Once the newlyweds had finished their breakfast, they packed up their backpacks. Once they had found enough food for the trip, they locked up the house and began the long hike up to the mountains. As they crossed the bridge to the other side of the river, Blacky appeared on the trail. Ginger kneeled down and again rubbed and scratched his neck. When she stood back up, Blacky ran up the trail a short distance and then turned and looked back. Ginger wondered what the cat was thinking, but decided she would probably never find out.
As they continued up the trail, they spotted Blacky a couple times up ahead of them. He seemed to be waiting for them; trying to coax them to hurry. When they found the trail up to Monique’s cabin, they stopped for a moment to drink some water. When they began the hike up the steep hill, they could hear laughter up ahead of them. When they topped the crest of the high mountain plateau, they saw a huge banner hanging between two of the huge oak trees. The sign read, “Welcome home Ginger and James.” Ginger put her hands over her mouth to keep the sounds of her sobs from disturbing James. He walked up behind her and asked, “Did you really thing we could keep this marriage a secret? Charles and Sally were with us every step of the way.”
When Ginger walked up to where her friends stood waiting for her, she ran the last ten feet and wrapped her arms around Natalie’s neck. As the two women cried in each other’s arms, Monique walked down to where James waited. She said, “I guess you should put your things into Ginger’s room. We have painted the walls in your room blue. A boy child will fit in quite nicely here in the Seine Mountains.” James stood looking at Monique and finally managed to say, “Ginger and I were just married and I can assure you she is not pregnant.” Monique said, “Time will tell. The mountain has its little mysteries.”
When they walked into the cabin, the smell of roasting venison filled the air. James walked up to the huge fireplace and saw the meat hung on a spit that slowly turned on its own over the hot coals below it. James watched for a minute or two before turning around to see what had made the girls start giggling. When he saw blue baby clothes magically floating in the air around the girls and slowly turning so the girls could inspect them, he decided he needed to sit down. When the clothes moved back over the table, folded themselves in midair, and then settled neatly down into the cardboard boxes where they belonged, James just shook his head.
Natalie walked up behind James and put her hands on his shoulders. She leaned down and said, “You will soon get used to Monique’s ways and the magic of this mountain. Don’t let what you see spook you. The magic of this mountain protects the humans that live here. It also protects itself from harm that humans might impose upon it. Do not fear the magic, it will simply flow around you and give meaning to your existence.
When the meat finished cooking, they set the table. Then Ginger stepped up onto the fireplace hearth, cut off the back straps and placed them on the platter that Natalie held. Then she cut off one-inch thick strips off the loin and placed them on the platter. As Natalie sat the platter of food on the table, Ginger retrieved the baked potatoes that Natalie had nestled down in the hot coals earlier in the day. The outside of the potatoes were blackened, but James knew they would be steamy hot and tasty on the inside, especially with fresh goat butter on them.
As they sat and ate their meal, James and Ginger discussed their plans to live in the cabin overlooking the river. Monique looked into James eyes and said, “Your son will enjoy his life there. We will help you school and educate him as he grows. We will teach him the ways of this mountain and how to become one with its lore.” James started to protest Monique’s suggestion that Ginger was pregnant, but when he looked into Ginger’s eyes, he closed his mouth and dropped the subject.
As darkness closed in around the tiny cabin in the Seine Mountain, Ginger stepped up behind James at the sink and asked, “Are you ready for bed?” James finished brushing his teeth and then turned around to face his wife. He said, “I am ready.” As they walked into the blue bedroom and crawled under the covers, Ginger whispered, “If you are very quiet, I will make love to you.” James whispered back, “I promise not to make a sound.”
As the two lovers heartbeats slowly returned to normal, Ginger whispered, “Husband, you must understand that Monique truly believes I am pregnant. You and I both know that is not the case. From this point forward, you and I must decide if we want to raise a child now or in the future. I most likely will not conceive tonight, but we will have to be very careful in the future if we wish to postpone starting a family.” James pulled Ginger down beside him and said, “I would like to wait for a while. The winter months are brutal here in the mountains and we will need to work hard this first winter to prepare the cabin and stock up a good wood supply. I will also need to build an animal proof shack to store a winter meat supply. I would not want to have you delivering a child up here in the mountains during the winter and not be able to get you down to the hospital.” Ginger giggled and said, “There is no way I am having my baby in a nasty hospital. We will deliver our child here on the mountains with Monique’s help.” James started to protest his wife’s words, but decided her decision was most likely reasonable.
The newlywed’s discussion came to an abrupt end when Blacky jumped up on the bed. Then they heard Natalie giggling in the next bedroom. She said aloud, “Will you two quit talking; the rest of us need some sleep.” Ginger said, “Shush girl. You are just jealous that I have a man in my bed.” Monique said, “Why don’t all of you get some sleep. We have a long hike tomorrow down to James home to begin sending his belongings up to his cabin on the mountain. We need to have everything sorted and ready for the auction.”
Ginger kissed James and rolled over on her side. James snuggled up close to her back and soon fell asleep. When Ginger had also fallen asleep, Blacky lay down at the foot of the bed and soon dreamed of a baby boy chasing him around the cabin and trying to ride him like a horse.
***
As the auctioneer worked the crowd and finally got the best bid he could, he said, “Going, going, going twice, going twice, gone. Sold to bidder number twelve.” Ginger turned to James and said, “You got a good price for the house. With what you made selling your furniture and motorcycle, you have done well. You have enough to pay off your mortgage. The rest we can hide away at the cabin to use in case we need to do roof repairs or such things in a few years.” James laughed and said, “If the roof needs repair, I will not be flying roofing materials up there with a helicopter, I will simply ask Monique to give me a hand. All it will cost me is a yearling buck in the fall; maybe a chicken or two to go with it.” Ginger giggled and said, “We will need books: Books to school our child and maybe a Grandfather Clock to teach him how to tell time.” James said, “The clock is a great idea. We could purchase one today and send it up to the cabin while Monique is still here with us.”
When everyone arrived at James cabin, they all went to work cleaning the place up. Then Charles helped James cut logs to build a storage building. As they worked setting the logs and putting a roof on the building, Blacky said, “You need a cold storage room under the cabin. We should do that today. The berries are ripening in the forest and the girls could can them while they are here.” When Blacky walked away from Charles and James, they heard the girls laughing inside the cabin. Then they saw dirt begin piling up around the outside walls of the newly built storage building. The men stepped back and watched as the dirt completely enclosed three sides of the building, leaving only the doorway uncovered. Charles laughed and said, “Great. The dirt will insulate the building and help keep the bears and animals from gaining access. If we build a strong door with heavy hinges, the bears will not be able to break it down.”
When the men stepped into the cabin to see the new cold storage room, they stood beside the girls that were looking down into a newly created hole in the kitchen floor. Blacky had created the access door to the underground storage area along an outside wall. A hinged door stood open and leaned back against the wall.
There was a set of stairs leading down into the room. James lit a lantern and walked down the stairs. When he stepped out onto the dirt floor, he realized that Blacky had created shelving along the walls and there were metal hooks hanging from the floor joists overhead where they could hang cured meat. The room was as large at the interior of the cabin above and it would provide ample storage to feed the family for an entire winter. When James walked back upstairs, he looked down at Blacky and said, “I have no idea how you created this cold storage room, but I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Natalie spoke to Monique and asked if she thought the smokehouse at their cabin could provide enough smoked meat to keep both cabins fully stocked, Monique thought it would. She turned to James and said, “Remember, when you kill a large animal, do not try to move it around in the forest. Blacky or I will move the carcass for you to insure the bears or wolves do not track you back to our homes. We will also move your smoked meat from our smokehouse to your cabin.” Ginger stepped up to her husband and said, “Living up here in the mountains is heavenly, but you must become one with the predators that roam these forests. They consider you prey just as they do any deer or other animal that moves about. Please be aware of your surroundings as you hunt and travel these forests. Natalie and I always hunt together. I think the three of us will have to team up and work together to provide fish and meat for our tables.”
Once their guests packed up and headed back up the mountain to Monique’s cabin, James said, “We will need to begin hunting, fishing, gathering wild edibles and cutting fire wood right away. Ginger stepped up to him and said, “Tomorrow we can begin cutting wood and splitting it. There is an abundance of dead wood lying on the ground all around this cabin. I suggest that we begin cutting a small trail towards the west. As we cut wood, we can then stack it along the edge of the trail we cut. It will be easy to gather the wood later and sled it back to the cabin once we have snow on the ground. The wood will also split easier after is gets cold.” James said, “There are hundreds of deer that hang around the cabin. It will be easy enough to harvest enough venison for the winter. There are also wild turkeys down below the cabin that roost in the trees. They require little effort to harvest. I think that the wood to heat the cabin is our greatest concern right now. Once we cut a trail, the deer and other creatures of the forest will follow it up to the cabin. Then we can harvest them.”
Within the first three weeks of living full time at the cabin, James and Ginger had filled the cold storage room with smoked meat. They harvested as many wild edibles as they could find and canned or dried them. They picked walnuts, acorns and other nuts from the forest that were falling to the ground and stored them in the outdoor storage building to dry. James built indoor wooden growing boxes that they sat in the living room up next to the windows of the front porch where they would receive as much sun as possible. Ginger planted carrots, radishes, peas and green beans in the boxes. She planted just a few of each at first, and then over the course of a few weeks, she planted more. Her intent was to have vegetables ready to eat all year long.
When the first heavy snow blanketed the mountain, James began setting traps to begin harvesting the fur bearing animals along the river. They shared the fresh meat with Natalie, Monique, Charles and Sally, and of course, they shared with the cats. By Christmas time, Charles had harvested over sixty martens. He had discovered a dense forest of spruce trees. It did not take long to thin out the population of the animals. He had quit trapping early to insure he did not over harvest the area. The marten fur was soft and well colored. James figured he could get a good price for the pelts when he took them to the city. Fur pelts were highly prized in the city. The fur traders would take the pelts down south and sell them to the garment industry.
***
On Christmas Day, a knock on the back door startled Ginger. She had not expected company. She had planned to cook a small meal for her husband when he returned from checking the traps. Ginger stepped around to the north-facing window to see who was at the door. She then realized that she could see Charles. When she got to the door and opened it, Monique, Natalie, Charles and Sally all had come to visit. They unloaded their rifles outdoors and then stepped inside. They took off their packs and then removed their boots. As Ginger hugged each of her guests, they all had to rub her swollen belly. When everyone had sat down at the table, Ginger sat down in a straight back chair at the end of the table. Charles said, “I cannot believe how wonderful you look, Ginger. This life is treating you good. When are you due?” Ginger said, “I suspect around the middle of June.” I would like to have this child in time to help James with the outdoor work. He has a building full of fur that needs tending to when the snow has melted. We plan to backpack them into the city and sell the fur to the fur buyers.” Monique said, “You will not be healed in time to help him by then. We will all insure that the fur gets down to the fur buyers when the time is right. Besides, you will have a child to care for.”
Ginger’s guests all opened up their backpacks and brought out food to heat up and put on the table for a Christmas dinner. James stomped the snow off his boots and entered the cabin. He laughed when he saw the company. He had seen tracks in the snow leading up to the cabin and hoped the visitors were friendly. As James took off his heavy clothes and stood by the fireplace to warm his cold body, Ginger handed him a hot cup of coffee. Then she stepped up close to her husband and rested her head on James shoulder. James sat the cup of coffee on the fireplace mantel and pulled his wife into his arms. She immediately began to cry. As he comforted her, she finally moved back away from him and said, “Sorry about the tears on Christmas Day, but having all the people I love here with us on Christmas has stirred my emotions. James wiped the tears from her eyes and said, “I think hormones are also at play here. She giggled and said, “I am certain of it.”
As they all sat down for Christmas dinner, James broke out a bottle of wine. He poured everyone’s glass half full, except for Ginger. He poured a tablespoon or so into her glass. She looked up into her husband’s eyes and said, “Thank you. I will sip that after I have some food in my belly. Don’t want to upset my sleeping tiger.”
***
On June 26, at four o’clock in the morning, exactly ten months after her marriage, Ginger gave birth to a seven-pound baby boy. The Seine Mountain trembled. The mountain had shook in the past; yet only those who lived in Ginger and James’s cabin knew the exact reason for the earthquake. As the child screamed with new life and the mountain trembled with renewed energy, everyone within fifty miles of the Seines woke to greet the birth of the child named, John.
Chapter 7 - A Child Twice Born
As Jeffrey pulled his truck into the driveway of his Grandmother’s now empty home, he saw a large black raven resting on the porch railing beside a white wooden rocking chair. The chair was slowly rocking in the breeze. From his memory, he could see his grandmother sitting there, rocking slowly, just as he had often found her in years past.
Just as Jeffrey stepped out of the truck and his feet touched the ground, a second black raven, one he had not seen earlier, squawked and flew up into a nearby tulip poplar in the side yard. As he unlocked the front door and stepped inside, he saw the two birds return to the porch, as if they had a purpose in being there. He considered their reasons for liking the porch, but really had no clue and dismissed it as something only the birds understood.
Jeffrey discovered a small black box under a pile of clothes in the back of his grandmother’s closet. As his fingers touched the top of the box, a rattling sound startled him. He quickly pulled his hand back: his first instinct was that a rattlesnake had found a home under the pile of clothes.
Someone, presumably his grandmother, had placed the box in the back corner of the closet and then covered it with clothing. As he thought about what had just happened, he realized that the sound he heard was not from a snake, but instead the sound came from within the box. This time when Jeffrey reached out and touched the lid the bo
x remained silent. He could see that the box had a pushbutton security lock on the top. He tried to lift the lid while the box remained in place, but the locking mechanism was secure.
Jeffrey picked the box up and carried it to the kitchen, where he sat it on the table, hoping to find the combination hidden somewhere in the house. As he stepped back from the box, he realized how beautiful it truly was. The box was made of rose wood and stained with black lacquer. The thin coat of lacquer accentuated the delicate grain of the rose wood. The box looked very old and heavily worn from years of use. He considered prying the box open with the screwdriver lying on the counter, but he really did not want to damage it. As he stared at the box, he made the decision to try to locate the combination before resorting to physical intervention.
After spending a day cleaning out and boxing up the things his grandmother had collected over her lifetime, he began sorting the pictures from the fireplace mantel and from the top of the television. He would save the family pictures; the rest he would toss into the dumpster. As Jeffrey turned one of the pictures over to fold down the cardboard stand built into the backing, he discovered a number printed on the back. The number looked strange and did not resemble a date or price. Jeffrey thought a moment and then had an inspiration. He retrieved the black box from the kitchen table and placed it on the coffee table. He sat down on the edge of the couch and began entering the numbers from the back of the picture into the keypad. At first, nothing happened, but then he heard a clicking sound coming from the interior of the box.
Ronnie Coleinger: A Winter Collection Page 18