Before Raj could get started again, Rod asked me and Grandma how our day was. He paid particular attention to Grandma. I wondered if he had been so interested in her way back whenever they’d first known each other. Grandma said it was when they were kids. But I knew Grandma well enough to know that she considered people in their twenties to be kids.
We got halfway through our meal without another Raj monologue and were headed for a pleasant dessert when Rod’s face suddenly turned serious and he stood up abruptly.
“Rod, what’s—” Grandma began. But he was already striding away from the table and through the dining room.
He marched straight to the entrance, where three men were talking together. Two of them were youngish guys, guests. I’d seen them at the lifts. The other man was older than them. He was wearing a parka with badges on it, like cops have on their parkas. Rod grabbed him by the arm. The man in the parka protested loudly, causing heads to turn in his direction. I guessed Rod didn’t want to be the center of attention, because he tugged the man out of the dining room. Maybe the man in the parka resisted. Maybe that’s why we heard those angry voices even though it was hard to make out exactly what was being said.
When Rod came back into the dining room, he was alone. He went to the two guests and spoke to them. They didn’t look happy. Rod beckoned a waitress, who showed the two to a table and a minute later served them drinks that I bet were “on the house.” As Rod made his way back to our table, he was scowling right up to the very last minute. When he reached for his chair, he pasted a smile on his face, but it didn’t fool me. I’ve made myself smile like that too many times. Grandma wasn’t fooled either.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
“It was nothing.” Rod took a sip of his water and picked up his knife and fork.
“It didn’t look like nothing,” Grandma said. She watched Rod saw a hunk off the steak on his plate. “It looked like you were angry with that man, the one you strong-armed out of here.”
“I’d hardly call it strong-arming,” Rod said. He popped the piece of steak into his mouth.
“You made him leave,” Grandma said.
“I invited him to leave.”
Grandma reached for her wine and swirled it in the glass while Rod dug into his baked potato. When she spoke, she directed her words at Raj.
“You probably won’t have realized this, Mr. Choudhry, but that man who was invited to leave is a park ranger.”
“A park ranger?” Mr. Choudhry looked mystified.
“An employee of the government—either the federal or the state government—whose job it is to take care of publicly owned and designated parklands and wilderness areas. Am I right about that, Rod?”
Rod had just shoved some potato into his mouth. He nodded.
“I could tell from the patches on his parka that he is a park ranger. So my question is—” She looked at me. She looked at Raj. “Why would the owner of a resort in a government-designated wilderness area invite a park ranger to leave his business establishment so forcibly? And rather rudely, it seemed to me. Does that seem like nothing to either of you? Because it seemed like something to me.” She turned her eyes on Rod.
He set down his knife and fork and let out a long sigh.
“You haven’t changed one bit,” he said to Grandma. “You notice everything. Every damn thing. And then come the questions. Why are you doing this, Rod? Why did you do that, Rod? Don’t lie to me, Rod—” He broke off abruptly. His cheeks turned pink and then deepened to red. When I looked at Grandma, she was red-faced too. Whatever had happened between her and Rod in the past, it sounded as if it had ended badly. And judging from how Rod had been acting around Grandma ever since we got here, he regretted that. Or he’d seemed to. Now he mostly seemed annoyed.
“I know it’s not nothing, Rod,” Grandma said firmly. “And I don’t like evasive answers.”
Boy, could I testify to that! She was like the Major that way. Mom always liked my stories, even if they never quite got around to answering her question. But Grandma? When she asked me something, it didn’t matter how I felt about answering it—I knew that sooner or later she was going to get it out of me. She wouldn’t leave it alone until she did. I either let her drive me crazy with her questions, or I came up with something that would satisfy her. I guessed Rod knew that too, because he forgot about the steak he’d been tearing apart and he leaned back in his chair.
“His name is Chuck Morrison. He’s the ranger around here. At this time of year, it’s his job to coordinate avalanche information and make decisions about avalanche control.”
“Is he the guy who set off that huge explosion the day Grandma broke her ankle?”
“Explosion?” Mr. Choudhry dropped his fork. “Avalanches?”
“This is avalanche country, Mr. Choudhry,” Rod said. “Every guide and operator up here sends regular information to the park ranger. He puts that together with historical patterns and current weather conditions and decides if preventive measures need to be taken. Like a controlled blast.”
“A massive explosion,” I told Grandma. “You should have heard it! They drop explosives from a helicopter, and it triggers this massive avalanche—”
“A controlled explosion,” Rod said, looking at Raj. “It’s 100 percent safe provided no one is where they shouldn’t be.” When Raj looked puzzled again, Rod added, “There are places around here that are out-of-bounds, period. And there are places that are out-of-bounds unless you have an experienced guide or are extremely knowledgeable yourself about avalanche conditions and safety measures. Of course, not everyone respects those guidelines. We get daredevils up here. Young men—they’re mostly men, but there have been some young women lately too—who maybe have been somewhere else in avalanche country and have taken a course. Maybe they even have a beacon with them, and a shovel, and the first time they go out, nothing happens. Maybe they go out a second time and still nothing happens. So they don’t take the danger seriously. They take stupid risks. They go where they shouldn’t go.”
“And they get exploded?” Raj looked horrified.
“Well, there’s only ever been one incident like that. There have been more incidents of people getting caught in slides.”
“Slides?” Raj frowned.
“Avalanches,” Rod said.
“And where does that park ranger come into it?” Grandma asked.
“Morrison provides his expertise—for a price.”
He made it sound like Chuck the Ranger was selling crack cocaine to kids. I didn’t get it.
“What’s so bad about that?” I asked.
“We get a lot of people up here who want to go off on their own backcountry skiing. They think they can handle it, and they don’t want some know-it-all guide telling them what they can and can’t do. Chuck encourages them. He gives them a workshop on avalanche safety. They think it’s park-authorized, but it isn’t. It’s just Chuck on his own, padding his wallet. He sells them maps too, that he claims are based on up-to-the-minute snow conditions.”
“Are they?” Grandma asked.
“Are they what?”
“Up-to-the-minute?”
“He prints them off his computer, so I suppose they’re reasonably up-to-date,” Rod admitted. “But that isn’t the point. He has no business encouraging people who shouldn’t be out there on their own in the first place. It’s a miracle no one has been killed, and all because that man will do anything for money.”
“If no one has been killed, what’s the big deal?” I asked. Wrong question. Asked of the wrong guy.
Rod went red in the face, which, I guessed, was his all-purpose sign that he was feeling some kind of emotion.
“The point is that he’s lying to people. He’s telling them that if they follow his map, they’ll be fine. He gives them false confidence with an hour-long workshop on avalanche safety. He should know better than that.”
“If you feel that way, Rod, why don’t you talk to the parks and wild
erness people? I’m sure they could put a stop to it.”
“I have talked to them. I’ve written, I’ve talked, I’ve emailed, you name it. The problem for a while was that they had no way of checking on what he was doing. He denied everything I said, and since he doesn’t keep records, they didn’t have any idea who might have used his services. I started keeping a closer eye on some of my guests, the ones who checked in for a night and then disappeared for days or even a week but their car was still parked nearby. I talked to them when they came back, tried to get them to talk. But Chuck was prepared for that. He warned them that I’d probably bother them. He said I didn’t like the competition and was trying to shut him down so I would be the only person who could offer access, but at five times the price and with a guide in tow. Nobody would talk. On top of that, I got a reputation as a killjoy. Chuck’s clientele started staying in town while they took his workshop, before they went off on their own. I lost business.” He scowled down at the remains of his dinner. “And he still has the nerve to show up here and talk to my guests. I wish I could shut him down.”
In the moody silence that followed Rod’s explanation, Grandma looked across the table at me. The expression on her face said, I’m sorry I asked. Or maybe that’s the way I read it because I was thinking, Geez, Grandma, are you glad you asked or what?
Raj took advantage of the silence to tell Grandma all about the business he was developing and how it would revolutionize something or other, blah, blah, blah. Grandma finished her glass of wine and looked at me again. This time she held my eyes as she nodded her head in the direction of the exit. That was my cue to tell her she looked exhausted and that she should rest. “Come on, Grandma, I’m taking you upstairs,” I said.
She gave me a huge kiss on one cheek when we got to her door. I had to use soap and water to get the lipstick off.
NINE
I was on a roll, no doubt about it. The next day was the closest I’d ever come to perfection, and that included the past couple of days.
My first clue that something was going my way for a change: When I got down to the dining room that morning, Annie was there. She wasn’t in her work clothes. She was in regular clothes, and she was sitting at a table near the kitchen, eating breakfast like a regular person. She looked up when I walked into the room, and she waved at me.
“I was hoping you’d show up. Come and eat with me, Rennie.”
My heart did a happy-feet routine. I could feel it dancing and hear the thumpety-thump of the drumbeat it was dancing to. She’d been hoping I’d show up! Hoping. To see me.
I strolled casually to her table, which was an achievement, let me tell you, because my legs felt like cooked spaghetti.
“Grab some food first, Rennie.” She flashed me a big smile. “The oatmeal is amazing. You should have some. It’s just what a person needs for a day on the slopes.”
I hit the buffet and piled stuff on my plate—bacon, eggs, sausage, toast, jam, orange juice and coffee. Plus a bowl of oatmeal sprinkled with brown sugar. I raced back to the table.
“Wow, you sure know how to fuel up,” Annie said.
I looked at the debris of her breakfast: the bowl with a few bits of oatmeal sticking to the side, the empty milk glass, the empty plate with toast crumbs on it, the plate with the tiny smear of egg yolk and the splash of congealed sausage fat.
“Look who’s talking,” I said.
She laughed. “I know how to fuel up too. I have to. Between work shifts, I’m on the slopes. How’s your gran?”
“She’s okay. She says she’s enjoying herself, but this isn’t exactly the holiday she planned.”
“Do you have to stay with her and keep her company all day?”
“The opposite. She keeps telling me to go and have fun. She orders me. I’m not kidding. I order you to go out there and have fun, Rennie. That’s what she said to me this morning.”
“So that’s what you’re going to do? Go out there?”
“And have fun. Yeah. I have no choice.”
“Going with anyone?”
“Right. Like I know anyone up here.”
Annie grinned. “You know me. And I just happen to have the day off. And a lunch packed. For two.”
That was my second clue. Derek was gone. He was guiding a group of backcountry skiers. But she’d packed a lunch for two. That had to mean—
“I know some great places to ski. You’ll have to bring your avalanche pack. You have one, right?”
You’ll have to…and she was looking right at me.
“Are you interested, Rennie?”
Was I interested? That was like asking a starving person if he was interested in a snack.
“Sure,” I said. Mr. Cool, I hoped.
“Great. Eat your breakfast and meet me outside in ten minutes. And don’t forget your avalanche pack.”
I don’t think I’ve ever eaten that much food in so short a time as I did that morning. I wolfed down my breakfast and raced outside to meet Annie. I didn’t question why she’d said to bring my avalanche pack. I just grabbed it and took it with me.
She was right about knowing great places. They were the least crowded too. After a great couple of hours, she led the way to a small hut where we could sit and eat. She unshouldered her backpack and laid out thick ham-and-cheese sandwiches, a thermos of hot chocolate, apple slices and cups of yogurt.
“Did you really have this packed at breakfast? Or was that what you needed ten minutes to do?” I asked.
“It was packed.”
“How did you know you’d run into me?”
“You come to breakfast at the same time every day,” she said. She must have been watching me. I felt taller. Older. Better somehow.
“Besides, I was desperate to get away from my uncle.” She handed me a sandwich and unwrapped one for herself. “He’s driving me crazy. I told him there’s no way I’m going home, and that’s that. Why would I? My whole life is here. Well, except for my gran. She used to come over and spend a couple of months every year with us when my dad was alive. Did I tell you that?”
If she had, I didn’t remember. I wasn’t paying that much attention to what she was saying. I was wrapping my mind around what she hadn’t said—when she’d needed someone to get away with, she’d chosen me. Sure, if Derek had been around, maybe he’d have been her go-to guy. But he wasn’t, which made me it.
“I love my gran. And she loves me. She understands me. I know she would want me to stay here.”
“Can’t you just call her and talk to her?”
“I would if I could, but she’s in hospital somewhere and Uncle Raj won’t tell me where. He says she wants to see me in person.”
“Someone must know where she is,” I said. “There must be someone you can call.”
She thought for a moment. Then she took a huge bite of her sandwich.
“Rennie, if it wasn’t for you, I’d be having a terrible day. But up here with you, honestly, I think I’m going to forget about Uncle Raj, at least until I see him again. Now eat up. You’re going to need your energy for what I have planned this afternoon.”
“Does this have anything to do with the avalanche gear?” I asked.
“Yes and no. It’s just a precaution. The place I want to show you is safe, as far as anyone knows. But you never know, and I’d rather be safe than sorry. Don’t worry. It’s not out-of-bounds. It’s just that not a lot of people go there. And when I’m not on designated slopes, I don’t take any chances.”
I said okay because I trusted her. Why wouldn’t I?
We had to do a lot of climbing, and I hate to admit it, but I got winded faster than she did. I don’t think she got winded at all. But we made it to the top of a run she wanted to take me on, and I still can’t believe it, but what I was thinking was, Geez, this is the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. It was just rock and snow. And sky. Lots of sky. But it hit me the way a certain Christmas song does, one that my mom used to sing to me, and it made me want to cry. I’d nev
er felt that way about scenery before.
By the time we’d swooped and arced our way across and down and finally made our way back to the chalet again, my stomach was growling.
“Annie, I have an idea,” I said. I felt kind of shy about it. “Why don’t you have supper with my grandma and me?”
“I wish I could. But there’s something I need to do right now, thanks to you, Rennie.” Thanks to me? What did I do? “And then I’m going to talk to Uncle Raj and hopefully settle this once and for all.” She kissed me on the cheek. “Thanks for a great day. I really needed that.”
I was grinning like a fool as I watched her disappear around the back of the chalet.
It took a while for me to get showered and changed and then to help Grandma down the stairs to the dining room. She hesitated at the doorway and surveyed the room.
“I do hope that Mr. Choudhry won’t stop by our table again,” she said.
“I don’t think you have to worry about that, Grandma.”
“Oh?”
She followed my gaze to the back of the dining room, where Annie and her uncle sat staring earnestly at each other across a small table. Annie was talking. Raj was leaning forward, listening intently to everything she was saying. The whole time, he was shaking his head. It was almost hypnotizing, watching it tick left, right, left, right.
Annie, unlike her uncle, seemed calmer. She sat straight in her chair, her hands together in her lap, her eyes on her uncle’s. When she finished talking, she kept her gaze on him. He was still leaning across the table, but now he was scowling. He tore the cloth napkin off his lap and threw it onto the table. He didn’t notice us when he stormed past us on his way out of the dining room. I don’t think he noticed anything.
“Well, he certainly doesn’t look happy.” Grandma didn’t sound particularly sympathetic. “I take it that young lady is his niece.”
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