive, his chances of survival are diminishing at a really alarming rate. He didn’t have food or water, the wind chills overnight were frigid, and even now we’re barely in double digits.” She looked ready to cry. “Why did we let him go home by himself?”
Ezra stopped her. “Annie, quit that. Amos meant it when he said he’s been out in worse weather. He was right. The storm wasn’t bad, just noisy and cold. That down coat is guaranteed to keep him warm to thirty below, as he keeps telling us. Now go back to the house and take a breather. Someone will come along soon to check on us. You can grab a ride.”
To Claudia’s surprise, instead of arguing, Ann trudged to the road and hailed a passing SUV.
“Annie has some heart problems,” Ezra explained to Claudia. “It’s controlled with medication, and she’s doing great. But she knows her limits.”
Claudia watched the vehicle pull away. “And she’s afraid there’s little chance Amos is all right. I’m sorry.”
Ezra didn’t answer. His usually mobile face went rigid.
Another quarter hour, another thousand feet, and Claudia’s lungs started to ache. Her toes were numb, and her throat burned. Ezra asked if she needed a break, but she shook her head and continued to methodically call Amos’s name, stop, listen for a response, and scan the area in front of her for anything that could be his bright red coat. She poked the sturdy branch she carried into any drift or mound higher than twelve inches and longer than a few feet.
I have never found a body on a search-and-rescue, Claudia thought. Please, please don’t let this be the first.
The sun caught at something. “Over here!” she shouted.
Ezra struggled down the ditch to get to her, automatically prodding with his stick before planting his foot. She pointed to a sumac still sporting a few stubborn red leaves. In the crotch of the bush, glinting in the sun, hung a lovely, white, gleeful-looking set of lower dentures. Ezra stared at the teeth and the teeth grinned back.
“He went in the woods! Why on earth did he do that?” He placed the lowers in a bag, tied a loop of orange marker tape on the branch and shook his head.
Claudia had already resumed her methodical search, but with more purpose and spirit now. “Why are you so surprised?”
“Remember, Amos is blind. He’s well acquainted with the flat areas, but knows that the terrain changes constantly in forested areas. Branches, even trees, fall all the time, animals make burrows. It’s a tough place to travel when you can’t see where you’re going. But those teeth were meant to show us he’s in here. If you’re a praying woman you may want to start now.”
Claudia began to laugh, and Ezra looked at her in surprise before following her gaze. Lying atop a snow-cleared tree stump about 20 feet farther into the woods sat Amos’s uppers, all pink and white and smug.
Ezra laughed too, and she followed him to the teeth. He put them in his pocket with the lowers, marked the stump with the orange tape, and was topping it with a rock when he paused. “Listen. Claudia, do you hear that?”
She held her breath to listen while noting that Ezra had dispensed with addressing her as “Miss Alexander.” Something thin and musical shivered in the air. “Singing? I think so, but I can’t tell where it’s coming from.”
“You move to your left. I’ll go right. If the sound doesn’t get louder change your course until it does.”
It took seven minutes of stumbling over dead limbs and wallowing in drifts of snowy leaves before the singing led them to converge at an old hemlock tree set in a small hollow. Under the hemlock they found a pile of pine boughs, and inserted between the pine boughs sat a snug Amos. He was rasping out his song, gums working mightily, in a language unfamiliar to Claudia.
She reached a hand out to him, but Ezra held her back, beaming down on his old friend.
“Wait a minute. He’s singing the ‘Old Hundredth’ in Dutch. He won’t quit ’til he finishes the verse.”
~*~
After the agonizing morning, things moved quickly. Ezra gave Amos a bear hug and a thermos of hot coffee. He radioed the news to Lem. Moving Amos was a job for emergency medical technicians, who arrived on a powerful sled, rescue litter in tow. They should have taken him directly to the hospital down in Weary, Ezra explained to Claudia, but the old preacher begged to go home first so his anxious family could celebrate. He suffered from little more than dehydration and a frostbitten nose.
In his kitchen, everyone, including the emergency crew, feasted on cold, rubbery eggs and black sausages while Amos sipped chicken broth and recounted his adventures. Claudia watched as the family hugged Amos before moving into worried little circles. Low snippets of conversation drifted her way. Might this be the first sign of senility? Why the woods, hundreds of feet from the snow fence? He must have been confused. He needed care. Someone should move in with him. Better yet, he should come live with one of them. The palpable concern and love warmed Claudia’s heart to Amos, his family, and friends. Relationships here seemed more personal and immediate than in Chicago.
The ambulance squad prepared to bring Amos to the hospital. He motioned Ezra and Lem to come closer. Claudia, who had hovered on the outskirts of the reunion, heard Amos say urgently, “Two things, boys. First, I didn’t wander off. I made good time after Ezra saw me off, and I would have beat the storm home. But when I got past the road to Bernice’s house, my fence disappeared. It sounds unbelievable but God knows I’m telling the truth. The snow fence was there, and then it was gone. I tried to backtrack. I guess I figured part must have blown down, and I should be able to find it quick enough. I was wrong.”
Lem’s uneasy gaze met Ezra’s. He shook his head. “The fence is intact Amos. Everyone looked along it all the way between town and here this morning.”
“It wasn’t intact last night. I’m old and blind, but I’m not a fool. I wandered around for a few minutes but knew that was stupid. Only person living within a mile of there is Bernice, and I couldn’t find my way to her house. The wind shifted from the north, and my only chance would be the woods. I followed the sound of the trees, found the best place I could and hunkered down for the night. I knew nobody could start looking ’til daybreak, so I’ve been in that hollow singing for hours. Worked my way almost through the hymnal,” he added with satisfaction. “I’m not saying that someone was out to make sure I got lost. All I know is that the fence disappeared.”
Ezra and Lem glanced at each other. “What was the second thing Amos?”
The old man looked sheepish. “Can I have my teeth back?”
FIVE
Amos was en route to the hospital and most of his family left with him. Claudia trailed behind Ann as the older woman worked her way through the hanging delights in the kitchen. “Can I help you look for whatever you’re looking for?”
“Please do. I’m never quite sure of Amos’s method of deciding what goes where. Head to the bathroom, right across the hall, and see if you can find some antacid tablets. We’ll be feeling a backlash from those sausages soon.” Ann’s drained tone belied the humor of her words, and Claudia hastened to the task.
In the bathroom a turquoise tub and matching toilet glowered across cracked linoleum at a rebellious cherry-pink sink flaunting its ribbons of scrubbed-clean rust. Here too, what would have been in cupboards or drawers hung from the ceiling. Reconfigured wire clothes hangers curved upward at the bottom alternated with little girls’ headbands knotted together. Amos bought his over-the-counter medication in cardboard containers and inserted small hooks in the sides to keep them on the headbands. Prescription bottles sat in gelatin or pudding boxes poked onto the end of the wire hangers festooned with large cutout letters describing the contents. It seemed in alphabetical order, and the antacids were right inside the door.
Claudia distributed tablets to the grateful folk still lingering in Amos’s house. Relieved burps followed in her wake. She joined the Gomers, who huddled at the table with Ezra and Lem, in time to hear Bud say he needed to get Ann home for a rest. The Prosper brothers agreed.
“I still have the Felix problem.” Lem jerked a thumb in Felix’s direction. He was standing in a corner, alone, gripping a plate stacked with charred sausages.
“Why is he here?” asked Ezra. “I thought he was going to run errands for Bernice.”
“I think he smelled the food. He came up asking if he could help since Bernice didn’t need him. He didn’t do much more than mosey up and down the driveway until the call that Amos was found.”
“Ann, Claudia, we should head out,” Bud said.
Ezra looked at his watch and called them back. “Morning kindergarten classes are letting out. We can’t have Felix tagging along with Lem and me.” The Gomers nodded in agreement and paused. Ezra turned to Claudia. He hesitated a second. “Could you do us a favor?”
Claudia waited.
“Would you mind riding back with Felix? He needs a chaperone. I’d tell you why, but Lem and I want to check the snow fence. I think you heard Amos tell us about a problem last night.” His smile was disarming. “Naturally you’re wondering why you should chaperone a grown man. Maybe Ann can explain. Be prepared for another of those disagreeable sorts of stories.”
Claudia had a more immediate concern. “Does this mean I have to pay him again? At the risk of sounding stingy, my money is all going to put gas into Mr. Rich’s tank.”
Ezra reached into his pocket. “He won’t give you a ride unless you do.” He thrust a twenty into her hand. “This should make him happy. Don’t pay him until you get off. That way if he upends you in a snow bank you’re guaranteed he’ll come back for you.”
Ann returned, bundled now. “Ezra, do you have time to come to the Traveler after you look over the fence? We want to hear what you find.”
“Sure, after I check the animals and the answering machine at my place first. I’ll be there for coffee if you promise you won’t bake anything. Let me pick something up at the grocery store.”
Ann smiled. “Those little square shortbread cookies, please. I love those things.”
Ezra nodded agreement and walked over to Felix. “You’ll be giving Miss Alexander a ride home.” He added something Claudia couldn’t hear.
Felix mumbled back and Ezra responded, “Yes, she’ll pay you.”
Ezra motioned Claudia over. “Your chariot awaits, my lady.” He held out an arm for her.
Not amused, Claudia ignored him and stalked behind Felix to his sled. She was beginning to hate that sled.
She clapped the helmet on her head and scowled at Ezra, who grinned back.
“Enjoy your ride. Your coat looks pretty warm, but it won’t keep out cold like a snowmobile suit. Felix will take it slow to make sure the wind doesn’t go through you.”
The Arctic Cat spat, popped, and wailed its anguish. Claudia barely had time to clasp the cracked passenger grip stubs Ezra pointed out before they jerked down the road. She needn’t have worried about getting cold. Felix’s pace was so sluggish she felt sweat trickle down her spine. For a little extra misery he zigzagged on the trails and occasionally doubled back on his tracks until Claudia was ready to scream or throw up. To keep her mind off her protesting equilibrium, she thought about Amos.
Everyone was delighted he’d been found, but they couldn’t hide their concern. She wondered how soon she could talk to him about the watch. The watch she didn’t have because it was in her luggage with the ex-boyfriend she also didn’t have. At the thought of Peter a flush of anger suffused her from head to toe and the rivulet of sweat swelled to a disagreeable torrent.
Felix stopped several blocks from the inn. He turned to Claudia.
“This is where you get off.”
“Why here? Can’t you take me all the way into town? You did yesterday.”
“Yeah, well, this is today, and this is where you get off.”
“Maybe Ann would give you something hot to drink or a snack. It’s been a long morning.” She tried bribery. Her le
gs ached.
“I’m not wanted at the Weary Traveler.”
Reluctantly, she got off the snowmobile.
Felix held out one hand for the helmet and the other for the cash she was fumbling from her pocket. He swung the sled in a wide arc and chugged out of town.
Claudia plodded toward the inn, too disgruntled to notice much more than the uniform charm of every building she passed, three of which were other B&B inns. At the Traveler, she winced and grumbled her way up the steps to the porch and then her room. Her Chicago muscles, unaccustomed to pushing through snowdrifts and straddling a snowmobile, groused all the way. She hung her damp clothes in front of the fireplace, figured out how to turn it on, and headed to the tiny bathroom for the hot shower she’d missed that morning.
Feeling more human, she redressed in the less-damp clothes and wondered if any place in town sold women’s clothing. She’d had an extra t-shirt and sets of underclothes along with the sweat suit in her backpack, but her jeans and sweater were getting ripe. To kill time, she poked around her pretty room and looked out the windows over compact Barley and vast stretches of a sparkling Lake Superior. When she had opened every drawer and door in her room, she checked out the other rooms on her level, those on the second floor and the two up in the turret. All the while she kept her ears open for Ezra. She wondered if Ann knew anything.
The irritating curiosity drove Claudia down to the main level. She clattered on the steps that creaked back, hummed loudly and riffled through local attraction brochures, local cookbooks, and scented soaps. Ann poked her head around a corner just as Claudia shut a drawer of sachets with unnecessary vigor.
“I thought I heard someone in here,” Ann said dryly.
Claudia laughed. “I’m not very subtle, am I? Did I wake you? How are you doing? Is there any news? I didn’t want to go into your kitchen to look for you in case it’s against Health Department rules or protocol.”
Winter Watch Page 5