A Way West

by Peter Westaway

  Chapter Eleven

  “Oh my God, I can’t believe how beautiful this country is. I had no idea North Dakota would be so amazing. Huh Pete? I bet you had no idea it would be like this.” Issy is walking beside Pete and just behind Monica and Jeff.

  “Pumpkin I am starting to think I like the idea of this travelling stuff. You’ve got to remember because of my messed-up family that never wanted to leave the house, I have barely seen anything but Duluth and the surrounding area. These badlands are pretty damn awesome. Jeff, is there anything like this back in Canada?”

  Jeff pauses on the trail and looks back at Pete, “No I don’t know of anything quite like this. Monica and I have spent lots of time in The Gatineau Hills skiing and mountain biking, which are real close to Ottawa but they are covered in forest, nothing like these cool looking exposed rocky hills. But you have to remember we have seen lots of pictures of this stuff on Google Earth when we were getting ready for this big trip.”

  Monica is leading the way up the path, “And almost every one of the pictures in this area had wild horses or those bison we were talking about last night. Jeff and I have actually fed some bison some carrots. There is this real cool park in Quebec called Parc Omega that has all kinds of animals that we have in North America. You drive around in your car and pass deer and moose and even a herd of buffalo. Jeff freaked out when one of them tried to fit its huge head into the car window to get at the carrots. You remember that Jeff?”

  “Well it is kind of hard to forget having a thing like that drooling on your lap. It must have been a girl buffalo I figure. Because after she couldn’t put her head into my lap like a fucking elk had done when we first got there I shoved a big carrot in her mouth. Then I threw a carrot at a bigger one, probably her husband or something, standing back watching us. The carrot bounced off his forehead and he just gave me a dirty look like he wishes he could just eat me instead of the carrot.” Jeff laughs and shakes his head.

  “And they even had some bears and wolves that we could see from the car but they were behind wire fences or they probably would have pulled Jeff from the car and enjoyed eating him.”

  All four of them laugh at this one. “That sounds awesome, but we better be careful here, they say to keep your distance if we do see any horses or buffalo, we aren’t in the safety of any car remember.” Issy says this as she grabs Pete’s hand to climb up a flat boulder. They all walk in silence for awhile with only the sounds of a couple different unseen birds as their soundtrack. They once again have perfect weather. The sun is shining overhead and a warm breeze is blowing through the sparse trees. They come to a clearing with Monica still in the lead. She pauses to admire the view. The four of them gather and look ahead at the amazing view, with a shallow looking river only a couple of hundred feet away.

  Jeff says, “This looks just like the photos that are posted on Google Earth. It is so wild looking.”

  “Holy shit guys quiet, look.” Monica is whispering and pointing to their immediate left. The other three look to where she is pointing and are shocked to see a large horse only about twenty feet away at the edge of the clearing. He is standing still, and staring at them with his head held high. He then gives a stomp of his hoof and a quick snort. The horse is a beautiful rich brown with a black flowing mane, and is just staring right at the four startled humans.

  “Fuck me.” Pete turns and jogs back up the trail back towards the campground.

  The other three stand still and watch as the horse gives a glance behind him at a smaller horse right behind him. This one is beige with a brown mane and tail. The lead horse glances back at the small humans and then takes off at a trot towards the river. The beige one follows right behind.

  “Oh my god I don’t believe it. They are so beautiful, don’t you think Issy.” Monica is recovering her senses.

  “That was wicked awesome, look how majestic and free they look as they run. Hey Pete ya big scaredy cat! You can come back now!” Issy is looking up the trail where Pete had stopped. Jeff is just watching the horses. They stop at the river’s edge and pause to look back at them. The bigger one nuzzles his apparent mate with his large snout and then they both run at a gallop straight across the river and out the other side, they then turn and gallop down the side of the river.

  “Hey let’s cross the river and climb that hill. I bet we can see for miles from there and probably see a pack of bison.” Pete has rejoined them and pretending to still be in control of everything.

  “Ya sure ya big chicken you will feel safe up there will ya?” Issy gives him a little push.

  Jeff heads towards the river, “Sounds good to me, if they can cross it that easy I am sure it isn’t too deep.”

  Monica heads down the little hill after the other three, “Let’s see how cold the water is first.”

  They are soon on the other side putting their socks and shoes back on. “Ha that’s a real good look on you Pete, you should have worn shorts like the rest of us.” Jeff is laughing.

  Issy laughs back, “No Pete here never wears anything but his jeans. He’s embarrassed to show us his skinny legs.”

  Pete is unrolling his wet pant legs and putting them over his cowboy boots, “Ya sure, whatever you say. I will race you up the hill there, dear pumpkin.”

  Issy and Monica are already running towards the hill, and Jeff and Pete jog after them. Once they manage to scramble up the hill at about the same time, they all huff and puff and look around at their surroundings. They all first look towards where the horses have headed, and are disappointed that they are no longer in sight. But what they do see in that direction is very satisfying indeed.

  “That is frickin awesome! I sure have to admit I have never seen a herd of bison before. There must be thirty of them,” Pete says while shielding his eyes from the sun. “They are beautiful but I bet you don’t want to get any closer than this.” Issy is also shielding her eyes from the sun.

  Monica starts walking carefully along the top of the hill in the direction of the herd. “Ya but let’s get a little closer while trying to stay up here.”

  Jeff follows her, “Sure, but watch your step baby, I don’t want you tumbling down into the river.”

  The four of them walk slowly along the ridge until they have a much better look at the herd that are hanging out, in and around the river. They all sit down and enjoy the show. “Hey look, that looks like the horses we saw earlier.” Monica is pointing to where the two horses are joining the herd of bison as if they are all old friends.

  “This is amazing, I am sure glad we decided to join you guys camping. We would have stayed at another boring dumpy motel along the highway and seen nuthin but trucks going by. So, Pete are we going to keep trying this camping stuff together?”

  “For sure pumpkin, for frickin-sure!”

  That night they are back sitting around the fire again with their bag of marshmallows. They are all feeling very good about themselves. “That was unbelievable today, the mountains and forests of British Columbia will be incredible but I doubt we will ever see anything quite that beautiful. As far as animals go anyway.” Monica says this as she is checking her progress of her mallow browning.

  Jeff blows the two marshmallows out that he has let catch fire. “Ya we saw a bunch of pictures like that on Google Earth, but to see that in real life was way cooler. Stupid us though, none of us brought a camera, or even have our phones to take pictures.”

  “Ya, we left our cell phones at home. Neither of them was anything special, Jeff’s contract was up and I gave mine to my friend Christine. Do you guys not have cell phones?”

  Issy has browned her marshmallow to perfection again and is picking at it, “No mine was a crappy pay as you go, and Pete here, well Pete is stuck in the seventies with his car and his music, so he doesn’t want to join the twenty-first century.”

  “The world got along just fine before all this technology and I am getting along just fine without it thanks.” Pete has given u
p on cooking his marshmallows properly and is leaving them in the fire to see how burnt he can make them. “Hey Jeff, do you have a campground picked out for us for tomorrow night?”

  “Not really, I am hoping we get to Butte Montana, it’s about 500 miles from here. There are lots of good campgrounds in the area but I wrote down a few that are close to town. They don’t have a lot of sites though so we will probably just take the first one we find that has a spot for us.”

  Pete has started rolling another joint. “Ya, I’m not sure about going that far in one day with my car. We will have to start early then and see how it goes.”

  Issy licks her finger and thumb, “How far will we be from Spokane from there?”

  Jeff puts a small log on the fire, “Butte is just over 300 miles from Spokane. I figure we are going to want to camp near Spokane, then we split and go our separate ways the next day. And as I was telling you yesterday, we will both have close to 300 miles to go on that last day.”

  Monica has finished eating her latest marshmallow, “That sucks that we only have two more nights together. The four of us should get together for a camping trip this summer, late August maybe.”

  Issy is cooking another marshmallow, “Ya definitely we have to get together at least once more this summer. We could meet somewhere in between so we share the driving distance.”

  “Hey I know. You can come up to Canada, it will be a real culture shock for Pete here,” says Jeff.

  “Do ya think so? I am liking this traveling, so the idea of going to another country is cool.” Pete licks the paper to finish his joint.

  “No, I was just kidding. You won’t hardly notice any difference. If you went to Quebec it would be different, because of all the French, but the rest of the country doesn’t feel much different than here. I bet a place like New York City would probably feel more foreign to you than most places in Canada.”

  “And hopefully Pete won’t be rolling joints the next time we see each other. I don’t like how Jeff keeps looking at his joint as if he wishes you would pass it to him.” Monica says, and then gives Jeff’s hand a little squeeze.

  “Oh ya either Pete is quitting or I will be coming to visit Canada by myself.” Issy says, and then gives Pete a tiny punch on his shoulder.

  Pete is holding the burning joint and holding in his smoke after lighting it. He finally exhales the smoke, “Here pumpkin enjoy it now with me then, while you have the chance.” He passes her the joint.

  Issy grabs it and has a small puff. She holds it in for only a few seconds and blows the smoke into the fire, “We only have two more nights, after this one, before we get to Seattle. I want us both to be straight when we get to my uncle’s place so let’s make sure that we smoke our last joint when we are camping in Spokane.”

  Pete’s exhales another lung full of smoke, “Ya that sounds fine with me, I have enough for two or three joints each night, then I will be done for good.”

  _____________________________

  “Hi Samantha, it’s Victoria.” Victoria is standing in the kitchen by herself and has just phoned her neighbour.

  “Oh, hi Victoria, I was just going to phone you. Tony did real well on his first day. He got along well with everyone. A little too well in fact, with my paralegal Sophia, who he is supposed to be assisting. The two seemed to be flirting with each other all day. At least whenever I was in the office, but he seemed to understand everything we were showing him so I am sure he will be a big help.”

  “Well that sounds nice, I want to thank you for giving him a chance. How old is this girl?”

  “She is only twenty-three, so what’s that? Four years older than him? Sophia is a nice girl and real smart and real pretty. We have her doing too much though so I am happy to have him help her out three days a week. Then when he starts school in the fall we will give him some hours around his classes.”

  “I am so relieved that Tony has decided to go back to school.” Victoria pulls out a chair and sits down. “How about your daughter Andrea? Is she still down in Florida?”

  “Yes she’s still in Miami. My sister Nancy wanted her to come down there and be with her. They’re both computer freaks. Andrea just finished her first year at Miami University. Nancy doesn’t have any family down there so she loves having Andrea stay with her.” Samantha pauses to catch her breath. “But I miss her so much, I have only seen her three times in over a year. What about Monica? Tony said something about her phoning you last night.”

  “Oh, Samantha I don’t know what got into that silly girl. And to do this less than a week from her eighteenth birthday is so disrespectful to us, don’t you think?”

  “Ya but Victoria you were that age once too. I’m sure you weren’t an angel, I know I wasn’t. She’s a sharp one that girl, so she will do just fine. Did they get to B.C. yet?”

  “No, it’s going to take a few more days. I certainly don’t want them rushing anything on that motorcycle. They were camping in North Dakota last night apparently.”

  “You sure have to envy them a little though Victoria, to be so young and free to pursue such an adventure.”

  “Ya I guess so Samantha but I am worried about her, they are travelling now with a couple from the States. She has never been away from home like this so I know she is smart but anything can happen.”

  “It’s hard I know, I experienced the same apprehension when Andrea first moved away but we have to trust that we have taught them a few basic lessons that will carry them through life and get them where they are meant to go.”

  “Well Samantha as long as Monica gets to university soon like Andrea is already doing, then I will be happy for her, and feel better about what I have taught her.”

  “I am sure she will be going soon but be patient with her for now and let her have some fun.”

  I leap into the air and land softly on my Palace front lawn. There’s the bird. It’s so slow and stupid it doesn’t even notice me yet. With a quick pounce I land on the bird and hold it down. I bite the neck. Yuck! What? “MEOWW!” OUCH! Why? Where did that dog come from? “MEEEOOW!” CATSERVER! HELP! I’m eating a bird, a dog’s eating me “MEEEEOOOOWWW” AHHHHHH!... Hunh? What’s this? Oh thank The Great Sphinx! It was just all a bad dream. A very bad dream. I think I had that same dream before. What a nuisance. I wonder what that means? What is the purpose of my mind traveling down a dark path without my body? Does it make me braver experiencing such terror? I have no one to ask of these questions. Why does this solitary existence in my Palace feel so unfair at times? I only ever have one cat to talk to.... and I’m talking to her. In fact I can’t stop talking. I guess that’s why I have nightmares. It is my mind paying me back for all the talking it has to put up with while I am awake. Sometimes I wish I was as simple as catservers. I am sure they don’t have such problems. Their minds are so simple I am sure they are mostly waiting to serve us Cats.

  _____________________________

  “Hey Monica, I was thinking about what you said last night about birds not having as advanced brains as your little piggies.” Pete tosses the remains of another joint into the fire.

  Monica has been sitting staring into the flames, “Ya Pete, I read that bird brains are much less advanced than mammal’s.”

  “I’m not so sure. What about crows? We have lots of crows where I live in Duluth and I have been watching them. And I have started talking to them recently.”

  “Seriously Pete? You’ve been talking to crows?” Jeff says while sitting looking into the flames beside Monica.

  “Oh ya he’s serious. He goes outside his house and goes ‘Caw caw caw,’ every time there is a crow in the area.” Issy has been spending most of her time staring at the other three.

  “And just what are these crows telling you Pete?” Monica is seeing Pete in a new light, mostly a fire light.

  Pete smiles while staring into the fire, “They almost always ‘caw caw’ back to me, or more accurately, to each other as if they are talking about me
. And the other crows always answer the one crow when it is cawing as if they are having a conversation. I actually went on the internet to see what the experts think about them, and they are saying that they think crows are as smart as chimps or apes.”

  “Ya my stoned little Pete here wants to be Dr. Doolittle and talk to the animals.” Issy shoves Pete playfully, laughing.

  “I’m serious, think about it. NASA and lots of space nerds are trying desperately to find intelligent life to talk to on the other side of the universe. Yet we have lots of intelligent life here on planet earth. It makes no sense to me that they think we will be able to communicate with these so called intelligent beings billions of miles away and we can’t even communicate with the beings here that share our planet.”

  “You’re right Pete. I read a book recently about a lady on our Canadian west coast and all she does is listen to killer whales talk. She says that those whales could actually be smarter than humans.” Monica is still staring at Pete as she says this.

  Jeff pokes his marshmallow stick into the fire, making it collapse in a burst of sparks, “Can you imagine if our big time scientists finally make contact with some species on the other side of the galaxy and the transmission comes back as ‘Caw caw caw!’ Our scientists would shit their pants and our crows would get excited and start talking to their relatives and the humans would have no clue what the hell they are saying.”

  Pete grabs Issy’s hand and squeezes it gently and gives her a quick kiss on her warm cheek. “Ya it drives me a little crazy that us humans think we are so smart that we will be able to communicate with some life form that we have never even imagined before but we don’t have a clue how to talk to these life forms that have been around since before we got here. In so many ways humans are so stupid.”

  Issy has to add, “Yep we are all great big dumbasses.”