Wilderness Challenge - Chapter 9

Chapter 9

         The sun shone through the window above her bed, an indication the storm had passed when Candi woke the next morning.  She looked to see Rascal staring at her as he sat on his haunches.  She also noticed his food bowl and water dishes were empty as she pushed the covers back and got up.

         She knelt beside him and examined the wound.  The gash wasn’t very deep for which she was thankful.  It would heal in the next couple days.

         She looked out the window to see what damage the storm had done around the cabin.  Surprisingly was very.  The trees had lost some limbs but that had been the extent of it.  “It looks like we can go swimming this morning.”

         She changed into her suit.  Her shoulder was still stiff and sore, but she reckoned the water would be good for it.  It was also laundry day.  She grabbed the basket of clothes and soap, and went down to the lake.

         She spent about half an hour in the lake before she washed her clothes.  She had them spread out to dry when she heard the steady clip clop of hoof beats headed toward the cabin and looked up to see Ranger Carmichael coming toward her.  A blush spread across her face at the thought of him seeing her lingerie spread across the rocks to dry.  She hurried towards the cabin.  Unfortunately he met her half-way.

         “What are you doing swimming so soon after your injury with the bear?”

         She could see the anger on his face and heard it in his voice.  “So soon?  I lay in bed for a whole week begging you to let me up, but no, you had to wait until you took the stitches out, which was yesterday.  You gave me the green light to resume my life here.  Besides, I didn’t see the harm in it, and I needed to get my laundry done.  What are you doing here anyway?  I’ve made it perfectly clear I want no visitors.”  She was angry.  How dare he come to her cabin and upbraid her for taking care of herself.

         “I had come see how the meat was doing.  I heard you talking to Ken last night.  That’s why I cut in.  How is Rascal?”

         “You showed me what needed to be done with the hut.  The meat is fine.  Rascal’s fine too.  I took care of him.”  She stood her ground.  She wasn’t going to let this man come and destroy what she had worked hard at for the last month.

         “I’ll just take a look if you don’t mind.”

         “I do mind.  I said he’s fine.  Don’t you trust me to be able to take care of my own dog?”

         “When you pull a foolish stunt like this?  Swimming before your shoulder is completely healed – no!”

         “And who else is going to do my laundry?”  Candi blushed red to her roots as she noticed he took in her lingerie and other clothing.

         “All you needed to do was ask.  We have a portable washing machine at the station.”

         “I’m not going over to the station.  This is my home, and I have to learn to survive here, not there.”  She walked ahead of him to the cabin.  The door would have closed on him if he hadn’t caught it.  “This is my home.  I prefer the quiet, and peace that is here, and I don’t want it interrupted by some well-meaning ranger who thinks he knows everything.”

         She turned on her radio, slipped a disk into the player, and grabbed her Bible.  She had made it through her first test.  Thoughts of the bear and coyotes brought tears to her eyes, which she brushed away as they slipped down her cheeks.  She didn’t want Ranger Carmichael to see those tears, or how his presence affected her.  She was grateful to her instructor who had drilled instinct into her.  Without it she would be in the body bag Ranger Morrison mentioned on her second day there.

         “Are you always as prickly as a porcupine?”

         “Did I invite you in here?”  She sniffed as she looked up at him.

         “I came to check on the meat.”

         “Why don’t you admit it?  You came to check up on me, make sure I wasn’t being stupid with my arm just out of wraps.”

         “I wanted to check on your range of movement, but with the fact you went swimming and did your laundry, it’s evident you have full range back again.”

         “You got that right.  So if you’re so keen on the meat, go do that, and leave me alone.”

         “Don’t you want to see how to take care of it?  You did just say this is your home.”

         “Look.  I’m wet from my swim.  I need to change into some dry clothes.  If you don’t mind, I’d like to do that.”  His gaze took in her attire, and she blushed at the look in his gaze.

         “I’m only here to check on the meat and your dog.”  He went over to the bearskin rug where Rascal sat in front of the fireplace.  He took off the wet bandages she had placed on the gash on his neck, and looked over the wound.  “Looks good.  This will heal nicely in a couple days.”

         “Thank you for your assessment.  Now would you please leave?”

         “Have a seat at the table.  I’m going to check your range of motion.”

         She felt mutinous as she sat at the table.

         “I want you to lift your arm straight out to your side.”  He watched her facial expression.  “Good.  Now straight up.”  Again he watched her.  “No pain?”

         “None I care to mention.”

         “Is there any pain?”

         “A little, but I can handle it, as I’ve been trying to tell you.”

         He took the heavy frying pan from the stove.  “Hold this.”

         She took it from him and held it in her left hand.  Her arm trembled from the exertion.

         “How did you get Rascal in the cabin last night?”

         “I carried him.  I couldn’t leave him out there.”

         “You carried him?”  He stood to his feet and went over to where the dog lay in front of the fireplace, and lifted him easily in his arms and set him back on the rug.  “Feels like about seventy-five pounds.  Do you think I told you to watch while Sandra and I took care of the hut yesterday just so that I could hear my own instructions to you?”

         “I wasn’t thinking about my own injuries.  I was more concerned about Rascal.  He needed care at the moment.”

         “Didn’t I ask you if you needed assistance?”

         “Yes.”

         “Why would I ask that?”

         “It wasn’t needed.”

         “It wasn’t needed?  You sit there your arm trembling from the exertion of holding that pan, and you tell me it wasn’t needed?”

         He was angry, and Candi wanted to cringe away from him, but she didn’t want to back down in front of him.

         “I took care of him.”

         He looked across at him.  “Yes, you did.  I just didn’t expect you to go off and do so much right away.”

         “I’d like to get changed.”

         “I’ll leave you alone.”  He walked out of the cabin, a hard look on his face.

         Candi sat back in the chair completely flustered by his reaction.  He was angry, that much was obvious.  He had seen her clothes strewn over the rocks, and blushed.  Her arm was sore, but she expected it would be.  She hadn’t used it in over a week, but she had work to do.  She would not rely on the ranger station for any of her needs.

         She stood to her feet, went over to her wardrobe and pulled out a pair of jeans and red plaid work shirt, and soon joined him outside.  She found him in the hut.  “Why don’t you want me here?  All you’ve done since you got here is yell at me.  I have to live here.  And I have to do it alone.  I can’t depend on you or the other rangers every time something happens over here.  You’d get tired of hearing from me, and I might as well go back to civilization.  I won’t do that.”

         “You want to know how to take care of the meat, let’s get it done.”

         “You’re not answering my question.  Why don’t you want me here?”

         “I want you to be more careful.  I really don’t want to send your body home in a body bag.”

         “You’re not used to a woman who is as independent as I want to be.”

         “Women don’t belong out here alone.”

         “What would you do if a woman ranger was assigned here?  Would that bother you too?  Women do many things these days.”

         “Do you want me to show you how to take care of the meat?”

         “Of course I want you to show me how to take care of the meat.”

         “You’re nothing but a prickly porcupine.”

         “Why do you say that?”

         “Always on the defense.”

         “I guess I am a little defensive.”

         “A little?”  He raised his eyebrows at her statement, and declined further comment.

         “Yes.  A little.”  The hut was quite warm.  Rivulets of sweat poured from her as she watched him.  The meat hung from the ceiling of the hut.  The tangy wood smell from the meat made her mouth water.  “The gash was deep then?”

         “Deep enough.  Those claws were quite large.  Like I said, an inch closer to your throat and you would have been on your way home in a body bag.”

         That statement bothered her more than she liked.  She had come here to succeed and almost failed before she began.

         He turned to her and placed his hands on her shoulders.  “I’m not here to discourage you, but to make you think about your safety.”

         “I’ll be more careful.”

         “Do that.”  He checked over the meat.  “It’s ready.  Next I’ll have to find a suitable place for the meat in one of the trees around the cabin, so it will be out of the way of predators.”

         “Please let me help.”

         “You can put the meat in the burlap sacks I brought with me.  They’re on the back of my horse.”

         She went to retrieve them, admiring his horse as she did so.  She ran a hand down his silky nose before she went to the rear for the burlap sacks, and returned to the hut.  “You have a beautiful horse.  Is it yours or does it belong to the station?”

         “He’s mine.  I’ve had him since he was a colt.  Now take the meat and put it in the burlap sacks.  You’ll need both sacks.  There was a lot of meat from that old bear.”

         She did as he told her.  “You know the more I can do for myself, the better I’ll be able to handle this project I’m on.”

         “It’s always about the project.  Are you so sure you won’t get lonely?”

         “I’ve always wanted to be alone.”

         “Why?”

         “I have my reasons.”

         “I stand admonished.”

         “I’m going to fail the study if I keep getting company on a daily basis.”

         “Is that a bad thing?”

         “I’m just not used to having people around.”

         “People are an invaluable asset.  You shouldn’t turn your back on all of them.”

         “So far I haven’t met any that are an asset to me.”

         “Then maybe I should leave you to figure out how to take care of this meat by yourself.”

         “Fine with me!”  Candi turned on her heel and headed back to the cabin, as tears streamed down her cheeks.

         “Women!”  Logan strode out of the hut and headed back to the cabin.  He found her with her head in her arms on the table, her shoulders shaking with her fury and tears.  “I’m only going to show you once, and then I promise I won’t bother you again.  Now if you want to see how to take care of your meat I will show you.”

         Candi followed him out to the side of the cabin where he showed her the tree he would use to put her meat up out of the way of the other animals.  He quickly climbed the tree and tied each sack to a branch.  When it was finished he stood back and examined his handiwork.  “What do you think?”

         “Is it high enough?  Looks like you’ve got it at the top of the tree.  I’ll never get it down without a ladder.”

         “You don’t climb trees?”

         She saw the smile on his face.  “Not yet, but it looked easy enough when you did it.”

         “I had to get it that high.  There are some animals who would love to get their jaws on the meat, but they only climb so high.  This is even out of their reach.  If you need a ladder, I’m sure there’s one at the station.”

         “No, no.  I’ll climb the tree.”  She placed her foot in the crevice of the trunk and began the slow climb to the meat.  She would never admit she was afraid of heights, even as she shook, and clung to each branch.

         “You better come down from there before you fall.”

         “Not before I get to the sacks.”  She looked up.  She was just one branch away.  She placed her foot on another branch and hoisted herself up, and made the mistake of looking down.

         “Okay, now come down from there.”

         Was that concern she heard in his voice?  “How do I get the meat from the bag and carry it down?”

         “You don’t.  Come down here.”

         “I don’t?  But I’ll never be able -”

         “You’ll be able, come down.”

         She gingerly placed her foot on the next lower branch and clung to the tree as she made her way down.  She almost collapsed on the ground as soon as her feet touched.

         “Why didn’t you tell me you were deathly afraid of heights?”

         “It’s none of your business.”

         “Oh but it is my business.  I’m your doctor in case you forgot.”

         “My doctor?”

         “Is there anybody else who will patch you up?  Are you going to call that pilot and have him fly you back to Minnesota?”

         “No of course not.”

         Logan climbed the tree, took the sacks and threw them to the ground and climbed down.  He took them back in the hut and hung them from the ceiling.  “When the meat is not being smoked, keep here.  You can easily take care of it.  Just make sure you keep the door closed at all times.  You don’t need any animals making off with your food.”

         “I’m grateful.  I know about the coyotes, what other animals would be interested in the meat?”

         “All of them.  If you were able to keep it in the tree, which is best, you would need to be aware of the lynx, they stalk their prey from the lowest branch of the tree.  The coyote and cougar will be around for a taste of an easy meal.  So keep the door closed and you’ll have no problems.”

         “I feel like such an amateur.  I have so much to learn.”

         “If you pay attention when someone wants to teach you something, you’ll do all right.”  He closed the door, and they started for the cabin.

         “I guess this is where I say I’m sorry.  I should have asked you what I was allowed to do before I did it.”

         “I’m sure you’ll remember next time.”

         “There won’t be a next time.”

         “Of course there will.  You’re living in a wilderness where the animals rule not man.  Believe me.  I’ve got plenty of my own scars to prove it.  I’ve done my own share of hunting.  I haven’t taken on a venture quite like you have done.  But a week or two out in the wild gives you an appreciation for the wilder side of life.”

         “Would you like some coffee before you go back to the station?  I haven’t exactly been hospitable.”

         “I need to get back to the station.  In the meantime no unnecessary exertion.”  He got into the saddle of his horse and turned it in the direction of the station without looking back.

         Candi watched him ride away, as tears streamed down her face.  He had been so angry with her.  She deserved his anger, but she had said she was sorry.  It had taken a lot for her to admit her mistake.  She was also embarrassed to have him know she was afraid of heights.

         She went into the cabin and saw Rascal on the rug in front of the fireplace, went over to him, and gave him a hug as tears continued to roll down her cheeks.