The Lumberjack

by Erik Martin Willén

  “This one is all I need,” she said confidently, patting the one on her harness. She backed up to the edge, checking her lines. Don’t look down, don’t look down, she thought, and then she looked down. Crap.

  She lowered herself slowly, and far below, a small crowd looked on. She didn’t see the photographer taking hundreds of pictures in the distance, where the rest of a civilian crowd had gathered behind the police lines.

  The wind caught her, and she let out a small cry, but she gathered herself and kept moving down. She had some minor problems because her gloves were too big. She stopped to assess her position, and again she looked down.

  She could see all the way below to the ground; it was more than three hundred feet to the bottom, and the school bus lay far below. It seemed the size of a broken toy. She could see at least three fire rescue workers, and one of them had begun to climb up with the help of a rope. She turned her head and saw the fire engine with a line attached to it, helping pull the climber up.

  A wind gust caught her, and she spun around; and now she saw part of another vehicle, lying by a bend on the cliff on what looked like a small outcropping of rock. There was an arm sticking out onto the white hood or back of the truck; she couldn’t tell which. They hadn’t told her about that vehicle. Did they even know about it?

  When she got a few feet above the desired location on the tree, she had to swing to get closer. The firefighter above noticed her dilemma, and slowly eased her closer to the trunk. She faced many branches thick with needles and cones, standing like a wall against her. She grabbed one and pulled herself closer. A branch whipped her hard in her face, and for a moment she lost her concentration; then she fell towards the ground.

  The people below gasped in fright as they observed the little monkey-like figure doing all kinds of aerial acrobatics. She jerked to a stop after a fall of a couple of feet by pulling on her brake line; then she vanished into the thick brush, and for a long moment nothing happened but for two gloves falling down toward the ground. Now the onlookers nearest her were more concerned.

  Christina had been terrified, but had gained control over her own fear and what could have been a fatal moment. She bit down on the ends of the stupid gloves and pulled them off with her teeth, letting them fall where they might. She had her legs wrapped around the trunk. It was covered with a gooey greenish sap, and she could smell turpentine. Robert had warned her about that, and had explained why the fire engine was a major priority. A thick layer of white foam covered part of the road and the fire engine. She got the sticky crap all over her body and face, but this was no time to think about herself. She tied a timber hitch, then swiftly attached the pulley and the rope. She checked her work, and everything seemed fine. She then tossed out the line for the people below, but it got tangled in some branches. She stopped for a moment, catching her breath; but a sudden explosion of thunder from a lightning strike nearby launched her back into action. She pushed against the trunk with her legs, going after the rope. She got it, but at the same time she had forgotten the brake line, and again then she fell along the edge of the tree canopy.

  The watchers below shouted loud warnings, and there were many concerned expressions, especially on two of them.

  Christina pulled the brake line, and the fireman above moved the crane away from the tree. She signaled to him that she had finished and all was okay. Slowly, she was lowered to safety, hanging like a piñata and hoping no one would have a baseball bat waiting for her below.

  Many strong arms and hands reached into the sky, helping the grubby little woman to safety. She received more than one hard pat on her back. She felt satisfied with herself, and a bit tired.

  “Take care of that, or it’ll leave a scar.”

  It was the electrician who had stared at Robert, looking her face over closely. He then turned his back and walked away. He was very handsome in a tragic way, she thought.

  “That was one hell of a job you did up there, boy,” Nolan praised Christina.

  “I’m a girl,” she answered somewhat groggily, while scratching her face and smearing the sticky sap and foam even worse than she had already.

  Not looking at Christina but at some of the rescue workers, Nolan said, “Of course you are. Don’t worry, son, I don’t judge or discriminate against anyone.”

  Christina lunged forward to punch the inbred idiot, but large hands grabbed her shoulders and pulled her back. Robert whispered, “Calm down, Christina, he didn’t mean nothing by it.”

  With his back turned, Nolan continued, “My nephew is a transvestite, too, and despite that he turned out pretty okay, if you ask me.” Nolan began walking away, talking into his walkie-talkie, and Christina launched herself at his back again, this time determined to whip some ass. Suddenly she was lifted bodily into the air, and to her embarrassment found herself carried away kicking and screaming.

  “Put me down, Robert, or I’ll turn you into a eunuch, you bastard!”

  She got her footing back, and that’s when she realized it had been Frank who had grabbed her so roughly. Robert stood next to them, a big grin on his face. Shaking his head, still smiling, he walked towards the big tree, inspecting the line attached to the winch that was attached, in the distance, to another three pulleys fitted on an equal number of large trees. A firefighter had already begun cranking the huge winch; slowly, the tree extending over the cliff bent dangerously toward the road. Robert saw another large tree underneath, an oak. Now he understood why the heavy fire engine could lay the way it did. “The oak shouldn’t be any problems,” he said aloud, and hoped. He prepared his chainsaw to make the final cut.

  * * * * *

  “OOPS, SORRY, Frank…” Christina said to her landlord, feeling chagrinned.

  “No, I’m the one sorry for not introducing you before; but there was no time, and I do remember Mr. Billing’s very strict instructions about not mentioning your name to anyone.”

  She realized that he was right and calmed herself down, as both headed over toward Robert’s truck.

  “So, what now?”

  “We’ll stay here and watch the master at work. He’ll soon have that big oak down, and the tow trucks on either side down the road will help pull the firetruck back on the road—on its right side we hope. We need to get clear of those thick wires.”

  “When will he make the cut?”

  “Once the chief—your favorite fireman—gives him the go ahead. The last kids are up and safe, but there are two more rescue workers. We don’t want anyone below, in case something bad happens and the firetruck falls off the cliff.”

  Christina thought for a moment about the white vehicle and the arm she’d seen while hanging like a piñata. “But what about the person in the white truck down there?”

  Frank turned his head with a frightened expression. “What white truck? There wasn’t a white truck involved in this accident, far’s we know.”

  Quickly Christina explained what she had seen, and Frank got on his radio, sending a coded message that immediately made everyone stop what they were doing. A frustrated Nolan hurried to them, followed by Carlos da Silva, the police chief. Frank explained what Christina had said.

  “Jack, hold on, are you and Tim still below?” Nolan barked into his walkie-talkie.

  “We’re about to climb up, chief.”

  “Hold that thought. I want you to move to…” He looked at Christina.

  She pointed in the direction of the white truck. “It’s on some sort of ledge; it looks almost like one of those shelf funguses growing on a tree.”

  Nolan knew instantly where to direct his people. They waited for what seemed to take forever, and then came the call. “White pickup truck, markings from one of the lumber companies, not sure which one yet. There’s at least one body, possibly two…and from the looks of it must have happened a day or two ago.”

  Deputy Bard had joined them by Robert’s truck, and so had several more people, including Robert and the electrician; one had to be blind not to notic
e the hostility hanging in the air between them. They all swore under their breaths.

  “Harris’s team reported a truck missing yesterday evening,” Bard said in thundering voice.

  Carlos remembered not having had time to read last night’s report; now he cursed himself in silence for not doing so. He should have read it; if he had, the first thing he would have done would have been to check out this curve, since Harris used this road to get to and from their logging site. He turned angrily towards Bard. “If it was one of Harris’s trucks, why didn’t you or someone check this murder turn?”

  A somber Bard answered reluctantly. Wanting to avoid an argument with his boss, he leaned forward and whispered, “I did, Chief, it’s in the report, but I saw nothing then. You know, bad weather and all.”

  Carlos calmed down and said, “Thank you, Bard.”

  Without thinking, Christina removed her helmet, unknotted her long dark hair, and shook it out in the wind. Her hair flew like a flag. A sudden silence fell, and when she noticed it she turned around.

  “What?”

  Half a dozen giants stared at her while Frank squinted his eyes and said, “Crap.”

  The big men and some of the flabbergasted onlookers recognized her; her beauty was unmistakable, after all. No one said anything. Robert came to her rescue, and so did Frank. Robert leaned inside his truck and quickly slapped his hat on her head. A surprised Christina looked up at him with the brim over her eyes; she had to lean her head back to see him, “What?” Then her eyes went wide; she covered her mouth with her hands as she realized what she had done.

  “You ain’t no boy,” Nolan muttered.

  “Sure ain’t, you big oaf,” she spat back.

  Nolan, a bit confused, said, “But, but what are ya then?”

  Robert kneeled down, putting a new chain on one of his chainsaws. She patted him on top of his head and said, “Why, I’m his kinky dominatrix, slick!”

  More than one set of eyes widened, but none as much as Robert’s. Christina just rolled her eyes, and with the cowboy hat still covering most of her head and face, she walked over to the back of the truck to remove the harness. Someone whistled. She could hear them talking about her, and poor Frank had to put on a charade.

  Bard scratched his chin and said, thinking aloud, “Swear I seen her before. Isn’t she that famous…?”

  “She ain’t nobody special. Now let’s get back to work—we still got plenty to do,” Frank insisted.

  Carlos gave him a suspicious glare, then looked at the chief and said, “Frank is right. We should finish up here as soon as possible, and thanks to Robert’s dominatrix, looks like we have some more work to do.”

  Bard leaned over towards Robert. “Where does a man get one of them pretty little thingies?”

  “Kinda the other way around. The thingie gets you.”

  The hostile electrician also observed Christina interestedly, eyeing her from head to toe, before he joined the others.

  Frank gave Carlos a friendly smile, and Carlos whispered something to Frank. The two men walked up to Christina, and Frank said, “Sorry, Christina, but Carlos here does need your full name for his report.”

  So much for living here secretly. Oh well; her star had begun falling a while back anyway.

  Everyone was interrupted by an excited voice on the radio, warning that the tree had to be taken down ASAP before the weather situation got worse. The many onlookers watched on nervously as Robert vanished into the brush alone. A moment later his voice came over the radio: “Making the cut in one minute.”

  They heard the sound of a chainsaw revving, then working its way into a tree; then there was silence. The tree seemed, at first, as if it was going to fall into the valley below, taking the fire engine with it; the people watching held their breath. And then came the collective Wow! as, suddenly, it altered direction. The wire and lines stretched to the limit…and suddenly the tree leaned back towards the road and fell sideways. The truck slid on its side down onto the road surprisingly gently, having only been a few feet away, and then, to everyone’s horror, the giant tree started to fall in the same direction, like it was going to crush the fire engine. But the attached ropes and wires altered the tree’s direction, and it came crashing down along the road inches from the fire truck. The two tow trucks pulled on the fire engine, and shortly it was back on an even keel. Firefighters hurried up to the vehicle and continued drowning the tree and fire truck with foam; they knew that there was a chance that the tree had natural turpentine in the greenish sap along the trunk, and it could ignite if they didn’t take precautions.

  Clapping, bull whistles, and joyful cheers could be heard over the noise of the storm, and many hands patted Robert on the back as he emerged from the darkness.

  Meanwhile, Carlos had collected Christina’s personal information; and just when he was about to return to the melee, two police vehicles—a highway patrol car and one of his own police SUVs—pulled up by the barricade. Takoda approached him, followed by D’Lancy Tanaka from the Highway Patrol.

  “Some folks have reported a bear over near town,” Takoda reported. “Might be a grizzly.”

  “Whereabouts?”

  Takoda took a folded map from his breast pocket and pointed on an area. “Want me to check it out, chief?”

  “No, have one of the park rangers do it—we’re short-staffed as it is, and this is a friggin’ mess. Have there been any reports of aggressive behavior or attacks?”

  “None. Some parent called it in. Their kids claimed they seen one.”

  D’Lancy cleared her throat. Her face held a friendly smile, but there was an element of distress to it. “Um, Sheriff, Mr. Jones is very upset and wonders why you haven’t answered any of his calls. So here I am, promoted to his personal courier.”

  Carlos—frustrated, wet, and tired—answered with an angry sweeping gesture of his right hand, indicating the mess behind him. D’Lancy’s eyes widened. “Damn, heard about an accident over the radio, but I had no idea.”

  “You do now. I’ll get to Ethan when I have the time.”

  D’Lancy knew full well about the hostility between her own boss—whom she despised—and Carlos, and made sure she kept out of it. “Sorry, sir.”

  “Come on, don’t make this day any worse, use my name.” She smiled at him as he continued, “When are you going to come and work for me instead of that Grand Lizard of the KKK?”

  “Doubt he’s really a member. Anyway…”

  “Problems?”

  She just nodded, and then she said a word that anyone in law enforcement dreads: “Homicide.”

  Carlos closed his eyes, in a desperate hope it was all a dream; but when he opened them, it wasn’t. He removed his rescue helmet and walked away from them, motioning with his hand for them to leave him alone. Both D’Lancy and Takoda kept their distance.

  Carlos closed his eyes, raised his head towards the sky, and let the rain pour over it. He combed his hair back with his hand—and suddenly, with a shift of the wind, there came a foul odor. He tasted the air with his tongue, eyes still shut. He opened them and stared dead ahead, then squinted, staring towards the cliffside in the far distance. That smell, that smell…I recognize it, he thought. Chills went down his spine and goosebumps tickled his skin. Terror fell over him like a dark shadow. He felt observed. His head moved side to side, slowly, and he stared along the cliff edge; and there, by a large bush in front of the tree line, he thought he saw something. He closed his eyes from the strain after staring intently, and when he opened them again, he couldn’t see anything amiss.

  Takoda approached on Carlos’s right side while D’Lancy walked up on his left, both looking the same direction. “Something wrong, sir?” D’Lancy asked.

  Carlos didn’t answer; instead, he stared more intently.

  Takoda repeated D’Lancy’s question, as she gently placed her hand on his left forearm. Carlos moved his head quickly to either side; first he stared at Takoda, and then at D’Lancy.

 
; “Sir, what is it?” Takoda demanded.

  Carlos turned his head back towards the cliffs. “Up there. Do you so anything?”

  Both D’Lancy and Takoda looked in the same direction as Carlos. Neither saw anything. “What did you see?” Takoda asked.

  “Not sure, but there was something, I think.”

  “Maybe a curious onlooker,” D’Lancy suggested.

  “You think? Up there?”

  “Do you want me to check it out, sheriff?” Takoda asked.

  “No, the last thing I need is another one of my deputies in the hospital from climbing a cliff in the rain. It’s probably nothing. Now, let’s go on up to the lumber camp. After all, we mustn’t keep the Grand Lizard waiting,” Carlos said shakily, trying to brush aside his earlier emotions.

  D’Lancy and Takoda were experienced officers, having met thousands of people, victims as well as villains—and they knew when someone was scared to death. Both looked at Carlos, concerned.

  * * * * *

  IT WAITED on the cliff edge in the distance, above the accident scene, patiently observing the weak two-legged creatures below. It searched for its primary prey, peering down on a group of three people. She sure looks pretty in that hat, the beast thought. It licked its lips and tapped its deadly claws on the rocky surface, then lowered the binoculars.

  Takoda parked his police SUV alongside the narrow dirt road behind D’Lancy’s highway patrol car. Carlos sat on the passenger side—his vehicle had been parked on the opposite side of the accident and therefore he couldn’t use it—thinking it was a miracle that eighteen-wheelers could manage to drive up and down this dangerous path at all.

  He was embarrassed over his behavior earlier in front of his colleagues, but he couldn’t help it. It wasn’t what he thought he had seen that had terrified him; after all, that could have been an animal or just a curious person. It had been the strange, foul smell. Somewhere in his mind, a hidden memory of some sort had generated a déjà vu moment. Possibly. He wasn’t sure, because he couldn’t remember. Maybe it had touched on a memory from his past he had chosen to forget. As a lawman, he’d seen some gruesome sights. Whatever it was, it had troubled his mind greatly, and he didn’t like it at all.