by James Nelson
Stephen spent the rest of the afternoon sitting in the conservatory, reading a book from the library. After supper, Uncle Phil suggested they all retreat to the trophy room.
Phillip pulled out a card game called ‘Michigan Rummy’ and insisted they all play. Stephen resisted at first, because he had not played many card games, but the game was easy to learn. They spent the next three hours playing cards, drinking and having many laughs.
Uncle Philip looked at his watch. “My goodness, it’s almost eleven o’clock. I think we’ve played enough cards for one night.”
He folded up the Michigan Rummy board, said good night to everyone and got up to leave. As he was leaving, Britt also said her good nights and walked out, arm-in-arm with Phillip.
Stephen walked with Jeanette as far as her door and then headed up to his room. Once in his room, he pulled out his sketch book, some charcoal sticks and started sketching. He was feeling very content. His uncle’s place was far removed from New York City. He had met some very interesting people and he was sure this was going to be a summer to remember. He hadn’t thought of Jill for quite some time.
He walked over to the window. The wind had picked up and he could hear it whistling through the pines. Stephen watched as whitecaps rose down along the shoreline. He returned to his chair and picked up his sketch book.
His door was only partially closed. He heard soft footsteps outside in the hall. He glanced up from his sketch and saw Britt, holding a book, as she walked past his door. She was wearing a silky floor length robe that covered her feet. She moved so quietly and smoothly it appeared that she was gliding along the floor.
Stephen turned back to his drawing. He was trying to sketch an Indian standing on a cliff looking towards Lake Superior, but it just wasn’t working out the way he had intended. He remembered seeing a book of American Indians sitting open on a table in the library. That book would be perfect source material for his sketch.
He started for the library then stopped. Maybe it was not such a good idea being in the library alone with Britt, after what had happened. After a moment of speculation, he decided that he wasn’t going to hide from Britt for the whole summer. He would just go straight to the library, grab the book and head back to his room.
Stephen approached the open library door. He stepped in and looked around. No Britt. He walked over and picked up the book. It was on the oak table just where he remembered it. He glanced around the library again. Britt was nowhere to be seen.
Stephen returned to his room. He found a picture of an old Indian chief with a very weathered and sculptured face. It was perfect. He started sketching. He wondered how Britt could have left the library and gone back downstairs without him noticing. Stephen thumbed through the book and started reading about the various Indian tribes that had inhabited northern Michigan. He set his sketchbook aside and took the book over to the bed.
After twenty minutes, he fell asleep, the book resting heavily on his chest.
Chapter 16
The next day, Stephen was restless. Uncle Phillip was busy working and Stephen could see Jeanette going back and forth from her office to Uncle Phillip’s.
He walked up to the library, but once there, the sunshine and clear blue sky made it impossible for Stephen to want to stay inside. He decided to take a walk. Stephen headed downstairs and made his way to the conservatory. The room was huge with floor to ceiling windows running along each wall. Potted plants were arranged around the perimeter of the room and brown rattan furniture with green cushions was set in assorted groupings.
Stephen walked outside. Immediately, the warmth of the sun beat down on him. It seemed the Manor always had a slightly damp feeling inside, no matter what the weather was like. When Jeanette had shown him this path the first time, they had walked to the right. Seeking a different view, Stephen turned left. The path meandered between the conservatory and the pond. Many different kinds of flowers were planted and the shrubs were well manicured. Once Stephen reached the end of the main house, the path continued over to Britt’s cottage.
“Hello, Stephen.”
Stephen turned to see Britt sitting on a bench under a vine covered trellis. She was drinking coffee and smoking a cigarette while flipping through a magazine. To Stephen, Britt reminded him of a picture of Jayne Mansfield he had seen in a purloined men’s magazine back at school. Her breasts looked like ice cream cones under her soft, short sleeved, angora sweater.
Britt motioned for Stephen to join her.
“Cigarette?” Britt offered.
“No, thanks.”
“So, how are you enjoying your summer at Cliffside Manor?” Britt asked.
“It’s great. The estate is spectacular and everyone’s been so friendly. I’m looking forward to doing some hiking along the lake. I really needed to get away.”
“I know. I love it here. It’s so quiet and out of the way. I feel peaceful being surrounded by these forests.”
Britt paused to take a puff from her cigarette.
“Your uncle is always trying to get me to go with him back to Hollywood, but the thought of leaving, even for a short time, is unbearable.”
“I’ve never been to California, but I always heard it was nice.”
“I don’t have many good memories of my time in California. It can be a very nasty place, professionally speaking. Enough about that.”
Britt shook her head. “Phillip tells me that you were supposed to be backpacking in Europe but those plans fell through.”
“Talk about unpleasant memories. Yes, my supposed girlfriend bailed out on me at the last minute and told me she was going to Europe with another guy. I just didn’t see that coming.”
Britt turned to Stephen and put her hands on his arm. “You’re a very handsome man, Stephen. I’m sure there are many other beautiful girls just waiting for you to ask them out.”
One of Britt’s hands was rubbing his arm while the other was caressing the top of his hand. Stephen was feeling very uncomfortable. The last thing he needed was to have Uncle Phillip walk around the corner and see this.
Stephen stood up. “Thanks for the kind words, Britt. I hope you’re right.” He pulled his hand away.
“I’m going to continue my walk and enjoy this morning breeze before it goes away. I’ll see you back at the house.”
Britt did not reply. She glanced down and returned to her magazine.
Stephen headed down the trail that led to the log slide overlook. He walked over to the small retainer wall and stared out over the lake. He watched as two hikers walked along a trail. The cliff was so high, they looked to be only about an inch tall.
Stephen’s encounter with Britt made him think about Jill again. He wondered where she was in Europe and what she was doing. He wondered if she ever thought about him anymore.
Suddenly Stephen felt a force push hard against his shoulders. Before he could steady himself, he went sailing over the wall. He fell straight down ten feet, hit the soft sand of the dune and started to tumble uncontrollably down the steep slope. He tried desperately to stop rolling and slow his decent.
After tumbling halfway down the three hundred foot incline, Stephen was able to turn onto his back and slide the rest of the way feet first. Sand was hitting him everywhere. It was in his hair, his mouth and under his shirt.
Finally, he stopped sliding. Stephen lay still at the edge of the shore. He was winded and shaken up. Thankfully, the soft sand had prevented any broken bones.
Stephen stood up and shook the sand from his body. He looked back up to the distant cliff edge. He didn’t see anyone, but that did not surprise him. He continued to brush the sand out of his hair and started the long climb back up to the overlook.
Lunch was over by the time Stephen scaled the dune. It didn’t make a difference, he was too exhausted to eat. He went up to his room, took a shower and flopped onto his bed.
Stephen was awakened by a soft knock. His muscles ached as he got up and headed for the door.
“Hi, Jeanette. Come in.”
“Are you okay?” She asked him.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Everyone was a little worried. You didn’t show up for lunch and nobody has seen you all afternoon. Britt said she saw you this morning headed to the overlook, but nobody’s seen you since. I thought I would check to see if you were in your room.”
“I’m fine, I guess. Remember how you said I should slide down the log slide and then climb back up someday?”
“Yes.”
“Well guess what? That’s what I did today.”
“Oh, it sure didn’t take you long to give it a try. You must be very adventurous.”
“Not as adventurous as you may think. It wasn’t even my idea.”
“What do you mean?”
“I was pushed!”
Jeanette looked puzzled. “Pushed? Who pushed you?”
“Good question. I don’t know.”
Chapter 17
The next day, as they worked at the campground, Scott and Joe fine-tuned their plan of what to do if they were lucky enough to run into the guy Stephen thought was following him.
“Scotty”, Joe said. “This reminds me of those mystery books we used to read as a kid.”
“I know. You’re already Joe, so maybe you should be calling me Frank from now on,” Scott said with a chuckle.
After supper, they headed straight over to The Freighter to see if their suspect showed up. They had toyed with the idea of calling Moon to come too, but decided they didn’t need him. Scott thought they could recognize the guy if he came in, based on Stephen’s sketch.
In the car, Scott asked Joe, “Are we all set?”
“Yeah, it’s in the trunk. Let’s hope the guy shows.”
“If he’s gonna go out, where else can he go?” Scott asked.
As they approached the bar, Scott and Joe peered into the big plate glass windows. A few tourists were sitting at tables, but no sign of the guy and no sign of Moon, either. They took their usual places at the bar.
”Where do you think Moon is? I thought he about lived in this place,” Joe asked.
“I heard he was getting some dough to hold a sign in front of Mr. Kahle’s place.”
“No shit!” Joe exclaimed. “Who’s footing the bill for something as stupid as that?”
“I heard it was some big national hunting organization. I guess they’re fed up with the stink Mr. Kahle’s girlfriend is causing. She was on the news a few months ago, remember?”
“I wonder if this guy we’re looking for has anything to do with that?” Joe asked.
“Hmmm, I wond...” Scott’s sentence was cut off. Scott was looking into the large mirror behind the bar.
“Joe, look who’s coming in.”
Joe glanced up at the mirror. Sure enough, a man fitting Stephen’s description was opening the door. Crumpled suit, dark complexion, nose on the side of his face. He walked straight towards them and sat down two barstools to Joe’s right.
“Bingo!” Joe whispered.
Paulie ordered a whiskey and water and looked around. The place was pretty empty. The two guys next to him looked to be locals, everyone else seemed to be tourists. Paulie still needed a little more information.
Paulie motioned to the bartender, “Hey, buddy, get these two guys a beer on me.”
The bartender set down two drafts in front of Scott and Joe and nodded, indicating that they had come from the man in the suit.
Scott jumped to the occasion. He drained what was left of his first beer, grabbed the one Paulie had just bought and headed over to where he was sitting.
“Thanks for the beer.” Scott held out his hand. “I’m Scott and this is my cousin Joe.”
“You guys from around here?” Paulie asked, even though he thought he knew the answer.
Joe piped in, “Yeah. We work at the Grand View Campground. Real nice place. You should check it out if you need a place to stay.”
“A campground? No, not for me. I got a nice room at the Log Slide Mot…” Paulie stopped short. “Ah, I’m staying in a place down the road.”
Scott took a sip from his beer. “If you got some free time, there’s a lot of things to see around here. We got the Pictured Rocks, that’s nice. Have you been to Tahquamenon Falls? It’s about a hundred miles from here, but it’s real nice, too.”
“No. I got some business up here.” Paulie said.
Scott pretended not to hear him. Scott gave a nod to Joe.
“Another interesting place is that big house just outside of town.” Joe said. “You can’t go in and walk around, but it’s kind of famous around here. It belongs to a movie director named Kahle. You ever heard of him?”
Paulie gave a start. “Yeah, I heard of him.”
“That guy’s a piece of work.” Joe continued. “He drives around in a fancy car like he owns the place. He gets people to work for him and he don’t pay them shit. We can’t stand him.”
Paulie perked up. “Really? I got this guy that want’s me to take a look at that place, but I hear you can’t get past the gate. I drove over there yesterday. There was a bunch of guys walking around with some signs. I didn’t know what they were up to so I got the hell outta there.”
“Why does he want you to take a look at the place?” Scott asked.
“It’s one of them real estate deals. My guy’s real famous. He don’t want everyone to know he’s looking to buy. You know, then the damn price goes up.”
“I didn’t know Cliffside Manor was for sale?” Joe asked.
“Good.” Paulie said. “That’s the way my guy wants it, you know what I mean?”
“I guess so.” Joe replied.
“So, you guys know a way to get in there other than through that damned locked gate, so I can take a good look around?”
“Are you kidding me?” Scott said, “That’s easy. I know an old logging road that can get you right to the back of that property.”
Paulie reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flashed a twenty dollar bill and said,”How about you show me and then forget anything happened?”
“You’ve got a deal” Scott said, “but keep your money. If we’re lucky, your buddy will buy Kahle’s place and the asshole will move back to Hollywood where he belongs. You want to go now before it gets real dark?”
“Yeah, let’s go!” Paulie nodded.
Scott, Joe and Paulie all piled into Scott’s car. As they drove out of town, Scott told Paulie about the old logging road they were headed to and how it meandered through the woods, finally ending up very close to the back of Cliffside Manor. Most of Scott’s information was true except the logging road ended up going miles in the opposite direction of Mr. Kahle’s property. Scott was not worried about this slight inaccuracy. If their plan worked, old Paulie would not be getting anywhere near Cliffside Manor.
The car turned onto the opening of a narrow, bumpy road. It had been a logging road forty years ago when loggers were working the land. Now, it was just a narrow overgrown path through dense forest.
Scott drove about a quarter of a mile and pulled over into a small clearing. They all got out. Paulie looked around. It was much darker in the forest than it had been on the main road.
Joe said “Youse guys get started. I’ve got to take a leak. Too many beers, I’ll catch up.”
“Okay”, Scott said. “Come on, Paulie, it’s this way.”
They started walking down the dense path. Paulie was moving slowly, his head turning from side to side. Scott was ahead of him, walking faster. Scott turned around to see where Paulie was.
“Come on, we need to get there before it gets dark.” Paulie started running up to Scott.
“Hey, not do damn fast. This ain’t a walk in the park. Maybe it’s too dark for this tonight. I’m thinking tomorrow is probably a better deal. You know, with more light and everything.”
Scott just kept walking.
Joe watched as they disappeared around the first turn in the path. H
e quietly popped opened the trunk and unrolled a bear skin rug that normally covered the floor in the basement of the Moose Lodge. He draped it over his shoulders and headed to a shortcut through the woods.
Every time Paulie heard a sound in the forest he would slow down and peer into the dense underbrush. This was causing Scott to get further and further ahead. Paulie looked up just in time to see Scott disappear around a bend in the path, two city blocks ahead.
“You son-of-a-bitch, wait for me!” he yelled.
Paulie’s heart was pounding. He was alone on the path, deep in the darkening woods. Paulie walked faster, hoping to catch up with Scott. The bushes exploded with a big crash right next to him. What the hell was that!
He froze in fear as a black bear rose up less than six feet away. It growled and lunged at him.
Paulie screamed. He dove off the path and started running blindly through the woods. Tree limbs slapped against his face and he stumbled to his knees. He got up and kept running. A sharp branch caught his suit coat. Paulie felt a tug and heard a ripping sound. He didn’t slow down.
Finally, winded, Paulie came to a stop. He bent over and heaved to catch his breath. He listened. The woods were quiet. The only sound Paulie could hear was his heavy breathing and the sound of his heart pounding. He was lost in the middle of the forest and it was almost dark.
He glanced around. There was no path, just an endless maze of trees. He wondered if it was safe to call out for Scott and Joe or would that just lead the bear right to him? Poor Joe, he was probably being ripped apart by the bear right now.
Paulie sat down on a stump and started to shake. His legs felt damp. He looked down and muttered, “Shit, I’ve pissed my pants.”
Joe did all he could to not laugh out loud. He rolled up the bear skin rug and headed back to the car. Scott was already behind the driver’s seat. Joe jumped in and they drove off. They were laughing too hard to even talk during the ride back to the bar. They parked in front of the Freighter View. Scott held the door open for Joe.