by Darrel Bird
Part 6
Owen approached the lake and began walking along the shore line looking for fresh tracks.
He came across the tracks of the wolf pack where they had come down to water then returned the same way they had come, he saw no other tracks.
He stationed himself to wait a few hundred feet the other side of those tracks and settled down with his back to a large rock to wait.
I know I have been taking Becky’s death out on that woman, and none of this is her fault. His thoughts drifted through his mind like the snow flakes that drifted slowly down to the ground. His memory took him to blissful places and better times.
The soothing memories brought his mind full circle to the car accident as he looked over and saw Becky’s white face frozen in death, he reached out for her, then saw her laying there in her casket, and he cried.
He awoke startled by the sound of a scuffling as an eagle swooped in for the kill on a rabbit not ten feet away.
His hands had gone completely numb, and he realized he had been asleep. I’ve got to watch that, I can’t be letting myself go to sleep out here. Even if I don’t care that woman has a home, and she needs to get back to it.
From that point on his mind was made up to get out alive if he possibly could, and it gave him purpose, something to live for.
He saw no other activity that day and proceeded back to the cabin empty handed. He knocked the snow off his boots on the steps and tried to open the door.
He heard footsteps quickly approach the door, and a chair scraped on the floor. The door opened. “I put a chair in front of the door; I was afraid of the wolves.” She said as she stood aside for him.
“They won’t attack the cabin, but it’s a good idea to be sure the door is secured. I didn’t find anything today.” He stripped off his coat and hung it on a peg near the door.
“I found a bucket out back today.” She proudly pointed to a rusted bucket by the stove.
“I thought I told you not to go out alone.”
“I had to go to the bathroom.”
“From now on go in the bucket, and then dump it off the porch. You can’t outrun wolves and bears.”
“I thought bears slept in winter?”
“That’s not true; they come out to hunt.”
“Oh.”
“I’m useless here aren’t I?”
“No, you’re not useless; you can learn to survive and get back to your home.”
“By watching you?”
“Well…I’m all you’ve got at the moment; do you see anybody else in here?”
“No.” She said in a small voice, and it humbled him.
“I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to be sharp.”
“That’s ok.”
He saw that she had burned a minimal amount of wood that day.
“You are learning.”
“I’ve had some of the bear meat simmering all day; it should be tender by now.”
He walked over to the stove and lifted the lid on the iron pot. He took a fork and stabbed a piece of the meat. It was delicious.
“I forgot to tell you to cut more meat, but I see you really are learning; you raised the meat back off the ground.”
“I had to use the ax, the meat was frozen harder than a rock.”
“One of the advantages out here, we don't need a refer.”
She smiled then the smile faded, “Do you think we can leave here soon? I cannot imagine what my husband is going through.”
“I’ve already told you we have to wait until spring.”
“I don’t think I can stay cooped up here that long.”
“I’ll take you with me hunting, when I can make you something to go on your feet.”
“Would you? I’ll try not to get in your way.”
“We have to take it as it comes; live in the here and now if we can expect to get out of here alive. This country won’t forgive a mistake, if we can both get our minds wrapped around that, we have a chance.”
“I nearly made a fatal mistake today, and I don’t intend to make another one. I went to sleep on the stand out there today because I had my mind on the past; the past can get us both killed out here.”
“Do you pray?” She asked.
“I used too, after the accident I haven’t.”
“What happened?”
“I don’t want to talk about it, its better that way. Let’s just leave it at that.”
“One other thing, it bothers me about sleeping in the same bed with someone who is not my husband; I am a Christian woman, and I do pray.”
“Fair enough, I just don’t see as you have any other choice, the time we sleep is when we need to conserve firewood the most and three old quilts barely keep us warm enough to sleep now and its going to get colder; we have to sleep in our clothes anyway; You'll have to forget about privacy, and we do what we have to do to stay alive.”
It did get colder that very day; she lay next to this man and shivered from the cold and from the sound of the wolf pack as they howled their mournful cry of the wild.
When she awoke the room was warm, and he was not in the cabin, she heard a noise and looked out the window to see him carrying wood up to the little porch, he threw the wood down by the porch and headed back into the trees.
She put on her shoes and began carrying the pile of wood into the cabin to stack along the wall; the wood was badly depleted.
He came out of the woods carrying another load, brought it on up the steps and into the cabin where he added it to the stack.
He looked at her with approval, even that short time with shoes that were practically no shoes at all, and her feet were wet and very cold.
“Pull your shoes off and put them under the stove to dry, I’ll get some more wood later today; the light is hardly enough to see by.”
She did as he said then busied herself around the cabin, she made the bed, then ladled some of the steaming meat onto the two tin plates they had. She handed him the plate, and he sat against the wall with it.
“You can sit at the table.”
“I’ll sit here, thanks.”
She sat down at the table and bowed her head, only her lips moved. He watched her as he ate.
“Why are you watching me?”
“Because you are a pretty woman, that’s why.”
She blushed and bowed her head, but said nothing.
“I’ve got to look for some edible plants today; we’ll eventually get sick on just meat alone.”
“What do you expect to find?”
“Oh, cattail roots, Eskimo potato, Lingon berries, that sort of thing, I need to make another kill by day-after tomorrow at least. Did you get every bit of the flesh off the bear pelt?”
“I think so. It stinks up the cabin though.”
“The smell will eventually lessen and then; we can use it for a cover at night.”
He looked steadily at her, “Tell you what; I’ll make you some temporary boots to go over those shoes out of the pack so you can go with me on the stand tomorrow. If we can get a Moose or deer we can make you some better ones.”
“Do you think we can get one?”
“I don’t know, but if we did, two would be better than one to haul the meat and skin back.”
He walked out and began washing his tin plate with the snow, and she followed his example.
When he was finished, he gathered up the pack and measuring her feet began to fashion a sort of boot with his knife.