Nan's Journey (7 page)

There was something still wrong. There was no light in her eyes. “Love light” she heard a busybody woman say at a wedding in her hometown. Well, she had no love light
.
Did she love anyone?

Mary paused for a few moments to reflect on her life. Was there no one that could cause her to have love light in her eyes? After some intense thinking, Mary fin
ally thought of someone. Yes, there
was someone, the child that she would have someday. She thought of the child and looked in the mirror. Her eyes were somewhat warmer, but pain and trouble were mingled in with the new warmth of love.

She got out the old wooden ironing board and flat irons. After stoking the fire in the wood stove, she finally got the flat irons hot. She worked on smoothing the wrinkles out of the tired fabric until the first flat iron grew cold. She then proceeded to work with the second flat iron while the first one reheated on the stove. It was a long, tiring process, but she just had to look her best. Maybe she needed to look
better than her best.

Chapter
10

Winter would be coming on in a few weeks
, and s
igns of the change of season were everywhere. The aspen had put on their yellow coats and stood watch over the meadow
, and
Nan and Elmer were growing bronze and healthy with all the fresh air and good food. It was so beautiful here that Nan could almost forget the past.

She had taken a few clothes to the stream to wash when she heard a noise in the trees. It was men’s voices. She scurried to the tall brush and hid. They were talking loudly and their laughter boomed in the quiet meadow. There were three of them. They looked to be trappers with pelts laid across the back of a pack mule. They were anticipating the celebration they would have after the sale of their pelts.

Nan trembled and hoped that she would not be discovered. Fred had gone out to check his trap lines
and Elmer had gone with him
with
Rufus
trailing
along. She never anticipated seeing another human being while they were gone.

She listened to their banter as they let their horses drink from the stream. Hopefully they would not spy the wet clothes lying close to the bank. As they looked toward the cabin the tallest of the three spoke, “I reckon ole Fred wouldn’t mind if we got us a little grub.”

“Probably not.”

They seemed to be in agreement. They strode up to the cabin and opened the latch and let themselves in.

“Man oh man, this boy is stocked up!”

“Good, then it won’t run him short if we eat
,” s
aid the toughest looking one of the bunch. They stayed in the cabin for such a long time that Nan’s legs wer
e numb. She couldn’t have moved
if she had wanted to. Eventually they left the cabin and got on their horses with the pack mule in tow.

“Seemed like an excess of plates out to me, Sam. What do you think?”

“Maybe Fred got hisself a squaw.”

“Maybe.”

“He beats all I ever seen. Keepin’ to hisself all this time and now a squaw. Wonder if he reads that Bible to her.”

They roared with laughter most of the way down the mountain. The last intelligible words Nan heard was, “Imagine that, a Christian
Injun
woman! He’s quite the gent alright.”

Nan pulled her legs out from under her and waited for the painful tingle to hit them. She was so relieved to finally get out from the bushes. Stretching, she listened for their voices and heard nothing except the rush of the stream. Clumsily, she approached the cabin. They used quite a
few
supplies,
but at least they were gone
. She wondered where the dirty plates were, but realized after viewing the table that they hadn’t used any. There were few crumbs, signs of a meal eaten off the table.

She was glad that the trundle bed
was
put under the big one so the men wouldn’t know that there might be more than one new person living with Fred. She wiped off the table and used the makeshift broom to clean up the floor.

She had learned from Fred how to sweep a dirt floor to make it clean. He had showed her to sprinkle water on the dirt and then sweep lightly. The loose dirt would sweep away leaving a hard packed dirt surface.

He said that his wife, Claire, was just beginning to crochet a rag rug when she died. Her plans had been to put the colorful rag rug on the hardened dirt floor to make the room cozier. Nan had never learned to crochet, but she had a nice rag rug at home. She had to agree with Claire, they did make a room cozy.

Without warning, tears were streaming down Nan’s tanned cheeks at the thought of her home and mother. Mama had made such a wonderful home for her and Elmer and Dad.

Why did it all have to end so soon? Nan could hardly remember the details of how her mother looked. Actually all she could remember was the photograph that Mr. Dewey had made Mama put in the big trunk the day they were married. Nan snuck in and looked at it whenever Mary Dewey was in town getting supplies. She and Elmer just stared at the happy family inside the four walls of the picture frame.

Nan scolded herself, “Well, girl, quit crying. You are safe and Fred treats you and Elmer pretty fine.”

“What’s wrong, Nan” whispered Elmer as he looked into the cabin. Nan had left the door open and hadn’t heard Fred and Elmer walk up. She jumped in alarm, afraid that the trappers had returned. “I was just thinking about how life has as many bends in it as a little mountain creek.”

Elmer smiled, he liked the way Nan strung words together like a storybook. “I still don’t know what you mean, but I hope it was happy thinking, sister.”

Just then Fred ducked into the doorway. “How were things while we were gone, Nan?”

“Well, some trappers came by while I was at the creek and ate a good portion of our supply. I stayed hidden in the brush and didn’t try to stop them.”

“How many were there?”

“Three. A tall lanky man and a short red headed younger man and…”

“I know those men. They will leave us be. They probably went into Silverton to get some supplies and sell their pelts. They will probably stay on Blair
Street
until most of their money is spent on drink and…” Fred had forgotten that he was talking to naïve children and just let the words trail off. He knew that nothing good could come from hanging around Silverton’s Blair Street. He had tried it when Claire and Joy died and their memory still refused to be blocked out.

Fred looked through the remaining supplies and mentally estimated the amount of food it would take to survive the winter. Elmer and Nan were sensible eaters and understood the need for discretion. Still, he made the decision to go hunting at first light tomorrow so that he could restore their meat supply and have time to get it made into jerky.

*****

It was still dark when Fred got together his bedroll and food to take with him on his hunt. He would be gone for no less than three days. He knew he would be going up farther than his trap lines
;
t
he deer would be thick in the area that he was going for the hunt. H
e hoped to get a quick kill,
dress the meat
,
and get back to cabin before the snow started falling.

There was plenty of food for the children while he was gone, but he didn’t know how they would get along without an adult to watch over them. Those trappers shouldn’t be back by the place for a good three to four days and he would be back before then. Those scoundrels, they meant him no harm, but he knew that they could be trouble when they wanted to be.

The faithful dog was all keyed up to travel with him, but he looked back at the cabin. Duty toward the children beckoned him. “Rufus, why don’t you stand guard over Nan and Elmer? They need you more than I do right now.”

Reluctantly, Rufus walked to the cabin. It was all Fred could do to keep from chuckling at the obedient dog. He certainly had been a lifesaver to him. It was harder to leave him behind that he had at first thought. “Oh, grow up, Fred!” he said chastising himself.

Before too long the sun started shining on the other side of the mountain. The sky brightened a little and the pines stood as dark outlines against it. Sonny and Ruby
knew the way to Fred’s hunting grounds. Onward they went until the sun broke over the high mountain. It was strange to be alone in the woods again.

He hadn’t thought the presence of his visitors had really made that much difference in him. He knew that they were healing emotionally and physically. Boy, had they needed all that healing. Elmer had managed to go for ten to twelve days at a time without a headache.

As Fred quietly picked his way up the trail, he
wondered about the headaches.
Something isn’t right about all that. Poor kid is only five years
old;
he shouldn’t even know much about pain.
Nan said that he would be six in February. They would have to do something to make this birthday special for him.

Tracks. It looked to be about
three
deer, possibly a doe with two fawns. Well, he wouldn’t leave the little ones orphans.

More tracks appeared on the far side of the creek. These were larger, perhaps a buck. Fred would like to take aim on a large buck and keep his antlers for a souvenir. They would look handsome above his fireplace mantle.

Just then he heard the snap of a twig. A magnificent buck walked into the clearing just in front of Fred. He hadn’t caught scent of him
, as
Fred was downwind. Fred took careful aim and brought the animal down with the first shot. He ran to the buck and checked him to make certain that he was dead. He didn’t want the animal to have any unwarranted suffering.

Quickly, Fred began to dress the buck, putting the meat into several bundles. He walked back to the spot where Sonny and Ruby were standing and took them to retrieve the bundles of meat.

Just as he finished tying them onto the pack mule, a clap of thunder sounded through the forest. No sooner had the thunder boomed, than the rain began pouring from the heavens.

Fred scanned his surroundings and spied a cave on the side of a mountain. He spurred the animals on to the natural shelter. The rain began to freeze as it continued to pound the earth.

Sleet formed and soon turned into snow. The snow blew and swirled minute upon minute, hour upon hour. Fred shivered in the cold
,
damp cave. He brought the animals into the cave with him. It was good that it was big enough to accommodate the three of them.

Fred plunged into the darkness and found a dead tree close to the mouth of the cave. It was wet, but he always carried some kindling with him on his pack for days on his hunt that all the wood was wet. He started with just a couple of small twigs and a good portion of his kindling. He got out his flint and proceeded in the ancient art of making a fire. After the first twigs started blazing, Fred added more twigs to the fire. Patiently he tended the fire and was rewarded with the warmth it provided as he finally was able to add small sticks
,
and eventually a good-sized branch to it. Fred then took the packs and saddle off the animals and gathered a good measure of snow to melt for water for them.

Pa had taught him that eating too much snow would drop his body temperature too quickly and make it nigh to impossible to get warmed up.

He figured the animals would appreciate the warm liquid as much as he would. He reached into his pack and found the feed that he had brought along. His father had instructed from childhood to take good care of the animals he owned and they would take good care of him.

Fred smiled at the thought of how his father’s voice sounded in the early mornings when he was teaching a young Fred the value of nurturing the beasts of
burden.

On more than one occasion he had given his friends the speech and mocked his father’s voice. His friends had roared with laughter. Fred could sound exactly like his little father when he wanted to.

The snow whipped around the spruce trees and showed no sign of letting up. He got out some of the provisions that he had packed and proceeded to make some coffee. The hot liquid would warm him.

His clothes were starting to steam and become uncomfortable to him so he got out his bedroll and found the extra pants and shirt that he rolled in with the blanket. He made a makeshift tripod to hang his wet clothes on to dry by the fire.

After drinking the coffee
,
Fred lay down to sleep. He would have to wake every quarter hour to feed the fire, but the warmth was worth it. It
was bound to be a long night.

Fred awoke the next morning and the fire
was nearly
out. He stirred the embers into a small flame. He looked out the opening and the snow was still falling. He needed to get back to the cabin soon for the children, and for his own sanity.

The same old memories flooded his consciousness
.
No, I refuse to think about
all that again!
Try as he woul
d, the memories invaded. There was Claire and Joy in the cabin. They needed an escape from the vicious people who had made him doubt his calling into the ministry.